A day in Newcastle

Marguerite, Ben and Jude took themselves off to Newcastle for the day, that's Newcastle County Down.  It's a great little town and perfect for Ben to have some fun.

A couple of days before and here Captain Ben Clarke ........ a real Pirate ...... with eye patch and all.  This was him heading to school for 'Pirate Day'.  Pretty cool outfit there Ben!











'Ahoy me ship-mates', said Ben heading out the door.

Ben loves these fellas ...... Spider-Man, Darth Vadar, Captain America, Batman, Hulk and Iron Man .... they're his buddies!












Here is Ben in his Granny and Granda Crossan's back garden. Looking cool with his Kilkenny top and Down shorts on.












Where was I ............ ohh yeah ...... Newcastle.  Here's Marguerite and Ben in the park checking out what to do. 












First thing was the Carrousel ........ brilliant!















Marguerite takes a long-arm selfie.  Meanwhile back at the ranch Jude and Ben are having a great old time to themselves.

That's the mountains of Mourne in the distance.  Nice!










Now there's a cool pic if ever I saw one.  One for the scrapbook!! Wha?

'Hiya!!!!!!















Then the Go-Karts.  There's Jude walking around making sure Ben is 'keeping-'er-between-the-ditches!

'Here Marguerite, give me the camera till I get a couple of close-ups', said Jude.

Now that's better. 

Ben is doing a great job here driving this go-kart as it's far too big for him.

'Who won Daddy, did I win? asked Ben.

Next up was the swing.  Now Ben has a big swing in his garden but he found this one exciting because it had no guard on the front and back.

So he laughed the whole time he was on it.  Marguerite and Jude didn't push him too hard and they stayed within arms length ...... just to be sure to be sure to be sure to be sure! 

Jude and Ben love this game.  The wee frogs pop up and you bang them back down again. 














Sure it's great craic altogether. 

Water dodgems .......... magic! Ben had a good giggle on these yokes. 

Bumping into folk and scooting off again ....... great craic.













Of course one go wasn't enough for Ben ...... he had to have loads of goes! 

Then Marguerite had a go ..........














........ but she didn't know how to steer it .......... and Ben wasn't exactly much help .......

 .......... so they ended up stuck in the corner, bobbing away up against the wall and laughing their heads off. 

They should really have gotten their money back ...... it was that bad ...... folk were looking at them and thinking, 'what are they doing? 

It was really funny!

After all that excitement it was time for an Ice Cream.














And a wee dander down to the beach.

Ben surveying the scene.

And soon enough he was gathering stones to 'skim' in the water.  'Ehhhh Ben ...... that's one's a bit big son', said Jude.

 

Ben loved this stone.  He kept climbing up on it and jumping off.  Great craic for him but nerve-wrecking for Marguerite.

Ben is actually looking at the donkeys on the beach as they took little kids on rides.  3 quid a pop for a 20ft / 1 min walk on a donkey ...... 'aye, dead on', said Jude.

A day in Newcastle fairly flies in let me tell you ....... before you know it your heading home. 

But time flies when you're enjoying yourself ...... isn't that what they say?

And talking about enjoying yourself ........ here is Ben the next day discovering a new way to enjoy his swing (or 'wing' as Adam calls it). Jude was sitting eating his dinner and he happened to look down the garden and there he was ....... with Mayo kit and Pirate hat on ......

........ swinging away like a good one and having lots of fun.