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Indian Summer

What a wonderful end to the summer. After a chilly August, September has been dry and mild, and today we've spent the whole day outside in shorts and t-shirts. We have had a few cold mornings but all in all no complaints on the weather front for once.

Last weekend was the Royal Berkshire Show, a high spot in the girls calendar.  Even more so now that Abi is convinced she is to be a farmer and therefore needed to pick up some hints and tips before starting out in her grand enterprise! As ever we never see it all and this time we got stuck in one of the warm up paddocks watching the rustic show jumping and chatting to various people with horses. I tried on numerous occasions to get them to move on but they were in their element. As long as they are enjoying themselves I guess... We obviously had time to have the annual python photo - this time I was roped in - spot the slightly forced smile!

Today was a proper family day - Kerrie and Tor came for Sunday lunch (eaten outside in the sunshine) and then we played stomp rocket, cleaned the cars and walked Scooby before bath, countryfile and bed.  As ever Abi and I walked Scoobs and had a lovely chat as we ambled along, with Abi telling me all about her farm plans.  We stopped to look at some cows and Abi was very happy to see them all head over and let them lick her hands - euuuw!

This weekend I have also managed to squeeze in a trip to London with Linda and Zsara to see Mama Mia, have dinner in great restaurant and a quick indulgence shop, all in less than 24 hours!  Despite me being grumpy about the idea of trying to fit all that into such a short time, it worked brilliantly and I was very happy to get up early this morning so we could be back for breakfast. It meant we could have the whole day together which given time is so precious is very important.

The girls are now back into the swing of school and have passed through the obligatory back to school lurgy thank goodness.  Abi is finding all the homework a bit of a step up - this weekend she is supposed to have memorised an 18 line poem. Hmmm, we're struggling to help her with that one given neither of us could do it either!  Izzy is loving the challenge of year 2 and we keep telling her to make the most of it before year 3 kicks in. I just hope it gets easier as she gets used to it.

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