Devon part 1

Our drive down to Devon was a complete washout.  And grey.  grey sky, grey rain, grey motorway...you get the idea.  So it didn't bode well for our one and only holiday for the year.  Nevertheless, that great British resolve came out in full force and we managed to make the most of the, actually, quite nice weather that we were fortunate enough to then have......

The day after we arrived we went to Dartmoor, a large area of moorland classed as a National Park, visited HMP Dartmoor museum (as well as had a look at the real HMP), and went for a walk by the Burrator Reservoir.  The greyish weather actually added an air of mystery to the atmosphere and certainly proved why the area was the setting of so many mystery and horror novels (Hound of the Baskervilles, Sherlock Holmes etc).

road to nowhere....

a moors wild pony - you are not supposed to feed them or get too close.....they are wild and are known to bite and kick!

view of the reservoir from the bridge

on the shores of the reservoir

we let the kids go off and explore.....I had to zoom A LOT to capture this!  They just love exploring :-)

off up the waterfall.....I stayed safely on the ground ;-)

a Tor in the mist

a cow looks up to inspect our car....

We ended the day with fish and chips (and mushy peas for me, which I was informed is a rather 'northern' thing - I never knew that, I though everyone ate them with mushy peas!) from The Cod Father in Kingsbridge.  There's nothing like fish and chips from the coast :-)  Oh, and Ben chose to have sausage instead of fish. In fact, every day of our holiday he had a sausage in preference to whatever we had.... our son really needs to broaden his palate - he comes from a family of foodies!

Jasmine prepares for baby

Jasmine is not really a doll kinda girl - just now and then she goes through phases where she becomes attached to a particular doll (she has quite a few) and dresses it up in her old baby clothes, wants me to serve it some of our dinner, take it in the car......but it rarely lasts more than a few days at the most.  Since I have been sorting through her baby clothes to see what I can pass on to the baby, she has a renewed interest in her 'baby', and has taken to fashioning a make-shift sling out of her top and carrying it about everywhere.  It was too cute not to take a picture of :-)

Photoshoot in North London

Whilst I was waiting my turn for hair and make-up, I snapped some photos of the kids enjoying themselves in the beautiful house that was our shoot location.....

enjoying breakfast....mini danishes, croissants, smoked salmon and cream cheese bagels, fruit of every description, juice.....

(that's a lemon in her mouth fron the bagel platter...!)

Ode to Pippi's garden

We love Pippi's garden (the kids' paternal grandmother).  It brings to mind those fairytale childhoods where kids roam amongst wildflowers, find secret hidey places and secret passages into other places all on their own whim and for as long as they like.

The first place my two like to go upon arriving at Pippi's (other than her bed if it is late) is the garden.  When he was younger Ben would also strip naked the minute he got out there and start frolicking in the water from the water butt - he no longer strips though thank goodness!  They can wander amongst the large vegetable garden picking whatever berries, fruits or herbs whose path they happen to cross, sneak into next door's garden through the little gap in the fence at the very bottom of the garden behind the wildflowers and play with the boy next door (or he comes through to play with them) amongst other things.  The morning after Ben's party they did just that, and had the added pleasure of picking that day's lunch fresh from the vegetable garden.....I decided that I'd like to actually take some pictures to try and reflect the beauty that is this garden and the pleasure the kids get from it.

picking peas and broadbeans

Shelling them

Ben finds an early blackberry

runner beans

figs

Stargazer Lillies (my favourite flower)

grapes

rhubarb

the harvest for our lunch...potatoes, globe artichokes, rhubarb and the peas and broadbeans

As well as the fruit and veg pictured above, Pippi grows; pumpkins, corn, a variety of squashes and courgettes, various lettuces (which we also had for lunch), various types of onions, garlic, swiss chard, broccoli, carrots, leeks, horseradish, fennel, a couple of types of wild strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, gooseberries, blackcurrants, peppers, chillies, tomatoes, aubergines, cucumbers, pears, damsons, apples, kiwi, sloe, lovage, mint, rosemary, parsley, thyme, sage, greens, and plenty of other things that I have forgotten. And this does not even count the flowers she grows.  That's a whole other story. I am in awe.      

Pippi made us a delicious salad with the peas, broadbeans, artichokes and some parsley and mint.  I ate a lot of it.  I would have put the recipe on the food blog, but we ate it before I could get a picture.  And really, you just mix them all up together and make a vinaigrette to dress it - so no recipe needed really. 

Ben's 7th Birthday Part 2

PAAAARTYYYYY!

I felt quite guilty that for the last couple of years, I have really gone all out with putting on really fun parties for Jasmine, but not Ben.  There is a good reason for this.  Ben's birthday comes very soon after our tenancies have come to an end so things have been more hectic and money tied up in agreements and contracts/renewals etc.  I have always still tried to make his day really special and fun, and I'm sure he doesn't feel hard done by, but the mummy in me feels like I have short changed him somehow.  Yet this year, not only have we just moved house (again!) all my craft stuff is in the garage somewhere, the house is not ready for a hoarde of 6/7 year olds and being over 6 months pregnant, I haven't got the energy to deal with all the preparation and then the party itself.  So we decided to have his party at Pippi's. 

This is actually the fourth birthday party he has had there and they have all been lots of fun and much less stressy.  However, to add to the fun factor and to relieve the pressure from us parents from having to 'perform' (ie, put on lots of fun activities and games - which surprise, surprise, we actually don't enjoy that much!)  So, I pulled out the big guns and hired a bouncy castle - Ben looooves bouncy castles - see the summer party post pics.  And he had a wonderful time - as did we all.

the youngest guest - just 6 weeks old

taking a sneaky break!

the some of the grandparents

Nick has a cheeky go!

piggy back rides.....

modelling his new jacket

sampling the cake I was too shy to serve during the party.....

.....which I took a picture of anyway :-)