Blackberrying

It's that time of year when the blackberries are out in the hedgerows around Kenilworth. So on a sunny Saturday afternoon, what better than to wander along the nearby lanes filling our basket with them. The blackberries were actually a bit thin on the ground, but we think we have enough to make an apple and blackberry crumble together with the apples from Debbie's parents garden.

This photo captures Ben discovering the delight of playing with shadows for the first time - co-ordinated with Mummy in more ways than one!

Wet play

Now that autumn has clearly arrived, "raining, pouring" has been Ben's constant refrain - and it really hasn't stopped this week. Trying to entertain a little boy indoors on days like this is quite a challenge, so yesterday we finally resorted to braving the elements and going to inspect the flood by the castle. And we learnt an important lesson - now we all need wellies.

The end of the summer

As the rain has continued to fall all week it looks like we have seen the last of summer. We were fortunate though that last weekend we were in Suffolk with Mark's parents where we enjoyed some beautiful sunshine and Ben got to make probably his last visit to the beach until 2009. On Sunday we also took a trip to Sutton Hoo and the farm nearby where we went round a Maize Maze and Ben got to drive a tractor.

We headed home, leaving Ben to stay with Gran and Grandad for a couple of days, stopping off in Woodbridge to see our former fellow Kenilworth residents Richard and Clare who now live just a few minutes from Mark's parents and where Clare is beginning to show signs of the little bundle of joy due in February.