A kind of Disney Halloween!

 Piglet, Stitch and Agent P all feature heavily this year at Halloween

{then later Megs and I went to see the NTLive screening of Danny Boyle's Frankenstein -

so at least a there was a little monster action there!}

Happy Birthday Grandpa...

... even if you didn't get to blow your 75-70 candles out....

at least you got to eat your cake!

A Perfect Autum Day - Malham Cove

Blue sky - Autumn Landscape - A hike up to the top of Malham Cove

And only minor moaning from Ben

As close to perfection as we're going to get!

Raging Rivers

I sold the visit to Bolton Abbey on the promise of playing on the stepping stones-

But two days of pretty solid rain had left the river in flood - 

so no playing in the water - 

but instead a very impressive walk along the banks and through the woods

watching whole trees being washed downstream!

Two Days in York...

... with very few photos!

I blame the weather - it was VERY wet.

But we had a great lunch at the GBK....

{where we met Ben's Form Tutor from School -

 off in York for a few days after his wedding on Saturday -

and he meets a pupil - lucky man!}

... enjoyed the exhibition at the Jorvik Centre...

{though Megs felt the smell was far too realistic}

... laughed our way through the movie Turbo...

...shopped...

{though failed to find the new book Megs was after - 

Amazon Prime to the rescue} 

... and visited the National Railway Museum.

In other news - and in the interests of full disclosure -

  Ben has a horrible cough

 and had a moderately impressive meltdown walking back to the car in the rain!

Just keeping it real!

Songs of Praise

Megs was a reader at the Songs of Praise Service 

at the Warrington Halliwell Jones Stadium 

there was a lovely atmosphere some great singing led by Jackie and the New Song Band -

and Megan's reading? - she sounds like a young Hermione Granger -and though I may be biased - I think she was the best of the day :)

An autumn day at Chester Zoo

Megs, Ben and Al have already had 2 days off 

{well - 1 1/2 days of for Al really}

But today was the first day of half term for me - 

it's unseasonably warm still - 

and we had a lovely trip to Chester Zoo.

Ben wanted to see the aquarium, 

the giant bugs were quite a hit!