Dog trouble

The Kavanaghs arrived on Friday evening to great excitement from the big lads. Even Angus seemed please to have Michelle there and has followed her lead in clapping his hands. He's fierce pleased with himself when he does it too. He may have managed an "all done" sign in the last week but given that Angus being "all done" when eating is a rare thing, I suspect it's not a sign he'll favour. "More" will be a preference.

Rowan and Helen shared Sean and Finn's room, Angus moved upstairs and Sean and Finn shared with Jamie in the playroom. Getting them down was surprisingly hassle-free but the mornings were predictably early. A quiet and restful two days was not an option.

We headed out to Almond Valley Farm Park on the Saturday. Sharon prepared a fine picnic (in fact, she seemed to spend much of the weekend in the kitchen putting together many dishes for adults and children alike) and the children had a good play on the trampolines, the indoor play, where I was obliged to chase them with balls as ever, and the soft play. Once home, Sean delighted in showing off his Wii skills. After the children were in bed, even the adults had a bit of Wii time, which made a change from sitting around chewing the fat.

At Spylaw Park on Sunday morning, Sean, and the rest of us, got a fright when a huge dog (looked like a cross between a dalmatian and an irish wolfhound) bounded after him when he started running towards me. Whether Sean tripped just as the dog reached him or whether it knocked him to the ground was hard to say but Sean ended up with a graze on his knee and a bump on his head, possibly from the dog's muzzle. Needless to say the owner was very apologetic but a dog that size (it was the height of Sean) should never have been off a lead where children were present. I said nothing as I would likely have lost the plot if I had started remonstrating with her. Pete insisted she get the dog on a chain as Jamie and Helen and Rowan were clinging to him as I comforted Sean. Fortunately Finn was in the playpark area. It took Sean a while to come round from nursing his woes and start to play. I expect he'll be rather reticent about big dogs coming near him from now on.