Things we have been up to in June...

Caitlin had her birthday. She is now 14!! She went with her friends to Lets Go and spent an hour in the karaoke pod, then had tea in Burger King. Ideal, as I didn't have to do anything other than pay.

Ellie performed in a junk band as part of Tidy-up-our-town day. She did a workshop at school then did this in Barnstaple square one Saturday morning in the rain.

Carl and Ellie did some gardening. They pulled out lots of weeds and planted a massive 3 plants!

Last Sunday, on possibly the hottest Sunday of the year, instead of going to the beach, we went Go-karting with Beth, Andrew, Francis and Dad. I did one race, everyone else did two or three.

Ellie managed a spectacular crash on the bend after this one. She drove straight into the wall, did a 180 degree spin and her helmet came shooting off into the air. She has a lovely seatbelt bruise across one shoulder and a massive bump on her back where she shot back into the seat after stopping. Her next lap was 3 times slower than that one!

Yesterday Ellie went to Pilton school as part of a Sports Festival. Caitlin was helping to organise and run one of the events. So I managed to get them both together for the first time since they started school.

And today of course I've been on strike and both their schools were closed. We took the dog for a walk along the river bank and stopped in the park for ice creams.

Happy 90th Birthday Grandad

We've been down to Appledore today. My Grandad is 90. He's had a quite a few visitors. Mum's been down there most of the day. We had a cup of tea and a nice bit of cake. Stayed for a chat, then left him to recover! I know he'll be reading this later, so again... 'Happy Birthday Grandad, you're looking much better than Prince Phillip!'

Picnic

The weather was beautiful on Friday, and I was stuck in the orthodontists half the afternoon, so when the forecast said it was going to be good on Saturday too I decided to go for a picnic. I spent the morning sunbathing in the garden, then packed a lunch and off we went to Landacre on Exmoor. Five minutes down the road the clouds rolled in. So by the time we got there it was blooming freezing.

Still the girls had a good time. They sort of went paddling in the river. The dog ran around like a mad thing saying hello to everyone else who was picnicking there too. She was made to get wet when Caitlin threw her into the water (although only up to her tummy).

They had fun playing frisbee too. Shortly after this was taken the frisbee went into the river - it was inevitable really. Willow was shown what to do when someone else's dog went in after the frisbee and brought it back to us. After that the girls move further up the hill to play - until it started raining, then we came home. When is summer coming?

A fun day out in Ilfracombe

We had a fab day out today. We used Ellie's birthday present 'Murder Mystery Treasure Trail - Ilfracombe' and followed the clues to work out who killed Rod Haddock, local fisherman. It took us on a 1.5mile round trip of Ilfracombe including a walk up to the top of Capstone Hill, with a lovely view over the town. This is where Ellie fell down, grazed her hip and dropped her ice-cream, hance the sad face above. I think she was more worried about the ice-cream than anything else.

We stopped for lunch in a pub by the harbour and sat in the sunshine overlooking the beach. My half a cider went down very well. Then the treasure trail took us into the High Street so close to the chocolate shop we just had to go in! Jo bought the girls a gobstopper each. They'd never seen one before. It didn't work, they still kept talking.

Visitors

We've had an excellent weekend. I love it when people come to stay, especially people we haven't seen for a long time. This weekend we were visited by Nessa and Dib, all the way from Herfordshire. It never ceases to amaze me how you can not see someone for several years and then you meet up again and it's like you were only with them yesterday - it's just that you have a lot more to talk about!

The weather wasn't very kind to us, almost-constant grey skies, but we did manage to get out. We walked across Croyde beach and into the village for ice-cream. Shame everyone had their eyes shut for the photo though.

See, there is a patch of blue sky in this photo. This is Kitty and Caitlin clambering over the rocks. They got on very well, despite a 7 year gap between them.

And Ellie and Tabitha were thick as theives as well. There is only 9 months between them. On the second night they all decided to play musical beds and Caitlin shared with Kitty while Tabitha and Ellie crashed on the floor of Caitlin's room. Good job I made her tidy it up before they arrived. You couldn't see the carpet in there last week.

Prague

On Saturday afternoon I flew to Prague to visit my friend Sarka. She'd promised to show me round after I met her in London in March. The weather was beautiful and sunny on Saturday, but Sunday dawned cold and cloudy. We didn't let it deter us though and set off early to see the sights. Sarka showed me the famous squares and streets of the Czech capital city. The one above is famous for its clock. But I have no idea how to pronounce the name so I won't even try to write it down.

This is me on the Charles Bridge (I suspect I may even have spelt that wrong - I do appologise!)

And this is us drinking Czech dark beer. It was very nice, like a cross between Guiness and Bitter. It wasn't our only drink of the trip. We also had a warming mulled wine just before lunch on the Sunday.This is the view over Prague from the castle. The castle is perched on top of a very high hill on the other side of the river from the main shops. The walk was worth it, my camera does not do the view justice, but my legs are still aching now. I can't believe I can do two weeks in Disney and one big hill in Prague finished me off!

Once we'd seen all the sights we did some shopping. I had a lovely time and it was nice to catch up with Sarka and all that has been happening in her life. Hopefully we will meet again in December if we get the funding for our school project.

Disney - the final instalment

Its been five days since we arrived home and I think I've just about recovered. So I thought I would finish off the story with some photos of our last days in Florida. We got out and about early each day as the crowds got bigger towards Easter. This is all of us (possible the only photo of all ten of us taken during the fortnight) outside Cinderella's castle in the Magic Kingdom.

We spent Thursday morning there. We did the three Mountains again. For some reason Caitlin and Ellie decided they also wanted to do Its A Small World. Everyone else refused, so Carl decided to go on with them. Once was enough for me - I still haven't recovered from the trauma, and that was 8 years ago!

I dragged them out one evening to watch the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom too. They didn't want to, but it was worth it.

Our last evening was spent back in Universal Islands of Adventure. This time Harry Potter world was very crowded, it was Good Friday after all, and the wait for Forbidden Journey was 45 minutes long. The girls went on as single riders. We spent some time shopping. We had a drink (one last Butterbeer) and a pudding in The Three Broomsticks, then walked round the park to do some other rides. This is what they looked like after Rip Saw Falls at 11 o'clock at night.

Then on the day we flew home we spent our time back at Blizzard Beach. It was lovely and no one wanted to leave. It was a great two weeks and the best weather we've had in our three visits.

The kids now assume we come back every four years, so we'd better start saving now. I've told Adrienne, as she will be nearly 22 by then, she'll be paying for herself!