Belton in Autumn

Belton House may be my favourite place to visit in the autumn. The trees turn an array of beautiful colours and leaves line the paths in a beautiful golden carpet. 

Mr Bee decided we must bring his new best pal, Sweep, along for a nice day out. He came with us all day, from tea in The Ride café, playing in the gardens and exploring the house. Mr Bee was so thorough with showing Sweep around, making sure he didn't miss a single tree, interesting stick or mushroom on the floor!

We spent all day exploring the wonderful gardens and parks. All three of us enjoyed kicking and throwing up the fallen leaves! Mr Bee particularly liked the miniature train and the play parks. 

Our next visit won't be far away, I am sure!

Sweet Things

- The Perks of Being a Wallflower - a solo cinema trip. Peace and quiet, phew!

- Spending the day at Alton Towers. It was strangely relaxing as it was eerily quiet. We went on EVERY ride that Mr Bee could go on at least twice! We enjoyed pancakes from a vendor and yummy hot chocolate. Even getting soaked through on the rapids was worth it. Maybe a few more years until the bee can ride Oblivion though, as much as he wants to!

- Finding a big sheet of bubble wrap for the bee to play with. It has been made into a den, a bed and been squished a lot! Simple pleasures.

- Having a late night with the boys, playing cars and sipping hot chocolate, with cream and marshmallows of course!

- Layering up for the chilly evenings, thick socks and wooly cardigans are my favourite.

- The house is still in a bit of a mess due to redecorating but hopefully we will have some normality restored this weekend once the living/dining room is finished. 

- Looking forward to a weekend of countryside walks and birthday parties.

Oak Farm

Today we visited Oak Farm Park with Anna and Isaac. Nana has been on nights so in the morning we had to be super quiet. This is hard when you are 2. He has discovered a jigsaw app on my phone which he absolutely loves. That kept him happy for a whole 5 minutes before we went out!
We played in the soft play, on the bouncy castle, on the seesaw toys, on the tractors, we raced around and around on the pedal go karts, bounced on the huge sunken trampolines, played in the sand, visited the animals, drank hot chocolate and played the piano.
The boys had so much fun, and our inner children came out to play too, on the trampolines and the go karts!
Perfect day!

Weekender

It has been a lovely weekend. 

Friday started with a morning in the office, followed by a whole afternoon in the kitchen. We made vegetable soup, baked yummy chocolate and raspberry muffins and fresh loaves of bread.

 Saturday we found ourselves in the woods with a picnic of Fridays makings. We sat amongst the trees and enjoyed our fayre. I wore my gifted boots for the first time. I hope they break in quickly, I got a nasty blister :(

 We came home to play lego quietly, sit and enjoy the mild afternoon in the garden and bake yet more cakes.  Chocolate and vanilla fairy cakes this time.

Sunday morning, we walked to the foggy, dew covered park. It was chilly but we were wrapped up in our cardis, coats and mittens. We walked through the golden coloured private roads to the starbucks for a nice little warm up. Hot chocolates all round please!

Our afternoon was spent in the garden again in the lovely sun. We played with the musical instruments, animals and drew with felt tip pens. Mr Bee wrote his name all by his self for the first time. He followed the dots to form the letters only making one little mistake. Very proud Mama here!

Snippets

Never a Dull Day

Well today was an eventful day.
A trip to Calke with Anna and Isaac. Yummy lunch. Nice walk around 'my favourite big park'. Caught in torrential rain. Hiding in a shed. Back for a cuppa and cake. Emergency. Keys locked in car. Children in car. Parents outside car. Cut off on the phone by RAC. On hold for 20 more minutes before getting through to an operator. Further 20 minutes later RAC arrive followed by the police. 10 minutes later children are rescued by 'superman'. Breathe.

Sweet Things

Christmas gift buying has started which means I will be in the spirit much earlier this year!

The pox is on its way out which means we are free to go out again!

Happy to be planning lots of nice autumnal days out.

Looking forward to arranging a spring holiday, all being well.

Homemade doughnuts were mighty sweet, we really need to get back into the swing of baking again.

Date night tonight, dinner and a movie.

Making reservations for our 4th anniversary next month at this wonderful place.