Birthday Bonanza

 So, as so alluded to in my last post, it was my little girl’s birthday this week. I can’t believe where the time has gone, the transition from baby girl to proper little lady has flown by. 

Her birthday was a school day, so the morning was fairly rushed. She came out of school buzzing to get on her new scooter though (her birthday gift from the chap) and the evening was spent with me trying to figure out how to help her on Minecraft, the game I bought her for her Nintendo. I’m not great at video games so I’m not sure I was doing any better than her. In the end it was only grandma’s suggestion that we look at game play videos on YouTube that got us anywhere.

With impending celebrations, I decided I would actually get my nails done. I never get my nails done. I went once with the intention of getting something subtle, but came out with massive pink sparkly extensions instead. They were beautiful but totally mismatched my life. 

2021 crazy pink nail extensions 

This time, with it being little Misses birthday, I let her choose the colour. She went for her favourite, blue. It’s very pretty, I actually really enjoyed the whole process of having something done for me, instead of always doing my own. I’ve booked to go back in a few weeks to have them done again. The nail technician said they should last 2 - 3 weeks, so we’ll see. 

Gel nails done

Saturday morning it was the usual weekend breakfast of pancakes. Then it was time to get ready for little Misses bowling party. 

As my Mum pointed out, I was a bit over dressed for a children’s party at the local bowling alley. If there’s an opportunity to put something nice on though, I don’t like to miss it. 

After a game of bowling, some food, cake and the general over-stimulation of the bowling alley environment I think the children, and the parents were all throughly bowled out. It had been a fabulous party though, full of energy and excitement.

Afterwards, me, little Miss, grandma and the chap went off to Ask Italian for some dinner. To be honest, I forgot to take many photos so you’ll have to take my word for it that we’d had a tremendous day. 

Sunday, summer had arrived. At least that’s how it seemed. With the sun blazing, I decided it was time to clear some of the weeds from my garden and plant some flowers. I took a trip to our local garden centre, and despite trying to stick to the sorry looking plants that I know I can revive, in the clearance section, I still spent much more than I intended to. Oops.

Then, I set to work in the sunshine, moving the olive tree, cutting the Honeysuckle back a bit and planting new flowers. By early evening, it looked lovely and I was able to get the garden table out and dish up a bit of tea outside. It was a lovely end to a lovely week. 

Shopping, Watching, Walking

 Here we are, Bank Holiday Monday here in the UK, and the final day of my week off work. A week that I have absolutely crammed with activities, so I’m grateful today to just potter and do some laundry. 

Wednesday we took a trip down to York. The weather was grim, to say the least. Next week is little Miss’ birthday, and since she’ll be back at school I thought it would be easier to take her shopping for some birthday presents this week.

She had some birthday money from grandma and the chap, so a mini spree in Smyths toys was the order of the day.

After that was drove around to the outlet for a wander.

Thursday, we had plans to meet a couple of her classmates to go and see the Minecraft movie. What a bonkers film!! The kids enjoyed it, and to be fair I think us grown ups did to, but I’m still not sure what it was all about.

Friday was Good Friday. Other than going to church and walking Thelma, we just had a quiet day. As a Christian, Good Friday has always been something of a reflective day rather than one for actually doing things. We did rent Wicked Friday evening though. I had intended to see it at the cinema when it was out, but never got to it. It’s a long film, but it was good!

Fabulous tea shed at the family fun day

Saturday morning we were off to meet more of Little Miss’ friends, including one of her friends who has moved away, but was back up to visit. I swear, this girl has a better social life than most grown ups.

We went to a nearby bistro which was having an Easter fun day in their grounds. Complete with bouncy castle, craft stalls and BBQ, it was fun and lively.

The kids had a great time, and I always enjoy catching up with the parents too.

Pretty inside Le Jardin

Afterwards we popped to town as we had a few things to pick up. Then, for lunch we thought we’d try somewhere different, Le Jardin.

Tasty lunch

It was lovely and great value for money, I think we’ll be back. I remember we used to go before, but it went downhill so nice to see it’s good again.

We wandered past some of the scooters that have been in Scarborough for the scooter rally over the weekend, and down to the arcades for some more time on those 2p drop machines. Always a fun way to end the day.

Saturday night I didn’t sleep so well, so I woke up feeling groggy Sunday. Not great since I was off to meet the chap and go on a hike. I didn’t let it stop me, but I did need some Lucozade to get me going.

We drove up to Goathland, and started the trail to Mallyan Spout waterfall. We do love a waterfall walk.

Heading down wasn’t too bad. As often is the case there was a fair bit of scrambling over rocks to get close to the falls, but since we’ve had quite a run of dry weather, there wasn’t too massive a volume of water falling.

It was quite magical. Once we’d explored the area we retraced our steps and the  followed the other path to Beck Hole.

I’ve heard of this place many times, even the coffee I buy from a local roastery is called Beck Hole, but I’ve never visited. Once we got to the end of the path we found a beautiful village and, more importantly, a lovely pub! 

We were so glad to get those Beck Hole Ales and stand outside in the sunshine to watch the world go by. 

The walk back was uphill, and harsh. I was so hot and my legs were hurting. We’d spent 3 hours walking and it was showing. I was so grateful when we got back to the top. No more hills.

The pub at Goathland had stopped serving food, so we drove back to Pickering for fish and chips. Well earned Fish and chips I might add, and they did taste good.

It was a perfect end to an amazing day. Me and the chap love our little adventures, especially when they involve a waterfall, beer and fish and chips. I’m definitely in recovery mode today, and looking forward to a week of sitting down at my desk.

Pretty Shoes, Sunday Crafts and Flamingoland

 Whilst it’s currently raining cats and dogs, we have been lucky to enough to be blessed with a few days of sunshine. Having time off work, I’ve been able to take advantage of it too. 

Saturday, after having a wonderfully relaxing start to the day where me and little Miss even fit in some Yoga, we decided to head into town. Fed up of being imprisoned in boots for so many months, I dug out a pair of my bright and fun Irregular Choice shoes that to wear. No point them sitting in my shoe chest waiting for a special occasion, the fact it was dry enough to wear them is special enough.

Shoes - Irregular Choice, dress - Cath Kidston, belt - Fairfax and Favor , Jacket - Gap (customised by me), hat - Dorothy Perkins

I got a few compliments on them from people in town, so it was nice to know they were appreciated. 

Sunday morning, we started the day with some Easter crafts. It’s been a long time since I’ve painted eggs, but when I saw one of my friends on Facebook doing some egg painting it inspired me to do it too. 

Little Miss loved it: it’s very relaxing. After lunch, we popped out for some soil, and set about the annual task of fixing up Little Misses fairy garden, trimming back the honeysuckle and generally having a bit of a tidy up.

Now the yarden looks pretty again when I look out of my kitchen window. I just need a few more flowering plants for my tubs.

Monday, I had tickets booked for Flamingoland. An amusement park and zoo around 40 minutes away from home. The last time I went little Miss was tiny, and I don’t remember it being as good as it was this time.

We arrived at lunchtime, and actually I think this is a really good time of year to go because there were enough people around for it to have a ‘buzz’ but the queues were short, and it wasn’t crowded.

Thankfully the weather smiled on us as me and little Miss went on runaway trains, air balloons and the stomach churning Vortex.

Ironically, the Vortex was like the smaller version of thrilling Navigator, which I went on before this, yet I think it was more nauseating than the big one. 

After a wander around the zoo, admiring some of the huge animals they have there, we hopped on the little park train back into the main park.

It was growing cold and windy, and aside from the flask of soup and cheese batches we’d had for lunch, we hadn’t really stopped for food. Being early in the season, a lot of the food outlets weren’t open yet, but we did manage to get fish and chips and that did us just fine.

After all of that excitement it was time to head home. All of us were thoroughly exhausted but we had enjoyed a fabulous start to the Easter break, I’m just thankful I didn’t book tickets for today because everything would have been like a log flume.

It’s Sunny in Marrakesh

Earlier this week my Mum likened the sunshine to an LED bulb. It’s giving off light but it’s not heating up. I thought that was pretty accurate, but even the hint of Spring that the sunshine is bringing is making me feel a little more motivated.

On Wednesday I made my weekly trip to York to work from the office. I had a very productive day, and then after work the chap came to meet me. We had a little wander around town and went to see our friend S before her shop closed. We were heading for Tah Tien, a Thai restaurant that we’ve wanted to try out for months and never got to. Guess what? We didn’t get there this time either.

In my work clothes, and still layering

As we were walking to it, I spotted a fairly new (7 months open) restaurant I’d never seen before, Marrakesh. The name alone was enough to entice me. I love Moroccan food, but the carved door and general ambience was a winner for us. Next time Tah Tien.

Inside we were warmly welcomed and showed to our table. Commenting on the decor, the host explained how everything, right down to the carved wooden chairs and hand painted plates, had been imported from Morocco.

 

We started with some delicious halloumi and spinach parcels, which we shared. We agreed though, we’d have easily eaten a few more portions of those.

Even though it wasn’t open, I was able to check out the beautiful upstairs area while we waited for our mains. 

I’d ordered chicken tagine with saffron rice. The portions were huge, basically it was half a chicken, cooked beautifully and tasting amazing. I could probably have shared this too the portions were so large. It didn’t stop us from ordering Baklava to finish though.

Washed down with a Moroccan mint tea. I want one of these little tea sets for my loose leaf tea. It’s beautiful. 

We were stuffed, but we both agreed that not only was the food delicious but it was so welcoming too. We weren’t being hurried to get off the table like so many places do. Definitely one for a return visit.

The rest of the week was mostly just more work. Friday lunchtime though I took Little Miss for an ice cream at the beach. It’s half term here. We walked along the beach, and the sun actually felt like it was warming up, and then enjoyed ice creams from Holy Cow.

Then half an hour in our favourite arcade, before walking back to the car so I could head home and finish my work afternoon before clocking off for a luxurious week off work. Bliss.