Manchester

When Simon went to Greece I took Sophie to Manchester. Unfortunately I wasn't very good at remembering to get the camera out for all of those special moments. This one was taken at Portland Basin (where Gail from Corrie's bloke drove the family into the canal). She also enjoyed a canal boat trip and a stern lesson in a Victorian classroom.

Sunshine

We have returned to a bank holiday weekend and glorious weather.

Beasters is back!

Lottie has returned from 10 days at the kennels. She likes the dog company there but always seems happy to be home.

Greece

Just back from 10 days in Greece.

Normal service will soon be resumed ... probably

This week I'm off to Greece for 10 days to stare at geological faults (... someone has to do it) and Jo and Sophie will return to Manchester. There's unlikely to be much activity here over the coming days but drop in again soon. I was thinking of stopping this blog ... it doesn't get so many hits these days (on average about 5 a day, compared with about 20 in the early days). Anyway, Jo has encouraged me to keep going so I will. Maybe to make it more popular we should do requests. Maybe you'd like to see The Beast in a tutu? I can play the spoons you know.

"Would you like a flower?"

Mr Toucan the "rubbish" kite

Today was National Day in Norway. Basically, everyone dresses up in National Costume ("Bunad") and marches down the street behind a brass band, all in celebration of the signing of the constitution in 1814. We followed the noise and joined the end of a parade. It wasn't very interesting but I guess, walking along in my orange cagoule, I didn't feel very Norwegian. Afterwards we went to the beach to fly Mr Toucan. It was a bit windy and Mr Toucan threw in the towel. We tried to fix him and get him to fly but to no avail. Sophie decided that Mr Toucan was "rubbish" and asked me to make her a new kite called "Mr Elecan" (like Mr Toucan but a bit more sturdy).

This weekend ...

... we took a trip to the place where "Harald-beautiful-hair" won the Battle of Harfsfjord and became Norway's first king. It was very educational. Here's Sophie, sporting a "Promise-of-some-Smarties"-induced smile, with the Three Swords monument in the background. We also went for our usual swim ... I never knew I looked like this to fish.

Potting

Jo took this photo when I was away last week. They had been in the garden and Sophie was huddling over a pot. When Jo went to see she saw this. A twig planted with a decorative border and a six inch nail for support.

Sophie the Photographer

Sophie has taken to snapping away on our cameras when we're not looking. This morning she took lots of pics of us at breakfast. I'm a bit frightening first thing in the morning so I think I'll just share this pic she took of her breakfast.

Mummy dancing

I've been away in the Middle East and Jo and Sophie have had stinking colds, hence the lack of activity here. We'll try to do something interesting in the coming days so that we can post something. In the meantime enjoy seeing Jo dance.