Here they had to hold on to each other's kayaks and then each in turn stand up and say who they were and where they were from. When it was sam's turn he stood up, announced his name and then hesitated-you could tell he wasn't sure where he was from-leicester? Syston? Peterborough? so in the end he opted for Peterborough and everyone giggled.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Lego Master
Here is the monster putting together his latest lego set. It is some super duper power miner ship, complete with lots of aliens and power crystals. I recently won £500 in John Lewis vouchers from tickbox.net and we have all enjoyed spending them. Sam chose this lego set and we also bought a small tv for the boat. Matt has yet to choose something and I have spend a small portion of mine on make up. Matt and I are saving the rest of ours to spend in london when we go as the John Lewis there is much bigger.
Work in progress
When we moved in we laid laminate in the hallway but over the last three years it has slowly gotten grubbier and smellier (thank you cats!) so we decided to pull it up and lay tile. This is the result. It looks fantastic and makes us wish that we had done it from the start. Hopefully this will make the house easier to sell when we do put it on the market. Sam has really enjoyed helping Matt and my father in law lay the floor, especially the grouting!
Bountiful Harvest
Our veggie garden seems to have thrived on neglect this year and we have had a good crop of lettuce, cabbage, peas, blackcurrents, gooseberries, blueberries and potatoes. These are the potatoes and they were especially yummy.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Piggy back!
Sam getting a piggy back from Charlie at Burghley on Tuesday. It was lovely all being together again but we did miss miriam and the boys.
Sun at last!
The boys and the dogs at Maplethorpe Beach last weekend. We spent last saturday exploring lincolnshire and ended up at the beach. Although we didn't have any beach stuff everyone had fun running up and down the beach and jumping in the waves. Rogue tried to eat the waves while miko didn't like getting her paws wet.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
I confess..
It is our fault that it has rained non stop for the last 24 hours. It is all because we bought sam a new pair of sandals. Perhaps if we had bought him the doc martin's that he really wanted it would be blazing sunshine right now!! I am pleased to say though it is now 2am and it has finally stopped raining. I honestly can't remember the last time I was so wet. Sam and I went into lincoln today and despite the umbrella got soaked and my red leather shoes got so wet that my feet are now also red. I think it is going to take them days to dry out.
Apart from the rain we are having a good week. Monday sam had a summer camp session at the Apple Store. He spent 3 hours learning how to make movies using imovies and had a ball. As parents were not allowed to leave the store (liability issues) they also gave us a session on movie making, it was easier than I expected and sam and I have spent quite a bit of time this week playing around with imovies. `I will try and post the fruits of our labors when they are fully edited. Next week he is doing a session on iphoto so watch out for a blog post with lots of enhanced photos! While I realise that the whole point of these free sessions is to encourage parents to buy software and hardware they are a great idea as we never would have played around with any of the programmes in ilife. I generally just download pics and load them on to flickr and have never thought about playing around with them. Sam really enjoyed the session, not least because he got a free t-shirt.
Tuesday we met up with the boys at the Garden of Surprises at Burghley House. Thankfully we sun was out so the children were able to splash around in the water park. It was lovely catching up with everyone, especially Lisa and her family who are over from the states for the summer. We all missed Miriam and the boys but are looking forward to seeing them when they move back from Ireland at the end of the month. Sam is very excited about Alex coming back as he will have a friend in lincoln-he already has all sorts of plans for the two of them.
Apart from the rain we are having a good week. Monday sam had a summer camp session at the Apple Store. He spent 3 hours learning how to make movies using imovies and had a ball. As parents were not allowed to leave the store (liability issues) they also gave us a session on movie making, it was easier than I expected and sam and I have spent quite a bit of time this week playing around with imovies. `I will try and post the fruits of our labors when they are fully edited. Next week he is doing a session on iphoto so watch out for a blog post with lots of enhanced photos! While I realise that the whole point of these free sessions is to encourage parents to buy software and hardware they are a great idea as we never would have played around with any of the programmes in ilife. I generally just download pics and load them on to flickr and have never thought about playing around with them. Sam really enjoyed the session, not least because he got a free t-shirt.
Tuesday we met up with the boys at the Garden of Surprises at Burghley House. Thankfully we sun was out so the children were able to splash around in the water park. It was lovely catching up with everyone, especially Lisa and her family who are over from the states for the summer. We all missed Miriam and the boys but are looking forward to seeing them when they move back from Ireland at the end of the month. Sam is very excited about Alex coming back as he will have a friend in lincoln-he already has all sorts of plans for the two of them.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Jamming in London
One of the highlights of C's trip was getting to go to see Jimmy Buffett play at the Empire in London. Matt was supposed to join us but couldn't get the next day off and being a sunday there was no way to get back by train after the concert. So matt very kindly stayed with Sam while C and I went. The venue is an old music hall theatre and can't hold more than 2000 people if that. We were in the stalls which was all standing and managed to get very close to the stage. We got to the venue a couple of hours before the concert and had fun waiting in line with all of the other crazy parrot heads. We were amazed at how many people there were, how many of them were english and how sober they all were! At a typical jimmy concert back home most people have had such fun tailgating that they are are bit worse for wear by the time the concert starts. The concert was amazing-jimmy played for 2.5 hours straigh and everyone was singing along. I think he was really taken aback by the amount of people and the level of adoration expressed by the audience. He has promised to come back next year-fingers crossed that he does and fingers crossed it is still at the empire. Having seen him in two small venues seeing him somewhere huge just wouldn't be the same.
Heading to Margaritaville
Jimmy and Mac chatting before the next song. I have never seen a group of musicians who look so unlike a group of musicians. Mac looks just like grizzly adams.
Up close and personal
I took lots of pics but this is the best of the bunch. I forgot to ask matt how to use the video setting on the camera so didn't get any video footage. I still can't believe how close we were to the stage-any closer and we would have been on it.
This is how it works Dad
On C's last day here we ventured up to Magna-a science museum that has been created in an old steel factory. It was very interesting and there was lots of hands on stuff to do. Sam really enjoyed the water section, especially the scale model of locks. Sadly we didn't have time to try out the fab looking playground but hope to get back up there this summer.
Sam aka Huck Finn
The monster fishing back when it was still summer! He natters the whole time he is fishing which is why he probably doesn't catch much!
Trying to catch dinner
Sam and C doing a quite bit of fishing at the marina. Sam managed to catch a baby dace and a baby roach-we threw them all back.
How many cubs will fit on a boat?
The annual cubs boating trip with the boys trying to see how many of them will fit on one boat.
Still dry-just!
Sam had his annual sailing trip with cubs recently. This year due to complete lack of wind they took the sails off theboats and let the boys row. What they lacked in rowing skill they made up for in enthusiasm. They all had a ball and as you will see from the pics below nearly everyone ended up in the water on purpose.
Getting back on board
Not long into the session boys started falling in accidently and then once they discovered what fun it was on purpose. Sam is the one in the blue jacket and orange life jacket and after the first 10 minutes seemed to spend more time in the water than in the boat. He was absolutely soaked and he and matt walked home rather than get the car wet and mucky.
What happened to the boat?
By the end of the session all of the boys were in the water mucking about and having a ball. They all claimed that the water was lovely and warm but I have my doubts.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Pox again!
Just as sam got over his chicken pox, the inevitable happened, Matt came down with them. He has felt awful the last two days and has spent them in bed, which is not like him. Normally if he is not feeling well he just soldiers on but not this time. He is like a furnace to touch and alternates between feeling hot and cold. He has a growing collection of spots which so far don't itch. I have a squirt bottle of calamine on hand for when they do tough. I just hope that the feeling awful doesn't last the whole duration of illness, I would hate for him to spend the next week or so feeling like death warmed over.
Things have been pretty quiet here as we cancelled all sam's playdates and activities, not wanting to knowingly pass on the pox. As he felt fine we continued with school work, though at a slower pace than usual. We also spent the week at home, which I think is the first time we have spent a full week on dry land since getting the boat. As the captain now has the pox and won't be at work looks like we will be landlubbers this week as well.
Things have been pretty quiet here as we cancelled all sam's playdates and activities, not wanting to knowingly pass on the pox. As he felt fine we continued with school work, though at a slower pace than usual. We also spent the week at home, which I think is the first time we have spent a full week on dry land since getting the boat. As the captain now has the pox and won't be at work looks like we will be landlubbers this week as well.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Chicken Pox...again!!
Things have been tootling along at what passes for normal in our house/boat. Schoolwork, clubs, playdates, soggy camping weekends etc until the attack of the chicken pox. This is the second time the monster has had chicken pox and so far thankfully it is very mild just like last time. He doesn't feel unwell which is good and hasn't been tempted to scratch the spots. We have cancelled all his activities for next week as we don't want to pass it on to his friends. He does love to rough and tumble with his buddies so I have no doubt that he would spread it among them. My big worry, though is him passing it to Matt who still hasn't had the pox. Fingers crossed he doesn't get it!
As I said life has been pretty normal around here-we had our annual home ed camp last weekend and only managed one night. The heavens opened the first night and our tent couldn't cope. It leaked in so many place it was almost raining inside by the the time we woke up. As the forecast was for rain all sat and sun we decided that discretion was the better part of valor and packed up and went home. Sam was dispointed to leave his friends but very glad to be warm and dry when we got home. To make up for the disapointment the boys went to see Terminator Salvation while the dogs and I had a lazy afternoon.
Sam has recently joined the local junior triathlon club and is really enjoying it. It has really improved his swimming and above all he is having fun. Not sure when he will do his first junior triathlon-there is one mid july not too far from here so if he thinks he is ready we will sign him up for that.
Auntie C is coming to visit at the end of the month and we are all very excited. By happy coincedence Jimmy Buffett happens to be having his first ever concert in London while she is here and we have managed to get tickets-yippee! I hope the weather is nice for her visit but knowing july over here anything is possible.
As I said life has been pretty normal around here-we had our annual home ed camp last weekend and only managed one night. The heavens opened the first night and our tent couldn't cope. It leaked in so many place it was almost raining inside by the the time we woke up. As the forecast was for rain all sat and sun we decided that discretion was the better part of valor and packed up and went home. Sam was dispointed to leave his friends but very glad to be warm and dry when we got home. To make up for the disapointment the boys went to see Terminator Salvation while the dogs and I had a lazy afternoon.
Sam has recently joined the local junior triathlon club and is really enjoying it. It has really improved his swimming and above all he is having fun. Not sure when he will do his first junior triathlon-there is one mid july not too far from here so if he thinks he is ready we will sign him up for that.
Auntie C is coming to visit at the end of the month and we are all very excited. By happy coincedence Jimmy Buffett happens to be having his first ever concert in London while she is here and we have managed to get tickets-yippee! I hope the weather is nice for her visit but knowing july over here anything is possible.
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