The Lakes - Day 3 xx

Today has gone so very fast - time flies when you are having fun!  We didn't go out this morning until 10am.  Ticket's for Anais' violin concert in April went on sale today but the box office didn't open until 10am.  When we phoned up at 10am we had to wait in a queue of people (last year had problems doing it online so this year we phoned box office direct) they said the ticket's didn't go on sale until 11am, phone back, arrrrgh.

So, we took a drive to Windermere and had a walk around Lakeland where we picked up a bag of this pink Australian liquorice which is tradition whenever we come to the lakes we have to pick a bag up.  I also picked up this silicone Christmas chocolate mould in the sale, next Christmas we are going to try to make homemade chocolate bars with peppermint candy canes in for the adults and smarties or marshmallows in for all the kids.

By the time we had driven back to Bowness and parked the car it was 11am so we phoned to buy ticket's for Anais' concert and got through first time, no queue to wait in either hurrah!  Ticket's sorted and looking forward to concert :-)

We walked over the road to The World of Beatrix Potter which was packed.  We have never known it so busy, we thought being February half term holidays it would be quieter than summer holidays.  The queue extended to almost down the steps to the tea room so we went for a walk around a wet Bowness instead.

I think I have mentioned several times before how much I dislike beaches, sea's and seaside's, I much prefer water's and Lakes, they are so calming and peaceful.  I just love Lake Windermere, it is so pretty and always feel's in a way like coming home.  Anais recalled when she was much smaller and was eating an ice-cream on the promenade when a swan who was much larger than her come and pinched the ice-cream out of her hand!  It scared her and made her cry so Mark tried to shoo it off to result in the swan trying to bite his fingers and attacking his jeans!

After a walk around Bowness we popped back to TheWorld of Beatrix Potter which by now had no queue so we thought we may as well go in.  We haven't been in a while (last time Christmas 2012 and prior to that August 2010) and now they give away Activity Booklet's to the children to complete on their way around which they both enjoyed doing.

When we have been in previous year's we have practically been the only visitors in the attraction.  It was slightly disappointing today in that although there was no queue when we paid to go in, the place was packed when we did go in there.  This year the kids didn't race around (as usual) as they wanted to complete their activity booklet's but it was so busy we had to wait to see several of the display's and find answer's to go in their booklet's.  It was still a lovely morning out though which we all enjoyed.  (Picture's with Anais and Roman on have been uploaded to Facebook)

Anais and Roman say "Thank you Grandma and Grandad for our money we brought these.........."

Anais wanted to buy some "Shrinkles" which she started earlier and Roman wanted to buy a Peter Rabbit toy (they still have money left too).  We told Roman we had a Peter Rabbit toy at home but he said it was Anais' from when she was a baby and he wanted his own (clean!) toy so picked this one!  Mark also brought me a cute Peter Rabbit notebook for my bag as I find them useful for "don't forget to buy, remember to/don't forget to..........." reminder's.

It hasn't stopped raining today, so after The World of Beatrix Potter we came back to the apartment to have another crafty afternoon.  Here is the view from our lounge window.  The swimming pool is to the left and the office is to the right.  The lake is to the left and in front of the white building in the centre.

This afternoon Mark and Roman started building this wooden train model Roman had for Christmas.  Roman helped Mark push the pieces out, sand them down and then glue them together.  This is how far they got today, to be continued.............

This afternoon Anais had fun colouring and making her Shrinkles.  She first had to colour them in, cut them out and then bake them in the oven where they curled up, shrunk and then went flat.  When Mark gets home he can use his Dremel drill to drill tiny holes in them and she can make jewellery and various things with them.  She still has more on the sheet to do tomorrow and the pack also came with two transparent sheet's so she can trace or design her own when we get home. She also sewn the ribbon onto the felt heart she made yesterday.

Picture for nanny - "daddy boiled the hand warmers this morning when we went out to keep our hands warm and then we re-activated them later in the day!" x

Before tea we took Anais and Roman to the swimming pool, neither of us got in as it is tiny and busy, we were both happy to sit on the side and watch them.  Anais is a confident swimmer who spends most of the time under water.  Roman is not so confident as Anais but is strong enough to follow Anais into the deep end without getting himself into any trouble.  On Saturday he made a friend in the swimming pool, a little boy his age called "Finley" so for the past three days he has been playing with his new friend.

Mark had the James Bond complete DVD collection for Christmas.  Roman has been asking to watch them so we brought them on holiday with us.  Tonight after tea Mark, Anais and Roman watched the first film "Dr No" followed by "X-Men" DVD they borrowed from the DVD library in reception.

Today I finished the Rico Loopy scarf in slate colour.  When the kids went to bed we watched "Copycat" (borrowed film from DVD library).  Too scary for me so I started to knit another scarf in Katia Rocio Plus, love this colour, so autumnal/Christmassy.