Warblers, wobblers and wholesome living...

Spring, spring where are you? Does anyone else feel like spring has barely happened this year. It’s really been a long winter and I’m only barely noticing that spring is upon us. That said the world keeps turning and the garden’s coming back to life. The bulbs are flowering and plants are sprouting, even if the sun's not shining to match. An addition to spring this year is Tanya’s new squirrel proof bird feeder (it's rock 'n' roll round here). Filling that with sunflower hearts (top tip for bird attraction) has given us a veritable virtual aviary outside our backdoor. There’s been goldfinches, chaffinches, bullfinches, greenfinches, blue tits, coal tits, thrushes, siskins and collared doves (plus the usual crew you'd expect). It’s been the talking point at every meal as we sit and watch the avian feeding frenzy. And talk about education? Both the kids are now better than us at working out who’s who at the dinner table.

 Glamourous greenfinches

Gorgeous goldfinches

And on from warblers comes wobblers. We’ve had a few of them. Emily is desperate for a wobbly tooth and despite a few false starts is still waiting. It’s not really the tooth wobbling though I suspect, more the tooth fairy visiting that she's waiting for. Niomi’s also had her fair share of wobblers. Of a different variety that is. Threenagers can be tricky, and she’s no exception. We regularly go from moaning, to crying, to pushing her luck, to laughing, to ignoring everyone, all within the space of an hour. It can be really very trying at times. But maybe like spring’s changeable weather, Niomi’s wobblers will just pass. At least we hope so. The final wobbler is more of a wonky-one. We’ve discovered Emily has a wonky thumb and we’ve no idea why. Ever since she discovered ‘thumbs up’ we thought she just wasn’t doing it properly but it turns out her thumb has a cute little kink in it. Baffled the doctors it did, so let’s see what turns up.

Wonky thumb

And then onto wholesome living. Spring is always a time when you feel like you want to come out of hibernation and get on with all those things you’ve been meaning to do for a while and start to feel good about it all again. So we thought it about time to actually fill up the veggie beds I built last year with soil, and get some vegetables on the go. And everyone joined in. Over two days we moved three tons of soil. All the girls did more than their fair share of shovelling, barrowing, raking and labouring; and I was dead proud of them all. So with job done, watch this space for growing updates, and if you plan a visit near our harvest time then we’ll try to share the garden's bounty.

Videoclip: The arrival of soil

Job done

Barrow love

Arran'd up of the holiday...

Destination Arran

Clues in the title I guess, but yes, we're just back from a week on the Isle of Arran. It must be 10 plus years since I was last there and my life has massively changed since then, so I was interested to see if anywhere near the same pace of change had influenced Arran. The answer? Well it hadn't changed quite so dramatically but time certainly hasn't stood still.

There's lots of up and coming business on Arran. Really good to see when sometimes Scotland's best can look a little tired. So, we had lots to explore. Weather wasn't really on our side but as ever we were undeterred and made the most of the week. Typical days saw the kids up early and us being out and about in a similar vein. There was walks along rivers, through woods and to waterfalls. Trips to castles, adventure parks, swimming pools, soft play, museums, soap factories, horse riding and cafes. Lots of cafes. Good food was eaten as we dined on the 'Taste of Arran'. There was cheese shops, chocolate shops, breweries, ice cream, fish and chips and fizzy orange. We even had a family holiday song.

Not bad for an isle of 5,000 or so inhabitants. So, despite the weather - we had a taste-tastic, fun packed week. Could have done with a bit more sun but hey...there's 2 seasons in Scotland...May and Winter.

A round up of the top ten:

1. Adventuring at Isle be Wild in Brodick Castle
2. Horse riding at North Sannox
3. Soap making at Arran Aromatics
4. Walking to Glenashdale waterfalls and the kids helping each other along
5. Ice cream faces
6. Food, food and more food with the 'Taste of Arran'
7. Seeing seals lounging on the rocks
8. Swimming and soft play at Auchrannie
9. Trying fizzy orange for the first time
10. Smiles, laughter, excitement and family fun

 Van excitement I

 Van excitement II

 Best swing view ever?

 Beach delight

 Beach exploration

 Play time

 Chocolate stop at half way point

 Soap making highlight

 Still walking

 Outdoor delight

 Indoor delight

 Horse delight

 Adventuring fun

 Wheeee

 Happiness is a picnic in the damp

The Family Holiday Song

One, two, three - who are we?

We're the Ro-oke family

In our bright, yellow, campervan

We're on holiday on Arran

(As you can tell there was a great deal of thought went into this - ahem - apologies for the poor rhyming)

Animal magic...

2 girls in love with Ottie

It all started with a dog. 

We had friends (David and Lesley) come to stay with their daughter Alicia and their dog Ottie. The girls loved Ottie, (the rest of them too), but they really loved Ottie. They fed Ottie, followed Ottie and petted Ottie. Poor thing didn't get a moments peace. And when she did, Niomi would pipe up "Wed Ottie?" And off they'd go again.

And then it was the cat's turn.

We visited the in-laws in North Berwick to see their new kittens Bubble and Squeak. The same thing happened and the girls loved them both (clearly not fussy as they just made me sneeze). They fed them, followed them and petted them. Poor things. And guess what? If one escaped then Niomi would chirp up "Wed udder one". And she'd track it down. The hunter became the hunted.

But then the animals came thick and fast. My parents arrived and so did the Easter Bunny and chocolates all round. We did trips out to country parks, lunches by lochs and spring begun in the garden. A tiger appeared, and then a dragon. A pair of goldfinches were spotted, before monkeys, kokkaburras and wallabies in a nearby mini-zoo. And finally a unicorn appeared, and then all the animals you can think of courtesy of good old Julia Donaldson. It's sure been a few weeks of animal magic.

 Easter bunny and chick

 A first time tiger

 And then a dragon

 Old and young still doing fine

 Resident goldfinches in the garden

A (very) short unicorn story by Emily

Videoclip: The Julia Donaldson collection by Niomi

It's no(w) joke...

And then it snowed.

And then it snowed a bit more. And a bit more...And yes, a bit more still. There was an awful lot of it.

Under snow

Coming home from work on the 27th February, the first few flakes were in the air, but really - I had no idea just quite what was in store. I woke on 28th to find a good few inches but nothing worse than we'd had all winter. 2 hours crawling on a bus later, I began to think things might just get serious.

And so as the weather warning turned RED, I escaped Glasgow by train this time and walked through the beginnings of a blizzard for half an hour to get home. Quick thinking was needed and I made a bid for the supermarket - lucky I did as it was shutting in 5 mins (at 3pm), not to be opened again for a few days - and returned home with provisions to see us through the next few days.

And they were some few days. The Beast from the East raged. I couldn't get into work - first time ever defeated by weather. Trains, buses, cars just weren't going anywhere - everyone was on foot. And planes weren't going anywhere either - and so our trip down South got cancelled.

But we made the best of it. A bit of sledging was had, a snowman built, and a very valiant effort to the shops was made, only to discover some sort of post-apocalyptic panic buying going on. The world went mad. The kids tried their best but it was just a bit too deep for Niomi and despite her love of the outdoors she spent a lot of time indoors. Emily fared a bit better but even she got bored of the snow by the end of it all. Cabin fever set in but we Paw Patrolled our way through it.

Anyway - its definitely one to go down in history. Beast from the East, March 2018 - we were there.

14 inches of the white stuff

A girl still needs her sleep

 Enjoying before it got waist deep

 Our road as I've never seen it before

 Adventuring on the 'road' by foot and sledge

 Snow everywhere

Snowman

Winter Wonderland - in Spring

Love is in the air...

I Love Daddy (14th Feb 2018)

Despite the very snowy winter it seems the last few weeks have been full of love. We've had Valentines Day, our 6th Wedding Anniversary and Tanya and I escaped for a weekend to celebrate Tanya's birthday (our second night away in over 5 years).

Emily's been obsessed with hearts recently which has been really nice as it means I've had regular homemade cards and messages full of love, hearts and kisses. Niomi is currently a little more restrained on the matter but I did get a big hug when she came back from staying with Nana and Baba which was very nice.

Things like this can be a little fleeting however, as both of them can also be a little patchy on their Daddy affection. Its the curse of a working Dad versus a stay at home Mum. One minute you're really cool - Mr Fix-anything, do-anything, go-anywhere Daddy...then the other 59 in the hour it can be like you don't exist. Niomi had a brief period after she came to us when she really thought Daddy was cool but then, like everything else, she has just copied her big sister and I've been cast aside. And this is them at 3 and 5 - god help me when teenage-hood arrives!

Still, at least Tanya sometimes loves me - particularly when I bring her doughnuts.

 Doughnut love

 Gargunnock House - the scene of the wedding crime

The Shadow Rooke Family

And then we had our weekend away in the Trossachs courtesy of my brother and sister-in-law. We spent the time ambling up hills, round lochs and eating fine food - all at our own pace with no moaning or tears. It was heaven... Emily and Niomi I think had similar fun - doing lots of things they're not normally allowed to do including copious Peppa Pig to watch and chips to eat - all of that probably reduced the moaning and tears. So all in all it was a grand success...

Climbing hills, like life before kids

Sitting on benches, practising for when the kids are grown up

All change...

With February it seems there is always change. The last few years have brought new houses, new kitchens, big birthdays, pregnancy...to name a few. And this year there seems to be more change in the air.

First up Niomi was 3. It was celebrated with our usual homemade style coupled with a large dose of Peppa Pig who is very much Niomi's favourite. There was a Peppa cake, tablecloth, plates, cups and napkins but no straws. In a definite effort to cut down on plastics we've forced the kids to go strawless.

The Birthday Girl

Umbrella birthday joy

 3rd cake (non-Peppa)

Videoclip: Happy 3rd Birthday Niomi

And then there were other changes. Niomi started nursery which seems to be going ok so far. She's also getting far more into her arts and crafts then ever before which is a great sign. Emily's started reading and loving school which is also a great sign. And all these signs mean that it's all change in the Rooke household - the kids are growing up!!

Can you tell they're not real fish fingers?

Rampaging at nursery and at home

Videoclip: Reading is coming along