It was HOT!

It was very hot yesterday - so M and B had an anfternoon water fight in Gma's garden!

The Railway Children

Term time is over.... for M and B it finished a week ago, but in St Helens it dragged on until the 25th July. To celebrate the forst real day of the summer we went to York to see the Theatre Royal's production on The Railway Children. Absolutely fantastic, it was staged in a temporary space at the Railway Musem. The audience sat on the two platforms, while much of the action took place on rolling structures pushed along the track. The highlight was the appearance of a real stram loco and carriage, stopping feet from the actress playing Roberta (we later found out that it is shunted in by a diesel...)
Before the play M and B found the Old Gentleman's carriage from the original Railway Children film.

We've never found the NRM's playground before....
...it's rather fab!

It was rather hot in the tented performance space - we got through 5 bottles of water/juice during the play - but fortunatly the little red flags provided a bit of a draft.

Junior Sports Day

As you can see - M had a busy afternoon competing for her team - The Otters. She tried hard at all the events and never gave up!

And the winner is....

...Miss M! Her class all entered a 'Design an Ad' competition in the local paper - and M's ad for Cartridge World was one of the winners! She collected her certificate and prize at a rather delicious buffet at the local Jaguar Dealership (M recommeded the curly fries as a particular favourite)
With her beloved teacher Miss L (and Leo the class lion)
And with a very proud daddy - who got this little Jaguar for his wonderful little girl.

The winning entry!

M's Birdy Birthday Bash

Happy Birthday to Miss M - into double figures!

Presents mostly revolved around her DS and Dr Who

The 'Voyage of the Damned' set was from Uncle J :)

With her birthday falling on a on a Saturday this year, we took her friends to Gauntlet Bird of Prey near Knutsford. All the girls got a chance to meet, stoke and handle a variety of birds.

First up was Tinks the Tawny Owl
Then Ozzy the Burrowing Owl

B was so good - being very gentle when stroking Ozzy
Meeting the smelly (and very wriggly) polecat

M trying to hold a 6 pound Eagle Owl
C with the Eagle Owl

B got his turn too

Everyone also got a turn flying theHarris Hawk (they'll do anything for a a bit of dead chick Harris Hawks!)

TARDIS birthday cake is always super delicious

Eating Dr Who's head from the birthday cake!

Then it was on to Tatton Hall and the adventure playground

Let's all pile on the swing...

....and go flying!

Refreshment break in the Courtyard

How much fun is this?

M with C and C

The girlz (on one boy!) with attitude! Actually they are the sweetest bunch of 10 year olds you could ever meet.


And how did A feel after spending a day with the girlies? Need I say more!

Especially for J

Especially for J - a pic of B with his Birthday Jetstorm Transformer - which he likes - a lot :)

What a day for a birthday!

Yes, we were all up at 6am before A left for work - B just couldn't sleep any longer he was so excited about his birthday

It is possible to cuddle a MegaZord you know (and take them to bed as well - I would have thought they were too spikey - but true love and devotion......)

He was just a BIT excited about the birthday thing!
After school we called round to see Nana for more presents

And yes, Zords were definately the way to go!
And the present for me, news that it looks likely that B will get enhanced provision funding at school - now that is just the best.