Monkey’s day out with Daddy & Family

Posted by Caroline Elliott

After a few busy weekends and a difficult week I was in need of a bit of a break this weekend so Daddy very kindly agreed to take charge with Monkey on Saturday. After a conversation with his mum on friday night it was agreed that they would go to a lovely country house – Burghley House near Stamford.

I stayed home but Daddy and Monkey went, along with Granny, Granddad and Uncle Simon, and they had a lovely time!

Monkey climbed on some fab logs and trees that are there for the purpose,

Some have had steps cut into them for kids to climb up, which is perfect for our little climber.

Monkey had so much fun running around everywhere,

and knocking on trees (of course)

Come with me Grandma!

I love this shot of him amongst the Daffodils!

And they ended the day with some lovely lunch and a cup of tea 🙂

So I got to have some lovely me-time while Monkey ran his daddy, grandparents and uncle simon a bit ragged! They all really enjoyed themselves though!

SuperBusyMum

Having Fun with Nanny

Posted by Caroline Elliott

After Tumble Tots on Tuesday, Monkey and I popped round to my mums for lunch s she had a fairly quiet day. Nothing too exciting you would think but the simplest of things made for the happiest of occasions.

My mum had got some toys and bits out for Monkey to play with so for a while we were building blocks, then they disappeared (and I enjoyed a rest) and it turned out Monkey had led Nanny upstairs on the hunt for more toys! He found his fave – which is just a little pull back VW Campervan. So simple but he LOVES it.

After lunch we had the best fun whizzing the car backwards and forwards down the hallway. I left my phone at home (and felt lost without it) but thankfully managed to catch a few shots on my mum’s tablet.

I love seeing them have so much fun together!

Lots of mimicking going on (from both of them!) 🙂

Then Monkey decided Nanny’s legs made a great tunnel, he went back and forth numerous times, even though he doesn’t really fit and nearly knocked her over! Poor Nanny!

I love this shot of the pair of them following the car into the dining room!

Monkey loves his nanny!

He was very spoilt as Nanny had made chocolate chip muffins for us as a treat – they were Yummy and Monkey loved his!

Just good, old fashioned simple fun with his Nanny, we all laughed a lot and it was just lots and lots of fun 🙂

What simple things do you enjoy with your little ones?

Family Photo Friday @ Thursday's Child, Friday's Thoughts

A Family Day

Posted by Caroline Elliott

Sunday was just a lovely day. We had Hubby’s parents and brothers and sister in law round for a roast dinner. Nothing grand, just a nice roast dinner and get together for a good natter, as all too often time goes by without seeing people, or without all of us getting together. I love family occasions and we love cooking and preparing for it (though not so much the grand house clean that is needed in advance!).

Monkey loves spending time with all his family too, so he had lots of fun with his Aunt and Uncle.

And his Aunt and Granny

And his Granddad.

He’s a bit obsessed with books at the moment, which we do not have a problem with, and it was nice for someone else to be able to read the same stories to him over, and over again, rather than just us hehe 🙂

We had a yummy yummy roast, though Monkey decided to be a fidget pants and played musical chairs, taking it in turns to sit on everyone’s lap rather than on his chair! Daft apeth!

I decided that I wanted to try and get a shot of all of us together, as it’s something we hardly ever do. The last time was a year and a half ago! So we set the self timer up and crowded round to get a photo. Keeping Monkey still and getting everyone to have their eyes open at the same time was a bit of a challenge!!

This was the best shot we got, though Granddad’s eyes are closed. I changed the settings so we wouldn’t get a monkey blur – but then didn’t like the lighting! I’ve had a bit of a play to brighten it up, it’s not perfect, but at least we are all smiling, or in Monkey’s case, still!

Anyway, it’s a nice record of a lovely family day 🙂

Family Photo Friday – Great Aunty Maggie’s visit

Posted by Caroline Elliott

My Auntie Maggie (who lives in South London) popped up for a brief visit on her way to a walking weekend in the Peak District. So this week’s Family Photo Friday is a couple of pics from a little walk we went on today and Monkey’s fun with his Great Aunty Maggie!

Not sure what they were both so excited about here but I love it.

Having a little run…… and then falling flat! Thankfully he didn’t hurt himself though and got up and dusted himself down 🙂

The Stick Collector

Posted by Caroline Elliott

We were out and about on Saturday. We popped to a local garden centre where we are members so get offer on lunches etc. After lunch we started to walk home but our bossy little Monkey kept disagreeing with us about which way to go. As we weren’t in a particular hurry we let him be in charge for a little while so we headed in the direction of our local country park, Ferry Meadows, which we go to a lot because it’s close and there’s lot to do.

Anyway we were walking along (thankfully the rain had passed for a bit) and we suddenly realised that Monkey was carrying a lot of sticks. Now he loves sticks, it’s not rare for him to get quite attached to sticks. They are regular companions on walks, they are a great motivational tool if he doesn’t want to walk any further (wow, come look at this stick!) and I constantly seem to find bits of stick at home, in our shoes, down the back of the sofa, etc.

What was unusual though was the quantity of sticks. So we watched for a bit and realised he was collecting them. Every time he passed a stick he picked it up! With the crazy weather of late (especially the mental winds on Friday night) I’m sure you can imagine there was a loooot of sticks about! It was so cute to see him problem solving with each new one, finding a way to keep hold of them all while picking another one up. Daddy and I thought it was brilliant 🙂

The funniest bit was when all of a sudden he sort of looked at the sticks as if to say to himself “What AM I doing?” and then dropped them on the floor and continued his walk. So funny.

A little while later he started collecting again, and the same cycle continued. He then tried to pick up a huuuge stick, then found one that was about his size and was content to use just that one for a while.

Daddy thinks he looks like Moses in this pic! he he

We went all the way to Ferry Meadows but then the winds were getting up, the clouds were starting to look a bit foreboding, it was nearly naptime and Monkey had done a poo. Despite all of this Monkey still didn’t want to go home so we had to strap in the buggy (with a lot of protesting) and thankfully a couple of little sticks kept him entertained most of the way home 🙂 Just in time as the heavens opened within a few minutes of getting home! Monkey was obviously very tired after all that problem solving and stick collecting as he slept for 3 hours and we had to wake him up! 🙂

Belton House in Winter – Days Out Scrapbook pg 2

Posted by Caroline Elliott

Saturday night when I got home from seeing some friends in London, hubby and I had a quick chat about what we wanted to do the following day. Checked the weather forecast and Sun all day! Brilliant. We got out our National Trust handbook and started looking at where is open during February that isn’t too far away.

Belton House is somewhere that I remember going to a lot as a kid – in the summer it has an amazing Adventure playground which Monkey will love as he gets older. I *think* these pics were taken there in the early 90’s – I’m sure it has changed a bit since then though!

Anyway, back to this weekend and the house and adventure playground are closed at this time of year but there is still a lot to see, so we decided to head on up and make the most of the day. It’s near Grantham so only about 40 mins away from us which is easily doable.

It is a beautiful house set in some amazing grounds -and we had a lovely time exploring the gardens…

…the maze…

…and the rest of the grounds. There is a lot of snowdrops blooming too which is just so lovely and very picturesque.

They have a fantastic ride and play cafe but unfortunately it was really busy today as they had a party booking and we couldn’t get a table, they do have another lovely restaurant though so we had lunch there. Monkey loved his pea soup!

We had a bit more of an explore after lunch and then little Monkey got tired leggies so had a piggy back on the way back to the car. I asked Hubby to try and get some piccies of Monkey and I as I am usually the one snapping away and we don’t have too many of us together. Clever Daddy got some great pics of us so I am very pleased.

There are a lot of deer on the estate too but we only saw them from the car so no pictures I’m afraid! We had a fantastic day though and will definitely have to go back as there is plenty more that we didn’t get to see.

Family Photo Friday – Playing cars with Grandpops

Posted by Caroline Elliott

At the weekend we popped round to my Mum and Step-dads for a cuppa, and Monkey loves all of his grandparents so much!

I took loads of snaps on the day (as I always do) but love this one of him sat on his Grandpop’s lap, whizzing his car around the dining table with my mum looking on and laughing. They all look so happy so I love it 🙂

Family Photo Friday – One of Monkey’s Uncles :)

Posted by Caroline Elliott

Family Photo Friday time again and this week we have one of Monkey’s Uncles. Never realised before now how funny that sounds!

Monkey loves his uncles very much and this is my little bro 🙂 Playing with some play-doh and the letter & number cutters my older brother and sister-in-law bought him for Christmas

Apologies for the poor quality was playing with my camera on my phone.

Days Out Scrapbook – Page 1 – Lyveden New Bield

Posted by Caroline Elliott

Do you ever find that weekends come and go in a blur of chores, shopping, visiting family, playtime etc. without feeling like you’ve made the most of the time together as a family? We do. So we have decided to make more of an effort this year to visit places. To do something different.

To add a fun side we have also decided to make this into a scrapbook for Monkey. He’s too young to remember these days out so we thought it would be nice to start a scrapbook with pictures, ticket stubs, interesting things we found or did on our day out, so he can look back on them as he gets older. As he gets older putting the scrapbook together will also be a fun thing for him to enjoy.

This is my blogged version of that scrapbook.

I am very lucky in that my lovely aunty bought me a lifetime membership to the National Trust quite a few years ago that gives me +1 entry to all National Trust sites. I did initially think that this would be purely for National Trust places but I think it’s nicer to widen the scope and encompass all days out.

So Page 1!

Yesterday we went to Lyveden New Bield. A small National Trust site but as it is only about 30 mins from home we decided it was a good place to start.

It looks like a ruin but it’s actually a house that was never completed as the owner, Sir Thomas Tresham died mid-way through. The building was started in 1595 – if you want more of a history please visit the National Trust page – I’m sure it would be more accurate than me!

On a grey miserable morning it looks very haunting up on a hill in the middle of the Northamptonshire countryside.

Monkey had on his wellies and his (slightly too big so they look a little like MCHammer trousers) waterproof trousers and he had a whale of a time exploring.

There’s names carved into the stone all over the building and as much as I don’t approve of general graffiti, it is kinda cool seeing graffiti from 1790 all the way up to now.

We had a lovely lunch and some tea in the tea rooms, Monkey enjoyed his lunch and we got some free cress in his lunch platter so will have fun growing that at home 🙂

After a bit of a play with his ball it was time to head home.

Great start to our new Days Out Scrapbook, stay tuned for many more

Family Photo Friday – Playing with the Paternal Grandparents

Posted by Caroline Elliott

It’s Family Photo Friday again and I am linking up with the lovely Mama H at Thursday’s Child, Friday’s Thoughts. Last weekend we had a lovely family filled weekend and saw both sets of grandparents. We are lucky to have them all so close so we do see them regularly. The only downside to this is that because you do it all the time, you sometimes forget to record it with photographs to look back on.

I love taking photos and used to have a paparazzi related nickname when I was travelling. I don’t put much effort in these days to my photography. I am still very snap happy but mainly using my phone. I always loved looking at photographs when I was a child so make an effort to make sure we have lovely family albums for our kids to look back on.

So anyway here is this week’s photo! I struggled to choose a picture but think this one of Monkey playing with his paternal grandparents is just lovely 🙂

Becoming a Stay at Home Mum

Can I really do this?

Family

Monkey’s day out with Daddy & Family

Having Fun with Nanny

A Family Day

Family Photo Friday – Great Aunty Maggie’s visit

The Stick Collector

Belton House in Winter – Days Out Scrapbook pg 2

Family Photo Friday – Playing cars with Grandpops

Family Photo Friday – One of Monkey’s Uncles :)

Days Out Scrapbook – Page 1 – Lyveden New Bield

Family Photo Friday – Playing with the Paternal Grandparents