… from a 2 year old. Something familiar in my youngest, Elsie. A second-born, she’s grown up watching older sister doing everything she can’t do, so when she finally was allowed to ride a ‘pedal’ bike last Thursday, she went about it so vigorously and enthusiastically that it’s been a bit of a shock. Continue reading “A lesson in bike riding”
Easter weekend 2011
Great family time in terrific unseasonable weather. We went to see Rach & Jon @ Ravenstonedale, then stay with Phil & Anne and family in Arkholme, then onto Ingleton for a stay with Jean & Bill. Lovely memorable times, lots of great food, and a few bike rides dotted about the place. Can’t say fairer than that. Continue reading “Easter weekend 2011”
Cake Day
At the risk of this turning into a cake-themed blog as it seems to have been doing of late, I won’t go on, but I just had some very lovely photos to share with you. Katie was treated by Matthew and Holly to a day out as a birthday present to learn the finer details of how to make lovely looking fairy cakes. Continue reading “Cake Day”
Liver Hill Fell Race 2011
Was revved up for tonight’s Liver Hill race in Rawtenstall – the local ‘my oh my the clocks have just gone forward and we can do something in the evening‘ event. Having races here last year in pretty nasty boggy conditions, I was looking forward to going over the course on a lovely dry evening, but it wasn’t to be. I wanted Lily to run (again, for the third year) but despite good planning, couldn’t get any childcare to cover the gaps (she’s only eight and couldn’t be left to hang about waiting for me to finish!).
Anyway – managed to make the best of a bad lot – and use the evening to take a few photos of the race. Got me away from my desk for a spell too, which seems a rarity in the evenings at the moment.
Lily put in lots of effort which was really lovely to watch – and what it’s all about. Gushing with pride for the simple things… what a great smile a good race effort produces in a young person. Wish I could bottle it.
Stay-cation half term.
Had a really nice couple of days this week off work but basically doing things you’d to on a holiday. With Lily leading the agenda, it mostly revolved around the animal kingdom, with a visit to Bleakholt animal sanctuary on Wednesday and then Knowsley Safari Park on Thursday.
It’s made such a great change – Katie and I have eaten (and drunk) as though we were on holiday too, but it’s been a great little mid-week switch-off and some great valuable moments in the memory bank.
Lions actually quite genuinely terrifying up close and they weren’t even in a bad mood. Watching the loonies drive through the monkey enclosure and getting their cars wrecked was a sight to behold. Like watching Gypsy Weddings on TV except you could see the strange person up close. Some of them were seemingly upset too. Real Darwinian stuff in action.
Photos all here or slideshow below
Continue reading “Stay-cation half term.”
KT @ 4T
The lovely Mrs Haygarth ripened to a good age in very graceful and elegant style with a low-key party at home for a few local friends and family.
It’s always a bit weird having a birthday at the cruddy end of Christmas and New Year and last week’s birthday party was serene and very enjoyable. What we’d optimistically hoped would mean a few friends for a nice toast and some daytime nibbles turned into a prolonged afternoon complete with lots of children running about playing some very complex games of hide and seek in a confined area. Continue reading “KT @ 4T”
Xmas and Boxing Day and beyond
As always, a lovely family time for us guys. It was a bit of a catch-up time for me with Sally & Simon who I have hardly really seen in the last six months.
With such young children in the family those six months seem a very significant chunk of time, and inevitably there’s lots of the old ‘blimey you’ve grown’ stuff generally going on. (Not me though – I’ve shrunk about half a centimetre since September according to a semi-ritualistic measuring of people against pen-marks on the door – but I’ll chat to my physio about that) Continue reading “Xmas and Boxing Day and beyond”
The Autumn of my Life
Had a wonderful few reasons to reflect on this time of year in the last few days. Autumn’s a strange time of year in its gentle onset of cruelty, as we lose the evening daylight, and the warmth of each day dies out. But it also offers so much too. The first warm fires to make an hour by the TV seem like the best thing to do rather than a waste of time… the orange Alpenglow that makes otherwise drab scenes more paletable; and above all, the start of the proper cyclocross season. Continue reading “The Autumn of my Life”
Lily’s eighth birthday
Our little Lily’s growing up seemingly-so-quickly and yesterday’s intimate but fun birthday celebrations after school were a pleasant way of sharing her 8th birthday with a few friends. Continue reading “Lily’s eighth birthday”
Ile de Ré Summer Holidays 2010
In the early summers of my childhood, my Dad and Mum packed my brother Phil and I, still sleeping, into the back of our family car, with a caravan in tow, and drove us to the south of France each year. The journeys and holidays were long and packed with some of the strongest memories I’ll keep. Those of us lucky enough to have any Family Holiday as children will always keep those memories, and looking back on this particular branch of the Haygarth family’s trip to the Ile de Ré, I know that the beat goes on and on, and as many families do, we’ve done our own version of the full circle.
With a car packed with everything from bikes to buckets, we lifted the children from their beds at 2:30am and set off to Dover. Elsie proved that despite not knowing what the heck was going on, she could hold a pretty good conversation for a two year old in the dead of night, but we eventually got her settled by Stafford, an hour od so later. Arriving at Dover a bit blearly eyed and checking onto the ferry was a bit of basic relief. Anything like that carries with it an irritating deadline and the need for a bit of buffer time, but at least we were there now, intact, in time, and in need of medium cappuccino with an extra shot. Continue reading “Ile de Ré Summer Holidays 2010”
Deershed Festival 2010. Family Frolics in Sunny Yorkshire
Fantastic 24 hours camping at the Deershed Festival over near Thirsk this weekend. Sandwiched between rain on Friday and Sunday, we managed to enjoy a pretty sunny day of musing and moseying to music and general arts. Continue reading “Deershed Festival 2010. Family Frolics in Sunny Yorkshire”
Forty-and-a-half: Time to party
Having a birthday in the depths of January isn’t that good. At the butt-end of Christmas when schools have gone back and the daylight lasts about as long as dinner time, no-one feels like anything other than thinks like diets, holidays, or ending it all. When I turned 40 this January I kept it a low key affair. Not because I didn’t want to get lots of people together, but more because I didn’t want anyone to be doing it under duress. Continue reading “Forty-and-a-half: Time to party”