Jack's Birthday, Father's Day And A Day At The Beach

What a wonderful weekend we've just had. It was Jack's second birthday on Saturday, how those two years have passed in the blink of an eye. Eleanor and Jacob decided not to throw a party this year but had an open house for family instead. 

Mick and I, along with Daniel and Jasmine, went round in the morning to give Jack his presents. The slide we bought him was a huge success, once he'd opened it there was no counting how many times he was up and down.

As always, books attracted his attention. I'm so pleased that he's a little bookworm, he loves to be read to but he's just as happy to look at a book and turn the pages himself. He got so many presents, he was opening them all day. Jacob's family don't live close by so we left before lunch time so they could spend the majority of the day with him, they don't see him as often as we do. We returned early evening just before they left so that we could spend another hour with him before bedtime.

Yesterday was Father's Day and we spent it with Daniel, Jasmine, Eleanor, Jacob and Jack at Sandsend on the east coast. As we came over the moors it got rather misty and as we arrived on the beach there was a sea fret, or a coastal fog, which occurs when warm air blows over the cold sea causing the moisture to condense into a thick mist. It happens mostly on the east coast of the UK. We couldn't even see the sea.

Sandsend is a small village with a lovely beach about three miles up the coast from Whitby and is popular with fossil hunters. A beck, or small stream, cuts across the sand. You can see steam rising from it in the photo above as the sea fret was clearing and the heat of the sun began to work its magic.

Jack loves the seaside, he's happy digging in the sand, collecting pebbles or playing in the water. The beck is ideal for him as it's shallow and there's no waves to splash him.

It doesn't mean he won't get wet though, that's what becomes of crouching a little too low. Eleanor was well prepared with a change of clothes.

We went off for a little walk. As you can see, it wasn't very busy, I was surprised as it was a beautiful day once the mist lifted.

I think Jack enjoyed his birthday weekend very much and Mick and Jacob enjoyed Father's Day. I certainly enjoyed spending time with my family, such special memories made every time we're together.

I'm going to sign off the blog for a little while now, we shall be going on holiday soon but I will catch up with all your lovely posts on my return.

Mick's 60th - June

It will be Mick's 60th birthday in August so I'm arranging little surprises for him throughout 2026, hopefully one each month.

The surprise for June happened last Thursday. We started off with a lovely lunch at a fabulous olde worlde pub in a nearby village. They serve really good food with an extensive menu.

The inn dates back to 1540 and still has a traditional interior, three small rooms and a lovely beer garden which we may have used had the weather been a little nicer.

It was home for a little rest before we set off on our journey, we were heading to Birmingham.

Les Miserables is one of Mick's favourite musicals, and my absolute favourite. When I saw there was going to be an Arena Concert Spectacular at the Utilita Arena, I had to get tickets. This was definitely something we were both going to enjoy. 

We were seated in area B, right in front of the stage but not too far forward that we had to stretch our necks to look up. The atmosphere was electric and the production was amazing. The arena tour is more like a concert than a traditional theatre show as sets and props are replaced by lighting and projection screens and the orchestra is on a tiered balcony and can be seen, rather than in an orchestra pit, but all the songs are still there.

The cast were fantastic, they put on an amazing show. Samantha Barks who played the part of Éponine in the film took the part of Fantine, she was brilliant, as were Matt Lucas and Helen Walsh as the Thénardiers. I think Bradley Jaden who took the part of Inspector Javert stole the show though, he was incredible. 

We both loved it and the arena setting works brilliantly for this musical, in fact Mick said he preferred it to the stage show. It was a wonderful night out.

Granny Wrap

You may remember that I was using up all the tiniest scraps of hand dyed yarn in my stash, turning them into a Granny Wrap shawl. You can see the planning part of this project in my Little Pearls Of Colour post back in 2024. I had sorted through all my leftovers putting anything which weighed less than 6g to one side to use in this project.

It's been a labour of love but the Granny Wrap by Annaboo's House is now finished. I have to tell you that some of those scraps extended for just a few stitches so you can imagine how many ends I've had to sew in, but I just don't trust the knots in magic knot balls so it was worth it to me for peace of mind. 

Some scraps were longer than others but none weighed more than 6g, the total weight of the shawl is a remarkable 403g which means it's a very scrappy colourful shawl. It's amazing isn't it, a couple of people in my family have laughed at me for saving such small oddments of yarn but just look at what they've all added up to and what I've created with them.

"And what did you have left at the end?" you ask. Just the tiniest of scraps so I think I fulfilled the goal. The darker one was intentionally left out as I wanted to use brighter colours.

It's so soft and surprisingly warm so it will be perfect to either drape round my shoulders or lay across my lap when the colder weather returns. In the meantime, doesn't it look pretty in the sunshine.