Feeding the Fish with Grandpa

My mum and David have worked hard in their garden during the past year and it looks beautiful. As well as beautiful hanging basket arrangements, flower pots, new grass and patio, there is a fabulous fish pond and water feature that is a part of both their and their neighbour's garden. Even the bridges that span across the water were made by hand. Most mornings, grandpa David would take Amelia out to feed the fish.

Just look at all those fish...

..they stand in the neighbour's garden as grandpa shows Amelia how to feed them.

Here they come...

...they know what time it is.

The wall was the perfect height for Amelia to look over.

Amelia was the perfect addition to this flower arrangement,

Pretty girl in the pretty flowers!

We can't wait to go back to see the fish again!

A Day Out to the Yorkshire Dales

"STOP!" That's what I would yell every two minutes as we drove through the Yorkshire Dales, I couldn't take enough photo's of the sheep who were meandering happily down the road. Luckily for me, my lovely family sat patiently and waited whilst I quietly stalked unsuspecting sheep wanting to catch the perfect photograph and make them famous on my blog.

Matthew's geneology goes all the way back to the Yorkshire Dales to I think the 1500's or so, some from the village of Swaledale I believe, it's pretty amazing that our family has gone full circle since he met and fell in love with me, his "Yorkshire Lass!".

We drove to the Wensleydale Creamery, however since we took the "scenic route", we arrived a little too late to take a tour of the cheese factory, but we did enjoy a very nice lunch together at the restaurant, and I bought a book, a little sheep for Amelia and some treats to take back home at the Gift Shop.

I set up the camera and scrambled down the hill for the photo below,

Isn't it amazing what you'll do to get a photograph with your loved one?


Here we are at the Creamery,

we enjoyed sampling the many varieties of cheese.

You are surrounded by amazing views everywhere you look in the Yorkshire Dales, I love it!

Amelia and Grandpa David played outside whilst we waited for lunch.
"Steady as you go, little one!"

Of course, you can't visit a Creamery and not try the ice cream.

Now, below, if you look really close, the shadowy hill in the very back of the photo (you can barely see it), is Ingleborough Peak, it rises 2,373 feet, and I climbed it when I lived in England along with one other of the three peaks. I, along with a small group of friends from work (might I add I was the only girl), conquered the two peaks in one fabulous day, it is an achievement I am still proud of today. Of course, I couldn't walk easily for a few days afterwards but it was so worth it.

The photo below shows the Ribblehead Viaduct from a distance...

And now for a close-up, just look at that blue sky!


Huge blocks of limestone, some weighing nearly eight tons, from quarries nearby were used to create this structure. The viaduct was opened for the Settle to Carlisle line in 1876.

So, there's a little history of some of the most magnificent places I know, and believe me, there are so many more that I have not even mentioned.

A fabulous, fun time was had by all.

Four Generations

One thing I really wanted to do when I was home was take a photograph of the four generations, my Nana, Mum, Amelia and I. We didn't go to a professional studio but took a few shots at Nana's house. In the photo above, Amelia kept trying to grab my Nana's hair.

Finally, Amelia was distracted and we were able to get a pretty good shot of the four of us.

I wanted to take a photo of all of our hands together, however Amelia was very wriggly so this is as close as we got. I don't suppose it's too bad.

Amelia climbs on Great-Nana's lap for a snuggle.

Can you guess who is in the photo below...of course, it is me (not the most flattering photograph ever) and my Nana. My nana now wears a wig and when mum and I were in her bedroom, I caught sight of her "spare wig", and couldn't resist it, I grabbed it and asked my mum to help me put it on. Then, we went downstairs into the living room and I told my Nana that I wanted to be just like her. At first, she just looked at me, then after a few seconds she burst out laughing in her jolly laugh, she knew something was different but couldn't quite figure it out, she thought I had changed my jumper, surprise! It was a fun moment that made us all giggle.

So there we are, four generations.

The Best Fish and Chips In The World

Being from England, one of my favourite meals is, of course, fish and chips, so I was really looking forward to visiting my favourite "chippy" when I was on my hols back home. In my humble opinion, the best fish and chip shop in the whole wide world is the Wetherby Whaler. I have many memories of going there and either eating lunch or dinner on a bench by the river or upstairs in the cafe.

Before we ate lunch, we walked by the river.

I love to hug my mum, we are apart for far too long, so, when we are together, we have to make the most of it.

The photo below is looking back on the river, it's so beautiful.

Finally, it was time to eat,
mm, mm, mmm, mmm, mmmmmmmm!

Well worth the 3 1/2 year wait...

...even my picky hubby agrees that they are the best he's ever had.

Amelia got to try them for the first time too.

Below, is the beautiful view we enjoyed from where we were sitting,

the flowers were exquisite.

As some might say here in the USA, "The Wetherby Whaler Rocks!"

Cousins are Awesome!

In an effort to spend more time with my cousins, we arranged to meet for dinner at a local restaurant, located by the canal, which was great for me since it brought back more memories of boating.

At dusk, Matthew and I decided to take a walk around the outside of the restaurant to look at the boats. I have never seen so many spiders in my life, there were webs every where you looked, it makes me shudder to think about it. Luckily we took photographs before I realised how many there were.

After a nice stroll, we headed back inside for dinner.

I just love the photograph below of "Uncle Phil" and his daughter Hannah with Amelia.

And of course, "Mad Bridey" got to spend lots of time with Amelia too, what a cute pair.

Amelia loves to dance and enjoyed showing Nickkie her latest moves.

The younger cousins sat on a table at the side of the "adult" table, and it wasn't long before we moved Amelia's high chair over to their table. Of course, Hannah, Tyler and Somer were happy to entertain her.

Here's Amelia's funky new do, we put her hair in the tiniest pony tail for a short while and this is how it looked when we took out the pony tail band, what a trendsetter.

At the end of the night we posed for photo's, below is Uncle Phil, Mad Bridey and Hannah.

Next it was Paul, Nickkie, Somer and Tyler's turn to "say cheese".

All the girls!

And the boys!

Actually, there is a funny story that goes with this photo. Earlier, I had my photo taken with Philip and Paul and Paul had been teasing the fact that I was so short saying they should pick me up to make me taller. That all changed when my dear husband Matthew joined them for a photo op. Who's the shortie now?

This evening was so much fun, it made me really want to stay in England longer to spend more time with them, especially since Amelia would have so much fun with her cousins.

I have a wonderful family!