A wardrobe can be a train carriage

If you have a bit of imagination, a wardrobe, in the process of being painted, can be an excellent train carriage.

Thankfully, the paint had dried before this game commmenced!

And here we all are...

Hold my hand, Leia!

Leia was just starting to walk when we saw them, and everyone was keen to help her, to hold her hand. Rose was no different!

Hugs all around

Lots of love, here.

Hey, look! It is one of US!

Astonishing - a photo of us both! I take on average about 10,000 photos a year (no kidding) and these type of shots are rare indeed!

Ha Ha

Ha has are such a wonderful invention - and great fun for playing in with uncles as well!

Gran and Leia

Walking together...

Boo!

Daniel leapt up from his hiding place... and note Leia's delight!

Such fun!

Leia was dancing around this fountain, with help from her Daddy. Such fun!

We all met up for a day in a National Trust garden, central to us all - though still hours away from each. There are days when you wish that someone had managed to invent a star trek transporter.

After blackberrys...

In August we went blackberrying, afterwhich Ana found a nice patch of long grass in which to hide.

First Steam Train Ride

We had a day out at the Leighton Buzzard steam railway. Ana loved it, but Rose was not so sure about the loud noises associated with ye-olde methods of transport. It is quite an interesting little rail line. It runs most of the way through what was once beautiful countryside, and is now a 1980's housing development! I wonder how the residents find the whistling at every road crossing!

Rose in the Orangery

In the Orangery at Castle Ashby, there is the (very deep) fishpond. Rose and Ana both love watching the fish, whilst us parents anxiously stand close behind them (or take photos...)

Cuddles with Papa

Sometimes, after a fair amount of running, a carry and cuddle is required.

Ana among the daisies

Way back in the summer... we had an afternoon at the gardens of Castle Ashby. Here is Ana by the orangery. She was pleased to see so many of 'her' flowers.

Cushion jumping, bouldering, leaping?

So here we are, still in mid-August... Now that we have a bigger house (thank you God) we have enough room for two sofas, which, importantly, means double the number of sofa cushions for bouncing on!

Here is Ana mid leap.

Joyriders

Rose and Nathan thought it would be great fun to hijack our car and take it for a spin. Thankfully they couldn't find the key so contented themselves with driving on the spot.

When we next got in the car, the air conditioning was on, and so was the heating (yes, that is possible). The wipers were going mad, the lights were on, and the vents were pointing in weird directions.

Yes, I do still like horses!

One day, we would love to go riding horses like these along the beach, like some fortunate people were...

Actually, Lara and I have a great idea for a TV documentary - we just need someone now to fund us (as a family) to ride on horses around the world. Any offers? It would make gripping TV, we're sure.

Cousins

Here are the cousins, poking their heads out of an old stone cottage.

Certainly a holiday type thing to do. There are not many old cottages like this at home, even around Olney

Rose at a castle in Wales

Rose climbed up these old steps and sat down.

On another section of old wall

Here we are on another section of the castle.

Our family

... climbing up a wall.

Sisters

Here, Ana is helping Rose up the little hill, before rolling down the other side (which was much steeper! That was an 'Argghgh' parent moment!)

Though they do look perfect, naughtiness is not unknown... The funniest thing happened tonight. The girls were making Rosemary Crumble - which basically involved picking as much Rosemary off our little plant as possible, mixing it up in little bowls and then spreading this around the house. I told them to stop picking the Rosemary (before it was all gone) and Rose, being the obedient little thing she is, ran right out to pick some more. I asked Ana to go and stop her, and she agreed, then ran out, calling "Pick more, Rose! Pick more!"

Here we are!

...and up from behind the tumble-down keep, popped Ana and Lara!

Picnic at the Castle

Here's the crew eating lunch at the castle.

Some people don't recommend running while eating your lunch (as Ana is doing) but it certainly is more fun than siting down...

Note how both Rose and Nathan are strapped into their pushchairs!

Peak-a-boo in an old castle

We had a good explore of an old castle, complete with excellent peep holes for the girls.

Have spade, will dig...

Rose and the spade she purloined from Uncle Daniel...

Wagon rides!

The girls loved this little plastic wagon that we found for them. Rose pulled it all over the beach. It is much harder to pull when your big sister gets in for a ride!

Given that the wagon is still going strong, it looks like that was a couple of pounds well spent.

Sandcastle

The girls had fun making this sandcastle with Uncle Dom.

It was a dream realised for Ana, who, all year, had wanted to make a sandcastle. We live just about as far from the sea as you can get in the UK, so we were all pleased to spend some good time with lovely people in the sand, sea and fresh air.

After this, we all decamped back to Daniel, Esme and Leia's warm house for showers, food and a pleasant evening.