Caulke Abbey, seeing family and friends.

Despite it being a Bank holiday, we decided to take a risk and visit Caulke Abbey. We had hoped the poor weather would put most visitors off. We were wrong and Sam got quite anxious when he saw cars queuing for the car park. 

It was much busier than we had anticipated and we decided to skip the house tour and just do the gardens and church. It's an hours drive from home, so we can always pop back during a quieter period to see the house.

I loved the old untouched corners of the stables, piled up with left objects.

The main house.

Owen chatting as we walked.

Lots of beautiful spring flowers.

Off to the deer enclosure.

Owen loved this tree, he thought it looked like a catapult from Angry Birds.

Ferns in the grotto. We love a good grotto.

Trust me, those are deer..honest.

Bluebells in the woods.

More deer..honest!

Beautiful blossom in the orchard.

We absolutely loved the walled garden. Whilst we were there is was very warm and sunny. But shortly after the heavens opened with a vengeance.

I explained to Sam and Owen about the bullseye glass panes in the gardeners buildings.

As the rain poured we headed into the church.

And saw Captain Birdseye.

As the boys were getting tired of all the people, we decided to head back through the grounds and get the car. There was a BBQ set up, so we bought them some burgers. We were informed that they were delish!

Tuesday Sam got to show his Dad how he is doing with his Maths, as Blokey was waiting for his van to  be ready for collection. This gave him the incentive to move onto Stage 3. He did really well and Blokey commented on how a little work often, has made a difference to the children and they have covered a lot of ground in a short time.

Owen worked on RM and gained a new certificate.

After maths we watched some science programmes. We have started the Bill Nye series, we all really liked it and have lots of chuckles over his presentation style.

Wednesday Sam was up early and out walking in the sunshine with me. Owen never wants to come, his hyper mobility means constant walking tires him out,  so I leave him sleeping whilst Blokey gets ready for work. Sam and I cover 3.5km before Blokey leaves. Sam has his breakfast whilst I shower, then we work on English Language.

Following that, we work in a lesson in Mystery Science.

Afterwards we do some Spanish with Speekee.

Once Sam has finished his work, I wake Owen,. The poor lad is still full of a cold, I make him a dippy egg with soldiers, he has some juice and when his throat feels easier we watch a Bill Nye programme.

Followed by the same English lesson I did with Sam. Owen is clearly run down and struggles to concentrate on his writing. 

He still manages to complete the work and does really well on the verbal comprehension.  After this he looks after his pet giant snail and as we are all at the same place regarding our Spanish, he asks if he can watch more Bill Nye programmes. He's really enjoying them and the discussions are very thought provoking.

Gurn for the camera.

The boys worked on their own projects for the rest of the afternoon, then played at the park till their dinner was ready.

On Friday I needed to see the dentist for my final appointment ( for now). Whilst I was there Blokey took the boys to the library. Owen stocked up on many different books, and Sam decided to try a Terry Pratchet book 'Snuff'. Blokey and I are both massive Pratchett fans, so we tried hard not to look overly pleased.

We collected our medications from the GP before going home for a quick lunch. Once everyone was ready, we headed over to my parents in Shrewsbury for a visit.

Sam's being a monkey for my Mum's enforced photo. Owen is stiff as a board because he is being squeezed on a day he didn't feel like hugs.

On Saturday Blokey and Owen went into town together. Sam worked on some coding and played online with friends. Just before lunch he headed off to the park with some of the local children. When Blokey and Owen arrived home Sam was delighted to see they had brought him a steak pie from the butchers. Blokey and Owen both enjoy the butchers sausage, so had sausage sarnies together.

There was a lot of playing at the park and in the evening we all ate together before watching the latest episode of Dr Who.

On Sunday we enjoyed a lazy start before going to the opticians. Once I had finished there ( I am looking forward to a time when I need far fewer appointments), we ate a packed lunch and had a drive over to see some old friends. The children were very excited, they have heard a lot about 'Uncle Nuggets Den' and were itching to visit the house to get to play on our friends gadgets. Rich and Cindy are lovely people but we never get to see each other as often as we would like and it's ages since they saw the children. So long that the children don't remember them.

When we arrived the boys were a little shy, but when Rich showed them his den, they soon came out of their shells and there were lots of wow's. Rich is one of these people who can work out how to make pretty much anything. Like the boys and their dad, he is a massive Star Wars fan and has a huge interest in computer games. He has built and rigged up retro arcade games, a driving platform like a real car, and has a pool table..amongst other things. The menfolk are in awe of the fun to be had.

Whilst I talk to Cindy, the menfolk avail themselves of everything on offer. We all have a fab time and all too soon it's time to go home. We promise we will try and arrange to catch up sooner next time. 

Back home the children play out with friends at the park. We actually drive past the park on our way home and the children are banging on the windows to be let out like caged monkey's. So we dropped them off and carry on back to the house to do some chores whilst they are out.

Blokey and I get engrossed in the garden and garage, so the boys have an extra long play before the roast chicken dinner is ready.