And more than two months have gone by...

It's been quite a while since I last did a catchup post, over two months now! So this one won't be quite as detailed as the others, but more of a quick skim through what I/we have been up to. Be warned, it is long.

We've met up with some friends who have come down here to be the Corps Officers (Salvation Army church leaders) in St Ives. Lucy was meeting them pretty much for the first time, for me it was more of a huge catch-up, having not seen either of them for many years. Having now met a few times I'd like to think we're well on our way to becoming good friends. We're just trying not to think about the fact that they'll have to move away in a few years...

As a sure sign that Isaac is growing bigger, we bought a car seat and I blogged about our choice. We had been fortunate that he had managed to fit in his first car seat for almost the first two years of his life and went for a rear-facing model to maximise safety.

Also related, Isaac's gone from barely walking to now running around quite confidently (apart from the other day when he took a tumble on the road outside our house and managed to graze his forehead...)

Early in September we bought a caravan, to allow us to take some holidays away from home. We wanted a particular model of folding caravan (a Rapido Export-matic) so I travelled all the way to Kent to pick one up at a very good price. Unfortunately on the way home one of the tyres burst and did some damage to the floor, but it's all repairable. The caravan also turned out to be the slightly older Export model, but it's not much difference. We're looking forward to getting her out and exploring some more of this country near and far. We've already decided that our first week away needs to be the New Forest, but we'll probably take her for a weekend somewhere closer to home.

Now we just need to get that garage sorted so we can fit her in!

Mid September Isaac had his second birthday! Woo hoo! I took the day off and we headed to Lappa Valley Steam Railway. We had an awesome day, despite some dodgy weather. Here are some photos:

Towards the end of September Lucy's family all came down to see us, which was lovely. We saw Mousehole and St Ives and on their way back up the county we popped into St Agnes for lunch on the Sunday. Isaac had loads of fun throwing stones into the sea with Nanny in the rain!

When they'd all cleared off we set to work turning the spare room of old into Isaac's bedroom (so now there's even more in the garage... oops). There's no rush to get him to sleep in his own bed, but he's loving having his own space to play in etc.

This last week I've been off work, which has been lovely. We originally planned the week off to use the caravan, but circumstances meant we had to adapt. We used the week to get some stuff done around the house, and make a bit of room in the garage (thanks to a car boot sale on Sunday). We didn't waste it all in the house though, we went to soft play, visited Lands End, went swimming at a great pool with slides and we also went on walks around the village.

Last but not least, here's some highlights from various parts of the internet:

• 29th June - Instagram: Possibly Isaac's first "selfie"
• 12th August - Instagram: Isaac showing off his improving walking
• 14th August - I reviewed the "Groovy Cable"
• 16th August - I shared a skeuomorphic online payment system on LinkedIn
• 18th August - Instagram: Isaac learning how to sew with his Mama
• 20th August - I shared an interesting blog post from a friend about prayer
• 22nd August - Lucy took a picture of me and Isaac waiting for the train, it's my current profile picture
• 13th September - I started blogging a home PBX project (still in progress)
• 23rd September - I shared a post on Google+ about a spoon that cancels out parkinsons tremors

A fabulous week with family

When I originally started writing this post I got very excited that I'd managed two weeks in a row, but unfortunately life happened and it's taken me from Saturday until now to finish it. Oh well, I tried...

This week, from Saturday to Saturday we had Lucy's sister and brother-in-law (also known as Aunty Siân and Uncle Rich) come and stay with us; I took the Monday and Friday off to spend some quality time with them and we had a fantastic week!

via Instagram

Saturday started by preparing for our guests, after a long and hot journey we weren't sure what they'd want to do, but thankfully they choose wisely: a trip to the beach.

We went to Carbis Bay and had tea on the beach (our usual pasta). Despite being late it was still plenty hot enough to get in the water. Later on Isaac found a pre-dug hole and played in it with his aunty and uncle, telling them when to run in and when to get back out.

Crotched bike at Heartlands

Sunday we took Uncle Rich to see Heartlands, which was a project his company had worked on, and Isaac showed off his walking in the Red River (Instagram video).

It was a very hot day and we really felt for the guy wearing Victorian dress driving a horse-drawn omnibus. After that Rich had to travel back to Bath for the evening, so the rest of us chilled out in the garden with some help from the paddling pool. This was interesting given the back door is still broken...

Once the evening cooled down we went for a walk through the village.

Monday, my day off, we went to St Ives. We crammed in lots that day, including a train ride, a meal out, cream tea and a trip to the Barbara Hepworth garden (a new one for Lucy, Isaac and I). I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:

Over the next few days I was back at work and Lucy and Isaac stayed at home to allow our guests to explore on their own. They were on holiday after all! I'm not sure I can remember what we did on Tuesday evening, but I do know that Isaac took his first unsupported steps between the two of us:

Wednesday evening we joined Siân and Rich in Mousehole for a little stroll. The tide was right out, so Isaac made the most of the revealed beach:

Google+ generated this animation

via Instagram

That evening Isaac decided he'd rather co-sleep with his aunty and uncle, which made for a pretty cute photo opportunity!

Thursday our guests treated us to a lovely home-made lasagne, despite having spent all day at the beach. Whilst they were busy sweating in the kitchen us three got out of their way and went to one of the parks in the village, although it was far too hot to be outside without any shade... whew!

Friday I took another day off and we all headed off to Kynance Cove. Siân and Rich had discovered it earlier in the week, which was exciting as we had never been! Unfortunately the tides weren't on our side and we started out squeezed on the beach - but that was fine as we spent lots of time in the water.

Isaac also practised his walking even more, and really enjoyed walking in and out of the sea! (Google+ animation supplied to prove it)

Despite the wind and the slightly chilly seas it was really nice to spend lots of time in the water.

The plus side of arriving at high-tide was the slow reveal of the next part of the cove. In fact we got a little impatient and walked through chest-height water to get around to it.

I carried Isaac round on my shoulders, something he loves doing anyway!

Because the tide was still separating several parts of the cove it was like being on a tropical island! There were also bits of beach you could only get to either by walking around the cliffs through water or by walking through caves; very exciting!

Friday ended with a rather disastrous attempt at a barbecue, but we did our best to enjoy ourselves anyway!

Saturday we had American pancakes for our breakfast and said our goodbyes as our guests headed home. But did we rest? Oh no, we headed down to Penzance for a nice stroll and a go in the big park!

Right... it's taken me so long to type this one that I'd better get working on writing the next weekly summary!