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.

Footprints...

...mark the path taken by Daniel, to meet Esme in the sea. (She's the little black dot. He's the blurry man-shape.)

Dom and Nathan - wave jumpers

Wave jumping from an early age!

Leia in the pool

Leia also loved the water. Pools like this are meant for splashing, and she knows it.

Very messy, very happy

Rose adored the seaside. All the sand, and big sandy rock pools to play in... In fact, she leapt into one of these pools, fully clothed.

Here she is, covered in sand and suncream, delightfully happy.

How she manages to have such a white smile is beyond us. Tooth-brushing is not her favourite activity. In fact, it is two person job, and even then, more often then not, Rose 'wins'.

Swimming with Mummy

Ana and Lara spent a little while in the sea.

Rose didn't want to go in, so Tim stayed (warm and dry) on the shore. After Ana had had enough, Lara stayed in for a 'proper' swim.

A comfy spot for a picnic

Here we are eating our picnic.

This was not one of those relaxing picnics, where one lazily eats a pack of pringles while watching the clouds go by. No, this was one of those picnics where you spent most of the time chasing the girls, stopping them from falling into a large crevice, or into the sea.

Nice geology, though.

Rock jumping

We went exploring the inter-tidal zone. Ana jumped quite a lot of the way. I carried Rose.

And no one fell into the sea!

A successful exploration, me thinks.

Big stone

How big a splash will this one make, Ana?

Let's see.

Sitting in the rock pools

Rose was desperate to play in the rock pools on the beach, and got straight in, clothes and all.

At high speed!

This is Ana pushing Rose around the campsite as fast as she could.

Perhaps the driver's view was slightly obscured, but I'm sure Rose was telling her which way to go.

REALLY early in the morning...

So this is the first morning of the camping trip.

Rose had finally fallen asleep in her buggy well after midnight, after being pushed around the campsite for about, oh, two hours... (Lara says it was not two hours, but it sure felt like it.)

We collapsed into our cosy sleeping bag, only to be woken at 5 AM by our darling little Rosebud, who was ready to get up and play. So was I. Really I was. (Ok, I wasn't, but I did. And was rewarded with this beautiful sunrise.)

Yes. we are BONKERS!!!

Camping with really little ones. A stress-free, relaxing break...

Well, they loved it (except for sleeping in the leaky tent). Here are our two and Nathan sitting in Auntie Crystal and Uncle Dom's tent consuming fish and chips.

We'll post some pictures of the days out - we were in Wales, near Cardiff - and it was beautiful (even if the campsite clientele left rather a lot to be desired.)

Princess on a Trapeze

The swing in the garden has had a number of iterations - here is version 2 - the trapeze. Ana said today that she wanted to be a princess when she grows up. She later said she wanted to be an acrobat. Here she is a few weeks ago being both!

Tonight Ana sid she wanted to be a butterfly when she grows up! Other aspirations have included being a cement mixer, and a Sunday School teacher.

Balloon Fun

Balloons are wonderful!