Cress Farm

Sophie tending to her cress farm and messing about with the Beast.

Play Dough

This morning we had a great time making play dough. If you fancy it , here is the recipe.

Play Dough

Heat the following in a saucepan:

• 1 cup water
• 1 tbs vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup salt
• 1 tbs cream of tartar
• food colouring

Mix in 1 cup flour and knead until play doughey.

Barge Bike

At the weekend we tried out one of these cargo bikes. We are going to get one so we can ferry Sophie and the Beast around in it. They are really fun to ride.

Four years in Stavanger

It is now confirmed that this Summer we will be moving to Stavanger in Norway. We've been in Holland for more than 5 years now so it'll be good to have a change. We'll have to start thinking of all the usual stuff when we move (houses, cars etc) although we've done this enough now not to get too stressed about things.

A week in Kishorn

We're just back from a week spent with friends in a large house on the west coast of Scotland. After a showery start (see wellie splashing movie below) we had four days of unbroken sunshine to the extent that my legs were aired on the final day. Sophie started with a stomach bug and felt grotty but was in fine fettle by the end. We didn't really do much but enjoyed:
- seeing Golden Eagles .. or were they buzzards?!
- seeing stags saunter past the window in the dawn mist
- driving over the highest road in Britain to get fish 'n' chips in Applecross
- stunning views of the Cuillins on Skye and Torridon mountains

- hanging around in our spooky country house and going on a bear hunt around the lake

Actually, Not Again...

The surgeon did the investigation of Sophie's hip yesterday and the result was surprisingly positive! She'll need more treatment but not surgery. Hip hip hooray!

On Thursday we are going to get fitted with a special brace similar to this: It's a much gentler treatment that will allow her to walk, sit, do "I'm a Little Teapot", travel, etc. It will take about six months to work.

Sophie's a Little Teapot

Swimming in the bath

We're not writing too much on the blog at the moment. Frankly we haven't done too much because the weather has been so horrible. Last weekend we went to a local theme park and Sophie enjoyed the rides, especially the Big Wheel and the minitrain through a slightly creepy and dusty elfs grotto. She enjoyed the swimming pool most of all. She really likes swimming and likes to get on her tummy and swim in the bath every night. Don't deny it .. you used to do it too. Next Monday Sophie will go into hospital for a procedure to see if she needs more surgery (although we already expect the answer to be yes). This should all be over by the summer when we'll move away from Holland to Norway (if the rumour mill is to be believed). My employer likes to rotate staff to a new location every four years. Next Friday we're off to Scotland for a week.

Eggs

Eggs were painted in this house last weekend. Sophie can do faces now ... check out the fella in the middle.