Chirk Castle, New word games, running, visitors, card games.

It was foggy and cold when we set off for Chirk Castle, they are starting to set their Christmas Decorations up.

It's a really beautiful building and was the family home of the Myddletons up until quite recently.

I loved the court yard.

The part Blokey is photographing, is newer than the rest of the building. It was previously a wall that was blown apart during the Civil War..on rebuilding the family decided to make it into a long gallery.

All the muskets and pistols.

Beautiful fire place.

The dining room

There were some exquisite cupboards with inlay and Owen read up on who was in all the paintings.

Fabulous plasterwork on the ceiling.

This is the long gallery I mentioned earlier. So many paintings, one by Van Dyke, the picture doesn't really do it justice, as there was so much in the way of carving etc and silver sconces lined the walls.

Owen admired the views.

And read up about the conservation work being carried out.

More ornate decorations.

I loved the Art Deco styled room. There were some stylish sculptures and paintings.

Owen was in love with this radio.

More intricate inlayed units.

Every doorway was a work of craftmenship.

Owens face at the library.

Adams Tower

Explaining about the stocks

5 foot thick walls in some parts of the castle and lots of steps.

The Dungeons

Adams Tower, shields and armour were on display here.

Views from the portcullis.

We walked through the gardens to the Hawk house.

The castle from the gardens.

One of the vistas 

Hercules?

The reverse view from the vista by the statue.

Next Sam and I went for a jog along the woodland path, then visited the bird hide. Owen was tired and overwhelmed, so Blokey took him back to the car.

Sam and I carried on with the circular walk round the grounds and covered another 2 miles.

As we were all now starving, we headed into Chirk in search of food. We visited a pub which was very odd but the staff were friendly and the food filling and cheap. Blokey and I suppressed giggles on a number of occasions, as the boys were quite shocked at the antics of some of the regulars.

After a busy day, we drove home and both boys fell asleep on the way back.

The next morning we worked on maths. I am starting to wind down activities to a slower pace as we approach Christmas.

Sam did a word search about African cities.

Owen chose words beginning with 'For'

We tried this game recommendation from another family...we think it's awesome.

Hours of play between the three of us.

As my friend stated...it's like scrabble..with swords !

Jujitsu tonight but before that happened the children managed to pull a radiator out of the wall. I was not happy...they had forgotten all about it by the time class had finished ( I hadn't .. I fear I am scarred for life). 

The boys didn't sleep well so it was a late start and Sam was somewhat teary. We managed to get through breakfast and maths but it was slow going.

As I needed to post cards and a parcel I suggested we walk to the post office . Owen was incredibly bossy to Sam inititially, making Sam anxious, when I intervened he screamed at me next. Thankfully, he has settled down by the time we had walked for a while. We posted our letters and headed to the park.

Sam is so loving, despite being yelled at earlier, he still was happy to push Owen on the swing.

Sam sporting a massive bruise his head..he assured me it wasn't radiator related but it am not convinced.

Not the most conventional way to do press ups, but why break the habit of a lifetime.

Owen now happy enough to request a selfie. Fresh air is magic.

There were more word games using the new app in the afternoon too.

When Blokey came home, the boys wanted to play the word game with him too. Sadly, he needed to mend the hole in our wall and repaint it. In typical ASD/PDA style they failed to see the rational side of this ..eg. They damaged the wall....and get very upset that Blokey isn't free to play with them. *insert massive eyeroll here and sigh of weariness*

Owen started the day badly by arguing and screaming about a perceived injustice. I had some stern words with him and he decided he would be happier at school. So we did a pros and cons list...his pro list was teeny...the cons one quite considerable. I explained I would support him but I needed a commitment from him to prove he could cope with a school timetable. He decided he may need to think about it more. I will leave him to mull it over some more, I suspect it's a knee jerk reaction to the fact I have pulled him up and some unpleasant behaviour over the last week...and radiator gate.

We move on to do some maths.

The morning is broken up by a visit from friends..Sam was delighted to have some people to play with and we have a nice couple of hours catching up. I still can't drive so getting out is restricted to where we can walk to or when Blokey isn't working. So we have missed some of our regular meet ups.

We then have lunch and play some word games.

Then go on to play UNO and pontoon.

Owen is the dealer 

Sam is very happy 

Blokey is home today, so I wake Sam up and ask him if he wants to do a running session. I am on week 2 of the couch to 5k program. He's keen to come, so quickly dresses and we manage 1.68 miles today. He doesn't pace himself at the beginning and by the time he's waved and shouted hello to every passing person, dog, car and lorry, he's pretty tired.

Owen works on his maths.

Then so does Sam ..who is now feeling nauseous because he insisted on taking his meds before eating something. However he manages to work through some new challenges on his maths program.

We then went to collect our medication and visited the library before having lunch.

After which we take the children to the pop up Winter Wonderland experience in Hanley.

They have a great time on the rides,

Back home we eat and play more word games and chess.

Over the weekend the boys alternate between battling each other on a Lego game, playing chess, word games, reading and playing out for hours at the park with their friends.