Sunday School Rose Queen Weekend

We have attended the Rose Queen weekends before but this year there was a special reason for attending, Charlie is in the retinue! In the photo above there are 3 of the boys missing, here they all are. (the photos are a mixture of mine and the professional ones)

We were delighted when Charlie was asked as, apparently, being asked depends on behaviour and Sunday School attendance. We then went inside for a photo of the retiring and new queens with their retinues.

All the other children could dress up so Courtney was Little Red Riding Hood.

We had a family pic taken too.

So Saturday was crowning day of the new Rose Queen, Elise. First of all we took part in a parade around Heysham. I held the tape and walked with the boys, Mark, Sylvia and Courtney all travelled on the open top bus!

 

After we returned it was time for the service and crowning. Unbelievably there are no official photos of this and we couldn't see to take photos where we were sitting. Also, there are no photos of her after the service, she got changed too quite early on! Never mind, after the formalities it was time for the family fun afternoon! As a parent of a child in the retinue I am also expected to perform certain duties! I took charge of the key cupboard and balancing coins games, I had queues most of the afternoon! *note to self - do not volunteer for this next year!!

 

 

On Sunday we paraded again but only from school to Church this time! It was Elise's welcome service which was at St.Peter's, a lovely service in a lovely church on the edge of the bay.

 

 

School Summer Fair

It was a perfect evening for it, lovely, bright and sunny but not too hot! Lots of fun was had!

Diet Coke names!

There's a big Coca-Cola promotion going on at the moment, they have printed names on to their drink bottles! I checked the list and 'Karen' is on it but after looking for what seemed like forever (do you like the exaggeration there!) I finally found one right at the front of the fridge at work!

 

Of course we had to find 'Mark' first, at Lancaster Castle a couple of weeks back there was only 3 bottles in the fridge and one of them was his name!

 

 

 

 

Mr Snowman is finished!

I am so delighted with him and his little friends! We have bought a bigger scanner now (A3!) so I was able to scan him in whole!! I was fiddling around with photoshop how I'd like him framed and this is what I came up with. I can't wait to take him to the framers but he won't be adorning our walls until Christmas!

Father's Day

 

Happy Father's Day to Mark and Hughie, my lovely Father in Law. Of course today I also always think of my Dad who passed away 7 years ago.
We had a run out to Red Bank Farm which was lovely.

 

We invited Sylvia and Hughie for their tea, even if I do say so myself we had a gorgeous roast dinner followed by trifle!

 

This is one of the pressies that was given to Mark, I saw the chart in a magazine and just had to stitch it for him, I made it into a coaster.

Charlie and Courtney's first Rugby match!

For his Father's Day treat Mark chose to go to a Rugby match and he wanted us to all go with him. His team, St. Helen's were playing at their new ground (opened 2012) which Mark hadn't visited yet.

I wasn't sure how the children would react during the game but they have both been to Football before so I thought they'd be Ok and they were. The weather was really lovely so we hadn't the perfect day for it!

Lancaster Castle

Lancaster Castle has always hosted tours but after the prison's closure in 2011 these tours have been re-vamped to include parts of the former prison. In fact the whole of the visiting areas have been very nicely made over and even though a former prison made it a very pleasant place to visit. We were a little early for the next tour so had a very nice lunch in the café. The tour took us around the court rooms like it has always done and into the original cells. We were all brave and were locked into one and the lights were turned out! It was pitch black and your eyes didn't adjust so I can't imagine how it would have been to be in there for a great amount of time. We weren't allowed to take any photos around the court areas. We then moved onto the courtyard where we learnt the history of each addition to the castle over the years.

 

It was a little eerie when we entered 'C' wing. To think that prisoners were serving their sentences in the cells only a couple of years ago. They had been preserved exactly as they were, including graffiti on the walls.

 

 

 Our little inmates, they were told this was the one and only time we ever want to see them in a cell! LOL!

 

Charlie and Courtney had been so good on the tour we bought them a treat each from the gift shop, Courtney chose a whistle

 

 

and Charlie a sword.

 

Now the nice thing about the sword is that it had a cover so Daddy was able to join in the fun too!