Jessica and I went to see the new Star Trek film at the weekend and I wanted to share her latest film rating.
“Best film ever! One disturbing bit but can be coped with.”
Best film ever?
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Samuel developments
Boo!
Samuel is growing fast and I just wanted to boast about a few of the latest developments. He is now much better at sitting unaided, but we still have to keep a careful eye on him as he occasionally topples over. Sitting periods can now be measured in minutes instead of the ten seconds he used to manage.
Vocally he is now able to string together ga, goo, and da to make some convincing sentences. Occasionally I hear da-da but we are still waiting for the magic day when he actually means to say it. When he gets really excited we still have to suffer ear-splitting high pitched squeals and I sometimes worry that the neighbours will mistake this for something else and call social services.
Finally we have the teeth… we’ve waited a long time but we had noticed that the amount of chewing had increased dramatically over the weekend, and today we found his teeth are like busses – you wait for ages and then two come along at once. The teeth are only just poking through the lower gum but Samuel demonstrated how effective they were by biting Jessica on the nose. I’ve got load of videos and photos that I need to upload – hopefully I’ll get some time soon.
A new relative!
Cutting the tasty cake
Jessica, Samuel and myself were honoured to be guests at my sister’s wedding last weekend. Nick graduated from funkle to uncle and I gained a brother-in-law. Everything had been meticulously planned by Cara and it all went off without a hitch.
There was a tea theme to the wedding (that Jessica really approved of) and we were on the Earl Grey table which featured a cup fully of jelly bears to keep us going in between courses. The ceremony itself was short but sweet and unfortunately Samuel had to watch through the glass doors as he was a bit upset to be losing a funkle.
Samuel was very excited to see so many people in one place… he barely slept and was careful to smile at everyone he met in case there was a possibility of recruiting new minions. This was Samuel’s most complicated trip to date and I am pleased that we all coped with it well.
All in all it was a great event, Nick is a really nice guy and I welcome him into our family.
Last day in Northland
Today was the last full day of our trip visiting the in-laws and so it was decided that we should go out somewhere nice for a good walk and a chance to enjoy each other’s company (while it was still available). We headed off to Shibden Hall park which has some lovely grounds, a large pond/dammed river as well as a very unimpressive waterfall thing that Rich found pretty disappointing. There was also the house (Shibden Hall itself I guess) that I really liked the look of… maybe in a few years time I’ll have a big rambling tudor esq type mansion like this one that I can have big parties at or just sit outside quietly by myself enjoying the scenery and a good book.
Rich and I have had a lovely time up in Northland – having Sam’s doting grandparents around really lifted the load and gave us a chance to have a bit more of a break than usual. Thanks so much for having us Rich’s Mum and Dad!
Cara & Nick get hitched!
On a beautiful summers morning in Yorkshire Cara & Nick got married. Cara looked fantastic in her lovely dress with her hair up and all decorated with tiny flowers. Both her and Nick spent the day smiling and seemed over the moon to now be husband and wife.
Sadly Sam and I missed the service itself as Sam decided that just before it began he would start crying and not stop, so we ended up waiting outside as we didn’t want to disturb the service. Sam did eventually calm down and seemed to really enjoy the celebrations – he even tried to join in on the speeches after the wedding lunch!
Ah the lunch – some very yummy food was served to us including sausages and mash for the main course. After our 3 courses there was also tea and coffee and if we had eaten all our chocolate wedding favours there were still more sweets on the table! The decorations were beautiful, Cara had wanted an English tea type them so all the flowers were in little tea cups on the table and they looked great – I wish I had thought of that for my own wedding!
After we had all eaten far too much food there was a break before the evening reception started so Rich and I took Sam up into the hills for a good walk in the hopes of getting him to fall asleep. We didn’t have
much luck with getting Sam off but we did see lots of pretty lambs and Rich even posed for some photos in his lovely ushering suit.
Thankfully we did manage to get Sam off to sleep and settled him down in the cot in our hotel room and then set off downstairs to join in the evening reception. Our hotel room was just above the reception so the baby monitor worked fine and we could keep a close ear on Sam the whole time. Even so we still felt the need to go up and check on him regularly during the evening as it just felt so strange leaving him up there.
During the course of the reception even more food was consumed (barbecue food was available as well as a very tempting chocolate fountain) but both Rich and I kept to soft drinks for the evening so we didn’t get up to too much mischief. I did get a little bit of dance floor action in but quickly got too embarrassed so I ended up back chatting to some of the other guests there. Eventually I headed back up to join Sam in our hotel room – that was after spending some time removing all the hairgrips that I had holding my hair up.
Thanks so much Cara and Nick for a wonderful day – we loved being with you on this very special occasion.
Sam’s weigh in
Sam is ecstatic to be able to inform you that his new weight is 7.44 kg (16 lb 6 oz).
Sam is also trialling this new hair-do, inspired by his father’s own hair style Sam hopes that it becomes the latest trend in the baby fashion world.
Parking it at Kesley again
After a busy morning doing weekend chores Sam decided it was time to go out so we headed off to the lovely Kesley park again, excited to be able to show it off to Rich.
We dashed round quickly when we first arrived trying to find the cafe so that we could give Sam his mid afternoon bottle only to realise that the cafe seems to be in the process of being refitted… not to worry though as the sun was shining and there were plenty of picnic benches to sit at. After Sam got his milk he calmed down a little and allowed us to look round the park properly in a more leisurely fashion.
Our first stop was to the play ground that is just next to the picnic area/cafe where Sam had a go on the swings with both his dad and me. Sam also had a quick go on a little roundabout while sat on his dad’s lap but had to call it a day after that as there really isn’t that many rides that he is big enough for yet.
On our way round we saw a good few of the friendly squirrels that I had noticed some of on our first trip. These little furry guys seem so much tamer than usual and a few were very happy for Rich to get up close to take a few photos of them. There were also some of the young herons out on the lake as well as swans, curious geese, sleeping ducks and a handful of playful bright green parrots flying about our heads.
We looked wistfully at the little putting course and passed it by as we thought Sam wouldn’t get much enjoyment out of it yet. However, just being out on a sunny Saturday afternoon with my little family was very lovely – I’ll just have to learn a little patience and not wish Sam’s baby time away!
Cara comes shopping
Time seems to have really flown round here recently, somehow we are now only two weeks away from Cara’s wedding (see how surprised Sam is by this news!) and my not having anything that fit for the big day was starting to become quite a worry.
Thankfully though the future bride herself managed to spare Sam and I some of her time to take me out dress shopping, and after a good few hours of hunting we found a lovely dress that fits me and looks good! I’m very please with it and after the wedding I’ll probably try to get away with wearing it on all sorts of other occasions too… but maybe going out to the shops in it would be a little too much?
Sam was his usual well behaved self and got a few complements while out in the shops – Cara was also complemented on Sam and told her how much her son looked like her 🙂
Thanks so much for coming round Cara – very much appreciated!
A brand new getaway
Sam and I decided that as the weather was so beautiful this morning that we should go out for an adventure and find a new park (which wasn’t called Morden Hall park) to explore. I had a quick look at our local council web pages and was again unable to find any useful or helpfully laid out information on it so I had to resort to doing a search on google maps. Well google maps certainly didn’t disappoint as it found me a couple of possibilities including a place called Kelsey park.
Kelsey park is just so lovely. I had no idea that there was such a beautiful park relatively close to where we live – if I had done then I think I would have probably spent the last few years going on to everyone that I know about how it is the best park ever – and I wouldn’t have been exaggerating.
When you first enter the park you think to yourself how lovely it is – but little do you realise what lies further down that path… a little out of sight from the entrance is a wooded path way which when we were there was next to some slightly flooded ground. The flooding is caused by some of the water from the river that they’ve dammed at a few points in the parks to create a lake for the wild birds that visit there. On the lake there are geese, ducks, swans, coots and even a number of herons who have a few nests there.
While walking round the park we also discovered some other animal life, one very tame and friendly cat (who perhaps belongs to the park keeper?) lots of squirrels and a good few pigeons and other non-water birds. Apart from the wildlife, beautifully tended green areas and flower beds there is also a great children’s playground, a putting course and cafe (which only open at the weekend). There are also events held through out the year which hopefully Sam and I will be able to join in at soon.
Morden Hall revisited
It’s starting to seem like I can’t stay away from Morden Hall park at the moment as today I yet again ended up visiting the lovely place. Rich was off out at funkle Nick’s stag do for the day and I was going to be at a bit of a loose end but luckily Thea and Katie were able to come round – hooray!
Thea took us all in the car (much nicer than trying to squeeze onto a busy tram) with Sam and Katie both in their car seats at the back having a great time. Katie kept Sam amused by drawing him lots of pictures so that when I looked back to check on him he had been covered in paper which he was happily playing with.
We started off by having a good look round the gardening centre and were tempted by a good few things there. By then it was time for Sam’s lunch so we invaded the cafe and I feed Sam while being fed some of my lunch by Thea.
Refreshed and happily full we went off for an explore of the park with Katie leading the way. We wandered quite a few paths that I hadn’t been on before and in our travels encountered one of the cutest little puppies ever which both Katie and Thea would have happily smuggled home.
After much exploring and a few games of pooh sticks (Katie took a little while to understand that you need to drop the sticks so that they float under the bridge and not away from it) we headed back to the cafe for Sam’s mid-afternoon bottle and some very yummy cream tea for the mums. Sam really enjoyed playing with his cousin (as you may be able to tell from the delighted expression on his face in this photo) and laughed like anything when Katie smiled at him.
Thanks so much for coming over to see us Thea and Katie we both really enjoyed our day with you and are already looking forward to the next time!