Chaz in concert

Quick one, here's a video of Charlie playing Euphonium in concert last night in Fareham:

Yes, it's been quiet here. FaceBook has proven to be an easier way of publishing family content. Ping me to get into my FaceBook friends list.

Getting things done

Over the weekend the playroom got re-arranged as a shop (in Charlie's absence, obviously - he's at cub camp).

Here's how far we got:


Hopefully it's available in Hi Def aswell as normal.

Happy father's day

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Farewell old chums

Oooh, the kid's race to lose the most teeth is hotting up. Alice has lost both her front teeth in the last 10 days. There's a sign of one of their replacements coming through, but Charlie's still ahead. Well done Charlie,

Moving up in the World

At last, it's time for Charlie to move up to Cubs. It's nice that they've had 3 months or so together in Beavers, just for Charlie to show Alice the ropes.

Suddenly he's a small fish in a big pond again...

Now we are 8

Whilst we'd hoped to go to a hosted activity day, some of the guests would still have been seven, which meant they were two young for the Kid's intermediate chainsaw practice. Maybe next year. Can you tell Charlie's a little closer to being a teenager?



Instead we hosted an assorted challenge at home: 8-ball pool, Buzz on the playstation, and table tennis. It seemed to go down well, even with Jaz, the only guest 'of the female persuasion'.

'Meet your Navy'

Defence cut-backs and a shrinking Navy appear to have resulted in the loss of the Annual Navy Days. Still the RN remains keen to recruit - and this summer held a "Meet your Navy" weekend. It had all the usual ingredients - and it was great watching the Red Arrows from the loft window on the first day...





On the Saturday we took the kids over for the day - in the absence of having anything better planned. Obviously I was always going to find it interesting, little did we expect how much Bid & the kids would enjoy it.

Trouble at Paultons

Well, it started off as Bid recording herself & the kids on one of those pneumatic bouncing platforms at Paultons Park in the summer.

Little did she realise the audio-glory she would be capturing:

Still, at least the video is nice & safely on the Internet (for ever...)

Domestic tattoo parlour

How do you normally celebrate finishing the 32 mile round the harbours cycle run? Lad's and dads star wars tattoos, of course..

Of course they're both obvious, but for those who haven't watched star wars, Charlie has a R2-D2 on his calf & I have Darth Vader fighting Obi Wan Kenobi on my arm, complete with "TS" noises from the light sabres.

Enjoy.

High sea adventures

We've been considering buying a Kayak for a year or so now, but after a visit to a local Kayak Shop last weekend Bridget surprised me on Wednesday with a lovely new two person sit-on kayak.

We had a "trial" expedition on Wednesday evening, but the combination of

• very low tide
• cold wind
• getting in the water 1/2 hour before the kid's bed time

meant that we were only in the water for about 10 mins. Still, the adults enjoyed it, and there weren't any major problems.

Today we went on a longer expedition - the first full trial. The plan was, set off 90 mins before high tide, travel up an estuary for 90 mins with the tide, then turn around and travel back down again.

Hmm, it went just great. It was warm with no wind. We had a couple of minor frights in the wash of motor cruisers but no great troubles. Here's the route.

Mind you, it was quite cosy with the four of us on board. Bid & Alice were keen to stop off & sit in the sun for a bit, so Charlie & I had the kayak to ourselves for a while.

Before we turned back we all stopped off for a play on a stretch of beach. The beach is alongside Manor Farm Country Park where we've spent lots of time, but on a stretch that's doesn't connect with the path network. We also played Tarzan on a tree overhanging the Hamble.

Overall reflections?

• should have taken more food/nibbles
• should have researched further up the river, we travelled several times further than I expected
• we still haven't capsized. The kids are quite comfortable jumping into the water in their wetsuits/buoyancy aids, capsizing will still be a shock. Plus, we haven't had a go at getting back onto the kayak. Maybe when it's a little warmer..
  

Leading the Pompey faithful

For the last 3 seasons Charlie has played football at the Skilful Soccer group up the road. He's not a natural player, and he's not in a circle of footie-playing peers - he doesn't get much practice at home either.

But, after sooo many weeks of "maybe I'll get the best player trophy today" he finally won it. Hmm, how proud? Well done Charlie.

Surely a child bride!

It was Jane & Brian's 40th wedding anniversary in January, in support of which Auntie Sue provided us with this antique wedding photo. Yes it's a little blurred, but back in those days photography was still largely experimental...

Don’t put your daughter on the stage, Mrs. Worthington

Alice's first nativity at Wicor School. Not a central role, but certainly a pivotal contribution (Angel number 7).

A journey to manhood

After 8 weeks as an imposter, Charlie was invested into the Beavers - luckily they're given quite robust uniforms these days, they certainly get a battering on beaver nights.

An edible masterpiece

Another lovely from mommy. Just a bit too pink for Daddies cake though, thanks.

More beach-hutting

More routines at the beach-hut, hot chocolates with marshmallows, bit of maintenance...

And a few afternoons spent adventuring through the sea to the submerged sandbanks. We're all looking forward to this summer.

Little trooper

Don't forget me Daddy. Charlie riding his old bike on holiday at Jane & Brian's house in France.

Little angel

Aaah, little Angel.

Flashbacks to 'Nam

Cue flashbacks to SE Asia in '68.

As you can see, we spotted VC preparing traps in the Mekong Delta, though is appears the little one was little reluctant to get her hands too dirty.

Beach hut - day zero.....

After being on the waiting list for 6 years, Bridget finally got the chance to get her hands on a local Beach Hut.














It's 6' by 6', no utilities, sturdy, watertight. Over the summer Bridget's got great plans for kid's days by the sea, supper on the gas stove, Kath Kidston interiors...

You can find it at on google maps at: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=110825633977585718546.000001135d26d901441bf


Can't wait.

A gift from Dave Price

Before he headed off for sunnier climes Dave from work organised a "Lads & Dads" trip to HMS Lancaster. Both boys enjoyed it. Thanks Dave - in particular for answering the 3000 questions: every electrical socket, valve, switch...

Quiet time

Aaah.

Smiley's again?

Hmm, we had yet another weekend with the Smiley's for my birthday in May. Not at their house this time, but at the caravan. Bid organised a motor-home for us (never had one before, quite a treat, not necessarily the best solution for an essentially static holiday - nice to experience it though).

Bit wet on the last day - but we did have a couple of nice days out, nice couple of evenings partying, great day on the beach, and a lovely rubber-fetish-dressing up game in the pub at Monday lunchtime, Who could ask for more? Aaah, yes, and there were the local pasties, hmmm.

Seeing off the Lakey's

Well, the Lakey family decided to move back to UK. Unfortunately life here paled in comparison with Aus, so they packed their bags & headed straight back.

Fortunately, however, the Smiley's hosted a "farewell" weekend at the cottages. Great weekend: drinking, offroad skateboarding, stream trekking, partying, ...




One of the more unusual games as the kid's 'Camp Delta' themed fun. They resisted the sensory deprivation (see picture) quite well - but completely collapsed in the water-boarding round.

Could do better...

Skiing with the Smiley's

Hmm, the lovely Smiley's invited us to go Skiing in the Alps, together with their Carol's (mothers). So, 10 of us in the Alpine chalet. Surprisingly it worked well, lots of adult helpers, fairly "rough & ready" accommodation that was robust enough that we didn't have to worry too much about what the kids were doing at every moment.



Polly the wonder-skiier was in top group for skiiing, but the other 3 were placed together, nice.

It just gets better

Wait, there's more! The perfect outfit for taking away skiing next week - Spiderman. Yup, there'll be quite a bit of damsel rescuing at the chalet in France. We may not get very much Peter Parker, but there'll be a whole lot of Spidey.

We'll keep you all informed...

Birthday morning

Charlie opening his presents - yes, he adores Scooby & the gang, (lyrics here: http://www.everwonder.com/david/scooby/lyrics/index.html). Who know what kinds of mystery we're going to solve over the next few days. Know what though? I can't help feeling the 'monster' is going to be a frustrated character we encounter near the start of the mystery...

And now we are six

So, whilst he's not 6 until Tuesday, we're having Charlie's birthday party today: bowling - and the party was designated "fancy dress" to increase the fun.



As a double-treat, Charlie was able to open Nanny & Grandad's present early: a Peter Pan fancy dress!


















Obviously he loved his Scooby Doo cake, even if the slices were a little modest after being shared amongst 15...











The balloons from his chair were awarded to Alice (for good behaviour), though nobody could have foreseen the all-day lift her hair received:

Windiest day of the year (so far)

After a night out at the Veranda in Wickham with Marie & Phil (curry ok, service average-to-poor, surroundings a little dull), on their recommendation we took the kids to the dunes near Ferry Steps on Hayling Island.





Little did we know how windy it would get. To start off with we kept on having to hold Alice's hand to keep her up, but obviously the real entertainment started once the 3 of us were encouraging her to go ahead on her own - a few challenging steps at a time.


In the dunes themselves the kids had a great time hiding from each other & rolling from top-to-bottom.


The kids played at climbing a stunted old tree on the sea-front, poking their heads out of holes in the canopy. Whilst most of the packed lunch had been eaten in the car, there was still some of Bid's Chocolate Concrete cake left - enough to fill a few minutes on an old bench:

Good old Itchen Valley

Whenever we have a couple of hours to fill we pop over to Itchen Valley Country Park. It's got Play Trail consisting of a dozen or so climb-able sculptures, a lovely marshy pasture with a hill to roll down, a dipping pond, and some pleasant woodland.

Here's a picture of the kids at the first sculpture they came to:




And a horse shoe-shaped platform they chase each other around:

Alice's 4th birthday party

So, this was the first party for which little miss-organised would be able to contribute. Oh dear. The list of invitations was scrutinised with a fine-tooth comb, as was the menu, the entertainment, the adult helpers & the weather.

Of course she (& Bid) did a wonderful job. The day started a little crisp, but by 1000 the sun was appearing around the back of the house & the garden started to get nice & toasty, hmmm.



Luckily the magic fairy also called, and rather diplomatically she appionted the birthday girl as her little helper:


Then, once the Magician & her helper had turned the glitter into a tray of sweets & magic'd the rabbit out of the hat she let everybody have a quick stroke. I think it all finished quite quickly after that. Can't quite remember...

Oh yeah, it was party-food time (cold finger buffet, good idea Bid, must do the same next year).



And yes, Alice did get to blow out the candles without Charlie getting to them first, even if Abigail from over the road gave her a little help:

All over for another year.

Jamies cheesy bread

After admiring jamie hard at it on saturday morning bid couldn't wait to introduce the kids to the joy of baking. How did they get on? I'll tell you in 30 mins;)

Mask making at 0630

Getting a little craft out before school. Obviously Alice started it all, cutting circles out of coloured A4. Next we had eyes, ears, whiskers. It just took a couple of Charlie taunts before he joined in - wanting to scare Alice with his scary tiger mask.

It's like childcare. only easier. And a good test of Bridget's new K800 phone.

Party in the Woods

We're well into the birthday party season at Charlie's school now, and just for a change, Izaac's parents organised a woodland trek/picnic just down the road in Hundred Acre Wood. I think there were about 20 kids, a dozen parents, no injuries, and only a few tears, cool.

Here's Charlie in his cowboy gear:


the big group photo (pre-pandemonium):


and Bid (pied-piper) doing her share of crowd control: