aaaahhhhh, Christmas {and a brand new year......}

the beginning of the Christmas holidays was rather lovely

here in our little corner of the world.....

we had two different lots of friends from 'down south' come to stay

with us and it was so lovely to catch up with them and just 

listen to their lovely aussie accents for a while.......

 then, within the blink of an eye, Christmas morning was 

upon us with early wake up calls from the children 

{though they are getting a little later these days than they used to be.......}

however, some things don't change

e.g. lego for the teenage boy......

books for the bookworm girl......

{evie had requested the final book in the Pegasus 

series from father Christmas.....}

and within no time at all the playmobil sabre tooth 

tiger was biting the caveman's head off..... 

what a way to start Christmas morning........

then we went to a Christmas morning service at church

which was completely bonkers and led by a pirate

playing a banjo.......

this was swiftly followed by a jaunt down to my sisters' 

house where we had a wonderful Christmas dinner together,

whilst wearing our homemade hats {made from the cast off

wrapping paper and packaging from the Christmas gifts.....}

let's just say there was an ecclectic range of  hats on

display - some more elaborate than others.......

here's a little photo of them stolen from my sister.....
 

 they're rather fabby for having been made with a
load of old tat don't you think?......

this trip was followed by a quick visit 'up, up north' to
catch up with Brian's family and then we were back home......

phew......

time to ease into the new year now.....

and so to work........

 and so it was, that as soon as isaac's birthday was over

we 'got back to it'.....

the kids find this a challenge sometimes

after an eight week summer break

but we ease ourselves in with shorter times

'at the table' and the adjustment doesn't seem

so bad after all......

 

i even found this 3D jigsaw in an op shop*, something which isaac 

had been hankering after for quite some time 

{the 3D jigsaw that is, not the op shop.....

just wanted to make myself clear.......}

 so he was able to complete a whole week's worth of geography 

just by putting together a jigsaw..... smashing.....

{* you'll be glad to know that all the pieces were there, I just 

took the photo before he had actually finished putting it together......}

here's evie, giving me her best, 'I really don't mind sitting here doing this

maths work when I could be outside playing in the sunshine' smile.....

 and let me tell you, this little chap, along with his scrummy brother,

have been distracting the children tremendously when they should be 

'getting on', but then who can blame them, they are rather

squeeze worthy....

a few weeks into our term and it was time for the students

of Bristol University to arrive back for their new term, so the kids and I

 took a jaunt up to Bristol to help out at our annual church 

'let's feed the 5,000' burger event.....

during freshers week the church give away 1,000 burger every day to

 students who have arrived in Bristol to study......

it's great to be able to meet so many interesting people from all

over the world and be a friendly face for them when perhaps they

don't know anyone......

i knabbed the best jobs for my two......

evie was on candy floss duty.......

which included quite a lots of  'quality control'

taste testing......

 and isaac was on ice cream machine duty......

which seemed to include quite a bit of 'quality control'

taste testing too......

 

I, as their mother, also felt it my duty to make sure that the

quality of the food being consumed was 'up to scratch'......

it was......

the new foyer at church was packed out for the

entire 2 hour lunch period every day and so was the inside of the building.....

both the kids loved helping out during the week

and I don't think it was just because it meant they didn't have

to do any 'school work' at home and

eat ice cream and candy floss in abundance.....

but then again, maybe it was......

more birthday celebrations.....

we all have our birthdays within a few weeks of each other in our house, 

so during the summer we hop, skip and jump from one celebration to the next,

which is truly lovely, and gives a very festive spirit to the summer holidays.....

even our wedding anniversary is right in the middle of all that celebrating..... 

might as well make the most of the festive atmosphere around the place....

Isaac is the last of the four of us to have his celebrations and 

his birthday really marks the end of our summer break.....

it's one last day to stay in jammies all day long.....

to choose all the food for the day.....

and to generally chill out.....

this year was a bit special though as Isaac turned 13.....

yes, teenagerdom has arrived in our house.....

he had a special request that we go out for dinner this

year and that we go to auntie dottie's for a family get together,

but other than that he just wanted to kick back and enjoy a

quiet day at home.....

there were special books to be poured over after all.....

and lego sets to be enjoyed.....

and games of an electronic variety to be tested out.....

our visit to dottie's house in Devon was glorious, as usual, and I did

actually manage to make a cake for this one.....

 {look at me all excited, complete with unbrushed hair!}

as instructed, it was a blue lego brick {not quite as dark a blue as we were

hoping for, but blue nonetheless} with a little lego scene perched precariously

on top which had been explained meticulously to me by Isaac as to how it

should appear on the cake.....

 

as always, I had grumped and groaned at my pathetic attempts at cake decorating

and, as always, my son gave me a huge smile and said it was fantastic....

love my teenager boy......

he's such a treasure.....

a blink of the eye and autumn has flown by.....

my word it seems an age since our holiday in Italy....

the weather has changed and autumn is firmly in charge....

but before we move on in the seasons I should really update

my space here with the rest of our late summer/early autumn

activity.....

after returning from Italy where Evie celebrated her 11th birthday

we spent the day at my sisters house in glorious Devon so she

could celebrate it all over again with the rest of the family....

the weather was beautiful..... mr sun put his hat firmly on his head,

and much outdoor water play was enjoyed....

presents were gifted.....

this beautiful place mat and coaster set

was made by one of Evie's cousins and took pride of

place at the party table....

 

and this amazing sweetie tree was made by 

Evie's other cousin and was truly spectacular....

because we were away until the day before Evie's birthday celebration in Devon

I knew I would not have time to make her the cake she had requested so I asked 

my niece if she would be willing to make Evie's cake this year.....

she very kindly agreed and, armed with very specific instructions from Evie,

 she came up with this beautiful cake for us all to enjoy.....

there was also lots of other party food to enjoy.....

 lovely warm summer birthdays.....

shared with the ones we love.....

truly delightful.....

summer hols......

this year we decided that we would like to go somewhere

hot for our summer hols, since the weather in ol' blighty had

decided to be very un-summery.......

we looked at where the cheap flights would take us and

decided on a little jaunt to Italy.......

Brian and I had been to Venice for our 10th wedding anniversary 

{and I had visited Italy in another life for a ski-ing trip when I was at school} 

but the children had never been and we thought what a fab opportunity to

combine culture, history, beauty and hot weather all at once......

and so we found ourselves leaving on a jet plane bound

for Pisa with a few travel books and a desire to see as

much as we possibly could during our week long stay.....

we used public transport to get around 

{mostly trains and the metro in Rome} 

and it was all realiable, relatively 

cheap and easy to use......

so let me give you a little visual tour of our holiday.......

first stop, Pisa......

seriously, I know it's obvious, but the tower REALLY leans..... 

and after a wonderful, traditional Italian dinner we were treated

to some rather splendid street music......

 

our next city stop was Siena......

the beautiful Piazza del Campo where we sat and had a

picnic lunch and then hit one of the famous gelaterie and

sampled their scrummy ice cream.....

 

of course, you couldn't go to Italy and not enjoy the

morning coffee (and afternoon coffee and evening coffee....)

it was an essential part of the trip.....

 

Rome was the third city that we visited and we chose to go to

the Vatican Museums during our first full day there......

we were treated to HUGE amounts of stunning artwork

{below is Raphael's School of Athens which Brian was 

particularly excited to see 'in the flesh'.....}

and to stand and gaze up at the frescoes in the Sistine Chapel brought

a big smile to my face it has to be said.....

 

in the contemporary gallery I recognised some of Henri Matisse's

artwork but the children had come to the end of their patience 

with my ooooohh-ing and aaaaahh-ing over the artwork by then

and kept hurrying me along, so I didn't get a chance to really

enjoy the contemporary gallery as much as the previous parts

of the museum.....

 

at the end, after all the galleries, gift shops and post offices was

this lovely spiral staircase......

it started off as just a sloping spiral then developed very shallow

steps which were quite far apart..... the steps got deeper and 

deeper and closer and closer to one another until you end with 

what seems to be a normal spiral staircase.....

I just really liked it, so here is a photo of it.......

 

our second day in Rome was actually Evie's birthday and she had chosen to 

have a tour of the Colosseum as her 'special thing to do'......

first up though was a trip to the Spanish Steps where there

is a wonderful fountain where you can cool off 

{it was so hot and that was at 10am......}

 

I just enjoyed admiring the view......

 

then it was on to the Trevi Fountain......

 

we didn't have any coins to chuck in so we just took

lots of photos instead......

 

and the Pantheon.......

 

and finally we ended up at the Colosseum for our special

tour as requested by Evie........

 we had booked a tour where we got to visit a few 'extras' that

 we couldn't have otherwise experienced, like walking onto the stage that they 

have built over a small section of the Colosseum floor......... 

it really gives you a sense of how immense the place is......

 

we were also able to visit the dungeons where the gladiators and animals

 would have been held before their fights in the Colosseum itself......... 

these dungeons were only opened to the public last year.....

 it was quite sobering to hear all about what it would have been like for those 

waiting down there whilst standing in the very spot they did.......

 

we then climbed to the highest point possible and had a fantastic

view down into the Colosseum.......

before all the stone walls were built in the dungeons, the stage

would have been held up solely with wooden pillars.......

the pillars and the stage were completely removeable and it therefore 

meant that the basement area of the Colosseum could be flooded and used

to stage sea battles for Roman citizens to come and watch.....

it must have been an amazing sight......

 

and so we bid farewell to Rome and travelled on to 

our final city destination, Florence, where we visited the

science museum and saw Galileo's telescope 

{and a couple of his fingers in jars...... go figure!}

 

and did a fab walking tour with Mario who wanted to 'show us the heart of Florence'.....

 it was so much fun to see his enthusiasm for his city and to be taken to see some 

beautiful carvings by Michaelangelo as well as lots of amazing architecture......

 

The Old Bridge...... the only bridge in Florence which

survived the second world war.......

 

ahhhhh, it was a splendid holiday with lots of lovely memories.....

just looking at these few photos has brought a smile to my face......

now we need to decide where to go next........

and on the busy-ness goes......

after the excitement of Legoland and the

home-ed sports day the busy-ness didn't stop.....

oh no, it was only just beginning.....

the day after the sports day we jumped in the car and

headed to Oxford.....

what a beautiful city it is....

so much history.....

such lovely architecture......

so many nooks and crannies to explore......

we decided to buy a guide from the tourist information

and do the walking tour of the city reading the information

out loud as we arrived at the noteable spots along the way.....

I didn't take a heap of photos on the day but just enjoyed

looking around and chatting with the children about what we

stumbled upon......

we stayed up in the London area overnight as the following day was to include a 

special day out (which was a complete surprise for the children) 

something that Brian and I had planned months ago and had waited very patiently 

for the appointed day to arrive....

it was a visit to the Warner Bros. Studio Tour of 

the making of Harry Potter.....

now it has to be said that I am not the Harry Potter fan in this 

house....... that title belongs to Isaac, Evie and Brian......

however, the studio tour was really quite amazing

even for a Harry Potter novice like me.....

there was the cupboard under the stairs where HP had to 

sleep.......

there were the huge doors through which you entered the

Great Hall.....

and before you knew it, you were in that very same

Great Hall where so many scenes were filmed for the movies....

 there were sets galore infact........

and costumes to boot......

even well known wigs made an appearance....

 there was the set of the Burrows.....

Hagrid's hut......

and Dumbledore's office......

we then headed to the outdoor 'lot' and had a little

taste of butterbeer.....

it tasted a little like cream soda with a buttery topping...

a little strange it has to be said.....

there was the Weasley's car....

Hagrid's motorcycle.....

(with the Knight Bus just behind  it......)

no. 4 Privet Drive.....

and in the second indoor 'space' there was the Diagon Alley set

with all the well known shops just like they were in the movies.....

almost at the end is the most amazing model of Hogwarts.....

it is MASSIVE and so very detailed.......

they used it to do some of the filming, so the windows light up 

and makes the whole thing look like it is real......

the last stop before the gift shop is the inside of

Olivanders, the wand shop.....

and then.....

well, you just have to try on a wizarding robe for size in the gift shop.....

what a fab couple of days away we had.....

we would thoroughly recommend the studio tour to anyone

who even has a slight interest in HP......

it certainly kept me interested for a good few hours and

the kids loved every bit of it.....