Tuesday's Smile Lines:

I walked into my kitchen this afternoon to find Noah rocking out... hmm, where'd he get that from?

A Postcard For Jay

Dear Jay,
As you couldn't make it across that darned ocean to go to Longleat for the day with us, I'm sharing with you the things you missed! We explored Lord Bath's house (above) and decided we could quite happily live in such a grand place...

We roamed the gardens: Laughed at the bandy legged giraffes:

Compared the wobbly camel humps to my own:

Shut our windows to drive by the tigers and lions:

We took a train ride, saw a parrot rollerskating (he even did some spins!), willingly walked into a room full of bats, and had a go on the teacups ride:

Time to go home... don't you miss this?:

I'll leave you with a video of me and Noah on the teacups getting dizzy. Wish you were here!

Love Naomi xxx

Monday, Monday

This morning I rolled over in bed feeling depressed, the rain free September has gone and it was dark and wet outside. Then I remembered that these two albums are out today and jumped out of bed!

Brandi Carlile, Give Up The Ghost:

Kill it Kid, Kill it Kid:

You’re Part Of The Life There, You’re Part Of Something Good

I love where I live! A few friends and I have started to walk a couple of times a week along the country lanes just around the corner from our houses. It's six miles of unadulterated beauty (and 70% uphill… rather good for getting sweaty!) We walk and talk and point out sheep, cows and horses to the children in pushchairs and before you know it we have exercised for two hours and had fun in the process! Want to join us?!

Won't You Take Me Where The Streetlights Glow

I had a great weekend in London with Dawn, we had planned months ago to see Coldplay at Wembley Stadium for their 159th show, the last in a 15 month world tour. It was a weekend of nostalgia for me, the first concert I attended was Bon Jovi at Wembley in the early '90's, my sister and I had not long turned 16 and it was our first trip to London on our own! Of course the stadium has now been rebuilt and those famous towers are gone, but the approach is still the same and it is beautiful! Dawn and I decided to 'do London for free' so I took Dawn on a little (er... long) march around the city to show her the sights she hadn't seen before. We started out in Kensington Gardens, a short walk from our hotel:

Dipped our toes in the Princess Diana memorial:

Marvelled at the hugeness of Prince Albert's memorial:

Walked around Kensington Palace and the gardens:

We wandered on up to Notting Hill....

...to check out the Saturday market and pretty houses:

Next we headed over to the stadium, here's the view of Wembley Way from the tube station:

Do you think there's enough beer?!:

The support acts were quite an eclectic mix, I really enjoyed seeing White Lies live... mocked Girls Aloud, and 'bounced' to Jay Z. (I must say, I never thought I'd be humming a line from Annie at Wembley!) Here's a picture of our view. We should have been right down there in the standing area but our ticket company let us down a couple of weeks before the gig and we had to find some last minute tickets for a sell out 70,000 ticket gig! Luckily we did, but it meant having seats at the top, it was so high I'm surprised we didn't have nosebleeds! The one advantage to seats is resting those weary legs after pounding the streets!

Coldplay were fabulous. It's hard to pick favourite songs but here goes: Lost, Yellow, Fix You, Viva La Vida (the singing from the crowd was AWESOME, much better than the usual football chants that echo around the stadium!), Lovers in Japan (it was beautiful, there were thousands of paper butterflies released during the song) and the closing song Life in Technicolour ii. Have you ever done a mobile phone mexican wave? They look great!

Next up was a stroll across the Millennium Bridge to the Tate Modern:

A walk past The Globe (we were sticking to the plan, no paying for a tour here!):

After lunch on St. Paul's steps we headed over to the Natural History museum, and started to wish our children were there to see the dinosaurs and all the other things they would have loved:

We had to go to Buckingham Palace, Dawn had never been there before:

We watched the Queen's Grenadier Guards marching and doing fancy things with their guns:

Our last stroll was via St. James' Park before heading back home:

I'll leave you with a little video from the concert. Chris was thanking us for missing X Factor to go see them (hmm... not really a hard choice!) and he thought it would be good if we auditioned for Simon Cowell. It's not great quality but you'll get the drift!:

Sunday morning came round a little too quickly, but after a hearty breakfast we hit the streets once again, starting off with a visit to St. Paul's Cathedral where the morning bells were ringing. It was such a beautiful atmosphere, most of the main roads through London were closed to traffic for the day to allow cyclists free run of the city (a cycle initiative the mayor was running) and it meant that much of London was unusually quiet! We couldn't climb the steps to the top for a view over London as there were services going on but we popped in for a while and heard some wonderful organ playing:

If I Were A Boy

After searching for a suspiciously quiet Rosie and Noah, I found them like this! They had decided to swap clothes, socks and shoes and be each other... it carried on until bed time when they switched pyjamas and asked if they could swap beds! Giggles all round, and an explanation of sorts from Noah:

Can You Help A Good Cause?

This event is raising money for the CLIC Sargent Charity, who care for children and young people with cancer and their families. Having seen a friend receive help and care from CLIC during the time her son was battling liver cancer, (and after!) I cannot recommend this charity highly enough. Click on the photos to see more details:

My Last, My Everything

This morning I dragged myself out of bed at 7:30 to find Noah dressed ready for school and very excited! He had put his sandwiches I made the night before into his lunch box with his frozen yoghurt and fruit and gathered his PE bag and book bag together. (I wonder how long this organisation will last?) He went into his new classroom without a care in the world, put his coat and bags away, gave me a kiss goodbye and got on with his puzzle! The house is now strangely quiet and I am talking to myself. I'm not sure how I feel about all this, I may have to steal a friend's child to fill the hours of 9:00 - 3:15, Monday to Friday!

Three Out Of Four...

...return to school:

Ben really enjoyed his first day at high school (sigh of relief) and Ethan and Rosie love their new teachers, so a great start to the new term. Noah was a little disappointed he couldn't wear his uniform today, he can't wait to start on Monday!

I Put Some New Shoes On And Suddenly Everything's Right

Today it is dark outside, grey clouds and rain. What else can a girl do but go out and buy some red shoes?