Christmas Day!!

Here I am attempting to cook Christmas dinner (never done that before!) on a bar-b-que ..... it all felt 'not quite right', not a turkey to be seen....

 

 

We had steak, king prawns, snags (!!), tomatoes, onion & mushrooms and salad all wrapped up in turkish flat bread.... yummy

 

We spent the late afternoon and evening at this beautiful lake about 15 minutes drive from where we live... it was lovely but didn't feel at all like Christmas.... no hats, scarves, gloves or frostbitten noses... outrageous!

Traditions...

I love 'em.... traditions that is. Here is Evie deeply involved in one of our Christmas Eve traditions.... that of having a chocolate fondue and eating as much as you can before admitting defeat! I think Evie concentrated on the marshmallows even though there was lots of yummy fruit to dunk as well.... why does that not surprise me!

 

And here is another one... putting out food and drink for Santa and the reindeers before going to bed.... love it!

 

Busy, busy, busy....

Well, it's that time of year isn't it?! Shopping, baking, wrapping, making..... and then I remember that I've forgotten something..... but for the life of me I can't remember what it is I've forgotten (I guess it wouldn't be forgotten if I could remember it.....) My brain is officially frazzled, I'm going to get a drink. Ta, ta for now!

The joys of homeschooling....

Here is Evie out on the back patio busily making some lavender perfume so she can sell it and make 'wads of cash' (her words, not mine!!) I now have a couple of stripped lavender bushes and a couple of jars of 'lavender water' (who uses that nowadays anyway?) but I've managed to get away without paying for the time being......

 

Sovereign Hill

We went for an evening of fun and festivities at the local working museum, Sovereign Hill. It is laid out as Ballarat would have been 150 years ago during the days of the gold rush and there are original style shops, houses, forge, bar/saloon and even the camp and diggings where you can pan for gold (yes we did try but didn't come away with any booty!)

The kids dipped candles for the Christmas dinner table and we bought some traditional sweets to munch on as we made the most of the warm evening weather whilst wandering round .... I have to say there are some nice things about having Christmas in the warm! We had to be thrown out at 8.30pm...... I just couldn't get Brian and the kids away from the pans and trying to find their fortune....

 

 

Our new addition....

At long last, and after much trauma (it's a LONG story) we have a new addition to our family...... Shadow the kitten, all 8 weeks of him, has joined our happy house and brought a lot of joy to the littlest one!

 

Weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth....

So how come, even though I had been warned I would feel beside myself with grief, I didn't realise just how many tears I would shed when my children went to school for the day... and I mean just for the day, not even for a whole week, but just one day! I wept as I walked home, I wept as I changed their beds, I wept as I did the washing, I wept during every job I had set myself up to do for the day! I even went to visit them at lunchtime (with sunglasses on incase I felt the urge to weep whilst I did that too!) just to check they were OK..... Evie of course was tooooooo busy with her many friends to pay me any attention (a quick cursory wave was all she could manage bless her). Isaac did talk to me for a moment or two but really had something much more pressing to do and that was to eat the chicken nuggets he had been given for lunch (having eaten his entire packed lunch, which I had so loving put together for him, during morning recess!)

They both came home happy and chatty, telling me about all the things they had done and asking if they could do it all again tomorrow....! What a blow! Unfortunately (for them) they have to wait until next Monday to do it all again, then it is just one more Monday before the summer hols start and I don't have to think about school again for 7 weeks..... better stock up on the kleenex!

 

Days Out - second instalment....

Embracing the tourist tag fully means that when the sun shines we go out for a day (I do draw the limit at trekking anywhere in the rain.... I know I'm a wimp in reality!) So today we went to Torquay..... oh I do love the names over here.... feels so home-y. Actually we are having a family competition to find the funniest town name over here and so far Wagga Wagga is at the top of the list but I will keep you posted if, and when, it get overtaken.

Anyway, back to Torquay... we got some body boards (only for the kids you understand as I am also a wimp when it comes to early spring sea water temperatures, especially when the water orginates from the ocean around the Antarctic!) They had an absolute blast down on the surfing beach just catching the last little bits of the wave and riding them into shore. However it was a bit of an 'in, out, in, out, shake it all about' affair as we didn't have wetsuits for the kids (those are hiding in a shed in Falmouth at the moment) but they loved playing in the sand to get warm and then popping into the ocean for a bit more of a 'surf'. There were however, dozens of real surfers out there and I have to admit to being a bit awestruck at how amazing it looks. I did notice a couple of surf schools around so maybe one of these day I'll take the plunge (literally) and have a go myself (in the autumn with a very hefty wetsuit on of course!)

 

In what seems to be becoming a family tradition we found a good homemade ice cream shop and each consumed huge amounts of ice cream before heading home on a sugary high with rosey cheeks and sandy hair..... ah bliss!

 

Days out...

We went for a day out now that we have a car and what a great day it was! We decided to go to the Grampian mountains so drove to a town called Halls Gap (it's a little gateway town from whence you take a narrow road past Elephants Hide something-or-other and make your way into the mountains to revel in their majesty!) We stopped first at Boroka Lookout which would have been magnificent I am sure but for the fact that the mist rolled in as we arrived and blocked our view of most of the valley! Isaac was very excited by the fact that he could see the 'clouds moving in' though so it made it worthwhile anyway ("can you believe it mum, we're in the clouds!") We moved on a few miles past Wonderland(!) and made our way to Mckenzie Falls. Now before we started our tramp round the area we decided to get out the portable cooker and cook some sausages for lunch (felt I had to enter into the Australian spirit of things and cook something outdoors with which to fill our empty tummies) but before I could even say 'get those snags in the pan Bri' (you have to read that with an Australian twang to get the gist of course) a wallaby hops right up to within 20 metres of where we were sitting! Not only did that send Evie into fits of delight but there was a joey nestled (rather comfortably it seemed) in its pouch.... well that made us all smile with delight and out came the camera for a Kodak moment.....

Photos taken and sausage sandwiches consumed, we headed round to the lookout from where we would be able to see the splendour of McKenzie Falls. This was a 2km round trip which was described as 'an easy walk along the bluff', right up my street I felt, so we sauntered along looking at lots of burnt trees (there was a serious bush fire in this part of the Grampians about 18 months ago and although the leaves are back on the trees the trunks are all still blackened) and admiring a plant called Kangaroo Tail. We got to the lookout and what a splendid sight it was.... however, it was quickly noticed by at least half of our pack that there were people down at the base of the falls enjoying a much more splendid view and so a cry went up that we walk back to the car park and take the path leading us down to the base of the falls. Now, I don't want to sound like a party pooper but I had read the notice saying it was a 'strenuous track for the fit and energetic' and though only a 1.2km round trip people coming back up looked like they were about to have a cardiac arrest. I am not a fan of walking up anything and did feel an excuse coming on but gritted my teeth and said with all joy and exuberance 'OK let's do it' (words I would later come to regret). We made it down no problem and it was beautiful at the bottom with both Evie and Isaac walking round to the side of the falls and getting thoroughly soaked but then came the bit for the fit and energetic (words which could not be used to describe me!), the climb back up! Well, I must have looked just like the rest of the people I had witnessed completing the trek for I felt sure I was about to have that cardiac arrest!

 

We stopped at Halls Gap on the way back from the mountains and fortified ourselves with an ice cream (accompanied by a waffle, maple syrup and whipped cream in my case) and a play in the local play park.

Oh the joys of days out.... bring on the next one I say.

Not Again!!

Two posts in one day, what is the world coming to?! The farmers market did not disappoint with lots of tasting going on of cheese, chutneys, breads.... infact I pretty much had my lunch looking round and did purchase a rather yummy pot of chilli relish to boot! Walked from there to the local Salvation Army Op Shop (what a fun name eh? It's short for opportunity shop, in England we would call it a charity shop but I have to admit to quite liking the Australian name because there certainly are lots of opportunities for me to find bits of treasure in them!) Well, they were having a free 'sausage sizzle' today which we were all very pleased about, especially Isaac 'how many sausages can I have?' Crawford Poxon(!), and we proceeded to make ourselves at home around the barbie. Of course I couldn't resist a look inside the op shop and what did I find but the most marvellous woolen blanket (should there be two ll's in woollen or just one I wonder?) Anyway, I can hear you wondering (apart from my sister who I'm sure would have a very good inkling about what to do with a wool blanket) 'whatever could she want with an old wool blanket'. Aha, well let me enlighten you! I spent a while on the internet last night googling how to make felt slippers (I have a desire to make my own slippers rather than buying a pair which will invariably fall apart within days) and found a couple of rather nifty patterns that I liked the look of, so what better than to buy an old Australian woolen blanket (in a nice chequered blue, pink and cream pattern I hasten to add), felt it in my washing machine and fashion for myself (and anyone else in the house who would like a pair) a warm and comfy pair of slippers! At $2.50 (about one British pound at the moment) it was an opportunity not to be missed...... so I didn't! Brian also purchased a book that he has been looking at for many years now and it was only 50 cents.... bargain!

Aforementioned blanket is now felted and on the line drying.... I will keep you updated with the progression of the slippers (may even post a photo if they turn out OK!!)

Hot days and Farmers Market

OK so the weather forecast said it would be 30 degrees in Melbourne (so probably a couple of degrees cooler here) but they didn't factor in wind chill did they? It doesn't feel like 30 degrees but I have learned (in our 5 weeks of habitation here!!) that it can be cold in the morning and be HOT later on and vice versa. They weren't wrong when they said you can experience all four seasons in one day in this part of Australia!

Anyway we will brave whatever comes our way with fleece jackets, sunblock and sun hats! There is the farmers market down at the Lake (I call it the Lake very loosely because although that is it's official name, Lake Wendouree, there is very little water in it because of the drought they have had here over the last few years! However, they have got an action plan and it is beginning to fill again and looks beautiful.... even if there is only a few inches of water in it!) where we shall saunter and sample lots of local delicacies! It's like being in the south of France on summer holidays (don't you love those?) and going to the markets there, there is lots of good food and all of it is locally produced.... yipee!

I have to say that one of the things I really enjoy about shopping here is the amount of produce I can buy that is grown and made in Australia. I'm not so naive as to realise that some stuff still has to travel a fair old distance (Queensland for example is QUITE SOME DISTANCE from Victoria) but it is fab to be able to buy pineapples, bananas, tea, sugar, oranges, nuts and a myriad of other things that have been grown right here!

OK, enough for now.... we're off to said farmers market.... not to buy a fat pig though..... just to sample some yummy cheese and olive oil probably! Ho hum.

We have a car...

Oooooh such excitement in our house because we picked up our car today! This means we can gad about taking day trips to the mountains and visit the beach, even get to church (there is no bus service early on a Sunday morning here in Ballarat so getting to any church has been a little difficult lately....) The car is a groovy little Toyota Yaris and has automatic transmission which is great for a lazy driver like me..... joy!

Word Translation

There aren't many words that are different but here are the few I have noticed this far:

Aussie English - UK English

Thongs - Flip flops (don't get those two mixed up LOL!)
Manchester - Linens (sheets, towels, duvet covers etc)
Pants - Trousers
Doona - Duvet
Esky - Cool box
Snag - Sausage
Milk bar - Corner shop

There's probably a few more I will come across in the months to come but thought I would just share with you my first finds......!

Things I've Noticed....

Today, the kids and I took the bus and went to the Eureka Centre (http://www.eurekaballarat.com/) to meet up with the Ballarat home school group. Although we decided to leave the exhibition for another time when Brian can come with us, there was a fantastic play area which the kids loved and the weather was just fantastic. There were about 6 families in all that came to the playground so the kids were able to meet and mix which they love and Isaac was able to make up some sort of Star Wars game with some of the boys around his age. It amazes me (though it shouldn't) that kids just say 'hi' and then get on with a game as if that's all the introduction it takes to make friends! I love it that within minutes of being there my two were deep into one game or another and had made connections with almost everyone both young and old..... how fantastic is that?!

One of the other homeschool mums asked me what I had found that was different between Australia and Bristol and I had been thinking that exact same thing while we were on the bus getting there.... what have I noticed that is different here in Ballarat to being in Bristol? Well, the postmen deliver the mail on motorbikes for one thing! You have a letter box at the end of the drive by the pavement and the postman scoots round dropping the mail in to everyones boxes! Saves having to walk up to the front door of everyones house to drop them through! It was amusing for us to watch, and would probably have been hilarious for anyone watching us, as I peered out my front room window shouting for Isaac to come and look while the postman made his way round the Grove to deliver the mail.

Another thing that amazed me was that the bin collections are a one man affair! You have to put your bin by the roadside the evening before your collection day and then the guy driving the truck pulls up beside your bin and an automated 'grabber' comes out from the side of the truck, grabs your bin, empties it and puts it back down. AMAZING! I realise, obviously, that it just couldn't work in Bristol but it has a lot of novelty value for us here.

So what else? Well the whole public bar-b-que thing intrigued me (for those of you who don't know, and I certainly didn't before we arrived, there are quite a number of public bar-b-ques dotted around the parks and gardens here in Ballarat, but I believe this is a usual sight all over Australia). What did you do? How did it work? Well yesterday, at the home ed meet up, there were public barbies (not the doll type you understand, but the kind you roast food on, or Barbies if you have a strong feeling against them) so I took the bull by the horns and asked people to give me the low down on this phenomenon. Apparently you just put your money in if it is a fee paying one (the ones at Eureka were free), push the button and then sling something on there. They can take a while to heat up, be a little slow on the cooking front and stuff can stick to them (so don't forget your oil!) but that really is all there is to it. After your done you give it a bit of a clean down and bob's your uncle, your done. One of the mums had brought sausages (snags), lamb chops, beef burgers, onions and mushroom and had a fantastic looking lunch, especially compared to mine, I had packed jam sandwiches for all of us (which was met with great consternation from Isaac who was desperate for a sausage!) Apparently an Esky (a cool box to me!) is an essential piece of kit for the summer and especially for those outdoor barbies to keep all your meat in before cooking and drinks in for during the feast!! I'm going to have to give it a go sometime, it looks like a great way to spend an afternoon in the warm spring sunshine at the Lake!

OK, that enough for now ramblings for now.....

Unpacking

The container of stuff arrived today and what fun the children had opening their boxes to reveal lots of longed for toys and books! One good thing about having lived here for a couple of weeks without my stuff is that I had time to think about where I would put things when they arrived so unpacking is going well (for now!!) I tried to use the washing machine and ended up with bubbles coming out of every hole in the machine (even out the dispenser drawer!!) but I think I worked out what I did wrong and have finally managed to get some washing done. The only thing I am going to struggle with in the unpacking will be our books..... there are boxes and boxes of them and only one set of bookshelves......uuummmmhhhh.

I've also realised that I don't have enough furniture to fill a BIG house and no doubt things will feel a bit sparse (until I can get to a few garage sales and pick up a few bits of second hand furniture that is!) but it certainly feels good to slouch into my sofa with a good cup of coffee in hand and just look at all the boxes left to unpack...... another day perhaps!

There's mice in the house!

OK so it's not as dramatic as all that.... Evie, having left behind her beloved cat Tigger, wanted to have another pet to shower her affection on. She had decided that a gerbil would be her preferred pet but when we asked about them in the pet shop they looked at us blankly and said they didn't have such a thing but they did have rats (no way!) and mice (slightly more tolerable). She immediately fell in love with the mice and used her birthday money to buy two little girl mice and a cage. Isaac bought her one of those rolly round balls for the mice to roll around in! Anyway she is excited (though thoughts of Tigger are never far from her mind I have to say..... it's an ongoing thing!) and here is a picture of the little .......... creatures! (do I sound keen?)

We're Here!

We've arrived! What a long journey..... but then again it is a long way from the UK! The house is BIG (certainly compared to our little 3 bed, end of terrace in Bristol) and I will be able to have playroom all to myself.... joy!

Evie has made friends already with a little girl living next door who is just a few months younger than her. Isaac keeps saying, 'I can't believe we are actually living in Australia' and was most amused when a man at the airport in Sydney said "g'day" to him..... oh the simple things.....

We have unpacked our bags and now wait with anticipation for our container to arrive so that we can furnish the house with some familiar things (not to mention my espresso machine and some other kitchen gadgets!)

We have been out to eat at the homes of colleagues of Brian's most nights in the past week so I have had very little cooking to do which has been heavenly..... long may it continue! The weather is mostly lovely though can be quite chilly (it is still early spring after all) but the day after our arrival it was cold and drizzly which made me smile as it reminded me so much of England and how much I moaned at the weather there!

The kids are loving having a swimming pool just out the back gate in the school grounds and have been making really good use of that. There is also a play park (for the junior school students) and basketball hoops, so Isaac has been practicing his shooting quite a bit. The children are all still on school holidays this week so I am sure come next week things will become much busier outside our back gate and probably a bit noisier too!

Last day in the Northern Hemisphere

Well, we are in our last day here in the 'north'. We fly tonight from LA international airport and after 16 hours flying time, and completely missing out on Friday September 19th, (I've given up trying to comprehend that one but it is because we will be crossing the international date line) we will arrive in Melbourne on Saturday morning. We're excited and nervous all at the same time but mostly looking forward to settling down and making home 'down under'.

Time in Arizona

Haven't written in a few weeks so thought it was about time to update the blog! Our final week in Bristol was FULL and non-stop. We did achieve most of the jobs we set out to get done and did get that 5.44pm train to Falmouth!! Leaving the house, church and friends in Bristol was very hard..... much harder than I thought it would be. I'm so grateful for email and the internet which means I can keep in touch!

We spent a few days in Falmouth with my sister and her family (I won't even begin to describe what leaving there was like!!!) and then we were off!

We arrived in LA just over a week ago and after one night there started our drive cross country to Pheonix in Arizona where my brother and his family and my mum live. It has been great to spend time with everyone here and the kids have had so much fun playing constantly with their cousins. It is like living in an oven here though with the temperature hitting 105-107 degrees every day!! After a rainy, cool summer in England it is a real shock to the system and after an early morning play at the pool we spend most of the day indoors where the air conditioning and fans are on constantly!

Isaac had his 9th birthday this week and we went to the most fantastic pizza place for dinner where an old fashioned organ emerges from beneath the stage at the front (like an old music hall I guess) and the man playing it asks for requests for what to play. Isaac asked for the Star Wars theme tune and the Pink Panther theme song, both of which the guy played. We took a birthday cake and Happy Birthday was played on the organ and everyone in the restuarant sang to the 3 kids who were celebrating there that night! Isaac thought it was fantastic and spent ages just looking at how the organ went up and down and seeing how many buttons the guy had on the organ (there were 100's).

We travel back to LA on Wednesday 17th and fly to Melbourne on the 18th so until then........

Oh, it's all a bit bonkers here!

Time is flying and I am starting to worry that I won't have done my HUGE list of jobs in time to get on the 5.44pm train to Falmouth next Sunday!!! Yup, we have just over one week to finish packing up/getting rid of/passing on what is left in our house as well as paint the walls, varnish the floor, clean the bits we haven't bothered to over the past 7 years and all the other 1001 jobs you have to do when you move! LOL!

The biggest (and most challenging thing for Evie in particular) that we have done this week was to give her cat away to a new home. Fortunately we have been able to give him to some lovely friends (thanks N&L for agreeing to 'take him in'!) where he will be very happy but it has left a very sad little girl here! We are going to make a photobook of all the pics we have with Tigger in them so that she can keep looking at him and she is hoping that he will be in correspondence with her at some point!!

OK, back to that list.......

House in Oz!

There is great excitement in our house because we received some photos of the house we will be living in when we arrive in Ballarat. The school recently purchased the property as it lies right on the boundary of the school cricket ovals and it is therefore really convenient for whoever lives there to get to work! It is going to be for the Head of Boarding to live in at some stage in the future but for the first 15 months that we are in Ballarat it will be 'home' for us! See what you think!!!

Front view of the house from the road

Woodburning stove for those cold winter days!!!

I think this is the famiy room...

View from the family room into the kitchen....

The back garden which leads onto the school ovals....

Packing Up!

Removal company came today to pack up our stuff for shipping. I spent all of yesterday (from 9am-midnight) sorting the stuff that was going from the stuff that was staying so I was able to sit back and watch the men do their job today! It was odd though as we have always moved ourselves and done all the packing etc but today I just made cups of tea and walked around making sure I had put everything in the right pile!! Brian took Isaac (and Evie) to the fracture clinic to have Isaac's follow-up x-ray for his thumb so the kids were out the way the whole time the men were here. They probably would have enjoyed the whole thing but we had decided that it would be better if the men could just 'get on with it' rather than answering the childrens' 101 questions!

So it's all gone now and we won't see it again until we are living in Australia.... how weird is that? Bring on the inflatable beds......

Isaac's room

Evie's stuff


Off it goes.....

Evie is 7!

Today was Evie's 7th birthday, where has all that time gone?! She was SO excited because not only was it her birthday but she was also having her very first proper birthday party. I have managed, over the years, to just have family teas or visits to the park but this year she specifically asked for a party with a group of her home ed. friends. She made all her guests a party box filled with little gifts and put up lots of streamers around the house and garden. She spent quite a bit of time talking through the game list with Brian who was appointed games master and yesterday spent a lot of time icing and decorating her birthday cake. She is such an independent spirit that she didn't want me to decorate it but wanted to do it all by herself.... I baked the sponge cake but everything else was her work including the buttercream icing and the stripey cat for the top. She even insisted on lighting the candles herself when it came to cake time at the party!

The weather was great and we managed to have a picnic lunch outside and even got the water slide out for a while later in the afternoon. We made fizzy lifting drinks (see Roald Dahl's Revolting Recipes) and Brian did brilliantly with the games, keeping all the children occupied and entertained for ages (was probably all the sweets he used during the treasure hunt that did it!!)

Evie wanted the Playmobil Pony Farm as her birthday gift..... she was VERY excited to receive it!


The party boxes that Evie made for her guests!


Evie's cake......

Victorian School Day

Went to Blaise to take part in a Victorian school day (thanks Wendy for organising it!) and the kids had such a great time. They dressed as appropriately as their wardrobes would allow (for Isaac that was quite nearly impossible apart from a pair of cut off trousers!) but were provided with additional dress props (stiff collars for the boys and pinafores and mop caps for the girls). They spent an hour in a mock-up of a Victorian classroom being taught the three 'r's' under very strict rules by a lady who did a great job at pretending to be a Victorian teacher. The age range of the home ed children who attended was 5 years to 12 years and they all did brilliantly at remembering to put their hand up to answer questions and call the teacher 'ma'am' when addressing her. It was such a great way for the children to learn about what school would have been like in Victorian times and they really enjoyed the experience!

Evie writing on her slate

Sightseeing in London

Had a fantastic two days in London doing the real touristy sightseeing stuff before we head off Down Under. We left Bristol really early on Friday morning and arrived at the Travelodge in Battersea at 9.30am (not a pretty place it has to be said is Battersea but with such a good deal at the Travelodge for the night who can complain!!)

After leaving the car there we headed off on foot to the local train station and caught the overground train followed by the underground (a highlight for the kids!) to the Tower of London. Thanks to Tesco days out vouchers we didn't have to fork out any entrance fee for this fantastic place. We joined a Yeoman Warder on a tour of the tower and she took us to the most interesting and notorious parts of the Tower and included lots of interesting snippets of history (and lots of gorey stories!!! I fail to remember how many time the Yeoman talked about hanging, beheaded, murder, torture etc!!) I could have joined another and done it all over again with a different Yeoman because they all have their own way of presenting the stories and I forget things as soon as I hear them so it would have been interesting all over again! I am also astounded by the history we have so readily available all around us here and yet I don't always take the time to enjoy it. I have to say that this was my very first trip to the Tower even though I lived in London for 8 years in my younger days! The rest of the our visit to the Tower was a little more rapid and I didn't get to read as many of the information boards as I would normally like to but that comes with having two young ones with you who are always ready to rush on to the next thing!




We travelled on to the Imperial War Museum which was another place I have never been!We stayed until almost closing time and Isaac had great fun seeing if he could hold a submarine at the right depth and balance while Evie and Brian loved looking at the model of the front lines during the first world war. One of my favourite bits was finding an Anderson shelter set up in one of the exhibitions just like the one we had at the end of our garden (!) and looking round the inside of a 1940's house.











After a quick tea we travelled to Hamleys (the toy shop) to spend the last hour of our day browsing the six floors of toys! (definately my least favourite part of the day!!)

Saturday dawned and we set off again this time for our open top bus tour and river cruise, how touristy can you get! We spent an hour or so touring London on the top of an open top double decker in part sunshine, part torrential rainstorm, before joining the crowds for the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.

We made our way to Westminster pier and took the river cruise to Greenwich to visit the National Maritime Museum and then we walked through the park to the top of the hill to stand on the meridian line with one foot in the east and one in the west! We did manage to catch the last boat back into London and got the last open top bus tour round the rest of the city before heading back to pick up the car and drive home. We didn't get home until nearly midnight and we were all completely pooped but it was so worth the aching feet and tiredness (and all the chocolate spread sandwiches....)

Buckingham Palace
Greenwich Meridian Line









Need to go and do a little scrapbook with them now!

Isaac's thumb....

Bless my little boy, he dislocated his thumb today playing football (he was in goal and the ball hit the top of his thumb and popped it right out of the socket!) We spent the afternoon in the ER of the children's hospital and after a good dose of paracetamol, ibuprofen, morphine and a generous helping of 'laughing gas' they were able to 'pop' it back in again. We got to keep copies of the x-rays which was interesting as his thumb really was a funny shape when he did it and we were able to show Evie the before and after 'shots'! He now has a cast on to immobilise his thumb and wrist and has to go back next week to the fracture clinic for a follow-up. One thing he was/is grateful for is that it was his right hand so he doesn't need to write for a couple of weeks!! I'm planning on encouraging him to become ambidextrous!

BCHedders Sports Day

It was our annual sports day today at BCHedders and it was great fun (as always)! It started off with a group photo (I almost had to pay Isaac real money to get him to sit for it and getting him to smile was another thing!!) I'm convinced it will be a photo to remember because we had little ones crawling off the mat and others who found the whole experience just a little traumatic.....! (that was me! LOL!!)

Claire did a fantastic job in running the sports and got them all warming up so she didn't have to treat any injuries later on in the afternoon! It was a mix of all those favourites races we all know and love from our childhood, ... the sack race, egg and spoon race, wheelbarrow race, three legged race..... it was great... thanks friend for organising it again this year, you're great! (and you run like the wind!)









I'm going to miss Tuesday afternoons ..... all those fantastic women who encourage, bless and share their good ideas and friendship with me.. thanks for sharing your lives over the past 2 years! And thanks for the photo CD, what a treasure!