Tick tock, tick tock

This post is not for the squeamish.

Yesterday saw a poorly boy. He was sick and generally under the weather and out of sorts.

And the I spotted this...

A tick and illness = a trip to A&E.

3 1/2 hours, one sicked on car seat, 4 tired and hungry people and one prodded about boy later and we came home with nothing to worry about and this in a jar...

Oh and a fetching hat.

He is much better today, tiggerific in fact.

The dog is doing his best put upon act and crawling into the most uncomfortable of positions.

Climbing high

The old staple of pasta with pesto meets a new audience (the black shadow underneath is the dog waiting for his turn).

It's one of Isaac's favourites.

We had a quick trip to the lavender farm and the boy and I had a short time on our own to go and see the animals whilst Danna looked after Isabel.

And then we had sandcastles in the big sandbox - the sand was a much better consistency than on the beach.

And then a tired girl came up in the sling whilst there was playing on the swings and general climbing.

It's been very windy here and too cold to brave the beach so we've been playing in the park instead. Swings are a big hit with both of them.

And I gauge how big Isaac's getting by what he can reach to climb. He can now climb up into the high tunnel on his own which he was too small to do in the summer.

He's been able to climb this one for quite some time but it doesn't seem to get boring.

The marble run is going strong.

And we had a visit from a young male sparrowhawk (I was told what it was).

A windy beach

Oh and a marble run too. Very satisfying it is too.

Rainy day

Even on the coldest, windiest and rainiest of days the bear needs to go out and what's the point of having small children unless you make them share the misery? We managed to have a little fun though by making Isaac chief dog biscuit monitor (the dog is happy with this arrangement too as he gets them whole and not broken bits).

And of course there was a lot of puddle jumping - well as much as we could do when there aren't many puddles.

And then what every garden needs in the rain is erm.... more water....?

Isabel wasn't the only one chewing the furnishings at being stuck indoors.

And so we had to make our own entertainment - island hopping.

And then at the end of the day the boy went upstairs to have his bath... she wasn't happy at being left behind. (Thankfully she hasn't started climbing yet.)

Oh Deer

We've been here many times but not yet been to the Deer Park at Snettisham (in part because it's not cheap). But this week we decided to go and as they're doing work on it the ticket was cheaper - it would have been a good deal if we'd gone on the safari...

The best bit for a small boy though was the collection of ride on toys!

We did eventually persuade him to leave the tractors and see some animals though and he was very careful in making sure that all the chickens got their fair share.

There were some very pretty herdwick sheep.

A couple of friendly ponies - I'm quite proud of my boy that he was willing to feed one as he was so scared of big animals until relatively recently.

And then there were the goats. Boisterous, greedy and surprisingly gentle but a little too in-your-face for the boy.

We then didn't go on the deer safari as Isaac wasn't keen on the tractor and trailer arrangement. It's a shame as my mum and I both wanted to see the deer but I'm not going to force him to do things outside his comfort zone. We'll go back another time eventually I'll get to see the deer.

The girl is growing teeth. We've got 2 through and another on the way.

As is common at the moment the boy grabbed my camera. He takes some very random thing (shots of the ceiling and bits of floor etc) but every now and then he gets someone in shot.

I don't have the patience or skills of Kat to produce such artful pictures but my boy too can do an empty sofa shot.

Treasure

OK we're back in business so I'll catch up with what's been going on...

The boy has discovered the dolls house. It goes very quiet apart from a bit of storytelling and he's having a lovely time with it. I'm not sure the house will ever be the same again though...

The girl is loving being mobile. She uses the wooden trike to get about the place and is pulling herself up on anything she can get hold of - including the bucket of water for the dog.