The Beach and Another Holiday

Haven't posted anything for a while. Just life takes over and before you know it you haven't posted for two months!!!

Alice and I bake quite regularly these days. After our holiday in Northern Ireland in June Stuart tends to take goodies into work from wherever he's been on holiday (I think his whole team does it). We forgot to get anything whilst there, so Alice and I made these Northern Irish delicacies. 15s. So called because they have 15 digestive biscuits, 15 glace cherries and 15 marshmallows in them. They are so yummy.



In July Whitley Bay had a sandcastle competition. We were amazed at some of the sandcastles which we were built. We thought it finished at 2pm and so went along after church and sat and had our picnics first. Then, once I'd registered we realised we had 15 mins to build it!!!! It was no-where near as elaborate as most of these. We were so impressed with the standard.

I think this car came third. Notice not too many children doing the building!!!!

It was great to see the beach so full!!

We built a Timmy from Timmy Time (who is a little lamb with a lot to learn, from the makers of Wallace and Gromit and Timmy is Shaun the Sheep's lamb). We were never going to win with this effort!!! We must get there earlier next year and go with a plan and really try harder!!! It was a lot of fun and great to see so many people enjoying themselves!!!


Alice was bought this umbrella for Christmas and this was the first time she got to use it. We have had rain, but any time we've gone out with the umbrella, it's stopped. However, this was a real downpour. If you click on the picture you'll see how heavy it was raining.

Last week we had a clan Grant holiday in Staffordshire. Stuart's dad was 70 in May and this holiday was to celebrate his birthday. Ian, Marion (Stuart's parents), Catherine (S's sister), Simon (C's partner), Lily, Jasmine (Simon's daughters), Stuart, Alice and me all stayed in a cottage near Leek.

This is Alice and Nana drawing in the cottage garden.

Alice and Grandpa birdwatching in the cottage garden.

We went to a rare breeds farm. Mostly sheep and goat, some chickens and peacocks and a few pigs, to keep Stuart happy. Alice and Grandpa feeding the goats.

There were a few wee bikes and ride on carts etc to go on at the end. This was Alice's first attempt on a bike. The bike was a perfect size for her and she did really well riding around on it. Guess what she'll be getting for her birthday next year!!!???

Stuart, Alice, Lily, Jasmine and I went to Gulliver's Kingdom, which is an adventure park for younger children. Lily is 12 (with black flower in hair) and Jasmine 9 (long blonde hair). They were about to go on a ride which went straight up and then dropped back down again. We did these types of rides before lunch!!!!

Before May Alice wouldn't go on these types of rides!!! She went on loads of rides last week. This was a wee ladybird ride with Jasmine.

The elephant ride with Stuart. The one, you can pull the lever to go up and down. We all had a great day!!!

Stuart, Ian and Simon went on a hill walk and so we girls went to Monkey Forest.

This monkey is the oldest at 29!!!

Stuart having a think!!!!

Sweet picture of Nana and Alice.

We went on a wee steam train on the final day. Alice pulling a funny face for the camera!!!

An update on the subsidence. About 6 weeks ago part of the tree next door fell down in the wind. About 20 foot of the top of the tree fell onto their fence and shed. People walk their dogs all day long under those trees and so thankfully no-one was there at 7.15 am.

Anyway, the council are now saying that a eucalyptus tree in our garden is also a likely cause of the subsidence for the three houses. When we dug up the roots under our house and the tests were done there were no eucalyptus roots just poplar roots. Since May our house has moved 8mm, which doesn't sound a lot but when whole sections of the house are moving in one direction and other sections aren't, this causes huge amounts of damage. The council are saying they want to do investigations near the eucalyptus to establish if there are any roots near it!!!!!!!!! If you dig a hole next to a tree you're going to find roots!!!

We contacted our local MP and he has written to the council and they are coming back about our tree in our garden!!! I spoke to our insurance person the other day and she is going to talk it through her manager and see what the next step is. It's obviously difficult to talk about it too much, as this blog is fully public and it might need to go to court!!!! So, a year down the line, we are not much further forward in this being resolved!!!!

The pic below is from our neighbour's tree that fell down.


Will try not to leave it 2 months before the next post!!!

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!!!