Back To The Park.....Again

It was back to the park for us again today. You would think we don't have parks at home or at the least we don't ever go to any because the girls are going bonkers about the ones over here. Perhaps it is because there are never anybody else at them or perhaps it is because they are new and different, I don't know.

We went back to Emberton Park this afternoon and walked to it again. It is quite a hike from the house but it is a lovely walk and quite a nature walk. We saw a swan sitting on her nest and her signets had hatched this morning, Lily caught a butterfly that she carried all the way home, we saw wildflowers to numerous to mention, we saw, Canada Geese, mallards, and many other birds and the list goes on and on.

The area of the park we played at today was the play area with the huge slide and then we headed to the gravel pit with the rope and pulley system. The girls would have spent hours there had we not had a 40 minute walk home for our tea.

23 years ago tomorrow Jacob and I were married in this church. We walked passed it on our way to the park and the picture came out really well

the swan and her signet

On our way home

Ropes and pulleys
Sending gravel down a chute
weeeeeee
Rosie playing with a pulley

Gravel Pit

Extreme slide
The steps leading up to the slides

Last night Lily lost a tooth and was visited by both the US and UK tooth Fairies.

A Lily Day

Today I took the girls up to see one of my friends who owns a livery yard. Lily hasn't ridden a horse in over a week and she is starting to get some sort of withdrawal so I knew the next best thing was a trip to see Julie. Lily wasn't able to ride but she was able to get a horse fix which appears to have helped a lot and if we don't get down to see my cousin Stephen in the next few days I do at least have the name of a place close by where she can ride.

She always rides when we are here so it is just a matter of time but she is starting to bug me about it and I promised her she would.

The farrier happened to be their at the same time as us and he gave Lily a pair of shoes to take home with her and as she was standing next to the Thoroughbred who they belonged to for a photograph she moved her hoof and came she right down on Lily's foot. Unfortunately Lily was wearing Cr0c's. It could have been a lot worse but Lily's heel is purple tonight but in true Lily style she did not let on how much it hurt. Lily is so proud of her shoes and in some irony once we realised Lily was OK we turned around to see that the horse was standing on Lily's pink Cr0c and it looked just as if she was wearing her shoe.

The Farrier sterilizing the horseshoes so that we can bring them back into the country

Lily so proud of her shoes
Lily with "First In Show"
"First In Show" right before treading on Lil's foot.

The hooded horses....but I'm not sure why
Oh that familiar smile
these horses were huge but was she nervous? No!

Just Add Water

Children don't come with instructions but one thing is for sure it doesn't matter what country or continent you are on if they did one of of them would be: just add water to have fun. Today was a cousins and water day here at Nannie and Grandpa's house. This house truly is a child's dream come true. Firstly it would appear that the word "no' does not exist and secondly every thing a child needs to have fun is either here or magically appears. On Friday Jeannes son Chris came for a visit and in true boy style left the toilet seat up so when Rosie Posie used the loo she fell in! Poor little thing was screaming, Mama Mama at the top of her lungs and I ran in to see just her head and arms showing. The toilets over here are much higher so Rosie has a hard time getting on them so she didn't notice the seat was "missing" so within the hour Grandpa had made her a step stool to aid her in her needs. Bam, just like that.

In their garden they have a lovely summer house which for the next 3 weeks has been turned into a "clubhouse" for kidlets complete with kid size tables and chairs etc etc. Today it was filled with juice, cookies, cakes and chips and anything else that makes a child's face light up. Ice creams and popsicles were served twice and that was the extent of lunch! I nearly had a heart attack but my father said it won't hurt them just once leave them alone! He was right and they loved it. They helped them selves to all the goodies and splashed around in the pool taking it in turns to teach each other English and American games Like Marco Polo and What Time Is It Mr Wolf?. I really don't know how long they played for but it was hours.

Even though neither of my girls were tired they were both fast asleep by 8pm.

The myth, the man and the legend, and myself

Nannies bottom and Rosie
Tiffy Lu, Lily and Elise
Erin
My sister asking who splashed her???

Simply A Beautiful Life.

Today was a park day. This morning I took the girls to the park for a couple of hours and then this afternoon nannie and I took them and baby cousin Erin to another park to feed the ducks and play some more. It was pure bliss and the girls were in heaven and probably walked further than they have ever walked in their lives. Lily ate Nannie and Grandpa out of house and home tonight she even ate food straight off of Auntie Sally's plate.
Getting to spend so much time with my sister is fantastic. Tomorrow we are going to do a little shoppy together. This evening we ran a quick errand together, just one, just for a minute, and laughed so hard so much. I love her. She is fantastic with the girls and just loves them to bits. Anyhoo on to the pictures.

rosie and Erin feeding the ducks

Nannie and Erin
Lily in a spin
Reaching the top
Rosie on the horse. This is the exact same horse that was there when I was Rosie's age. It is such a dinosaur.

Beautiful wild flowers

Swan sitting on her eggs
Rocket ship


I have no idea how this keeps happening but it is after midnight again so I am going to go to bed.

Something Is Fishy.

Today was the sort of day that Lily dreams of when she spends time with her grandparents. Firstly her Grandpa foolishly told her last night before she went to bed that she could go in with him when she woke up in the morning. I tried to explain to him that that was a really bad idea because she would be up so early but of course he thought it was fine. Fine that is until we stayed up talking until 2.am. talking. Right on cue Miss Lily woke me up at 5.15 am. to ask if she could go and get in with Grandpa. I said no, not yet go back to sleep and by the time she woke up again at 9.45 Grandpa was already awake.

Not one to give up easily she made the same deal with Grandpa for tomorrow and Grandpa and I have vowed to have an earlier night.

When asked what she wanted to do today she immediately said,"go fishing" so of course that is what we did. I love to go down to the river here and it is literally just behind my fathers house and takes a 3 minute walk to get there.

It's a funny thing how the girls always end up in the river with the fish!

Rosie's first fishing lesson from Grandpa with a fishing rod.

Awww, love this one
Awww, this on too.

All ready to get started

I can do this
Ha ha look at me somehow I got wet!

I have no idea what tomorrow holds. Maybe some horseriding. That would be lovely. Whatever we do it will be done at a slower pace in cooler weather and outside in the glorious English countryside.

Rosie was quite cuddly with my father today so he is much happier but he has told everyone who will listen about what happened. I am thankful that he understands and doesn't just think she is obnoxious. Heck she can be obnoxious but this was not an act.

The Good, The Funny and The Ugly!

The kids amazed me this morning by sleeping so late. Rosie went for a marathon 13.5 hours woke up in a weird and sad mood so I took her with me into the bathroom while I showered and she promptly fell fast asleep on the floor. I left her there since she was on a nice thick towel and she slept for another 2 hours and thankfully woke up her usual happy go lucky self again.

Sadly I did indeed photograph her sleeping on the floor cos that is the kind of person I am.

THis was my view as I got out of the shower and went to pick up my towel. (No, I didn't have my camera with me I re-enacted the scene, even I am not that weird)


Once we finally got everyone dressed we headed off on a top secret mission for Grandpa's birthday. More on that next week. He made me laugh cos when we got back he questioned LIly like crazy trying to find out where we had been knowing full well it was Top Secret, but she did not spill the beans. He is a silly man cos if he had asked Rosie she would have told him. On our walk down the street we saw this thatched cottage which really made Lily's head spin especially since it even has a thatched bird on the roof.


Later on the girls were playing and I needed to run an errand so I asked them if they wanted to come with me or stay with Grandpa, Lily wanted to come and rRosie wanted to stay. This errand literally took 3 minutes. By the time we got bak, Rosie was hysterical and Grandpa was sad. Now every single time I leave the room Rosie panics and Daddy's feelings are hurt cos he feels that Rosie doesn't love him and everyone loves him. He knows full well this is not the case but his big heart got in the way. Every chance he gets he tries to re-assure her that he is a wonderful person. One step forward, 2 steps back.

I leave you with this. She was just coming out of the toilet and heading back to the sitting room. Tee hee hee.

URGHHH...I have turned this photo 10 times and it won't show up straight so you will have to tilt your head, sorry.

The Girls Just Love it Here.

We arrived in the UK this morning at 6.30am and the girls have not stopped all day even though they only got a few hours of sleep on the flight over. Lily nearly crushed her Grandpa to death with the bear like hug that she gave him and Rosie was not about to be out done even if she was initially somewhat apprehensive the apprehension didn't last long. It is amazing how they go for months without seeing my family and just pick up where they left off.

Rosie absolutely floored me this afternoon when she came running up to me and asked if she could go shopping with Nannie.....say what??? This is a child that never wants me out of her sight. I of course said yes and off they trotted just the 2 of them. She is so comfortable here.

They spent the day playing with Grandpa in the garden and then Auntie Sally came over for a visit and Nannie bought the girls a little pool to play in and their Uncle Mike and I entertained them. Cousin Heather came by after school and it was just some silly times with cousins and family. Everybody stayed for dinner and then Auntie Sally bathed the girls and I finally put 2 exhausted jet lagged children to sleep.

I only had one mild heart attack and that was when my very capable Father taught my very clumsy child how to use an electric drill. She was his helper. I knew she was in good hands so I just left them alone in his workshop. She was so proud of herself. Lily adores my Daddy....and I understand why. Rosie referred to Nannie as, the big girl and that cracked us both up. She asked me, "mummy where is the big girl who was right here?" It took me a minute to work it out I thought she meant Heather but at that point Heather hadn't arrived.

If days can be defined as perfect, this was perfection with the exception of Jacob's absence.

The girls and Grandpa
Rosie in the pool while Lily and Heather played "big Girl" stuff
Rosie and her big girl, AKA Nannie
Lily