It’s been so long since I posted here that I can’t even remember what we’ve been doing.  I’m sure we’ve been busy, otherwise there would have been an entry or two on the blog, but I can’t think exactly what we’ve been busy with!

Just to go back a while to Stephanie’s talent show first of all.  The night was fantastic with hugely talented performers on stage.  I think everyone was amazed at the high standard of talent on show and a couple of them in particular really have such great potential.  To think they are all so young too.  We had a wonderful evening and I would definitely go back next year, even if Stephanie wasn’t performing.  About a week before the show Stephanie was asked if she could change her act from singing to playing the piano as there were too many singers.  She ended up performing Turkish March and her nerves were clearly visible.  She did wonderfully well, though, and got good reviews from the judges.  She didn’t win but she had a fantastic time participating as did we all watching it, and she’s hoping to be able to get through again next year.  A really great night all round!

Two weeks ago we set off on our family holiday to Dorset which is absolutely beautiful.  We rented a spacious cottage for a week and had a lovely, but very busy time.  We visited somewhere different every day and Mike and were very tired by the end of the week but it was great fun and thankfully the weather held out for us even though it wasn’t fantastic.  The children had plenty to do and tried many new things.  Harry and Eddie held a snake, and also rode ponies (as did Caitlin) as well as go on their first rollercoaster rides which they loved.  On our first day we visited River Cottage.   It was nice to see the place and there were a few talks being given but although we tried to sit in on one, I felt bad that we were taking up so much space when so many others were also there, that we left the talk early.  The children did get to water the vegetables in the River Cottage garden though! 

 

We visited Longleat Safari Park (paid for with Tesco deal vouchers!  Hooray to them for saving us over £130!) where we walked through a cave of bats which would fly past your head at speed.  They wouldn’t touch you but you could feel the air brushing you as they flew so close.  We drove through lion and tiger and monkey enclosures, where the monkeys had fun ripping apart pieces of our minibus, and Ben and I fed deer through the windows of the bus. 

We visited another wildlife park, Cricket St Thomas, again part paid for in Tesco deal vouchers, where they have Lemur Wood which is four acres of woodland where lemurs live as close to the environment they’d live in the wild.  This was Ben’s favourite part as they are his favourite animals, so when they came up close to him he was thrilled! 

We visited Ferne Animal Sanctuary which is a lovely sanctuary in Somerset.  The animals were so wonderfully looked after and obviously very well cared for.  We visited Charmouth beach where we went hunting for fossils and found some too but unfortunately the weather was awful so we headed back after a couple of hours.  We visited our favourite discovery from last year, Kingston Maurward Gardens and Animal Park.  Again this is a place where the animals are extremely well cared for and a lovely place to visit.  The gardens are also very beautiful.  The final day was spent at Crealy Adventure Park which seemed to have something for all ages and we certainly weren’t disappointed.  As well as the rides they also had a couple of indoor play areas which were handy when the weather turned, pony rides and a farm area with piglets and goats running free.  It was so fantastic and well worth the only real splurge of the week.  Watching the children, Eddie especially, getting up close to all the animals was great.  He is truly a natural when it comes to animals but was very disappointed when he wasn’t allowed to milk a cow.  Caitlin, Ben and Stephanie were all soaked by the end of the day, not just because it was raining but because they went on the water ride five times in a row (it was raining so hard that nobody else was daft enough to queue up for it – except those three!).  Luckily we had a change of clothes for them on the minibus so a quick change before we left meant they didn’t have to sit there soaking and freezing on our way back to the cottage. 

During our week of fun our neighbours (aka, “The Nice Side”), looked after our chickens.  In fact they didn’t just look after them but thoroughly spoilt them rotten too.  They also looked after our garden, our home and even mowed the grass at the front of the house too.  They didn’t do the back though… terrible eh? Anyway, a stick of rock doesn’t seem enough to say thank you but we appreciate it so very much.

So in a nutshell (!), that’s the main couple of points from the last few weeks.  Did you miss us?!