Daffodils and The Deep

Thank you for all your lovely messages of support regarding my dad, they're very appreciated. When my son and his girlfriend (Holly) took Imogen to visit their grandparents last weekend, they took Andrew's old telescope with them. Andrew had upgraded to a different telescope and my dad was absolutely thrilled with it. Mum says he has perked up considerably and is enjoying tinkering with it, which is fantastic news as his mood was dipping.

As I've mentioned, Hull is the UK city of culture this year. There seems to be lots going on most of the time, but what caught my eye over Easter was a wonderful display of lego daffodils. These are some of the pictures from the internet (the ones I took were full of people).

Isn't this cute with a little bee settled on it

There were more than 1700 individual flowers there, all made from lego, how brilliant! When the display was over, the flowers were taken down and all of them were given out to people who queued up to have one, what a lovely idea.

Even a watering can to help keep the flowers fresh

Yesterday was the last day of the Easter holidays. We were looking Holly's little girl for the day as both Adam and Holly were working, so thought it would be nice to go out. We went to The Deep, a place that was as much fun for adults, a 14 year and 7 year old alike. There was so much to see as well as things to do, stroke the starfish and touch the sea anemones, follow the turtle trail and lots of interactive things to do.

the view from inside The Deep over the River Humber

some very large starfish

This pool was amazing, there was a member of staff walking through it feeding the fish, it was fantastic to watch

The corals in here were so colourful, so beautiful, I could have quite happily just sat and watched it

Sharks swimming with these fish

I wasn't very successful with this photo, it was a tank with lots of Clown fish (like Nemo) swimming amongst the sea anemone, oh and starfish.

These were strange little critters, water eels popping out of the sand, very odd looking swaying about... I wasn't too keen.

A very big fish

There were quite a few penguins, they were the sweetest things to watch, marching about with their flippers out to balance themselves. In another part you could watch them as they swam about and dived for their food.

More sharks...

Even a shark outside.

We were in there for a good couple of hours and all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. As an added bonus, we can use our entry tickets as often as we want to for a year, I think we shall definitely be going again especially as they have 2 new turtles which we didn't really see much of this visit.

As an extra treat we thought we'd take a drive out the seaside, Hornsea. We had fish and chips for our supper.

Andrew and I ate ours in the car looking out to sea while Imogen and her little charge ate theirs outside before having a good runaround and collecting some pretty stones.

It was a lovely end to the Easter holidays. Imogen is making the most of the weekend before going back to school on Monday.

Take care
xxx

Happy Anniversary

Today is our wedding anniversary and it's been a lovely day.

Adam and Imogen gave us cards and bought me a lovely bouquet of flowers and Andy a box of beers... we were both equally thrilled with our presents, but I think mine will last much longer  :)

We sat on the patio last night with lots of candles flickering and stars twinkling (there were a lot of stars visible last night, and Andy nearly went in to fetch his telescope) and toasted our wedding anniversary. It was so nice to be able to sit outside even though it was gone midnight, though I did end up nipping in to fetch my throw to wrap over my shoulders. It's made us look forward even more to the conservatory being finished and being able to sit with the doors open enjoying the fresh air.

As the sun was shining we decided to jump in the car and head to the beach again (it only takes 20 to 25 minutes depending on traffic). We had chips for lunch and sat on the sand soaking up the sun as Imogen had a fantastic time playing in the sea.

Look at those waves, I'd have loved to get in there with her and jump them!

I just managed to catch this picture!

After a lovely time on the beach, we went up to the paddling pool and had Imogen had a paddle and we all had drinks and ice creams before heading off to the park.

Then home for a lovely tea followed by a few games of trumps (I taught Imogen yesterday how to play) with smarties as prizes for the winners.

Brilliant day!

Take care
xxx

An Escape to the Beach

We now have french windows in the dining room ready to lead out into the conservatory, woo hoo, it's been so nice in the evening to have them open and feel the nice cool draft coming through.. love it... wish we'd done it before.

The footings have been dug

It was all fun and games getting 4 small dogs from the house into the garden. Andy blocked up the side where the fence has been taken down and placed a couple of boards over the concrete to protect their little feet, of course it goes without saying that when dry the cement was covered in lots of little doggie prints (I'm sure I saw them signing their names).

Anyway, the house is a mess, there's brick dust everywhere and I thought we could do with some family time away from it all (otherwise more jobs end up being done) and enjoy the sunshine. We bundled Imogen into the car and off we went to Hornsea. It wasn't too busy so we found a spot to enjoy some glorious fresh sea air.

Andy dug out the beach wind tent and put it up so I could sit and do some crochet while Imogen built sandcastles and paddled in the sea.

Just above the prom where we were sitting was a small paddling pool for children, very handy for rinsing sandy feet too! Imogen had a small play before we went off to have fish and chips before coming home.

Quality time :)

Take care
xxx

Mist and chips!

Firstly I'd like to say a big thank you to Amanda over at Crafty in the Med for showing me how to allow replies to comments directly on here.

Another lovely day! Poor Andy has been stuck in a classroom all day teaching, so I thought I'd make him his favourite tealoaf. Now this is definitely his favourite (Adam likes it too, so I shall make him one tomorrow) and not mine or Imogens... it has Marmite in it.... I'm with the hate brigade of the love it or hate it, shudder!

I soaked some sultanas overnight in some nice strong tea (my favourite kind, I like a nice, strong cuppa)

This tealoaf is so easy to make and is suitable for diabetics too!
You need is 6oz of sultanas or dried fruit
                    9oz self raising flour
                    8fl oz milk
                    1 tbsp Marmite
                    A teabag!

All I needed to do today was sieve the flour into a bowl and add the drained fruit

Then the bit I'm not so keen on, pour the milk into a small pan and add the Marmite. Stir over a low heat so the Marmite melts.... I know....

Then just pour the milk onto the flour and fruit and mix it in well. Spoon into a greased loaf tin

I cooked it on Gas 4 for 35 minutes

All ready for Andy to have with a nice cup of tea when he came home from work!

Enjoying this gorgeous weather made us think about the seaside, so after picking Imogen up from her friend, we decided to head over to the coast for a fish and chip supper.

We had our usual competition of 'first to see the sea', but no one was spotting it... the mist was so heavy, and unexpected! In places it was like driving into a wall of mist. We parked up while Andy and Imogen popped into the chip shop, I could see the mist rolling across the road, couldn't pick it up in the photo though.

It was very tasty

While we sat in the car, Imogen ventured onto the beach and with the bravado of a child jumped some waves - the water was freezing cold!

We brushed the sand from her feet and she jumped into the shower as soon as we arrived home.

By the time we left the mist was starting to creep more inland. This photo shows how misty it was!

Take care
xxx