I have a Niece!!

Miracles do sometimes happen.

My brother has three boys ... so when he and Nicky announced #4 was on the way, we all expected Granny Jackson would get her fifth grandson to form the Five-A-Side Football team. Even they were expected another boy.

Anyway, when I got the phone call to say I was an Aunty again, I thought my little bro was winding me up when he said "It's a girl!". I think my reaction was something on the lines of, "Yeah right, what's his his name and how's Nicky and baby!"

Ooops!

I don't normally like buying pink for girls ... but this time I did, because I could!!

I don't think David and Nicky have to worry about buying clothes for their daughter - ever. Mum will certainly flex her plastic on their behalf as long (as she avoids buying frills :)) Also with three doting aunty's on the case ...

When Jon's in the US ...

Jon's been out to the US for a week and EVERY time he goes away, things inevitably go a bit pear-shaped.

He hadn't been out of the house for 24 hours when the boiler decides to play up. It misses Jon so much it decides to throw a wobbly and shut itself off. Shame this normally co-incides with a cold spell so Callum and I wake up freezing cold. Well, rather Callum wakes up with ice blocks for hands and feet as he hates being covered up by the duvet. This happened a few times and Jon must get the guys back as something is definitely not right.

The other thing that goes wrong is that Callum gets sick ... this time he picked up some form of sickness bug and couldn't keep any food down him. I was a bit worried about him so moved him into the travel cot in our room so could keep an eye on him ... 4 hours sleep in two nights is nowhere near enough for me ... and the next thing I know I go down with it and get even less sleep!

Poor Jon didn't know what hit him when he got home on the Friday. Just about made it downstairs ... threw Callum at him and went back to bed. I've never been so pleased to see him!

Whatever the bug was it was highly contagious as Jon went down with it on Sunday ... and the neighbours on Tuesday! Callum only just got back to eating a proper meal this week ... Jon managed to coax him round and so far, touch wood.

Back to Aidensfield!

Cannot believe how good the weather has been - just one rain shower last night, but nothing during the day but blue or cloudy skies.

On Tuesday we headed over to Masham to visit the Black Sheep Brewery - a fab ale that Jon's discovered in recent years. A lovely lunch was followed by a chat and quick tour of the brewery. Afterwards, we decided to set off for Aysgarth Falls (where the river fight scenes with Robin Hood and Little John were filmed in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves) however, we didn't make it. Callum had eaten something that disagreed with him and was really ill in the car (luckily we did have a change of clothes for him). A quick mop-up job and nothing else for it but to turn around and head back to the cottage, albeit 90 mins away!! Thank goodness the cottage had a washing machine so we could sort his clothes and the car seat covers out (although trying to figure out how to disassemble and reassemble the car seat took a while!).

He was still a bit out of sorts as he wasn't really eating much on Wednesday morning, but decided to risk him in the car to visit Jon's parents as planned. We saw Jon's Aunty & Uncle and it was lovely to catch up with them and for them to see Callum. He did fall asleep for most of the time we were there but 10 mins before this, he was a whirlwind of potential destruction at their house having a really good explore around and opening all the cupboards and drawers!

Today we went back to Goathland as we thought it would be nice to take Callum on a Steam Train. However, when we arrived, they were just about to start filming a scene or two of Heartbeat so Goathland was no more ... it was Aidensfield! We watched a bit of filming - David and Aunt Peggy outside Scripps Garage ... but Callum started to become a bit vocal so headed off quickly before we got told off. It should appear in an episode next February/March.

In the afternoon we headed into Whitby for a wander and got to see some parts of the town I hadn't seen before. No queues outside the infamous Magpie Cafe (best place for fish and chips apparently), but it was too early for tea. Oh well, may be next time.

We stopped for tea at "The Board" in Lealholm. Fab little pub with a lovely fire roaring away. The steaks were huge and did feel a bit guilty as they were from the farm across the way ... and had been driving passed the cows for the last couple of days. Callum had Shepherds Pie and from the mouthful I had it was the best one I'd ever tasted. Very scrummy.

Last night tonight - heading home tomorrow.

Coastal Tours

Spent a lovely day today driving up the North Yorkshire coast. I am amazed just how wonderful the beaches are up here ... just a shame the North Sea is so damn cold!!

Beautiful weather again today although a little chilly when sat in the shade. Our first stop was Runswick Bay. At first we thought the car park was at the top of the cliff (a very high cliff!) ... but a short walk down the path we saw there was another car park down below so turned around and drove down.

The beach was gorgeous - something for all ages whether you want to build sand castles or go clambering over the rocks. Callum also discovered seaweed and for a moment we thought we would have to bring some back with us!! He was dragging it around the beach like a puppy.

Next port of call was the old fishing village of Staithes. This time we did have to park the car at the top of the cliff and a short walk brought us into the village. It's narrow windy streets with the narrowest of alleys branching off brings an eclectic charm, but for any modern day person, you'd have to be car-less as there is hardly any parking down the hill. We had lunch on the harbour at the Cod and Lobster before bracing ourselves for the short, but steep walk back to the car.

Heading northwards up the coast (and now in desperate need of a bank - very few places take cards!!), we ended up at Saltburn. We've driven through it on numerous occasions when visiting Jon's Granda in Easington but never stopped before. Saltburn Pier makes frequent appearances on Heartbeat! We found the most fantastic coffee shop that has the widest range of milk shakes you could imagine (and were very clued up on what was gluten free - Ollie would had been in his element - it's not often you stumble across this.)

Oh and if anyone can fill us in on why there are 6 mini-portraits of Brian Blessed painted on the sea-front wall, we love to know!

We needed to kill some time before tea, so drove home the long way 'round via Guisborough. We were too late to get close up to the ruined Abbey, so had to be content peering over the church walls. It would also appear that the map we are using has roads on that are non-existent. We headed home and ended up in a farm yard (no through road) and had to backtrack! Oops!

Found a lovely pub though for tea in Ainthorpe (nr Danby) - The Fox and Hounds. Very generous portions and the beef Jon had was so tender it kept falling off the fork!

Got back to the farm and discovered we weren't the only tenants in the cottage - we have a very friendly field mouse!! I went to grab a glass of wine and saw two little eyes staring at me from behind the bottle. Well, we are very rural and it is more his home than ours!!