Shrewsbury Steam Rally

Today we had a family day out to the Shrewsbury Steam Engine and Vintage Vehicle Rally.  I wasn't entirely sure what to expect since this sort of thing is more up Jeff's alley, but it bascially there were LOADS of big and small machines ran by steam power spread over a very large field.  Vintage prams, bicycles, motorcycles, cars, trucks/lorries and buses were also on display.  There was so much to see and so much I had NEVER seen before. 

 Fairground Traction Engines - note the generator at the front to power fairground lights

 A steam-powered bus... how cool is that?!

 A steam-powered cars ca. 1920

 "Marshall" steam-powered agricultural traction engines used to power farm equipment on the field.

 A stationary engine with water pump

 A petrol-powered engine and saw

 One for Robert: a Lister engine being used to turn a milk churn

 One for my mom: a vintage Bedford truck from Much Wenlock

All aboard! We were amused that Ellen just assumed she was allowed to go on this bus, which she was, and that she was bold enough to attempt getting on herself.

 Exploring the bus

 One for Beverly ;o)

Throughout the day, all of the vehicles on display were paraded in the arena. Here the vintage bicycles and prams take their turn.

 Ellen helped Daddy eat his ice cream.

Just to share a bit more of our "goings on" the past couple of weeks... it's blackberry time!  Perhaps because of the warmer-than-usual summer we've had this year, the blackberries have been especially big, especially sweet.  When Ellen and I go for a walk down the lane through the fields, we stopped every few feet to pick and eat blackberries.  Ellen LOVES them and usually asks for more. 

 Ellen playing with her new, fancy, mommy-made toy: a toilet paper roll taped to the leg of the coffee table so that she could drop pom-poms through it. Supposedly it's to help with hand-eye coordination.

 If the table at playgroup is set up with some sort of craft, Ellen makes a bee line to it as soon as we arrive. She loves any sort of coloring or painting, but of course, I leave the painting for playgroup... for now, at least.

Decorating a butterfly with shiny paper... this was the first time Ellen has used glue, so she thought it was paint. I unsuccessfully tried to explain this to her, but she decorated 3 butterflies... or "buys" as she says... that day.

Riding a tractor at playgroup.

 A family walk through Stone, Staffordshire

In the last blog, I posted a video of Ellen hiding in the drying racks. She goes around the back of the drying rack, hides in the clothes, and eventually pops out, then repeats.

 Where's Ellen?

Boo!

A cuddle with Mommy

Yesterday, we drove to Birmingham to have supper with Betsy Henderson, a good friend from Munich who was there visiting friends. It was lovely to catch up and see her again.

 On the drive home, Ellen held up her Fisher Price camera and was saying "cheese!"  We don't even know how she knew the toy was even a camera, but what was even funnier, was that when Betsy took a picture of Ellen in the pub, she said, "Say cheese!".  That is the only time she would have heard "say cheese", so she had remembered it and was pretending to take our picture... sooo cute.

Hiding in Clothes

Ellen has recently discovered the pure joy of hiding in hanging clothes, then popping out and exclaiming "boo!"  What kid hasn't hidden in clothes racks at department stores?... right, Uncle Jason? 

"Awking" Baby

Ellen's walking... or "awking"... is coming along well. She's becoming more confident, but I still think she's at least a few weeks away from walking on her own.  In the meantime, though, here's a video Jeff took of Ellen walking her baby in the lounge.

The Past Week

This is just a blog about various things that have happened over the past week or so.  Just over two weeks ago, Ellen climbed up the stairs by herself.  She usually "counts" the stairs... 1, 2, 10, 6, 7, 9!... as we ascend and then when we get to the top, she applauds her achievement each time ... it's so cute.

"Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" is the first song that Ellen can sing... okay, perhaps, just some form of the word "twinkle" and "how I", but it still counts and we love to listen to her sing.  She loves to read and sing through the nursery rhyme book with her daddy.  The last song in the book is Twinkle, Twinkle and she sings along...it's so cute (again).

 

 (This was take #1 over a month ago)

Splashing in her pool... I didn't feel like climbing two flights of stairs to get her swim suit, then fight her to put her in it... besides, it's cute, right?

 

 Our very cute Doodle asleep in my arms... doesn't happen much these days, so I savored the moment.

 Cute Doodle in her cute summer dress

 Ellen LOVES "helping" me with "ak up" in the morning... yes, she has my pressed powder in her hands and is putting it to her face... it's cute, right?

 Doodle...uh... doodling.

 Jeff's brother, Gordon, came to visit us last Sunday for a couple days.  Not sure who Ellen thought he was, but she quite liked having him around, especially when he bought us an ice cream cone at the park.

 It was so cute... the theme at playgroup on Tuesday was "Teddy Bear Picnic"... so we brought Pinky (bear) with us and there were a few teddy-themed activities that day... including a visit from a GIANT TEDDY!!!  I was holding Ellen when she first saw Giant Teddy and immediately wanted down (one of her favorite words of the week) and went straight up to Giant Teddy through numerous other excited bigger kids and gave him a big hug... too bad he didn't know she was down there.

It's Finally Summer!

Summer temperatures finally arrived about a week and a half ago and it is won-der-ful!  This is our 4th summer in England, and I don't remember it being so warm for so long.  We haven't even had any rain, just some thunder for a few minutes yesterday... it reminded me of the hot, humid summers in Ohio.  At 29/86 degrees yesterday, it was the warmest day of all. Ellen and I have spent loads of time outside, either at the swings or in the paddling pool out back.  We've also eaten quite a few suppers outside; we are so glad we bought an umbrella for our table a few months ago.

 Dinner outside

A week ago yesterday, we drove about 25 minutes south of Shrewsbury to Cardingmill Valley to do a short (uphill with a bit of rambling) mile walk to a waterfall and back with Ellen in the carrier.  You'll notice we don't have any pictures of our walk to the waterfall, the beautiful scenery or the waterfall either.... that's because Ellen cried the entire time we spent walking and we decided to turn around and just let her play in the stream that ran through the valley.

 Us before the walk

 Ellen beside the stream before the walk

 Ellen was very happy to help me eat a Magnum

Ellen loved splashing in the stream

Cute little feet in the stream with Ellen's new bouncy ball

View of the valley from where we were paddling in the stream

Just a couple cute pictures:

 

 It's been warm enough to splash in the pool!

 

I took Ellen to Attingham Park on Thursday. We said hi to the cows then took a walk to say hi to the swans.  Once we got to the walled garden, peeped in on her and Ellen was fast asleep - with her banana still in her hand!

 

While Ellen snoozed, I took some pictures of plants in the walled garden I found particularly beautiful and made this collage on my iPhone....

 ...then sat on a bench in the shade  for over an hour(!!!), enjoying the peace and quiet and blue skies above... until Ellen woke up and was hysterical for the next 40 minutes, because I wouldn't nurse her (we're working on weaning her at the moment... not fun).

What I found when I went in to wake up Ellen from her nap this afternoon - so precious

 

 "Standing" is Ellen's new favorite word

 Reading her book with Daddy

Ellen's walking is definitely coming along, although she still prefers to bum shuffle.  On Thursday she climbed up the stairs for the first time, too, which is very exciting and very scary.  She puts her right knee on the step and pushes up the stair by putting her left foot on the step.... oh, and counts the steps, too... "six" and "ten" are mentioned a few times ;o)

This picture was taken on July 3rd before our "heat wave".

Trip to N.I.

On Monday we returned home after spending 6 days in Northern Ireland to visit Jeff's parents, a.k.a. Granny and Grandad. Although it was a relatively short trip this time, it was good to be "home" and see family and friends. 

On Tuesday, 25th June, we travelled for 10 1/2 hours through 4 countries (England, Wales, Ireland and Northern Ireland) and with two currencies (the Pound and the Euro) over land and sea to get to Granny and Grandad's.  Ellen did very well the entire journey and even fell asleep about 2 miles up the road from their house... just figures.

On Wednesday we drove up to the north coast to the Portstewart Strand.

 =

 Ellen bum-shuffled her way through the sand.

 Granny showed Ellen different kind of shells she found on the beach.

On Thursday, we visited a National Trust property in Magherafelt, called Springhill (website).  It was raining, so we didn't get to see much of the outside of the house or gardens, but we got a guided tour around the house. 

Ellen loved driving this car... too bad it wasn't moving. (At the mall prior to going to Springhill)

On Friday, the three of us went swimming at the leisure centre in Limavady.  Ellen enjoyed splashing and the balls floating around the pool.  Friday afternoon was just laid back, although we did make an obligatory trip to the "swees"  (swings).

 

I enjoyed the big swing more than Ellen!

Saturday morning we had a short, but very nice visit to friends we knew from Munich, the MacDonalds.  Rick and Glenda's two children, Aiden and Ava, are so grown up now!  It's been about 6 years since we last saw them.  Glenda's sister, Shauna, who we were/are also friends with, was there, to our delight!  We spent the rest of the day with some of our Belfast friends.  Not only was it good to catch up with friends again and see how big the kids have gotten since last August, Ellen loved playing with the youngest daughter, Abi, who has just turned two.  Unfortunately, we didn't take any pictures that day.

Sunday was church and Monday we made the long journey back... but arrived safe and sound!

Now, about the family pictures - it is almost impossible to get Ellen to look at the camera.  She really doesn't enjoy having her picture taken, hence the few pictures we have of us together and of her looking at the camera... but we still try.

 A picture with Grandad - probably watching "coons".