Bloody hell, it's still very hot!

July 10th 2012

A trip to Gilroy Gardens with Grandma and Grandpa. And few hours in and we were wilting. This has not been the first 100F day this summer and it unlikely to be the last. I do like hot weather but sometimes it can get a bit much. Watching Max the rabbit dancing in his ridiculous rabbit costume we had sweat running down our faces – I’m surprised the man in the suit didn’t keal over. So very hot.

Banana slugs in Little Basin

Another ‘glamping’ trip with the Greenes shortly followed our arrival home. Not quite as ‘glamp’ as last time. Our tent cabins had only 4 bunkbeds in them – all kitchen and bathroom facilities were located elsewhere. Still, a mattress was all that was needed! This time our location was Little Basin in amongst the Redwoods. The kids has ball searching for banana slugs (urrrh!), playing on the playground and on the campsite. The evenings were chilly but sitting round the fire drinking our illegal alcohol (the adults not the kids!) soon warmed us up. We had go to great lengths to disguise our bottles of beer and drank wine from plastic cups as the campsite has many notices up banning the drinking of alcohol on the campground. We felt a bit hard done when we noticed everyone one else walking round the campsite in the open with bottles of wine in their hands. Crazy fact number 1135 about California – there are sooo much rules and regulations about what you can and can’t do yet no-one takes any notice of them! It’s a strange place sometimes.

On the Sunday we packed up and drove to a pub for a meal where Ste tried to ignore the Italy v England match on the TV in the background. We then all went back to the Greenes where Ste and Shay downloaded the match and settled back to watch the inevitable outcome. The kids had a much needed bath and settled down to watch Matilida. A fab weekend.

Some of the crowd are on the pitch.........we're singing for England

(Please note that date of writing this is nowhere near the date it actually happened - my 'I will do the blog regularly' is a spectacular fail!)

June 2012

Just the 3 of us for this years England trip. We left Ste at home all bandaged up but with enough food to feed an army. He seemed quite happy with the arrangement 

The flight was good and kids were as well behaved as ever. We arrived to glorious sunshine which was great as England had not been experiencing the best of summers. Seeing friends and family was as glorious as ever, I miss it so much and always will. However regular trips back do remind me that England is going nowhere and will still be alive and kicking when we want to return!

Unfortunately the sunshine did not last and a week in Pontins with the family was cold and wet. Didn’t stop the children having the time of their lives with Lily and Archie, and Phia still talks fondly about how she ‘won the jackpot’ on the slot machines (unfortunately it was tokens not cash!!)

A fab holiday rounded off nicely for me with a child free trip to Cambourne, a spa break with the weirdest spa lady going (!) and time to relax with my friends. Lovely .

Only sad bit of the trip was that Ste’s grandma died whilst we were there. The funeral was scheduled to be a couple of days after we returned and this would have meant Ste getting on the same plane out that we had just landed on. I think it was a very difficult decision for him but both Dave (for whom it would have been an even longer trip) and he decided not to go and I think this was the right thing to go. Both the kids needed their daddy back.

I think Ste survived the trip quite well even with only one hand available. People at work were a good source of support and he had a action packed calendar for the bank holiday weekend. He also managed a plane flight with Shay and a hike in the pinnacles on his own where he forgot to take any water. Sensible! Still, he’s lived to tell the tale.

Feeling hot, hot, hot

It is hot.  When I think back to May last year although they were lots of nice days, there was lots of rain too.  Not so much this year.  Every day in May so far has been and nice and some have been absolutely boiling.  The fans have retrieved from the loft and an outside lounge has been created to get away from the insides of our hot little house.  It feels like the middle of summer and so as its still mid spring I think we're in for a hot one.  Ste has suffered a bit with his hand all bandaged up and the kids have found sleeping difficult on occasions but in general its been bloody great!

On a particularly hot day Phia and Hannah play in the water sprinklers in their knickers!

Chilling in the sun

Park fun

Loving her swimming!

Hanging around

Fabulous Phia

Sian – 'So kids, as a treat, would you like to go to McDonalds for lunch?'

Both – 'NOOOOOOOOO!!'

T – ''But I don't like Mac and Donalds - waaaaaaa'

S- 'I want a cheese sandwich'

What is wrong with our children??!! What child doesn't like McDonalds?? Still, I suppose the are worse things.

Despite her intent to eat nothing but cheese sandwiches Phia is currently having the time of her life.. She is enjoying her swimming lessons with such gusto. Goggles have been bought and she already got her face in the water as shes moved along. And all with a huge smile. Due the departure of Ana (her best friend) at preschool (who’s gone to Bulgaria for a month) shes taken up a new friendship with Alexia. She's spent so long in the company of Natalie and Hannah I think she believes shes their sister.

Her drawing, which has always been good, is now out of this world. She drew a picture of herself playing on the computer, which was the standard of someone way above her years. She may be missing the links of phonetical reading (which school better sort out this year or I shall become a thorn in their side!) but she can easily read basic books and can even read words like 'rainbow' and 'beautiful' from sight.

I think mum said it best when she commented that out of all of us Sophia has definitely has the most successful year. And to say she was the one I was most worried about. It goes to show all worrying is fruitless. I should learn from this!

So, the next step of course is Kindergarten. As much as I want it to happen I'm now feeling slightly anxious. It will be a huge change for all of us. As she got into the school we picked (hurray!), I should think that the biggest change is going to have to be getting up and being somewhere for 7.50 (school starts at 8!!). And of course, the changes in friends and new and difficult social situations. And of course, on top of this, actually being bloody 'taught something'! I have heard so many negative viewpoints 'It's rubbish, no resources, teachers don't care' to 'its far to easy, my child is bored' to ' its far to hard, this standard of work used to be Grade1' I really don't know what to think. I suppose only time will tell.

But anyway, shes ready to go. With school uniform in her cupboard sent all the way from England (thanks Lizzie) shes going to look the part. A playdate in the park for all the new kindergarteners is already arranged for next Wednesday so here we go.

All that remains is to say bye to preschool. She has a fantastic year there and I can't thank them enough for helping to bring her out of her shell. She's going to miss it a lot. After all the altercations regarding T I've managed to sell his time for the summer so they now have a very long summer break.. This will include the 3 week trip home to England and then visits from Granny, Grandma and Grandpa and Grandad and Andrea so is not going to be quiet!

So farewell Teacher Joyce, Ian (who makes her laugh), Jessica (who's very pretty). Kymn and Maria. And for T's room Teacher Jan (who's English – we love her!), Josette and Fere. Its been a pleasure.

Broken Bones

So, we've been back in CA less than 24 hours. The kids are safely ensconced in bed and so as its a soccer night, Ste decides he'll go and play.. Bad move. Less than an hour after after he's left I get a phone call. He's in hospital and he's broken his finger. Some kindly soul returns him home after midnight but the damage has been done. It turns out that an idiot has kicked him in the hand (and in the head for good measure) and twisted his finger so badly he's going to need surgery. At this point I would have quite willingly gone round and stamped on the hand of the person that did this. Less than 3 weeks till the kids and I take off for England, leaving alone a man in a cast is not my idea of fun.

Today has been surgery day. All has gone well and Ste is now sleeping soundly. He had to endure a round with the eye doctor for Tommy (straight after he'd come round as there was only one of me but 2 appointments to keep). Everyone has ended the day well though, especially Sophia, who got the spend the entire afternoon and evening living it up with Natalie and Hannah. 'I had the BEST day out of everyone, didn't I mummy?' - well, yes Sophia, I think you did!