Mothering Sunday

Mothering Sunday.

A family walk around the local reservoir followed by roast beef and games at Nanas.

Easter Sunday

 Savouring a small taste of chocolate.

 Reading Beatrix Potter with Grandad.

The singing face.

 Hunt.

 Bounce.

 Lamb courtesy of the Sister.

 Mississippi Mud Pie miniature.

Cars

 Dinos

Mr Bee and his Auntie.

Birthday Party

We had been looking forward to Harry and Emily's birthday party all week. Mr Bee has become quite the little water baby and will never pass up on a trip to the swimming baths.
The great thing about a swimming party is that you have the pool to yourself and therefore are allowed to take photographs :)

 Mr Bee is incredibly confident in the water, climbing in and out as he pleases and jumping in even with no-one to catch him. Going under the water does not phase him what so ever. He would rather swim entirely alone than have you hold him or even stand too close. We are so proud of him :)
He did lots and lots of jumping in!

 Of course, Mr Bee did not want to get out of the pool, but there was party food and a bouncy castle waiting for him upstairs! He was slightly wary of the castle, but he did come round eventually.

 We had such a good time at the party. I hope that Harry and Emily enjoyed their party as much as we did.
Mr Bee zonked out at quarter past six, nearly an hour before bedtime because he had such a wonderful and exhausting time!

Bits and Bobs

This weekend, I have certainly been a busy bee!

Friday - Trip to the local soft play, followed by a good nose around the Garden Centre, picking up some goodies along the way. Then home for some last minute making!

Saturday - Manically stitching and sorting ready for the Open House in the evening whilst dealing with a sicky bee. Great success at the fair, selling A LOT of items and raising around £200 to send Josh to help build a school in Kenya. However that does mean more manic making ready for the next fair on Saturday! Sadly I didn't get a good enough photo of my stall, which did look very pretty!

Aren't they gorgeous!

Sunday - Up early for a trip to Rockingham Raceway, not for cars this time though. A Joules (my favourite shop ever!) sale! It wasn't quite as good as we hoped, but we did get some presents, and I got a beautiful skirt and a lovely shirt which I can't wait to wear.
The rest of my day was spent trying to get some more cards made to replenish my display. Mr Bee had been so good letting me get on, then we had a visit from Teresa, Pete, Harry and Emily. The children were fascinated with what I was doing, so we all sat in the conservatory for at least an hour making christmas cards.

Plans for the evening: Relaxing with some sewing and mulled wine... yum!

The Black Country Living Museum

Earlier in the week, Nanabee took Mr Bee and I, along with my niece and nephew to The Black Country Living Museum for the day. We have wanted to visit this attraction for some time now, as we like that kind of thing! 

So we got up and got ready, and left almost as soon as the children arrived. We expected the journey to take a little over an hour, however, it took us nearly 2 and a half hours to get there. Birmingham and I do not get along, every time I go, we get lost! We even ended up at Spaghetti Junction at one point! 

A long while, and a small 'accident' later we arrived, to a full carpark and the hugest queue.

Some of the features were lovely, I loved to see the working gardens, alive with vegetables growing in every inch. The children had great fun talking to the 'living' exhibits who were a wealth of knowledge.

 Traditional victorian street games were there for children to help themselves, Mr Bee liked these very much, swinging them around though, not doing it properly.

 There was a 1930s fairground too, which the children couldn't wait to have a go on. We bought some tokens, and Mr Bee had a go on the little childrens ride. He wouldn't look up from the steering wheel for a photo though

The girl who was pushing it around (bless her!) was so wonderful, trying to get photos for us, laughing and playing with Louie, she was an absolute star.

It was a really hot day and it was very busy, which did make the day a little less fun for us. Also there really wasn't much to do for a toddler. I know most places don't really cater for this age, but I have never been anywhere and felt that it was unsuitable, except for here. Which is a shame really.

The highlight for most of us was the Coal Mine Exhibition, which took you down into a mine, with real conditions that the miners would have been in. It was pitch black and we had to stand in the darkness to listen to the stories. Mr Bee was a star and loved it, he wasn't scared at all :)

I don't know whether we will go again, as from what I remember, the Ironbridge village was much better, but I think the children enjoyed it and that is all that matters!

Louie and his Cousins

Yesterday, Papa and I had Harry and Emily for the day to help my sister out :) I decided that we had to go out somewhere, as I wasn't being couped up with three kiddaroos all day, so we packed up a picnic and headed to Beacon Hill, in the National Forest, for a wander.

We encountered lots of cows roaming, Mr Bee was intrigued, shouting moo moo at every one of them!

 We had lots of fun climbing the big hill, which had such spectacular views of Loughborough and farther, it was stunning. Even the big kids appreciated the view.

It was pretty steep for little legs

Harry and Louie

 Dan decided to get in on the climbing, complete with my floral bag... It didn't stop him though!

The pose of the day!

Mr Bee did lots of climbing all by himself

 Then we headed back to the car for a picnic...

 which Louie demolished!

With full tummies, we headed back off into the park to find the 'Natural Play Area' which was a new feature. We had no idea where we were going so finding it was half of the fun! When we arrived there, Mr Bee had fallen asleep in the sling. It was beautiful though, and Harry and Emily went off to explore.

 Papa found some sticks and started whittling them, boys eh!

 And I got tired of holding Louie so I put him on the floor where he slept for a good 45 mins undisturbed!! Back to nature eh

 What a lovely little play area. So we decided to head back to the car as time was getting on, we were having lots of fun! So everyone gathered their sticks and we headed off back up the VERY steep hill and around to the car.

how serene and beautiful

Carrying the big stick

What a lovely day, Harry and Emily wanted to go back again they enjoyed it so much. Can't ask for more than that!