2011 ~ looking back

2011 has certainly been a busy old year for us here in our little family!

There has been so much crammed into this past year, and I thought that it would be fun to look back over the Button Tree Crafts archives and relive some of the lovely memories that 2011 has created ~


January 2011 ~ I loved this beautiful pink hyacinth which brightened up my days and my kitchen::


February 2011 ~ Banana and chocolate muffins, made from my new Nigella recipe book ~ very yummy they were too!


March 2011 ~ Brightly coloured Rico creative cotton and a lovely new needlepoint kit to keep me busy::


May 2011 ~ We revisited Disneyland in Paris and had an absolutely wonderful time::


May 2011 ~ We also had a lovely day in Paris and saw all the famous sights::


June 2011 ~ After a very long wait, we finally sold our little house and moved back to my childhood hometown near the seaside::


July 2011 ~ we had some lovely summery days and spent lots of time exploring and rediscovering our wonderful new surroundings::

September 2011 ~ I finally finished my colourful Rico stripey peg bag::


October 2011 ~ We found this fabulous Halloween decoration in a little village just along the coast::


November 2011 ~ The autumn weather was glorious and I had some lovely autumny walks amongst all the crisp piles of leaves::


December 2011 ~ I made a start on a cozy blue Granny Striped blanket for my boy::

I had such fun looking back over my little blog ~ I have never done a looking back post before and it was really lovely reliving the bits that made 2011 such a special year for me and my family. I love the fact that blogging allows me to keep all these special memories and that they are there for my children to look back on when they are older. Thank you all so much for sharing this little journey back in time with me ~ I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year when it comes ~ and I'll hopefully see you all next year :O)xx

France ~ Day trip to Paris

Whilst we were at Disneyland, we decided that as we were so close to the centre of Paris it seemed a bit silly not to venture into the capital and see some of the sights that make this city so famous. We were not disappointed either ~ I don't think that I've ever been in such a beautiful city! It was absolutely breathtaking! You could spend a lifetime there and still not manage to see everything it has to offer!

As we had such a short time in the city we decided to go on an organised tour so that we could cram in as much sightseeing as possible. We boarded a very comfortable tour bus in the morning and were shown around the city in comfort with a very informative commentary. We drove past all the important sights ~

Up the Champs-Elysees to see the Arc de Triomphe ::


and past the Louvre where the painting of the Mona Lisa is kept ::


stopped to have our photo taken in front of the giant pyramid ::

We then changed our mode of transport for a Bateaux Parisiene for a leisurely sail up the river Seine, this time getting a different view of the landmarks as we passed by them on the water.


Notre Dame Cathedral ::


Pont Neuf ~ which is the oldest bridge in Paris ::


and of course the very famous Eiffel Tower ::

After our river trip, we disembarked and crossed over the road on foot to the Eiffel Tower. This was what we had all been waiting for! We were fast-tracked through so there was no long queue to stand in either. It was all very exciting!


This was the view we had whilst waiting for the lift ~ which was a double decker glass fronted contraption. It sort of went diagonally up the first bit and then straightened itself up to get to the first and second floors.



The views of Paris from the top of the Eiffel Tower were stunning::

Once we had taken in all the views from the top of the Eiffel Tower we came down and sat in a little park at the bottom of it and had cafe au lait and ice cream which was a lovely way to finish off our day trip.

Paris truly is very beautiful and is a place which we will very definitely be revisiting again ~ hopefully sometime soon! :O)xx

France ~ Disneyland Paris

We have just returned from spending a fabulous week in Disneyland Paris. The weather was absolutely glorious and we were able to wander around in shorts, t shirts and flip flops ~ a bit of a far cry from the weather that we have been experiencing here in Scotland of late!


It was lovely just to be able to relax in some sunshine and take things at our own pace. We have visited Disneyland in Paris a couple of times before so we know where everything is ~ well, when I say that what I actually mean is that my lovely husband knows where everything is because my sense of direction leaves a lot to be desired!

We went on all our favourite rides ::


Visited Phantom Manor ::


Lost our way a little bit in Alice in Wonderland's colourful maze ::


Saw a Pirate ship ~ but unfortunately there was no sign of Captain Jack ::


Took a trip on a runaway train on Big Thunder Mountain ::


And scared ourselves silly on the Tower of Terror!


After all that excitement we needed to be brought down to earth a bit ~ so we parachuted our way down into Toy Story Playland.


Do you see those brightly coloured plastic monkeys? I may be showing my age a bit now, but I remember playing with those when I was a child and it took me right back and believe me, it is quite a long way back too!

As you can probably tell we had the best time ever and we can't wait to go back again ~ hopefully sometime very soon:O)xx

Disneyland Paris

Just in case you haven't noticed my Disneyland Countdown, we are flying off to Disneyland in Paris this weekend for a fun filled week of Disney delights.

I think that I have already mentioned this before, but we went last year and unfortunately a certain small boy managed to get chickenpox half way through our stay, and as you can imagine he wasn’t feeling his usual bouncy, happy self! Despite this we did have a good time, but felt we just HAD to go back and do it all again.

We have been getting into the Disney mood by watching some of the Disney DVD’s that match our favourite Disneyland rides - Toy Story, Pirates of the Caribbean and Peter Pan to name but a few.

This year we have also decided that we will spend a day in Paris doing all the touristy sightseeing things - such as going to the top of the Eiffel Tower, taking a trip on the river Seine and visiting Notre Dame. It seems a bit silly to go all the way to Paris and miss out on all of that!

I will be back shortly with some Disney stories and lots of pictures – that is if I can get more than one photo to appear on my blog at once – but that’s another story for another day!

I hope everyone has a very Happy Easter :O)

Disneyland

I've been to the travel agents this morning (along with a much loved and plastic card shaped friend) to pay the balance for our forthcoming holiday to Disneyland in Paris. We are flying off there for a fun filled week during the Easter holidays.

We went there at Easter time last year, but unfortunately my little boy got chicken pox halfway through our stay, so he was feeling a bit under the weather and more than a bit miserable. Poor little thing! :O(

Despite that we did all manage to have a fantastic time and decided that we just had to go back and do it all over again this year!!

This is a picture of my little Buzz Lightyear and Minnie Mouse posing nicely for a photo just before they went for their Disney Character Tea.