You're Booked

Yeah! My prodigal sister Tiss is the last member of my immediate family to travel down to see Lucy. I say prodigal. She is some sort of Vicar* thing so I suppose it is excusable that her weekends aren't normally free. (*Lay reader). She normally evangelises lives in Birmingham. So it was nice for her to see some green.

It is difficult to go to Barnes pond without bumping into Aunty Pink.

Ali, Pink, Sprock and Aunty Tiss enjoy Barnes Pond. Judging by the fact that Aunty Tiss is holding two pints of Hoegarden, can we assume that her Vicar* days are over? (*No).

Daddy has yet to graduate from the playground. In fact he hasn't bothered to apply.

Later on we move the the The Coach and Horses. Lucy displays her new gift from Aunty Tiss. Remember that Tissy is famous as the giver of Muji Rabbit? Well to give Muji's ears a rest he has been augmented by Mujiphant! Clever Aunty Tissy.

Aunty Tiss is seldom seen holding babies. This may go a long way to explaining why.

Daddy and baby. It's a beautiful thing.

In her day job Tiss doesn't just bring sinners to Christ. Saving people is just her hobby. She looks after books for a living* in a collage in Birmingham. "The UK's top rated Higher Education Collage" apparently. (*Head of Library and Learning Services).

Tiss has incredibly generously enhanced Lucy's Library with the following tomes;
My First Animal Numbers - learn to count by counting animals
First Picture Action Rhymes - learn the actions to I'm a little tea pot etc.
Smart Aunties - A some what self serving book
Just Like My Dad - Funny Lions
Say Hello to the Baby Animals - Zebras and Hippos for beginners
We love bunk beds - Shirley and Doris Elephant share a bed
Delilah Darling is in the Library - Tiss (BA. MLIB MCLIP) tries to influence Lucy's career.
Baby Bible - ha ha, Nice try.

Aunty Tiss - the children's entertainer

So we arrived in Hull for Lucy's first Christmas and also her first trip to the enchanted and sacred land of East Yorkshire. It was also her 3rd tree in 3 days. Aunty Pinks was the biggest but Grandma and Grandad came in second.

Famously Aunty Tiss says she is not very good with babies and normally claims that she will have nothing to do with them until they are around fourteen. This is an exaggeration of course and she has played with Lucy before - but things have moved onto a new level! Tiss has purchased some furry slippers just so that Lucy can play with them (Lucy loves normal shoes but we don't let her play with them for obvious sanitary considerations).

She can also be seen quite clearly here interacting with hands as well as feet.

And frankly this picture shows that Aunty Tiss has gone the whole hog and become firm pals with her little niece.

Lucy's 5th Birthday Party

Looks like pretty much everything is ready for the kiddies party. Balloon fountain. Check. Food. Check. Drinks. Check.

Mummy and Aunty Tiss prepare for the tribe of 5 year olds to arrive.

Aunty Tiss is left in charge of the Crown making department.

Milly kindly steps into the face painting chair. Of course Lucy is her first customer.

Mummy takes a turn painting Frazer

Frazer looks around desperately for Milly but she is long gone. Mummy will have to do.

At last the cat/badger/zebra hybrid is complete.

Frazer has a rest.

Look how clean the Bouncy Castle is.

The Adults get a chance to have a breather.

Well not all of them. Beloved Jonny is much in demand.

Pass the parcel is a huge success with Daddy and Uncky Kev in charge.

Aunty Tiss is starting to show the signs of child fatigue.

How many 5 year olds can you get onto a bouncy castle designed for 3? Answer - all of them. Especially when they are being chased down the garden by a GruffelSue.

Uncky Kev shows a surprising aptitude for face painting when Milly realises that she has missed out.

Aware that her reputation as prime paint facer is under threat, Milly retakes the artists seat.

Lucy blows out the candles on her hedgehog cake.

As things begin to wind down, Daddy reads Lucy one of her new story books.

The GruffelSue gets to take a rest from child herding

A pair of old fish wives

And what a treat to finish of a very exciting day, two Aunties read a very happy and tired little girl her bedtime stories.

Ham House

Not only did Aunty Tiss pretty much double Lucy's library of books, but she also got her loads of new clothes. Getting stripey tops with grinning tigers on shows that Aunty Tiss really understands what her little niece likes.

Sunday was the hottest day of the year and babies aren't great with heat. So when we went for a day trip to Ham House we augmented Muji Rabbit, Plopp Bear and new friend Mujiphant with a fan.

Of course when you look this cute you find that you have lots of fans.

Aunty Tiss is starting to look almost comfortable with the Sprocket.

In fact they are starting to look mighty cute together.

Of course we haven't forgotten Aunty Pink. She looks after Plopp.

Egyptian Hat

Last time my sister Sue went to Egypt it was for her Honeymoon. When she returned to Blighty she bought me a T-Shirt sporting the timeless and witty legend "My sister went to Egypt and all she bought me was this T-Shirt". Oh how I laughed. However, she has made significant amends. Aunty Sue, Unkey Kev, Jonny and Aunty Tiss have returned to Egypt (obviously Jonny and Tiss weren't there last time!) and this time they have bought Lucy a nice present. Not pictured is a very cool red T-Shirt with the name Lucy written in ancient pictograms. Very educational. They also bought her this Arabic hat which is very colourful and totally bonkers. Which suits Lucy very well.

Lucy's First 2nd Birthday Party

It's Lucy's first party. Daddies familiy and a few friends are over. Lucy is thrilled to see Grandad.

Annty Tiss entertains Lucy by bouncing on the Swiss Ball.

Si is having a great time.

So are Grandma and Mummy.

Milly looks after Lucy for a bit.

Has Aunty Tiss been on the wine early? Is this the behaviour of a respected Librarian? Yes.

Uncky Kev requests permission to ask Jonny a question.

Aunty Pink regales everyone with an hilarious anecdote.

Aunty Tissy

Aunty Tiss and her friend Diane are visiting. Aunty Tissy takes a photo of her favorite niece.

Lucy is very impressed. Aunty Tiss brought her some Play-Doh. She likes making slugs. As you can see there was one tub of green and one tub of orange. Now there is one ball of brown!

Sunday Roast

I wouldn't be right to let Aunty Tiss go back up to Birmingham without a proper Sunday Roast. Beef, Roast spuds, 'neeps, carrots and of course Yorkshire Puds - finished off with horseradish sauce and Ports' special gravy. And a cheese board to die for.

Lucy wasn't convinced. But then she only had milk.

She did get to sit on the big table with all the grown ups in her Bumbo (with Muji Rabbit of course).

Aunty Tiss wasn't going to leave without a big glass of red wine and a lecture on returning library books (not really).