Escape

We've been fortunate enough to have several nights to ourselves in the last month or so thanks to lovely Grandparents. Back at the end of July we all enjoyed a lovely few days in Suffolk with Mark's family, including a couple of nights on our own at a hotel in Southwold - luxury! If you don't know it, Southwold is a gorgeous little seaside town on the Suffolk coast that seems to be caught in a bit of a whimsical time warp - complete with pier, lighthouse, local summer theatre and lots of beach huts.

Our stay in Suffolk included a trip to Lowestoft air show - beach and aeroplanes making it a perfect combination for Ben, although the torrential storm as we waited for the park and ride home wasn't quite what we planned, and meant that the promised Vulcan Bomber was grounded (Ben's latest obsession - aka 'Falcon Bomber' - courtesy of a trip to the air museum at Coventry with Gran).

When the weather improved Ben enjoyed playing on the new bouncy castle in Gran and Grandad's garden, and we were able to go for a lovely walk on the heath with Aunty Lucy and Uncle Stephen and their dogs.

But the escape to Southwold, and this lovely view from our hotel, was definitely the highlight, and something we will cherish with all the upheaval about to happen in our lives.

Getting ready

We've spent the last few weeks getting ready for the baby, getting the nursery painted and getting all the baby things down from the attic. Debbie is getting bigger all the time and is now on maternity leave and officially "nesting".

Ben is very interested in all the things that have appeared in the spare room and enjoyed watching Daddy doing the painting (though clearly stating that he wasn't big like Daddy so he couldn't do it). He also explained to us that the baby would sleep in the Moses Basket, and when it cries he will stroke the baby and it will stop. Oh, we hope!

The sight of the tiny baby clothes drying on the line got Debbie all gooey and maternal again, not something we've seen for a while...

And Debbie's bump, pictured on a day out with Lucy and Tabitha at White Post Farm. Tabitha and Ben are busy driving the combine harvester.

And finally, we couldn't resist adding this lovely photo of Ben and Tabitha together on the climbing frame, reunited again after not having seen each other since April.

"The Real Show"

A couple of weeks ago we went along to the last day of the last ever Royal Show at Stoneleigh Park (or the 'Real Show' as Ben rather endearingly insisted on calling it).

We enjoyed seeing all the animals, the farm machinery and the marching band. We saw some sheep shearing and Ben had a chance to sit on Fergus the Tractor. We bought him one of the books, signed there and then by the author Steve Burnside, who appears in the stories as "Steve the Handyman", much to Ben's delight.

Look out for your ice cream Ben, I think someone else has their eye on it!

We also enjoyed the events in the Grand Ring, including the exploits of the Kangaroo Kid, a motorcycle stuntman.

But best of all, Ben enjoyed the lawn mowers, which were plentiful!