Friday's Smile Lines

Noah: 'Yes! I love pitter-patter bread for lunch!'
Ethan: 'It's pita bread Noah.'
Noah: (Giggles) 'Oh yeah...well, I think pitter-patter sounds better!'

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Another thing making me smile today is the arrival of these plastic lunch boxes for Rosie and Noah's return to school next month:

I used to have lunch boxes just like these but when my children were old enough to need them the trend for sturdy lunch boxes had been replaced with material cool bags...which are a nightmare to clean (not machine washable!) and look rather shabby after a while. I thank you Internet for finding me a random plastic company that still makes these!

He Rides!

Dear Jay,

It is rather sad that by the age of 7 Noah still hadn't learnt to ride a bike. My excuses were that our garden isn't big enough, we don't take the bikes to the park often, there is the busy road through the village in front of our house and a full car park around the back, Noah didn't have a bike the right size.... and so on.  Well, 'Enough of the excuses!' I declared and we dug Rosie's old pink bike out of the pile in the shed and spent this week having Noah practise on it in the strangely empty car park:

After three days of  nervous 'Don't let me go mummy!' comments, Noah completed his first solo ride by himself, I didn't even need to help him start off. Check him out in this video:

Noah was so proud of himself and wanted to tell Ben straight away that he could finally do it. Now that he's got the knack, he wants to spend every spare minute outside...and I can finally let him ride the bigger black bike that is much better for a boy of seven to be seen on!

 

Love you,

Naomi xxx

Words From A Thousand Miles Away

Yesterday I took a trip up to London with Emily to see Katie Herzig play at The Borderline. I've been a fan for years and I was thrilled when this gig came up recently. I was due to see her play a couple of years ago but it got cancelled when the Icelandic volcano caused chaos with the planes! Butterfly Boucher played an hour-long opening set, and although I only knew a couple of her songs I really enjoyed her set. She was hilariously jet-lagged and told great stories between songs. Katie joined in with her on a few:

It was great to hear Katie's songs, which have lots of strings, drums and electronics, totally stripped down to an acoustic version. There were times of absolute quiet where you could hear a pin drop, and times when the crowd were singing along.

The Borderline is a hot and sweaty little basement club but I love the size of the place. It's an intimate venue where artists often choose to play for the first time in London, and they take the time to sell their own merchandise and have a chat with their fans. I think I got away with not acting like a super fan, but you'd have to ask Emily to confirm! (I did not however, get away with the unfortunate lighting or fuzzy hair!)

Last Week Looked Like This...

I was asked to attend the stake girls camp this year as a Level 4 leader so I happily spent most of last week roaming around Cornwall and sleeping in my tepee. We camped in Vicky's fields again (our stake YW President) so it felt very much like deja vu for me.

I was so excited to be back with the young women again, I have missed them all terribly since I was called back in to Relief Society. Lots of my previous Beehives were in my level four group so it was great to spend more time with them. I arrived at the site the evening before camp started so I could do a run through of the overnight hike for the girls. It meant that I woke up to a quiet and peaceful sunny morning and had time to sit and meditate for a while, a rare opportunity for me!

It didn't last long, I helped put up a couple of tents and just when I thought the sweating could end and I could have a rest I was found by a girl who was sent to 'get Naomi, she knows how to put up tents!'. It's good to be good at something right?! We had some great activities over camp, but I always enjoy the evening at the beach:

We had a camp fire every night with lots of singing:

I took the Level 4 girls on a hike to Vicky's house where we were surprised with boxes of hot pizza and lots of chocolate! We each had a much longed-for hot shower too. The girls slept on the trampoline again which was covered in tarp (it rained all day) so it felt like a luxurious tent! I slept on a wooden sun lounger at the entrance and it was surprisingly comfy:

It took a while to wake the sleeping angels!

It's been 22 years since I first attended girls camp at the age of 12, and I think I've only missed out on 5 of them ever since! It was lovely to be there this time with my mum, she's on the YW presidency in her ward and it's the first time we've been at camp together. James and I did a switchover on Thursday when he came up for YM camp with Ben and Ethan and I got to to spend a few days with just Rosie and Noah. We decided to treat ourselves to a meal at the Pizza Cafe after we'd finished shopping for new school shoes:

We finished the weekend with a trip to the emergency doctor for Ben, he came back from camp with raging tonsillitis and lumps in his glands. The upside is that it's led to snuggles on the couch with my sleepy boy!

To end on a random note, I've been scanning old photos and came across this one from 1997:

It was in our second year of marriage and I had just returned from girls camp! (I do miss our Beetle.)

What We've Been Up To

While the sun has been shining we've spent some more time at our local beach in Teignmouth:

We've enjoyed sunny afternoon BBQ's with friends:

We had a day out with family to Portland and Weymouth...

...where we climbed the lighthouse 'Portland Bill'.

James and Ben climbed some rocks that hung over the sea:

We found a stone chair along the costal walk:

The Olympic sailing is taking place in Weymouth and the children were excited to see all the flags and drive by the Olympic village:

The boats are all down there somewhere!:

At church we bumped into James' old mission companion and his family who were in the area on holiday, so we took the chance on Friday to show them around our favourite spots on Dartmoor.  Who wouldn't love the old bridge at Postbridge?

Or the even older clapper bridge?

In between all this fun we've been glued to the Olympics, there's been lots of excitement and tears of joy as the gold medals keep piling up. It's been a pretty good start to the holidays!

Thursday's Smile Lines

Ben: 'Can I put on my 80's playlist mum?'

Other children: 'Yessssss!'

Is this normal?