We now have another car on the road, our big Toyota that has stood doing nothing for about three years as we could never afford to fix it has now got a new lease of life! It's really only temporarily as we are hoping to sell it and get something smaller and cheaper to run but it's so nice to have it back. The kids were so excited as they can sit right at the back, up nice and high!

Last Friday was cookery group where we managed to persuade both of the kids to make a swiss roll each rather than playing all day. I'm not quite sure they came home with the actual ones they made but they were quite yummy anyway.

Saturday was cottage day and after church on Sunday we went down to the Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal as I had got it into my head that they were having an open day for a textiles exhibition thats running. Unfortunately I got the week wrong and it's next Sunday! Still, we decided to have some lunch sat outside in the gorgeous sunshine and it felt like we were on holiday for the afternoon. The Brewery is a great place with a small cinema, theatre, art studios, music rooms etc where they run quite a few courses and exhibitions. Our friend from the Home Ed groups, Jayne had signed up for a few courses and asked if I wanted to go along with her to do Feltmaking and some Embroidery courses. Of course I jumped at the idea!! Dave also decided to get back into his drawing and painting and signed up for some as well so we are going to be busy for the next few months!
Dave went off to his drawing class on Monday evening which he seemed to enjoy and me and Jayne went to our first Feltmaking course on Tuesday which was great. I've been trying out making felt at home already but it was a really relaxed evening where I could start from the very beginning and get loads of tips. I can't wait until next week when we will be making felt scarves.

Yesterday Dave was working at our friends, Steve's house again strimming his 'wild' garden! We took him some lunch and ended up sitting all afternoon in the sunshine drinking coffee (Steve makes the best coffee!!) and chatting while the kids drove Joel up the wall making him watch Thomas the Tank Engine on You Tube!!

Dave was back at Steve's today and the kids had decided they wanted to go on a 'Fungi' walk which they had heard about on the radio in the car. This was one of the 'walking you way to health' walks which is run by the British Heart Foundation. They are all free, short walks which I think are running all over the place for anyone who wants to go. Some friends from the Home Ed group came along too and there was quite a crowd of people who turned up to join in, mostly older ladies but they all seemed quite chuffed to have some children along too! We walked from the middle of Kendal up to Serpentine Woods and had a good forage for any Fungi we could find. The kids turned out to be the best foragers and had the poor guide dotting around all over the place telling us all about the different varieties. Eilidh really enjoyed it and came home with a few prize specimens to cut up and have a look at! The fungi expert had actually brought a load of different ones with her which she let Eilidh take and it was a lovely walk, we discovered bits of Kendal I never even knew existed! We will definately go on some more walks.

The kids have been really tired so after some lunch they were made to go and have a lie-down for half an hour. This was a secret ploy to try and get Ben to sleep as he was getting a bit wild again which he does when he is over-tired. Unfortunately when I went back in to get them half an hour later, Eilidh was fast asleep and Ben was singing merrily, playing on his bed with some lego...I give up!! At least Eilidh had a much needed snooze! We then went off to see their friends in Kendal, Dennis and Florence and headed back home for tea.