More snowy adventures

Whilst I am indoors nursing a sickness bug, lovingly passed onto me by my son, the kids have been out enjoying some more of the snow. Who can blame them?

Kent one, Cumbria nil

It has been a constant source of annoyance to Jon that every year since moving to the hostile northern tundra, we have had more snow here in Kent than they have had in Cumbria. Once again dear friends, Kent has come out on top with six to eight inches of snow this morning. James went to bed this evening determined to stay awake until midnight, which (as I'm sure you know) is when all the snowmen in the land come to life...

Green green, or not so green grass.

This sight is an absolute joy to me. A flat garden covered with grass - what riches! I'm desperately hoping that the baby shoots can withstand the frost and survive the winter. All being well, we will have a lawn to play on come the spring.

Happy Birthday James!

James turned four last weekend. We had grandparents to birthday tea, and an unexpected visit from Uncle Gilbert who was here on a flying visit to pay his last respects to a much loved friend. James was thoroughly spoiled, and no doubt will be again in a fortnight's time.

Happy Birthday Mr Price!

We enjoyed a rare night out last night, thanks to Matt turning thirty this weekend. Happy birthday Matt and thanks for a great party! More pictures on facebook.

Me and my girl

I have embarked on a knitting project this week. Jennifer, true to her genetic stereotype, decided to join me.

Sand Pit!

This area of our garden will revolutionise my life. A patio! A safe place for the children to play where they can be supervised from the kitchen, a place where I can hang my washing without having to organise a babysitter beforehand, and a place to house the sandpit we have inherited from our neighbours. Does life get any better than this?

The Daveys come to Sunnyside

Life is good when the Daveys come to stay twice in two months! James and Molly were as thick as thieves, Jennifer tried to join in and George was quite happy being the baby. Despite an appalling weather forecast, we managed to finish rolling the grass seed in, and burnt the remains of our garage on a bonfire (and nearly Ron's shed...)

A day out in London

Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie Han, cousins Dan and Beth, trains, rain, puddles, tantrums, ham sandwiches by the thames, big ben chiming 12 o'clock, octopuses, turtles, fish of all shapes, sizes and colours, tantrums, sharks, more tantrums, fish and chips and bed. What a day. My two little monkeys were lucky they weren't fed to this big beast today.

Congratulations Gary and Natalie

We joined cousin Gary this weekend to help him celebrate his engagement to the beautiful Natalie. Emma - I have stolen a couple of your photos to share with the family, hope you don't mind!

James

James is almost impossible to photograph at the moment, refusing to look at the camera, pulling silly faces, not keeping still... After over thirty shots on the walk today I finally struck lucky with this one.

Flattening the garden!

Finally, after many months of waiting and hoping, we finally have a flat (ish) garden. It's not finished by a long way, but the relief that we have made significant progress is enormous. Big big thanks to Uncle Jon and his trusty digger.

May........................................Today

Piggies

James and Jennifer took a trip to auntie Daphne's this weekend to see their new arrivals.

Tractor rides

We have been missing Mab this summer, and since he seems to spend most of his time in tractors, we thought we would join him this lunchtime for a picnic and a few circuits round the field.

Bumper harvest

Despite doing very little maintenance to our vegetable plot, we have been completely self sufficient in vegetables over the summer and I am loving it. By the look of our potato and squash havest, we should be ok for the next few months too.

Haircuts all round!

and the first of many for the Juniper

Man make fire. Ug.

Despite the indian summer we have been enjoying, Mab can't wait for the cold weather. So for the last couple of nights we have had the stove on and the windows open.

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside...

After a lazy morning wondering what to do with the day, I threw the kids, and a few supplies into the car and headed for the seaside.

Rah Rah Rah!!!

Hur-rah for a night out on the town!











A highly sophisticated night out with Lis, Claire, Matt, smoked salmon sandwiches, chocolate cake, and a large dose of Beethoven. Bliss!

Wendy house

Jennifer was thrilled with her new wendy house at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Sadly she may have to share it with Grandpa's junk.. er I mean useful collectables. Sorry Jennifer, no more pole dancing for you.

The Daveys

Oh what a glorious weekend. Mab was home, the sun was out and the Daveys came to stay. More weekends like this please!
CAPTION COMPETITION: (click on photos to enlarge):

Bad mother

Oh dear. Forgot Jennifer's morning sleep, and she ended up falling asleep half way through lunch. What a bad mother I am...

Family get together

Last weekend was our annual Edwards family get together. This was the first time for many years that the whole family was gathered together, including the four ex-pats. Photos of the adults to follow!

Drusilla's Park

Another outing today with the cousins took us to Drusilla's Park. Daddy would be proud of this one.

Jacob's favourite bit was the Thomas train ride.
















Foxy lady

Hippo

Yesterday we attempted a trip to the seaside with the Canada crew, but the traffic was so bad we turned around and went to Bewl Water instead.

The water wasn't quite up to seaside standards, but that didn't bother James and he squelched around in the mud like a hippo.






Lizzie posed beautifully for her swimwear shot,











and the boys wallowed.

















There was lots to do for kids, a sandy beach, bouncy castles, boulders for climbing on, ice creams and an adventure play park.


Everyone had a thoroughly good time, and ended the day exhausted.

Playing at the park

Blackberries are the latest thing. Luckily the country park has oodles of them, which meant I got away with a late lunch both days this weekend (with the help of a packet of rice cakes for the fruitaphobic Jennifer).

Straw bales

This morning we took Maisie for a walk across the fields. What a glorious sight, a freshly combined field full of straw bales, the sign of a year's work completed. ...and something for us to play on.

Stove

It has all been happening at Sunnyside today. Our beautiful new Clearview stove was installed, Uncle John arrived this morning for

some more work in the garden, and the scrap metal man came to relieve us of the enormous pile of rusty metal in our front garden.
The only downside was the discovery of what we suspect to be an underground spring running alongside our outbuilding and right into the area where our extension is planned to go. Not sure how to resolve that one...

All fall down

Today, after many months of anticipation, Uncle John finally arrived with his digger. After a few minutes the garage was no more.


Phase one of operation lawn is complete.

James worked hard all afternoon helping Daddy and Grandpops carry the

wood to the bonfire pile.

Jennifer was more interested in the contents of the puddle at the bottom of our drive.