House Guests

We may not be the best hosts (not being a tea drinker, I REALLY struggle to remember that I've switched the kettle on - guests usually do get their drink, but it may be hours after they asked), and we may not have the best set up (usually one of the guests ends up on the floor!) but we LOVE having people to stay.

So we were thrilled when Laura and Jim said they were coming to stay.

The weather forecast told us that the best day would be Monday so we decided to go to Southend. There are nicer beaches around, but Jim's Grandma lived in Dagenham and they used to catch the train to Southend when they visited her. I love Southend, as do my kids (although that's mostly to do with Adventureland!) so we were pleased to go.

Since we only moved here last September, I'm just starting to experience the summer during peak times and I could really see how much busier it is now. In recent trips, we were able to park near the pier, but today, we were down next to the casino. Doesn't matter though - its just a quick walk down to the three shells beach where we settled ourselves.

I think it took about 1 whole minute for all children to strip off and put costumes on...except Phoebe who refused a costume! Is great to see kids playing on a beach - I love it.

Frances suits the beach - we couldn't take enough photos of her!

The grownups relaxed on a blanket with a picnic...
...and took a few pictures!

Laura and I were impressed with Jim's builders bum until we realised it was his undies! Its a great impression of a builders bum - I think I'm seeing an "Occupations" theme for the next Meersbrook party!
Phoebe, Frances and Leah (and Jim!) were happy to tiptoe in the shallow waves...

...but Megan and Sam were both straight in, up to their necks!
And others on the beach couldn't resist getting into the sea - the water was so warm and inviting, although I don't envy them having to drip dry for the rest of the day. These two were literally upto their necks eventually, fully clothed!

There's a viewing tower at the head of the pier that is great to get a good view of the sea front - we didn't realise how windy it was until we saw some of the huge hair photos! I don't know why we decided to do the posing photos in the billowing wind!

Here's a before the gust of wind photo...

...and then the wind blew!

There were calmer moments, and of course it didn't matter to Jim what the wind did!

Jim had to coax Frances to come and look out from the top of the tower after I scared her to death. When we got out of the lift, Frances ran up to me, excited to be at the top and I reached down to pick her up to show her the view. She couldn't back away quick enough! I think she thought I was going to toss her off the top! I'll have to work on our trust a bit more, although maybe the top of a tall tower isn't the right place to do that! After a bit of counselling from her dad, she was brave enough to run around with the others!

The Hastings:

The Stringers:

A Stringer and a Hastings:

What better way to end the day than with a Rossi's icecream - my favorite!

Dramatic Gardeners!

After a delicious BBQ, Delores did some gardening for us and helped make our back garen look much tidier. Despite her hard work, she still had time to teach Leah some dramatic gardening poses - I think Leah's inherited Delores' dramatic genes! I hope so!

Lorraines pursuit of excellence as an auntie

Lorraine is on a mission to become the best auntie in the whole wide world and in her pursuit of this, she's bought a 10 foot swimming pool for her garden!

In this hot weather, how can we resist going round every day! We've all been in, grownups and all - its the perfect way to cool down when its hot.

What a fantastic way for 6 cousins to have a great time together:

Although I'm not sure Megan's got the hang of goggles!

Leanne likes to makes a splash!

I'm not sure Sam approves!

Exploring our Patch

FHE on a Monday night is a great excuse for exploring Danbury and the like. Our latest trip out was to another of the local locks. We've been to Papermill and Beeleigh Locks, so Liam suggested Hoe Mill Lock near Ulting - he passes it everyday on his way to work.There's something about water that we all love - looking at it, splashing in it, walking by it, fishing in it (well, some of us!). This walk lead us to harvest time. Every where we drive takes us past agriculture - over the last few months we've watched the farmers clear the fields, plant the crops, we've watched them grow, and I know it may seem weird, but we were all excited to see a combine harvester working next to the canal! Not being a farming expert, I'm not sure if this is actually a combine harvester, but it was chopping down the wheat with HUGE blades! And can you imagine our excitement when the combine harvest driver waved back to us!?! I KNOW!





The river runs at the side of the canal, so we stopped to stand and stare. We do that at lakes and rivers. I don't know why, but I expect it has something to do with "our" obsession with fish!


The trouble with standing and staring is that sometimes you're staring from the wrong angle, so the only way to rectify it is to move to a better view. And sometimes it means you put yourself in jeopardy. That's the life of fisherman - its tough. So as a fisherman, Liam HAD to balance across the thin branch that grows right across the river.What happened next is a blur...but predictable! He's happy among his fish!

Megan and Leah prefer to do gymnastics on dry land......although Leah has her own gymnastics style!

Visiting Time

Our reason for this trip to Sheffield was to visit my Grandad in hospital. He's been at the Hallamshire for about 3 weeks now and its been rubbish being in Essex. I know grandad doesn't need much support - what he really needs at the moment is the nursing care he's getting, but I feel like I'm missing out on visiting him.

We went to see him on Saturday and Sunday and had two very different visits. On Saturday he was on good form. He asked if we'd brought him some cake, and could we lend him half a crown? These are his favorite questions! He tells Liam we're trouble makers - 1, 2, 3, pointing to me mum and Grandma and any other females in the room! And then I count 4 and point to him and he pretends to look wounded. He tells Leah she's his girlfriend (one of his many!).

This could have been any trip to visit Grandad over the last few years - as he's slowly lost his short term memory, he sometimes has the same conversation again and again, but I'm happy having these conversations. They're reassuring.

He tells us about his brothers and sisters: May was his twin sister - he screws up his nose when he talks about her - she used to blame him for everything! And I always tease him and say he probably caused all the trouble and he fakes a hurt look. Elsie was bossy he tells us and Dorothy was his favorite ( I think I've got that right - I should know by now!). Then he adds: "I'm the only one left now..."

On Saturday he told me "I've had a good life, I've seen the world, I've been to the moon...". When I told Delores he says that, she thought he was being figurative, but he's not! I love that he's so satisfied with his 92 year old life and travels, he includes the moon.

He was really animated and dramatic this time - exaggerated facial expressions and chatty. Although the nurse came and told us he had been refusing to eat. She brought a milkshake meal replacement and asked Grandma if she could feed it to him. He managed to drink quite a lot of it, but really needs to eat more.

Sunday's visit was quite different. He was asleep when we arrived, and didn't like being woken up (I can understand that!). It was hard to understand what he was saying and I don't think he knew who I was. Often he pretends to be offended and cheeky, but this time I don't think he was pretending. I certainly didn't want to push him. He couldn't keep his eyes open and I was happy when he went back to sleep.

I'm glad he's getting looked after and I'm glad my grandma isn't the one who has to look after him. It was nice to see him and hear his stories again.

Picking/Eating Strawberries

Last weekend we made a quick visit to Sheffield to visit my Grandad Beattie who's in hosiptal. Visiting time wasn't until 2pm so mum suggested we go strawberry picking (Liam even had time to visit TWO fishing shops!) at Whirlow Hall Farm.

Well, Nanny and Megan did most of the actual picking! They're proper workers.

Leah and Sam preferred to stay near the edges - probably a good idea 'cause there were a few nettle injuries!

Leah guarded the strawberries, good job 'cause they were beautiful...

...although she didn't guard them very well from Sam! He started off being subtle...

...but by the end, he just didn't care who saw him!

Where's a wet wipe when you need one?!

Science Summer

St Johns School had a science week in June - it made a big impact on Sam. The teachers really worked hard and they did loads of sciencey things every day for a week. One of Sam's favorites was a volcano made from bicarbonate of soda and vinegar. He's been desperate to try it at home so he impressed Rachel and Leah with his experiment.

Afterwards he had them all do a write up (actually a draw-up) of the experiment.

I think Sam makes a great mad scientist!

So hot!

The weather has heated up and so we headed to Maldon splash park to cool down.

Horror of horrors - it was packed! How rude when we were so hot! When we've been to the park so far in the year, there's been plenty of people there, but you could hop in and out of the water as you pleased. This time as we drove up to the park, you could see the crowds. I warned the kids that if there were too many people there, we'd go round to their cousins instead and go in their paddling pool and use their slidey sheet thing. Megan preferred this idea. In fact she was praying (literally!) that it would be busy! She must be very righteous cause it was absolutely PACKED! We didn't even get out of the car - we just did a drive by...and then went straight to Lorraines - the Heybridge splash park.

And it was just what we needed! Who needs Maldon!