Here are some of the things we’ve been up to over the summer.
We’ve enjoyed the local parks and gardens.
We’ve explored Almond Valley (a great destination for young kids!).
We had our cousins come and stay with us.
And we (sometimes!) played nicely together 🙂
Two or three weeks ago we took the stabilisers off Ellie’s bicycle. We’ve slowly been teaching her to cycle by herself.
Yesterday, for the first time she succeeded 🙂
She was clearly chuffed to bits and I can’t say I didn’t feel the same way too!
On Saturday we visited Abbotsford, the historic home of Sir Walter Scott. It’s recently been restored and a new visitor centre built, so we’ve been meaning to go for a while.
First we walked around the garden and grounds.
The place looked great, and the house itself was very impressive from the outside (we didn’t go in). We were told at the visitor centre that the way round the grounds was “obvious” and there was no need for a map, but we still got lost! Not to worry – we had great fun exploring inside this giant rhododendron instead:
Then we found the best part of all – the adventure playground! The kids almost enjoyed it as much as me.
Finally, we went into the visitor centre for lunch. Unfortunately the food was overpriced and mediocre in quality. Ben entertained himself while we were waiting for food by running in circles around the Walter Scott exhibition wielding his children’s table knife at the other visitors!
All in all I think Abbotsford is a good local destination and I’m sure we’ll be back.
First get them doing some crafts.
Then let them play in the mud.
Take them on a walk.
And let them make you dinner!
We have been going through old photos to make a photobook of Ben’s first year (he turned one last August).
Here are some of the pictures we dug out.
Ellie had her party today. Hats off to Jana for organising some fabulous fun and games (and food!).
My job was getting a giant Minnie Mouse balloon filled with helium in the morning. Fortunately I was successful, and it went down a treat.
Yesterday I took Ellie to buy her first pedal bike, which was her birthday present from us. Here’s the one we chose!
We haven’t taken it out yet because the rain hasn’t let up for a moment. But here she is testing it out inside.
I suppose that should be “the next Christiano Ronaldo” now.
Our back garden is in a right state. We haven’t had the time to give it much love and care since we moved into the house three years ago. Still, Rome wasn’t built in a day.
A couple of recent enhancements though.
First, we have upgraded from a “hole in the fence” to a gate as the entrance for the garden.
Secondly, I’ve added a couple of annexes. 😉
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