A Midlands break

Last week we took advantage of the half term to have a well deserved family break.

We stayed in a cheap but comfortable Premier Inn in Hockley Heath, just outside Birmingham.  The first day we visited Cadbury World.........yummy!  We have been there once before long before the children were born but it has really changed.  A lot more to it now, plus quite a few free samples too.  We all really enjoyed it.  However it was only a 3.5 hour visit(luckily we used Tesco vouchers rather than paying the £50 to get in), so in the afternoon we went to Stratford upon Avon.  This was a really pretty place and we also visited a wizarding museum/shop which my Harry Potter fans really enjoyed. The only negative I would say was that I was a bit disappointed with the individual "pretty" shops that were there - or not there, should I say.  The next day we went to Warwick but we couldn't find any nice shops there at all.  Having visited 2 or 3 other castles this year, we didn't want to go to the castle, so moved on to Leamington Spa.  Hooray - we hit jackpot!  It was a nice place to walk around, plus had a Cargo shop and Store 21 (with nice house bits) as well as some good individual shops to browse.  We only had one day that rained from start to finish, the rest were quite mild and sunny.  All in all, it was a nice relaxing break.

Celebrations

I am now another year older.  Sunday 16th was my birthday.  I got lots of pretty cards (cupcakes seemed to be a popular theme), some money to spend on clothes and pretties and some pressies from my family.........

All those piccies make the reds look really orange but they are a darker red than that!  They also got me some fairy lights that have little shades with red and white polka dots, and red flowers.  Just trying to decide where in my living room to put them - as the lead isnt very long.

Since then I have bought lots of clothes and also treated myself to some more pretties for the living room from The Range.......

I added a bit of beige to the red and white scheme, to warm it up for the winter
 

I do love The Range, and dont mind spending some of my birthday pennies in there, when all this lot came to a grand total of £27!!!  Bargain!

Now the other bit of celebrating............you may remember that I told you that my daughter was taking the dreaded Kent Test?! Well........

She passed!!  We were so relieved and proud of her!  We have already put in her choices for the grammar school she would like to go to - and her first choice is the same one as her brother goes to, so she is pretty much guaranteed a place there.  Fingers crossed anyway, but we dont find out till next March!

Another reason to celebrate is because Bluewater is now going to start hosting some of the big exhibitions!!  They have a new conference/events centre and are already advertising shows for next January - April.  I have already booked tickets for the Stitch and Hobbycraft Show and am waiting for tickets to go on sale for the BBC Good food show they are hosting.  They are also having a wedding show and a vitality show - and I am waiting for more to be released for later in the year!!  Whoopie - and it is only about 30 mins drive from me!!

Enough celebrations for one post!

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October news

Just a general update on what we have been up to since my last post.   

We have been busy doing day and evening tours round various non-selective and grammar schools.  We get the results of daughters Kent Test on Monday -but because we then only have 2 weeks to make a decision on a school (and one week is halfterm) we have had to start the hunt now!  Really wish we could find out the results before building up hopes!!

One bonus of these viewings, was that we bumped into a family that I used to meet at toddler group when daughter was 0-3, and had coffee mornings round each others houses with other mums too.  We separated once children went to different nurseries on different days. This was all in Bexleyheath - about an hours drive away - where we used to live, and they have just moved down to the coast too! I couldnt get my head around the fact that I recognised her but it was in a totally different area to where I would have expected to see her!!  Anyway numbers have been swapped and a meeting arranged!

A few celebrations - on 4th was hubbys birthday, so had a nice meal from a lovely Greek restaurant in North London on the Saturday after the day, but on the actual evening he was on his own as we were looking round yet another school!  The 5th was our 15th wedding anniversary - but this just kind of came and went with everything else that is happening at mo!  And this Sunday - 16th is my birthday.

Hope you are enjoying this lovely weather as much as I am!! It just makes you feel so happy doesn't it!?  It's funny because we got married the day after hubbys birthday because he said that the weather was always good around his birthday and that his family always had a BBQ to celebrate (being Greek!) - def got that right this year!!


Back soon...............with results!!!
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