Happy half term.

Look who made the girls' table tennis team...

Lily and Aunty Sarah took the doggies for a walk in the park.

Then Lily got her collection of painted stones ready for the annual Love On The Rocks pebble chain at Southend.

The idea is to lay a line of ladybird pebbles for as far as possible along the sea wall.

A lot of people turned up and apparently, the final line was an incredible 1.5km long!

As a special treat, Mummy and Lily went to Adventure Island.

Can't say I like the look of it myself...

Here's Mummy in her birthday glasses.

There were flowers from Daddy...

...and a slap up birthday tea at Henry Burgers.

Yum!

Speaking of yummy food, Lily cooked us all a fantastic Sunday lunch from Jamie's new '5 Ingredients' book. We had a fantastic sausage bake, followed by berry dessert pots.

From making lunch to making models. This is Lily's latest homework, a very clever representation of Shakespeare's Globe.

Back at school, Lily's cooking skills were called on once more, as she learned to make pizza from scratch.

Ta-daaaa.

There was also a trip to the beach...

...and a lot of fun at a local activity centre.

She's getting the hang of it.

I always thought she was headed for the top.

The gang's all here. And still in one piece, despite those hair-raising adventures.

Here's a picture to break all her granddads' hearts. This is very much Lily's choice of footballing kit.

Personalised, of course.

Here she is practising in the park.

Then Lily made us another lovely lunch. And it came out EXACTLY how it looked in the recipe.

We quite like it when the temperature drops - because it means we can spark up Rory again.

Here's Lily playing football as an after school activity.

Good awareness.

Maybe a little more work on her first touch though.

Despite the strip, she still went for the Charlie George at full time.

On the last day of term, Mummy got to see some of Lily's school work and projects.

It's what pippers drink.

Lily and Edith went for a skate.

Then spent the afternoon in a bake off.

It was more collaborative than competitive though.

And they shared a refreshing drink after.

Daddy took a couple of days off and we went to the cinema.

Lily saw Ninjago - and you can read what she thought if it here.

Naturally, we headed to McDonald's after and there were Adventure Time toys in our Happy Meals.

Then, due to her love of Death In Paradise, we tried out Lily's detective skills with a traditional favourite.

It was Mrs Boo. With the board game. In the lounge.

It may have been cold. But it was bright. Bright enough to have our morning coffee in th Summer House!

We did a little shopping and found these special treat drinks for pets - including 'Pawsecco'. Oh, Essex...

For lunch, we treated ourselves to chips at Rossi's.

And of course, an ice cream by the sea.

While we were out, we bought a frisbee and took it to the park.

Then Mummy and Lily did some cloudwatching.

We met up with the Atkins and enjoyed an Italian meal together.

On the way home, Lily got stuck in (literally) to finding the best pumpkins at the supermarket.

These weren't our only half term adventures. We also went on a mini break to Brighton. But that's getting a post to itself...