We had a great bank holiday weekend but we all have battle scars! I was attacked by bookshelf and hurt my little toe again, M hugged a paving stone a little too tightly and Rogue decided to nibble on him. Sam was sick in the middle of the night thanks to scoffing too many sausage rolls before dinner. In all seriousness it was nice spending the weekend at my in laws and M was able to help his dad lay the new patio. Sam, the dogs and I weren't so much help but at least we didn't walk on the wet cement! Sam enjoyed spending time with his grandparents and took great delight in singing happy birthday to my fil at every possible opportunity-well it was his birthday afterall. Thank you Nana and Grandad for a fanastic weekend!!!!
We had a good start to the week today-we managed to get orlando a new tank for free. On our walk this morning we noticed someone had put a sign in their window advertising a glass snake tank that they were giving away for free. We called them when we got home and picked it up shortly thereafter. It is a lovely big tank, just right for our growing young snake. We were going to buy him a new one but have now won't need to. Maybe it is a cosmic payback for all the things I have given away on freecycle.
Schoolwise we have almost finished up Science 2, I am trying to get it done in the next week so that we can start all of our new subjects at the same time. I indulged in lots of books from amazon to go with story of the world v.2 and am itching to get started. We wil be doing from the fall of the roman empire down through the middle ages. On a positive note, he is a bit more enthusiastic about math now we have had a long break so hopefully that bodes well for the next few months. He is actually excited about all the children going back to school as it means all of his activites start again. We are going to have a busy week with tennis, swimming, beavers, home ed gym class and french and not forgetting warhammer sessions on sundays! Sam should be very fit by the end of term but I will probably be worn out with all the driving.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Sunny day..
at last!! Don't mean to be weather lady here but this afternoon the sun came out for the first time in ages. To celebrate the sunshine sam and the dogs and I took ourselves out on a walk and ended up in one of the local parks. Sam instantly made 2 new best friends and had a ball playing with them. A fourth little boy whom we already knew showed up with his dad and the four boys charged around like mad. It was one of the first times that that has happened, ususally the park is either empty or full of older children. Considering that none of the boys (except sam and J) knew each other they all played really well and shared the kite and helicopter toy that two of the boys had. The dogs took great delight in pulling me across the park while they chased the kite. Rogue especially was determined to prove that he could jump high enough to catch it and I have the pulled arms to prove it. We could have stayed there all afternoon but after a while Rogue grew increasingly frustrated that he couldn't catch the kite and wanted to be on the move again.
It has been a busy week, we did school work on monday, followed by a play session with V & I yesterday that also encompased a trip into the city center for a historic walk around castle park. It was part of the Castle Park Festival and was billed as walk and talk about the Smashing Saxons and Nasty Normans. Given the title we though that it was going to be a horrible history style walk but alas it wasn't. It was a great walk, the guide was interesting and very knowledgeable but he did not do it a la Terry Deary. C & D met us there and it was nice to see them. I think all the boys enjoyed the talk but sam was disapointed that it was not more gruesome!! We ended up at jewry wall museum where the boys played at being archaeologists and created mosaic pictures. All in all it was a nice afternoon out but not quite as advertised.
Things are a bit stop start with formal school work, we are working on an every other day basis this week! Monday we did tons of formal stuff and tuesday too and even managed to fit in the field trip. Today we concentrated on economics (sam counting out his money to buy lego), art (painting warhammer) and PE a long walk followed by working out with daddy in the new garage gym. You can also add to that social skills as he had long chats with all the shop assistants we encountered, especially the guys in games workshop. They were very impressed that he took his space marines on vacation to paint them.
Tomorrow we are having another formal session in the morning followed by a field trip in the afternoon in search of grandad's fav sausages.
He finished the Big Wild Read this week and seems a bit underwhelmed by the scheme this year. I don't think the stickers are so appealing anymore and I don't think this year's theme was very exciting. Being 'green' is important but sam enjoyed it when it was about pirates and space.
It has been a busy week, we did school work on monday, followed by a play session with V & I yesterday that also encompased a trip into the city center for a historic walk around castle park. It was part of the Castle Park Festival and was billed as walk and talk about the Smashing Saxons and Nasty Normans. Given the title we though that it was going to be a horrible history style walk but alas it wasn't. It was a great walk, the guide was interesting and very knowledgeable but he did not do it a la Terry Deary. C & D met us there and it was nice to see them. I think all the boys enjoyed the talk but sam was disapointed that it was not more gruesome!! We ended up at jewry wall museum where the boys played at being archaeologists and created mosaic pictures. All in all it was a nice afternoon out but not quite as advertised.
Things are a bit stop start with formal school work, we are working on an every other day basis this week! Monday we did tons of formal stuff and tuesday too and even managed to fit in the field trip. Today we concentrated on economics (sam counting out his money to buy lego), art (painting warhammer) and PE a long walk followed by working out with daddy in the new garage gym. You can also add to that social skills as he had long chats with all the shop assistants we encountered, especially the guys in games workshop. They were very impressed that he took his space marines on vacation to paint them.
Tomorrow we are having another formal session in the morning followed by a field trip in the afternoon in search of grandad's fav sausages.
He finished the Big Wild Read this week and seems a bit underwhelmed by the scheme this year. I don't think the stickers are so appealing anymore and I don't think this year's theme was very exciting. Being 'green' is important but sam enjoyed it when it was about pirates and space.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
A week not quite as we planned..
This week was supposed to be a back to back social whirl, seeing friends just about everyday, however things did not go quite as expected. The wiper motor on M's car died this week and it has spent all week at the dealership waiting for the new part. This has rendered us carless so we had to cancel our meet ups. We did manage to see my sil and nephews. We hadn't seen them since easter and it was lovely to catch up. The boys all played really nicely and everyone, including the two grown ups were shattered by the time we left to come home. My nephew B is really looking forward to his upcoming birthday party as he is going to have the same reptile guy that sam had two years ago. Both Sam and B are keen to see if the boa, Clarissa has grown any. At sam's party she was able to fit comfortably across the laps of about 20 children!
C & D came for the day on thursday and while the boys played C gave me another patchwork lesson. I have finished my square now all I have to do is back it and unpick the initial stitches. I have really enjoyed doing it and hope that with C's help I can move on to something bigger and better! The boys got on like a house on fire and spent their time either playing lego or wrestling. We did manage to tear them apart long enough to go to the park where the expended so much energy that I am amazed they were able to walk home. Sam has asked if D can sleep over, he is keen for the two of them to stay up watching magic school bus dvds and wrestling. He seemed surprised when I reminded him that he would need to sleep at some point!
We have started back with school work very slowly, I had hoped that with such a long break sam would be enthusiastic to do some work but alas no. To try generate some enthusiasm I am going to let him help me with the timetable, maybe by scheduling his fav subjects he will be more keen to do those that aren't so much in favor. We have also started morning reading time. He seems reluctant to read at the moment so each morning we are taking 20 min or so to sit and read our books together. He can read in his head or out loud, I don't mind, just as long as he reads. We snuggle up on the bed or on the sofa, usually with the dogs in attendance. So far so good, I just hope it rekindles his love of reading.
We finally got a letter about Beavers ( the boy scout group for younger boys), they have a place for him in the Syston pack and he is very excited. His first meeting is on the the 3rd and he can't wait. It will be a good opportunity for him to meet other boys his age and as he says "to have some time away from the family". I am very keen to get involved and help out if they need me but will be led by sam. He may want to have something that is just his rather than having me hanging around. I hope he enjoys Beavers, I got such a lot out of my girl scounting experience and I am sure he will benefit greatly from being involved as well.
C & D came for the day on thursday and while the boys played C gave me another patchwork lesson. I have finished my square now all I have to do is back it and unpick the initial stitches. I have really enjoyed doing it and hope that with C's help I can move on to something bigger and better! The boys got on like a house on fire and spent their time either playing lego or wrestling. We did manage to tear them apart long enough to go to the park where the expended so much energy that I am amazed they were able to walk home. Sam has asked if D can sleep over, he is keen for the two of them to stay up watching magic school bus dvds and wrestling. He seemed surprised when I reminded him that he would need to sleep at some point!
We have started back with school work very slowly, I had hoped that with such a long break sam would be enthusiastic to do some work but alas no. To try generate some enthusiasm I am going to let him help me with the timetable, maybe by scheduling his fav subjects he will be more keen to do those that aren't so much in favor. We have also started morning reading time. He seems reluctant to read at the moment so each morning we are taking 20 min or so to sit and read our books together. He can read in his head or out loud, I don't mind, just as long as he reads. We snuggle up on the bed or on the sofa, usually with the dogs in attendance. So far so good, I just hope it rekindles his love of reading.
We finally got a letter about Beavers ( the boy scout group for younger boys), they have a place for him in the Syston pack and he is very excited. His first meeting is on the the 3rd and he can't wait. It will be a good opportunity for him to meet other boys his age and as he says "to have some time away from the family". I am very keen to get involved and help out if they need me but will be led by sam. He may want to have something that is just his rather than having me hanging around. I hope he enjoys Beavers, I got such a lot out of my girl scounting experience and I am sure he will benefit greatly from being involved as well.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Nutty about Norway..
I think that as a family we have collectively fallen in love..with Norway. We had a fantastic vacation, one of the best we have ever had. The pics below give a taste of what we saw and did. The scenery was breathtaking, just when we thought it couldn't get any better we could turn a corner and be astounded. We walked through clounds, scrambled over boulders, climbed on glaciers and waded through waterfalls and streams. As you can probably tell it was a very outdoorsy holiday, we spent all our time on foot exploring the countryside. We fit in a bit of culture in Bergen but by and large we spent our time with mother nature.
Our first night in norway we spent in Bergen, looking around that beautiful city. Sam was taken with the fish market and wanted to bring home one of the live lobsters as a pet. From Bergen we hit the road for Flam. It was about a 3 hour trip, hindered by constant heavy rain and a rental car with no get up and go. We seemed to spend most of the journey going through tunnels, in fact, in the week we were there I think we must have set the world record for tunnel driving!
Flam is a lovely little resort town and the end of a fjord. It is very small, with only one hotel, a few guest houses and one restaurant and pub. For a small town there was quite a bit to do and we managed to spend both days there hiking around the surrounding mountains and along the side of the fjord. Most of the visitors seemed to come for the day either by ferry or by bus so they litterally rolled up the sidewalks in the evenings. The boys amused themselves by painting warhammer figures and I caught up on my reading. That set the tone for most of our evenings. The boys would get out the paints and I would recline with a good book. It was very relaxing.
From Flam we travelled through the world's longest road tunnel (12 miles) then on a short ferry ride to the Jostedal valley to go glacier climbing. We stayed in a very small town called Gjerde a couple of miles from two of the arms of the glacier. It is a lush green valley and our nearest neighbors at the hotel were a herd of cows and a rushing river. We spent three nights at the hotel and in truth could have spent a least a week. There were tons of good walks in the area as well as rafting and kayaking. The highlight for us all was without a doubt climbing on the glacier. Getting to it invovled scaling huge boulders and sam was up to the challenge, in fact he was in his element. He was delighted to be able to go bouldering, especially as at the end of the trail was something as exciting as a glacier. Our guide for the glacier was extremely experienced and we felt completely safe at all times. I think we spent about an hour up on the ice, including having a picnic! Only sam was able to sit down as he was the only one with waterproof trousers. It was warmer than I expected up there, in fact at one point there was a warm wind blowing. Had it not been overcast I am sure that we would have been able to top up our tans nicely. Sam was on a huge high we we finally got back to the car, I think he didn't come down until he was tucked up in bed.
Having spent most of our vacation in the majestic outdoors being back in Bergen was a bit of a shock. We spent a few final hours there on our last day soaking up the sunshine and the atmosphere.
All in all it was a fantastic vacation and we definately plan to return.
Our first night in norway we spent in Bergen, looking around that beautiful city. Sam was taken with the fish market and wanted to bring home one of the live lobsters as a pet. From Bergen we hit the road for Flam. It was about a 3 hour trip, hindered by constant heavy rain and a rental car with no get up and go. We seemed to spend most of the journey going through tunnels, in fact, in the week we were there I think we must have set the world record for tunnel driving!
Flam is a lovely little resort town and the end of a fjord. It is very small, with only one hotel, a few guest houses and one restaurant and pub. For a small town there was quite a bit to do and we managed to spend both days there hiking around the surrounding mountains and along the side of the fjord. Most of the visitors seemed to come for the day either by ferry or by bus so they litterally rolled up the sidewalks in the evenings. The boys amused themselves by painting warhammer figures and I caught up on my reading. That set the tone for most of our evenings. The boys would get out the paints and I would recline with a good book. It was very relaxing.
From Flam we travelled through the world's longest road tunnel (12 miles) then on a short ferry ride to the Jostedal valley to go glacier climbing. We stayed in a very small town called Gjerde a couple of miles from two of the arms of the glacier. It is a lush green valley and our nearest neighbors at the hotel were a herd of cows and a rushing river. We spent three nights at the hotel and in truth could have spent a least a week. There were tons of good walks in the area as well as rafting and kayaking. The highlight for us all was without a doubt climbing on the glacier. Getting to it invovled scaling huge boulders and sam was up to the challenge, in fact he was in his element. He was delighted to be able to go bouldering, especially as at the end of the trail was something as exciting as a glacier. Our guide for the glacier was extremely experienced and we felt completely safe at all times. I think we spent about an hour up on the ice, including having a picnic! Only sam was able to sit down as he was the only one with waterproof trousers. It was warmer than I expected up there, in fact at one point there was a warm wind blowing. Had it not been overcast I am sure that we would have been able to top up our tans nicely. Sam was on a huge high we we finally got back to the car, I think he didn't come down until he was tucked up in bed.
Having spent most of our vacation in the majestic outdoors being back in Bergen was a bit of a shock. We spent a few final hours there on our last day soaking up the sunshine and the atmosphere.
All in all it was a fantastic vacation and we definately plan to return.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
The back streets of Bergen
Bergen was our first stop in norway. We really enjoyed wandering through the old section and exploring.
Flam hidden behind the clouds
This is the town of Flam, we stayed here two nights and did some nice hikes. This picture was taken from a waterfall a couple of miles from the town.
Waterfall near flam
Our first big hike in norway was to this waterfall near the town of flam. If you look carefully you can just about see the rainbow.
We climbed this!
This is Jostedalbreen, an arm of the biggest glacier in europe. This is the bit we climbed with the help of an amazing guide named Bjorner.
The boys again!
The boys on the way to Jostedalbreen. The treck there took about an hour and was very challenging. Sam was in his element and loved all the bouldering and rock climbing.
Resting at the foot of the glacier
We walked up the the glacier the day before we did it properly. We hadn't intended to go up to it, hence the poor footware and clothing! I did most of the bouldering barefoot as it was easier to grip that way than with my sandals on.
Climbing glaciers is fun!
This was probably the highlight of the trip for all of us. It was an amazing experience and definately something that we would all like to do again. Our guide was fantastic and really looked after Sam.
Snow in August!?
This was taken the day before we left at a lake way up in the mountains. Sam was very excited to see snow but amazingly did not try and throw snowballs at us.
This is where we want to camp the year after next!
There is a company that runs kayaking and camping trips to this bit of the glacier and we would all love to go. Sam is especailly keen to go as he wants to throw snowballs at M!
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Weekly blog..
seems like this is turning into a weekly, not daily blog. I have bloged tons, but none of it made it to the computer! The last week has seen us busy with mystery jobs, friends, packing, typing and warhammer! I have almost finished all the MINI jobs, only 3 left with which any luck I will get done in the next couple of days. With all the driving I have done in the past few weeks I think that for one I have earned my fee.
C &D came to play last friday. The boys legoed and played while C taught me the basics of quilting. I am making a small sachet which I shall take on holiday to finish off in the car while we are driving. If it turns out well I shall slowly progress and perhaps even make a blanket. That is probably a long way off though as my sewing skills are about on par with my knitting skills.
We also seem to have spent a good deal of time at Games Workshop this week. Sam and M went on wednesday to learn to paint scenery. Sam did a small wall that turned our really well. We went back on saturday for him to finish it off and then back on sunday for him to play! He is starting to get to grips with all the rules, much better than I am in fact. I have huge admiration for the guys who work in the shop, not only are they genuinely friendly but their knowledge is phenominal. The guy who was leading our game knew all the stats for all the characters without having to look them up and it isn't even his favorite version of warhammer. Most of the employees seem to have grown up playing the game and are now fulfilling a lifelong dream by working in the shop. I wouldn't mind sam having a summer job there, not sure about a life long career though! The game is very male orientated, have yet to see a girl play or even a woman working in the shop. Maybe they could do a barbie version with objectives like buying a whole outfit for $100, instead of capturing the enemies tank!
Monday saw us at Belton to meet up with half of the boys. It was so wonderful to see the gang, it felt like old times. The boys had a ball and spent most of the time on the ground wrestling, this give us moms a chance to catch up. The pups were very well behaved, except for Rogue who thought that he was included in the bowls game. They were very gentle with the children and even let C and A walk them without running off too much. A declared that he was Rogue's best friend, I had to tell him that sadly Rogue's tummy was his best friend but that A could be his second best friend. I have never met a dog as obessed with eating as Rogue is.
On the work front I finished all the transcribing and am now on to editing. I fit it in here and there but really need to get into some routinee so that it doesn't infringe on my time with Sam and matthew. The work is on going and it is nice to earn money without having to drive all around the country!
C &D came to play last friday. The boys legoed and played while C taught me the basics of quilting. I am making a small sachet which I shall take on holiday to finish off in the car while we are driving. If it turns out well I shall slowly progress and perhaps even make a blanket. That is probably a long way off though as my sewing skills are about on par with my knitting skills.
We also seem to have spent a good deal of time at Games Workshop this week. Sam and M went on wednesday to learn to paint scenery. Sam did a small wall that turned our really well. We went back on saturday for him to finish it off and then back on sunday for him to play! He is starting to get to grips with all the rules, much better than I am in fact. I have huge admiration for the guys who work in the shop, not only are they genuinely friendly but their knowledge is phenominal. The guy who was leading our game knew all the stats for all the characters without having to look them up and it isn't even his favorite version of warhammer. Most of the employees seem to have grown up playing the game and are now fulfilling a lifelong dream by working in the shop. I wouldn't mind sam having a summer job there, not sure about a life long career though! The game is very male orientated, have yet to see a girl play or even a woman working in the shop. Maybe they could do a barbie version with objectives like buying a whole outfit for $100, instead of capturing the enemies tank!
Monday saw us at Belton to meet up with half of the boys. It was so wonderful to see the gang, it felt like old times. The boys had a ball and spent most of the time on the ground wrestling, this give us moms a chance to catch up. The pups were very well behaved, except for Rogue who thought that he was included in the bowls game. They were very gentle with the children and even let C and A walk them without running off too much. A declared that he was Rogue's best friend, I had to tell him that sadly Rogue's tummy was his best friend but that A could be his second best friend. I have never met a dog as obessed with eating as Rogue is.
On the work front I finished all the transcribing and am now on to editing. I fit it in here and there but really need to get into some routinee so that it doesn't infringe on my time with Sam and matthew. The work is on going and it is nice to earn money without having to drive all around the country!
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