Toy Library

Our local toy library has been a great source of toys for Madeleine. Every Thursday evening I go down and pick out a few things to bring home for her. In the morning, I hear squeals of delight as she sees all her new toys. This past month we had a slide, rocking horse, and little activity set.

I think the rocking horse was definitely her favourite, and she would stop to give it a drink, or put a blanket on its back.

The slide was also a big hit and although I know she was sad to see it returned this week, we were happy to have the space back in our lounge.

The activity set is a bit hit or miss for her - she definitely prefers the more active toys over the sit still ones.

She does have her moments of sitting still though... and Daddy can usually get through a few pages of a bedtime story with her before she wiggles away.

River Valley Cottage

Before I tell you about our weekend away at a quiet little cottage, I have to share this picture of Madeleine enjoying her new book. She got a package from my Great Aunt Ruth in Michigan (from whom I've probably inherited my love of dogs), and in it was a book all about a little dog named Boo. Madeleine was literally squealing with excitement as she saw the little dog on each page, and since "doggie" is one of her first words, she was able to correctly identify the animal on every page! 

Now on to our weekend away... we picked a cottage in the middle of the country, on a sheep farm, with the hopes that it would have a really dark night sky for Steve to do some observing with the telescope. We arrived Friday after Steve finished work, and that night was clear and the sky was amazingly dark. He was able to set up the telescope right outside the front door, which meant that I even got to keep him company for a little while.

Saturday was a beautiful sunny day and Madeleine loved seeing all the sheep (of course she called them doggies) and walked right up to them. The sheep could walk right up to the cottage on all sides except the front, which was fenced off, so when indoors, M spent most of her time at the windows, pointing to the sheep and saying "ooohhh!! doggy!! ooohh!"

She also loved sitting at the big table with us and eating pancake after pancake.

Dressing up in Daddy's hat...

Here is a view of the cottage from a nearby hill. We suspect it was once the shearer's accommodation, now nicely refurbished. We were amazed at how friendly the sheep were - usually sheep are shy and quick to run away, but these ones were quite happy to be pet and take a closer look at little M. Then again, maybe they were trying to get a closer look at the not-so-little me lumbering up the hill.

Madeleine finally got worn out from all the exploring, and insisted on being carried.

Saturday night was cloudy and windy, so there was no stargazing. Fortunately we had the last episode of Downton Abbey to watch, which was equally as exciting (for me at least). On Sunday afternoon we started the 2 hour trip back home just as the rain was setting in.