It's a dogs life

This week has flown by and we are mid-way through the most glorious bank holiday weekend with wall to wall sunshine. I would love to say I have spent it mostly with my family but they all seem to be busy, so I've had the luxury of pottering around the garden doing bits and pieces in almost complete peace. Abi is obviously at Angie's, Izzy is at Mia's and Glenn was at the rugby all day yesterday - home alone, just me and the dogs.

I can absolutely see why people have dogs as their children begin to get older. Once upon a time it was because it meant rain or shine, we got out into the fresh air and got some exercise. These days it's great to have dogs because it means there is always someone at home, even if it's the patter of little paws rather than feet. Of course with Freya I also have someone to permanently angst over given all her peculiarities. She's currently at my feet snoring loudly having spent the day trailing me round the garden as I weeded the path (like the forth bridge, a job that's never done), every so often plonking herself between me and the path to have a cuddle. She's definitely less anxious in some respects, but only with people who make an effort to say hello to her and not generally with other dogs. She still turns down her breakfast most days so as not to spoil her appetite for her porridge (I've given up all pretense and make her a separate bowl, sweetened with a bit of honey), and often doesn't eat at all if I'm not home.  For all of this I love her dearly and couldn't imagine not having her.

Despite not being with us, the kids have had an amazing week at Centre Parcs with Kerrie and

Ryan, doing loads of  different stuff, and much more than we wold have done with them. They finally made it to Longleat Safari Park - we have always gone to CP in the winter so it's been closed - they did Segway Safari, the High Ropes, the Pancake House (we definitely wouldn't have done that for breakfast!) and of course the swimming pool (every day, for ages).

The High Ropes wasn't quite the adventure Izzy and Kerrie had intended. Izzy of course was full of bravado having done the Go Ape course a few times but on getting up to the first platform and seeing just how high the adult course is (first time on something this big), she wiped out and had to be winched down! Kerrie managed to make it all the way around, but only with the support of one of the guides and was petrified the whole way... not sure that counted as fun for either of them! Abi more sensibly opted for the Segway Safari with Ryan and they both loved it - so much so that they then bombarded us with texts to get a Segway for home. Much as I would normally say "Not a chance", I may have gone online to see what they were riding, only to see that the mini Segways (knee-steered rather than a handle bar) were on special offer at half price... hmmmm, we may have possible bought two. We justified it with the fact that we can Ebay them easily when the novelty has worn off. Obviously we had the get the adult ones as there is a certain person in the house that is desperate to have a go as well - boys just never grow up! At least it might mean they want to be at home for 5 minutes!

Guinea pig guard duty:
"Honestly Mum, we're just looking after them..."