Maelstrom

http://www.draytonmanor.co.uk/ThrillRides/Maelstrom.aspx

Tim wanted to go on this but I wasn't so sure. Maybe if we go again.....

Stormforce10

Tim & David went on this..... http://www.draytonmanor.co.uk/ThrillRides/Stormforce.aspx

G-Force

This is the ride I went on with Tim where we hung upside down. Great fun. http://www.draytonmanor.co.uk/ThrillRides/GForce.aspx

Shockwave

This is the ride I wanted to go on at Drayton Manor. See what you think. Has anyone been on it? What's it like? http://www.draytonmanor.co.uk/ThrillRides/Shockwave.aspx

Drayton Manor pics

A couple of nice ones of Tim & Emily at Drayton Manor.

Drayton Manor Pics

David & Tim went on this and got very wet. It's a water coaster. David was very brave as he doesn't do roller coasters. This one even went backwards down a watersplash!! They loved it. It's good too as it raises money/funds a lifeboat named The Drayton Manor.

This was a fun ride for all of us.

Tim & I queued for about 45 mins to go on this. I was PMSL but he was squealing like a girl. You hung upside down held in only by the middle bar for about 2 seconds on the first corkscrew. It was hilarious.

I wanted to go on their standup roller coaster but Tim wouldn't. He said it's just not right to stand on a rollercoaster. Fraidy Cat!! And David certainly wouldn't. He feels sick on the runaway train at Chessington.

Well worth a visit and not as expensive as Chessington or Thorpe Park.

Quote for the day

"It doesn't matter where you go in life, what you do, or how much you have, it's who you have beside you!"

(from a plaque I bought in Mallorca - thought it was quite profound. Just going through all the souvenirs we bought but haven't got round to displaying yet!)

Help needed

Hi all, I'm in need of advice, tips etc. I want to do a scrapbook for mum and dad as it's their 45th wedding anniversary in November. Any ideas of nice papers, embellies etc to use and where to buy them. Personally I prefer to buy rather than download papers so any good online shops you can recommend would be good. I want to get on with it now as I have that one to do, my sister in laws wedding scrapbook from June and our holiday scrapbook from April to do. Have been really bad and not had any mojo for ages. But hopefully once school holidays are over I will have more time and inspiration. Hope you're all ok. hugs Clare x

Another week gone by already

Hi all, sorry not done any crafting at all this week. Hubby off again this week so we've been doing jobs that needed doing (ie taking junk to the tip - not v exciting!) But I did do some gardening with Tim's help love him. And we had a family day out today. We went to Drayton Manor Park in Staffordshire. It was fab. More about that tomorrow and some pics. Take care. xx

Mega candy

The very talented Bev is celebrating 400,000 hits (yes 400k!) and has mega candy on offer till 17th August, so pop over for your chance to win. Will post pics tomorrow as my computer is having a sulk.

London Eye

It was a nice treat to go on the London Eye again (we've all done it at least twice but Emily has never been). But this time it stopped and started a lot more than before and you could really feel it shudder! Not good for people who are claustrophobic or vertigo sufferers!! Also, even with aircon units this time it was so hot. Good views though.

St Pauls' Cathedral - can anyone see the old Bird Woman from Mary Poppins?

Houses of Parliament

Ant people

Emily & Daddy braving vertigo (Daddy really is afraid of heights!)

Tim looking bored, with Emily & daddy being brave!

The Davies 02 Arena!!

Our rather large tent that we bought at last year's Aldershot Army Show, then jinxed the summer as the weather turned crap. This year though the sun shone all through our lovely weekend camping. Hooray! What do you think? Rather posh eh? Carpet and all!! (I'd just tidied up, it didn't look like that most of the time!! PMSL!!) We bought such a big one (oo err!) as when we used to go camping it rained most of the time and we felt claustrophobic in a small tent! Let's hope the weather is always this nice when we go again!

More of the forest walk

The New Forest is so beautiful, I'd forgotten how unspoilt it is. So close to home too, only 1hour drive. Must go there more often.

A walk in the forest

New Forest pics

Toms Field Campsite, Godshill, New Forest

Mobile pics from London

Hi all, these are my mobile pics from London. The outdoor ones are ok but the indoor ones are very blurred. I was very high up in the 02 and used the zoom on my phone but obviously it's not very clear. Oh well, thought you might like to look at the small pics anyway. They look better like that.

New Award

The lovely Karen has given me this award, thanks hun x. The rules say I have to list 5 things I like then pass this onto 5 blogger buddies. So, here goes.....

1. My hubby & kids (love you!)

2. Spending time with my family and friends.

3. Goats cheese fritter with balsamic vinegar dressing, salad & chips (the Fish Inn, Ringwood).

4. The New Forest, I'd forgotten how nice it was till camping there this weekend.

5. My new Mini.

So I'd like to award this to ... Han, Emma, Clare, Joanne & Michele.

Camping in the New Forest

Well we had a great weekend camping in the New Forest. We bought a massive tent last year at the Aldershot Army Show but only managed one wet night in the garden last year before the summer went to pot. So, a bit nervous about what the weather would be like when we came home from London on Thursday in torrential rain, we loaded up and set off early Friday morning.

Don't laugh, but we needed both cars to take all the stuff and us!! I drove the Mini, it was fab. It took about an hour to get to the campsite. It then took about 3 hours to setup the tent as the ground was very flinty and hard to get pegs in without bending them in half. But when it was finally erect (ooo errr missus!) it was great. We helped the lady in the next pitch setup her tent as her hubby was at work and her kids weren't much help. She was very grateful.

The site was very basic but lovely. Called Toms Field in Godshill, run by Tom & his wife who were very pleasant. The view was fab as we were right next to a huge valley in the forest. Horses were in the field next to us. Emily loved it.

After a sandwich and play around the campsite we went to a lovely pub called The Fish Inn in Ringwood for a fantastic dinner. Then we went back to the tent and slept fairly well.

Emily started the next day badly. She became famous as the girl who fell off the tyre swing into the big mud puddle underneath. She was covered!! Not impressed either. Bless.

It was really hot so we mostly stayed by the tent but did go for a walk then a nice lunch in a pub near the site called the Fighting Cocks in Godshill. Very nice Ploughmans. We also ventured into Fordingbridge for about an hour. After more playing in the campsite we went back to the Fish Inn for another belly full of lovely grub.

We got up early and had breakfast then packed up and arrived home about 1.30 ish. Too short, especially as the weather was lovely, but really nice and relaxing. Will post photos later.

Walking with Dinosaurs Live

Well what a great day we had in London. It was extremely hot but fun. Got there about 11.00 and queued for tickets to the London Eye. That was great. Emily had never been on before. Then we booked our river cruise tickets. After that we went to Hamleys and spent a fortune on toys. Then had McDonalds before going back to the boat to the 02 Arena. It's much better in there now than when it was the Millennium Dome.

Our seats were almost in the roof but it gave a good view of the dinosaurs. It was very well done. The kids loved it. A little girl behind us made me crease up. She knew all their names and when the brachiosaurus came on she said "yeah it's my favourite!" then when another one came on (can't remember the name of it) she said "oh look, it's a lumposaurus. I was crying with laughter.

It was very well done despite critics slating it. I took loads of pics on my phone but haven't worked out how to download them yet. Will post them when I've sussed it. Well worth going if you can still get tickets. http://www.dinosaurlive.com/funstuff/

Candy

There's some fab candy up for grabs if you want to take a look on Denise's blog....

http://thecraftyden.blogspot.com/2009/08/its-candy-timeat-last.html

CD recommendation

I've been listening to this CD called Cradlesong by Rob Thomas for a couple of weeks now and love it. See what you think. This is a video of my favourite track, Snowblind. (Hope this link works!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JcqGHpllD0

So much crafting to do, so little time....

Hi all, sorry not been around much, but what with the school holidays and everything I've been really busy. Plus I had another stomach bug again last week which laid me up for 2 days. Had loads of dragon orders too which is good. I made a card on Saturday for Emily's friend's birthday but had to go straight to the party and didn't take a picture of it.

Need to make loads of cards, including one for my sister who moved house at the weekend, a wedding scrapbook for David's sister and still haven't done our holiday scrapbooks from Easter!

Going to see Walking with Dinosaurs Live at the 02 tomorrow then camping Friday till Sunday. Maybe next week I'll get some crafty time.

Hope you're all ok. Will do some blog hopping next week too hopefully. TTFN.