Hair raising experience!

Courtney's hair is (finally!) starting to get longer. So the time has come to start practising ponytails! Due to me having my disability this responsibility is going to have to fall onto Mark! (Yeah, good luck Mark!! LOL!) At least he has a willing 'victim.' I think she has been waiting so long to be pampered that it's all a novelty to her. Not bad I suppose for a very first attempt! Maybe a little more practise is needed, LOL!

Splash park and naming ceremony!

I'd planned that if it was a nice day as forecasted that we would head to Happy Mount Park to the splash zone. I figured if we set off early enough it wouldn't be as busy, we got there a little too early as it didn't open until 10:00! It was 1/4 to so we decided to wait as then we'd be first in. After a few minutes a small crowd had formed and they let us in so it was worth waiting! We went straight to a bench and got Charlie and Courtney changed. They had a great time!

Charlie is under there somewhere!

Back home and after lunch I had a mission on my hands!! Look at their school uniform pile and it all needed naming!!!! Once I got into it, it didn't seem too bad but I was glad it was done for another year!! It's all seeming very real now that in a few days I will have 2 school children!

Courtney's Schultuete.

Do you remember when Charlie started school 2 years ago his schultuete? I explained how our sister in law is German and it's a tradition in Germany to be given a cone with treats in before starting school, well now it's Courtney's turn to start school the tradition came to her! Look at the size of the cone, it's as big as her, LOL!

Charlie got one too! (Courtney got one when he started school.)

There were so many gifts inside! Courtney's all Hello Kitty themed! A full pencil case, tissues sweeties and chocolate!

Not sure what you do with the cones after but Charlie and Courtney found a good use!

Embsay Steam Railway and Bolton Abbey.

In Embsay there is a fabulous craft shop (Samuel Taylors) which I love to visit but Embsay is also home to a steam railway museum and you can ride over to Bolton Abbey on a steam train. It was something that I thought every time I visited the craft shop that we'd do but never had. We did attempt it once and I can't remember the reason why but in the end we didn't do it.
So instead we planned a day trip around the steam train and just nipped into the craft shop! My friend Elizabeth came with us and what started out as a cloudy day actually turned into a blissful sunshiney day! I'd looked up the train times before we left and noticed they ran every 45 minutes so we wouldn't have to wait too long in between trains. We had just missed one when we arrived so bought our tickets then decided to go the the craft shop first, we had planned to do this last and only if we had time but it just made sense to go then. We only had a short time as we wanted to be back for the next train. We arrived back to the station in good time and had a nice look around.

It was soon time to board the train, Charlie was very excited!

 

It was a very pleasant journey and would recommend it to anyone. The scenery was beautiful.

 

 

I think the journey was about 20 minutes, it possibly would have been nicer to have a little longer but 20 minutes is plenty for a 6 and 4 year old!

 

 

At our arrival at Bolton Abbey station we decided to eat lunch in the cafe on the platform. We knew the Bolton Abbey ruins were a walk away and weren't sure what the facilities would be like there. We had made the right choice, Bolton Abbey was a good half hour walk away! By now the sun was blaring, still pleasant but starting to feel hot! We reapplied sun lotion before entering the park area where the ruins are. Again I'd looked online before we set off but the ruins totally overwhelmed me. I'd seen pictures but actually being there was quite emotive.

 

 

Charlie and Courtney of course just enjoyed venturing around the ruins whilst I was appreciating that at some point it would have been quite a majestic building.

 

 

The ruins are set in a lovely park area and we had a wander around. At the bottom of the hill there is a lake with stepping stones! Stepping stones with large gaps!! Courtney was desperate to have a go across them but it took all my effort to get Charlie across, we had to jump across some gaps!!

Courtney made do with a paddle which ended up as a full on stripped down swim, LOL!

 

 

Once dressed again we made our way over to the ice cream van, yummy! It was then time to leave and once we'd climbed the hill back to the top we were all totally cream crackered!! We made our way over to the gift shop area to see if we could find out a number of a taxi as Elizabeth and I didn't like the thought of another half hour walk and I felt there was no way Charlie and Courtney would have managed it. They didn't have any numbers but a lady very kindly offered us a lift back, we were so grateful. Once back at the station we were nicely rested and the train was in so great timing. I made my way to the front to take a photo.

 

 

and when I got to the door to board everyone was looking out of the carriage window.

 

 

The journey back was equally as lovely, I think Courtney was feeling very relaxed, bless her!

 

 

Buble & Bounce!

Such great fun with Kathryn, Jessica and Daniel at Guy's Hamlet, near Preston. A field full of giant inflatables! For Kathryn and I it was very tempting to try them out ourselves but we managed to resist temptation, LOL!

Disney excitement!

We have been thinking about this for so long and now it is reality I am beyond excited! As I have mentioned before my 40th Birthday is next year, in May. There is a half term in May and so the planning began! As Charlie and Courtney have 2 weeks off in the half term (most schools only have one week) we have decided to take full advantage of both weeks.
The first week we are going to Disneyland Paris, Monday to Friday!! We are staying on site so can take full advantage of all the extra magic hours and once we watch the light show and fireworks at night we are only a 10 minute walk back to the hotel :D The lovely thing is that Charlie will celebrate his 7th Birthday whilst there too, on the Thursday.

On the Friday evening we will fly to Barcelona ready for the second week, a cruise on board Disney Magic!! We are beginning to be cruise enthusiasts and for me a Disney cruise is going to be the most wonderful thing on earth!! Isn't she a beautiful ship!

She is due to be re-imagined (refurbished) at the end of the year and the changes look fantastic, I can't wait to see them for myself. The ports we will visit are Villefranche, France where we can visit either Monte Carlo, Cannes or Nice. The other 3 ports are in Italy, La Spezia where we will visit Pisa and cross something else off my 'places to go' list, the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Second Italian port is Civitavecchia which is the port for Rome. Mark and I did a weekend trip there a few years ago so we are going to look at what excursions are available somewhere else. The last port is Naples where we can visit Pompeii if we like.
As if that isn't enough Disney magic we are waiting until flights are released before we properly decide but there is talk of going to London the weekend before to see the Lion King! It will be the first time in London for Courtney. Then we will take the Eurostar to Paris!

(*update- we have now booked our flights etc and are going to London the weekend before, Yay!)

Our tiny fish!

Charlie has been learning to swim for about 18 months now and Karen, his teacher is starting to offer group lessons which we feel he will gain more from so the time came for Courtney to start learning to swim. The easiest thing to do was let her take over Charlie's lesson. She was so excited the morning of her first lesson and couldn't wait to get in! We'd been and chosen her some nice pink goggles and armbands so she was ready! There was no problem with confidence! We have taken them both swimming so we knew she would be alright but this was swimming with somebody else but she was amazing! She's just taken to it so well and I'm sure it won't be long before she is swimming independently.