Beechenhurst & The Birthday Barbeque

Day three of our holiday began with a trip to Beechenhurst Lodge. We got there early so it was very quiet which was lovely. Family tradition (going way back to last year!!) dictated that we must have a group photo sitting on the huge log!

The kids had a fabulous time in the play area. The boys did obstacle races a la Total Wipe Out! Some how Jordan climbed on top of the wooden miner sculpture! I still don't know how he managed it! One minute he was riding the wooden horse, the next he was on the miner's head saying 'I did it! I won!!' Annie-Joy had a great time following her brothers down the fireman's pole with the help of Lee & Jordan. All of a sudden she is big enough to go on a 'grown up' swing all by herself without falling off! She can even swing herself too!
At lunch time Helen, Ian & Dave (Ian's dad) came round to the cottage for a barbeque to celebrate Helen's birthday. We had a lovely time together.

Lee always loves getting the barby going!! This was his second attempt as the first disposable barbeque didn't light properly & fizzled out to nothing within seconds! Although a bit smokey to begin with the second tray did a great job! We all loved the toasted marshmallows for pudding. Can you believe that Lee had never tried one before?

The boys played brilliantly together. Jordan organised some races & ball games. They were so fast at running I couldn't get a good photo!

I loved watching this bumble bee gathering nectar in the garden. I feel a little sad that the bee population is in decline. Hope they don't become a thing of the past! Take a look here for some fascinating bee info! I never knew there were 250 different types of bees in the UK! Did you?

This is Helen modelling the earrings I made her for her birthday. I don't think the photo does them justice! (Helen looks nice though!). I also made her a matching necklace. They were a lot of fun to make.

We gave Helen a caterpillar birthday cake. I had hoped to make her a cake but that never happened! Anyway, Mr Caterpillar did the job just fine. There was much hilarity during the singing of Happy Birthday as Lee got the words wrong by accident!!! It was very funny! I have a cracking picture of Helen doing one of her really enormous loud laughs but she wouldn't be impressed if it found it's way on here! Hiding behind Helen is Uncle Ben who joined us later on in the afternoon.

Helen did a great job of blowing out the candles & we all enjoyed a slice of very rich chocolate caterpillar! Mmmmm!

When everyone had gone home we settled down to watch Ice Age 1 which the boys were very excited about! We hadn't watched it before. They laughed & laughed at it & thoroughly enjoyed it. Lee fell asleep! (I should point out that Jordan & Annie aren't as close to the tv as the picture makes it look!).

After baths & all that jazz Lee read the boys a story on our bed. they had a lovely chat & pray together before everyone jumped into bed. Another fun day away! Lee & I watched Spiderman 2 in the evening. Again, rather a good film! :o)