autumn fun at Chessington

For George's birthday day out this year Katy chose (with some help from us as we'd found a discount voucher tee hee) a day at Chessington. We had a blast. It was really quiet so we managed to get on everything we wanted, including some pretty scary roller coasters with Katy.

Not such a scary coaster this time. Although the boat below made me feel quite sick.

I wait with baited breath to see what she chooses for my birthday!

locked out

For the last two weeks blogger has locked me out. Not that I have much to say, September has been all about getting into the routines of a new school year and coping with the changes in homework levels. With homework and after school activities life has been pretty hectc. Katy is coping well but I am still adjusting.

I've no photos to share but have a bunch of layouts, so here are a few for now.

ch,ch,ch,changes

September 2007, September 2008, and today, 7 September 2009. Where does the time go? I can now understand why none of her clothes are long enough.

Donegal day 2 photos

There's nothing quite like a beach in windy weather. We went to Narin beach on our second day in Donegal, and the rain stopped just long enough for us to have a paddle. Katy loved the wide open spaces, and paddling in the sea of course. It wasn't as cold as I expected it to be, which was a blessing as I expected it to be freezing!

photos from Donegal

The first evening in Donegal was beautiful. We were able to sit out in the back garden until after 10pm, annd the light was perfect for photos. We were so envious of my aunt and uncle's surroundings, all these photos were taken within a 5 minute walk of their house.

Katy had great fun helping John with the lambs, sheep and chickens.

It was such a beautiful place, it was the first time I'd been there since Celine and John moved to Donegal. I will definitely go back.

Not bad for a back garden is it?

back from Ireland

and for once I took a load of photos. In all the past holidays in Ireland I have taken maybe 10 shots in total, whereas this trip I have somehow ended up with a few hundred. A warm sunny evening and a trip to Donegal helped enormously. These photos are from last Saturday night, when Mum, Katy and I went out for an early dinner and decided to go for a walk after eating along the Strand and into Burgess Park. Katy had new sandals (her 'heels' - they have a 1/4 inch 'heel') so she was happy to pose for a while.

It was nice to be out in the evening and be warm enough for no coats or cardis :)

summer has started at last

... and once we had our first days off from work and holiday club we headed into London for the day. Katy has a long list of activities she would like to try this summer, and Borough Market and the Tate gallery were our first stops. We bought lots of yummy stuff in the market and had a picnic on the grass beside Southwark cathedral. We finished as the rain started so we wandered along the riverbank by the Thames to the Tate.

Katy did a couple of the free kids activities in the gallery - there is so much good free stuff in London for kids - and got to create and try a range of art techniques. She loves art and food, so a gallery and a farmers market was a perfect day out for her!

day 6 photos

We went to Epcot today and had booked a lunch with the princesses in the Norway section. Katy really enjoyed this, especially meeting Mary Poppins.

It was wet this day so I didn't get many photos outdoors, but managed to get a couple of the Epcot 'golfball', or Spaceship Earth to use its proper name.