Fun activities

When Lily was last visiting we discovered a good place to take children to use up their energy. Gambado in Milton Keynes is a fantastic safe play venue for under 8s and certainly on our list of places to take the grandchildren when they are visiting. Its a good venue for adults to relax and chat whilst the children play and of course a good place for people watching.

Today we took Thierry and although it was busy being half term nearly two hours of activity now has him sitting quietly and ready for a nap.

There is a big soft climbing area with slides, tunnels and ball ponds, a dodgem car track and a carousel. Thierry's favourite thing was the trampolines.

I can't wait for our next visit there, although just watching

tires us out these days.

Cousins

We have just had a great two weeks with Belinda and Lily staying with us. One of our favourite things is seeing our grandchildren playing together. Lily enjoyed meeting Chisato and together they romped in the garden with Grandad, helping him clear the leaves, chasing each other and playing on the slide. Then we spent a few days staying in Stoke on Trent so that Lily and Thierry could renew their friendship. They are so close they are like twins, we hope they will remain so as they grow up. It was a shame they couldn't all be together during this visit ... we are looking forward to being able to arrange that one day...

Elizabeth

Belinda's grandparents gave her a doll for her 2nd birthday in 1977 and as this coincided with the queen's Silver Jubilee the doll was duly named Elizabeth. She became a much loved doll although in later years suffered the idignities of make up and hair cuts. When Belinda left home Elizabeth remained sitting on the side in the spare room.

Over the last 3 years our grandchildren have all been offered the opportunity to play with Elizabeth .... Thierry calling her Belindabeth as he muddled the fact that she was Belinda's with her name.

On this visit Lily has really enjoyed playing with the doll, dressing and undressing her and sharing bath-time. She is fascinated by the pictures of her mum with the doll but was most upset that we no longer have the various pushchairs and prams that she was photographed in.

Cakes I have made

Birthday cakes

When our children were young I always made their birthday cakes and tried to be creative... then as they got older and we were busier I gave into the age of convenience .. why would you make a cake when shop bought ones are light and fluffy, ready to eat without the dramas and are just so convenient.

Well a couple of weeks ago I asked Thierry what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday, without hesitation he said he wanted "James" this year as he had "Thomas" last year (he is a big Thomas the Tank Engine fan). I casually agreed that that was a good idea and that Nanny would find him one. The only problem was none of the stores make James cakes only Thomas.

Not to be beaten I decided I would make him a cake ... after lots of checking out the Internet I came up with a design. Of course I cheated and bought a slab of Madeira cake ... Arthur enjoying all the pieces I discarded as I cut out the shape I wanted. The finished cake looked quite presentable but as we then had a two hour car journey I took lots of pictures in case the actual cake didn't make it to the party.

The cake arrived safely with us and as you can see Thierry enjoyed blowing out the candles. His face when he saw the cake made it all worth while, the only problem is he then asked what kind of cake I was making him next year!

It's a dog's life.

Whilst I spent the last week in Stoke-On-Trent dog sitting Arthur spent the week at home looking after our dogs. Buster, our 9 year old Lhasa Apso had to be taken for his regular haircut and has to have his eyes bathed every day as he no longer makes natural tears. 6 year old Lady, who is a staffy cross, had surgery on her knee 3 months ago but after the initial recovery period she was still limping and so the vet prescribed swimming once a week and at least two long walks a day to help build up the muscle strength. After 8 weeks of hydrotherapy she is looking very fit and well, although she is still limping when she first gets up. Not sure what the 8 weeks of long walks has done for Arthur though. Here is Lady "enjoying" her swim ... she splashes a lot but is happier to get out of the water.

I enjoyed my week looking after Ella, Sugz and Missie but I also took the opportunity to visit one of my favourite places Trentham Gardens, http://www.trenthamleisure.co.uk/ not on this occassion to stroll through the gardens, enjoy the lake or visit the monkeys but to browse through the shopping units. There were lots of new units open since my last visit and being alone meant that I could take my time and browse around the various gift and craft stores and the garden centre.

Ella kept me company whilst I used the time alone to read my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It was as good as all the others and the only thing that made me put it down for a while was the two very heavy front paws landing on my shoulders and a wet nose nudging at my neck. I know I am not good company once I am lost in a book. I have enjoyed all of the Harry Potter books although they are very different from anything else that I read.