Northern Ireland holiday

As you know we have been on holiday to Northern Ireland. We went for 10 days and stayed in a cottage about a 5 mins drive from Pauline's mum. We could not believe how glorious the weather was, normally you need to leave the house with your umbrella because you need to prepare for rain. We met up with my sister Maxine the day after we arrived, as she was going on her holiday to Florida that weekend. She's blowing out a birthday candle on a sand birthday cake!!!

On the Friday, Stuart, Alice, my mum and I went to Belfast Zoo. Stuart has been wanting to go ever since we met, so he finally got to go. I think he enjoyed it more than Alice did.


The obligatory picture of a pig for Stuart.


Grant's zebras, so we needed to take a picture of that.


If you click on the picture itself you'll see the view from about half way up the hill at the zoo. This is looking out towards Carrickfergus, over Belfast Lough.

On Saturday we met up with some friends of mine at Lady Dixon's Park, on the outskirts of Belfast. Thanks all for coming, sorry I didn't get any pictures, it was a bit disjointed, as there were rather a lot of children to run around after (at least the blokes ran around and left the girls on the picnic blankets to chat!!). Perfect!!!!

My friend Elaine arrived a bit later with her girls. We went round the rose garden. The three girls ran around after each other, with us shouting after them, when we couldn't see (or hear) them any more. The girls had their scooters with them and rode up this hill. Alice waited at the bottom for them and as they arrived at the top, Alice ran about half way and they scootered down the hill with Alice chasing them. They did this for ages. Alice really enjoyed playing with them. Again you can click on the picture to get the full effect.

Monday we went up to another sister, Jacqueline's allotment. The view was spectacular. She's up on a hill and you can see right across Belfast Lough on one side, Stormont Parliament buildings in the middle and then Strangford Lough on the other side. No wonder she spends a lot of time up there. We had a lovely picnic and then round to see some chickens on a neighbouring plot.
Stuart and Alice at the allotment.

Then we all went round to Streamvale farm, which is just down the hill from the allotment. It was a really great wee farm. We fed some chickens.

Alice bottled fed a lamb.

Jacqueline cuddled a rabbit. Then we went in and had some ice cream, which is made on site from the milk from cows on the farm. The ice cream was the best I have tasted in a long time. Sooo creamy and full of flavour!!!!

On Tuesday we went to W5 in Belfast. It stands for who, where, what, where and when and is a science interactive place. It was fantastic and we all really enjoyed ourselves here. This is Alice and my mum sitting outside along the River Lagan before we went in for lunch.

Alice and Stuart playing at the cafe.

Alice spent ages playing at the cafe and then was in the middle of doing something, when she looked up, took a sharp breath in, pointed and shouted "there's a car!!!!". Then ran off over to it. Poor Stuart was stuck in that car for about 45mins because we could not get her away from it. She would go to the Tescos, get her shopping and then put it in the boot. She strapped Stuart in to his car seat and then put CDs on etc. She loved it. While they did that my mum and I played with the water.


You put the balls in this shoot and they are sucked up and then fall into a tube, then floated down in the water. We had a race to see who could get all their balls down first. I think Alice won, of course!!!

Wednesday, we drove up to the North coast and a wee seaside town Portstewart. We left quite late, so didn't have a great amount of time there. We went to Morelli's for lunch (famed for its ice cream) and then had ice cream on the sea front. Have to say we were disappointed with the ice cream, barely any flavour at all. Streamvale farm was definitely the winner for ice cream. Alice then spied a park and we spent the rest of the time there. There's a wee paddling pool, so paddled for quite a while in her pants and T-shirt.





This is Alice and Stuart sitting on the stairs in her make-shift car. Everything behind them is in the "boot".
On Thursday we went to Bangor on the south shore of Belfast Lough. I had remembered there was a wee paddling pool there, but didn't know if it was still there or not. They have now got a wee fun park there. So we spent the day at Pickie Fun Park. Alice played in the park initially, then we had lunch under a tree on a hill. Then on the train and then Alice spent the rest of the time paddling in the pool. She had a great time, chatting away to the other children.





Then into the cafe for ice cream. Alice spotted this "shark" and wanted to go for a ride in it. Stuart did correct her and told her it was a space shuttle. I think shark is better.

I could not believe how beautiful Bangor marina is these days. It felt like we were in the south of France or somewhere. Just gorgeous.

Thursday night my niece Claira came round. It was fabby to catch up properly, just a shame that her Stuart couldn't make it too. Friday we went swimming with mum and then met up with Jacqueline and my brother-in-law Ricky. Then I met up with a friend Lisa that night (as we hadn't been able to meet before that), so it was really great to meet and chat properly.

This a picture of the cottage on the last day, yesterday.

This was the view out the back.

These are the horses that we watched every day. They even came over a couple of times to the gate to say hello to us.
We all had a great time getting out and about, but more importantly spending some proper time with family and friends. Will put together a video in a day or two and post that separately.

Introducing the North East Stomper

Some of you will know that Stuart's dad (Ian) plays in a jazz band and has done so for many years. The other day when Stuart was clearing out some of his stuff (I know, that alone is a miracle) he found one of his harmonicas. So he gave it to Alice and just let her play about with it. Within about a minute she sucking and blowing to play it (without us telling her). The harmonica is an amazing instrument because you make the notes by sucking and blowing. Then she started using her tongue to separate the notes too. Then started stomping (apparently this is a prerequisite for playing jazz) around the place as she was playing and then just wiggled it up and down whilst playing. I caught most of it on video. So enjoy Alice's first foray into the world of harmonica playing. She's a natural!!!!

Couple of funny Alice stories

Yesterday when I got home from Northern Ireland I was showing Alice a photo of me when I was about 5. I asked her who it was and she kept saying she didn't know. So we asked was it Daddy, no. Was it Mummy, yes. So later on we were in the chippy having Bank Holiday fish and chips (Alice's first chippy chips!!). Stuart showed her the back of a £20 note and asked her who the picture was of. "Mummy". Everyone in the chippy just burst out laughing!!!

Some of you will know that Stuart's dad (Ian) was stuck in New Orleans during the ash cloud crisis. We kept telling Alice that Grandpa was stuck in New Orleans, America because the planes weren't allowed to fly. Last night as she was going to bed I asked her who she wanted to pray for. She said Nana, Grandpa and Nanny. I was about to pray and she started praying instead. She said "thank you God for Grandpa being home from New Lions". "Thank you God for the lions". I had to try very hard not to laugh. So cute.

Budding Photographer.

As you may know Alice got a digital camera for her birthday. It's a wee lego one and looks like it's made out of lego. The quality of the pictures aren't great, but she really enjoys using it and taking pictures. She is starting to realise that you need to hold it still when taking a picture. The first photograph is of one of her stuffed toys. Kank, the Kangaroo. She did name the kangaroo and the little joey is called Kong.

A very flattering picture of Stuart eating a scone!!!

Alice's best friend Fraser Bear.

Alice took this picture of her Nanny (Pauline's mum)!!!

She took this one of herself too. The moustache is milk!!!

This is a door at the top garden at Alnwick (pronounced Annick) Gardens.

A fountain at Alnwick Gardens.

Some ducks at Washington Wetlands Centre.

I think you can see that she is getting better at taking a picture and trying to get what she wants into it.

Alice is three!!!!!

Stuart has put together a video of everything Alice has done for her third birthday. It's on You tube, because the video quality is much better. So you can find it there. It is 8 mins long.

On Sat 27th Alice had a party for 4 of her friends. They all made an Easter card of a chick and all seemed to really enjoy sticking it all together. We then had cake, ice cream and jelly. Alice said the best part about her birthday was the cake.

If only she knew how tricky it was to bake. I hired the number 3 tin, which did not have base to it. So it took me half an hour just to line the thing and it was being held together with clothes pegs in order to create a seal around the inside so no cake would leak out. Anyway, it turned out OK and Alice was really pleased with it. It was edible and in the shape of a 3, so I was happy.

Then we had a bit of a singing session, which I think they all enjoyed, I think the mums enjoyed it more though. Accompanied by Stuart on guitar. Then they all went off and emptied Alice's toy box and just played with her toys. It is really funny watching a bunch of 2/3 year olds playing. They just don't play together, but play around each other, so they were all doing their own thing and not actually interacting at all. Apparently around 4 is when that changes.

Also Alice had a special visitor for her birthday, Nanny (Pauline's mum). She was really pleased to have her Nanny visiting and when she was leaving Alice said she'd really enjoyed her visiting and that she wouldn't have a friend in the house any more!!!!

On Alice's birthday itself, much fun was had at a small farm in Newcastle. She really enjoyed seeing all the animals. Then it was off to Seven Stories. If you've been on the blog before you'll remember (or not as the case may be) that she met Maisy (the mouse) there last year. It is an interactive place about books, so there is a craft section in the basement and then they have various exhibitions on too, which change every now and again. I think there's a Walker Books exhibition on soon (Maisy, We're going on a bear hunt etc), so we may be going back for that. It really is a brilliant place and she really enjoyed it. Then it was home to open the presents. She got a digital camera from us and she has taken some quite good pictures with it. So at some point will have to upload them to the computer and then put some on here.

Hope you enjoy watching the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLAY_Jr7bgo

Chores

Alice and I made some play dough about a month ago. She sat on my "big" chair, while I had to sit on her wee chair!!! She decided that she needed to bake the play dough in her oven.


Alice frequently has tea parties, normally she has a whole host of her "best friends" in a circle on the floor.

As you will know (if you follow the blog) Fraser bear is, of course, her bestest friend.

Alice can now get into her car seat on her own (can't strap herself in, thankfully), however, she did need to stand on the back seat beside her car seat and then climb in. She did this whether her shoes were muddy or not. So it was time we gave the car a good clean. Alice really enjoyed it, particularly when it came to squeezing the water over Stuart and me.

There are websites out there to teach children how to use a mouse on the computer. You start very basically and just learn to move the mouse onto things. Then moving the mouse and clicking etc. Alice enjoyed playing this game and there were different varieties of it too. We have set up a different area of the computer for Alice. So when she clicks on things, she can't change any settings or lose photographs etc. Of course, now that she knows how to use the mouse, I watched her change user the other week!!!! So, I think the next stage is putting a password on ours, so she can't get into it. Really didn't think we would have to do that this early!!!!!!

THE engagement ring

Told you it was tacky (see previous post). It looks gold there, but was "silver", cost about £1. Honestly my friend's face was a picture when she thought this was the real one.

Also the video of Alice singing, most of you will recognise Twinkle Twinkle, but some of you may not know Mousey Brown. It's a really sweet and yet odd song about a mouse climbing to the top of a candlestick and being stuck there, he calls for his grandma to help, but she's in town (??!!!!), so he curls into a little ball and rolls right down. I now have her saying this as my mobile's ring tone!!!

10 years ago today!!!!

Ten years ago Stuart and I went on a holiday to the Lake District, our first holiday together as a couple, just the two of us. On the 28th Feb 2000 he proposed to me whilst standing at a vantage point in the Lake District overlooking Basenthwaite Lake. We then went into Keswick where we bought the ring. It was too big and so had to send it away to be re-sized. So for the first month I had a wee cheapy ring from a tacky gift shop. When we got home I was showing my housemate the ring and for a split moment she believed the ring with the red heart in the middle was the real thing!!! Her face was a picture, she was trying so hard to look pleased for us, but was actually disgusted with the tackiness of the ring. The relief on her face was also a picture when I admitted the real one had to be sent away. Also I think Stuart chose that date to propose because it was a leap year and he was worried I was going to propose the next day. He didn't know that I would never have proposed to him in a million years (the bloke's job). Ha ha my plan worked!!! The photograph was taken straight afterwards by a kind lady passing by.

At the end of January we woke up to about 6-7 inches of snow. Stuart tried to buy a sledge from the shop round the corner which a week earlier I knew had loads of them. They were sold out by lunch time!!! We now have one and it probably won't snow for about another 6 years!!!

Alice recently got her blocks back out again and now makes some very impressive towers. Of course, as you all know, the best bit about building a tower is knocking it back down again.

This a picture of Joshua T. I asked Alice to draw a picture for his new born baby brother. Alice calls him curlybap (a real Northern Irishism) and so after I drew the head, she drew the curly hair. I think the eyes are amazing, with pupils!!!

Alice also loves bovril!!! Yukkkkkk, I hate it.

Stuart, Alice and I had a very fun music afternoon a couple of weeks ago. She really enjoyed "playing" the recorder and singing along to Stuart's guitar playing. However, I was quite impressed by the fact she was using her tongue to play and make the notes rather than just her breath. We didn't tell her to do that.
Alice trying on Stuart's walking boots to go out into the snow!!!

Some video too. Stuart found an old piece of corrugated plastic and used that to go down the hill at the back of our house. Alice didn't want to try it, although did stand on it a few times and as it slipped away under her, fell back into the snow. She didn't like it too much, but we found it very funny. Then Alice and Stuart singing If you're happy and you know it. Alice thought it was time Jenny the Giraffe learned to play the recorder too.