It's like Learning to Ride a Bike

Well, actually that's exactly what it is.  My littlies have not been interested in bike riding.  Scooting has been the wheeled vehicles of choice through their early years to date.  We've had LoTS of fun scooting as a family - me on my mobility scooter following along as the kids set the pace!

That is until now.  On Sunday both of my lovelies learnt to ride their bikes!  Little Lady literally just got on it and rode off around the park - she was more than ready.

Look Mummy - I did it!!

Little man however, took a bit more perseverance.  He did really well keeping his motivation up.

 He kept trying and after about half an hour managed it independently.  Wow - did that little man beam with happiness and joy in his achievement.  We all had a tear in our eyes.

It was a joy to watch them both and almost tangibly watch their confidence and pride build within them. 

I'm certain this will open up a wealth of opportunities for our family time in future.  Me on my mobility scooter riding alongside my cycling loved ones.  All sorts of excitement yet to come.

 

We managed to pick Little Lady up a pre-loved bike from the charity shop yesterday for £15.  If only I could have captured the look on her face - such gratitude and joy.  At least it's in my memory bank ;0)  You can see the red bike above is a little on the small side and the new one is grey so we've got to girly it up a bit (as per her request).

 

Don't you love it when a plan comes together?!

 

Next time I'll be launching my Carry it Forward - See you here I hope next week for details!

Take care,

J9 x

Today I'm sharing in these fab parties!
Show and Tell Friday

Simple & Sweet Friday

Sunny Simple Saturday & Father's Day

We had an unexpected 'free' weekend as we'd planned to visit the hubby's family in Bucks but due to littlie's being a little under the weather we sadly had to cancel.  It was decided that a much needed snail's pace was required to rest and restore.

So last Saturday (when the sun shone unlike this past weekend) we took a picnic to the local park and let the children pack a bag of toys they wished to take...  A football, skipping rope, Famous Five reading books were grabbed first.  In our house, the current obsession seems to remain on cuddly toys.  They chose five of their favourites to share in the afternoon activity with us.

Some picnicking...

 

Admiring the blue skies and church tower...

Some reading in Little Ladie's favourite spot

All sorts of climbing...

 

Little lady took her cuddlie's up in the tree too - you can just see Bubblegum - another favourite!

 

And generally enjoying the wonderful warmth of the sun.  Perfection.

As for Father's Day - to celebrate we needed good things to eat:

Hazelnut & Chocolate Drop Biscuits

 

Peanut Butter biscuits and Mocha White Chocolate Biscuits

...and gifts made with lots of love:

Hope you enjoyed your weekend in whatever guise it was spent,

Thanks for reading,

J9 x

Today I'm sharing in these fab parties!
Share your Cup Thursday

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Simple & Sweet Friday

Child's Play

Moments of happiness with a sprinkler in our garden on Wednesday after school. 

Beautiful, simple things.
 
Rare moments of sunshine this spring need to be grabbed with both hands - this sunny evening was no exception.  Any form of play in water is a favourite in our house. The sprinkler had it's first outing this year - freezing water (only kiddies could enjoy!).  They jumped through the streams of water, caught rainbows made by the droplets as they fell through the sunny sky and experimented with how the jets of water felt on their skin.

Happy times indeed.

Thanks for reading!
J9 x

Today I'm sharing with these fab parties:

From the Farm Blog Hop Friday

Show and Tell Friday

Waddesdon Plant Centre Beauty

Last month we made a family visit to Buckinghamshire, we spent some lovely relaxing time at Waddesdon Plant Centre.  It's a long time favourite haunt of mine, to while away a couple of hours... to drink up beautiful displays and maybe a coffee or two.

I simply had to blog about it - pastel loveliness to feast your eyes on...

...tasteful decor to die for...and a gorgeous coffee shop selling tasty 'homemade' goods


 

 

Plenty of little vistas of decor that inspire -

...and that I aspire to.

R treated Bop Bop (her favourite bunny) to sit at the table - apparently she really enjoyed the water!





Little man enjoyed the trip too ;0)

I especially loved the 'green' roof on this little shed and the chimney pot style planting surrounding it.  Wouldn't it look gorgeous in a little court yard garden?

 

If you're in the area it's well worth a mooch.  Although the upcycled goods are a little pricey for my budget, I do so love the way it is styled. 

For the able bodied, there is a lovely route to climb up through the grounds of Waddesdon Manor after your visit -  and for the less able - during summer a land train runs regularly.

I did purchase a type of pink hydrangea - I AdORE it - rarely to I get the wanties for plants but as soon as I saw these pink pastel beauties - I knew one had to come home with me!

We didn't make it to the Manor this time but left to spend extra time with our new niece.  Ooooo lots of loveliness!

Thanks for reading,
J9 x

Today I'm sharing with these fab parties:

A Favourite Thing Saturday

Pink Saturday

From the Farm Blog Hop Friday

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Weekend Whatever

 

 

 



Weston Sand Sculpture Festival - Hollywood Theme

Last year one of my earliest blog posts was of our visit to the 2012 Sand Sculpture Festival.  We took advantage of the sunny morning on Bank Holiday Monday and ventured out to the sea front to visit the festival this year.  There has been all sorts of reports locally of how the bad weather has had a really negative impact on the longevity of the sculptures this year and many have had to be repaired.

Despite this, we really enjoyed our visit - it's really fascinating to see all the sculptures various artists come up with and what they are inspired by within a theme.

The theme was Hollywood for the 2013 Sand Festival. 

...This was by far my favourite sculpture this year.  Just look at the detail in those eyes.  They seem to capture such animosity!











The littlie's favourite was this Batman and Hulk sculpture. 

It was fantastically detailed and enormous!  Poor Hulk is really getting a bashing from the wind as well as Batman!!

 

But then - just look at the size of King Kong!  You can see bits of damage to the sculpture around his face but he remained extremely impressive in reality.

 A large area was dominated by characters from Harry Potter!

Jaws was a little scary ;0)












 



And Gollum added another 'Baddie' to the mix.  The face and eyes are so expressive - and just look at those fingernails!

The children enjoyed a number of the cartoon themed sculptures - Sid from Ice Age and Toy Story 3 above.  Little B found it funny that the bad teddy (sorry - forgot his name) had a bird 'doo doo' on his head.  Karma I guess ;0)



ET was phoning home too...

The Titanic was sinking into the sand - I so wanted to do the cliched "I'm King of the World" pose but wasn't brave enough to do so in front of the throngs of people that were also viewing the sculptures!



























A Velociraptor took centre stage in a sculpture comprising lots of different elements from Jurassic Park.

There were lots of other sculptures too - James Bond, Clint Eastwood, Darth Vader and a sand sculpted Hollywood sign to name but a few so all in all... 

LOTS TO SMILE ABOUT!!

Despite all my efforts, due to half term holidays and my Big Girl being off school with a chest infection this week I am behind on my blog posting!  Hey ho - In June I celebrate the first anniversary of this blog and am about to launch the Carry It Forward (although I'm majorly intimidated to offer my home made goodies to you talented people!) So please do watch out for those posts as I'd love you to participate!

Thanks for reading,

J9 x

 

Today I'm sharing in these fab parties!

Show and Tell Friday

Simple & Sweet Friday