Visiting and stairgates

Alex and Grandma sharing cuddles and giggles in the library at Rode Hall
Grandpa and Alex having a walk through the house

Saturday saw Alex and I heading over the Penines to Rode Hall in Cheshire to visit distant family (my fifth cousins once removed!). My parents were staying with them for the weekend and we were invited over the spend the day with them. Sadly Tim was too ill to come with us, but we still had a lovely day. Rode Hall as it stands now was completed in 1752 (I think!) although the original house was much older. It was lovely to go back there as I lived with Richard and Anne for the summer of 1996 and I have many fond memories of my time there. Alex was very well behaved and it was great to spend time with my parents and to watch Alex interacting with them. Anne is a fantastic cook and so we were incredibly well fed. We then went out for a lovely (slightly damp) walk round the grounds before we had to return home.

Sitting up in front of the library fire playing with his toys

Out for a walk round the grounds with Grandma and Grandpa
In the front porch of the house with Grandpa
A photo of Rode Hall showing the oldest part of the house and the stable block.

Today has seen us putting up stairgates and making the upstairs safer for Alex. He can now have the run of the landing while we can leave the study door open so that he can interact with us and hear our voices etc. However, I have to confess to not having used it today as I rather like having Alex playing at my feet. We are going to sort out the playpens (one in the study as the room is really not very safe for Alex and a large one in the sitting room with a door so he can go in and out under supervision) in the next few days and then we should be fully kitted out for him. I don't think that it is going to be very long before he is pulling himself up to standing so we need to get the house safe as soon as possible.

Needless to say I haven't had time to do much crafting over this weekend, although I did make a couple of cards based on Alex's work. The first is a thank you card using a photograph from yesterday, Alex's artwork and a photoshopped version of Alex's artwork by Carole Brown. This is our card to say thank you for yesterday.

The second one again uses Alex's artwork, a ribbon, blue card and a photo of Alex taken today. Alex is wearing his blue cardigan which was a gift from my Great Aunt, and so this card is for her.

Yesterday's post brought me a lovely ATC from Joanne Browne called 'To dream'. I lovely the dreamy feel of these different purple hues. More soon,

Love,

Caro

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