Party time November 2014.

November is a really busy month for birthdays and anniversaries. The celebrations kicked off with a visit to The White Horse in Bearstead on Friday night. Halloween😱

The kids had dressed up and they looked brilliant. 

We had a lovely time at the Tudor Park hotel celebrating Christine and Trevor's 70th and 80th birthdays.

It was my birthday on Sunday so Emma invited us all back go her house for tea and cake,yummy🎂

We also had an early celebration for William who will be 7 on Friday

Money,  very happy to receive that!

           

                    

We bought him a punch bag. Think he liked it😊

I think there is a bug in this programme. V annoying 😤

Family get together October 2014.

Getting my beautiful girls and their families together is a rarity these days. However, I was soooo pleased when they managed to visit during half term.

This was last year. We all stood in the same place.!

The kids had a whale of a time playing together.

             Catching ailiens! 

                    

A snail race game. Madelyn soon got the hang of this.

                             

Lots of lovely photos.

 

Jo and Abigail.

Phoebe and Madelyn.

A little while ago ,my friend Charlotte encouraged me to knit some toys. I'm not a knitter but the patterns are all simple to follow. Phoebe asked me to teach her to knit

                      

She sat for ages and managed to knit a good few rows, which was brilliant

Half term October 2014

After my short stint of baby sitting Jo and Madelyn came back with me. Jo wanted to go to the Tower of London to see the poppies. Emma had warned us it would be busy and it was! 

The best bit for Madelyn was the train journey!

Two beautiful girls.

          Despite the crowds we managed to get some photos.

                            

A sea of red.

This was how it looked when we first went to see them in Setember. It's a shame it was so busy this time. It was hard to get a sense of how powerful the sight of those poppies can be. A wonderful tribute to those who fought so bravely in WW1. 

   

All that history, makes a girl feel a bit sleepy💤.

Twycross Zoo. October 2014

Madelyn's childminder had to go into hospital so we were happy to step in to help.

We decided to take her to the zoo. It wasn't a particularly nice day but it did mean there weren't many people around. As it happened ,there weren't many animals either!! It was very difficult to see into some of the enclosures as the glass was covered in condensation. The monkeys didn't keep still for long enough to get a decent photo either🐒

With grandad and the 'mingos.

With a giant tortoise 

             

And with a zebra.

      

We did see some elephants. There is a baby in there somewhere

This beautiful creature was asleep when we first saw it. It was in a huge enclosure which ran alongside the resturant. While we were eating we noticed that there were some chickens,supermarket type, on the grass. We were lucky enough to be there when this lovely cat came for it's lunch.

                     

Rochester October 2014

We recently joined English Heritage. We've been to  lots of National Trust places so thought we would try something different.

It was a gorgeous day so we decided to go to Rochester Castle. I've been there before with a school trip but the river front has been developed since then. There are gardens and a play area and you can walk along the river now.

The castle itself is still pretty much intact if a little draughty !

We climbed up to the top for an impressive view 

  

      

                     

We went into the Cathedral, which is just opposite the castle

                                             

 The inside was very impressive but the rows of wooden chairs didn't look right somehow

There were lots of tributes to the fallen of WW1

  

     

There isn't really much else in Rochester, it's a bit run down and there are no big shops. However, in the Main Street there is a little museum. It used to be an Alms house for poor travellers. The master of the house used to select 7 poor travellers and give them a room and meal for the night. They also got 6d to help them on their way.

                        

All mod cons!

Being a tourist September 2014

It was a lovely day today so we decided to go to London. I wanted to see the   Ceramic poppies at the Tower and Malcolm wanted to see what was happening to Sea Containers House.

The Tower of London.

The poppies are unbelievable. I wasn't expecting to see so many

                           

   This is the army of volunteeres assembling the poppies. They had big boxes of all the parts and were in teams. There is still a lot of space to fill. It looked like very painstaking work. There were so many it was hard to decide where the best place was for taking photos.

I think this is probably my favourite

Or maybe this with the Shard in the background.

                 

The plan is to place the last one on 11/11. There will be a poppy for every service man that died during WW1. It will look incredible by then but we will be in Oz so we might have to fit in a quick visit before we go.

We were lucky enough to be on Tower Bridge when it was raised to let a tall ship go through.

It raises really fast and all the pedestrians get herded into a little pen, all you can see is the bridge going higher and higher. It was impossible to see what was actually sailing past from where I was.

However, we did see it raise for this one..

     

I managed to get some iconic shots, the Mayors office and the Shard

Tower Bridge.

                                Me and the Shard. It absolutely dominates the whole skyline. Where ever you are you can see it.

We went to where Sea Containers House used to be. 

It's gone! Well not literally, but the whole area is just a massive building site. It was really hard to work out where everything used to be. We couldn't get very close because it was all cordoned off. It was a bit mind boggling really.

If you remember, this huge tower is where the IPC building used to be

We got a boat from the Tower to the Eye. There is lots going on along the river side . This ride is one I shall be avoiding.

The Eye.

                 

There are all kinds of street performers along that stretch of river. This soppy bint was messing about cracking a whip

She "whipped" this rose out of matey boys gob, allegedly . I think he just spat it out. She's in the Guiness Book of Records. Best Whipper in the world apparently! Hmmm.

What I didn't get a photo of was the dog that went a bit bonkers as she cracked the whip just as it walked past. Scared the crap out of the poor animal ,and her,as it tried to bite the whip out of her hand. Only in London .......