Cornwall, etc

Once again, time slips by and it's November already! Since it's National Novel Writing Month, I don't plan to blog very much (if at all, after this post!) so I'm hoping to quickly document our trip to Cornwall this week.

Before I start... school is going well! Both kids are now at the same one and thriving. C's Reception teacher is a very warm lady and she has two aides/assistants to help out in her classroom. She's made friends and has had several birthday party invitations (as has E).

Anyhow, we started off our half-term break with a tour of the Chislehurst caves. Great fun, obviously didn't take any good pics because it was mostly dark/lantern-lit. Good tour guide, and there was a point where everyone stood in darkness for several minutes to recreate the feeling that survivors of the Blitz would have gotten in pitch black. Although when the guy asked if anyone believed in ghosts, my adamant NOPE probably made him slightly annoyed.

On to Cornwall. We stayed on the outskirts of Newquay. There was a nearby beach and the hotel was set up for children's needs, with an indoor pool, several playgrounds, a games room indoors, bunk beds, and good food. We had a view of the ocean from our room. There were adventure clubs for the kids which let us adults slum around a bit, and the kids also attended the complimentary evening shows (magician, puppetry, ventriloquist, etc).

Here's C on the zip wire in the playground. Next to this was a hedge maze!

Down to the beach at high tide... (some water MIGHT have gotten over the tops of a certain girl's boots!)

Hot chocolate afterward.

The next day, we visited the Eden Project. We'd been there before, about eighteen months ago, with cousins.

This time, the highlight was the seasonal ice skating rink. I hadn't been on skates in over a decade, and it was the first time for the kids, so we were slow and shaky! Fortunately, C had a penguin to balance on.

The next day, I set out on a solo hike for about 40 minutes. Walked a nice coastal path, then turned around at the next beach and walked back to the hotel.

October is often a mixture of sun and shadow, but it wasn't terribly cold. Not cold enough to prevent paddling up to one's knees, according to the children.

We visited a farm on our penultimate day. It had a good mix of things, including a superb indoor play area and pony riding outside. The kids even got to help groom one of the riding ponies.

Then they went for a ten minute lead-rein ride on the dirt track around the farm!

On the day we drove home, we stopped by Tintagel, which is where King Arthur was rumored to have been conceived. I may do a whole other post on this, because I found the place utterly inspiring, but for now, just a few pics.

The bottom pic is of "Merlin's Cave" which was really fun to explore!

And... I'm out of time. Got to run!

California, Part 1

Today, I wrote 1500 words on the novel, AND I now have all the photos copied from my old laptop to this desktop, so I thought I'd better start cataloging our trip to CA before the memories fade.

We said our goodbyes to SW London, and most of E's class met on the Common to have a farewell party for him after school. It was such a nice note to leave on. Even his teacher dropped by for a quick visit, on her way to the train station. Then, a few days later, I boarded a plane to San Francisco while B stayed behind to pack up the flat and transport things to N London. In SF, Dad picked us up and we struggled with the fog of jet lag for the first few days. As I recall, we all fell asleep around eight or nine, and woke up at 2am! The kids and I lay in bed and talked and giggled. The next day, it was 3, then 4, then 4:30 or so, then finally we were sleeping in until 6 or 7.

The first days involved some admin, like renewing my CA driver's license, which involved epic line-standing at the DMV. Bleuurgh! Our first "real outing" was on the bus to San Rafael to a street-painting festival. It was 90F, hot stuff! The kids were amazed, but petered out pretty quickly due to having been up since 3ish.

In those early days, we did a lot of early morning walks on the bike path. Once my license was renewed, I started taking them to the beach. We had a week or so of very very hot weather, which was perfect for Muir Beach. We got there early, because jet lag drove us out of the house, and even saw a buck running on the sand.

A few days in, we met up with our friend M, and took one of her Golden Retrievers on a canyon hike. The next day, we all went to the Marin County Fair together! We had so much fun there, visiting the petting zoo, going on rides, eating Southern food (crawfish etoufee!), watching a puppet show, and seeing art exhibits.

C was (stunningly) under the height requirement for the huge Ferris wheel, so she and I went on the carousel while M and E went on the wheel. Thank goodness for an extra adult!

Then it was the 4th of July, and of course we had to go to the Sausalito parade. I have such fond memories of watching the parade as a child, and even marching in it (at around age 4, as part of a waterfront float, then again at 12 helping out with a handmade wooden truck and wrangling its toddler drivers, then again at 13 or 14, with my karate team and instructor, who was... an interesting person, putting it mildly! But that's a story that will have to wait.). So, we got curbside seats, early parking, and spent time playing in the playground I used to frequent as a small child, which was another neat feeling. Then the floats started coming, and my kids realized some people threw candy in our direction, which made them quite engaged!

Before the parade started, we visited this old wooden statue of a man panning for gold. I remember this statue as a beloved old landmark, from my own childhood. Then, we went back to our curb for the parade!

The highlight for me was the brass band. I think the children loved the candy the most, or perhaps the man with the real live parrot on his bicycle, riding back and forth near us.

Afterward, we watched Grandad empty the dropbox at the library, and played in the creek (well, they did. I didn't.).

So... I'm going to leave it there for now! That was most of our first week in CA. After the 4th, Uncle Howard, his wife Nii and son Jack (7) showed up for their part of the visit! I have so many pictures that I'll need to split these blog posts into many parts... but at least I've made a start. I have to say, it was probably a once-in-a-lifetime trip/visit, and I'm almost amazed it worked so well!

Winter 2014 (So Far)

So, following on from last post... NaNoWriMo happened in November, and I wound up writing 43,000 words in a month. Not too shabby. We're in a decent routine that gives me some free time in the morning before I collect C from her nursery (which she goes to from 9-12).

E was chosen as a narrator in the lower (Reception, Year 1 and Year 2) school's production of the Nativity, one of only four children tapped for speaking parts out of sixty. He did a great job, and as a bonus, the Nursery class came in to watch, and I was able to sit in the same room with both children!

C had her 4th birthday.

We toasted marshmallows, sat around the campfire, built forts, and got generally muddy and dirty at the outdoor party of the son of family friends.

Dined out on pizza in Highgate.

E and I went to the Christmas service/carols along with Granny and several of her friends. He is currently enjoying a two week break from school.

Merry Christmas! We had a good day today with family and friends. Tomorrow we are going to Kew Gardens for the evening trail, seeing cousins and uncles and aunts, and probably spending a great deal of the day doing stuff like this...

(The track's slightly the wrong way around but that was quickly rectified by a kind uncle.)

Long Overdue...

...update.

We have been busy! We pulled E out of school a month early (since we were moving to North London anyway) and went to California for 7 weeks. What we did there... well, that warrants about 5 blog posts on their own! Suffice it to say we had a family reunion and did a ton of stuff that was almost a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Uncle Howard, his wife, and son Jack (7) were there, and we were able to see many good old family friends. B, the kids and I also traveled to Mendocino for a midweek break at one point.

I hardly know where to begin with this update. Certainly I want to catalog what we did in CA, but maybe I should start with mundane matters. We're now living in the top bit of B's parents' house, with much more room than in our old flat. E is in Year 2 in a local school, and C is at the same school in Nursery, going 5 mornings a week. They seem to be settled-ish, although we have our doubts about that particular school. We may try to get them into a different one. This is mainly because a lot of the school's funding is focused on bringing children with skills below their age level up to an appropriate one. E doesn't need that, at all. Neither does C. So... we wait and see. Meanwhile, he is not unhappy there although I don't think either of them are challenged quite enough.

This year, we've taken life by the horns and really lived it. I've learned that sometimes the actual doing of things is difficult, but having done them is awesome. Like flying that Cessna in Cornwall. This year we have been to Cornwall, rural Norfolk to stay with family, California, moved to North London, and this weekend we went back to Norfolk again. We're so lucky to have family members who have access to a holiday cottage up there.

So, since CA will have to be its own updates, here are some pictures from this weekend.

E catches a crab! All the kids caught some, and we wound up with 20+ seething in our bucket. Drama ensued when a little girl next to us went right over and into the water! We helped her and her grandfather (who went right after her) out.

C stirs her witchy cauldron at the festival we went to. She was making a potion (with leaves, water, mud and her magic wand).

E and C at the top of the biggest "drop slide" in the play area we went to on Sunday. Yes, they both went down it, multiple times!

The boys conquered this tandem zip wire. It was enormous.

One last photo, from the festival's candlelit procession. The children carried jars they had decorated earlier, with little tea candles inside. There were drummers and fire dancers. It was a very cool thing.

And that's it for now. I'll do my level best to update again soon, but National Novel Writing Month begins Nov. 1. I am going to try to write a heist/thriller in about 30 days. I won't finish it, of course, but it will be fun trying.

Last Day...

...of 2012.

I'm sitting here thinking about all the changes both children have gone through over the past year.

C went from barely walking and talking to a running, jumping, chattering little dynamo.  Her vocabulary has exploded, and she's a technowiz with the ipad.  She started attending playgroup once a week in September and has really enjoyed herself there.  We'll be going back next week, starting a new term!  She still naps in the afternoon, generally a little over an hour to an hour and a half.  She's recovered splendidly from chicken pox and has been mastering the art of scooter riding lately.

E was still in nursery (preschool) in January!  He was beginning to read his first words and simple sentences in Jan/Feb, so just before age three and a half.  Now he's reading at a late Year 1, early Year 2 (first grade, second grade) level despite being one of the youngest in his year.  He really enjoyed our trip to France in May, despite having to spend a night in the hospital.  He still enjoys volcanoes and train crashes.  He is into marble runs now, the bigger the better, and often does simple math (counting, adding, subtracting) in daily life.  He has a new scooter which he really enjoys, many friends at school, and continues to display kindness to others which I think will take him far in life.  He has adapted very well to a long school day (9am to 3:20) although he is tired at the end of a day.

Today E and I went to the British Museum.  He enjoyed looking at old clocks and displays of currency.  We didn't stay long because it was rammed with tourists!  Given the crowdedness and relative lack of hands-on displays I don't think I'll be taking him back in the near future - there are museums that he'll get more out of at least at this stage of his life.

B is back to work on Thursday, and then life resumes as normal from next Monday - E is back to school and C and I start playgroup from the Tuesday.

I don't have any current pictures but I hate posting without one... so here is one of E as a donkey in his school's Nativity play.  He did a great job!

We won't be cooking blackeyed peas and cornbread tomorrow... but someday I will.  Depending on time constraints, I may be baking a pecan pie though....

Wishing everyone a great 2013! 

Merry....

Well, the past week has been eventful!  We went off on our long-planned weekend trip to Norfolk, having made reservations to stay at a Centreparcs with friends.  I'm not entirely sure how to describe the place.  It's a lot like a holiday resort.  Self-catering cottages are sprinkled all around (there's also a hotel option).  There's LOTS of things for kids to do - it's designed for a kind of young-middle set, I'd say ages 5-12ish would get the most out of the experience.  Yet both teenagers and babies/toddlers are catered to as well.

The restaraunts, for example, have integrated play areas which is super cool when you have bouncy, explorer children who want to move.  There's a swimming pool with lots of different areas and levels of water slides, there's bowling and other sports, many different outdoor playgrounds and indoor ones as well, children/teenager clubs, and so on.  Sports like archery, clay pigeon shooting, waterskiing, and all that too.

We stayed in a two bedroom place adjacent to friends (4 families in total, plus one who visited for the day and stayed at another local place).  The place is set in the middle of Elveden Forest (there are also a few other Centreparcs around England) and although it's "holiday parky" it does a good job incorporating nature.

There was a loop trail just near our cabin - here the kids are taking turns on E's scooter.  I didn't get many pictures of our time there... mainly because C and I were sick when we arrived.  We spent most of the first day out of commission, recovering enough to swim that afternoon and participate in the Secret Santa our friends arranged.  Fortunately, E and B were well enough to spend the morning Doing Stuff, which included....

E attending a children's club and being Elf-ified.  He was so excited afterward that he temporarily forgot how to give a thumbs up.  He'd made/painted a sled, and "cooked" marshmallow cupcakes.

Meanwhile, C and I....

...yeah, we hung out in pyjamas eating apples and looking at the wildlife through the trees.  It also rained pretty heavily the first day there so it was kind of nice to stay indoors.

Another complicating factor to the whole thing is that our car has been on the fritz for awhile now.  Despite dropping a lot of money on trying to fix it, it still has a propensity to cut out at bad times and then refuse to start.  We thought it might be okay to drive the 70-odd miles north, but it turned out to be... difficult.  Broke down twice, the second time being pretty scary when it malfunctioned at 70mph on the freeway.  Fortunately it maintains steering and brakes, although not acceleration.... when we pulled over, C decided to be carsick.  That was a fun journey.

On the off-chance any SAAB enthusiasts read this blog, could they please let me know what to do to solve an on-board computer problem?  We paid to have the system rebooted but that hasn't fixed the problem.

Anyhow, I'm going to try to forget car stress because it's Christmas Eve.

Our kids went to bed looking like this (sans apples, obv.)....

...and they will wake up to this:

Merry Christmas 2012!  Aren't you glad the world didn't end?

Tuneful Park and 2nd Birthday

C turned two last Sunday.  We were scheduled for a little party with grandparents and cousins in North London.  Deciding to chance the car breaking down, we took a route through Central London that kept us on slower roads with lots of access to public transport if we did break down.  We drove past the Houses of Parliament, Trafalgar Square, 10 Downing St, the Horse Guards - I often forget how very close we are to Central London.  Fortunately, the car didn't break down, and we were treated to a big laugh by E quickly reading a Tube sign as "Tuneful Park" instead of "Tufnell Park."  Good stuff.

Duet on Grandpa's piano.

Running amok in the music room with bells.

Blowing out candles on the gingerbread house cake C shared with her cousin, who is turning 1 in a few days.

 Today we decorated our Christmas tree.

It's beginning to feel festive around here, although there is so much more to do before the big day - including a short trip away with friends.  Today while out with the kids we met a baronet!  87 years old and going strong, we had a great chat.  He says nobody ever stops to chat with him... but we did, and it was fantastic.  His baronetcy is in Nova Scotia.

Well, that's all for now.

November, Mostly in Pictures

I've been lax about posting pictures... mostly because we've been so busy.  E went through a round of chicken pox and was off school for nearly a week.  That was two weeks ago, and now C has it.  She developed her first spots yesterday and so far it seems like a worse case than E's.

So... what did we do in November?

Well, there was Bonfire Night, where we braved the crowds at an official firework event and stood in squelchy mud while more and more people jostled in (at 20 quid a family they were making money hand over fist).  Still, the kids loved it....

There was a big bonfire (pictured) and fireworks set to music, which they also enjoyed.

Larking about in the nearby green after school.

This weekend we went up to Suffolk to visit friends in the countryside.  Bracing late November walks on the beach....

...led to tea, hot chocolate and checkers (the Brits call it draughts, but I'm sticking to my Yankee ways) in the beachside cafe.

In case you're wondering, E lost the game.  But our friend was very patient teaching him the basics of the game.  We had to use chess pieces in place of actual checkers, but that worked fine.

When we got back to the house, C sat on the tractor as the older kids chopped wood in preparation for hauling it to the woodshed.

Of course, then it was back inside to sit by a roaring fire (cats included), movie and popcorn, building a gigantic wooden train track with bridges, loops and two railway stations in the playroom, and listening to the wind and rain that rolled around mid-afternoon.  On Sunday the three older children did 2 hours of rugby while C and I stayed behind to pack and putter around.  E did pretty well with the ball so we might be looking at getting him into rugby next term.

The next few hours will be spent creaming up the not-quite-two year old who is very poxy indeed, and prepping for school tomorrow.  I've been doing NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and have 34k words or thereabouts... not quite sure I'll make the 50k mark by next week given how many curve balls November has thrown, but it's the fastest I've ever written, and it's not trash, so there's a small victory.

And that's all for now!