Whitworth Art Gallery

There was a craft afternoon at the art gallery this afternoon so we went along.  They were making fish and woven sea scapes.  It didn’t really hold Austin’s attention too much….but he did make a fish.

They had loads of different textures to do rubbings with, and all different fabrics and papers to decorate the fish and make the sea scape from.  Caitlin loved doing the weaving she sat for over an hour weaving bits of fabric and wool into some netting….

Once they all had done their fish and weaving they pretended to swim alongside their fish…

The fish were Caitlin’s, Noah’s and then Austin’s (left to right).

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Pyjama day

After a busy week in Rhyl and a cold day out in York we had a pyjama day!  A few weeks ago I spotted some model building books for £1 each, they looked quite good and I got one each for Caitlin and Noah and also one as a present.  We started making our models, I was quite surprised how detailed they were and they took quite a while and needed quite a bit of help.  I helped Noah and Richard helped Caitlin.  Me and Noah finished first….

we made a fire engine!!  Caitlin and Richard made a princess castle and garden complete with garden furniture, trees and wishing well etc

I doubt the models will last long but they had a good time making them and it filled a rainy Monday!!

Mini’s versus Beetle’s

Today we went to York Raceway to watch Mini’s versus Beetle’s.  It was even with 8 wins each for the Mini’s and Beetle’s over the past 16 years…so today was the decider!  There were also lots of other cars racing and Noah as usual was impressed with the ones with the biggest exhausts and spoilers!  He especially loved this blue one and made himself a little video of a walk around it while it had its engine running!

In the practice runs some mini’s went up against normal cars and sometimes won…..

We watched most of the races on the grandstand but I think Austin must have been just at the wrong height and the bars were right in his view.

As you can see above the weather wasn’t fantastic but we managed to avoid any heavy rain.  The track was still pretty wet and a few cars spun or came close, you can just about tell that this one was about to veer off to the right….

 

…there weren’t any dramatic crashes though!  Noah took about a million photo’s all day of all kinds of things….chocolate on the floor, cars, exhausts, engines….

As usual the final races of the day are the official runs with one mini up against a beetle….with the cold weather it felt like forever to wait…

Eventually they raced and we mainly supported the mini’s…although we were a bit torn when a campervan was up against a mini…

I’m not actually sure why campers class as beetles for this race but they do!  Anyway once all of the races were complete the final results were in and it was a draw…for the first time ever (in 17 years) so it is still 8 all..plus a draw….  Maybe next year we’ll have a bit of sun and maybe even take Elvis (or even Alfie) to race!!

Holiday to Rhyl

We set off for a mid week holiday to Rhyl.  We went to the same place as last year, with the same people.  On the way we stopped off for new school shoes for Caitlin and new trainers for Noah.  We arrived at the caravan just in time for some tea and then we got ready to go and try out the disco.  Nan had given them some money to spend so Austin picked a flashing, spinney thing and Caitlin picked a light up bubble gun.  I think Austin wished he had picked a bubble gun too!!

Noah picked a light up sword…

Caitlin and one of the girls we went with had a great time spinning each other around…

Austin and Noah were knackered and fell asleep on the seats…

We’d promised the girls could stay and play bingo so we left them sleeping while Caitlin had a go…

On the Tuesday  the weather was pretty bad so we went swimming and just played around in the caravans.  The kids were getting bored by the afternoon and the rain died down a bit so they went outside to scoot and play about.

Once they had burnt off a bit of energy we had tea and got changed for the disco.  Tonight was the hula hoop competition so they all entered.  Noah insisted on spinning his around his neck!!!!

Even Austin had a go…

Noah hadn’t managed to charm the entertainers this year, so only Caitlin and 2 of the other girls made it through to the semi-finals…

Caitlin and Z were knocked out and Katie made it to the finals but didn’t win, although she came very very close!  They then did some dancing…

…before we headed back to the caravan in torrential rain.  The wind was shaking the caravan and so it wasn’t a great nights sleep.  When we woke up we discovered there had been gale force winds so strong that they had grounded a cargo ship that was loading on the coast just by our caravan park!!!

With the bad weather continuing we decided to go to the arcades on the sea front to pass the morning.  Nanny had given us loads and loads of 2p’s so we spent a while in there playing the 2p drop machines.  We won some little campervans, a beetle and a keyring.  We then went out for tea before heading to the disco for the night’s entertainment!  Caitlin and Z did more spinning and gymnastics at the side of the dance floor…

Noah and Austin also tried to join in…

Noah eventually got the hang of the headstands…

The weather was slightly better on our walk home that night!

On the Thursday it was looking much brighter but was still a bit cold so we went swimming again which they all loved.  It was so much better this year now that Caitlin and Noah can both swim and Austin is confident in the water with his belt on.  After some lunch we went out on the scooters…

..we went around a little fishing lake just by the caravan park…..

After scooting we got changed ready for the disco and went out for tea where Noah showed off his jalapeno eating skills!!!!!!!!!!!

At the disco Noah counted the rest of his 2p’s to see if he had enough to go on the 2p drops again!!!  He was fascinated by his money all week, I think he really loved having his own money to spend!

After spending his money he got to have his photo taken with Captain Marine…

..before it was time for the talent show!!!  The girls had decided completely alone that they were going to enter the talent contest and signed themselves up.  We had tried to give them some ideas but they seemed very keen on doing wheelbarrows!!  And so that is exactly what they did…wander around the stage doing wheelbarrows!!!!!!!!!!

Needless to say they didn’t win!!

Friday was home time so we emptied the caravans and went for one last play at the play ground.  Noah had discovered there was a soccer school and so I said he could go to that before we left.  It was quite cold and as usual Noah just stood about with his hands in his pockets not knowing what to do…he really needs someone to show him how to play football!!

Austin had a great time playing with the bark chippings!!!!!!!

Noah then got hit on the head by the football and so that was the end of his soccer school….and we went home!  Everyone else had already left so there was nothing to stay for….  We had a fantastic time and will hopefully go again next year!!