Paper, pens and glue

Lj will be turning 4 years old in under 2 weeks so I should probably keep this post until then but while the mood is upon me I'm doing it today. When people ask me what they should give Lj for her birthday, the only thing that springs to mind is paper, pens and glue. This girl gets through ALOT of paper. Here is a little selection of her recent masterpieces.

Her play room work space with Doggie in baby's car seat, a baby in their high chair and a baby beside her in its pram.

Her out door work space! Painting her butterfly wings.

Ready for nursery dressed as a butterfly!

Her and family at the play park.

Houses at night!

Lj and me crossing the road at the traffic lights.

A spider?!

As I picked Lj up from nursery last week her teacher told me about the project they were working on that session. Their topic is 'Vehicles' and Lj had wanted to make a double decker bus. The teacher went on to explain that this was not going to be simply a painted cereal box with circular wheels stuck on. Lj's bus was to have a floor, a large window at the front, smaller windows on the sides, a door at the front and in the middle, an area for the driver and stairs to the upper deck. Apparently, a week later, and the bus is still not finished!

Med Cruise 2014 Day 7-10 Pompeii, Kotor and Split

Pompeii, Italy

Kotor, Montenegro

Split, Croatia

Med Cruise 2014- Day 4, 5 & 6 Cannes, Pisa and Rome

 Cannes, France

 

Pisa, Italy

Lj's impression of the 'bendy' tower of Pisa.

Rome, Italy

When I think of our day in Rome, I think of our tour guide. She was a fasinating lady who seemed to know just about everything there was to know about the Vatican. She did work in the Vatican museum so I suppose it should be no surprise but her love of Rome shone through in all she said.

Med Cruise 2014 Day 11 & 12 Venice

Venice...where do I start.

Tasty Ice cream and pizza everywhere
Cute boutique shops
Canals...gondolas...water taxis...quaint bridges
Amazing views from Bell tower
Stunning architecture
Breath taking vistas
Sunshine
Hard to find, but totally worth it, quirky hotel.

I'm still in love with Venice.

Brick City

Today we arrived in Belfast on a half term visit to see our extended family. Now, an hour after landing I'm sitting waiting on the kids to finish playing Lego at Brick City, a new exhibition of famous landmarks all created from Lego pieces in Belfast's Titanic Quarter.

The kids have had lots of fun spotting some of the famous buildings which they saw in real life while on our recent holiday.

If you are in the area it is well worth a visit...I'm just slightly concerned about how I'm going to drag the kids and the grandparents away!

Med Cruise 2014 Day 1&2 Barcelona

This time two weeks ago our 2014 Med Cruise adventure was beginning. We had just landed in Barcelona, the sun was shining and we were feeling excited.

We made our way quickly to our hotel...our taxi driver seemed on a mission as he weaved the city traffic and kept pointing to our hotel in the distance.

Once settled in our hotel room we opened our map of Barcelona and started planning our two day stay.

We could see Gaudi's, Sagrada Familia from our bedroom window and decided to walk in that direction.

I had been in Barcelona once before on a work weekend and so I had seen the outside of this amazing building before but had never experienced the inside. I'm so glad we waited in the queue to get a look inside. The beauty of the architectural forms together with the lighting still blows me away. It is a stunning building and what an amazing way to start our trip.

Walking to and from the Sagrada Familia we passed by a number of interesting buildings. The bullet shaped one above, Lj named 'the Spanish Gerkin' and it became a landmark for us to locate our hotel.

On Day 2 we started well with a lovely breakfast in our hotel before heading into central Barcelona. The underground system was easy to navigate and we felt very comfortable in this unfamiliar city. We walked and walked, taking in more Gaudi's buildings, the Gothic quarter and the beach. In the afternoon we headed north to Gaudi's Park Guell, it was quite an uphill trek and we wondered if it was worth the effort. Yet, as with all of our Gaudi experiences, Park Guell did not disappoint even though we didn't get to purchase tickets to the centre part of the park..NB for next time...it is essential to pre book tickets!

Barcelona was a great starting place for our trip. It was also the start of lots of walking, lots of eating and lots of inspiring sights to see.

A new summer bag!

 Hubby has been in the States for work so we thought we would go pay Nana and Grandad (on the motorway) a visit for the weekend. On Sunday we visited beautiful Hidcote Gardens. Hidcote Gardens are National Trust owned and are a really interesting place to visit. We explored the gardens, had running races, played tennis, planted sunflower seeds, drank coffee, ate cake and while Grandad took the kids back to the car to check on Barney (a cute 11 week old puppy), Nana and I had a little nosey in the shop!

While looking at all the nice things in the shop, my eye was drawn to an Ulster Weavers tea towel. Ulster Weavers have been doing some really great fabric prints recently and this tea towel kept drawing me back. I was imagining a skirt, or a bag, or something made from this little piece of beautiful fabric. I would never use it as a tea towel as it would be ruined within hours and it was too stunning for that. With a little encouragement from my Mother in law, the tea towel was purchased and on its way to my sewing machine.

A couple of days later and I have a new summer bag to take on my holidays!