What We've Been Up To #21: Our Summer

Here's our summer in pictures, most of which was spent at Grandma Jeanette and Grandad Harry's house in Leyland, Lancashire. Decoration work continued to the new loft room and 1st floor, so whilst Daddy headed to Leyland with the older kids, Mummy and Ptolemy stayed behind to oversee the work.

Ptolemy loves dressing up; here he is as a famous builder named Bob

Jory enjoys unwrapping his belated present from uncle Bar 

It was Zachary and Marilla's birthday the day after they arrived

A lovely handmade present from Zachary's friends

Dressed for bad weather as we headed into town

Playing marbles without having to wait for a turn!

Flying a model plane at the RAF museum at Cosford

Sending up a package for a plane drop

Tahlia prepares to drop the package

Auntie Marilla's birthday tank

Zachary requested jam donuts as his birthday cake...

...Auntie Marilla requested flapjack

The loft room's newly stained in-built drawers  

New wardrobe, drawers and bookshelves

Marble running in Leyland

Tahlia's new heart wallpaper, unicorn curtains and purple star lampshade 

Uncle Julian came over to help build some furniture, but Ptolemy wanted him to help with his jigsaws first!

Helping put up an Ikea bed

Putting up Zachary's bed

Jory's new bed in situ

Riding on the little train at Worden Park

Riding on a seesaw at Southport Botanic Garden

Zachary attempts a hole in one

Zachary and Tahlia ascend the space net

Getting ready to explore a castle...

The beautiful Lowther Castle on an equally beautiful day

He can't resist a swing

Time for a quick pic

Climbing on the huge play fort

Grandma Jeanette enjoys a quick dip until she spots a giant wave approaching!

Paddling by the very muddy shore

Enjoying the heat at Fleetwood splash park

We had the best fun though - helping Mummy clean and sort the hangers

Fantastic sunshine, then suddenly a heavy rain shower!

Crazy golf in Fleetwood

Crazy golf is Zachary's favourite

Trying out the new mini trolleys in Lidl

A cooling dip in the pool

Decorating the stairway was underway

Fun at a Lego workshop at Leyland Library

Another job for Mummy was weeding, but luckily she had a helper

Ptolemy loves searching for bugs in the soil

Time for a play break

Spin and win

A risky manoeuvre at the Catalyst Science Museum

Climbing high

Den building in the playroom...

...until the roof collapsed!

Ptolemy wanted to play musical chairs. Mummy did the music... Ptolemy won!

New en-suite for the bathroom

Loft room virtually all done (just needs some shelving)

Zachary's bed; it feels like a different room as it's around the corner

More jigsaw puzzles

And more marbles

The oldest surviving railway carriage in the world at the National Railway Museum, York

Vertical puzzles

A bullet train

Putting their feet up in the bullet train

Sticking together at the top

Excited about posting Grandad Harry's birthday card

Helping to sweep the corridor

Looking for another reason to sweep

Baking a cake

Ptolemy likes dressing as a knight the best. Sadly, the sword is now no more!

Farington Park, Leyland

2p machines at Southport

Too much fun in one day

Grandad Harry's birthday at last (we'll keep his age a secret though!)

Building Duplo houses

An amazing Vietnamese pop-up card from Uncle Bar

Daddy and the kids made this mocha cake, without Mummy's help (except several phone calls...)

Assault course at our local playground

"I don't like it"

Tahlia's room is all ready for when she returns

New wallpaper for Mummy and Daddy's room

The view from the new loft room

New teal side doors

New carpet, doors, wallpaper and lampshade for the downstairs hall, all finished at last!

A tower of men

Finally, we were on our way to join the others in Leyland; Daddy drove down to pick us up as it was the cheapest way to do it (with the exception of an 8 hour coach journey)

Ptolemy loves his new spinning top from Uncle Bar

Zachary, Tahlia and Jory had a wonderful week at St Andrews' holiday club. "Give a pirate hooray, we live in Sandy Bay!"

The final party at holiday club; lots of mini games

Going for a strike

Listening to a science talk at Techniquest in Wrexham (North Wales). Note the Barbie Doll's hair.

Trying to stack them in the right order 

Mirror madness

There's nothing like a floating ball to keep their attention

A visit to Chester Zoo; watching the African painted dogs

Some play hogs

They all liked the fake animals in the dinosaur park the best; here's a dire wolf (we nicknamed it Summer)

The monorail in action

Stroking some kind of dinosaur

Playing in the sand at Fleetwood beach

Sitting in an old carriage at the Commercial Vehicle Museum in Leyland

Lorry driving simulator

They enjoyed role playing doctors and nurses in this old ambulance

Exploring the ruins of Brough Castle

The boys don't realise we can still see them

Climbing amongst the ruins

The main keep of Brough Castle

Fun in the play castle nearby

Posing for a photo at Barnard Castle

The wall walk was a little stressful for Grandma Jeanette

Playing with his shadow

Holding onto the Leyland Man

Standing in front of Hadrian's Wall at Birdoswald fort

Dressing up as a centurion

Having a go at building their own "Hadrian's Wall"

Climbing on the fort

More train rides, this time with Mummy

Playing on the giant plastic pirate ship at Huntley's, Samlesbury

Fishing for ducks as Samlesbury Hall

Booths had a children's activity day so we popped in

Rainbow butterfly

This slide was a little faster than expected, at Clitheroe

Smile for the camera, everyone!

Feeding the geese on the Crook o' Lune circular walk

Chips for lunch at Fleetwood beach

Making a shell mosaic

All done

More fun at Fleetwood splash park

Jory did his first wee in the toilet, so was rewarded with a new ball

Accrington puppet parade

Some very impressive giant walking puppets and lots of stilts!

In front of the giant old man

Enjoying the views from Accrington coppice

Spinning at Accrington playground

Trying out their new paint set

Marble run using all the pieces

A leisurely walk near the beautiful hamlet of White Coppice

He can't resist climbing

Feeding the ducks at Dunsop Bridge

A cooling paddle

Standing by the sign at Dunsop Bridge which says it is the centre point of Great Britain

We can't come to Lancashire without a visit to the best ice cream parlour in the country: Wallings

Watching the alpacas at Wallings

"Too fast!"

On the walk to the top of Beacon Fell, we discovered a strange face 

Climbing around the giant snake sculpture

The circus was in town!

Gazing up at the trapeze artists at the circus

Zachary's first game of Shadows Over Camelot, staying up late as a treat for losing his second tooth

At the Accrington Soapbox Race

Examining some fast cars

A different kind of vehicle altogether: a fire engine made of Lego (from Paw Patrol)

On the Blackburn Paw Patrol Lego trail; here's Chase

Tahlia wanted to find the girl characters; here's Everest

An emergency services open day in Leyland

Trying out a police car

Flicking the switch on the paramedic motorbike

Matching the animals at Bolton Museum and Aquarium

Ready to go

We had a wonderful time at the National Waterways Museum

The little ones love dressing up

Cheeky chappy

Asking the man about how his engine works

Making a (pretend) cup of tea in the barge cabin

Looking out over the canal

They had an amazing room full of old children's toys

Practising their skipping technique

They all had fun pushing around some old prams. Though chunky, they were easy for little ones to push and great on all terrain.

Admiring the boats

More dressing up inside the museum

Mummy and Daddy enjoyed a day to themselves, visiting the Lake District

A beautiful walk alongside Rydal Water

Inside the spectacular Rydal Cave

We finally made it to the top of Loughrigg Fell!

Levens Hall

Tasty chicken livers and blackberries for dinner

Playing shopkeepers

Fairhaven Lake

Spinny things are the best!

Thanks to Grandma Jeanette and Grandad Harry for hosting us for the summer and for the many adventures we enjoyed.