The Amazing Festival Of Lights!

 

 

Early this morning we set of for Warminster, passing a very misty Salisbury Cathedral, at 404ft its the tallest in England.

 

 

En route, Hubby made a secret stop over nearby, at a place his colleague has to visit every day with his little son who is dinosaur mad.

Pop a pound into the slot and a very impressive roar comes out..and some fairly convincing movements too...and all for charity!

Had Teen Two been younger he would have been wowed...as it was, it did raise a small wow, which was gratifying for Hubby at least!

 

 

I made the most of the couple of hours in the car and got on with the stripey sock

 

 

 

 

 

Pretty soon we were at our destination....Longleat Safari Park.

FQ2FF asked the question "what were you doing at 10.44am?"

Well I reckon I was about here...in the lemur walkthrough...and just look at this cute bundle of lemurs!

 

Next was the "do not get out of your cars" section..starting with one of my favourites, the zebras

 

 

 

 

then it was the monkey enclosure...the highlight of the visits really.....of course there was no way we were going to take my new car through here, but Hubby bravely allowed his car to be provided as their new toy for the day...well for 15mins of it anyway!

 

 

We had more than one visitor and one of them has stripped something off the back of the car....to be expected and Hubby isn't too worried thankfully.

 

 

Next up was hand feeding the fallow deer...

 

 

 

...they are not at all shy that's for sure!

 

 

 

Teen One didn't fancy getting her hands messy....and she wasn't disappointed when she saw the state of Teen Two's!

 

 

 

We even had the honour of having this grand stag come to pay a visit...and thankfully he didn't attempt to get more than his nose on the car window!

 

 

 

Next up was the Big Cats...tigers...

 

 

 

 

 

...lions....

 

 

 

...baby cheetahs...

 

 

 

...then an hour or so later, back to the walking safari, staring with  an anteater....such a peculiar looking creature!

 

 

 

 

We might have bunnies at home, but Teen Two couldn't resist these giant ones...

 

 

 

...this rather flat tortoise is aptly called a Pancake Tortoise...

 

 

 

...Teen Two got close up and friendly with a snake....

 

 

...and we ALL held Gwen!!!

Weren't we brave!

 

 

After a tour of Longleat House, a hot chocolate stop, it was dark outside and the amazing Festival Of Lights was open.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part of it was dedicated to Beatrix Potter for her 100th Anniversary...

 

 

 

 

part was to celebrate all things Safari...

 

 

 

...although we sadly didn't see Anne the elephant today, she was resting in her barn, it was amazing to see these elephants made of china egg cups and tea cups!

 

 

 

There was also a 50th Birthday celebration for Longleat itself...

 

 

...everywhere we looked there were stunning displays...

 

 

..representing life at Longleat, and it was a sight to behold and not captured very well at all on camera.

Even the light rain didn't dampen our pleasure as we turned each corner wondering what we would see next.

It truly was a work of art and something we would definitely do again.

 

It's been another lovely family day....something some of my friends no longer are able to do, their own Teens no longer want to hang around with their parents, or go on holiday with them....we are cherish these special days together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More German Markets And Sympathies To Berlin

 

Today we started the day off with a hearty full English in Ikea....we only have the small breakfast ( who could eat two of everything?!) and it lasts us for lunch as well.

No one was happier to be there than me as I had been awake most of the night with a niggly pain in my stomach....but thankfully it went away after about eight hours...I was beginning to think we might have to postpone Christmas!

 

 

 

I must say, you can't beat Ikea for being family friendly, I noticed for the first time today, they have a special private area for mums who are breastfeeding.

 

 

And for mums who are bottle feeding, or have toddlers, they have this lovely kitchen area, complete with everything a mum away from home would need.

There is also of course, the play areas where parents can eat and watch their little ones at the same time.

 

 

After buying the bits and pieces I had wanted in Ikea, we walked into Southampton town centre.

Funnily enough it was full of German Market Stalls...selling the same produce we saw in London!

Thinking about German Market Stalls...how sad to hear of the attack on one in Berlin last night.

Our hearts go out to the families who have lost loved ones out there.

We had actually talked about going to a Dutch or German market this year, so thankful we didn't.

Walking round Southampton we saw our favourite Pretzel makers from the US.....Auntie Annes make the best cinnamon pretzel ever!

 

 

Teen One loves "unusual" skirts and was excited to  see Cath Kidstone have brought out a Disney range....and couldn't resist buying this lovely skirt.

It will go with lots of things and bring a smile to the faces of her pupils no doubt!

 

 

 

 

When we arrived home, I was so so excited to see my sock wool had arrived!

I can thoroughly recommend the seller Woolstack

I ordered yesterday and it arrived today!

 

 

This afternoon Teen One made more gift tags...she has really been enjoying this project and posted pictures to a friend in Malaysia who now wants some!

 

 

 

 

 

Cheeky Milly decided to help as well!

 

 

 

I spent the afternoon in the attic wrapping presents....most of which are done finally!

Only when I came downstairs did I remember two DVD's I bought for Teen Two, but have no idea where they are...GRRR!

Why do I always do it!!

 

 

 

Later in the afternoon the bunnies old owners called round with  a gift for us which was very unexpected...

 

 

 

 

...Teen Two happened to have the bunnies in at the time, so it was lovely for them to see them being truly loved.

The little girl came as well, its the first time she has seen them since the summer...I do hope it doesn't rekindle her love for them!

Tomorrow we have booked to see The Festival Of Lights at Longleat, so I hope I don't have another disturbed night!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crafting MoJo With Teen One

 

This morning was my usual sort of Monday, a visit to one of my Recycled Teenagers, then a trip to Morrisons.

I saw these for the first time, and as both Teens are Oreo fans, I thought they would make a great stocking filler....especially at 50p.

 

 

Teen Two always chooses something from the hot deli counter, and today when I saw these I thought I would take Teen One home a treat ( and me of course!)

Having seen so many wonderful things at the weekend, at purse breaking prices....these seemed a snip!

And very delicious they were too!

 

 

 

This afternoon I had earmarked for a few home made presents, and was hoping to enlist the help of Teen One, she was otherwise engaged to start with...

 

 

 

 so whilst she was decorating her gingerbread house,

 I collected together all my bits and bobs.

 

 

 

Pretty soon we had the dining room table filled with ribbons, buttons and goodness knows what...

 

 

...I think I am safe to share what we are making, as I don't think this side of the family read the blog ( oops if they do!) and they aren't for the folk who I know do read it.

I always appreciate the lovely gift tags we get from FQ2FF, so thought we would make a large batch to give as presents, so when they have a present to give, they can just go to a jar and choose a handmade gift tag to finish off the parcel.

I wouldn't say card crafts are really my thing, but it was good to use up some stash....

 

 

 

... and discover something Teen One enjoyed doing too!

We have quite a few more to make, and have left the chaos on the table so we can just dip into it over the next couple of days ....and I really hope we don't get any unexpected visitors as the place is a real eye sore....but you cant be creative and tidy can you?

 

 

I managed to fit in a few rows of my new socks...I have to admit I am not finding the stripey yarn as interesting as the patterned yarn...but nevermind....I have ordered some patterned yarn to make some presents to take to Australia....and I hope it arrives before Christmas as I will have more time on my hands then than at any other time of the year...I need to put it to good use!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

C