Welsh Holiday

We went to the wood to toast marshmallows. I have two marshmallows because I toasted one and Grandpa toasted the other for me. We cooked on the bonfire and had turkey and jacket potatoes and corn on the cob and marshmallows were pudding. I ate lots of marshmallows, one went on fire and I blew it out. When I put freshly cut fir twigs on the fire the oil in the needles goes crack crack like firecrackers or fireworks. I kept finding firecracker twigs because I liked the sound they made.

We have a stormkettle for boiling water and cooking soup and it uses small twigs so I collected lots of sticks and twigs for it and put them in the top when the flames weren't coming out of the top. Once I put a stick in the water by mistake.

When we got to the wood we moved all the stones in the fire circle and hunted for minibeasts. We found a frog which I chased it until it disappeared in the ivy and Mummy told me to leave it alone as it was scared. We found spiders with egg sacs and their nests and lots and lots and lots of baby woodlice and grown up woodlice. There was a slug and a millipede and a worm too.

Mummy and Daddy wanted a new tent for storing tools but I saw this pink one that pops up and you have to be careful so it doesn't hit you on the chin. They bought it for me as an early Christmas present and I also got a wind up torch that repels bugs too all night long with just one wind up which I held in bed with me at night like a cuddly.

We put my tent near to Mummy and Daddy's tent so that I could call them if I needed them at night and didn't have to shout too loud. I could open my tent all by myself. I slept on a campbed that filled up my whole tent even though it should have had two people in. So I could only take Tulip & Lavendar (invisible friends) in with me. I had a sleeping bag liner that I called a Sleeping Pocket and it had a space for a pillow but I put my head under it.

My last night in the wood Mummy woke me in the middle of the night and took me to the cottage where Nanna & Grandpa were staying and put me in bed again. She woke me because Daddy was poorly and had to go the the hospital (Ysbyty in Welsh) as he had appendicitus. The doctors didn't operate they gave him tablets to make him better and Mummy got him from the hospital for me to cuddle.

Whilst Daddy was at the hospital Nanna & Grandpa took me to the Snowdon Railway. The train pushed us up the mountain and pulled us down. It was the same train and the same driver too. It was a busy train and we sat at the front of the green train with red carriages (the colour of strawberries outside). I sat on Nanna's lap all the time.

We were in clouds at the top of Snowdon. On the way down we could see out of the right side but we were in clouds on the left side.

It was cold and wet and I was a little miserable at the summit because of the weather. Nanna and Grandpa took photographs of us at the summit and Nanna had to sit on the steps to take her pictures.

On the way to the wood we went to an archery shop and bought a bow and some arrows and a target for me to use in the wood because Daddy and Mummy won't let me shoot in the garden in case I hit the chickens. Daddy also bought a bow and arrows like mine for him to use as he wanted to shoot in the wood too, he called it field archery but it wasn't in a field as there were cows and sheep in the fields near us.



Daddy showed me how to shoot and talked to me and Mummy said to pretend there was someone behind me that I was trying to elbow so I would keep my elbow up. Grandpa put one of Daddy's arrows on the floor so that I knew where to put my feet because you have to point them away from the target and point your arm to the target. I held the bow tight with my left hand and the string with my first fingers on the right hand and stood up very tall. My first arrows bounced off the target, some wobbled and hung down and two arrows went over the top and Daddy & Grandpa had to hunt for them as they went quite a long way. My final arrows all went in the target and I hit the gold but not the very middle of the gold. I enjoyed archery a gigantic bit and want to do it again. At first I was scared because I thought I would shoot myself but now I know I won't. Mummy and Daddy still won't let me shoot in the garden because the neighbours have rabbits that don't know about archery but I think my chickens would be OK. Daddy says he is going to talk to his archery club so that I can shoot there but I won't shoot as far as Daddy does until my bow is much bigger.

When I stayed at the cottage with Nanna & Grandpa I spent some time on the farm. They didn't have pigs for me to feed but I did stroke and cuddle meg the sheepdog. One of her eyes is pale and bright blue and the other is dark brown. I threw a ball for Meg to chase and I cuddled her lots. She and the other sheepdogs chase our car whenever we leave the farm. Meg is a very, very, very fast runner but I think police dogs are best at chasing cars because police dogs are faster at running.






Kathryn has a trampoline and she lets people bounce on it if they have grown ups (parents) with them. When Daddy came back from the hospital Mummy and Daddy had some food and I wanted to go on the trampoline but had to wait for them to eat. Then they took me to the trampoline and watched me bounce. One of the other sheepdogs came to see what was happening and I got off the trampoline to give her a cuddle like I cuddled Meg but she sanpped at me. I was frightened but Mummy explained that she was trying to tell me she didn't want a cuddle like when my chickens peck at me when they don't want to be carried any more. I like bouncing on a trampoline and can go very high. I did lots and lots and lots of star jumps until it was time for bed.







Nanna gave me holiday pocket money and I told her I wanted to take her out for an ice-cream. I paid for her to have one ice cream and had enough money for one for me. I had a banana icecream covered with marshmallow and a fudge stick too. Nanna just wanted vanilla. Daddy bought icecreams for him and Mummy and Grandpa. We had the icecreams inside the shop because it was raining outside and I wanted to go to the beach for a picnic or fish and chips.

We drove onto the beach at Black Rock Sands and parked the car on the sand. It was so windy that we couldn't throw the frisbee because it kept blowing away and we had to chase it across the sand. Grandpa had bought a beach ball but it rolled so fast that Nanna and I couldn't catch it despite running as fast as we could. Daddy ran even faster and chased the ball into the sea and managed to catch it and carry it back to me and we put it in a bag and in the car to keep it safe. Daddy's trousers were really really wet and Mummy thought it was funny and laughed a lot.

There was so much sand that we had to walk a really long way from the car to find the sea and I wanted to swim to the other side but it was cold so I just paddled with Daddy and splashed him and Mummy.

As we walked along the beach we looked in pools of sea water and at shells and things and we found crabs and worm poo and seagull poo. All the crabs were really little and dead and I could pick them up. I had to be careful where I walked because I had barefeet and there were lots of razor shells.

I left footprints and so did Daddy. Muumy's shoes left prints that looked like crabs.

We saw seaweed in different colours. There were shells that looked really funny and they were sea urchin shells but they broke really easily so we spent a long time looking for whole ones. When we had finished hunting for shells and paddling we went back to the car to find the picnic.

Grandpa said we should picnic on the sand dunes to shelter from the wind but they were slopey so we put blankets down and I sat at the front. There was a cheeky seagull that watched us eating our picnic and Grandpa scared it off but it kept coming back. After the picnic we drove along the beach to the other entrance. I haven't driven on sand before.

It was a good holiday and at the end I went home with Nanna and Grandpa because Daddy was still ill with his appendicitus and Mummy had some pottery parties to do.

Fudge

We went to Bristol for Uncle Ken's 80th birthday. At the restaurant we could see the river and there were loads of boats including a houseboat. I could see their kettle through the window. There was a potato hiding under a chair on the decking when I went to look at the boats. I ate asparagus in coats with a water (poached) duck egg to dunk them in. Mummy had to hold the coats because they were hot and I steered her hand to dunk the asparagus and eat it. It was also Hannah's birthday. She kept pulling funny faces at me whilst I ate my food and I pulled faces at her too. Hannah had some toys to play with and a roundabout and a seesaw and slide for the little people to play with on the floor. Fudge kept knocking it all over and Hannah did tell Fudge not to do it but she still did it.
Auntie Carolyn had a musical knife that played different songs when you pressed buttons on the singing knife. They used the singing knife to cut up the cake for Uncle Ken.
There I saw a lady dog, not a boy dog, called Fudge because she was fudge coloured. Fudge was at Auntie Carolyn's house in Bristol. She had tickly fur so at first every time she came near I jumped at Mummy so Fudge could get by. When I left in my pyjamas I kissed Fudge byebye. I have a dog called Fudge at home. Fudge is a real dog that sits in my hand and after meeting the other Fudge I decided that my Fudge was also a girl dog not a boy dog and my Fudge can do tricks too. I took Fudge in my pocket to nursery so I could show Laura all Fudge's tricks. She can spin, roll over, stay and hunt for her treat, also she can leap over my head and onto my arm.

At the Asparagus Festival on the Bank Holiday I saw a steam train that was little and the man had sooty hands because of the coal that he used to make the steam train work. Sometimes the steam train Dolly could go really well when it is windy but it wasn't windy so a boy and I were pumping the steam to make Dolly go. She didn't have enough wind to make the steam to go so I sat on the seat and tried the steering wheel and looked at the water tank and the fire. I liked the bit of steam coming out of her chimney.

There was a man dressed up like asparagus and he had a green face. I ate a big bowl of asparagus with a dipping sauce but it wasn't tomato ketchup because Mummy & Daddy said I couldn't have ketchup with asparagus. There was a wagon with two shire horses. Whenever the horse turned round I shot over to Mummy because I thought it would gobble up my hair so then I would have no hair on my head. I'd be bald. Daddy held my hand so that I could pat the horses legs. It had gigantic feet, as big as a plate of asparagus or Mummy's head.

Nanna and Grandpa were house hunting whilst we were at the asparagus festival and they took me home with them for a NannaGrandpa holiday. Nanna and I made shortbread and gingerbread teddy bear biscuits to take to the picnic. I went for a long walk with Nanna and Grandpa and we needed umbrellas. With Nanna and Grandpa I went to meet my cousins Russell, Tom and baby Edward. We had a picnic in the rain. It poured and poured with rain. I splashed in puddles in my muddy wellingtons and got wet feet because my wellies had holes in that Russell found for me. Mummy bought me new hedgehog wellingtons but it kept being sunny.

It was so sunny that at nursery we ate in the garden because it was hot inside. I went to nursery with Mummy as her assistant because she working there and Frankie told me to go in the garden and I played with the sandpit with my friends. They got the swimming pool out and Frankie was splashing everyone with the hosepipe when filling the pool. I took my swimming costume to nursery when I went for the whole day but it was not sunny enough anymore so I didn't get to wear it or to splash in the swimming pool.

At swimming I told Craig I didn't want any armbands and he didn't give me any so I had no armbands all swimming lesson. Grandpa looked after me on Wednesday but he was stuck in traffic, so he was late so Mummy took me to the toddler group she was working at and Grandpa met us there. This time I didn't help Mummy set up because there was a chained pirate boat to play with. Also they had pink sand with dinosaurs to play with so Mummy had to set everything up herself. The other days this week I helped squirt out paint for people and cleaned up the tiles for Mummy and played with the children and guarded the paints from the babies.

I am so strong now that I can pick up my chickens and cuddle them. Sometimes when they make an eagle shape I kiss them between their wings or cuddle them and put my head on their back between their wings. I love my chickens. Spot is being broody which means she sticks her tail feathers up and makes them big and she makes a funny beurking sound. We made our own bubble mixture and I tested it by blowing bubbles at my chickens.

Daddy was at an archery competition in Leamington at the weekend and he took me with him to set up his tent and his target had the number 2 on it. On the next day of the competition in the hot sun Mummy drove me to Leamington and I showed her where all the targets were but I couldn't find Daddy's tent as there were lots of tents and people and we had to be quiet to not disturb the archery people. We hid in Daddy's tent whilst he was checking his arrows and he was surprised to see us but he was happy because we had brought him a drink and some crisps. I let him have some of my Quavers so that he would let me have some of his crisps. We stayed to watch him but it was hot and we had things to do at home so Mummy said byebye but I wanted to play on the playground so I went on the boat and the climbing frame and got off the frame by swinging. I wanted to go on the slide and had to ask the big girls to let me go and then it was time to go home and we had icicles to eat in the garden and the chickens wanted to eat them too but we didn't let them. When I got up in the morning Daddy had two tropheys and a medal in a cupboard to show me. He didn't win but he did come second and his team won too and he had a medal for hitting the very middle of the target when it was furthest away because they moved the targets during the day. There was a target with children on and it was close to the archers and Daddy said that I could shoot at that one when I am old enough to do archery and go to competitions with him so I showed it to Mummy when we visited Daddy. I am going to do archery like Daddy and I will win lots of medals but at the moment i do not have a bow because I am not allowed to shoot in the garden because I might hit my chickens by mistake but Daddy doesn't hit them by mistake even when they sit under his target but I am not allowed to be in the garden when Daddy is shooting even though I am bigger than the chickens.

Whilst Daddy was away Mummy started reading "Jungle Book" to me. I like looking at pictures of Mowgli and Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. I like Mowgli the man cub best of all and his friends the wolf cubs. At the weekend when Daddy was at archery Dominic asked me to play in his garden and I played on his trampoline and taught him to play Snow White and he killed me by poking swords into my chest and then I went onto the trampoline to be dead and he did a fingertip kiss to make me alive again.

We went for a walk at nursery to the Mere and we saw a heron sitting on the "No Fishing" sign even though he was waiting for fish,so he was fishing. He was breaking the law but Mummy told me that he couldn't read the sign so he wasn't breaking the law. There was a picture of the heron on the newspaper so he must have stayed on the sign a long time.