Welcome to the World, Little M!

Mum had a sleepless night.  She was very worried about H and had heard that a Caesarean was imminent.

She tried doing things to keep her mind occupied but nothing really worked.  But then, at 4.10am, she received this photo.

Hello baby!

Little M was born in the small hours weighing 5lb 3oz.  The Caesarean went very smoothly and both baby, Mummy and Daddy were all doing fine.

Mum is absolutely delighted and can't wait to meet Little M!

Easter with The Boy

Whilst Dad was away in Monmouthshire on a lads' weekend, Mum and The Boy had a quiet Easter in.  The Boy enjoyed hunting for his eggs and the pair of them ate chocolate for breakfast.

Mmmm chocolate breakfast.

Mum cooked roast lamb.  It has been a very long time since she has cooked lamb but she tried her best not to mess it up.

A nice, fresh leg of lamb all ready to go into the oven.

Et voila!  The house was filled with lamby smells and Mum and The Boy were very ready for it.

Perfect a-bit-pink, melty-in-the-mouth lamb with roast potatoes (mash for The Boy), roast parsnips carrots, shallots and garlic, broccoli, cauliflower and more carrots, plus stuffing balls and Yorkshire pudding boats because that's what Mum and The Boy like with any meat.  All ready for gravy and mint sauce.

The roast lamb was very delicious.  But it would have been even nicer if Dad was eating it too (and had cooked it!)

The Boy spent the rest of the day playing games.

Mum spent the rest of the day worrying about daughter, H, who was rushed into hospital with one month to go until her due date.  Eek!

The First Day of Spring

After what seemed to have been a very long and drawn out winter of rain and gales, the much-awaited first day of Spring arrived.  Thank goodness for that!  Of course, there is still plenty of room for more rain and more gales in Wales, but there's something very uplifting about it being Spring.  Every day brings a greater possibility of sunshine and warmth and that is a very good feeling indeed.

Something that wasn't feeling good today, was Mum's neck.  Every now and then she gets a horrid pinched nerve pain at the top of it which stops her from doing anything too much.  Although the pain wasn't too severe this time, it was decided that she, Dad and The Boy would have a gentle day out somewhere not too far away.

Instead of taking the car, they walked straight from Dad's house and along the long but flat road towards Rhuddlan.  The weather was overcast but dry and mild and The Family chattered happily along the way.   Once they had reached the end of the road, they crossed over and entered Rhuddlan Nature Reserve.

Despite being Spring, not of a lot of greenery had arrived.  Brown, withered trees and shrubs lined the pathway and the breeze had a chill to it.  It all looked quite bleak and lifeless until the sunshine came out and made the colours more vivid.  The Family kept their eyes peeled and did manage to find small signs of life.

A Spring lamb.  Put that knife and fork away, Dad!

A host of golden daffodils.

The buds were started to make a bit more of themselves.

Not long after entering the reserve, a bench came into view.  It was definitely time for a quick sit down.  The Family looked across the water of one of the pools and Mum spotted something swimming at the far side.  It looked very much like an otter!  Mum got very excited, but then a beak surfaced and Mum's otter had become a cormorant.  Poor Mum, she is desperate to see otters in the wild.

Cormorants are nice, but they are not as nice as otters.  Keep looking, Mum!

Dad, The Boy and honorary Family member, 'Woody', sporting Dad's hat.

Another cormorant statue and a rabbit.

It will be a while before the real dragonflies make an appearance...

But there were plenty of other things for the resident spiders to eat.  They must be very plump spiders!

All along their lovely walk, the Family were treated to some very potent smells of the countryside.  Apparently it is very good for the lungs but peeeeee-eeewwww, it sure was whiffy!  As they neared the end of the trail, though, the smells became a lot more pleasant.  Oh yes, very pleasant and very identifiable indeed.  Across the road from the end of the trail was a branch of KFC.

Dad is on a diet at the moment, but he has been very, very good.  KFC is not the best thing for a diet but it certainly isn't the worst either, so Mum treated The Family to a small lunch.  Dad had a healthy Original Recipe Ricebox, Mum had an Original Recipe Salad and The Boy had a Lunchbox and a Krush'em.  They took their food back across to the reserve and ate at one of the picnic benches.  Lovely!

The sun disappeared behind the cloud and The Family thought it was best that they headed back.  That chattered away all along the long but flat road back to Dad's house.  They hadnot gone anywhere miles and miles away and they hadn't gone anywhere particularly special, but they still had a super afternoon out and got some fresh air and exercise.  That's another four miles that they've clocked up this year and here's to many more!

The Watkin Path

According to the weather reports, today was going to be a nice day.  Dry, mild and even a bit sunny.  So Mum and Dad decided that it would be a great day to get out and about.  Mum wanted to get some proper exercise, so, whilst Bodnant Gardens is very nice and was most certainly an option, The Family decided to go with Mum's idea of The Watkin Path in Snowdonia.  It's somewhere she had been before, but Dad and The Boy hadn't and Mum likes showing them new places.

The Watkin Path is the most challenging official path up Snowdon, but the summit was not their objective today.  Instead, The Family planned to make it to at least a nice waterfall along the path.  Dad made sandwiches, The Boy was roused, breakfast was enjoyed and layers were put on.  The Boy did not grumble at having to go out for a walk.  Mum thought this might have something to do with the pair of walking boots that Grandad D had given him.  Thanks Grandad D!

They arrived at Bethania car park and, with rucksacks donned, set off for the start of the ascent.

From the car park, they crossed a nice bridge towards the main road...

...where the obligatory game of Pooh Sticks was played.  Dad won.

Just over the road, the Watkin Path began, marked by a stone.

The path soon took them through some very old feeling woodland.  The trees were gnarly, the boulders were mossy and it felt damp and cool.  The Boy said it felt quite dead and barren, but Mum and Dad told him that the woods were just waiting patiently for the right moment, then it would be very much alive.

The Boy, being surrounded by sticks, chose a good one.  He even lugged it along the trail a fair way.

Mum loved the rounded forms of the mossy boulders.

The view down the valley towards Llyn Dinas.

The walk through the woodland was very pleasant indeed.  Not too taxing for The Family and a good way to warm up for the inclines ahead.  The path took them over another bridge where Dad won another game of Poohsticks and then over another one where Dad and The Boy joked around playing more Poohsticks over a dried up riverbed.  Dad probably won that game too.

Dad and The Boy watching their Poohsticks not moving very much.  Silly boys.

The views suddenly opened up to The Family, marking the end of the woodland part of their walk.  The sun broke through in patches and Mum, Dad and The Boy started to remove layers. The proper uphill walking was just about to start and they were already feeling rather warm.

Byebye gnarly trees and hello open countryside.

The path climbed steadily upwards but not so steeply as to be hard work.  They were all soon rewarded with a lovely view of the waterfalls of Afon Cwn Llan and the snowy mountains beyond.

The Watkin Path is said the be the prettiest route up to Snowdon.  It wasn't hard to see why.

The water of the Afon Cwm Llan never fell from a great height, but rather in stages into a series of pools.  This part looked like a giant waterslide.

Looking back down the path, The Family saw that they had already climbed quite a way up.

They stopped to explore this little cottage with no roof, windows or doors.  It was quite hard to imagine it in a habitable state but looking out of the window every morning must have been wonderful.

Behind the cottage was a path that took them to the top of one of the waterfalls.  It was a fantastic place to stop and rest before clambering and exploring.

Looking down from the top of one of the waterfalls.

The Boy took a well-earned rest but not for very long as there were things to see, water to muck about with and rocks to climb.

Dad splashed his hot face with cold water from the river,  He looked very happy to be in such a nice place.

Who wouldn't be happy here?  The waterfall pools were crystal clear and beautifully blue.

The bridge across the river was narrow and a bit scary, but Mum, Dad and The Boy all took turns to cross it.

Dad's turn on the bridge, complete with troll.

The Boy then turned his mind to clambering.  It turns out that he's rather good at getting up things.  Mum and Dad's hearts were in their mouths but they know that The Boy is getting older and deserves to explore, conquer and use his freedom to take a few little risks.  *gulp*

Mum and Dad's RockMonkey.

Having fun in the warm sunshine.

The waterfall was a wonderful place, but the rushing water made quite a noise and it wasn't quite the right place to sit and eat lunch.  The Family headed back to the Watkin Path to climb further up to find a more peaceful spot where they could chat whilst they ate.  The trail got a bit steeper but was easy underfoot and finally they all found themselves in a wide, flat valley called Cwm Llan.

Mum doesn't remember this small hydroelectric dam being here back in 2012.  Still, it doesn't interfere too badly with the view.

The Family were surprised to see lots of clumps of frogspawn in the pools of the valley.  They thought it might have been too cold for frogs but it obviously wasn't.

The valley was flat and the path was very easy.  It took them away from the sound of the rushing waterfall but in its place was a deep, growling noise that was hard to ignore.  Was it the Welsh dragon, come to protect the mountains from walking boots?  Errrr, no.  It was Dad's belly announcing that food was most definitely required.

A sheltered but sunny place amongst the rocks was quickly sought out and Dad's rucksack was emptied of its delights.

Mmmm.  Pastrami, cheese, lettuce, tomato and special sauce on a wholemeal thin.  Eating in the fresh mountain air was extremely enjoyable.

Having been fed and watered, The Boy headed off to explore a little more.

At this point, all six legs were feeling a bit weary and, whilst the valley had more to offer, The Family thought they had best head back down the path to the car with thoughts of returning another day after an earlier start.

The way down was easy and the sun shone even brighter.  Mum and The Boy rabbited on about various things and then, after a brief period of deep thought, The Boy stated that he'd really enjoyed the walk and that he felt lucky to have Mum and Dad for parents.  Mum and Dad were touched.

Nobody was in the mood for rushing, there really wasn't any need.  So it took longer than The Family realised to reach the main road across from the car park.  As they crossed back over the bridge from the start of their journey, they looked out towards the hills where they had had such a lovely time and were pleased to see Snowdon looking back at them.

Goodbye mountains, see you again soon.

They drove to Tesco in Bangor to try to find something nice for dinner.  Dad's legs were weary and he didn't feel like cooking all that much.  As he and Mum were looking for inspiration on the shelves, Mum suddenly had an idea.  Why don't they all just have a meal out, surely they had earned it?  Dad thought this was a marvellous idea, so they headed back to the A55 with a Catnapping Boy.  They chose to go to The Talardy as it's close to Dad's house and has some meal options that aren't too expensive.

Yay, the good ole Talardy.

Oh look, there's Mum!  She was looking forward to her rotisserie chicken.

The meal was nice if not huge.  Healthy Family!  Mum finally finished her drink and then it was time for home.  They ended the evening with tingly, sun-kissed faces and a fun game of Descent 2 in which Leoric of the Book (Dad) and Grisbane the Thirsty (The Boy) teamed up as heroes to claim victory over the now twice-defeated Overlord (Mum).

What an absolutely smashing family day it was!

The sun sets after a fun-filled day for The Family.  They will all sleep well tonight.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig!

Well, it only went and snowed on the hills around Fron Dirion overnight.  Is there any weather that Mum and Dad didn't experience on their holiday?!  Sunshine, haze, rain, frost, sunsets, low cloud, clear night skies and now snow!

A very early morning photograph.  Mum and Dad got up at 6am and there was still snow in the air.

They had breakfast before tidying around and cleaning up after themselves and making sure that the cottage looked just like they had found it.  The bed was made, the rubbish bin emptied, the sofa plumped up and the car was packed.

Mum was a little sad to leave as she had had such a lovely time at Fron Dirion, but she missed The Boy and was looking forward to seeing him again.  So off they drove, through the gates, down to the main road and on towards Dolgellau.

Dad stopped so that Mum could take a final picture of Cadair Idris.

They drove through Blaenau Ffestiniog and tried to stop for a picture there too, but they were beaten back by an arctic-feeling blast of wind.  They scurried back to the car and gave up on the idea of getting out to take pictures.  Mum took one through the windscreen of the car and thought it would be rubbish.

But it actually turned out quite nicely!

They headed down into Betws y Coed for a spot of lunch in a nice little cafe.  Dad had a cooked breakfast and Mum had Welsh rarebit with bacon.  As Dad went to order, Mum looked up at this flag and, for the several hundredth time in her life she smiled and counted her lucky stars that she, Dad, The Boy and The Family all live, work and play in beautiful, breathtaking, ever-changing Wales.

The Fron Dirion blog posts are dedicated to Nan, without whom Mum and Dad wouldn't have been able to have a holiday just for them.  Thank you Nan <3

Relaxing on St David's Day

The rain carried on all night at Fron Dirion, battering on the skylight with great gusts of wind.  There seemed to be no let-up and the weather report had forecast more rain for today.  Yuck!

After their busy days out doing lots of lovely things and getting plenty of fresh air and exercise, Mum and Dad felt that today was a great day to stay in alllll day.  Hurrah for Onesie Days!

Even though the rain did clear off, they jolly well stayed in anyway.  Apart from when, you know...Mum took more pictures of the hills *sigh*

But it did all look so different again.  Hills in the clouds and woah...that waterfall got a bit big!

Cloud-topped hills.

Wow, that waterfall!  It seemed to have expanded considerably overnight!  Let's check that....

Yes, it definitely had.  Just from one night of rain.  Coooo!

Valley 2 did not escape the cloud either.

As it was a stay in, not-getting-dressed, relaxing and slobbing around kind of day, Mum and Dad ate rubbish food from the mystery box for breakfast.  Then Dad suggested they got stuck into some of the mystery pile items.  Mum was well up for that!

First to be opened was the 'Classic' mystery item which turned out to be two packs of nice playing cards and a copy of 'Card Games for Dummies'.  They learned how to play Spite and Malice and thought it was a great game.

Spite and Malice, two things that neither Mum nor Dad are very good at...but the game was fun!

Next Dad opened the mystery item called 'Wordery' which turned out to be Qwordie.  It was easy to learn and it involved collecting letter tiles and trying to use them to answer the quiz questions.  Mum thought it was great.  Mum thinks Dad didn't.

Wordy Qwordie.

After a lunch of bacon and eggs, the fire was lit and things were cosy until it went out.  Mum just doesn't understand woodburning stoves.

The fun continued and Dad opened the mystery item called 'Geekery' which turned out to be Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Seond Edition).  Mum thought this was the kind of game that Dad would enjoy.  The rule book was very long and it took a whole era to set it up and try to learn the basics.  But, somehow, they muddled through and completed a quest.

Mum played the evil Overlord and controlled her minions 'Mauler' the Ettin and a monster group of Goblin Archers.  Dad played heroes Syndrael and Avric Albright.  If the Overlord managed to get five goblins across the dungeon and out to safety, she would be the victor.  But if the Heroes managed to kill Mauler the Ettin, they would win.

And, the Heroes won!  Possibly helped along by the fact that the Overlord forgot that she was meant to be keeping poor Mauler alive and was using him like a beatstick to attack the Heroes.  Oopsie!

The Overlord's minions watch on as Syndrael takes her first steps into the dungeon.

After the game was cleared away, Dad popped upstairs for a shower and Mum put some dinner in the oven.  When it was almost ready, Dad came down and quickly knocked up a batch of fried onions.  Yum!

Garlic bread, racks of ribs in barbeque sauce, fried onions and salad.  Finger lickin' good!

After dinner, Mum produced the silly hats.  It was St David's Day after all.  Dad was probably hoping that Mum had forgotten about the silly hats, but he humoured her and had his picture taken.

Poor Dad.

Mum and Dad spent the evening packing up their things and watching Crazy, Stupid Love from the mystery item pile, then headed up the stairs to bed one last time.