Bea Blog

We went with Grammie and Grampy to the Petworth Christmas Fair on Saturday. Whilst it was snowing(!) in the morning, by the time we got to Petworth the clouds had cleared and the sun was beaming. What had failed to dissipate was the howling wind – it was bitter out-of-doors.

Most of the Petworth House Christmas Fair was in the usual massive marquees; this year in a different place on the estate with a little “street” of smaller stalls outside of the main area – glad we weren’t in one of the stalls selling bits, as they were all flapping; it looked quite uncomfortable.

After a mooch about we had some overtly expensive lunch, watched the jazz band that consisted entirely of instrument playing Father Christmas'(!), then Grammie and Mummy went back in, whilst Grampy, Bea and Daddy strolled down to the Petworth House lake to have a look at the dog statue. It was bitterly cold and Bea was shivering, whilst Grampy and Daddy had to shout to communicate. Once the lake and dog-view was complete we strolled past loads of mushrooms on the lawn, upto the main house, and performed some jumping off of the steps of the house onto the grass. Big fun.

On the way back Bea was getting a little too cold; eventually remembering I had gloves in my pocket so pushed them on her and she started walking sideways as she thought she looked like a crab!!

Here she is smiling as ever and saying, “snip snip”…

Whilst at the Christmas Fair we spotted some wooden reindeer ornaments that were made from conifer logs – they were about two foot long and probably stood two foot high (that’s 60cm to you youngsters :-)). Being disgusted by the price and remembering we have a stash of our own conifer logs, got to thinking about making one on Sunday. So Sunday morning came and logs were needed for the fire, so Bea and I took loads of tools into the woods and using a chainsaw, an axe, a lock knife, a pruning saw and an electric drill we styled together to make our own reindeer. Unfortunately we broke the “antler” (this was once a branch on the tree), so rather than snap it off we fixed him by using some “vet wrap” we keep in the doggie-first-aid box. Fixing a red-Rudolph nose and some googly eyes made him complete:

So once we had man handled most of the logs into the log basket, putting the over spill in the wood store next to the front door, we lit the fire and snuggled up on the sofa with Charlie whilst watching some animated movie about reindeers!

Further to yesterday’s note about Bea learning to pedal around on only two wheels, we thought we’d share a couple more pictures.

One from the weekend, that whilst it has been edited slightly it remains a wonderful picture – the face painter at the local village fair was rather special. Bea decided she wanted to be a tiger several minutes before we even knew where the face painter was!

After all her cycling exploits we were both super impressed at her tenacity; we only realised the extent when you look at the number of knocks, scrapes and bruises she has from bouncing off the tarmac car park.

Also as a reward for trying so hard, and maybe, just maybe help reduce the injuries going forward, we bought her some proper cycling mitts and gave them to her just before bed time tonight.

Here we see her sporting them ably assisted by her big brother (yes, they are pink – in fact they are pink camo!):

Mummy had pizza on the menu for Bea’s tea and we made the entire things from leftover bits in the fridge and some yummy flour….

The big boys had left for another holiday, so Bea had Mummy and Daddy’s full attention all weekend! Firstly we sat and had our hair brushed really nicely and popped on a yummy pink onesie.

Then we went to the new dinosaur island park and had a few ace laughs. Including her scrambling up this long cargo net tube. We followed this with a chocolate ice cream which she annihilated. All in all a cracking day.

So shimmying back to last Tuesday…..

Musical Friends have recently changed their days so we can go AGAIN….and rather happy was Bea about it….

  
    
  
And last Thursday was the long awaited Sports Day! Bea has been SO excited about her Nursery’s S.D and despite not being 100% last week she was a total CHAMP and errr WON her races!!!!

It was even a race to the Start….

RUUUUUNING!!!!!!

  

Nothing like the incentive of “an Ollie” at the finish!!!

On the way home Bea requested (let’s call it what it was….a demand!) we make “a race track on the grass with a crash pad at the end and a flag at the start”!? So Mummy rustled up said “request” whilst cooking dinner…..kindling for the track, a folded up “crash pad” picnic blanket and a bamboo stick for the starter flag….it appeared to meet her standards….!

  

Note Ollie in the background required to cheer her on…..!!!

Today was Daddy’s Day! We began (typical!!) with an early start from her Ladyship…..6:15am!? She really is on the whole a 7am kinda gal! Anywayz I managed to suppress her excitement of delivering Daddy his card (until 6:50am) which she’d put under her bed the night before. So card given, very special Brighton Gin received, cuppa in bed and a bit of bedtime piece for Daddy while Mummy and Bea did morning jobs!

On to the next venture….Breakfast…..unbeknownst to Daddy Mummy has spent many months trying to find a reputable “greasy spoon” – Mummy’s like a civilised brunch and Daddy’s let’s face it like a damn good fry up!! After MUCH research I landed at Boo Boos Cafe in Burges Hill! And it certainly lived up to its reviews! Their “Boo Boos GUT Buster” won me over in the end and predictably Daddy and Charlie went for this option….2 x bacon, 2 x sausage, 2 x eggs, 2 x hash brown, beans, black putting, mushrooms, tomatoes, toast AND a burger!? How they ate it I’m not sure but they did! Ollie had a very respectable “Boo Boos 2” – double of everything! Bea had a huge sausage sarnie and Mummy had a very scrummy round of poached eggs on toast! Lovely nosh, brilliant service and a sunny morning!

 
  
A quick visit to Grampie at work to deliver a Danish and wish him a Happy Fathers Day!…..Daddy got some F.D Beer too!

  
Home for some Tortillia chip making – last night Daddy made an extremely nice Malaysian Curry with garlic and onion seed Tortillas wraps and today they made the leftovers into chips!!

  
A spot of very excitable car washing….

  
Ready for the eating….in her knicks having got soaked washing Mummy’s car!

  
Happy Girl, Happy Daddy! Fathers Day complete! 

Thursday was Charlie’s 15th birthday. I genuinely think Bea was more excited about this than Charlie BUT in fairness he was utterly shattered and had endured his GCSE Stats. exam that day! Normal day in essence but we polished it off with mucho presents and a trip to Wagagmamas…..noodle tastic!!!! (Bea is “smiling”!?)

  
Little Miss proficient with the chop sticks and dipping technique…..

  
Daddy’s been working damn hard of late and as a result Bea’s not seen much of him during the week, Thursday was a mega bonus night for them….gutted its blurred BUT you get the gist….

  
She was absolutely hanging by 9:45pm but cracked on with the ice cream…..

  
Bea is the luckiest little girl in the world to have this man (and he is the most wonderful young man) as her biggest brother. Proud doesn’t come close…..and Bea does well to let him know how loved his is, I think she said Happy Birthday at least 60 times to him and sang him Happy Birthday throughout the day EVEN when he wasn’t there!!!!

Local village had annual fair. The weather was threatening drizzle or even rain. Mummy was out so Daddy and Bea wandered off.

Saw a few chums and had some catch ups whilst Bea had a go on TWO bouncy castles (one with a slide!), then we found the sheeps milk ice cream and finally a little face painting.

Spotted a little miniature railway (electric!), so we had a quick go at that; nice and slow so we could capture a selfie.

Once the fair was done it was a few mad laps of the playground – climbing higher than I’ve ever seen her climb before – and then a perfectly timed dash home as the rain set in!