Nice to see them... to see them nice

We went over to babysit at PARKs at the weekend. It was Amanda's works do and they were staying over at the venue. We drove over on Saturday morning and had some lunch with them all. We then took the children to see Uncle Derek for the afternoon. Derek and I have managed to avoid each other pretty well this year. He has a pretty busy work and social life but we arranged this a few weeks back. It was nice just to catch up. Rowan and Kirsten were pleased to see Duncan. He is finally taller than me! He is still good with the kids though. Charlotte, the new lady in Derek's life, was there and her daughter came round later with a friend. They brought their pet hamsters which gave us a laugh.
Kirsten was getting restless and telling us she was hungry by 5pm so we bade farewell and took them to Pizza Hut. The place was mobbed but we got served pretty quickly. Not quickly enough for Rowan who wanted his food immediately. Still we cured his hunger pangs as he couldn't finish his ice cream. When we looked around at the behaviour of the other children there, we realised that we were lucky with our two.
We got them home and ready for bed and then let them watch a bit of TV. Kirsten was soon ready to go to bed but Rowan watched Family Fortunes so we had to too!
On Sunday morning, we had leisurely breakfast and awaited their parentals. Phil rang and said they were doing a call for coffee and would be a while longer. So I gave Mum a ring and found she hadn't gone out so we popped round there for a visit. It's what we said we'd have to start doing but just haven't had the time to do. It was only a flying visit for a cup of tea and a biscuit but we all enjoyed it. We even got to see Paul who called in.
By the time we got back, Phil and Amanda were back. Amanda made some lunch while we called to see their next door neighbours. Barbara hasn't seen the baby for a while. Not a baby anymore really. We watched a video/helped with homework/chatted/played for the rest of the afternoon. Amanda made tea which everyone ate except for her. The weekend had finally caught up with her. She was beginning to recover as we left.
On Monday, I went into the shoeboxes warehouse. I went up to York and collected the remaining cartons from their depot. I had a good run there and back. Saw one piece of lunacy going up Market Weighton when a car decided to pull out into the down lane because the overtaking lane wasn't going fast enough! He had to pull in pretty quickly because their were a few cars coming down. Prat.
When I got back, the warehouse was pretty clear. Dave the other driver came in after me and brought some boxes to be processed the next day so I went in. There was also a truck coming to take some cartons to Romania. The students came along and got the truck loaded by noon. Barbara had come and we stayed and cleared up and cleaned up. I decided that it wasn't worth going in again so we bade our farewells until next year.
We went up to the Toby Carvery for the RSPB Christmas Meal on Monday. It was a nice meal and very nice to see some of the members we have been out with this year in a social setting. Mind you, it was the regular meeting on Tuesday. A really interesting talk about Flamborough. However, you don't get the same opportunity to chat that the meal and the walks gave us.
The last couple of days, post-shoeboxes, I have been crossing things off my list. Stuff that has taken a back seat while I have been at the boxes. Not completely caught up as I forgot that the hairdressers is closed on a Thursday. Will just have to be unkempt for a while.