Flowers flowers everywhere!!!

It has been an uncharacteristically sunny day here in the good ol' North of England!

I love sunny spring days - feeling the sun on your face while having to wrap up warm, wandering through the gorgeous riot of colour that is spring flowers. I'd been put in the mood by some lovely bright daffodils I'd bought while we were doing the supermarket shop

and then my wonderful mum presented me with a pot of muscari (or grape hyacinths), which are one of my favourite of all the lovely spring bulbs.

So when it proved to be an amazingly sunny day, and my plans for the morning were unexpectedly cancelled, I suggested to hubby that we took the little man for a trip out. At this time of year, one of my favourite days out is to go to the spring garden at Dunham Massey, a fairly local National Trust property. Lovely hubby suggested I took my SLR, which would be its first outing in almost a year, as I don't get the chance to fiddle with lenses etc when I'm the only one with the little man!

Off we trotted after the morning nap, and arrived just before lunch in glorious sunshine. I'd half expected it to start chucking it down as we made our way there, as northern weather is not what you'd call predictable, but thankfully the sun stayed out! We had a very tasty and warming lunch in the restaurant, and hubby had his latest opportunity to try and get used to being around kids as we sat in the 'family area'. Patience is not one of his virtues although he has many others, and I had to keep reminding him that noise is fine, and you can't expect little ones to be quiet with impeccable table manners! Well, we got through it, and headed out to the gardens.

I had an amazing time with my good old SLR in the gardens, and took tons of pictures of the gorgeous flowers...

snowdrops - so delicate looking but so hardy!

narcissus and daffodils - a burst of sunshine to make everyone smile!

hellebores - oh how I love their droopy grace!

and many other spring delights!

Baby J had a whale of a time practising his newly found independence and walking skills, and hubby watched us both with a kind of bemused benevolence.

We had marvellous fun, spent the afternoon in the spring sunshine, and drove back home happy...

...but tired. Especially the little man!

We're just hoping he sleeps tonight, as he either has the start of yet another cold or his teeth are on the move again. I'm not sure which is worse, but the signs so far are not good!!!

But the day has inspired me to push on with my latest crochet project, a birthday present for the daughter of a lovely friend of mine in a riot of colour!

Looking at it just makes me want to smile!!! I've taken ideas from some of my favourite blogs and added some Mummy Lewis flair! I'm just hoping it works out, but so far so good ... and I'm loving having an excuse to so something pink and girlie!!! Hopefully that will be the subject of a blog v v soon...