Sunshine

Find the Treasure

April 12, 2019 in Days out with James

After we had had a cup of coffee and our lunch, we explored the play area. It was massive with so many different things for the little man to play on. He was in his element. It culminated in a zip line which he loved, all apart though from dragging it back to the start, this was Daddy’s job.

Roundhay in the Sun

February 23, 2019 in Days out with James

Wow, what a stunningly beautiful day. Apart from a slightly chilly and misty start to the day, the weather has been better than would be expected later in the year, luckily James and I had plans to make the most of it. Matt and Cat were coming up to Leeds for the weekend for Matt’s birthday and we were off to have a picnic in Roundhay Park. To make the most of the day, James and I got up early and went to Tropical World in the morning as we were not meeting up until lunchtime. Tropical World is ok and James enjoyed it, however, it is not the kind of place you would want to go to on a regular basis. We went round twice in about an hour and a half and James absolutely loved the bats. Fortune had it that we arrived as the bats were being fed and it was amazing to see the all gobbling down their breakfast.

Habitual coffee (me) and milk (James) break in the cafe

After Tropical World we had about half an hour or so to kill so we headed to the Secret Garden for a wander round. This is a lovely self contained garden with several different areas. Very relaxing and James and I had a good look round. James even sat quietly on the bench and took it all in. A very peaceful interlude.

Ok ok - not all so peaceful as James aired his vocal talents

Imitation lock gate that had James puzzled.

“Why is there no water making the wheel turn daddy?”

The moment before the little man tried to reach the centre of the pool, resulting in me throwing myself across to prevent a splash

At this point Matt called so James and I headed off to find everyone. Unfortunately James was getting a little hangry by this point and it took us quite a while to walk the hundred metres of so back out of the garden towards the park. This resulted in everyone else having to walk more or less all the way to us. We settled down to lunch which Matt and Cat had brought and it was a fab spread, I even got a goody bag to go home with! After lunch, it was time to play.

Rik had brought his circus skills set with him which everyone loved playing with

Cheerleader keeping score on the sidelines

He shoots, he almost scores! Unlike Cat, who nailed two out of two.

After the football had been concluded, the most epic game of hide a seek started. There was round after round of it. The kids were all expert hiders, partly as they are so small. However, James was so excited he could not keep hidden and kept running out to see where the person seeking was.

Count to twenty (missing out most of the numbers between ten and twenty)

After three hours of solid running around, it was time to head off. I had one very tired little boy who lasted only one song of Frozen in the car before he was fast asleep. It had been such a lovely day, the weather was fantastic and it was good to catch up with everyone!

The Clash of Steel

August 07, 2018 in Days out with James

This weekend had started the week before as we had been getting James excited about the thought of going to see knights at Helmsley Castle and we had been counting down the sleeps. What's more, we had decided to go camping for the weekend as well to make a mini break out of it. The Friday started well as I got off a little early from work and headed home to pick up some vital supplies. I visited a little farm shop come deli on my way home and picked up some sausages and burgers and then popped into Tesco for some oven cooked pizzas and dough balls. Yep you read that right, we can cook pizza and dough balls whilst camping!!! Good stuff.

After throwing the tent into the car we headed out. Disaster struck as James fell asleep as soon as he got into the car. No biggie we thought, however we were wrong, as time would tell. We dropped Jess off at mum and dads, and exchanged her for some pillows as we had forgotten ours, and headed to the camp site. We were staying at Brenk House Caravan Park just outside Coxwold. Unbeknownst to me when I booked it, we had stayed here a few years before when trying out what was our new tent at the time. Now, caravan park may be a grand title for the campsite, as it is a site with around ten pitches. The location is beautiful, surrounded by green fields and with Byland Abbey just in sight. Facilities are basic, however very clean and we never had to wait to use them. Because there were only five groups there, people tended to ask to use them which was nice.

We arrived about 7:30 and we decided to leave James sleeping. This turned out to be an error as he did not go to sleep until gone 11:00 that night and was up at 5:30 the next morning, cue tired grumpy little boy all day, but that was a problem for the next day. The tent was up and we were settled drinking tea by 8:00, including getting the little man up. A good result.

I had bought an inflatable sofa for our camping trip last year. Lyns mocked me mercilessly about this for several weeks before we went away. However, once she realised how comfortable it was the mocking ceased and we now fight over it. As you can see, she made herself very comfortable tea in hand!!

James still has not managed to find the knack of sitting in the sofa. He finds it even harder to get out!

After we had put the tent up and I had Lyns and James suitably comfortable, it was time to fire up the oven and cook our pizzas. Forty mins later we were filling ourselves with pizza and dough balls. By this point we realised that James was not tired anymore so we tried to put him to bed several times but, no, he had other ideas. We had him in bed by 11 and then Lyns and I flopped into bed to, exhausted.

"You should be asleep you little rascal!!!"

The next morning saw us up at 5:30 and probably the whole of the campsite as well as. James was in a mega grump. He was shouting and screaming and making demands at the top of his voice. Lyns and I could do nothing right. No one said anything, however, once we had had our breakfast, sausage butties, and we headed out to Helmsley Castle, you could almost hear the collective sigh of relief from all the people remaining behind as they were going to get some peace and quite.

We headed to Helmsley Castle. Clash of Knights was on, promising archery and knights fighting. We had to buy a £1.35 ticket each for this, being English Heritage members, but I did not think this was too unreasonable. We arrived in Helmsley around 11:00 and got one of the last few parking spaces. Had we have arrived twenty minutes later there was not a parking space to be found in the whole town. James had fallen asleep en route so we sat in the car for half an hour or so to let him get a little sleep but more importantly, reduce our suffering later in the day.

Once we had roused James, we equipped our young knight with his sword and headed off to the castle. After collecting our programme as we went it, which also served as our ticket, we saw that the archery was on first. What I did not realise was that over the course of the day each knightly team would collect points and the winning team at the end of the day got the hand of the fair maiden... well no they did not, they got a bottle of mead to share, but the idea of fighting for the hand of a fair maiden somehow seems more fitting.

After we had seen the archery, there was a small gap before the next event. This was a children's session, where they got to learn to sword fight. James did not want to do this. I must say, the knight leading the session was amazing, so patient with the children and was a pleasure to watch the way he handled them all. It was not until later that I realised it was the same gent as I had seen at Richmond Castle earlier in the year and he was just as good there.

After that, we saw our first taste of knightly combat. There was a brief display where a knight was dressed in his amour, this was interesting but not really suitable for James as he did not understand, however, this did not last long. Into the arena stepped The Anvil. A giant among men, he towered over his opponent and with that battle commenced.

The clash of metal upon metal rang out as it would have done almost a hundreds of years ago

Now, they said that the result was not predetermined but this battle happened twice over the day and each time the Blue Knight, Lord Fancypants, won. I mean come on, the Anvil would have flattened him! It was a wonderful spectacle to see and they both went at it for all they were worth. You could see the effort going into it.

After this it was time for the main event before lunch. Team on team combat. there were four best of three bouts. Each team of six fought two of the other teams on a semi final / final basis. The idea was to knock the helm off the opposition knight with the clubs they carried. Initially it did not see that actioned packed, but as the day wore on, the passion got greater and the hits got bigger. The momentum these knights carried when on full charge was amazing. How they kept going all day was amazing, especially as some of them were in full mail and wearing full helms.

The gold team start strong flattening the opposition helm bearer

A touching moment when the two captains embraced before a bout. It turned out they were plotting how to make the best spectacle of the next round much to the cheers of all the people around the arena.

It would appear the helm bearers did not value their honour that much as they spent the whole bout running from any opposing knights. That being said, with The Anvil bearing down on me, I would be running to.

At the end of these bouts, the red team were holding the most points. More importantly for us, it was time to go and get an ice cream. Luckily for us, there is an amazing Ice-cream company based in Helmsley, namely Ryeburn of Helmsley. We took the short walk from the castle to their cafe and wow it was amazing. The choice of flavours was astounding. I went for white chocolate, raspberry and pistachio. Lyns went for cookies and cream and cinder toffee, two different ice creams, and James, as expected, went for chocolate. It was a lovely break and thoroughly enjoyed.

I think Lyns here is enjoying it a little too much

The far away look of a boy who's ice-cream has taken him to distant shores

The idea is to eat it, not wear it. The sign of a happy boy

After we had all demolished our ice creams it was back to the castle. We had to get back in time for the main event, the grand melee. This was similar to the earlier battle, however, all four teams started in the arena and each round a team went out until you were left with two who fought a best of three. Then back to the start and repeat again. How these guys kept going in the heat with all the amour on I will never know but they put on a fantastic show.

Our little knight getting excited (ish) about the main event

The Anvil leading the charge against the gold team

I pitied the gold team helm bearer as he was about to get flattened

The Anvil smashing through the red team ranks like a hot knife through butter

After the battles the red team were declared the winners on points and collected their bottle of mead. The green team however were the fans firm favourite and collected the fans prize, also in the form of a bottle of mead. A very enjoyable day, even if the little man spent a lot of it in a grump.

After the battle was over, we headed back to the camp site. Tonight was a typical 'camping dinner' of sausages and burgers. We fired up the BBQ and settled down to a very enjoyable evening relaxing in the sun. Even James went to bed at a reasonable time and slept through to 8:00 the next morning. He must have been tired.

All ready for bed after his wash from a saucepan, unusual but effective.

Next morning, we began the job of packing up. it is always horrible to be putting the tent away as it signals the end of a lovely time. A family had arrived the night before with two young daughters who had taken James under their wing and he had loved playing with them. The first thing he had said in the morning was 'can I play with the girls?'. It was lovely to watch them all playing, especially as they taught James some games like What's the Time Mr Wolf. He loved it.

Chilling out after all my running around

After the long job of packing the car, albeit not helped by the number of breaks we took to drink tea, we were ready to go. We were meeting nana and grandad for Sunday lunch but we had an hour or so to kill so we headed to the nearby Byland Abbey. Run by English Heritage but free to get in, James loved it. When I say loved it, to him it is a big play ground. He loves climbing up and jumping off the ruins or playing hide and seek. With the abbey more or less deserted, he had the run of the place.

One thing Lyns did do whilst we were there was to plant her rocks. If you follow this new trend it is about spreading some cheer. Effectively you place brightly coloured rocks in out of the way places then tag the location on Facebook with a clue to where they are. Then when people find them, they post a picture on the Facebook page and either keep it or re hide it and the cycle continues. Lyns uses the Facebook page York Rocks, so if you find one of her rocks, please post a picture with the tag #YorkRocks. Below are some clues for James' and Lyns' rocks.

After our brief visit to the abbey, it was time to head to Coxwold and The Fauconberg Arms for lunch. Now, we were due to meet mum and dad for lunch at 1:15 so we thought we would get there for 1:00 so we could beat them. We arrived at 1:03 feeling pretty smug that for once we would arrive before them, alas no, they were there waiting for us!

As it turned out we all ended up having the roast beef Sunday lunch, not to mention the starter and desert as well, and wow, it was amazing. Big portions, friendly staff. Nothing more could have been asked for. If you are ever that way, I would thoroughly recommend it.

Look how much dinner I have ... no problem

After dinner we had five very full people. That was the end of our mini break. Only thing left to do was to pick up Jess. We popped into mum and dads for a cup of tea and to let James have a play with some water bombs in the garden. Unfortunately Jess was on the receiving end of a few, not that she minded a little cold water with it being so hot.

If I sneak up on them, I can get them good.

Before we knew it, we were home, car unpacked and or mini break was over. Back to work for us both the following morning. Where does the time go to. Grumps aside, it was a lovely weekend with lots of fun had by all.

Castle in the Sun

June 28, 2018 in Days out with James

Another beautiful Sunday saw us all at a loose end, yes, all of us. Lyns had a rare Sunday off so we were able to go out as a family. Lyns had suggested Beningbrough Hall, however, I managed to persuade her to venture a bit further. I thought it might be nice to head to Helmsley. A lovely little market town with a castle as well. We headed out in brilliant sunshine and it was not long before we were pulling up outside Helmsley Castle. It is an English Heritage property so, being members it was free to get into. Incidentally, this is where I was hoping to take James later in the year to see the Clash of Knights which, personally, I am really excited about.

We arrived and James was given a lanyard to collect badges on from different properties. We might have accidentally taken two badges but no one seemed to mind. We did not realise when we arrived that there is a quick route into the castle. However, we turned left rather than right and walked the long way round. Not that it mattered as it was a lovely walk through, what was, the moat and we entered the castle through the original gate house.

When we got into the castle we found a boules set. James did not quite get the hang of it, but Lyns and I spent a good hour or so playing whilst James ran around helping collect the balls and chasing after them. As much as it pains me to say it, Lyns won most of the games. Not that she gloated much!

Next it was onto a game of quoits. Lyns did not want to play this, so James and I played. Only problem was, I threw them over the wooden poles, James threw them directly at me! Not sure he is getting these games. He had loads of fun though. One day I will get him playing properly.

After spending a good few minutes dodging out the way of James' wild throws I put the quoits down. More to save my head than anything else. Then of course, with three balls to hand, there is only one thing I could do!

Once I had shown off my juggling prowess, and admitted I could not do four balls, it was on to wandering around the inside of the castle. Here we found some amazing dressing up clothes for James. There was a knight and a princess outfit. James was over the moon, Lyns not so much as she ended up on the receiving end of some charges that King Arthur himself would have been proud of.

I'm gonna get you Mummy, not sure Jazz hands are going to save you though!

There were also a few books knocking around, so once James had finished slaying the enemies, a new word for him, it was time for a quiet story.

After we had finished inside, we had a lovely walk in the sunshine around the other half of the castle. It was only when we got back all the way round that we found the short cut. Nevermind, we will know for next time.

We headed into Helmsley for a spot of lunch. We found a lovely little cafe call the Cocoa House, which did all sorts of sandwiches and snack lunches, all of which looked very good. The owner was very welcoming and was very chatting. The lunch for the three of us, with drinks, came to less that £20 so cannot complain. Only word of warning is that they do not take cards. Other than that, very hard to fault them at all.

Love the cup!   Where can you get them from?? — Love the cup! Where can you get them from??

After we had finished lunch we had a walk round Helmsley itself. There were loads of quaint little shops and we did not have time to look in them all. With the weather being as nice as it was we have to end our day out with an ice cream in the town square. We found someone selling locally(ish) made Brymor Ice-cream. Very tasty indeed.

We had gone to a barbecue the night before and were served some tasty smoked sausages. With the weather being what it was we picked up some sausages from the butchers in Helmsley and headed home to fire up the smoker and, for a first attempt, it was not too bad at all! In the immortal words of Cpl Jones, "Very Tasty, Very Sweet!"

Nunnington Hall

June 16, 2018 in Days out with James

So it has taken me the best part of a week to get round to writing about our adventure to Nunnington Hall. I am currently mid budget process at work and it has been busy, along with trying to fit in dinner out, spending time with Lyns and James as well as life in general. However, up for a run this morning and now I am sat watching magic school bus with James whilst he eats his breakfast, letting Lyns have a lie in for an hour or so.

Last Sunday, Lyns was on nights so I went and stayed with mum and dad on the Saturday night to give me a little time to go out for a run in the morning. I was up at 4:30 and on the road by 5:00. Nineteen miles and three and half hours later I was back. James had not caused too much chaos but he made the mistake of running to give me a hug when I walked in the house. All I got was 'urrrrrrgh you're all sweaty daddy'. After a quick shower and a spot of breakfast, or three as I was starving, we headed out to Nunnington Hall.

Nunnington Hall is situated out towards Malton as was a very pleasant drive. Parking is in a lovely woodland carpark, might not be so lovely on a wet day, and you walk on a bridge over a stream to get into the grounds. By this time the sun had come out and it was turning into a lovely day. First things first though, lunch. We found a bench in the sunshine and pulled out our picnic. Grabbing a coffee from the coffee shop we had a very pleasant lunch.

Around the picnic benches there was a giant Jenga set as well as a quoits. Dad and I introduced James to this and he had a very fun time throwing the rings around. I do not think he fully got it as grandad and I were hit by the rings more than stake was but thats life.

After James had exhausted himself trowing rings at everything in sight he had a bit of an explore. He was amazed by all the insects living in a tree and loved all the cobwebs everywhere. At the moment he was to know the why, where and how of everything.

After we had finished playing, it was time to explore the gardens a little more. Walking round the next corner, there was croquet on the lawn with deck chairs spotted all over. James was fascinated by the hammers and balls. Grandad and him had lots of fun. Grandad was hitting the balls and James was collecting the balls up and bringing them back. Looking back on it, it was like a game of fetch for James but he had a wail of a time.

Nana directing from her favourite position

After James and Grandad had terrorised all the people sitting having picnics on the lawn, some of those shots went flying, it was time to explore the gardens. There was lots to see, a wild meadow to run through, a bird watching area and a small vegetable garden.

Exploring the potting shed, I found something that caused huge merriment. A couple of skipping ropes. I had a go first, luckily there is no picture evidence, and then Grandad and James had a go.

By now it was getting towards time to head home but first we had to have a look round the house. They had a wildlife photography exhibition on which I found really interesting as the pictures were amazing, but James also found it fascinating. He was amazed by all the macro shots of the insects and the pictures of all the animals. It gave him an opportunity to see animals he would not usually see and to see creatures in a way he would not usually see them.

However, this could not last so we found a lovely little play area in the house that was full of books and toys.

After this, it was time to head back to the car. After driving back to Nana and Grandad's and then a quick car swap, it was back home to see mummy who had been looking forward to seeing James all day.

It was a lovely day out in the sunshine with lots to do. James had oodles of fun, as did we all. James and I will have to take Lyns back at some point, if only to beat her at croquet!

A Day in the Sun

May 06, 2018 in Days out with James

Wow, what a day today was! The weather was perfect, warm and sunny with a nice gentle breeze. My day started at 5:30, up and out for a 14 mile run up and along Sutton Bank from Boltby. I am wanting to do the Yorkshire Three Peaks later this year so up and down the bank I went three times. Beautiful weather and stunning views.

When I got back to Nana and Grandads, they had been looking after James as Lyns was working nights, it was into the garden to sit down for a few minutes before heading to wash the grime of my run off. However, in those few minutes, we all decided that a BBQ was the order of the day. One trip to Easingwold later with Nana, we return with all the ingredients for home made burgers, mmm mmm mmm.

I cam back to find James and Grandad hard at play in the garden. The paddling pool was out and James was loving playing in it in the sun.

And of course, no day playing in the sun with the paddling pool out could go by without at least one water fight.

Now James being James loves to shoot everyone else however he tired very quickly of getting shot himself. This resulted in lots of choruses of 'stop it,' that was until he worked out that if he waited until the person he was shooting ran out of water he could run in, launch a lightening strike and be gone again, that was until he ran out of water himself!

I retired at this point to make the burgers, but sounds of shrieking from everyone floated into the kitchen. Sounded like they were all having a wonderful time.

Meanwhile, Grandad had fired up the BBQ and in no time at all we had a platter of sausages, burgers and steak! A lovely treat.

By the time we ate, 5:30 so not too late, James was looking like the walking dead. At one point Lyns and I were prodding him to keep him awake. It was not until Nana told him he had Jelly for dessert that he perked up and got his second wind.

After dinner, James was let loose with the hose to water the garden and apart from one unfortunate incident, Nana got drenched, he was very well behaved and did a wonderful job of watering the garden.

Having failed to keep Nana dry, Lyns took a more hands on controlling role.

A long but lovely day. Not sure how it could have been any better. Oh wait, James was a good boy at bed time, a shower, story and minimal fuss over teeth cleaning. Just as well really, as the way my legs are feeling, he could have run rings round me and I would have been powerless to do anything to stop him! Luckily he did not work it out so shush.... lets not tell him!

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