Scrumping

A problem with my car resulted in an unexpected but very welcome extra day off work/nursery. Time for scrumping some apples. Collecting some for us and as many as we could fit in the bucket of Kits trike for the goats.

A nice long walk, eating plenty of Blackberries along the way.

Saying hello to the fancy chickens that live down the lane. They moved in several months ago, but apparently have yet to lay a single egg.

Petting Steven and giving him one or two of our apples.

The usual chores, but much more fun when there is time to spend messing around.

Kitty is currently obsessed with things that 'look like' other things. My favourite observations so far include spotting a cloud that looked like Spike (our white cat), a bin lorry's wing mirrors that look like ears and noticing that the honey on her porridge makes the same pattern as the giraffe fur pattern on her slippers. She is a clever little bean.

It's over

We spent the last days of our holidays playing on the canal........

............and eating cheese pie and vegetables at the Craven Heifer in Kelbrook.

Kitty has been a star for two whole weeks.

But now it is over. Back to the rat race.

Moose slippers

A great little parcel arrived in the post from cousin Olive. Recently back from a trip to Canada, Olive sent Kitty these fab Canadian hand knit slippers and a lovely letter telling us all about her exciting holiday. Thank you!

Mommy and baby moose taken by Uncle Steven Pih.

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?