Interesting times
Aspinall's zoo was great, but it did had the problem that as its a good zoo for the animals its not so good for the viewing public! We spent all day there and Alex had fun. There were lots of interesting small cats as well as a bit of a safari drive in an old army truck.
We got home, ate packed up and prepared to set off early the next morning. On Friday morning we were forced to eat bacon buttys to clean out the fridge, it was hard! We then headed back to the Kent and East Sussex so Simon could get Alex round the sheds, taking him to 105 locos, even if them 10 of them were diesels.
After that we went to Lullingston Roman villa, which was lovely, but Alex was totally out of sorts and running a temperature so he wasn't good company going round it! We then got the train to St Pancras and on to York, and Alex spent most of the trips curled up semi concious in my lap. We got back, waited for the others to arrive and then Stephen and I set off to the supermarket very late in order to avoid the queues on Saturday. It took ages, but at least it was out of the way.
Saturday Alex was a bit out of it too, but I managed to get all the prep done around him. We had a fairly relaxing evening, then it was time for bed before the shit hit the fan!
Sunday morning went OK, but everything rang late. I am so lucky to have loads of helpful friends to finish all the prep while I greeted my guests, I've promised to return the favours for their ruby weddings next year.
After Paul turned up with the bouncy slide and we'd bought all of Alex's ride on toys in the kids all weighed in and had fun. It was a nice afternoon even if we had to repair to the big marquee rather then having it in the garden. Everyone left about 5, much later then anticipated, but thats a good sign. Eva and Megan on really well, so Cath, Ruth and I are going to try and get all the kids together over summer. It was nice to have Becky and her 3 there as well. We had about 25 adults and 10 kids, not a bad turn out. The Dixons came down by train from Pickering and seemed to enjoy themselves.
After they'd all gone, David turned the pasta salad into a rather mediocre pasta bake, which I should have made myself. Julia and I finished a litre of spiced honey cider I'd bought in Kent, and it was very nice.
On Monday we tried our hands at felting. A Kindle cover for me and a net book case for Julia. Unfortunately Julia's was bigger then we'd allowed for so was a bit tight on wool and is a bit thin, and the work it needs requires a felting needle tool, which we broke by using too thin a sponge for it. Oh well, the replacement needles are in the post along with a proper needle brush so I can finish our felting.
I noticed a rash when I bathed Alex on Monday night, the kind of thing I get after a viral infection, but not too bad.
On Tuesday morning the rash had spread and Alex seemed miserable, and had a cough, so I rang NHS direct to see if I could get him in somewhere. By the time I finished talking to the nurse Ale was bouncing off the walls, and seemed fine, so I gave up!
On Tuesday opened all the remaining presents and then headed into Pickering to the Jubilee celebrations at the castle. It was fun, Alex made a crown and we had a go at some tombolas, Julia won a really nice corkscrew, we got nothing, but I did buy some nice buns. Alex also insisted on climbing the stairs to the motte, so guess who had to carry him half the way up and all the way back down! Having a manky baby is doing my back in. Julia got a bus back to York and I got the 13:00 train home for a quiet afternoon. We had an early dinner, packed up baby, cats and all the luggage and came home.
Yesterday there were lots of things we could have done but Alex and I were knackered and the weather was nasty, so we had a quiet day and got some washing done.
Today we've had a busy day, 6 adults and 8 kids came over for Alex's birthday shared lunch, and I actually put candles on the cake this time and Alex blew them out and we sang happy birthday. It was quite crazy, but fun. We packed everyone off to the sure start centre for the safety day and Cath and I were the 1st people in, followed by Liz and Lykke. It seems to have been a blow out, but not telling people at the centre it was on did not help. We only found out about it from Jo Ro! There was no fire engine though, such a let down.
Simon called before he came home, and I was talking to him and telling Alex he could talk to him in a minute, so he gave me a dirty looked and picked up the extension phone! Clever boy.
We had a flying visit from Simon as he had to go to the station to get the van for beer and to check if anything has been stolen as the padlock has been forced off our work shop coach and the S&T storage van. At first glance it appears not. Thats what I get for wishing for a quiet evening to myself!
We got home, ate packed up and prepared to set off early the next morning. On Friday morning we were forced to eat bacon buttys to clean out the fridge, it was hard! We then headed back to the Kent and East Sussex so Simon could get Alex round the sheds, taking him to 105 locos, even if them 10 of them were diesels.
After that we went to Lullingston Roman villa, which was lovely, but Alex was totally out of sorts and running a temperature so he wasn't good company going round it! We then got the train to St Pancras and on to York, and Alex spent most of the trips curled up semi concious in my lap. We got back, waited for the others to arrive and then Stephen and I set off to the supermarket very late in order to avoid the queues on Saturday. It took ages, but at least it was out of the way.
Saturday Alex was a bit out of it too, but I managed to get all the prep done around him. We had a fairly relaxing evening, then it was time for bed before the shit hit the fan!
Sunday morning went OK, but everything rang late. I am so lucky to have loads of helpful friends to finish all the prep while I greeted my guests, I've promised to return the favours for their ruby weddings next year.
After Paul turned up with the bouncy slide and we'd bought all of Alex's ride on toys in the kids all weighed in and had fun. It was a nice afternoon even if we had to repair to the big marquee rather then having it in the garden. Everyone left about 5, much later then anticipated, but thats a good sign. Eva and Megan on really well, so Cath, Ruth and I are going to try and get all the kids together over summer. It was nice to have Becky and her 3 there as well. We had about 25 adults and 10 kids, not a bad turn out. The Dixons came down by train from Pickering and seemed to enjoy themselves.
After they'd all gone, David turned the pasta salad into a rather mediocre pasta bake, which I should have made myself. Julia and I finished a litre of spiced honey cider I'd bought in Kent, and it was very nice.
On Monday we tried our hands at felting. A Kindle cover for me and a net book case for Julia. Unfortunately Julia's was bigger then we'd allowed for so was a bit tight on wool and is a bit thin, and the work it needs requires a felting needle tool, which we broke by using too thin a sponge for it. Oh well, the replacement needles are in the post along with a proper needle brush so I can finish our felting.
I noticed a rash when I bathed Alex on Monday night, the kind of thing I get after a viral infection, but not too bad.
On Tuesday morning the rash had spread and Alex seemed miserable, and had a cough, so I rang NHS direct to see if I could get him in somewhere. By the time I finished talking to the nurse Ale was bouncing off the walls, and seemed fine, so I gave up!
On Tuesday opened all the remaining presents and then headed into Pickering to the Jubilee celebrations at the castle. It was fun, Alex made a crown and we had a go at some tombolas, Julia won a really nice corkscrew, we got nothing, but I did buy some nice buns. Alex also insisted on climbing the stairs to the motte, so guess who had to carry him half the way up and all the way back down! Having a manky baby is doing my back in. Julia got a bus back to York and I got the 13:00 train home for a quiet afternoon. We had an early dinner, packed up baby, cats and all the luggage and came home.
Yesterday there were lots of things we could have done but Alex and I were knackered and the weather was nasty, so we had a quiet day and got some washing done.
Today we've had a busy day, 6 adults and 8 kids came over for Alex's birthday shared lunch, and I actually put candles on the cake this time and Alex blew them out and we sang happy birthday. It was quite crazy, but fun. We packed everyone off to the sure start centre for the safety day and Cath and I were the 1st people in, followed by Liz and Lykke. It seems to have been a blow out, but not telling people at the centre it was on did not help. We only found out about it from Jo Ro! There was no fire engine though, such a let down.
Simon called before he came home, and I was talking to him and telling Alex he could talk to him in a minute, so he gave me a dirty looked and picked up the extension phone! Clever boy.
We had a flying visit from Simon as he had to go to the station to get the van for beer and to check if anything has been stolen as the padlock has been forced off our work shop coach and the S&T storage van. At first glance it appears not. Thats what I get for wishing for a quiet evening to myself!