A weekend away, a couple of evenings out, a birthday and more.

Having waved goodbye to Granny at the station in Birmingham on the way to Thinktank on Thursday, on Saturday we were off to visit her and Big Grandad, having planned this trip a while ago.  It was mainly as a getaway for A's birthday which was on Monday, even though he took his laptop and did some work while we were there!  It did mean though that he and I were able to pop out for a drink - a rare treat! - on Saturday evening with my little brother, aka Uncle M and again on Sunday this time with my Dad.

On Sunday we went up to see Great Grandma in the morning and we also popped round to see Great Grandad, late afternoon.  The latter is usually something of a trial, as he is generally very hard work as conversation is like getting blood out of a stone.  This time however, he was almost chatty and then we found common ground when we mentioned Strictly Come Dancing!

On Monday, having packed up, we left in the morning and headed to Stratford-on-Avon to visit Shakespeare's Birthplace, one of our favourite places to visit.  We needed to replace our annual pass, so M was wearing her Blue Peter badge, as it's one of the many, many places you can get into for free if you have one.  It wasn't clear from the Blue Peter website, but it does include all of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust properties, which is a very good thing, slightly disappointing was that a family ticket was 40p cheaper than two adults and one child, so it didn't save us any money on this occasion.  I'm hoping very much that K will have managed to earn herself a badge by the time we need to cough up again in a year or so's time!  We had lovely chats with a couple of the actors who we have spent time with previously, both of whom were very impressed by M's badge.

From there we went straight to Asfordby for the regular twice monthly group we go to, which was a board game and crafty theme.  We had taken a few games with us to share and we had a go at some others.  K & M both made various things out of beads and pipe-cleaners, which became part of a new game they played with various friends.  It sounded rather complicated, with elves, fire-fairies, kings and queens and baddies trying to steal 'bloodstones' which allowed entry into different worlds.  It all seemed to make perfect sense to them though.

A & I had a go at Othello, which we had both played before but not for an awfully long time.  It was a close game, but I won!  I saw M playing Blokus duo with her friend Z, that we'd taken along.  A couple of families had a go at Destination Hogwarts, another game we'd taken with us and A & I introduced E, the friend who organises the group, to Carcassonne.  We also offered to let her borrow it, which she eagerly accepted, but then we accidentally brought it home with us, so we'll take it when we see her later in the week.  The final game that we, A, M & I had a go at, with Z, was Zoo Am I?, which was fun.

M got this surprisingly quickly.

A - he took a while to get this.

By the time we'd got home, given A his birthday cards and presents and the girls had had something to eat it was time for Brownies and A & I had a curry later as a birthday treat.

Today was our usual busy Tuesday.  Piano lessons, Phase 10 while with each girl while the other was having her lesson, home for lunch, then out for gymnastics.  Both girls today completed their Level 4 Proficiency Core Gymnastics Award.  Then it was home for an early tea before being picked up by the friend that takes them and her girls to korfball training.  Tomorrow is a quiet day with just swimming usually, although as K has a ballet exam coming up soon, she is doing an extra ballet session instead, which is something of a feat of logistics, as M will be going to swimming as usual, but we have managed it before, so it's doable.