Rachel 的个人资料The Fort Family照片日志列表更多  |  工具 帮助 |
Thursday 26th JunePhew! This has been a busy and challenging week!! My sister Julie arrived on Saturday evening with her twin girls Hollie and Hannah. It's great to see them, the girls are growing up so fast and it's lovely to watch them play with Lauren & Martha. They stayed for two nights before departing to head up to Edinburgh to visit our other sisters. At approximately 2330hrs on Sunday night I had to call the Out of Hours Doctors as Lauren had developed blisters on her tongue and mouth. Earlier that day, I noticed that Martha had a little, what I suspected to be, coldsore in the corner of her mouth. I was told that they'd picked up a common little virus called Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (it really needs a name overhaul!). It's quite mild compared to other childhood bugs but the girls had sore mouths for a couple of days which was relieved, much to their delight, by icepops and Calpol! As there were no trips out of the house to playgroup, I managed to get the house fairly straight in preparation of Martha's Birthday Party on Saturday. I had hoped that we could be outside but it looks like the weather is not going to be favourable and if it is, the ground is likely to be too wet to have a picnic. Hopefully we can get some outside time in the woods to do the "bear hunt" though. I have spent the last 2 days (about 5 hours) decorating Martha's birthday cake - I've uploaded the photos to the June album. Peter's colleague and his wife are up here for a weeks holiday, staying in a self-catering cottage just outside of Pateley Bridge. They've been up to visit on a couple of evenings which has been nice as they are good company - babysitting provided, Peter & I are going out for a meal with them tonight before they head home tomorrow. I'm pleased that my growing out fringe is getting a bit longer which means I can pin it back now - I hope I've got through the hair pain barrier!!! Thursday 19th JuneCenter Parcs has sadly been and gone. We had a wonderful time and will definately go back. My friend Alison is a seasoned Center Parcer and gave some really good hints for us. We aimed to get there for 1400hrs but due to traffic, my attendance on a course that morning and generally having a leisurely drive we ended up arriving at 1445. We were really impressed with the checking in procedure - we had expected chaos but we had to queue in our car for about 10 minutes then we entered what I can only describe as what looked like a big car wash!! A checking in lady asked for our booking number and in turn handed us maps, keys, vehicle sticker and information leaflets - it was all so calm and professional. We then made our way into the huge car park where we had to wait until 1500/1530 for the gate to open and we could drive to our lodge - had we arrived earlier, we could have left our car and spend some time swimming etc before we accessed our lodge. We got everything unpacked and determined on our map the best parking space for Peter to return the vehicle to (about a 3 minute cycle away!). The lodge itself was very much a home from home with the exception that it was like what our house will be when we get our upstairs completed! The girls had their own rooms which Lauren loved asking any time she left the lodge or bathroom, "did Martha go into my room?"!! Peter & I slept in a room downstairs that had a hydrobath which was fab, with the girls having their own bathroom upstairs. The wildlife around the lodge was abundant although far tamer than what we're used to at home!! We had a lovely big dining table inside and outside a 6 seat patio set and BBQ.
The first night (Monday) we ate in having pizzas and garlic bread and settled the girls to bed. Martha slept like a dream the entire time although Lauren had a bit more trouble and stayed up a lot later than she would do normally, however the seperate rooms meant that neither were disturbing the other so it all worked out well. On Tuesday night we had a BBQ which was lovely although I seem to have become very attractive to midges and ended up being bitten through the whole break!! We ate out Wednesday and Thursday and the restaurants were really nice and competitively priced. The best parts of the breaks were the cycling and swimming. Lauren is now able to confidently ride her bike everywhere and Martha loves being on the back in her little seat. The Subtropical Swimming Paradise was great although busy, they had a graduated section that when the wave machine started really looked like the beach! There was a baby/toddler section complete with 2 slides which Martha adored, she showed no fear much to our delight and nerves when she kept running around to take another go on the slide! Lauren's confidence has improved and we're going to take this swimming this afternoon in our local pool to try to keep their confidence levels up. There were lots of adventure playgrounds that the girls enjoyed and the cycling was something all four of us had great fun with and hope to keep it up now we're back home.
I'd definately go back to Center Parcs although I wouldn't pay full price for it as I think it makes it too expensive for what it is really.
I've put the photos in the June album! Thursday 5th JuneOfficially I think that this has been the longest time between blog entries since I started - my apologies but as you may have gathered from the previous entry things have been pretty stretched around here!
Martha is still sleeping in the big bed but we've had issues with her not settling without one of us (usually me!) sitting next to her bed preventing her from getting out and pestering Lauren. Last night I tried again to settle Martha then once she was asleep letting Lauren go to bed which means bedtime is earlier for Martha than usual but I am not still settling them gone 2030hrs which is a killer as I end up being so tired and don't get my evening jobs done. They were both asleep by 1930 last night which was great and better still they stayed asleep until 0755!! That must be a record!!
Last week I booked us to go to Center Parcs for 4 nights at a really cheap price. When I looked up prices a few weeks ago (Peter's booked 2 weeks holiday) the prices were nearly £1000, I can neither justify nor afford those prices, so was thrilled when last week I was feeling a bit down in the dumps, I received an email from them saying 4 nights w/c 9th June from £227. It was one of those things where you go on expecting not to get that offer but I managed to get an Executive Detached 3 Bed Lodge for £259 - I'm really excited! We need to hire a bike and kiddie trailer for Peter & Martha, Lauren is deciding whether to take her trike or master her bicycle (which needs new stabilisers) and I need to get my mountain bike out of the shed and serviced/spruced up - I bought a couple puncture repair kits so there's nothing stopping me now!
I'm trying to think about what else has happened since my last entry - we've now got fencing up in the garden which is also (since last night) secondary fenced to stop Martha climbing through the gaps and escaping! (I've just been distracted whilst writing this by Martha banging on the front door - she's managed to get through the secondary fencing barrier!!).
We've finally decided to get the girls Christened. We've chosen our Godparents as our friends Susan & Martin and my very good friend Julie. They were all thrilled with the request, we now just need to get a date booked with Matthew, our Vicar.
Lauren, Martha and I discussed Martha's birthday party and have agreed upon a theme "Teddy Bears Picnic" I am now busy organising this and so far have chosen the games but am now on the lookout for anything teddy related for the party bags, they're only 2 years olds so I think stickers, colouring sheets (I can print these off), little pencils, bubbles etc will be fine.
The website I moderate/report for www.asylumcam.com has started its own weekly radio show which is exciting, unfortunately due the time difference I cannot listen live (it airs Tuesdays at 0300h BST), however the site has a gadget where you can hear the show the next day.
We've started a lot of work getting outside straightened up. Peter has started building the retaining wall for my rockery. We've put some soil into the bed I made months ago and the girls & I planted flower seeds a week ago that are already shooting!
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