The view from the window

The roof is almost fixed.

She has to go higher.

Monday was Passover so we spent the day with Granny & Grandpa. The children were both very busy, Isaac with his train and bits of track.

And Isabel had to take some important calls (on the remote control).

After shunning the buggy for most of her life it has suddenly become interesting. All the more so if it gets you closer to the action.

But a ride to the shops is acceptable too.

Dresses and crawling don't go well together (you end up crawling inside your skirts) but as she's more upright now and the weather has been lovely she wore a dress for a few brief moments today (she then got wet & muddy so had yet another change of outfit). Wearing a dress doesn't stop her climbing or anything.

She's signing 'bird' here. Her main signs are 'more', 'daddy' and 'bird'.

Cotswold Sunday

We pretended to be rich today and went off to various bits of the Cotswolds. First to Kingham Farmers' Market. Lovely cheeses and bread and banoffee pudding amongst other things.

And then down the road to Daylesford. I could eat this place up if only I had the money.

And then down the road again to eat our picnic of things we'd bought at the above two places and play on the zip slide (everyone but Isabel), the big swing (all of us in various combinations) and the big climbing frame (just Isaac).

Back to reality

Everyone is back home. Washing has been done but cases are still not fully unpacked. But the big news is we have scaffolding. Finally. After nearly 4 months we might be able to use the front bedroom again. The roof started leaking just before Christmas but I'm not sure it'll be finished before Easter, maybe the week after.

All I have to do now is find somewhere in the house for everything that's currently in the front bedroom...

Not a day goes by that there isn't a train track built. Often many are built in a day and destroyed by dog or child. I am happy to build track. But I get a little bored playing trains.

Isabel likes to help....

I'm not a knitter. I have tried every so often but it's not something that comes easily to me but I can sew squares together. My mum found a bag of random squares that someone had knitted but not done anything else with. There are some very odd colour combinations but enough of these plain squares to make a blanket. The rest will be delightful if not tasteful. As usual when a needle appears Isaac wanted to do some sewing. So I will also have some unpicking to do before I can do any more sewing.

Down on the farm

For a while Isaac has talked about when we went to feed the hens and goats so we went back to the deer park at Snettisham today (I've still not set eyes on a deer there...). It was a lovely sunny day again but a bracing wind so we all had to wrap up a bit.

Hens were duly fed. Billy goats made Isabel cry - they are rather boisterous and jump up at the fence and Isaac is wary of them. The rest of the animals went down well but again I am wondering how they can charge the entry price they do.

A huge tree stump was very tempting.

The gravel and later the bark chippings provided endless fun.

There were tractors to ride on

and climb on

and slides to go down

The main bit of the playground is designed for over 7s and if busy really isn't suitable for smaller children but in a quiet moment the boy disappeared to be next seen at the top asking how he could get down again. Once he'd worked it out with a little assistance he was then off up again and only came back down when a party of big kids appeared.

Messy foods and high places

Today has been a day for tactile foods. Both children bathed in watermelon this morning (should have done it before the shower instead of after).

There was a little competitive climbing in the park.

And then ice creams after dinner.