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.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
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.
Friday, May 15, 2009
feathered neighbors
The Ds are our feathered neighbors who seem to view us as their main food source. They come by at regular intervals to beg for food and lay siege to the boat if they don't get it. The dogs get very excited when they come by and rouge especially would like to get to know them better.
Mrs. D. on the roof!
Here is Mrs. D laying siege to the boat. She and Mr. D are our constant companions and are very demanding. Mrs. D has been known to climb in the hatch if we aren't feeding her as often as she would like.
schoolwork in the sunshine
Schoolwork is much more fun on boat-it is so warm and sunny ( on nice days) that it is almost like being outside. We are doing the Incas at the moment and here is sam voluntarily reading the Incredible Incas from the Horrible Histories series. He enjoys the series as it covers the gorey bits of history.
madame looking cute
Miko looking cute and fluffy-the dogs enjoy being on the boat, especially when the ducks come to visit!
playing with an electromagnet
This week at home ed group we had a 'bring a science experiment' session. Joe and his dad brought materials for everyone to make their own electromagnet. Here is sam with his creation picking up washers. He was delighted with his magnet and spent the rest of the day trying to pick up things!
Sam as never seen before!
Here is the monster as never seen before-all dressed up in a suit. He looked so smart and was very good about keeping his hands out of his pockets.
Monday, May 11, 2009
A May Bug-Taken by Sam
This little guy came visiting our veggie patch last night . Sam looked him up and discovered that it is a May Bug which is a type of beetle.
The Boys at Easter
A cute pic of sam and rogue at easter. Rogue tolerates sam's rough housing with puppy like enthusiasm.
A sunny day on boudica
Boudica is a real suntrap so on nice days we open the forward doors, and soak up the sunshine. Here are the boys enjoying the warm weather.
Cookie anyone?
Sam and his cousin benjamin at the bake sale sam organized for Blue Peter. All in all he made £16 and worked very hard.
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Today's science lesson-the food chain up close and personal..
While out with the dogs today we witnessed not only the food chain in action but also how cruel nature can be. As I may have mentioned spring, in the form of cute ducklings has come to the marina in a big way. We have enjoyed watching the various families and were pleased when the duck we call Mrs. D (the one who keeps coming in the hatch) had finally produced a duckling. She and the very ducking waddled over to say hello as we went to our car. She let us get amazingly close and seemed very proud of her chick. We got in the car and were about to pull away when we noticed a rook swoop down. Mrs. D did a very good job of fending it off at first but she turned her back at one point and grabbed the chick. I lept out of the car and ran toward the rook shouting and waving my arms, it landed twice but I couldn't get close enough to save the chick, it finally flew off boyond the horizon. I was gutted and poor sam was dumbfounded. We all know that this is how the food chain works but to see it like this wasn't very nice-poor Mrs. D was making a huge fuss at me as if to berate me for not saving the chick. She seems to have recovered though because she was back at the boat begging by the time we got back from the gym. Thank goodness life isn't like that for us humans, being a parent is worrying enough but to always have the fear of loosing a child to a predator must be awful. I know I am projecting my feelings on to the duck and that she has probably forgotten all about the chick, but I remember and feel bad on her behalf.
Apart from that real life science lesson we are having a good week. Saturday sam and I went to see monsters vs. aliens-which was better than I expected. Alot of the jokes went over sam's head and I am sure the jokes about fresno and modesto meant nothing to the english audience. We had a nice wander around lincoln after the movies and both ended up getting a pair of shoes. Sam needed really tennis shoes forthe gym, while I fell in love with a red pair of sketcher like shoes. I justified buying them because they were children's shoes therefore cheaper than adult shoes. It is nice to know that I can fit into girl's shoes-children's feet must be getting bigger though because I have an average size foot for a grown up.
Apart from that real life science lesson we are having a good week. Saturday sam and I went to see monsters vs. aliens-which was better than I expected. Alot of the jokes went over sam's head and I am sure the jokes about fresno and modesto meant nothing to the english audience. We had a nice wander around lincoln after the movies and both ended up getting a pair of shoes. Sam needed really tennis shoes forthe gym, while I fell in love with a red pair of sketcher like shoes. I justified buying them because they were children's shoes therefore cheaper than adult shoes. It is nice to know that I can fit into girl's shoes-children's feet must be getting bigger though because I have an average size foot for a grown up.
Friday, May 01, 2009
Where to begin..?
Sorry about the silence for the last month, thankfully it wasn't due to anything bad happening just lots of time spent a float and a boy who hogs my laptop! Whether at home or on the boat the first thing sam does in the morning is have computer time, which is fine except that it is usually on my laptop as it is the one that the games are loaded on and if he should accidently do something to it it is not as big a deal as if he were to hurt daddy's macbook. Add to that he is no longer sleeping in as late as he used to and the fact that my laptop is used as a dvd player on the boat (have to get our nightly buffy fix somehow) and it all equals less computer time for mom! I have started so many blogs in my head this last month but haven't had the chance to write them down. Have managed to sneak some time this morning, got up a little earlier and sam is shattered after a 2 mile hike with cubs last night so hopefully he will sleep a little longer.
Things are busy here, we are spending more and more time on the boat and as a consequence really getting to know lincoln. The more we see the more we like and look forward to moving there once the market picks up and we can put the house on the market. Our mornings on the boat ususally start with a duck invasion-there is one particular mrs. duck who walks up and down the roof and pecks on windows begging for food. If the hatch is open she will march right in and demand breakfast. Most of the other ducks are more polite and just congregate around the hatch waiting for sam's toast crusts. They have started to bring their ducklings who are so cute and getting bigger by the day. There are also lots of fish in the marina and sam is determined to catch one with his fishing net. No luck so far mainly due to the fact that he talks at the top of his voice non stop while fishing, thus scaring away all the fish. Once fishing season starts he and matt are going to recondition the rods and try to catch some fish for real. They had best throw back what they catch because there is no way that I am skining and gutting a smelly old fish!!
Schoolwise things are moving along, we have started basic geometry and sam is really enjoying it. He has grasped the concepts quite quickly and seems eager for more. Makes a change from his usual opinion of math! He has also been enjoying the verbal and non-verbal reasoning work books that I bought recently. He has surprised himself by being better at the verbal reasoning than the non-verbal, not really a surprise to me as he is one of the most verbal children that I know! He is getting more pe than ever as he goes to the children's club at the gym at least twice a week. This week he did basketball and a supervised gym session, it was very disconcerting when he suddenly popped up on the treadmill next to me!
We have started working on the house in a big way. Last weekend we gave the backyard a make over using two tons of slate! It looks a lot better and the slate hides the fact that the dogs have destroyed most of the grass. We have created a new veggie patch and hope that some of the plants survive the large slug population that inhabits our yard. We have put down all natural slug pellets and coffee grounds so hopefully that will keep them away.
Have a sunny day!!!
Things are busy here, we are spending more and more time on the boat and as a consequence really getting to know lincoln. The more we see the more we like and look forward to moving there once the market picks up and we can put the house on the market. Our mornings on the boat ususally start with a duck invasion-there is one particular mrs. duck who walks up and down the roof and pecks on windows begging for food. If the hatch is open she will march right in and demand breakfast. Most of the other ducks are more polite and just congregate around the hatch waiting for sam's toast crusts. They have started to bring their ducklings who are so cute and getting bigger by the day. There are also lots of fish in the marina and sam is determined to catch one with his fishing net. No luck so far mainly due to the fact that he talks at the top of his voice non stop while fishing, thus scaring away all the fish. Once fishing season starts he and matt are going to recondition the rods and try to catch some fish for real. They had best throw back what they catch because there is no way that I am skining and gutting a smelly old fish!!
Schoolwise things are moving along, we have started basic geometry and sam is really enjoying it. He has grasped the concepts quite quickly and seems eager for more. Makes a change from his usual opinion of math! He has also been enjoying the verbal and non-verbal reasoning work books that I bought recently. He has surprised himself by being better at the verbal reasoning than the non-verbal, not really a surprise to me as he is one of the most verbal children that I know! He is getting more pe than ever as he goes to the children's club at the gym at least twice a week. This week he did basketball and a supervised gym session, it was very disconcerting when he suddenly popped up on the treadmill next to me!
We have started working on the house in a big way. Last weekend we gave the backyard a make over using two tons of slate! It looks a lot better and the slate hides the fact that the dogs have destroyed most of the grass. We have created a new veggie patch and hope that some of the plants survive the large slug population that inhabits our yard. We have put down all natural slug pellets and coffee grounds so hopefully that will keep them away.
Have a sunny day!!!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Doubly blessed
On Thursday last week Sam received not one but two Blue Peter Badges in the mail. For everyone back home Blue Peter is children's television show on the BBC that has now been on air for 50 years and in a magazine format with young and trendy presenters. It is on twice a week and each show features a variety of things for children to make and do as well as showing the presenters getting up to fun challenges and adventures. They also have annual appeals where the children help to raise money for a deserving charity that usually has links with children. it is held in even higher esteem here than Sesame Street is back home. Here is a clip.
Anyway, children who write in to the show or send in pictures or help out in the community are awarded with Blue Peter badges. Sam has coveted them for a long while and after one to false starts finally produced a drawing of all the current presenters and pets for the show's 50th birthday. (Silly mom forgot to take a pic before we sent it off!) We duly sent if off to the show, not expecting to hear anything back. Low and behold waiting on the doormat when we got back from the boat was a letter from the show with an ordinary Blue Peter badge as a well as a special limited edition 50th anniversary badge. (Will post a pic of sam wearing them), to say that sam was excited was an understatement. I bet that the whole of the village heard his shrieks of delight. He has worn them everyday with pride and tells everyone he meets about them. As a badge holder he gets in free to lots of attractions and is already plotting where to visit.
The Blue Peter Badges have been the highlight of our last week. We have spent a lot of it on the boat, hence the lack of blogging. Now the weather is getting better it is glorious to be on the boat basking in the sunshine. We now have fishing rods on board and the boys are planning to do a little fishing when it gets a bit warmer. The ducks are getting very friendly and one particular couple swim by each meal time begging for crumbs. Mrs. Duck has even been known to climb up into the open kitchen hatch in search of bread. Luckily I spotted her before Rogue did or otherwise Mr. Duck would have been short a wife!
Anyway, children who write in to the show or send in pictures or help out in the community are awarded with Blue Peter badges. Sam has coveted them for a long while and after one to false starts finally produced a drawing of all the current presenters and pets for the show's 50th birthday. (Silly mom forgot to take a pic before we sent it off!) We duly sent if off to the show, not expecting to hear anything back. Low and behold waiting on the doormat when we got back from the boat was a letter from the show with an ordinary Blue Peter badge as a well as a special limited edition 50th anniversary badge. (Will post a pic of sam wearing them), to say that sam was excited was an understatement. I bet that the whole of the village heard his shrieks of delight. He has worn them everyday with pride and tells everyone he meets about them. As a badge holder he gets in free to lots of attractions and is already plotting where to visit.
The Blue Peter Badges have been the highlight of our last week. We have spent a lot of it on the boat, hence the lack of blogging. Now the weather is getting better it is glorious to be on the boat basking in the sunshine. We now have fishing rods on board and the boys are planning to do a little fishing when it gets a bit warmer. The ducks are getting very friendly and one particular couple swim by each meal time begging for crumbs. Mrs. Duck has even been known to climb up into the open kitchen hatch in search of bread. Luckily I spotted her before Rogue did or otherwise Mr. Duck would have been short a wife!
Thursday, March 19, 2009
A chilly day for racing
For his 40th sam and I gave Matt an afternoon at Silverstone driving a caterham. It was a timed slalom event and he had a ball. It was also absolutely freezing so sam and I watched from the warmth of the car!
Start your engines
Here is Matt at the wheel of his new favorite car. He really enjoyed the driving event and his only complaint was that they didn't let him take it home!
He shoots, he scores..
unfortunately into the wrong goal!! Sam had a soccer tournament this weekend, it was for all the cub scouts in the district and sam played with his troop. The reason he scored two own goals was that he didn't realise that afterhalf time the teams switch ends and frankly neither did I! Guess we should have gone over the rules a bit more than we did. His teammates were not upset and all the matches were played in the spirit of fun so sam wasn't upset either. He really enjoyed himself which was the main thing.
We have been afloat a lot lately and life is good on the boat. With all those windows she is a real suntrap and it is lovely to sit there and watch the world go by. We get on really well with school work on the boat, it is really condusive to learning, especially science with all that wildlife floating by. We have joined the gym at the marina as they have a great children's progamme. There is a supervised fun sporting activity each afternoon and sam has been to three different activities so far and enjoyed them all. The best part is that while he is playing matt and I are able to go to the gym. It feels good to be getting back into shape.
We have been afloat a lot lately and life is good on the boat. With all those windows she is a real suntrap and it is lovely to sit there and watch the world go by. We get on really well with school work on the boat, it is really condusive to learning, especially science with all that wildlife floating by. We have joined the gym at the marina as they have a great children's progamme. There is a supervised fun sporting activity each afternoon and sam has been to three different activities so far and enjoyed them all. The best part is that while he is playing matt and I are able to go to the gym. It feels good to be getting back into shape.
Friday, March 13, 2009
The smart birthday boy
Sam's bday was the 2nd and we met up with Matt's parents in London the weekend before to celebrate. We went to lunch at the Royal Society of Medicine which was lovely. The food was delicious and they treated the birthday boy like a king. After lunch we dumped our bags at the hotel and then spent the afternoon wandering around london, surprisingly ending up at Hamleys where sam was treated to some birthday lego by nana and grandad. We picked up nibbles at M&S and then headed back to the hotel to chill. It was a lovely day.
The following day nand & grandad took sam to the Imperial War Museum while matt and I went to the Royal Academy of Art and did a little shopping. We missed the monster but it was nice to have a little grown up time. Sam enjoyed the Imperial War Museum and getting to spend time with his grandparents.
Sam had a "It is my 8th birthday" badge on his blazer and everywhere we went people wished him happy birthday. On the train home we were upgraded to 1st Class because of his badge and they gave him a goody back! How cool is that! I think that I am going to make him where that badge everywhere from now on!!
The following day nand & grandad took sam to the Imperial War Museum while matt and I went to the Royal Academy of Art and did a little shopping. We missed the monster but it was nice to have a little grown up time. Sam enjoyed the Imperial War Museum and getting to spend time with his grandparents.
Sam had a "It is my 8th birthday" badge on his blazer and everywhere we went people wished him happy birthday. On the train home we were upgraded to 1st Class because of his badge and they gave him a goody back! How cool is that! I think that I am going to make him where that badge everywhere from now on!!
Happy Birthday!
Sam was very surprised by the birthday cake that nana brought and very pleased to find that it was a top gear cake! The restaurant treated him like royalty and he lapped it up.
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