Egg n chips

We took our bikes to Blackpool to try out the wonderful stretch of beachfront that has been remodelled as part of a massive regeneration programme. The cycling was great, but the weather was not so good. It started out ok, but by the time we had cycled from South Beach and out towards the dunes at Lytham St Annes Kit was getting a bit cold and it started to rain. The cycle back was pretty wet and windy, but egg and chips in a greasy spoon cheered everyone up.

Kitty and mummy looking for shells in the cold.

Just as we were getting ready to call it a day, the sun came out and Kitty got to spend 10 minutes playing in the tide. She loved it and got wet through.

It was still sunny when we got home, so we spent the rest of the day planting up winter pansies and painting alfresco. I turned my back for a minute and Kit decided to paint her face. She has since had a shower and despite lots of scrubbing, her nose is still tinged green.

Summer staycation

Since holidays away are always difficult (asking someone to feed the goats for a week or two is not quite as easy as asking a neighbour to keep an eye on a cat!) and money is tight, we decided to take two weeks off work/nursery and just stay at home. We have been very busy and so far thoroughly enjoying ourselves. The weather has been an odd mix of torrential rain and hot hot sun, but this had made for some great rainbows.

We have visited the Simpson's and fed Grandads enormous fish.

We have been tending to Kitty's miniature sunflowers in the hope that some extra care may make them suddenly grown another 10 foot in order to beat cousin Olive in the sunflower growing contest.

Kitty stayed overnight at Grandma and Grandad Pih's house for the first time. Grandad Pih lit a Chinese paper lantern to mark the occasion.

It was the first night mummy and Kitty had ever been apart. Kitty wasn't worried at all and had a great time, but mummy felt a bit strange.

We tried to make the most of a night off and went to the cinema to see Inception (OK, but don't blink or you'll get lost, plus Leonardo is terrible as per usual). We even went to a pub in Burnley after (also pretty terrible). There is not much to do around here so we have not been missing much over the last two years.

There have been lots of walks and Rosie has been showing Kitty all the best spots for Blackberry picking.

Many, many trips to the park.

Kitty's first babycino.

Lots of crafting.

Kitty got a production line going for birthday present thank you cards.

Mummy made Kitty a new cardigan from bits of wool left over from other projects. It just needs the ends darning in and some buttons, but we are in no rush to finish it as Kitty says she hates it.

Our cheeky chocolate face is two

I can hardly believe that Kitty is already two. It only seems like a blink away from when she arrived, though it is increasingly difficult to remember life without her. We are quite an odd pair myself and Peahead, and we did worry that a third person would find it hard to fit in but she has proven to be most definitely one of us and fits in perfectly. Despite being 50% me and 50% Peahead in every way, she is the happiest little thing and great fun to be around. She has an incredible sense of humour, some great conversation and is so bright that she amazes us each and every day. The most impressive thing she started to do just this week is use the words 'me' and 'mine'. In the space of a few days she went from describing things as 'Kitty's' to 'mine' and saying 'me' in response to questions like 'who spilt the juice?' rather than saying 'Kitty'. This seems like a massive developmental step and one that she has fully grasped practically overnight. Incredible.

Kitty had a lovely birthday party at Grandma Pih's house. Everyone came and there were lots of bubbles.

And lots and lots of presents.

We have been trying out our new bikes. So far, just close to home along the Leeds - Liverpool canal between Foulridge and Thornton-in-Craven on the national cycleway route 68. If we get good at this we could actually cycle all the way to Derby along this route! Perhaps a few nights in the tent along the way.

Kitty seems to like it a lot, especially when we stop for ice-cream or a park or when we spot animals. We have already seen lots of cows, sheep and horses, a few pigs and chickens, some rabbits, fish, ducks, swans and what looked like a heron (?).

I'm quite taken with all the canal boats. That looks like lots of fun.

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.