So That Was October

So that was October and the end of the year is now nigh with the darker nights closing in. It has been a month of mixed emotions but through it all the little ones have kept us smiling even if the little man has more energy than the Duracell Bunny on steroids. Debbie has had a very bad month but things happen for a reason even if we don't understand why. As we move into November I am hopeing things will brighten up.
With Debbie not being well we have not really done much this month to write about, lots of house work and spring cleaning so nothing exciting. I have taken the little ones out a fair bit to get them out of Debbie's hair. It is great, if hard work, having days out with them. Beth is good as gold but William likes to try and escape and manages to get quite a speed up when he runs off.

Living where we do we are fortunate to have the Tarka trail so close, especially at this time of year as we can have a nice walk and look at all the nice colours in the trees. Only slight downside is that Beth likes to pick up the leaves which is OK until she starts putting them in my pockets so that we can take them home.

The weather has been pretty lousy but we have had a few nice days. Last Friday was gorgeous so I took the little ones and my niece down the beach for an impromptu picnic. Before I left I was a bit worried as everyone said I was brave taking three little ones out to the beach by myself but they were all good as gold. We had the picnic on Northem Burrows, a lesson learned from my previous picnic. Better to have a picnic on Grass as on the beach sand gets everywhere and a Sand-sandwich is quite unpleasant. Anyway we had a nice picnic sat on a hill overlooking the beach. The little ones had a nice run around as I sat and chilled with a couple of cans of apple juice (Strongbow), then it was down to the beach for lessons in building sand castles.

Once the sandcastles were made we then had a long trek to the sea (Anyone that knows Westward Ho! will understand) so that we could go paddling, needless to say the little ones thoroughly enjoyed themselves.As we move into November I am once again determined to make more of an effort at writing my blog as I know people read it. The blogger programme has a Stats section which shows how many people have viewed the Blog and in which countries they viewed it from. I just hope that I can make it interesting so people do read it.

Having Fun

It has been a hectic few weeks since the last time I made an addition to my blog and I have had a real insight into what Debbie has to put up with when I am away at work. As I think I mentioned in my previous blog Debbie had an op on her hand to release her Carpal tunnel. Due to the Op she has been out of action for the past few weeks so I have tried to keep on top of all the jobs, not easy with the two little ones to look after. I really don't know how she maintains her sanity.

It has not all been hard work though and the little ones although hard work at times bring a smile to my face every day. Little Elizabeth is always so keen to help, which is great although it can be stressful at times when she helps to cook dinner. Mind you we have had fun baking cookies and cakes.

Other than the brief heat wave the other week the weather has been awful but no surprise there as the weather always seems crummy when I am on leave with lots of windy and wet days, no surprise in North Devon. I have tried to make the most of the few nice days we have had though. Friday was good weather so I took the little ones for an impromptu picnic on the beach was great. We are so lucky living so close to the sea side and the little ones love it. When we got to the car park William just kept saying 'Sea Side, Sea Side'. We had a great day out, playing in the rock pools and paddling in the sea. I always find Westward Ho quite relaxing (outside the holiday season) as when the tide is out there is such a wonderful beach. This time I had taken a camping stove so I sat there drinking a nice cup of coffee as the little ones had a good run around.
With the weather it has been hard to get out for bike rides even with the trailer but I have managed to get out a few times. It is really great having the trailer and the little ones are really happy in it. Admittedly they are bribed as whenever we go out they have a cake or pack of crisps. Saturday was glorious and we got as far as Bideford which was nice. The little buggers slept all the way back so there I was pedaling furiously whilst they had a nice afternoon siesta, one has to ask who is the mug.

Over the weekend Elizabeth's Godparents came down to visit which was really nice, it is always nice to have visitors as it is not that easy visiting with the little ones. We had a really nice day with a nice lunch and then a stroll up the Green Dragon for a few pints of rattler with good company, no better way to spend an afternoon.

Little William still gets a little upset when I go out without him so when I went to move the car over the weekend to save on tears I sat him on my lap. He picked up steering really quickly as we drove down the driveway and he managed to get us through the gate posts with out hitting anything which was a relief. He does love his cars and now he has had his first driving lesson.

Time

Is it just me or does time seem to speed up the older you get. The weeks just seem to go by far faster nowadays. Now when I am at work I don't mind the time flying by but when I am home on leave I would appreciate old father time taking a more leisurely stroll rather than continue to run as if he were in a 100m sprint against the Bolt. Maybe it is just because we have little ones and they take up so much of our time it is so hard to get things done, wouldn't be without them though as they bring a huge smile to my face everyday without fail.

Time is certainly flying by this leave but at least we are finally making progress in the garden with fences going up to split the area so we have a dedicated parking area and a definite line between the parking area and the garden. Hopefully it will help focus things so that we can continue progressing the outside area while the weather is good and make it more low maintenance so that we are not constantly playing catch up with the garden.

With so much work to do all the time it is very hard to take a break as I find it hard to relax when I know there is so much to do. I really have to push myself to turn off and take leisure time so I am making an effort to ensure I have at least two bike rides a week.

It is a lot easier now we have the trailer so that I can take the little ones with me which gives Debbie a chance to have some time to herself which is good as I do think it is important to have personnel time and when I am away at sea she has very few opportunities to get away from the little ones.

We have made the most of the warm spell over the last few days as best we can as Debbie is recovering from a hand operation. As she has been in a lot of pain we have been limited with what we can do but we have managed to get outside quite a bit and the little ones have had a good run around. Today I took them out in the bike trailer down the Tarka Trail with Brenin. As the Dog was with us we only went about 7 miles but it was a wonderful afternoon. We stopped halfway and sat on a bench watching the world go by which was lovely and the can of Cider made everything nice and mellow even if I did have to fight Teddy for it.