Swimming in the garden

Last weekend we had a nice visit to Isla's cousins and enjoyed playing with them a lot. We went and had lunch in a farm shop where there was an unusual tractor and some animals to look at:

We have been out in the garden a lot this week, when it has been nice weather. Isla kept rushing off to Jura lodge and shutting the door - she was enjoying a sneaky drink from her toy cup and a munch on some bread we had put out for the birds!

We were lucky enough to have Natalie to stay this week for a few days. It was lovely to have her visit. Isla enjoyed having someone else to make playdough shapes with and to read books with! She has also learnt lots of new letter sounds with Natalie's help. We had some rainy spells, but still managed to go into town to show Natalie the sights. We had fun at the park, saw some swans being fed (I forgot our bread whoops) and also visited the library where we found so many books that we wanted to borrow, we exceeded our limit (whoops again). We fed a very friendly goat and some lambs on the way home. We visited the local country market during Natalie's stay, and tried some unusual beetroot bread there whilst admiring the locally made chocolate and cake stalls. We went home and made a chocolate cake ourselves.

We also made some 'Oaty Shortbread' from a Rachel Allen cook book. These biscuits were very easy to make, and tasty. Isla enjoyed eating the dough as well as cutting out some biscuit shapes:

On days when it was sunny and we could go into the garden, Isla had fun keeping up the maintenance of Jura Lodge by doing a spot of painting:

.......and playing hide-and-seek with my sunhat:

..... see-sawing, marjorie-dawing:

.......wearing daisy chain crowns:

....and trying daisy chain necklaces for size, before Natalie had to go home again:

Today we had a very busy and fun-packed day. Isla and her dad zoomed off into town and came back with, amongst other things, a lazy-spa! Isla told me that they had bought me a swimming pool, and sure enough it is an Isla-sized swimming pool. After lunch, and a nice sit in the sunny garden, Isla and I went off to her friend's birthday party where she enjoyed playing in a sandpit and riding on a toy tractor as well as eating some tractor-shaped birthday cake. By the time we got home, the lazy-spa was up and running so we all had a swim in the lovely warm water. The pool's main role will be to help with our possible home-birth of Isla's little sister next month, but at the moment it is very, very exciting for Isla to have a swimming pool in the garden!