Space cadets

This weekend we were back in Derbyshire as it was mama Simpson's birthday (65!). We also had an invite to attend a party for Cassian's 2nd birthday. Holly made Cas this cool rocket cake. We had chocolate pancakes, played pass the parcel and a pretty good time was had by all.

At mama's house we checked on the tadpoles, which have now grown legs and look more like frogs. Some have even lost their tales.

The first thing Kitty always wants to do at mama and grandads house (even before getting dressed!) is to feed the fish.

For Kit's birthday (which I can't believe is only a couple of weeks away now), we decided to buy some bikes so we could enjoy some fun days out together. We found a great bike seat a few weeks ago at Gisburn car boot and daddy managed to find a nice bike for himself on Gumtree. We were planning to start looking for a cheap one for me too, but mama and grandad Simpson revealed that one had been sitting in their shed for about 10 years. Before they had it, it belonged to Auntie Bessy, so some proper recycling going on here. Perfect! - it has a cute basket on and everything. I was a bit wobbly at first, but it soon came back. All we need now is a bike rack for the car and we'll be off. I want to try the Morecombe circular, but I think we'll probably just start with a few trips down the local canal towpath to see how it goes.

Kitty found some chickens in the bushes when we visited the garden centre.

A kiss for grandad Pih last weekend.

Look what daddy gets up to when unsupervised. Is this even legal?

Pig, poop and paint

To entertain ourselves this weekend, we made a regular favourite - 'Pig Pie' (aka cheese and onion pie).

For a little variety, we also tried 'Poop Pie'. (also aka cheese and onion pie).

On Saturday Daddy took Kitty to see Grandma Pih who is recovering from a hip replacement op. Olive and Ben were there too, so Kitty had a lovely time playing with her cousins.

Mummy made the most of the day off and got a hair cut, the first time in about a year! Unfortunately, the hair dressers understanding of 'about 2-3 inches' translated to a scary 6-7 inches off the length of mummy's hair!!!!! It does look neat I guess, but 'neat' is not really a look mummy normally goes for. Oh well.

The weather was windy and wet on Sunday, but we didn't let this stop us enjoying being outside. We turned the greenhouse into a cool art and craft studio. Kitty did some painting, while mummy messed around with paper and glue. Daddy watched the Grand Prix and the World Cup final in peace.

Day tripper

We took an extra day off and went to Blackpool.

It was VERY windy but we had fun. We had veggie burger and chips in a café, then went for ice-cream on the North Pier.

Kitty loved the arcade.

We took the tram to South Beach and watched the Big One. We were too late to get on the beach, as the tide was coming in. Maybe next time.

June - the good, the bad and the ugly

The sun has been good to us this June and we have enjoyed every minute. Kitty caught her first tadpole at Mama and Grandad's house.

She also learnt the fine art of escape via the dog-flap.

The garden came into bloom and the tomatos are coming on well too.

Vegetables are growing, but it's tough as the snails are big and there are 1000's of them. Kitty and me try to do an early morning raid on them as often as possible. This is an average catch so you see the problem! I don't use any other method of pest control at the moment, though someone did recommend slug-off recently, as it doesn't kill slugs and snails they just don't like it but I have yet to find any for sale.

Kitty playing in our Visitor Centre recently.

Tory cuts to public services have hit us hard already. We are looking for 40% cuts across the board, with non-statutory stuff going anywhere it can. Several community centres, leisure centres and libraries are already on the hit list and our little Visitor Centre has been one of the first to get the bullet. All that work. We close the doors on 18th July. Just a months notice to get out. Luckily we have justified that the service should be kept, but only really as we have managed to find a temporary building with no rent - for now. As for my job, well I'd say it's looking like 80-85% possibility of redundancy at the moment. All we can do is wait and see how things go. Probably time for a change anyway, but I doubt there will be anything else for me around here so we may have to move from our lovely little house on the hill. I just hope all those people that were fooled into voting Conservative, now realise what they have done and that Tories do not and never will have the interests of the lower classes in mind. Unfortunately, it's a hard lesson to learn and much of the work that has been done to improved the lives, prospects, health and wellbeing of poorer people in this country will be lost. The North will be devastated after just a few years of this.

We spent fathers day at Grandma's house as it was also her birthday.

Bert got a bad hair-cut.

Kitty is moving into 'big-girl class' next week and will be joining Friday ballet class. We went to East Lancs School of Dance on Saturday to buy her outfit. She looks like a proper little ballerina now and is very excited about the up coming lessons. Note the cute little stool Grandad Simpson turned for us.