Hello! How are you? How’ve you been? What’s been happening in your world? There’s been lots happening here…so where to begin?

Well, a couple of weeks ago, we all piled down to the Lake District to stay in a tipi at Ullswater. It was great. We stayed at the Waterside Farm – they supplied the tipi and we supplied ourselves. The tipi was bigger on the inside that it looked on the outside – a bit like the Tardis! – and had a double futon (for me and hubby) and two single blow up beds (for the kids) plus a cooker and a whole load of cooking utensils and cutlery etc. We spent two nights there. Luckily the weather was really good for most of the time we were there so we were able to cook sausages outside on the camping stove and toast marshmallows in the firepit. The kids were in and out of the lake, paddling, feeding ducks and generally having a great time. It was a lovely place and I’d recommend Waterside Farm for somewhere to stay – the staff couldn’t have been nicer and the place was just lovely.

The Lake District itself is simply stunning and I loved it…it reminded me of the Highlands except not quite as big. Yes, I loved it there and could see why Beatrix Potter fell in love with it all those years ago.

Talking of Beatrix, we didn’t just stay around Ullswater, we also drove around Lake Windermere, drove through Grasmere and stopped off at the Beatrix Potter Experience in Bowness. What a lovely place to visit and the kids really enjoyed it…it’s full of little scenes from her books and we had fun peeping through windows and identifying the characters. The kids, of course, were desperate to buys something from the shop, but I think they felt the things on sale – although lovely – were a little too young for them what with them being an ancient 9 and 6. They got to spend a bit of money in Keswick, where I also picked up some Star Wars (original films) fridge magnets. 🙂

It was a great couple of days away and we all enjoyed ourselves. The only two things spoiled it for me: I couldn’t get to sleep and woke at 5.30am every morning due to the light. Also our last day was so wet that we just left early…there was no point hanging about. It was torrential.

Anyway, to celebrate our little holiday, here’s a couple of pics I took at the Beatrix Potter Experience. We all enjoyed it, the little scenes were lovely, but I would have liked more on Beatrix herself…

Talking of the weather, it’s generally been really good…which makes a change. Of course, it’s helped that the weather has been so good because this whole area is buzzing about the Commonwealth Games. I live within an hour’s drive of Glasgow city centre, but I haven’t been to any of the games…I’m not a lover of sport. Hubby and my dad, however, went to the Rugby 7s at Ibrox and had a great time. My friend attended the opening ceremony and loved it (I’m afraid you either loved or hated it…I watched it on telly and loved it) and various other friends have been going to other sports. I’ve not heard one bad word said about the Games, in fact everyone has been raving about it.

Last weekend, my dad also celebrated his 68th birthday so we all piled round to my parents house for a fab home-made curry (including pakora, naan and some really nice puddings). What a laugh! Was a really good day. Also celebrating their birthday last week were my father-in-law (86!) and my nephew (3)! Happy birthday all of you!

This week we’re having a quieter week. I’m off from work to look after the kids. We’re just relaxing, popping down to the shops or the library and generally taking it easy. In the mornings, I’ve been watching White Collar on Netflix…am now totally hooked!! Thank goodness for telly that you don’t need to concentrate too hard on because I’ve been knitting away…I made the girl a mermaid and the boy a robot (both Alan Dart patterns…I love Alan Dart’s stuff!). I’ll put a pic of them both in my next post. In the meantime and as promised, here’s a pic of the cake I made my friends who recently had a Civil Partnership in Edinburgh (also an Alan Dart pattern).

Anyway, must fly. Am currently reading a biography of Albert Einstein (interesting man) and Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped… they are calling! Til next time!

Dawn xxx