Today I shall be Mainly...

[LizG]

Not that it helps you but my neighbor imports 'Frozen' stuff and has the balloons. I bought my granddaughter Frozen beach towel and bathers for her 7th birthday. They were a big hit.

[PanBiker]

All sorted Liz, said Frozen balloon is Captive in a bin bag in our back room waiting for Grandma and Granddads trip to the party tomorrow. Bring on the cake.

[Stanley]

Sue, hard luck Kids! Never mind, pick yourself up and get in the market again, it will go eventually....
Looks like you were all on the3 ball yesterday. I shall not be as active today abut will be playing in the shed. Trouble is that the sequel to yesterday's article is on my mind.....

[Stanley]

Looking forward to another hour or two in the playroom....

[Marilyn]

So many knobs to hang your jumper on in that shed...I don't know how you choose.

Febby and I did a little construction job together yesterday. We built a set of bathroom drawers from a kit. Instructions said it would take an hour to build the 8 drawers and carcass...took us nearly seven hours!
Very pleased with the results though. They look a treat.

[Stanley]

I don't, I use the clothes hook behind the door....



Here's a pic Maz sent me this morning....

[Marilyn]

They are the cute little poo machines that live under our top deck. Golly do they create some mess. Today saw them fly for the first time, and as soon as they are on their way, the nest will be removed. Sorry about the quality of the pic, but had to shoot through glass of kitchen window as I am trying not to hassle them too much. Three of the babies are the same size...and one I've nick-named Baby Huey because it is double the size of its siblings...enormous!

[Sue]

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Just wanted to share this. Erin was 7 months old last week and you would never know she and her mum had such a traumatic start to life

[Stanley]

Life is amazing isn't it. Every baby is a miracle!
I shall be on my usual schedule, get the tasks out of the way, go in the shed for a couple of hours, have a bit of dinner and then my afternoon sleep. Never boring and it suits Jack and I perfectly. He wakens me at 15:15 because that's his tea time, his body clock is like a Rolex!

[LizG]

Isn't it amazing how quickly they stop being a baby and become a mini human. She's gorgeous Sue.

[Sue]

And with personality. We love her to bits as we do all our grandchildren, of course. We are so lucky to have her.

[Gloria]

What a questioning look Sue, she's lovely.

[Sue]

I think she was wondering why mummy and daddy were killing themselves laughing. They had spelt a word in front of her, just as if she had spelt it, with a strategically missing letter! I , being a nice grandma cut that bit from the picture

[Stanley]

I've always said that the main function of grandparents is to support the grandchild come what may! They sometimes need an ally in the constant struggle to assert their individuality. Funnily enough, parents can be very bad at this, they tend to see the child as 'theirs' and not as a small individual.
I shall be in the shed gloating over the fact that Mick tells me that a Stockmaster cabinet just like mine sold on Ebay for £250!

[Stanley]

Grovelling at the surgery and getting some time in in the shed....

[Stanley]

Grovel at surgery worked, flu jab tomorrow at 09:00!!!
Usual Friday tasks shopping and posting Stanley’s View. Then into the shed as soon as I can get there! Not missing reading at all, my mojo for the shed is well and truly back! Thank-you Youtube for the videos that triggered it all off. A silver lining in what looked like a very black cloud!

[David Whipp]

Stanley, would you like me to knock on your shed door just before 9 tomorrow morning...?

Together with seven other Bloomers, am off to Southport for the regional Britain in Bloom Awards and hoping to collect the fourth RHS Gold Medal for the town.

Wish us luck!

[Stanley]

Nice thought David and you're welcome at ant time but at 9AM I shall be in the queue. I've put my house keys on top of the note reminding me of the appointment so when I walk Jack I shall be reminded again.
I shall be in the shed for as long as possible....

[Marilyn]

I have spent DAYS going through old photos ( small suitcase full to bursting) and have arranged three large albums...for my son...and I shall wave them off happily when he comes to collect them. Well over 2000 photos for him...all his memories ( including those of all the shocking hairstyles he had in his youth! Call it a mother's revenge to include those!)
I can't say I enjoyed the task, but the main feeling I am left with is that there were a lot of smiles photographed over the years. That is a good feeling. Hope he enjoys going through the albums one day and that they remind him of the fun we had along the way...
The task had been nagging at me for quite a while, and I've thrown away several bin bags of crap while doing the job, so I'm feeling really good that I am on track to live "simply". Empty cupboards are such a joy!

[Stanley]

Maz, you may remember that I digitised all my pics and sent files to my daughters. As I'm sure you know, with the best intentions we sometimes wonder if we did the best we could for our kids and as you say, one of the things I concluded after looking at all those pics from long ago was that there were so many happy ones. Many of them were of day to day activities so there was no unconscious editing. All right, we could all have done better but on the whole..... (And they are still all talking to me after all these years.)

[Marilyn]

Exactly...life doesn't always go as we planned or expected...and you don't need loads of money to get the fun happening in a child's life. I wish I could get that message across to my hubby in regard to his grandkids. They think something' is wrong if Grandpa's wallet isn't out and open with money flying out of it...it is more about being bothered than being loaded! I am sure a lot of grand-parents fall into the same trap.

[PanBiker]

We decided before we started a family that Sally would be a stay at home mum with the kids until they started school. Consequently we ran the family on my single wage which left us somewhat strapped for cash. We could manage and the kids always got fed but there was not much room for niceties such as holidays. One particular summer when Carla was about six and Dan would be four, I think Sally had got to a point during the school holidays where she was a little stir crazy!

To alleviate this she organised us a a few days away. We loaded a few bits and bobs in the van and ended up not too far away in a caravan at the bottom of a farmyard on the road between Sedburgh and Cautley. It was chucking it down in Barlick when we left and it was chucking it down in Sedburg when we arrived. In fact it chucked it down for the whole four days we were there. The farmyard was about half a mile off the main road so quite safe and away from the road traffic. It had a stream at the bottom of the yard and a few ducks and hens roamed freely around, there was a goose and gander as well. The kids spent all four days in wellies and raincoats messing about in the beck, poking around with sticks and looking for eggs laid away. Dan would run back to the van every time he found one as if it was a gold coin. The geese taught them a lesson or two along the way I think. One of the days we climbed Cautley Spout in the pouring rain, the waterfall was fantastic with the amount of rain that had come down. The farmer let us have any eggs that the kids found so we always had the treasure for breakfast.

In subsequent years when Sally got back to work, proper holiday were back on the cards. We subsequently took the kids all over the place on camping adventures where tents blew down in mini hurricanes and we got flooded in Wales, proper excitement! Later we roamed over onto the continent and did beach holiday and all of that. The point of all this is that if you were to ask Carla or Dan which was the very best holiday that we ever took them on, it always comes back to the ducks, chucks and beck in the farmyard. Like you say Maz, you don't have to throw money at kids to have a good time, although I don't think there are any grandparents that have not fallen into the trap on the odd occasion.

Back on topic, today we will be mainly picking our Ruby up, she's coming to us for the half term week so adventures are already planned. Meeting her mum halfway between here an Stratford at the Sandbach services so time for a bit of dinner before we set off. We are trying to pass on the same values to her that we gave to her daddy. It seems to be working as her favourite place up north at the moment is Wycoller, it was chucking it down as well the last time she was there.

[Tizer]

A lovely story Ian. One of the favourite things of my childhood was picnics, not the fancy chilled champagne type but a flask of tea and butties! Sometimes by the Ribble at Salewheel Woods, or at Edisford Bridge near Clitheroe (hope I've got the name Edisford right). Other times on the sand dunes at St Annes or at Cleveleys. My dad learnt to drive in the RAF during the war and was determined to have his own car even if it was only an old Austin 7 (we called it Little Mary) and we made trips to the coast on Sundays, often in convoy with my Uncle George's family (also ex-RAF and car enthusiast). It was all so simple and joyful, even though breakdowns were a regular event and the car had to be kept in top nick all the time.

I've put my house keys on top of the note reminding me of the appointment so when I walk Jack I shall be reminded again.

I do similar things to reinforce my memory. A lady in her 50s and with Alzheimer's was talking on the Today programme and she keeps a small box near the front door that contains everything she needs to take when she goes out.

[Marilyn]

I used to rely heavily on offers on shop-a-dockets for things like cheap cinema tickets, free zoo entry tickets, and free ice creams etc. if I took my lad to the cinema, we took treats with us rather than pay ridiculous prices. Sandwiches, fruit and cordial went with us to the zoo or beach. We did a lot of walking in national parks, again with the back-pack loaded with home made goodies. And we always took his friends with us too. I couldn't afford to do that if I had to buy them all a take-away lunch.
We had a quiet creek near our house which was only knee deep, but I bought a little blow up raft and we used to go exploring...laying on our tummies to watch the fish. It was fun.
And like you say, add a bit of mud to any activity, and it only adds to the delight...
I just find that kids of today are very aware of money and the buzz of having it spent on them at a very early age. They tend to move less and be outside less and are less interested in their greater environment than whatever is in their hands. Maybe it is more pronounced in the city? I do enjoy seeing kids playing with buckets and spades on the beach since we have moved.

[Marilyn]

On that note...hubby and I are off for a day's exploring more coves around our new home.
Backpack duly packed with a container of water, muesli bars, bananas, camera and mobile phone ( and a few sticking plasters secreted at the bottom of the lining because my Febby is disaster prone.)
We have beaches and coves and cliffs around here that are quite spectacular. There is nothing like sitting on a cliff, eating a banana, and watching the ocean for Whales ( though I am told the official Whale Watching season is now over...but I don't think the Whales would know that...would they?)