Climb Every Mountain

Well not, quite, but our Gummer's Howe walk was the closest we have managed with the boys in tow.

Here we are at the top, the photograph above looking over Windermere towards Lakeside, was taken by Ben.

Gummer's Howe is a hill overlooking the southern end of Lake Windermere with great views of the lake itself, the Langdales, the Coniston fells and the fells above Ambleside including the Fairfield Horseshoe. Half of the ultimate height of 321m or 1054 feet at the trig point is taken out by the drive up the hill to the car park but it was still a big achievement for Ben to walk all the way to the top by himself, whilst Thomas was carried in luxury.

Here is Thomas with Mark at the trig point

Ben with his teddy in his "back pack". Ben insisted on carrying teddy al the way to the top. Ben even managed to walk down as well, his walking punctuated by repeated pleas to be carried on Mark's shoulders, which were treated sympathetically but ultimately ignored! In the end he was very proud of himself to have done it all by himself and was rewarded with an ice cream.

Ratty!

We had a treat when we went for a ride on the Ravenglass-Eskdale railway another gloriously sunny Saturday as they were celebrating their 50th anniversary and La'al Ratty himself was on hand to greet the boys. Ben was very excited to meet Ratty, especially as he was wearing his La'al Ratty cap.

The boys also got to sit in the cab of one of the trains and the driver explained to Ben how to get the fire going and how to get steam up. Fortunately, there was no coal, so he couldn't put his new knowledge to best use!

Royal Wedding

We settled down yesterday morning to watch William and Kate's wedding with Dave, Kay and Joshua in Broughton. We didn't quite manage the full street party but Ben and Thomas had some home made flags and waved them as Kate drove up to Westminster Abbey. Thomas was glued to the screen and they both enjoyed the show.

We had brunch to keep us going, followed by some lovely cakes from Broughton Village Bakery, and then said goodbye to Kay, Dave and Josh, who had stayed with us for two nights.

Christmas is coming

It has been a while but we thought you might appreciate a few pictures of the boys in the snow we've been suffering with recently. We had a big snow fall on the Saturday before Christmas and so on Sunday afternoon we went to the Abbey Fields here in Kenilworth where there is a great slope for sledging. Ben was a bit scared about sledging here (and Mark was a bit too) on the hard packed snow, so we went for the more gently slopes by the castle which Ben quite enjoyed.




Unfortunately, Thomas slept through the sledging in the back pack, but he got his chance to have a play in the snow in the garden a couple of days later.

On Sunday, Ben appeared in the nativity play at church as a shepherd. Here he is getting ready for his big part, cuddling one of the sheep.

We hope you all have a very happy Christmas!

A visit from the rellies

Our "Australian" relatives paid us a visit on Friday - Mark's Uncle John and Auntie Jane popped in to stay for the night as part of their grand tour around England (can't believe it is 6 years since we last saw them) and we took them round Kenilworth Castle in the rain - a far cry from the sun-drenched beaches of Sydney. Great to be back in dear old Blighty!

They enjoyed meeting the boys - above is John getting a cuddle with Thomas - and also enjoyed watching Debbie dress up as a Knight! Scary!

Harvest

We haven't quite caught on to the craze for growing your own vegetables but we have had a few things in the garden this year and harvest time has come at last to the Dawson household with our first crop of beans today and a single solitary strawberry. Ben is as you can see, very excited!

Thomas' Baptism

Last Sunday was a special moment for us as a family as we celebrated Thomas' baptism. We were blessed that the weather held for a lovely afternoon barbecue with everyone in the garden enjoying the sunshine. We love this busy photograph of us with all Thomas' godparents and 'god-siblings'. Thanks to everyone who came to share in the day and make it such a memorable time for us all.

Our new vicar gave us the opportunity to say a few words about why we were taking this step and we were able to explain that we wanted to thank God publicly for the gift of Thomas, to make promises on his behalf, and to pray for him to grow to know Jesus as his friend and saviour.

We also enjoyed the opportunity to catch up with the Willshaws who were staying with us for the weekend - and Ben of course loved seeing Tabitha again. Her beautiful hair proved very enticing for a boy in need of a touch of comfort at the end of a tiring day.

Approaching 10 months, Thomas made his first lumbering movements forward this week (finally progressing from the frustrating circles and backwards crawling he's been doing for ages). Already Ben is learning that this brings destruction and chaos to the games he was happily playing alone or with Mummy and Daddy and we fear there are many battles to come as he adjusts to Thomas' development!

Thomas is a delightful, happy little chappy full of giggles and playfulness. This photograph of him the day after his baptism captures our little monkey perfectly at the end of a messy meal.

"Look Mummy, I'm a Duck"

This is how a giggling Ben presented himself to Mummy one day last week, while she was otherwise engaged with a nappy change.

And then it was Spring!

We appear to have been in hibernation this Winter, but now that the sun is shining again and the days are getting longer, it feels like time for another blog post to catch up a bit since Christmas. The main story of the last couple of months has been snow, so here's a few of our adventures:

After the first major fall of snow, Ben's first effort (5th January) at building a snowman was a "Snow King" (from a 'Harry and the Dinosaurs' story) rather than a full size snowman, but there would be plenty of other opportunities before the winter was out.

He also enjoyed playing snow balls with Mummy in the garden.

In these first few days, Daddy struggled into work so didn't get much of a chance to play with Ben and Thomas in the snow but at the weekend, with the snow still sitting on the ground as we suffered through the big freeze, we went sledging across the fields between our house and the Castle.

Mark got more than he had bargained for as for a little while he pulled the whole family along, and then a little later, let go the sledge with Ben on it down quite a steep hill. Running alongside for a few moments, the sledge rapidly outstripped Mark and he was relieved when Ben stopped just before heading into a ditch at the bottom of the hill! (Ben, thankfully, was totally unfazed and picked himself up with a grin from ear to ear).

It was of course Thomas' first Winter and therefore his first snow, although he didn't seem very excited by it all. If you look closely at the photo above, he is asleep.

Next week, a further fall of snow, and Ben was back out in the garden, this time with a much more impressive effort.

Things culminated with a visit with Stephen and Lucy to Lyvedon New Bield, near Oundle in Northamptonshire, and the construction of our biggest Snowman of the winter, in lovely Sunday afternoon sunshine.

After we'd finished at Lyvedon New Bield, we headed into Oundle for hot chocolate and cake, and Debbie is convinced we saw Pete Postlethwaite in the coffee shop. We'll never know for sure though.

Christmas (Part 2)

After returning home from Suffolk, we welcomed Debbie's parents to Kenilworth for a few days, filled with more present opening, good food and game playing (this time Carcassonne - rapidly becoming a favourite). Despite some dismal weather, we made the most of our time together, including a fun day at Warwick Castle. Ben was a little disappointed to be refused access to the dungeons by a ghoulish woman who told him he was too smelly, but dressing up as a knight in the Princess Tower made up for it!

A couple of days later we returned the visit and headed to Debbie's parents for our final Christmas celebration - a lovely afternoon and tea with all the family (below). And then it was all over. Mark's two week "break" seemed to fly by all too quickly. The only thing we didn't get for Christmas that we wanted was a decent night's sleep. Oh well, maybe next year?

Christmas (part 1)

This year we spent Christmas with Mark's family in Hollesley. As well as Thomas' first Christmas, it was the first time that Ben really started to understand what was happening, so we had lots of fun.

Christmas Eve we celebrated Grandad's 65th birthday and went to the crib service at the village church before returning home to leave out a mince pie for Father Christmas and hang up the stockings. Fortunately Ben's excitement didn't cause him to wake too early, so it was 7:00am when we all raced downstairs to see whether he had been. He had! Ben's squeal of delight when he discovered that Father Christmas had "looked in his sack and found me one of those" (a microphone he's had his eye on in the ELC catalogue) was magic. Christmas Day was taken up with the traditional present distribution, playing with new toys, a fantastic lunch and testing out a new game (Ticket to Ride).

The photos below give a bit of a flavour of our time in Hollesley. Ben grinning from ear to ear as he waits to open his presents. Thomas looking on eagerly. Ben getting to grips with the contents of his new dressing up box (a present from Mummy and Daddy), and Thomas on the beach at Shingle Street, wrapped up against the cold wind.


Here's everyone having their Christmas dinner. Thomas missed out on most of this, being safely asleep in his cot, so we were able to relax for a little while.

On Boxing Day, we all went to see the pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk in Ipswich. Ben thoroughly enjoyed it - although after about 20 minutes, he did ask "where's Jack?" Eventually he appeared and all was well - Ben joined in with gusto and is still re-enacting it now! All in all a lovely Christmas.

Ben was Three

Much of November and December seemed to pass by in a fuzz of seasonal illnesses, sleepless nights and a desperate attempt to get ready for Christmas and birthdays and now we find ourselves into the new year and not even having posted an entry for Ben's birthday at the end of November.

This year Ben's birthday was nearly cancelled - first due to some hideous behaviour (!) and then due to a horrid virus (which probably explained the first). In the end, with the aid of Calpol, Ben rallied for his birthday weekend and enjoyed a lovely party at home with friends followed by a family day and meal out with grandparents and aunty and uncle.
Here he is modelling his Chef's outfit - a gift from the 'birthday fairy' (aka his lovely friends from Debbie's old 'bumps and babies' group, still strong 3 years on).

And here he is at the end of the 'teddy bear's picnic' party lunch with his lawnmower birthday cake (for which, as in previous years, we are indebted to http://www.coolest-birthday-cakes.com/)

And finally a photo of the four of us out for dinner on Ben's birthday. The candle in his ice cream was a hit!

At the grand age of three Ben is insistently a 'big boy' with a big personality, a determined mind and the same infectious smile and great sense of humour. Singing, role play, and cooking are favourite activities - walking, getting dressed quickly and getting enough sleep are not!

My Brother!

As Thomas is becoming more robust it's lovely seeing Ben's developing role as big brother. He sits alongside him on the play gym (his 'tent') or by his bouncy chair and tells him all the things he needs to know and more. Generally, he is very good at "going after" (ie looking after) Thomas, reinserting his dummy, telling him it's OK, Mummy's just gone to get something and such like. Perhaps most amusing was the time he explained to Thomas exactly what had happened in the toilet (in the early stages of toilet training) in more detail than we would care to share here! Sometimes he tries to involve Thomas in his games - so here they both are inside Ben's cardboard box house.

And here are a few more photos of our terrible two.

Lullaby Hullaboo!

And still (after nearly two months) Ben has a ready audience for his singing. Here is Ben accompanying himself on Debbie's old keyboard, clearly very pleased with his typically robust rendition of a favourite "night time" song and enjoying the opportunity to perform to a placid little brother.

Spot the difference

Since Thomas was born it has felt like we've had baby Ben around again - they seem to look so similar. We've done a bit of comparing of early photos, and just for fun thought we'd post a few of them. Can you tell who's who?

The astute may notice some seasonal clues! And we've sneaked in a photo of one of Thomas' early smiles. Like Ben, he seems very ready with them, and is charming us with these little grins and accompanying gurgles more and more.