Last week of swimming on Tuesday and I finally gave into to pressure and wore a pair of goggles.  After much whimpering, hair pulling and tugged eyes they were actually pretty good!

I got into a 'discussion' waiting for Ned after school with another girl.  She marched up to me and told me I was only a little girl.  What a cheek, especially when she had to look up to tell me (I was much taller than her).

Dancing was really good again, I barely noticed Dad and Ned were there once we arrived and had changed my shoes and packed all my stuff in my princess bag by the time they came to pick me up.

I've also managed to lose my blankie.  Oh dear.  It's at nursery somewhere but after an exhaustive search it was no where to be found.  We searched the room, the garden and the laundry area and nothing.  I had to go home without it...in tears.

Dad and I had a sneaky trip to the BMX track again on Friday night after tea.  I got talking to a few of the local kids and took on the challenge of a race offered to me by an 11 year old...I nearly beat him too!
We didn't have much on the agenda for the weekend so it was haircuts Saturday morning.
We still LOVE haircuts!
Then it was a brief trip around town and home for lunch before heading off to Eva's party.  I love Eva, so this was a pretty big deal for me.
Mum took Ellis so Dad and I stayed home and did Lego.
We had a lovely time at the party, there were games of course, here we are mid way through pass the parcel:

Party food you say?  Yum yum, and no Jam in the cake either (I don't like jam):

Plenty of Hello Kitty stuff and time for a chat with the birthday girl herself:

After we'd been home for a bit, Dad suggested we go for an early evening drink at the pub with the cool playground.  I loved it.
And so did I to begin with but I think my partying caught up with me and I burned out pretty spectacularly.  I ended up getting sent back to sit in the car on my own while the others finished their drinks.  Oh dear.
We had a seriously lazy day on Sunday, I spent the morning with my Lego again (after i'd supervised the breakfast pancake making).
Once i'd made the yorkshire pudding batter I packed things in my handbags, looked after my soft toy 'kids' and helped Mum do some housework as well as going through a few of my dance class moves fo practice/showing of to Ned.
We were still in our pyjama's at lunch time!  Mum thought this was a triumph.
But we got dressed to go and top up our summer wardrobes and have a trip to the Discovery Centre on the way home.
We love the discovery centre, plenty of monkey bars!

In other news i've been reading my head off lately, and I think I might actually be starting to enjoy it.  My bedtime book has been the first Harry Potter story for a week or  so.  It was a bit slow to begin with but I love it now.

My choice of bedtime reading has finally moved on from the nursery rhyme book that Mum and Dad were well and truly sick of, in favour of my Disney Princess book.  It only has four stories in it, but they are quite long....ha ha ha.

Still no sign of my blankie, i'm having to make do with muzzies now instead.

Right well hopefully we won't be updating the blog next week as we should be on holiday.

Unless the volcanic ash cloud scuppers our plans and grounds all the aeroplanes....i've already had a cry about it today....fingers crossed.

Multisports was mini games this week, hurdles, javelin (with one of those whistling bomb thingies) and running races, we loved it.  I was prettty good at the throwing.

It was another high speed dash to get me to dancing on time again.  I was really keen again and I was quite happy for Dad and Ned to leave me too it.

Yeah, thanks Ellis, I had to do reading while we waited for you.

Well at least Dad hadn't put you in a pair of shoes two sizes too small for you.  To be fair, my trainers were a bit clumpy on the floor and didn't do much for my elegance.  Still, they took pity on me on Friday lunchtime and we went to a really cool girls shop and got me some proper dancing shoes.  Oh, and some school uniform for me to wear when I start in September.  How exciting.

We had a trip into town to check the progress in Victoria Park on Friday after school.  We took our bikes and rode them along the canal for a bit.

I didn't like that much, but Dad assured me I wouldn't fall in the water.

The new skatepark looked very exciting.

As did all the new slides and what have you, we can't wait until it's all finished:

I was supposed to be racing my bike on Sunday, but as i hadn't been for a while I was really nervous. Dad suggested we go for a few sneaky laps of Andover track on friday night after tea, which I thought was a reasonable idea. When we got there, there were quite a few teenagers riding the track already. I decided to brave it and get amongst them. I gave a pretty good account of myself and they were even using me as an example to poke fun at their friends who were struggling a bit on parts of the track. We didn't stay for long and headed home for bed.

And a welcome from me, as I had decided I would wait up for them in my bed.
The weekend then, and we went to Paultons park, home of the new Peppa Pig land i'd been wanting to visit for ages and ages.
Yeah, I was secretly quite keen on it, and not so secretly keen on the Cobra roller coaster!  A brief note here, Dad forget the camera so we only have iffy pictures from his phone i'm afraid.
Peppa Pig world was pretty busy, even first thing in the morning but we managed a few rides before we got a picture in Peppa's house:

We even got to meet Peppa and George!

After a little bit of Ned Noodle 'through the crowd' magic:

Once we'd had our fill of Peppa, we headed over to the big boys side of the park to ride the Cobra rollercoaster, I love that so much.

I was too short though...boo!

And then I promised Mum i'd go on 'The Edge' with her....it was a bit scary I must say.  It wasn't so scary that I didn't have another go with Dad though:

I really enjoyed the little seal flume ride, pink seal for me of course:

This set me up a treat for the proper log flume next to it. 

Yeah, all four of us went on for the first time.

And I loved it. So much so that we had three goes.  In fact, I loved all the rides and went on just about everyone I could at my height.  The stinger rollercoaster was also brilliant as was the swing/roundabout thingy.

We headed back to Peppa World for the end of the day, the crowds had cleared and we got to have our fill of the new rides there before rounding out the day in the playground.  Perfect.

We even got home in time for a barbecue for tea.

So sunday was race day, I was still a bit nervous and unsure of myself despite evryones best efforts.  I managed to talk Ellis into coming along which was good as that meant Mum would come too.  I did a few warm up laps with Dad and felt okay about so I got signed up.

Meanwhile Mum and I got busy in the 'Team Ned' area and set up all our clobber.  It took a while I was back and forth to the park quite a bit and I had 'my kids' to attaned to (a fluffy sheep, Tigger and a few other assorted soft toys):

It was so dry that a man was even watering the track with a a hose pipe to keep the dust down, he managed to miss all the riders practicing though, not sure I would have done so well.....

I got pretty wound up in the pens before my first race, Dad did his best to chivvy me up:

My first race wasn't great to be honest and I finished, ummm, last.  My second was a little better, second from last.  My third was one better, third from last! (These were against mostly eight year olds though).

Mum and I got into position for his final (I was a bit chilly by now hence the blanket):

The final was a much better effort, I beat all the 7 year olds by quite a gap (but didn't make much inroads into those eight year olds, maybe next time?).  Anyway, i'm back on form and raring to go again and once again top 7 year old on the day.

Never mind all this bike racing rubbish, we had something genuinely exciting to look forward on the way back.....meeting Darcey!

Yeah, this was exciting stuff to be honest, we were both at fever pitch about this one.

I got first cuddle:

I had to settle for second:

How cool is that?  She was really lovely of course and we can't wait to see her again.

And the poo she did in her nappy was immense....a double bagger no less!

It was hilarious to see Auntie Christine flapping!

Back to school today then....booo!  Didn't much fancy that.

After school though I helped the workman clear up the netting and metal poles from around our new playground thats just been built.  He was happy for the help I think.  Of course it just so happened that I got to be the first one to play on it!  How cool is that?  It's brilliant, playtimes should be a lot better now.

And it would also appear that i might actually have a wobbly tooth or two...i'll keep you posted of any developments of course.

First of we'd like to welcome Darcey to the world.

Yes we would, even if I was a little bit disappointed that she was indeed a girl.

I was very pleased about that.

Hopefully we'll get to meet her soon enough for a cuddle.

Wednesdays are getting super busy these days, after nursery....

And after school, there's multi sports still for me (this week Cricket, I loved it)

And after multi sports it's dancing for me at Francis Bailey School in Thatcham.  Finally they've found me a dancing class, even if it is a bit of a quick dash in the car to get me there in time.  I was really excited about it all.  I sat and watched for a little bit before joining in and loved it!

Dad and I sat and watched, he got caught pointing his toes in and out by the teacher, what a plum.

Thursday was a good day at school, I got to sit on the special birthday chair and go first in all the lines and what have you as my birthday was during the holidays.  As if that wasn't enough excitement building work has started on a smart new adventure playground at school...and it looks like it's nearly finished too.

We had to drop Dad off early at Andy's as soon as Mum finished work, he was going to watch darts or something equally stupid.

So with Mum on duty for tea it was Pasty shop...yay!!!

When we got home we had nothing to do really, so we decided we should go down the park.

And just as we were leaving Auntie Christine arrived and tagged along too.

So she hasn't forsaken us now she's a Grandmother, what a relief.

I amazed her with my new and improved climbing/sliding/jumping abilities.

Friday night and preparations for my belated birthday party moved up a gear.  We had to go out and get a cake (a Top Gear one after M&S had sold out of Colin the caterpillar).  Then it was time to assemble the party bags:

So Saturday was finally party day, we kept my party back this year so that it wasn't in the Easter holidays.  I was well excited about it, a Trampolining party at Northcroft. 

And I got to go too!

We did loads of bouncing, Hugo was all over the place and Sophie went really high but I reckon I had the best moves and tricks.

Hmmm, I think I did actually.

We also got a visit from 'Tiddles the Tiger'  Mum thought we might be a bit too old and cool for it, but no way, we lapped it up.

He was a pretty good trampoliner too!

We even managed a 15 minute burnout in Bumpers before it was time for food:

And then of course there was the cake:

I had a lovely afternoon opening my presents, my friends certainly got me some cool stuff, like a Nerf Super Soaker.  I took Ellis into the garden to try it out.

I got soaked, but didn't mind at all.

Sunday and we went to Mum's furniture shop to try out beds.  It was brilliant fun, until we got shouted at for jumping along a line of ten beds by Mum.  Oops. 

We had a trip to Grandad and Anne's for lunch,

And then a trip round the scarecrow trail.

This years theme was Inventors, Scientists and explorers, but we couldn't get this one at all:

Any ideas?

We got pretty much all the others and had a lovely walk round.

I didn't, I decided to be a right miserable little madam and throw some tantrums.  I got sent to bed without my tea when I got home...oops.  I've been really good today to make up for it though.

Only a week late, the France video:

It was our school street party on Thursday for the Royal Wedding. We made our very own sausages too, with a sausage machine and eveything. I made a fantastic crown to wear during the event with lovely embossed union jacks. It was quite understated compared to some I suppose, but i'd like to think it was far more stylish. The party itself was really good and we all went down the junior playground to have it together.

Once Ned was finished partying it was time for something new for us all, including the cat.  She was off to the cattery while we were going to Cornwall for the weekend.  Well, I say Cattery, we've christened it the 'Cat Hotel'

Before we went I thought it only fair we had some quality time together:

We loaded her into her box and into the car and set off. Of course she pulled her normal stunt of having a poo almost straight away which lovely in the car.

At least Dad finally let us have the windows open.  The Cat Hotel was brilliant as there were lovely cats everywhere!  Even a wild-ish one that had no ears.

We followed the lady in and helped Poppy settle in to her accomodation.

It looked really cool, she had her own window and a bunk bed all to herself.

We said our goodbyes but she wasn't bothered at all and made herself at home.

Then it was a quick trip to get the car loaded up before we picked up Mum from work, then Andy from home and then we hit the road for Cornwall.

It's been ages since we last went (August last year in fact) so I reckon we were well overdue.  A great development in terms of the trip down is that Exeter services now boasts a branch of the Pasty shop we love in town.  Much better than skanky Burger King.

We stayed awake for pretty much the entire journey, and perked up when we arrived at the caravan to find Alan and Hayley were already there.

But it was late and it was soon time for bed.

We got up the next morning to find everyone watching the Royal Wedding build up on telly.

Dad's stupid comments about it were already making mum weary so we took him off down to Gary's shop.

Have we mentioned how much we love Gary and his well stocked shop?

After breakfast the Wedding was still pretty underwhelming so we went down the beach with Dad and Andy instead.  We had a great time, I used my new Hello Kitty surfboard.

And I was so excited about getting my skim board back out I couldn't wait to get on it again.  I'm starting to really get the hang of it now and pulled off a few decent rides (as well as a few decent crashes).

After we'd exhausted our various surfcraft it was time for digging, we love digging.

Blocking the pools and streams at low tide.  Brilliant stuff and we had the place pretty much to ourselves.

We headed to the Youth Hostel Cafe for lunch with Mum, Alan and Hayley when they'd had their fill of wedding on telly.  Then it was time to check into our cottage as the caravan was a one night only special offer.

We were staying at the end of the road in a big cottage called Ben's Stable.  There was a lovely big kitchen for Dad, a lovely big front room for Mum and a cool room with a lovely window and bunk bed for us.

The bunk beds caused a little bit of friction when we had to flip a coin for top bunk allocation.

Kimi and Marney also turned up and had the cottage just up from ours so there was plenty of cross-cottage hide and seek action to be had.  Great fun!

We headed out to the Harlyn Inn for tea and met up with Owen and Hanna who were staying there.  Needless to say there were massive ice cream sundaes..........

.....and novelty alien ice creams for pudding.

Saturday morning we hit the beach again, this time mob handed for digging duties:

Abi and Faye were also around too, so it was quite a gathering in the end.

Especially when John and Sarah arrived too.  Too much excitement or what!

We eventually headed back to the cottage and settled down for some top quality early evening telly with plenty of trips to the cottage playground we had:

Sunday we took Mum to Polzeath, we even enjoyed a family shopping trip for the first time ever:

It was a good shopping trip too, I got a new pair of swimmers and matching t-shirt with dragons on them...very cool.

And I got a new pair of pink Crocs....with a ladybird badge through one of the holes!  I was so pleased as you can imagine.

Then it was time for ice creams on the beach:

We went back to the cottage and got our gear together to have an evening surf session.

I was really on form and got a a couple of brilliant waves right up onto the beach and went out pretty deep with Mum and Sarah.

I had a good old splash about, jumping over the waves as they came crashing in.

John arrived a bit later on and we headed up to the sand dunes with Andy and Sarah in tow to jump in a massive sandy hole.  We came back covered in sand and had to go back in the sea to get it all off again.

It was BBQ night, so that meant another cool game of hide and seek for us kids.

Once it was dark they grown ups decided to launch one of Mum's lanterns:

Not the best idea in what was quite a strong wind, epseially after Alan had read the instructions....

Still, once it was alight it was hard to put out snd it soon took to the sky, albeit it mostly sidewards before realy lifting off and floating out over the sea.

It would have been realy cool if I wasn't totally terrified of the thing (mostly due to Alan's reading of the instructions while him and Dad embellished the likely nasty injuries we may sustain by lighting it)  Still, there's only another four more to light over the summer....

We had a trip out to Bedruthan steps on Monday.  The steps had certainly not got any less over the winter and it was a long way down.

We did some rockpool trawling and the locals well and truly showed us how it was done with Amy netting two fish straight away, one of which was pretty sizeable.

Alan and I got stuck into a sizeable civil engineering project:

I got my wetsuit on and made it four days straight in the water:

It was lovely, except when it was really windy and we got sandblasted:

We said our goodbyes to John and Sarah and headed back to the Youth Hostel cafe for a cream tea:

And then it was packing and home time...boooo!

Yeah, very sleepy we were too this morning for school and nursery....yawn!!!!

I had swimming lessons today as well.

While I went with Dad to pick Poppy up from the cat hotel.  She had enjoyed her stay by all accounts and had been a very good girl.  Until she got in the car and had a poo of course.........

Okay, okay, we've been away for a bit so you'll have to make yourself comfy while we catch up.  Here goes...
Going back to the first Tuesday of the Easter holidays we had a day out with Grandad and Anne. 
We went on the train to Reading and then on to Oxofrd.  We loved that.
Things then got even better as we rode on a bus to the river!
And then we boarded a boat for a Thames river cruise.  It was brilliant, especially when Grandad managed to talk the captain into letting me drive the boat for a little bit.  How cool was that?
On the train on the way back we were even allowed to sit in the luggage racks, we loved that.  Thanks for a great day out.
Wednesday was the big one....my birthday!  Seven no less, can you believe that? I was very considerate and got up at 5am so Dad had plenty of time to see me before he headed off to work.  I'm sure Mum was pleased with her lay in on her day off too.
We had a great morning playing with my new toys before we headed off to the cinema to meet Dad fresh from work.  On the way though I managed to rip my trousers somehow and spent the afternoon with my bum hanging out.  We watched the Film Hop about a man who becomes the Eastrer bunny, so it was right up my street really.  After the film it was time for Pizza Hut...I love birthdays. 
We got home and got busy with the cake:

Hmmmm, cake:

Alan and Hayley made an evening visit, and as brilliant as my present was, the real highlight was the small polystyrene chips in the box with it, they were thrown everywhere like a blizzard.

We had a nice day with Auntie Christine on Thursday.  We painted some easter eggs and made some lovely easter puppets before I fell asleep in my usual place on Uncle Ian's bit fo the sofa.

I had a totoally brilliant hunt the Easter Chick session with Auntie Christine using her cold/hot/boiling seeking technique.

Den and Gail paid me a birthday visit in the evening.

I love going out in the garden with Uncle Den.

Alan came to our house to look after us on friday morning.  We made him take us to the park to begin with.

Then it was Wii time.  Super Smash Mario brothers to be exact.  I loved it, Alan loved it and when Dad got home from work he loved it too.  So much so we played it all afternoon until Mum got home from work.

So a big thanks to everyone who took us out, looked after us and played with us over the holidays.

And of course to everyone for making my birthday such a gloriously drawn out and exciting affair this year. 

Saturday then, or was it still Friday night when we were dragged out of bed and stuck in the car?

I don't know, but it was still dark when we got up.  Still, it was for the greater good, we were off on holiday.

After many false starts, cancelled accomodations and all the rest of it we were actually going.

We drove to Poole, by the time we got there it was daylight at least.  We drove our car onto a great big Ferry and in no time at all we headed out to sea (via Poole harbour and past the Sandbanks chain link ferry on the way).

We waved England goodbye for a week from the deck:

It was lovley on the boat, there were nice seats to snuggle in, a cafe that sold coco pops and best of all a room just for kids that had a lovely big screen showing Disney films.

We were soon at the other end and it was time to return to the car and leave the boat. 

We had the usual trip around the side streets of Cherbourg before Dad finally understood what the Sat nav was trying to tell him and we were off towards our house.

It was weird driving on the wrong side of the road.

But we felt quite at home as nearly all the cars on the dual carriageway were British ones.

As we drove further south the number of GB badged cars grew less and less and due to a flash of brilliance by Mum we were soon pulling into our farmhouse. We wasted no time setting up for lunch outside:

The house had a really lovely big garden with some swings:

And our very own meadow/wood with a stream at the bottom of it:

We loved exploring that.

There was also a lovely doggie who lived next door. He was excited to see us and loved us stroking him through the fence.

We like a dog behind a fence.

Even though it did make throwing his ball for him rather difficult.

We even didn't really mind having to go to the Supermarket for some supplies.

Even though I did get pretty tired by late afternoon.

We were up nice and early on Sunday morning and made a massive camp in our bedroom out of chairs, a clothes airer and loads of bedding we didn't use.

We also helped ourselves to the cushions from the downstairs sofa to make it a bit more cosy.

We had some breakfast (croissants of course, but best of all we were allowed those yoghurts in a squeezy tube) and then headed out. 

We went to Clecy, the nearest town for a mooch about.  Like good English people we desperatley sought a parking space and parked in it, only to find we were miles from the town centre or the river (where all the action was) and that there was loads of parking everywhere.  Mum thought the place was deserted and that maybe all the locals had been abducted by aliens?

We made our way to the river Orne and found plenty of life.  And more importanlty plenty of places to hire a boat to crusie the river.  We couldn't decide between a pedalo or an electric motor boat.

The motor boat won out, why pedal?  We were supposed to be taking it easy on holiday after all.

I had a drive:

And so did I:

And Mum enjoyed the scenery and the wildlife spotting:

She was over the moon when we nearly mowed down an otter swimming accross the river.

Yeah, everything was just great until my hat blew off and landed in the water.  But in a great team effort of Dad's boat driving, and Mum holding Ned who leaned right out of the boat it was soon retrieved....it was a bit soggy though.

Next on the agenda was the mini golf i'd spotted further up the river.  I took charge of the scores:

And after 18 holes of tense competition, Mum emerged victorious!

It was hot, thirsty work so we had a lovely cool Fanta afterwards, and a go on the bouncy castle they had at the golf course/Cafe:

Yeah, France seemed to be big on bouncy castles.  We certainly had no problem with that, unless we were all bounced out:

We headed back to the house and decided a BBQ was in order:

And I discoved a new found love for mexican spiced chicken drumsticks!

We headed a bit further afield on Monday and took a trip north to the coast where the D-Day landings had taken place.  I was really interested in all this, especially after Uncle Alan had been showing me on the map where all the battles were last Friday.

We started off at Grandcamp Maisy on the Western end:

We wandered way out to sea on this pier thing.

I didn't like it much, you could see the waterunder neath us.

We wandered up the sea front until we came to the main square where there loads of squashed starfish on the pavements.  We made Dad have Moules for lunch so we could all try them (we didn't like them much, but he did). 

And then we walked back to the car (again, parked in true British style, miles away from where we wanted to be).  By the time we made our way back the tide had gone out so we could walk back along the sand.

And our little pier now stretched out over dry land (well, damp sand).

We got back in the car and headed for a place called Longues Battery, Dad had done some research and this place seemd to have a lot of big guns still left in their bunkers.

We got a bit sidetracked on the way by Omaha beach though.  It was lovely, miles and miles of golden sand with no one really on it.  We parked up (this time in a very frnech style, right next to the sand) and got the beach gear out:

The wetsuits soon followed and it was paddling time:

 I had some digging to attend to first:

But it was soon wetsuit time for me too:

 And then bucket sploshing:

Before the long walk back up the beach:

Nothing like it would have been nearly 67 years ago though......

Once were dried off and refuelled (Fanta of course) we headed off in search of the guns again.

We drove along the coast until we arrived at Longues Sur Mer battery.  It looked like it was going to be really cool and once i'd bought some post cards for my scrapbook we were off accross the headland.

There were four of these massive gun bunkers built by the Germans to defends the coastline.  We loved exploring them.

I didn't really know what they were for but they made excellent places for hiding and climbing.

I loved it, one of them was even a bit blown up where it was taken.  There was a command post too, this is had a lovely bridge accross to it.....lets just say that Anlgo-Spanish relations may have taken a little downturn while I was stood on it.......

We'd had such a good day we were out way longer than we thought we'd be so we had to have a McDonalds on the way back to the farmhouse...it even had a playground outside?  How come they don't here?

We had a bit of a lazy one on Tuesday morning and hung around the house until after lunch.

We sat out in the garden and looked longingly at next doors swimming pool that went unused all week:

We did a bit of cuddling up:

And I made Ellis look like the peg queen of Normandy:

And we generally took it easy:

In the afternoon we headed to the model village in Clecy, first stop was a great big bouncy castle in the shape of a train.  We loved it.

Even though I did need help to climb a high section from Mum or Dad until Ned suggested I took my socks off for a bit more grip. Big brothers are helpfull sometimes I suppose.

Then it was on to the model itself, we were a bit surprised as we thought it was outdoors but once it all kicked off we loved it.  There were trains zooming everywhere and even real smoke from the chimeys.

Mum really liked it when the lights went off and everything lit up.

Once we'd had our fill and checked off everything on the list of things to spot that we'd been given we were off to the bouncy train again, although we did get off for an ice cream:

There was also a little train to ride round on, you know us, suckers for a little train:

We had a lovely picnic by the river:

We had a little baugette left which we decided to throw for the ducks:

Well, Ellis was throwing it for the ducks, I was trying to land mine on a couple of old people on a pedalo....

We had a bit of an explore, Dad was really keen to get up on the viaduct as he'd seen people wandering about up there earlier in the day.

I spotted a steep wiggly staircase that seemed to be the route to the top, so we scaled the heights and took in the view:

Wednesday we headed into Bayeaux to see the tapestry.

I didn't know (or indeed particulalry care) what a tapestry is.

I'd heard all about it and was well excited.

We had a wander round town, and looked at all the weird fish and cheese at the market.

And then we headed into the building to see the tapestry itself.  Because it's so old and under it's own special lights wew weren't allowed to take any pictures of it.  We did get a special audio tour to listen to though for kids only.  It pointed out all the good bits for us as we moved along. 

It really was very long indeed, good job iI took to the buggy.

I loved it, I love my history, especially if theres a a good old fight and some kings involved.

We sat out in the courtyard and mulled over what we'd seen whilst eating some baugette, very french:

We had another wander around Bayeaux, which was really quite nice as it goes.

Yeah, the buildings were nice, but the chocolate shop was better:

And the sweet shop was pretty good too, although I think sweets may be bad for your teeth:

And miracles of miracles we finally found a park, France seems remarkably light on these (or maybe we're spoiled a bit at home?):

Thursday was a big day, our visit to Festyland (like Crealy but in French).

Even though directions were scarce and the sat nav didn't know where it was we finally found our way there.

Our first stop was the merry go round:

Then the train:

Then the boats:

And then best of all, the cars:

Or pink motorbikes of course:

There were also rather more unusual rides like this one:

I tried this but very nearly tipped the boat over.

The pirate boat was a lot more stable, I love pirate boats and this one was world class:

And the lady that ran the ride was really friendly, she liked me, a lot:

She was really nice and made sure a little one like me was enjoying myself, I was:

Three goes later and Dad had to get off because he felt sick, sadly I had to go with him.

I got to stay on for another few goes on my own.

I also got a taste for roller coasters, me and Dad stayed on for four laps without stopping.

There were some lovely horses to ride, just like Crealy:

There was a Beast ride, like at Crealy too, but it was too high for pictures, way above the trees.

There was also a caterpillar ride that parents needed to operate themselves, here's Mum on the controls:

I think it was quite a responsibility for her, especially when a load of french kids got on the ride too.

We decided that the swing merry go round was also the best we'd ever been on:

It was super fast and swung right out! 

As usual we were pretty much the last ones to leave the park.

All too soon it was Friday, our last day.  We had a relaxing morning in the garden.

Lizard spotting, there were quite a few cool little lizards that came out for a spot of sunbathing.

I named them 'Croaky' and thought it was hilarious.

But you scared them off more often than not.

Mum made me a daisy chain tiara:

And we spent quite a while gathering garden ingredients for a nice stew (mostly grass, interesting leaves and dandelions):

All mixed up with some water in the cooking pots.  Fortunately I also decided I like washing up:

We also picked some wild flowers to make a rather attractive table centrepiece:

Once we'd had enough of being lazy (and we ran out of pringles) we headed back to the river for a bit more boating.

But this time I really fancied a pedalo:

My little legs weren't much use for pedalling the thing so I made myself comfortable.

While the top powerhouse team of me and Mum did the real business:

After a much needed ice cream we headed for a nearby town called Falaize, birthplace of William the Conqueror.  This meant a castle to visit:

Even I love a castle to visit:

This one was the birthplace of William the Conqueror so we got anothe cool audio tour to listen to.

And loads of twisty steep steps to climb up:

But most cool of all was the games rooms that were placed here and there aroud the castle.  Every now and then a room with comfy cushions and a selection of medieval games would appear.  We found one with shut the box in it and I gave everyone a good whooping (with a score of just 1).

So that was our French week all but done and dusted, we had a lovely time in the all the sunshine and didn't even miss Cbeebies or CBBC.

We had to get up a bit earlier than we would have liked on Saturday to make sure we got the ferry home okay.

But we just so happened to have two small ice creams in the freezer that needed eating, quality breakfast or what?

We were soon on board the ferry and heading for home, waving France au revoir:

We got home just after lunch and had a lovely time going through our toys and what have you.

Sunday was of course Easter, so it was a sort of early start for the egg hunt:

Even I was quite taken with it all this year and was glad the Easter bunny hadn't forgotten us what with us being on holiday and all:

After visits from Auntie Trish and Mark and Uncle Den and Auntie Gail (all laden with Easter eggs, yum, thanks!) it was round to Kimi and Marney's place for a barbecue.

Abi and Faye were there as well as Yanna and Fen so it was quite a gathering.

Mum went to work on Monday so we spent most o fhte day at the park.  Fin from school was there with his sister so we played with them for a ages.

Yes, I was the scary monster chasing them all!

We picked Mum up from work and then took her out for a picnic for tea, at another park of course. 

Mum looked after us on Tuesday morning, we had a low key one and played some board games and the like. 

Then in the afternoon we made an erupting volcano for my school project (nothing like leaving it until the last minute).  We had to mix vinegar, washing up liquid and red food colouring before dropping in some bicarbonate of soda.  It went everywhere!  Hopefully the video should appear soon....

Back to school and nursery today.

I was quite excited about it all actually, I had a lot to catch up on with my friends.

Just as a side note, we've found this really funny this afternoon (you'll need sound on):

http://gobarbra.com/hit/new-99f96662eb97540acec7b845398be2b1