A right Yorkshire day out...

Today we went for what I think was our first proper day out as a family. The weather looked pretty bleak first thing but since we spent all day making Ikea furniture yesterday we decided that another day in the house was out of the question. So we drove 40mins or so to Yorkshire Sculpture Park, having never been before but passed it numerous times in the car.

It is probably fair to say that the day didn’t start well. I wasn’t in a great mood to start with, one of those days where everything possible is wrong. Added to the fact that G Kisby seemed to be in similar form, though he would deny this- I'm not sure he has ever admitted to be in a bad mood, the outlook was not particularly positive. So more than ever we made an effort to get out and about. However things got slightly worse before they got better. We forgot the sat nav, thought we knew where we were going, didn't. Needless to say if ever there is a way to make our relationship tense it is through an issue with directions. I managed to do a detour down what became a dirt track. Need I say more.

We then arrived to see it was pay and display but we had no change.

Finally we realised that most people were wearing walking attire. G Kisby had on his converse and lightweight (work / city) mack on and we only had the pram for Mabel not the sling. Apparently there was a walk with disabled access, don't think I would have been happy attempting the mud in my wheelchair and we discovered our pram was very much not for off roading. After a couple of comments about turning back we managed to negoitate some sort of walk around the grounds and actually, with the right equipment, it is really good and great for kids.

Here is one of my favourite sculptures, I like the stance of this hare-like creature...

It was lovely and sunny which meant we left our bad moods behind. Our trip was then finished off with a decent coffee and cake for me, a bottle of Yorkshire Blonde beer for G Kisby and Mabel went for the milk option (she is very unadventurous with her food choices, it is something we are working on).

And talking of good food and drink we had a lovely evening with Fee and Al last night featuring slow cooked lamb, pittas and a great chickpea and feta salad. Mabel was brilliant and then slept for 7 hours in a row. Obviously I woke up after about 5 then lay awake convinced she was ill but should I be less of a paranoid mother (I since googled it and 7 hours is fine as long as she is putting on weight and doing wet nappies) I would have truly appreciated such a feat. Can't quite believe how big she looks in this picture...