Grace meets Maisy Mouse!

What a wonderful day :)

Grace, Ophelia and I set off early for Seven Stories in Newcastle, which was hosting a 'Maisy' weekend. We met up with Grace's best friend Gabrielle, her Mum - my friend Lisa - and Gabrielle's little brother Robbie, who was on a blip a few days ago with Ophelia.

Maisy is Grace's favourite book character, so she was incredibly excited to meet her. She had never met a character like this before, so we weren't sure how she'd react, but Grace went straight up to her heroine and kept going back to see her, sometimes taking her 'presents' from the bookshop shelves!

We also went to a Maisy storytime session, where she met her favourite mouse once again, and took part in some arts and crafts activities elsewhere in the building, as well as checking out the Judith Kerr exhibition (with a mock up of The Tiger Who Came to Tea' kitchen, complete with HUGE tiger at the table!).

After Seven Stories, we went for lunch at The Cluny. I hadn't been there for about 3 years. Used to go there for a drink and to the odd gig (I'm sure AmErica remembers it...and btw Neal Casal is playing there next month, Erica...). So it was a bit strange to be there with the children today, thinking about how life has changed soooooo much since their arrival (all for the best, I might add).

We parted company with our friends after lunch, but it was such a great day that the girls and I didn't want to go home. Grace wanted to go to 'the mickey mouse shop' (what she calls the Disney Store), so it was off to the Metro Centre for us, for a little shopping and some yummy ice-cream.

It was still warm and sunny when we got home. We are all a bit tired tonight, but Grace seemed blissfully happy with her day as she went to bed.

Unfortunately the photos I got of Grace and Maisy Mouse aren't the clearest. There are more, better photos of other stuff we did today, but this one is such a happy shot and will be what I remember most about today: my little girl cuddling her first literary heroine!