* 92 *

Last week has just whizzed by so fast and to be honest I can't even remember everything that we did .

Monday we went for a new walk , still local but somewhere I've never been before . No photo's I'm afraid as my camera broke while we were out .The lens got jammed and I was quoted anywhere between £50 and £80 for a repair . So I've got a new camera on the way and fingers crossed it will be here tomorrow.

Tuesday was a trip into town to see a new exhibition at the new museum . It was all about fairy's so I didn't tell the boys where we were going I just sprang it on them and they thoroughly enjoyed it and want to go back . So when we do I'll show you. We also ended up going to Build-a- Bear ( thanks Tess ) and spending the last of the birthday money on two bears which are now called ' Sausages' and 'Jelly Baby Army Soldier Bear' !! My children really do have a vivid imagination as far as names go .

Wednesday and Thursday are a bit of a blur, the weather was very sticky during the day and drizzly and with Hub on late shift all week I don't think we did much . A quick trip to the allotment and the supermarket if I remember rightly but that's about it.

Friday we went to the Hancock Museum in Newcastle. Once again it was a first for us and when you consider it was free entry it was really good with lots of different exhibits including dinosaurs. the living planet . Egypt and a few others. Hub very kindly loaned me his camera for the trip so I did take a couple of pictures.

Notice the blue skies ... it was a gorgeous day .

The reason I mentioned the blue skies was because yesterday was the exact opposite , big fat torrential day all day with just a bit of thunder and lightning thrown in for good measure,

So this led to a jama day with lots of Wii playing and Knex building until cabin fever set in and the fighting began. It always ends in tears .

Today has been a little bit better with a walk to the park in the drizzle followed by a roast chicken and crusty bread lunch . Tomorrow the boys are off to their Grans so it will be a day of peace for me -- yeahh and fingers crossed the sun gets out next week too .

Hope you all have a lovely week.

* 91 *

Would you believe it, I came to do my post for this months Scavenger hunt and I've lost some of the photo's I intended to use so please excuse a few of them as I've ran around the house looking for bits and also searched my files so some are a bit old.

Red, White and Blue .... a RAF Falcon parachutist from the airshow this afternoon.

Flip Flops .... these were worn once at my wedding and have never been worn again.

Ice Cream .... Turkish Delight flavour which was mine mmmmmmmmm

Strawberries .... knitted strawberry bookmarks and a Yankee candle as part of the teachers thank you present. It said " thank you BERRY much".

A Flag .... on the ferry on the way back from Amsterdam about 6am . Did I tell you we are going again in a few weeks?

Fields .... not a lot to say about this one really.

A Celebration .... quite a few to choose from this month , three birthdays, a wedding, finishing school, Milo's award . I decided to go with the cheeky chappie though.

Shells .... it's lucky we live beside the beach .

Stars .... this is kind of pushing it as it's one of the ones I lost . The guy wearing the 54 shirt is Chris from a band called Bowling For Soup and this was taken before children when we actually used to go to gigs - a lot. It's me on the right if you hadn't guessed , Hub to the left of Chris and the other guy is a friend of ours. So Chris is a star - yes !!

Oh, and I've just thought I could have taken a picture of the stars on my Converse - all of them , oh well.

Stripes .... also taken this afternoon at the airshow as it's another I lost.

Kite .... and another , this is a letter chart on our back room wall .

Something that makes you happy ( not a person or an animal ) .... Technically yes this is an animal but it's a knitted animal and knitting makes me happy , not only that though because this little pig is called Pabla and she is one of Julie's little animals and the fact that I've finally managed to get one after three years of trying makes me very very happy indeed.

Two pictures of me in this post taken approx eight years apart so don't look too closely ..

* 90 *

I can't believe the first week of the school holidays is over already , but then again I can't believe it's nearly August !!!

Even though there are signs all around that Autumn is starting to creep in , very slowly inch by inch I just don't want to accept it - not yet anyway .

The blackberries are all ripening , seed heads are forming and today we found conkers . A lot of them were still quite small but others , well, just see for yourself.

I think it's going to be a good year for them judging by this whopper?

* 89 *

So, four days into the holidays and so far we have been busy, busy, busy.

First there was the wedding then on Sunday we had a trip up the road to Nannas to return the boys suits and a walk along the river.

Monday we had a walk along Roker beach, a very blustery walk I might add. It was quite windy and the sea was very rough with big waves and even people surfing.

There were quite a few broken lobster pots and more washed up seaweed than I can ever remember seeing before.

Whopping great big lumps of it all along the shoreline.

Halfway along we stopped for chips , you can't beat salt and vinegar chips beside the sea.

It was quite a refreshing walk and the cobwebs were most definately blown away.

We'll be here again at the weekend for the annual airshow but we'll be joined by a few thousand people this time.

Today it was not so windy so we ventured up to Causey Arch , about half an hours drive away.

Lots of little wooden bridges to cross which the boys loved.

Causey Arch was built in 1725 / 6 and is the oldest surviving single arch railway in the world.

These stairs were a killer but the view from the top was worth it.

We also found a new friend .... can you spot the face ?

Hub is back to work tomorrow so I think we'll be having a lazy day , I think we need it.

* 88 *

Yesterday the sun shone and the sky was blue , exactly what had been ordered for my sisters wedding.

Everything went to plan , well almost , as two days before there was a family fallout when my brother decided he wasn't coming !!! Always happens doesn't it?

The boys were pageboys along with their cousin and they all did brilliantly .

A very happy mam smiled all day

and a very proud dad gave away his youngest child.

It all got too much though for one little person who caved in at 9pm , way past his normal bedtime.

I wish Trish and Keith all the best in the world ..

* 87 *

Last week we got a letter through the post inviting us to an awards ceremony at the boys school. We were told that Milo had won an award but not what it was for and we were also told it was a secret and we were not to say anything about it to him.

Do you know just how hard it is to keep something like this quiet when you are just bursting with happiness?

There were only five awards for his year, one for attendance, one for handwriting, one for maths, one for science and one for reading , so we assumed that his was going to be for reading as his teacher is always commenting about how good his reading is for his age. We sat there amongst the other proud parents and when they called out his name for science .... science ... well, the tears flowed I can tell you and not just from me I might add Hub wiped a few away too. His teacher gave a little speech beforehand saying how the winner of the award was very curious, always asking questions , some questions that she didn't know the answers to and had to research things before replying .

Words cannot describe just how proud we are of him .

We had already decided that as a celebration for winning this and the fact that he has now finished infant school and Gabe has finished nursery we would take them to the new ice-cream parlour in town as a surprise.

It went down well I think .

Milo has also decided that he is going to write a summer blog , a little diary of sorts of things that he is going to get up to over the next six weeks. I'll help with photos but that is all , everything else will be his own so please pop across and visit him at Milo's Summertime .

* 86 *

My Whoopies look more like flopsie's !!

Even with a Whoopie tin they are just so flat ...... and sticky . Oh well , at least the dog didn't get them !!