Lake District

We have just got back from a wonderful holiday in the Lake District! We stayed for a week in a cottage in Glenridding, at the edge of Ullswater.

Here is a selection of photos for your viewing pleasure.

My uncle Bill came over for a day, as did my cousin Jen and her family. It was lovely to catch up with them. Bill brought a play tent for Emma, which she really loved and spent most of the holiday in! It became a bit of a hidey hole for toys, books, remote controls, etc. Bill was pretty dismayed when he found out we had come all the way to the lakes with no walking boots or waterproof coats. We rectified this very quickly though, and I ended up getting an enormous waterproof that went over both me and Emma! Lucky we did - it rained a lot during the week. It didn't stop us having fun though.

On one of the dry days, we took a walk suggested in a book we had borrowed up Glenridding Dodd and over Sheffield Pike. The book described it as "steep at first"... but that actually should have read "death defying!!!" It was sooooo steep on both the way up and down, and really hard work. It was totally worth it though - the view was wonderful. If the weather had been better we would have done a lot more walking because we really enjoyed it.

We also visited Ambleside, Windermere, Lakeside, and lots of other places. We managed to fit a lot into just a week! Emma really enjoyed herself and...

... she finally started to walk on her own!! I am so proud of her. My little baby suddenly seems so much more grown up. I guess this means I should buy her first pair of shoes now!

Dog!

Emma is normally a bit a chatter box, but just baby talk rather than real words. She does quite often say something that sounds like "book" when we look at picture books together, but it is more of an "ook" than "book"! And she always calls herself "baba" when she sees herself in the mirror.

But I turned the TV on just now, and there was a puppet dog singing a song. Emma went straight up to the TV, bounced up and down, and shouted "dog, dog dog" over and over! Now please don't tell me that was just coincidence!

Lots to do

Wow we have been busy lately! We went over to the Netherlands to visit my Dad for a few days which was brilliant. We managed to catch up with some friends (but of course not everyone - isn't that always the way!) and spent a lovely day at the beach.

Emma is really enjoying all the sunshine, and is growing like a weed. She still (still!!) isn't walking on her own, apart from the odd few steps here and there, but to be honest I like it like that. (Don't grow up too fast!!) She is into everything at the moment - the world is a big place and every nook and cranny needs to be investigated!

I have been really busy recently. Its funny - when I stopped working I was worried that I would find full time motherhood boring. But how wrong could I be! I feel so lucky to be able to do it this way, and to be honest I have never been busier! As well as looking after Emma, I am working on a few websites, and the garden is taking a load of my time up (in a good way!) I don't seem to have a lot of news to blog about at the moment. That doesn't mean that life is boring in the slightest - we just seem to have settled in a nice rhythm.

We had our June Oxford Sling Meet last week, which was really lovely. Photos are up on our website here!

And finally, here are a couple of photos I managed to get at lunch time today. Em always manages to get her bib off while I am not looking. Not such a great idea when she is eating tomatoes!!