More Splashing

Where should we go today? The weather was great - Clacton? Southend? We decided that as Maldon worked on Saturday, it probably would work on Bank Holiday Monday too. You can’t beat playing in sand and then cooling down in the water!

That was literally our day - picnicing, splashing, building sand castles, climbing...and relaxing!

There's only so long that Liam can stand at the side of water on a hot day before he has to get in!

The other grownups were happy to let him be the token crazy Dad.

Doing London!

As it was the Sabbath, we started our trip to London with an opening prayer. Nice to see Liam and Jim being reverent, but I think Karen’s peeping! Okay so we didn’t but if we had, I don’t think the 13 of us could have been more reverent than this picture implies! Actually, we were all reading the history of London on the sundial at our first stop – the Tower of London.

Whenever we go out we get a photo like this – Hilary is a child magnet. You don’t see pictures like this of me and Karen!
Talking of Hilary, as we crossed the road to get a quick peek at Tower Bridge, she recognised a monument which lists her grandad’s death (he was killed in the merchant navy in the 2nd world war). It took a bit of searching, but she even found his name. What a lovely start to our trip. Our plan was to head towards Buckingham Palace. The flowers all around were fabulous, but they were enhanced by these seven more fabulous children! Would you believe I took seven photos of this scene and Thomas has his tongue out on every single one?! He’s lucky the Hyde park pelicans didn’t peck it off! Yes, there really were pelicans! That tongue again, but so cute! We were very impressed by the marching soldiers – well the kids were. I’m not a big fan of all that pomp and ceremony. What was all that whispering between guards when they finished their sentry duty and the unnecessary stomping around? I just don’t see the point.
How are we ever gonna marry these girls off?! I think we’re stuck with them for life!
Does anyone else think these boys could be looking for trouble?! Be careful, Jim's watching!
Looking good! What an exhausting trip – but great fun. I loved seeing Thomas and Jim as the stars of the structural engineers talk in the Science museum. But it would have been much more impressive if the demonstrator had jumped on Jim’s chest instead of just hitting him with a big mallet!

Splashing Around

Yea, the Bradbury's arrived and the weather was FAB! I was thinking we'd just have a lazy afternoon at home after all their driving, but the weather was so lovely, it would be a shame to waste it. It's poured with rain and even hail all week, so a bit of sunshine is great.

We ummed and ahhed about where to go, Southend was winning, then Liam checked the internet and realised that Maldon Splash Park had reopened that morning!

Just 10 minutes away, its perfect for our age kids:

The supervisors watched on...dry!
These are THE most amazing curls ever!

What would bed time bring? Six adults and seven children in our little 3 bedroomed house could have been a challenge, but amazingly, it went better than expected! Of course we could have done with a few extra rooms, but as camping goes, everyone mucked in!

Preparations - please give me an extra hour

So with Megan, Sam and Liam off fishing, Leah and I hit Tesco to stock up on food for our exciting weekend! After much nagging, the Bradburys and the Swannacks finally gave in and agreed to come and visit us in the sunny south.

We don't live in a mansion, so the logistics of sleeping 6 adults and 7 children in our small 3-bedroomed semi was a little tricky, but plans formulated and all I had to do was make sure the house was presentable. Sounds easy enough, but I'm no Martha! And I had plenty of warning...so why is it that whenever anyone comes to visit, I'm always ready for them an hour after they've arrived??

The Bradburys were due to arrive first - leaving after a 9am swimming lesson, I was SURE Alan would be a slow and steady driver, with a few pitstops and maybe a lunch stop - I was estimating a 2.30 arrival? So when Hilary rang at 12.15 to say they were at Stansted Airport (which is about 45mins away) I started sweating! The sheets were still in the washing machine, the toys were still piled up at the bottom of the stairs, the food from Tesco was leaning on the mucky plates from the cake I had baked! Why do I always do this???

When they arrived, I tried to be cool - ignoring the clothes still piled on the table, shoving out of the way the toys they had to step over to get in the door, and more importantly, I tried not to smear my sweaty cheek on Hilarys when I gave her a welcome hug - I hadn't managed to fit a shower in before they arrived! But Alan clocked me later on finishing all the jobs that should have been done before they arrived. I tried to brush it under the carpet (along with all the dust) "Sit down, have a rest! Don't mind me, hoovering round your feet and spraying polish over your head! Read a book or something!" He noticed my running around as Karen and Jim's arrival time was creeping up and suggested that I was trying to impress Karen! As if I would!

And there's always one big job on my to do list that I know I MUST do, that I don't get round to and it jumps up and bites me on the bottom! This time it was spring cleaning my wardrobe! I'd been thinking about it all week - I'd been shoving things in, higgledypiggledy and kept meaning to organise my clothes, so when Hilary asked if she could borrow a T Shirt on Monday, I could have kicked myself - I tried my hardest to distract her:

• "Surely my T-shirts won't fit you!" (in my mind I'm thinking "Oh no, she's gonna look in my wardbrobe!")!
• "Its not that hot - that long sleeved top will be fine in this 23 degree heat!" (in my mind - "Why why why didn't I sort it out!"

Once again, caught out! Good job they're my friends despite my disorganisation!

If all visitors would kindly note that if we arrange an arrival time - even if I suggest the time, I really do need an extra hour...or two! Or if you can just promise to look me in the eye through your entire visit and not let your eyes stray past me to my clutter!

A Big Day for the Hastings Fishermen

On the 1st May, Megan and Sam joined their first fishing club! They (all the family fishermen) are thrilled and so on the first available opportunity, Saturday morning, Richard, Liam, Megan and Sam packed their rods and hit the lake - with success!

Breamy Fishing

At last, fish pictures! I think these are pictures of bream - Liam and Richard slept at the lake this week and caught 3 bream. They use Richard's camera, so he has control over which pictures he sends for the blog and so far, he hasn't included any pictures of himself! He revels in telling me he's a better fisherman than Liam, so hopefully he'll send some evidence (that's a challenge, Rich)?! I don't think bream are the preferred choice, but beggers can't be choosers!

Washing Herbs

Its not all rosie in the garden...or on the window sill...I'm really trying with this seed thing - I thought my downfall would be remembering to water, but I'm managing to do that, even the ones in the greenhouse which is a miracle! But when I have to move them from one pot to another, I'm struggling a bit...well alot! I split my plant pot of chives from one pot into two (like it said in the book) and instead of looking neat and tidy like they did in the farmers market, they look more like my hair in the morning! All wonky and frizzy! Only I could have frizzy chives?

It turns out, though, it didn't really matter 'cause on Friday I knocked one of the pots off the windowsill and into my washing up water! I didn't give up though! I fished them out of the dish water, wiped off the bubbles and planted them again! I've never seen Alan Titchmarsh do this, but you never know!

I'm starting to think that I'm not cut out for this gardening lark...

The Lesser Spotted Grandad

This page is dedicated to the Lesser Spotted Grandad. He is not often captured on camera - for several reasons.

1. He rarely appears at the same time as the grandchildren, preferring to hide out in various much quieter locations - the greenhouse, the bedroom, the small office at church, etc, but is scarcely seen in the kitchen.
   
2. At the sight of the camera, he generally growls and sends out both verbal and non-verbal warning signals.

Here are some other interesting facts:

• A distinctive relative, often found resting on the settee, where he incubates the remote control.
• He can occasionally be lured out by cute grandchildren for short periods of time only.

• He seasonally migrates to the north on a four weekly cycle - during these absences, his mate takes over the role of remote control incubation.
• He hasn't strayed far from the nest and makes regular communication (5 o'clock every Sunday) with his parents.
  
• He has produced one fabulous offspring who he continues to teach, currently how to scavenge tomatoes from her greenhouse.
  
• Hibernates every afternoon, making a distinctive snoring sound.
  
• Common in Yorkshire, but noticably absent from Essex.
  
• Occasionally found cruising in various locations around the world although generally avoids direct sunlight.
  
• During summer months, roosts at local cricket matches
  
• A mischievious streak means you can never leave him unsupervised!

• He is fiercely protective of his habitat and regularly frisks visitors when they leave. Another defense mechanism is to wear all belongings to avoid loss.

Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks

Of course when I refer to the "Old Dog", I'm not referring to my beloved Grandma learning how to play the Nintendo DS, that would just be rude! I'm talking about the Nintendogs game that Megan was showing to said beloved Grandma! Interest comes and goes, but at the moment, Megan's favorite DS game is Nintendogs - playing with dogs, buying clothes for it and entering competitions to earn DS money! Surely this is a much better idea than buying a real dog - have you seen the weather this week? Its barely stopped raining - can you imagine having to take one out EVERYDAY in this weather? Despite not having a clue how to play it, we (Liam and I) love that Nintendogs fills the gap! I wonder if Grandma would have been as pleased to meet and greet, if Megan was showing her a real pooch!