A Day in the Sun

in

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.

Tea is on me Grandad

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

Who to shoot...

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!

Arrrrrrggggggghhhhhhh!!!!!

Not another soaking!!

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.

Come on Grandad, we are all starving.

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.

Watch out Nana... oops, too late.

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!

A Cheeky Little Bonus

in

So a Saturday is usually a day of Gym Bobs in the morning and then swimming in the afternoon, with a little fun along the way.   However, as I went to load the little man into the car, I could not find the car seat.   Lyns had taken it to work!!!   Not that I could be annoyed as I have done it time enough, even on three consecutive days in one instance.   This meant that James and I had a bonus day together to do something.   Bundling him into the buggy while he was still in the mood to go out, we headed to the bus stop.   

Now, James it not shy when it comes to speaking about what he sees.   As we were getting onto the bus he had a quizzical look on his face and was unusually quiet.   I did not think anything of it.   However, just after we sat down, his little voice rang out across the bus, "Daddy, why does that lady have a hairy face?".   He had spotted an old lady who, to be fair, was sporting an impressive white beard.   Luckily she had not heard, but there were a few laughs from the people sat around me!   I was mortified.

After that, the rest of the trip was uneventful.   We arrived in York in time for lunch.   I gave James the choice and he chose fish and chips, one of his favourites.   We found a fish and chip shop, James had fish goujons, five good sized pieces of fish, and I have a small fish and chips as I am trying to lose a bit of weight and get fit.   My fish was a good size, but as I unwrapped I thought they had forgotten the chips, alas no, the fifteen chips that I had were hidden under the fish.   By the time James had had his share, the James tax as we call it in our household, there were only the scraps left for me.   At least he is helping me cut down.   It was very pleasant sat in the Minster Gardens eating our lunch.   It is somewhere we go quite often when we are in town and eating a picnic lunch.

Touch my fish daddy and lose a finger

The winner of the biggest mouthful is ...

How much can one little boy fit in his mount?

After we had eaten lunch we went to have a look around the Castle Museum.   James loves exploring in there, especially the victorian street.   There is so much for him to do and to see.   He cannot take it all in.   Because we were late into town, we did not have a huge amount of time as Nana and Grandad were coming for dinner.   As we are YMT card holders, it does not matter if it is only a short visit.

This time, the first place we stopped for a look was the room that shows some of the fashions through the ages.   James was not so much interested in the clothing, rather the cat walk which he loved running up and down.

 

Catch me if you can

Next it was onto the victorian street.   Instantly I could tell James has visited here far too often recently as he knew how many carriages there are and took me to see each one in turn.   Every time though, I think he finds something different to look at.   Today he was intrigued by the toilets.

"What's down here daddy?"

The other place James spent a lot of time today was in the prison cell.   He loved opening and closing the big iron gate.

I wonder if they do childcare...

The last bit we looked round today was the World War One display.   I always find this very difficult as James asks what happened to all the people and wants the memorials reading out to him.   Very hard to explain to a toddler the concept of death, so we tell him that all the people have gone up to the stars.   Lyns has a lovely way of remembering those who are no longer with us and every time she sees a robin, it is granny coming back to see us.   James knows of this so as I read all the names to him, he looked at me very seriously and told me that all the people would be going to see their families as a robin so that they could see them again and then they would not be sad.   You have got to marvel at how simply a child sees the world and how amazing it is to start experiencing the world again through them.

It was then off to play in the trench tunnel and the hollowed out tree.

Trying to hide in the hollowed out tree

By now we had run out of time.   Back to the buggy, onto the bus and home.   James saw none of this because, as soon as I sat him in the buggy, he had fallen asleep.   Half an hour later we were home and I was enjoying a drink whilst James had a snooze.   Another successful day of wearing him out done.

St. George and the Dragon

in

Today saw us off to Richmond Castle with Nana and Grandad, Lynsey was on nights, as they had some re-enactments on for Saint George's day.   Before we left I had got up to go for a run and the morning was beautiful, the sun was shining and it looked as if the good weather of the past few days was set to continue.   With this in mind, I donned shorts and T-shirt and put James in shorts too.   On a whim, I picked up a jumper for the little man, what a lucky break that was.   By the time we had got to Richmond, the wind was picking up and the temperature had dropped.   I was in for a cold day!   First things first though, after the long climb up to the castle from the river, where we had parked, it was off to The Kings Head for a coffee.   There was no holding back James with his hot chocolate.

Don't mind if I do

With Nana, Grandad and James satisfied, it was time to head off to the Castle.   James lead the way, sword in hand, just to keep us all safe from any dragons that might cross our path, luckily none appeared but, I for one, am glad we had our bodyguard.  

When we arrived, we were in time to see the first of the three displays for the day.  This was the infantry tactics.   James was a little apprehensive of all the people dressed in medieval outfits, I was not however, so I got stuck in, leaving James with Nana and Grandad.   

A fearsome sight, luckily there was a thin rope barrier keeping us safe from them.

Enemy vanquished, time for lunch

As the soldiers headed off to lunch after an exhausting morning of slashing the air, it was time for us to dig out the food.

Chicken bites it is then

After a brief lunch break, it was time for the telling of Saint George's story.   The re-enactors involved were amazing.   So enthusiastic and full of energy.   The two of them held the crowd wonderfully, with no one wanting to take their eyes away.   A wonderful telling of the story and very entertaining.   Personally, my favourite part was the sword fight, no surprises there.

Take that!!

It was not long though before James built a little bit of courage up, after his earlier apprehension, and got into the swing of things.   Sword in had he led the charge.

Follow me Grandad

CHAAAAARRRRRRRRGE!!

Before long, James was fighting all comers, be it tree or human.   Now, at the start of the day, Nana had asked why I had not given him his wooden sword, when she saw the state of Grandad and I afterwards, I hoped she could see why.   Last time James had his wooden sword, I kept hold of the wooden shield and it was the only thing that had stopped me having my head removed from my shoulders!

By this time, the wind had picked up and was starting to bite.   James had tired and sat in the buggy to eat a gingerbread man, wrapped up in a blanket.   It was the archery display, so off to the range we headed.   Nana was feeling the cold a lot so she headed to the exhibition to warm up, shortly followed by Grandad and James.   I braved out the display in my shorts and t-shirt, boy it was cold.   Again, another informative display and the narrator got the increasingly chilling crowd hooked.

French Knights, my long bows will destroy them.

After the display I headed over to find the rest of the family and this is what I found ...

zzz zzz zzz

It was all too much for the little man and he had zonked out in the buggy once he had got into the warm.

A lovely day out, with lots of fun had by all.

Bunnies, Bonnets and Eggs

in

So a belated Easter posting.   Lynsey arranged an Easter egg hunt with a group of friends, all with little ones.   How hard could it be herding 8(ish) toddlers around on a mad hunt for chocolate??  We were about to find out.  

It all started a week or so earlier with an Easter bonnet making session.   Lyns was in charge of the glue and James did the placing.   One hour of hard work and the bonnet was all set.   You tell me what you think, but I think the pair of them did a good job!

Look at my bonnet daddy

Even the mums and dads got involved with the bonnets!

If you show this to any one, there will be trouble!!! Oops!

Anyway, back to the egg hunt.   The whole gang arrived at Homestead Park in York, bright eyed and bushy tailed with a lot of grand parents in tow.   Now when I say bright eyed and bushy tailed, that was the children, the parents were showing the stress of making bonnets and the thought of chasing the kids round on the hunt.   However, once it was known that there was gin cake, yes gin cake, the roles reversed with choruses of mummy daddy as the parents tried to sniff the cake out.   After a quick play in the park, the hunt was a foot, for the kids that is.

Then came the hardest part of the day... The group photo.   The best I managed were six in one picture.   There were moments with the opportunity to get more in a picture, but I was not quick enough to grab the picture.   Poor show on my part.   At this point there was chocolate flying left, right and centre.   No chance left of getting a full group shot so we slowly meandered our way back to the park for more cake, sorry, I mean so the kids could play some more.

 

I'm sure there are one or two missing

It was soon time to wrap up as it was a cold day and the little ones were starting to feel it.   It was a lovely morning, all the kids enjoyed as did the everyone else.   Hopefully this will become an annual tradition, eating gin cake that is - the egg hunt, well we shall just have to wait and see!  

Chocolate, Dinosaurs and Knights

in

Another weekend day with Lynsey at work left the little man and I a day to go out and have some fun.   What to do, what to do?   Having had the battle to get dressed and clean teeth, the battle involving running around the house while James played 'chase' and I tried to work out whether rugby tackling a toddler is acceptable, we sat down to decide what to do.   James' idea was to sit and watch the TV all day followed by a negotiation over whether we could go out later.   Into the buggy and off we went, we would do it on the fly.   After a bus ride into town it was off to the York Chocolate Experience.   £8 for me, a third off for York residents on a Sunday, and James free as he is under four meant a cheap experience and what an experience it was.   We arrived in time for the first tour at 10am and the group was only seven strong.   This resulted in a lot of chocolate.   James was in his element taking his 'samples' when I was not looking resulting in yet more games of chase and this time wrestling to get the chocolate off him.   Luckily he is good and there were no tears when he could not have his millionth quality street.   The highlight was making your own chocolate lolly, or two in James' case.   A great hour spent, definitely worth it for the chocolates and the lolly.

After this, it was off to the museum gardens to burn off some of the chocolate that had just been eaten.

 

Collecting 'skeleton bones'

 
 

Cheeeese

 
 
 
 

After a run around in the museum gardens it was off to the Museum itself.   Being a YMT card holder, £11 per year for York residents, it allows access to the museum for free.   They currently have a dinosaur display on.   There are some good fossils and a few clever interactive displays but for a toddler full of chocolate there was not a lot there for him.   Surprisingly, he found the medieval display interesting, primarily because there were lots of skeletons.   James was amazed by them and kept pointing at bones and trying to match them back to his own body with about 50% success.   Coming out of the museum, we had another hour or so running around.   This time it was finding sticks so that he could build his own skeleton.

 

And yet more 'bones'

After making his 'skeleton', which was more like a bonfire waiting to be lit than a body, it was off for a sausage roll and gingerbread man for James and sandwich for me.   Once the gingerbread man had had every limb amputated and been decapitated, ironically looking better than I had after staggering out of the Chocolate Experience with a chocolate powered toddler in tow, James announced it was home time.   Too weak and feeble to argue, onto the bus we hopped, home in time to see mum get in from work.