Watching guinea pigs

Due to the Grand Prix being on my Birthday weekend again, Rich ended up being away for most of it so we decided to celebrate it together on the Monday instead. I really wanted to do a family trip out somewhere so after a quick online session to find out what sort of amusements were available locally we agreed on a little place called Ponderosa.

Little jockey Sam

This place is full of animals – they seem to have a little bit of everything from some rabbits and guinea pigs that you can pet to a little aquarium, some reptiles and insects, farm animals and most popularly with Sam some ponys that will give toddlers rides.

Sam still doesn’t seem to be overly keen on looking at large animals, though he did really enjoy watching the bunnies hopping about between enclosures. He was a little startled by the llamas and not very impressed by the reindeers (they have clicky knees – did anyone else know this?) Luckily there were also a few play areas with slides and swings which he did really like, oh – and a pond with ducks on that he spent a good amount of time shouting ‘Fabo!’ at.

We all had a lovely day out and as I also got so many wonderful presents it ended up being a really nice extended Birthday. Thanks to all of you for your lovely Birthday wishes and thanks also for all my beautiful cards and fantastic presents 🙂

My lovely friends

Sam and I have recently returned from a short trip back south where we stayed for a few days with some of my lovely friends. Getting away from all the stresses of buying our new home has been really lovely – being pregnant and stressed is not a good mix but hopefully there isn’t too much longer until we do get into our new home.

We were very well looked after at Esther’s home, Sam shared a room with his friend Tom and they spent a good few nights chattering away together before finally falling asleep. I ended up with an en-suite bedroom while Esther & Ben got to enjoy sleeping on their sofa downstairs! The food provided was also of an excellent standard and included freshly baked meringue too – so very yummy.  I would definitely stay again.

Getting to spend a few days down South also gave me the chance to catch up with a number of other good mum friends that I have made with Sam over the last few years. Kim, Mark, Abi & Isa it was so very good to see you all – Sam and I have missed having  you just down the road from us and being able to spend some quality time with you all has been fantastic. We also got to catch up with some friends at the play cafe and one of the local toddler groups and Sam just settled straight back in to playing with all his favourite toys.

Thank you all for the wonderful welcome (Kim & Esther especially) it was great to see you all again and hopefully some of  you will be able to make it up to Tea Towers 3 when it is established!

King of the castle

After a month in our temporary home of hilly Yorkshire I’m happy to be able to report that we are starting to feel quite settled up here. There are plenty of places to visit with a toddler so Sam and I are kept amused every day. We’ve registered at two of the local Children’s centres and have been along to a number of different toddler groups in the area. I’m starting to get the hang of the bus routes (though I miss the Croydon tram) and can now leave the house without a map most days!

There are also a few other things that I’m enjoying while here, I’ve discovered a nice new wool shop that I may well visit a few times during my stay. I’ve also signed up for a 5 week basic sewing course which could be fun as well as perhaps a good way for me to get to know some of the other local mums.

Sam is absolutely loving staying with his grandparents. He rushes about the house each evening and bosses everyone around. He is being kept well supplied with books from the local library and is growing a whole new collection of toys here too. Sam is also enjoying having a new bed – one whole single bed just for him! He has only fallen out twice and seems to be very excited that he can get in and out of it by himself.

Biker Sam

Though we are all really enjoying our time here in Yorkshire we are also looking forward to our more permanent move to Manchester soon. We have finally decided on a house we like there and are part way through the process of buying it. Hopefully it all goes through quickly and we can start to set up home in Tea Towers 3. The house is a really lovely 3 bedroom semi-detached with larger garden than we had before as well as a garage for the car we hope to own in the next couple of years.

So living up here in Northland seems to be going really well and we are all feeling happy and at home. Something needs to be done about all the hills round here though…

Well it was a rainy bank holiday weekend but we had to make at least one trip out each day to avoid Samuel climbing the walls. However, one huge advantage of being back at the family home is that there are plenty of scenic places within walking distance.

Samuel loves the open space

Already popular are the woods at the end of the road and the car-splash (ford), where Sam watches each car go through before demanding “again!” – expecting me to magically produce another vehicle on the road.

On Monday we had a look for somewhere we could get to on the bus which severely limited our choice. In the end we chose Bradford and the National Media Museum where they were having a pirate event in celebration of the latest Pirates of the Caribbean film. We got there a bit early and found (unsurprisingly) that there isn’t that much for 2.5 year old to do in the museum… but Sam did have a lot of fun in the video game area due to the huge number of buttons that were waiting to be pressed.

Sam and I try the original Mario Kart

I had a great time when Jessica found that her generously donated 50p bought me a long session on Point Blank 2 (I got on the scoreboard!).

My partner had issues with the colour of the gun

The pirate fun wasn’t quite ready so we made a quick trip up to the more interactive exhibits upstairs and Samuel learnt about refraction pressed lots of buttons. Finally Samuel got to make his pirate hat and flag which he was very pleased with.

Shiver me timbers

That brought us nicely up to lunchtime when we found that Bradford has very little to offer the hungry family… or maybe we were just in the wrong part.

I’ve finally got round to uploading the photos from our final trip to the play cafe. You can find them here but you’ll need to get the password from Me or Jessica if you want to be able to download them. You need to right-click on the link and select “save target as” – you’ll then be able to download the ZIP file that holds all the photos.

On our last Saturday living in the South we arranged to meet up with Kim and her girls at the local soft play area… however, when we got there a few other friends were also waiting.

My good friends Kim and Esther had very kindly organised a surprise leaving party for us there and had reserved an area, decorated with bunting, brought along some very delicious fairy cakes as well as inviting so many of our other friends.

We all had a lovely time, the kids all played so well together and I loved getting a chance to catch up with all my mum friends. Being able to give hugs to all their little ones who I’ve seen growing up over the last two years was really special too. Thank you all so much for such a lovely surprise!

All our photos from the day will be appearing here soon – we’ll put them up behind a password as I’m not sure who is happy with having their photo up online or not. Be sure to let me know if you want the password to access them.

This is a photo I took looking out over Huddersfield from a spot near to where we are living at the moment. Samuel has been even more active than usual which I put down to the improved air quality up here 😉

We’ll be restarting our house hunt soon and hopefully moving to the (much flatter) South of Manchester. Jessica will like the lack of hills but the views won’t be as good.

Jessica thinks hills are great