Playing catchup and giveaway update

Time flies when your having fun and despite a few coughs and sneezes along the way my little family had a great week... We took off for the week and stayed in this sweet little cottage in the beautiful Yorkshire town of Pickering.  Its not our usual style of cottage, we normally go for a cottage in the middle of some hills and nothing else, so it was a nice change to be able to go out for breakfast and eat out in an evening and walk home to the cosy fire and snuggle up on the sofa with a good read or my knitting...
Of course as you would expect a lot of outdoor time was had, we really enjoyed all our Autumnal walks...
the first snow of the season caught us off guard... chilly chilly chilly...
We went to visit lots of interesting places...
Stunning views to be had at the top of Whitby Abbey.  You really can see and feel why the book Dracula was inspired by this place.  A book I must mention in its true form is a treat to read, a pure love story rather than a horror tale.
With all this fresh air and running around I did have very sleepy little people at the end of the day.  However Autumn Watch was a problem.  My oldest child loves Autumn and Spring watch when its on the telly, he watches it with wide eyes and asks lots of questions when each programme finishes.  It is on at eight o'clock which is actually past bedtime, but whilst away and the little one was all tucked up in his nest, we would snuggle on the sofa (lots of snuggling took place) with our hot chocolate and we would enjoy the delights of this program.
One day we ventured into the city (York) and we shopped till we dropped... as you would expect the children found every toy shop in all the out of the way places and I enjoyed a poke around Sheepish the wool shop situated in the beautiful part of York called the Shambles we also spent too much time in book shops.  To keep us going we had a few breaks to enjoy the coffee culture and ended up in our favourite family restaurant chain... we watched the sun go down over the river and then with full tummies we explored the city all over again in dark evening light with all the twinkling lights...
A holiday without a trip to the Sea, well that just would not do, so covered in waterproofs, sweaters and our wellies on with a basket of snacks and flask of Hot Chocolate we headed off to the beach... 
and guess what...we were the only ones on the beach that day and we had so much fun...
Yes some special days...  the weather was different on each morning and we made the most of it all... and on the days we felt a little poorly we would just walk to the end of the road and feed the ducks...
Do not let me disappoint you, all the while I was knitting, sewing, cutting and sticking... it will all be revealed on the run up to Christmas... YES Christmas, it feels like its on its way, and that's a good feeling...

I will announce the winner of the giveaway on Wednesday when I have had a chance to unpack... Oh I have so many new goodies to unpack and a beautiful shop I would like to share with you...see you soon.