Trains and Planes

When I had planned to day over the weekend the weather forecast was a lot different than it turned out to be in reality, for the promised sun was gone and the day started dull and wet, however that wasn't going to stop me and I was all prepared as long as it didn't rain. Lucy was off to see the trains and I had already asked her mummy for her wellington boots.

One nice thing about this Tuesday was I managed to have a little bit of a lay in. Without Emily being here there was no need to drive into Oakham to take her to school, she was having a sleep over at her friends house. Catherine is very easy to get ready for school compared to Emily, she just does it and never needs reminding of the time, Emily on the other hand needs hurrying along if she is tired and doesn't want to get up. I'm sure she is a practicing to be a teenager in years and bits time. 

With Catherine gone to school there was time for a wash and brush up and a nice quiet cup of coffee before it was out to get Lucy from her mummies. Today when I picked her up she was extra colourful in a new striped cardigan and Peppa Pig trousers. She looked lovely and she was so proud of herself. It is just a shame I forgot to take picture to share on the blog, maybe next time she  is wearing them and I pick her up. As we walked to the car chatted about the things she had been doing and soon we were headed for the shops.

The goal at the shops was to get Lucy a toilet training seat as the night before I got a email saying she was using one at her mummies now. We had been working on using he potty for a while but we couldn't interest her in using it for more than a morning or a afternoon before she slipped back to using her pull-up. Hopefully this will work and we can get her out of pull-up's for good. When we were at the shop I let Lucy decide on the seat she wanted and what colour it was hoping that it would make her feel it was hers and she had ownership of it. We also got some sweets for everyone, which looking back on should have used Lucy's as an incentive for using her seat. It is something I going to use in future, just a bag of lollipops will do.

Once we got home she wanted to try out the seat, and when I asked if she need to use the toilet she was soon on it and then straight off it. She thought she was going to fall down the toilet. I remember that Catherine thought the same when she was first toilet training and I had a devil of job getting her to use the toilet rather than the potty. I tried to reassure her that she was going to fall, but although I got her back on the seat she was too unsure to stay there for long enough to use it. All day I kept asking her if she need the toilet and the only time she said yes was when we were in the car and miles from home. I'm sure if we all keep at this weekend we will make some ground, it is just going to take time to make her confident. I know she so wants to be like her sisters and wear pants.

Most of Lucy's morning to lunch time was spent around the house playing games and watching a bit of Peppa Pig on the computer for a few minutes at a time. All the time she just chatted and chatted. Her use of language is really coming on and she is starting construct more complex sentences now. I'm so proud of all she achieves and she is coming on leaps and bounds in every area.

For lunch we had a bacon, eggs, beens and potato wedges for a change, from the usual food we have for lunch. I must say that everyone seemed to enjoy it and Lucy loved her eggs as always. When we finished that, we did some bread making so we had fresh bread for dinner. Lucy helped again with putting in the ingredients, other than the flour and then took delight in watching the machine do it's magic before we went out for the afternoon.

Todays outing was to the Rutland Railway Museum which is on the road from Ashwell to Cottesmore. It is an open air museum and given the weather we have been having the reason why I ask Lucy's mummy for the wellington boots, I knew there would be plenty of mud about and I didn't want to ruin Lucy's Peppa Pig shoes. The museum is dedicated the now extinct iron ore industry of the the East Midlands and is themed accordingly with most of the exhibits being old engines used in the quarry's around the region. It is set out to recreate the essential elements of a quarry during hay day's of the industry back in the 1950's and as a living museum allows people to experience working practices at the time. It has wonderful plans for the future and it is entirely funded by donations for visitors and various grants. Of course all of this was lost on Lucy all she was interested in was the trains. 

We started out at the engine shed and had a look at the trains that are currently being restored. These included a break van, a diesel engine and a steam train. Of course Lucy was more interested in the steam train and was soon pointing at bits and asking what they were called and I was so explaining what they did as well. All that playing with trains and reading about trains as kid was paying off and I was able to answer her questions. From the engine shop we moved out into the main museum and had a look at the army engine they have there. Lucy noticed the engine pit under the train and I explained what it was for and that she had to be careful where she went and to stick with me. 

Next we head off to look at the rolling stock. They have a large collection of iorn ore trucks from various periods but what Lucy wanted to see more than anything was the large crane she had spotted. What I love about the place was the decay of some of the rolling stock awaiting restoration and how it blended into the nature that surrounded them. It was like nature was eating them and returning them to the earth as the weather and natural forces wore them away. When you look at the state that some of the rolling stock is in and you compare it to the renovated rolling stock you can see what a great job they are doing there. Lucy was keen to see all she could and was happy to match down the line side walk until we ran out of things to see.

Returning to the main museum we head off to look at all the engines they have there. Like the rolling stock they are in various states of repair. Some are in working order and look like they did when they were working in the quarries, while others are not more than rusting hunks of metal and are far from there former glory. All the staff there seems so dedicated that although there are years if not decades of work to be done, it will get done. Lucy loved the engines and was soon asking questions again about what bits are called and I was explaining again complete with the noises the trains make. 

The last area of the museum we went to was the platform which Lucy wanted to go and stand on. It was while we were standing on the platform that we got a free air display from the Harriers at RAF Cottesmore. I'm not sure what was going on at the base but while we were there we had seen a couple of Harriers coming into land very low. Now that isn't that unusual but what followed was. It wasn't just two coming back to the base but what appeared to be a whole squadron of twelve or more aircraft all with long range tanks. The most impressive sight of all was four coming into land in formation. It is a sight I had never seen before, two yes but never four. Lucy seemed impressed too, but I did have to cover her ears as much as possible as she found it far too noisy with her young sensitive ears. As we left one of the people at the museum told me where to watch them coming in, but later I couldn't find place. I will have to look on google maps and work it out.

Before heading home we set off for the supermarket. The idea for dinner was a simple pasta and tomato based sauce combined with warm homemade bread to clean the bowls. All we had to get was what we need to make dinner, the sauce and the pasta. It didn't take long, in fact Lucy probably spent more time on the rides outside the shop.

We got back home about five minutes after Langham School had finished for the day although it didn't matter as Catherine had already said she wanted to go out on her new bike after school for half an hour so we weren't expecting her home straight away. When Catherine did get home she got a royal Lucy welcome, a massive hug and a kiss and then Lucy started following Catherine everywhere as they played around the house. 

Soon the beep beep of the bread maker told us the bread was ready and off we went to see the results. It looked lovely and the bread turned out to be the best we have made yet and here is the recipe I used to make a 1kg loaf:

• 600g Strong white flour (Hovis)
• 28-30g Butter
• 7g Fast acting dried yeast (Tesco's)
• 330ml Semi skimmed milk
• 1 Tablespoon of salt
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons of sugar

On our bread maker we just used program 2 which makes standard white or brown loaf. As a guide it takes about 3 hours 20 minutes to make with a light crust. 

At about five Emily came home from her sleep over full of stories of what she had been doing. Lucy was so pleased to see her and went through same procedure of hugs and kisses before following up to her room while she got change back into her home clothes. 

Soon it was time for dinner and I cooked the pasta in a tomato sauce and served it with fresh bread. It something the girls haven't had in ages. For some reason I just hadn't thought of doing it as a meal. Lucy of course loved it and probably has it at her mummies, she use to cook it for lunch sometimes. With dinner out of the way there was just over an hour for the girls to play all together before Lucy went home. Of corse they made the most of it but it was soon time to take Lucy back to her mummies after a kiss and a cuddle from Emily and Catherine.

With Lucy back in Oakham the house fell quite as Emily got on with her homework in the bedroom and Catherine went into the family room to watch some television and the played on the computer. She really wanted to go out on her bike but it was just too dark. The nights are really drawing in now and at the end of next month there will be hardly any time to play out after the clocks change. All too soon it was bedtime for Emily and Catherine off they went to the land of nod as I settled down to relax.

It has been a lovely day and I was glad that little Lucy said she wanted to go to the museum again. It just gives something else we can do and given it is free other than what you can afford it is ideal. Personally I wonder how you get involved. If I had the time then doing something for them would be a worth while thing to do. It is like someone needs to take care of the museum and add extra enthusiasm and energy to the place and I could do that!

A Sunday at Home

After all the excitement of going out for the last two days it was nice today to know that it was a day to stay at home relax and have fun until it was time to take Lucy back to her mummies. From then on it became a rush fetch Emily and Catherine and do the shopping. Just another day this weekend where the timings were a bit tight, but this time towards the end of the day.

When I first looked out of the window the sun was shining but the ground was wet. It looked like it was going to be one of those days when the weather can't quite decide what course to take. For once it didn't really matter but it would have been nice if the sun had come out in the morning and dried all the outside toys off so Lucy could play out, but Lucy didn't seem to mind about the weather too much.

Lucy slept like a dream and got up with me around half past eight. She when came down the stairs smiling she was carrying her juice and arms full of toys that she wanted to play with. She had so many she even gave me some to help her get them down. I will never get bored of her smiling face in the morning. I wish we could all be like her and wake up looking forward to day and full of the joy of life. 

While I made a coffee and got her breakfast Lucy cuddled up in my chair with her toys to watch Milkshake on channel 5. When I came back in the living room I sat with her and every time the adverts were on she started telling me all the things she wants for her birthday. It is mad how we allow the advertisers to rope our children into a consumer society at such a young age. I know television companies need to make money but the number of advert breaks needs to looked closely when the programmes are so short. Maybe one day the Government might use a bit of the license fee to help the commercial TV companies fund this type programmes without adverts at all, but then again pigs might fly!

After breakfast Lucy came back to join me and we watched some more programmes together while having a nice morning cuddle. It wasn't until I had to get up to do some chores around the house that she went off to play in the family room. She played with all kinds of things including her trains, her little pet shop and she had loads and loads of fun  playing with Emily's old Leap pad. Every so often I was drawn into her games and loved every minute of it. 

While I was making lunch lucy helped me make some bread to dinner tonight. We are having home made soup and it just felt right have it with home made bread. She was really good at pouring in the ingredients and did it ever so carefully. The only thing she didn't put in was the flour which I thought might be a bit to messy for her at the moment. She loved watching the bread maker do it work though the little glass window, may be next time she will even get to have some.

With lunch eaten it was off outside to play for a bit. The little bit of sun we did get in the morning had dried the toys and although it looked like rain we did play cars for a bit. For some reason I had to be the roundabout as she peddled around and around, until she went inside for a bit until it was time to get her dressed in the most of clothes she came in Friday. Somehow, Lucy had managed to lose her socks from her mummies and so they had missed the wash. I found them just before we left in Emily and Catherine's room where she must have taken them off, but there wasn't time to wash and dry them so they will have to go back next time. 

All to soon my weekend with Lucy came to an end as I dropped her off in Oakham. I forgot to mention the sweets she had for Mary and herself, I was too preoccupied with the missing socks. The whole drop off felt rushed for some reason. 

It was at this point that the race against the clock started to get everything done. First I had to go to the supermarket to pick up the ingredients for tonight dinner, a Beef and Barley soup to go with the bread Lucy had helped make, and then it was off out to get Emily and Catherine from where I dropped them off on Saturday morning. Unfortunately they were a little late due to the increased traffic caused by the students returning to University this weekend, but that did allow me a little rest and a bite to eat before we drove back home. With next weekend arranged and a quick chat about the girls and the wedding with their Mum it was off on the road again. Abigail is doing really well these days she even dyed Catherine's hair again for the wedding, she wanted darker hair for a change.

When we got home it was straight on with the cooking. The soup was a great idea for a autumn evening but I should have double checked the recipe, as it took an extra 30 minutes long to cook than I first thought. Thankfully the girl's didn't seem to bothered and just got on with there homework for school tomorrow, that because of the wedding they didn't get the chance over the weekend. When the soup was ready it turned out to be rather good and now I have a basic stock for beef based soups I can start experimenting and make new soups of my own to go with our home made bread. That should give us some new options for cold days when a nice warming lunch is required that is nice and healthy. It is definitely something I will cook again.

With time getting on it was soon time for Emily and Catherine to go to bed. It's been a long weekend for them both and they will need all the rest they can get to catch up on their sleep in the coming few days, so a few earlier nights will do them good.

It's nice to have Emily and Catherine back and I'm sure what they have told me they had a great time and I hope little Lucy sleeps well tonight. I love them all dearly.

Baking Bread

There is nothing like the smell of baking bread to make the taste buds tingle and a smell that has been missing here for the last eighteen or so months. That is until to now. Today I made my first homemade bread and the house was filled with those smells again.

Although I can see this is going to take time to perfect, I pleased with my first efforts and like they say the proof is in the tasting and it tasted really nice. I have wanted to cook bread in the house again for ages and now I can. 

Next I want to try my hand on different types of pastry and I know where to start. Watch this space but until then it is cake making tomorrow.