Exciting new ventures

My precious big boy......

An exciting step forward- a whole week away at an activity centre, by himself, on a 7-10 yrs holiday. Had a wonderful time but I think was ready to come home- got an almost tearful call the night before home- just tired and ready for a bit of normality I think...
Excitement of Raft Building, Rifle shooting, High Ropes, Climbing and Abseiling, Quad biking plus many more.... Talent shows, discos, films
Both he and FI would like to go next year.....

Summer Happenings

 On one hand a glorious summer... long warm days, picnics and barbecues, swimming in the river. Free play plus a few leisure centre activities (got the balance right this year- not too many so we feel scheduled but enough to try a few new things), friends to play for young lady and a few play dates in return...

Then the other hand- freak rain storms and flash flooding (and mad children who love dancing in the rain)- we never have problems with rain/flooding however friends who live halfway up a hill (!!!!!!) have been flooded- the torrent of water going down the hill washed out a retaining wall and took a sea of mud through their house- such that they have lost their entire ground floor ( slight funny- mum was trying to keep drains keep as they saw wall going and shrieked to kids - 11 & 6 to take some things upstairs- they saved the Wii and the toaster!)

A Birthday Party

 A little early... just because that was when we could be fitted in..... but a Pony party for a few friends. One very excited little girl complete with her Tattoo (from a Hamleys kit- glitter tattoos which last about a week)- which actually has looked quite pretty.

 On her pony Oscar- who had definately got out of bed the wrong side and was really quite unco-operative!

TP on 'Misty'- who was a new Riding School pony and was thus being trained....

Great pony side party but not so great on the party side- a little embarrasing when the promised food as part of the package didnt materialise and you have eight hungry kids and a couple of bags of crisps and a few cup cakes.......never mind. And someone who didnt bother to turn up and didnt have the curtesy to let us know either before or after.........am soooo done with parties....but she had a great time and I think most of the kids did too.

Enjoying the summer holiday rest from the whirl of after school activities- even though we have added in some leisure centre taster sessions. Finally finished at Playgroup- mixed feelings on that one but will give us much more freedom- just need to have the  AGM so I can hand on responsibilty of Chairperson (and free up a shelf!).

Exciting moments ahead for a certain big boy- a virtual friend had posted about her DD going to a summer camp- so I decided to show SJ and ask him if that would be something he would be interested in the future... at which he turned around and said he wanted to go this year,,,, BIG GULP..... ok then...... so he is off next Saturday for a whole week (some quite good last minute deals!)- so thats the 'party' issue dealt with on his front!!! So proud- this year he has mastered night dryness- enduring unfair jibes from his long dry siblings (not really mean but just niggly) so am glad that he feels ready to go off like this (doesnt help at cub camp- when your parents are the Leaders...)

History Live!

 Have been debating whether to take the children for the last few years and finally decided to do it this year! Great day- very well organised. Easy parking and prebooked tickets meant fast track entry. I decided just to do one day- but we could have easily spent both days there in order to do justice to it all. Of course as always I knew that the WWII stuff would be the highlight for certain family members! This was particularly nice as there was a 'German' contingent as well- as we always try to remember that both sides have their sympathies and both sides were involved in acts that are not particularly proudly remembered.

 The American War of Independence- they were particularly intrigued by the Native Americans involvement- lots of booms and bangs and rifle shots

 The highlight was a representation of the D day landings (without the beach!!!!!) with paratroopers parachuting in, followed by Allied landing, frontal assault from the 'Germans' complete with mortars/bombs and machine gunning complete with a low flying Hurricane 'strafing' the Germans- truly the Highlight for one particular young man.

Also very fascinated by the modern day media people who were flying cameras in the air above it all on radio controlled multi prop 'helicopters'
We will go back again next year- preferably with a second parent!

More holidays...

 Gorgeous Highland scenery- on a beautiful Forestry Commission site- stunning walk- free parking, deserted, beautiful picnic facilities, compost toilet (kids always find them terribly exciting)- could have stayed all day

 Continuing the beach fascination- a rocky/sandy beach on the Moray Firth near Fort George- another beautiful afternoon of wet mooching children, deserted beach so parents can watch from the bench next to the Motorhome- with a pot of tea- and actually talk to each other for once.

 Dolphin spotting at Chanonry Point- am not sure which species was watching the other??

Children that actually like each other- everyone getting on quite well- when they arent arguing...

Holidays

 Another beautiful Scottish holiday- with a slight detour to Lincolnshire to the Memorial Flight to continue our WWII airplane obsession

Wonderful sunshine- hardly a midge- we went to the right side of Scotland this year! We totally beached the children out- if that is possible! Few quiet days in the countryside on a site in the grounds of a Stately Home. Then some wild camping on Rannochmoor (but still both a Tesco and an Asda Home delivery vans went past!!!)- up the beauty of the A9 into the Highlands and Invernessshire- where we visited Ft George and watched Dolphins swimming off Chanonry Point on the Black Isle...

Camping at Rosemarkie- 5m from the Sea- friends playing all day...Moving onto North Berwick and a huge amount of friends- whereby we lost them for most of the day (and half the night too). Lots of brown skin- rubbed skin from flip flops- buckets of shells.....

Exam done, assignment uploaded and now a rest and a hard think about whether to go further....

Some site scouting done and some long discussion re Future- just need to get house moved on a bit now- however Weather makes it too hot this weekend!

A Rollercoaster ride...

Well- heres what the kids have done today......a paddling pool in Mablethorpe, plus an NT property and a whole day on the Beach yesterday....

And I have completed an assignment and revised and revised and revised- plus a little shopping!

Looking forward to tomorrow night and exam being completed- feeling a little better about the amount of prep this time- thanks M- love you!

And then to enjoy a summer- last few Playgroups, days out, reading fiction........