A Wonderful Weekend

We've just spent a lovely relaxing weekend in Charlton and it was bliss. Freezing cold outside mind you but when you're surrounded by family and a well stoked open fire, it seems pretty damned warm. Being thoroughly looked after by someone like Marj makes it a very relaxing time and as much as we don't want to create more work for her, if there is one thing I know about Marj, it's that looking after family and friends is what makes her happy. So we were spoiled with a roast dinner, casseroles, sausage rolls, soup and of course, the much drooled over Strawberry Sponge Roll. Sorry Jan...there's none left.

Grandparents.

I love them. I really wish I'd had the opportunity to spend proper time with my grandparents when I was growing up. Watching Max and Jemima with their Nana and Poppy is just priceless.

This little piggy.

Jemima is in love with this little animatronic pig that belongs to Aunty Nicole. It grunts, wiggles its nose and tail and walks along the floor. She is obsessed with it and her favourite thing all weekend was to lie on the floor and get her face as close as she could and let the wiggling pig nose tickle hers. It was so cute to watch.

Musical geniuses? Somehow I don't think so.

Max and Jemima were allowed to have a turn on Nana's piano for the first time. It's amazing how much noise...I mean music...2 little people can make when they are presented with a piano. Nana tried to teach Max how to play 3 Blind Mice and while he was happy to play the first couple of notes, the rest of the performance was completely improvised. Somehow I don't think we'll be getting a call from the Conservatory of Music, not anytime soon anyway.

Riding on Poppy's tractor

It was all Max could talk about on the way up to Charlton. He asked when we got there, he asked when he got up in the morning. "When can I help you drive your tractor Poppy?" If there is one thing that Max loves about going up to visit Nana and Poppy, it's riding on the tractor. Luckily for Max, Poppy is very obliging, he even lets Max steer by himself. Even though she is very unsure of the noise the tractor makes, Jemima had a couple of turns this time. She wasn't too thrilled when she first sat on Poppy's knee, but once the old Massey got moving, Jemima calmed down and seemed to enjoy chugging along. Well...maybe she just wasn't crying as much. She did clap though, so that's a good sign.

Finally...

I've finally started scrapping some of the old photos to put together in a Heritage album for the kids. My aim is to put together photos from both sides of our families and create a book of history that can hopefully be kept for a long time after we're gone. I started with a couple of photos of Marj, they aren't finished yet, but I thought I'd add them to this post anyway.