Thursday, 28 May 2015

Yorkshire Holiday 2015 - part 1 of 3

I'm finally getting round to adding our holiday photos to my blog - we'll see how far I get tonight. Only nearly 80 photos or so - will be splitting them into 3 posts, I think.

It was great to be back in Yorkshire - it's been 3 years since we were last on holiday. It was good to get away for a break from everyday life, and also spend time with good friends. We started out in Gunnerside (near Reeth) - in a very remote place. I'd found a bargain self catering house on ebay ....

Fergus wasn't impressed with the cold & wind in our wild location - see photo below for further explanation. 

Gunnerside - where we started out. If you book a holiday house and they warn you that you are booking it knowing you might not get your car up the hill and need to leave it in the village and walk 1/2 mile up to the house ... it's probably true! This is only about 1/3 of the walk up to the house - as you can see, the village is way below. Or so it feels when the wind is blowing in your face, and it's cold and damp.

If it had been warm & sunny, it might not be too bad. But it was cold, windy, and started to rain both days we had to walk up the hill. Thankfully on Monday (having arrived on the Saturday) we found an alternative holiday house in a civilised location in Masham (near Ripon). Best of all, it was available the same day - so we packed up our stuff, and headed down the big hill for the last time!

On our way to the new holiday house on Monday afternoon, we stopped off in Middleham and walked around the outside of Middleham Castle and also in the village.

Middleham Castle

Middleham Castle


Walking beside Middleham Castle - the sun even came out briefly! :-)


Elijah by the castle wall


Looking at the castle


On Tuesday we headed to York for the day. First stop, National Railway Museum! We've been there lots of times (incl on our honeymoon! :-P ) but Elijah had never been (this was his first holiday). And since he's a major train lover, we had to take him! :-D


They never end up all having a sensible face at the same time! :-P


Fergus looking at trains!


Peter and Elijah


The girls join them


Older boys


In a train!


Climbing on one


Wooden trains are good enough to eat! :-P


Dressing up fun

More dressing up fun


Benjamin dressing up too


Benjamin and his tiny puppy! lol


Me and Deborah


After the train museum, it was time to visit Jorvik Viking Centre! We had never been there before, and it was well worth a visit! Fantastic place! Best of all was the glass floor and being able to see the preserved foundations of a real viking settlement!


So neat!


Elijah was wondering if he was going to crash through the glass!


Then we went on the ride through the re-created Viking York. It looked very real - well done! And awfully smelly too! lol


Jorvik


Jorvik


Jorvik


Jorvik


Jorvik


Jorvik

Thursday, 30 April 2015

Nearly May

Wow, I've actually managed another blog post this month! ;-) I realised I've ended up with so many photos recently, that I should try to update here before I had too many. Not that anything interesting or exciting has happened, but I just like to capture a bit of the ordinary days. The kids grow up so fast - it's nice to be able to look back and see them when they were smaller.

I especially love to see the special interaction between siblings. Not that there isn't plenty of negative interaction - but the positive times are so sweet. I love seeing Elijah bring a favourite toy of his (tool box toy that sings and lights up) and put it in front of Fergus and showed him how it worked. Fergus was quite excited with it too! :-) These two boys really love to spend time with each other.
Elijah is very gentle and patient with him.
Yes, he's got big eyes! ;-) lol And here he was pleased to discover his toes - and even better, pull off his socks!

Socks no more!

6 months old last week! The time has flown by - it's hard to believe he's a half a year old already!

Cuddles with Abigail - he loves to grab her hair too!

Fergus has also started moving about - won't be long before he's crawling!

Going around in circles - seeing what he can get into!

Abigail is such a big help, and best of all, she loves to spend time with Fergus! In fact, she'll often beg to hold him for me! Here she was doing her maths with Fergus in her lap!

He loves to smile for the camera - and whenever you look at him too!
We were spring cleaning in Edderton the other week - getting the garden tidy and windows washed/dusting done before the first guests arrive this spring. It was a lovely sunny day, so the kids enjoyed a picnic lunch outside

I never get tired of the beautiful views from the house there!

Beautiful!

And I'm quite fond of this truly ancient standing stone in the field across the street! ;-)
The following week we had more beautiful weather - esp the day our homeschool group started up again after the spring holidays. It wasn't just sunny, but warm too! We ended up going outside for our lunch, which all the children enjoyed!

Homeschool group enjoying picnic lunch outside

I think he did more running about than eating lunch! [oops!]

Picnic at the park

Enjoying the outdoors
And then this past weekend, we got reminded that we live in the north of Scotland! [brrrrrr] Winter returned - or so it felt like! Night time temperatures were below zero, the shorts were forgotten and Elijah was back in his thick winter coat! It even ....

                                                                   .... snowed! Yes, at the end of April! This was the beginning of the snow fall - it got worse, though thankfully didn't last too long. It's still cold right now. But I'm just *hoping* that as May arrives tomorrow, just *maybe* we'll get some warmer weather again soon. I mean, I can at least hope! :-)

Friday, 17 April 2015

Clement's 6th Birthday & Farm visit

So, with so many photos over the past month, I've split them into two blog posts! This is post 2 of 2! On Saturday last week, Clement turned 6! The kids always look forward to birthdays and spring is fun with Benjamin in March and Clement exactly a month later in April. Now a slight break until Elijah turns 3 at the beginning of June! Well, Peter does have a birthday next month, but he's not worried about a fuss. ;-) lol And then all is quiet until October & November. [phew!]

Birthday boy and his cake!
The cake! He'd requested Moshi Monsters on it - and I thought the "Moshi Karts" would make a fun race track theme. The internet is great for cake ideas. I must admit, I'd have never thought of making a road in the shape of a number! :-)

Clement had already built his Lego swamp police station by lunchtime!

Pleased with his new Lego set!

Concentrating on Lego building!

Sticker book time with siblings :-)

"Why do you keep taking photos of me today?!" lol

Fergus watching Clement open his presents
On Wednesday this week, a friend from church invited several mums and children round to see the baby lambs on their farm! It was great fun - both chatting over coffee and the kids getting to cuddle the lambs! :-) Elijah loved them!

Mums and children looking at lambs!

Elijah, Micaiah, and Abigail

Deborah and Elijah

Kristiana and a lamb

A bit blurry, but love his sweet & happy face here!

Kristiana helping Elijah hold a lamb

Looks like he's trying to kiss the lamb! lol

Benjamin and a lamb

Abigail and Clement

Elijah and Abiel walking back to the house


Such an amazing view of the sea from the farm!

Fergus looking a bit windswept!