Wepre Park

What a beautiful day it was yesterday. It did help that I had another day off work. I do love my job but I do love play days more, and work gets very serious from next Wednesday onwards for quite some time but I will tell you all about that another day.  

I contemplated the beach yesterday but child #1 and #2 had other plans. Child #3, however, is very fond of Wepre park mostly because it contains a 'Skate Park' where he can ride around on his BMX and try out the ramps etc whilst learning from the bigger kids. Big groups of teenagers are often given a bad name and labelled as 'no good' yet all I ever witness there is a bunch of kids that look out for one another, especially the younger ones. If child #3 falls he has a crowd of kids there within seconds to make sure he is ok and if he isn't then I am summoned immediately by any one of them.

We live in North East Wales, and whilst we are very close to some of the most beautiful areas of the UK, my exact location doesn't really fit that description. How I ended up living here is a long story but I remain in this area because it makes my children happy. They have their friends, some family, and they like their schools so whilst they are growing I have no plans to relocate. However, there are some parts of this little town that I actually really love and Wepre Park is probably at the top of that list. Unlike child #3, I don't love it because of the skate park so I used some bargaining power with my youngest yesterday: 

"Can we go to the Skate Park today mummy? :) " 

"Yes...IF...at some point you will walk with mummy to the castle?"

"But but...I want to ride my bike!!??"

"Well...ok...but if we go for the whole afternoon then we could do both?"

[Child #3 thinks]

"And I will buy you ice cream"

"OK!! :)"

Its so easy sometimes. So I took a book, and the ripple blanket project, and this month's 'Let's Knit' and camped out in the sun whilst he cycled for an hour or so. Then, when he asked for ice-cream, I packed all that up and got the camera out. This is why I love Wepre Park...come with us...its a bit photo heavy...but its a beautiful walk, on a beautiful day. Its a beautiful walk in every season really, and I am sure I will show you the walk in the other seasons as they happen later in the year, but for now, this is summer...

Possibly my favourite picture from yesterday.

The famous 'Red Rocks'.

He did ask to go on this walk in the end...honest !

So many steps for such little legs...

...but its worth it!

At the top of all those steps you reach the remains of Ewloe Castle...

All that is required is a crown!

Some Views from the top...

And then back down again...

Now for the walk back to the park. We take a slightly different route for a very good reason...

Clearly the picture taking is beginning to annoy!

Nearly there...

(This was my 2nd favourite pic.)

Finally we reach the waterfall...

So that's it. We then, as promised, returned to the Skate Park, where I continued with the ripples and reading and he proceeded to launch himself off ramps!

On the way back I was contacted by Child #2, who had returned from an overnight stay at a friends. "Where are you all? I'm at home xx" I resisted temptation to respond with "Out." and instead invited her to join us, which she did. In true Child #2 style, she lasted five minutes sat with me, at which point she spotted some friends and I was deserted again, but it was nice to see her for those five minutes!

We all remained there until tea time, not that we really wanted to leave then either though.

If you would like to read the official Wepre Park information you can read this PDF thanks to Flintshire County Council. It does contain lots of information about the history of the park, castle and various other things that I have shown you.

Discover Wepre Park booklet (PDF 1MB new window) 

Mirror Mirror on the Wall

Another week nearly over then, and I have also reached the end of my two and half week break from work but its been fun. I did have a list of things that I intended on doing whilst I was off and I have to admit that I've done absolutely none of it! I haven't painted the bathroom door (on my to do list since last November), I still have a shelf that is wonky (and has been since Easter) and my door knocker is still sat on the bookcase (since I placed it there in June)! I think its safe to assume that my motivation for doing jobs on my beloved house appears to have also taken a break. In fact the only thing that motivated me to do anything this year was the Olympic Torch passing our house and the thought of everyone being stood around staring at my very tired looking front door and garden. So it got a lick of paint and a polish! So that's what I haven't done anyway, and I'm really not bothered because instead of those things I have spent some decent time just being with my kids and having fun.


I did take on a little project though to brighten up my front room...that mirror. Now, a while ago on one of my TK Max shopping trips I came across some large mirrors that I fell in love with, until I noted the price which was in excess of £150. I loved them for their patchwork frames (I do like patchwork things a lot, and its a great way of re-using fabrics that I would otherwise throw out) so I hunted the internet for a cheaper version but failed. There weren't many, and those that I found were either ugly or far too expensive. I did however already have a mirror the right size so the cogs began turning! This was the sort of thing I was aiming at:

So I ransacked my fabric stash, did a bit of googling on amateur upholstering, purchased foam, staples (and you know all about this already!) and a little extra fabric, and gave it my best shot!


So this was the mirror before...it was ok but nothing special in my opinion.

A little bit of revamping (watched over by child #3 - with a frown mostly)...

and here it is... one bright, cheerful, homely and slightly wacky mirror...

I love it, and so do all three offspring. They all agree (for once) that its very 'me'. Hmmm. I love it because it looks home made, and it contains fabrics which I love, that I've picked out over the years rather that specifically for this. I might add a few embellishments to it at some point too but I will leave it and use it as it is for now until I'm sure.


Well...back to work tomorrow to begin facing the busiest time of the year. I really like my job (I'll not bore you with the details today) but just not in August and September - it's a bit crazy and stressful and means my wine consumption usually increases too!  


See you soon. 

Birthday Cake

Well, as usual, it has been a busy few days. Yesterday was the main cause as it was child #3's 7th birthday. Monday evening was therefore dedicated to birthday preparation. Having previously purchased a bike (and my bank manager was already stood with her arms folded, stern faced, shaking her head in disapproval at the cost of that!) I then had that familiar motherly panic of 'but he won't have anything to unwrap...he will be upset... etc etc.' Inevitably I returned shortly with 3 cheap, but none the less brilliant, wrap-able gifts. 


By 10pm balloons and birthday banners strewed the living room ready for the morning. If you can't fuss about birthdays when you are seven, when can you? Child #2 (whilst blowing up a few balloons) commented 'This is ace...he will love it...you never did this for me!" I sighed, before explaining that I DID do stuff like this for her but she just doesn't remember! If only I had kept this blog then to prove it. Maybe I can hunt down some photos instead?


Whilst all this was going on child #1 was lovingly and skilfully preparing a birthday cake, in the shape of a football. Doesn't that sound idyllic? She announced this plan earlier in the day and, with a slight raised eyebrow, I went along with it and purchased the necessary ingredients. True to her word she began baking at 9pm (I was a little concerned by this point that I would be the one baking) and stage one was relatively successful. 

Then she began the icing. This is where the cursing, growling and minor screaming started and that idyllic scene I described before went out the window! "Its sticking to the worktop!!!...it won't work....I can't do it!!!" I poured a glass of wine (for me), and calmly showed her how to roll the icing out and then remove it from the worktop to place it on the cake. Tranquillity was partially restored again...until she started on the black 'pentagons' (which I pointed out were in fact hexagons). I had retired to a room at the front of the house (out of earshot) with said glass of wine by this point and assumed all was going well. I was interrupted by child #2 reporting 'Mum...I think you better go and help again...its not good!!' The scene I arrived to was a worktop smothered in a black/grey sloppy mess, a rolling pin in a similar state and child #1 with black hands, face, clothes, shoes and hair. I did try to remain straight faced but failed miserably only to be told "MUM!!...this ISN'T funny - LOOK!!!!'  With a little re-engineering we finished the cake together and all was calm again, maybe not edible, but calm. And then She cleaned up the mess...wonders will never cease!

And the finished product...





I will reserve judgement until I have tasted this one! 

Oblivious to all of this chaos, child #3 had a fab birthday, and loved his cake. We went out for the day to the local 'Ice Cream Farm'. Its a great day out...cow milking, play areas, gift shops and, of course, Ice cream! There are just so many different flavours but between us we managed to test out the Baileys, Lemon Meringue, Mango and Passion Fruit and Rhubarb and Custard ones. Delicious! (If you are now desperate to try these for yourself then here is the link http://www.cheshirefarmicecream.co.uk/.)


So that's it for birthdays in our house until after Christmas, no doubt my children will soon be counting the days for that event! 


Here are some birthday pictures..