Another notch on the Belt

We had a special supper tonight as it was Halloween. Pumpkin gnocchi with blue cheese sauce, followed by mushroom risotto, and all wrapped up with apple fritters in a cider batter. Not bad for a Wednesday night in autumn, but it was our 19th anniversary so we had something to celebrate...

Anything you can do...

It's Miranda's turn to keep up with her older siblings! I'm not sure what she was making but it could be a skate board for Raggy Rabbit or a ramp for Gregory's motorbike.... I wonder what Lewis will think when he sees the latest competitor for space on his Lego-club blog.

What on earth am I doing here?

A question we all ask ourselves from time to time, but this probably was not going through Lewis' mind at the the time I took the picture! The earlier frame was very dramatic but did not have much going for it in the engagement department, and I only shot two frames with the clan today.

It's been gorgeous today, and we had a nice walk in the forest this morning from Beaulieu over towards Denny Wood.

In with both hands

Miranda is getting very determined to hold and use things as she sees fit - and that often conflicts with the activity in hand. Bath time for example, and the flannel becomes as inseperable as Raggy Rabbit.

Here she is taking her hat off for the camera...

Life's a beach!

This picture taken by Lewis is a great mood setter for the weekend. We met an interesting chap at Calshot tonight who'd relocated to Calshot from Liverpool many years ago. He'd decided to bring his supper down to the beach to stretch his legs, which is exactly what we do on a Friday night very often.

Lewis and the Low Loader

Today we made an american low loder,it is carrying a block digger and one of my police cars.
It's half teram so I have had more time to make lots more models.If you woloued like to see some more photos go to http://lego-club.blogspot.com

This post has been written by lewis.

A rare glimpse...

It's not often one get the chance to see Count Dracula's fangs - she normally keeps them well under cover! But here they are for all to see, in this slightly strange smile.

Tonight Miranda was sick at bedtime, so we now have our finger's crossed that she not going to be poorly.

Blog on the Blog!

Life imitating art.... Here's Lewis loading his posting to his blog site http://lego-club.blogspot.com earlier today. We were going to photograph his new Lego low loader but ran out of time, so that will have to wait for tomorrow.

No he's 8 actually!

We took this one on the weekend at the water's edge near Lymington. One presumes it's a speed restriction sign but it seemed like a good fun photo opportunity for Mad Max!

The Jigsaw King

Today it has been rather wet, so after a rather damp bike ride this morning we spent the afternoon playing games and doing jigsaws - Gregory it appears is a bit of a dab hand, managing fairly complex and large ones with ease.

The gnome

We were out for a walk today along the salt marsh at Tanners Lane near Lymington, when we came across these huge mushrooms. As it was only last week we were talking about the gnomes living under the mushrooms, I thought it would be fun to make this montage!

What no photo!

The end of the week, and I am looking forward to a good rest having picked up a strange virus that has rendered my muscles fairly useless and my grip non existent. I have been struggling to even hold a camera, let alone have the will to take pictures. I am still having difficulty doing things like writing with a pen and even typing is a challenge - but I am feeling a bit better, and my grip is coming back too, so fingers crossed.

So this is what my blog would look lik without photos!

I'm getting the hang of this!

Some problems can be solved by looking at the challenge from a different angle. Most would move the beads from one position to the other side - Miranda finds it more interesting to move the wires and watch the beads drop into place!

Wrestling with the Dragon

This rather idyllic scene from the weekend was taken at one of our favourite spots in the Forest. It's a lovely old tree that we've climbed on in Denny Wood, on so many occasions that I'm not usually lookin for photo opportunities!

However I turned around, and caught this grab shot of the boys.

Sunady Dinner!

We all ate supper together tonight, and unusually it was a traditional roast dinner - well almost! The menu was adjusted to allow for alien snowballs, monster mash and astronaut pie... Greg and Lewis ate it all up - even if a Lewis had to trade a piece of astronaut pe for an alien snowball.

Empty plates that's what we like to see....!

Off to the Showroom

Today Lewis is doing the blog posting, so we have to have a picture of his choice. And it's Lego, of course!

"This was one of my favourite birthday presents, given to me my Mum and Dad...It's going to be made into a dumper truch next week - watch this space!"

Eggstatic

Miranda was a picture today, wearing an all in one bib with light covering of lunchtime bits, dressed with assorted stains and breadcrumbs.

She does look rather happy though doesn't she!

I have been trying to record those two new teeth on the top which look like Count Dracula's incisors, but so far I haven't managed to capture a very interesting picture.

Two thirty..... (Tooth 'urty)

Miranda looking very grown up, in Budha pose on Study floor... "Well you'd be crosslegged if you have nappy rash and teeth coming through like I've got Daddy!"

Teeth as my Dentist remarked today are always troublesome. Trouble getting them, trouble looking after them, and yet more trouble when they start giving up the will stay in your mouth... So look on the bright side Miranda, this could be the start of something.

Keeping Miranda stretched...

This is Miranda's gym/lab at present - one of those things you normally find on the bar at the pub. She has to demonstrate her prowess by getting the coloured beads to the end of the wire, (not) before Mummy can cook their tea, ...otherwise they don't get any!

She thinks it's great fun, until the bead escapes and she gets her head stuck...

Mustachioed Man!

I've been out all day today, so a delve into the archive for a recent shot - this little jewel from a few weeks ago makes Gregory look like he's got a huge mustache!!

The fly on the wall

This shot manages to capture the kids lost in playtime - and is how I like it, when the kids are playing merrily on the floor in the study, harmoniuosly, albeit separately!

Unfortunately it all too often descends into "I was playing with that first!" and such like, and bad old daddy has to intervene.

Lewis the Twitcher!

Tiger decided it was a great afternoon to go birdwatching, so here he is in action stalking a Redcap. We had a nice walk from Beaulieu Heath over towards Denny Wood.

Also today we had a good biike ride this morning with Greg riding a fair distance on both the road and pavement. He's getting to the stage now where I can trust him to ride on the road, so long as I'm an outrider!

There was a moment today when Lewis was far ahead of us and took a right turn as traffic was following behind - he looked, signalled and went for it all on his own - it made my heart stop, but made me realise just how sensible he is.....

Cycling Proficiency

Greg's football cones have been coming in very handy recently with the cycling squad - there's not many tests I can devise that Lewi can't master within two minutes. Greg always has to try to keep up, but unfortunately his technical skills are not quite as good as Lewi!

Tonight he fell off and cut his elbow, so there were tears at Bathtime....

Truck Trader

What Lewis doesnt know about trucks, probably isn't worth knowing - a slight exageration maybe, but he certainly could teach most people a few things they didn't know they needed to know!

He can spot a lorry make before you've noticed there was even a vehicle approaching... This was one of Lewis' party bags, made with his own fair hands.

Look I made it!

This would have made a good colour photograph, it's just that I fancied a good old fashioned black and white one.

Greg displaying his traffic light biscuit...

A blustery day on the Island

Today we went over to the Isle of Wight for a treat. The sea was very choppy, and there were only five vehicles in on the ferry, but we had a nice day, starting at Freshwater Bay and heading on to Niton for lunch at the Buddle Inn.

A rather charming old lady came up to us and said what a fantastic family we had - so I guess we must be doing something right!

After a visit to the Botanic Garden in Ventnor we had to race home to catch the ferry....