Christmas!

This year we are spending Christmas up here in Aberdeen, just the four of us. We feel very grown-up, and so far we haven't forgotten anything important like the cranberry sauce, yorkshire puds or cheese and crackers. Phew!

So far the family fun has consisted of:

- a visit to THE best Grotto in the world, at BA Country Stores. It was decked out in a huge, moving winter wonderland and Santa's workshop, with bits of trucks being assembled travelling over our heads and on conveyor belts... oh wow. Then Father Christmas spent so long with us, and reeled Oliver nicely in with a haribo sweet. Brilliant!!

- a cinema trip to see 'Brave' (great!!) which only costed £2.70, AND the boys were very good throughout- followed by a trip to McDonalds!! We both hadn't been for sooo long and we bought Oliver his first Happy Meal...! The chips went down a storm.

- lots of Christmassy baking

- Ben being poorly so we all snuggled in bed to cheer him up

- we made a gingerbread ruin!!! (the 'roof' is made of strawberry laces... we ran out of icing sugar to stick the real roof on!)

- more Christmassy baking- this is Ben and Oliver making mince pies together. So lovely

- before bed on Christmas Eve, the boys acting out all the parts in the Nativity

- leaving out a home-made mince pie for Santa and a carrot for the Reindeer. Oliver didn't think S.C. would need a drink, instead he was adamant for us to leave the mince pie in the cup

- Christmas day lunch!

- My husband looking especially handsome in his new jumper

... and it's only Boxing day!! More excitement when Ben's brother and sister come to visit at the weekend, yippee!

Summer Holiday

What a whirlwind couple of weeks we have had!! Ben booked just over two weeks off work so we packed up the car, squeezed the boys in the back and off we went.

THE LAKE DISTRICT

We spent the first week in the north-west of the Lake District, on top of the Solway coast. The house was a converted barn and was SO pretty inside with lots of pine, skylights and a huge window - I took notes for the future! Like the rest of the country the weather was pretty pants all apart from the last day, when we got burnt!

Because of space we chose not to bring the buggy and brought a sling for me to carry Zach and a baby backpack for Ben to carry Oliver- the scales tell me that I've lost weight and I believe it- it was hard work!! We did three lake walks and one day we climbed a peak constantly for close to two hours. Ben can tell you that I wasn't the best company... but at the top we got breathtaking views of two lakes, Keswick, peaks galore and even along to the coast and across to Scotland. The pictures just don't do it justice.

Ben was excited to hear there were lots of Roman forts in the area so on other days we got a tour around a current archaeological dig, searched for forts, altars and other tidbits that he fancied. Oliver was a bit keen to follow in Daddy's footsteps at the dig and kept trying to jump into the muddy holes they had already excavated. He kept us on our toes and I missed most of the tour (although I wasn't too bothered...!)

On a rainier day we went to a farm park called 'The Gincase'. It was BRILLIANT- lots of animals and food to feed them straight out of your hand, loads of indoor and outdoor play areas (loads of ride-on cars, so totally up Oliver's street, lots of baby animals, a crafty shop for me and Ben and Oliver got to bottle feed a baby goat! Ben and I were a bit nervous to see how Oliver found the animals, but he totally surprised us and was utterly fearless and goats, sheep, horses, pigs...all out out of his hand. He was smitten, it was magical to watch.

When we booked the house in the Lake District, somehow we had forgotten that we live in Scotland - the land of lakes (lochs!) and have the most beautiful scenery around us already, but I think sometimes you need to physically go away somewhere to make the most of it, so it was definitely worth the trip.

Oliver keeps us safe with the GPS around Ennerdale

One dribbly baby on the beach

My Nanna and Granddad who live in Cornwall!!

Zachy Baby and Daddy are reunited after two weeks apart

My Zachy Baby

VISITING FAMILY

... is fun but it can be exhausting!! (See below)

We had a great time with Ben's family for a few days (trips swimming, to Wicksteed Park- a family park and small theme park- a family BBQ and a walk or two around Thrapston- lovely) The boys enjoyed bonding and so did we. Somehow I never end up with many photos of time spent with Ben's family. Ben's Mum is quite the photographer though so I can nab some from her afterwards!

Next up we spent a few days with my family:

In Southwold, a wonderful seaside town

Mum and I chatted as the boys cricketed on the green

The pictures below show a fun but slightly dangerous rope swing on Nacton shores. Dad, Ben and the boys invented a game involved pushing someone on the swing and then sprinting underneath them very close to the cliff... Boys... They thought I was woosy (sp?!) but I did go on in the end!

ZACH'S BLESSING

To top it all off and as a perfect culmination of all things holiday, Zach was blessed at our church in front of the congregation, and we had food afterwards.The blessing was beautiful and lots of family and some friends came to support us and Zach, plus it was at our old chapel in Cambridge (a nice half-way point for our families) so that was lovely bonus to see our friends there. AND we managed to get through lunch before the torrential rain. Phew!

Plus yummy Costco cake and the world's biggest watermelon

What a couple of weeks. Ben thinks we'll need another couple of recover from that 'holiday' :) Now back to normality! I love being away, but normal life is lovely too. I'll report on our Olympic adventure another day. I think I have overloaded everyone already today!

In which Ben and Ab have a night without the baby!

On Friday night Ben left work a bit early and we headed off into the sunset on our long-awaited one night away between feeding Oliver and the next baby!!

I booked us a "deluxe guestroom plus" at a 4* Hilton hotel in the lovely village of Ballater. Ballater is in Royal Deeside, close to Balmoral Estate (owned by the Queen) and most of the shops have royal crests on them because the butcher/baker/outfitters also provides services for the Royal family!! Ooh ahh. It is about 90 minutes from Aberdeen.

We had a lovely time snuggling and went out for a meal in the village on Friday evening (for once in our married life I didn't pick a more expensive meal than Ben, phew!) and after a leisurely lie-in on Saturday morning we got a big buffet breakfast in the restaurant followed by a swim in the hotel pool and a soak in the jacuzzi.

Unfortunately I was having braxton hicks (practise contractions) practically all day on Saturday and leg cramps so that put a bit of a dampener on it, but we turned our planned intrepid walk around nearby Loch Muick into a shorter, still beautiful one around a bit of the Loch. We nearly got blown away by all the wind though!!!! Around the Loch we spotted about 20 deer and later four stags standing quite close to us. They were huge and very majestic looking.

We came back around teatime on Saturday to find Nanny T and Grandpops (Ben's parents!) had spoiled Oliver rotten with his very first pair of shoes... Clarks of course! :) They are the teeniest size they do: 3G and VERY cute, and suedy. He has been impressing us toddling around the house all week and now he is quite the pro, making manouvres, turning corners and going over small bumps.

All in all a wonderful 24 hours away. Ahhhh married life is the best. And so is going home to Oliver. It was lovely for Ben's parents to have some Oliver-time, and we enjoyed seeing them for the rest of the weekend too

Some photos from the weekend:

The two of us ready to go on Friday night

My very intrepid husband (the hood was necessary, we were nearly blown away!)

Me

Intrepid like his Daddy, complete with new shoes!

Back to The Isle of Wight- with Ben this time!

We spent last week in the I of W with my sister Jaz, her husband Tom and 10 month old Sebby. We had a fab time! As often seems to happen, our camera ran out of battery as soon as we got there, so we've only got a few pics taken on Ben's phone. Here they are:

At the Model Village, Godshill

I LOVE this picture! :)

Giant Baby Attack!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At the Needles, a few chalky stacks off the coast

We took Oliver on the CaromlLineBreaks=true

Having a super time in France!

Oliver waking up, having commandeered our bed most the night!

Me and Oliver on the ferry from Dover to Dunkirk

Ben and Oliver at a cafe in Carcassonne

Pretty French village featuring some ruins

We love Daddy!!!

Having a super time in the South of France, albeit a bit wetter and windier than we planned!! Last night was particularly fun, when a HUGE storm had us covering our holiday home (a converted mill) with pots and pans to collect the dripping water coming through the beams! Very fun :)