Sports Day and Pre-school Graduation

It has been a really busy week.

Monday - Sports day at Nat's pre-school.

It was very amusing watching all the children in their little races.

The running race, bean bag on head race, bear race (where they ran on hands and feet with their bottoms in the air)

Hopping race

Plus the egg and spoon race

Running backwards race

The sack race

Long distance run

Nat and all the other children seemed to be really enjoying themselves and were quite oblivious to who was winning each race, they were just having great fun which was lovely.

Nat was delighted with his medal for participating.

Today was his 'graduation' ceremony.

The children sang some lovely songs before receiving their graduation certificates.

Nat was very proud to go up and receive his certificate.  He received a special commendation for being imaginative and articulate (we think articulate is code for talkative)

Nat had great fun sharing a joke with his friend Charlie.

Tomorrow and Friday he has settling in sessions at his new school.  Busy, busy week!

Reminiscing

I finally came home Thursday night (a week after my operation) yippee.  It's nice to be back in my own home although my parents have made absolutely excellent carers during my first week of recovery and while I have been feeling too sick and tired to do anything.  But now it is time to try and start getting back on my feet a little to speed up the healing process.

Came home to a beautiful bouquet of lillies from David.  He bought them last Thursday thinking I would be home that same day but they have lasted really well and still look very fresh.

We got home quite late in the evening so really there was only time to unpack, put a few things away and then go to bed.

I was worried about how we would manage to share a bed without David accidentally kicking my bad leg  as he does have a tendency to take over the entire bed but he was really good and made a conscious effort to give me lots of space.  I didn't sleep well though as my mind didn't seem to want to shut down.

I rather randomly started thinking about sugar mice and how exorbitantly expensive they are these days.  I can't remember the last time I had one, or even why I liked them but the yellow ones have always been my favourites and I decided that irrespective of how much they cost, the next time I see one I intend to treat myself to one.

From that thought I then starting remembering lots of little things that made me happy as a child:

Cherry Pop

Twinkle comic for girls

Making mud pies in the hollow of an old tree

Turning a stick and some pink toilet paper into a fairy wand

Playing 'Release' and doing drama and crafts at summer camp with my summer camp friends Katherine Dantanus and Henry French

Watching cartoons such as Willow the Wisp; Mr Ben; Mighty Mouse and Captain Caveman

TV programmes such as the A Team, Knight Rider and McGuiver

Falling asleep to the sound of my cassette of Richard Clayderman playing piano

Cooked full English Sunday Breakfast with my parents and brother listening to the same music every week.

Easter and Christmas visits from our very good family friend Peter.  Going round the house before he arrived and tilting all the pictures and mirrors to drive him mad.  Listening to Peter playing the 'dinner's late' blues or whatever was the theme for the day.  Kangaroo jumping in the car and firing air pistols at tin cans in the garden.  Going to the Marina and getting drenched by waves.  Laughing lots.

Playing spud guns with my brother Luke and my cousin Stephen

My collection of Care Bears especially my favourite Tenderheart bear

My doll Susie with the burnt thumb from where she got too close to the fire.

Cuddles the pink rabbit my parents gave me that played Twinkle Twinkle little Star when you pressed his red 'I Love You' heart

Sleeping in the cupboard or the kitchen at Grandma's house and playing with the green tree house toy

All the ladybirds in Nannan's garden and the fake brandy glass with fake brandy inside

Feeding all the kittens outside Granny's back door

Eating delicious Burmese Beef and Potato curry and Tarka Dahl cooked by grandpa Roy

Playing with my best friend Lorna and making camp in the coal bunker or the loft

Picking wild blackberries and eating them

The thrill of playing kiss chase and the disappointing fact that even when I wanted to be kissed I couldn't help being too fast to be caught.

Learning to play the piano, flugel horn, tenor horn and Euphonium

Asking to join the school choir and being told not to sing but that I could play the glockenspiel

Playing the role of one of the shepherds in the school nativity (I desperately wanted to be an angel with a tinsel halo)

Building snowmen, snowball flights and sledging with our Cairn Terrier Kim

our beautiful sibling silver blue Corat cats Louise (who only answered to the call Whoosh Whoosh) and her brother Mochka (who was too dumb to answer to anything)

My first hamster Mandy

My black guinea pig Sooty and my grey lop eared rabbit Sweep

Collecting star wars stickers for my albumn and pretty glittery stickers for swaps

Playing with a tennis ball against the school wall

Bexhill Music camp week and playing slap and other games (when not rehearsing) with my friends Rachel, Andrew and co.

Staying up late and chatting with my friend Graeme at Music camp.

My crush on Simon Wiczling when I was eight and his adorably cute blonde four year old brother 'Sebastian'

My first holiday abroad to Tennerife when I was five

Collecting conkers and acorns in the autumn

Gathering snails and making homes for them

Joining the Army cadets at the age of 13 and being the first (and for six months the only) girl in C Company Sussex.  Me and 450 boys!

48 hour exercises and 24 hour ration packs, biscuits squashed fly and exploding orange drink powder, cam cream and ambushes, firing rifles and learning Campcraft,

My Saturday job at Sally Store's sweet shop and spending my four hours deciding what sweets to spend my wages on (£1.40 an hour when I first started which increased to £1.65 when I was experienced enough to be left on my own!)

1/4 lb of Rhubarb and custard, Kola Cubes or Cough Candy Twists

Wham bars

5p crisps

Walking round school at break-time with best friend Polly 'putting the world to rights'

Summer days spent on the beach eating milky bar with Polly and dancing in the cinema aisles

Johnny Depp in 21 Jump Street

Singing with my friends on Gold Duke of Edinburgh expedition hikes.

Oh happy days!!

Leeds Castle

Oh dear so the good weather was short-lived and we are back to the typical British summer time - rain, rain and more rain.

Tuesday saw torrential down pours so it was a good job we hadn't decided to do anything stupid like go for a nice day out . .   MMMM

Well a little bit of rain was not going to spoil our fun.  We loaded up the car and drove to Leeds Castle in Kent. As it is half term David and I have both taken the week off work to spend some quality time with the kids.

Also as it is half term, Leeds Castle are putting on medieval jousting tournaments in the Castle grounds and we thought the children would enjoy watching knights on horses sword fighting and jousting.

The good news is that on rainy days kids go free.  We didn't have to pay for Nat anyway as he is under 4 and Seb was free with a full paying adult.  The even better news is that our tickets last for a whole year so we can go back again - preferably on a sunny day!

The grounds were beautiful and it was a shame it was not a wonderful sunny day to see them at their best but the castle and lakes were stunning anyway.

We arrived half an hour before the first jousting match was due to begin and found ourselves a bench to sit on while we waited and ate our picnic.

The actors soon came out in their costumes and the show was hosted by a very amusing King Henry VIII and the spectators were split into red and blue supporters (we were for the red team)

The jousting was brilliant and Nathaniel was shrieking with laughter as the knights on their horses jousted, battled with swords and played spike the head with polystyrene heads painted to look like human heads.

The rain was really chucking it down by the time the jousting was over so we ducked into the craft tent to let the kids do some craft and colouring until the worst of the rain had past.  Sebastian made a knight's helmet for Nat.  Nat coloured in several pictures and even David surprised me by picking up some felt tips and joining in the fun.  It wasn't in the slightest bit embarrassing when he later asked the cashier if she would like to display his art work!!

The rain eased slightly so we made a dash across the moat to tour the castle which was very interesting.  Nathaniel was particularly interested in the bedroom with a massive four poster bed and a day bed near an open fire.  Unfortunately the camera batteries were playing up so no photos!

After the castle we headed for the restaurant where we warmed ourselves over mugs of delicious hot chocolate before trekking over to the castle maze.

Unfortunately due to the heavy rain many of the maze paths were nearly impassable because of huge big puddles.  Nat was fine because we had had the foresight to pack his wellys but the rest of us had to try and straddle the puddles or squeeze around the edge.

I was gingerly making my way around the edge of one particularly large puddle while David was filming with his video camera.  Unfortunately my trainer got caught in the hedge and I suddenly took a nose dive forward, slammed my face into the hedge opposite, twisted around and landed heavily in the puddle getting a soaking wet and muddy backside and right leg and splashing muddy water in my face.

It was quite amusing if a little embarrassing as several witnesses unfortunately saw my nose-dive.

I then had to walk around the rest of the day with really muddy and wet jeans - brilliant!

Anyway we then headed over to the play park where we all had fun on the play equipment then we had a snack near the ducks and swans.  Apparently Lady Baillie, the last owner of Leeds Castle was responsible for introducing the black swan to England and it is therefore the emblem of the castle.  Anyway, Seb panicked a bit when a hungry swan took too keen an interest in his sandwich and we had to run away. 

We then caught a boat across the river and a train back to the car park.

We had decided as we were so near to Dover to stay overnight in a premier lodge and to catch the ferry to Calais the next morning.

We therefore drove to the premier lodge where I tried to sponge my jeans as clean as possible then I left them to dry on the towel rail while we went to the nearest Brewers Fayre for dinner then back to the lodge for an early night.

A Little Shepherd Boy

Today was our church Nativity - Nat's first one!

I had found some material in the remnants basket in Fabric land so was able to make Nat a little tunic and headscarf with some dressing gown cord wrapped around it.

He looked so cute!

The nativity was lovely with all the little children dressed as angels, shepherds, and stable animals.

Some of the older children did the narrating and the little children were led out onto the stage where Nat stood looking very bewildered and sucking his fingers.

After the nativity Joel Virgo was preaching.  He had changed his message from the intended one about the shepherds (in the light of the Connecticut school shooting).  Instead he read about Herod and the slaughter of all the boys aged two years and under in Bethlehem.  Joel was explaining that there are dual threads running throughout the bible, one thread of sin, violence and death and the other thread which is a message of hope, joy and peace. 

Joel reminded us that we live in a sinful world and that the terrible things that happen in this world are because of the sinful natures of our hearts and that each of us has the capacity to do dreadful things.  We might not go as far as to murder other people but we each have it within us to do harm to others.  That is the reason why God sent his son Jesus to become man and our saviour so that he could become the ultimate sacrifice and the ultimate solution. We can therefore all look forward to the day when Jesus reigns over all the earth and there will be an end to sin, pain, suffering, sickness and disease.

One Enchanted Evening

David and I celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary on Friday 10 August 2012.

We wanted to do something special to mark the ocassion but we hadn't been particularly organised about arranging anything.

The day before our anniversary, David had popped over to Nampont in France to play golf with his best friend Jon.  Meanwhile I hit google to try and find some inspiration for a romantic night away.

It was obviously difficult to find anywhere that either still had availability or was willing to allow us to stay for only the one evening but I eventually stumbled accross a rather unique sounding place on the Isle of Wight.

Anyway we were in luck as they had availability due to the fact the whole place was booked out from the Saturday for a wedding.

On Friday morning, David and I drove down to Southampton to catch the red funnell ferry, all helpfully arranged by Maggie and Ric.  It was a beautiful day so we enjoyed the trip over to the Island and sat on deck drink pear cider and enjoying the breeze.  Going accross to the Isle of Wight made it feel like a little holiday and I was pleased we had made the decision to go there.

We had a short thirty minute drive accross the island to the place where we were staying.

It is called the Enchanted Manor and is run by a couple called Maggie and Ric.  They have taken the inspiration for their Five Star Bed and Breakfast from the artist Josephine Wall who creates the most colourful and intricate fantasy and fairy paintings.  The rooms are all really beautiful and tastefully decorated with four poster beds and lovely furniture and thoughtful touches.

As we came in the large drive way we could see the Unicorn statue and a little group of fairy houses which later on in the evening really came to life when they were all lit up.

Ric opened the door and greeted us by our names which I thought was a lovely personal touch.

Just inside the front door were more little houses and fairy lights.

The reception area was very nicely decorated and off to the left is the Billiard Room which is decorated in the style of a gentlemans' club with a large snooker table, books and DVDs which guests can borrow.

Through the Games room is the delightful conservatory where guests would usually eat breakfast.  As we had the place to ourselves, we were treated to breakfast delivered in our room.

The Manor itself is set in a little woodland area with beautiful pagoda's in the garden where you can relax with a drink and unwind.

The garden is full of hidden surprises and secluded seating areas.

There is a little woodland trail with hidden statues and garden ornaments of fairies and woodland creatures. 

There is also a hot-tub in the garden where you can unwind at your leisure.

In the evening Ric and Maggie leave food outside so that guests can watch the badgers and foxes come out to eat.

Our room was the Atalantis Suite. I could tell it would be a nice room when Ric carried my case upstairs and opened the door to our room.  The corridor was nearly the size of some rooms I have stayed in before.

The bathroom was off to the left, very tastefully decorated with a wonderful roll top bath.







The bedroom was huge and beautifully and comfortably decorated.

The bedroom led through to a lounge area with a Sofa, television, table and chairs and an old fashioned record player complete with selection of classical records.  There was also a small fridge with bottled water and milk and tea and coffee making facilities.

We had bought some supplies with us so we could enjoy a lovely afternoon tea with fruit scones, some of my homemade strawberry and vanilla jam, grapes, strawberries and an anniversary cake.

We had brought some champagne with us so we popped that into the fridge to cool. Then we made ourselves a drink and went out to the Pagoda's to read for a while.

Later we took a walk over to the nearby lighthouse and sat on the cliff top together enjoying the change to have sometime alone.

We got quite hot walking back to the manor so enjoyed a nice bubble bath and a glass of champagne before dressing for dinner.

There is a lovely Olde Worlde pub literally just around the corner from the pub with live folk music playing.  We went there for our dinner.  There was a good selection of reasonably priced food to choose from and we had a delicious meal.

After dinner we headed back to the manor and popped outside to try the hot tub before turning in for the evening.    Maggie invited us to join them and some friends for a game but we were quite tired and knew we had to be up early to get home.

We had a final glass of champagne and a slice of cake before finally turning in.  The bed was very comfortable and we had a good night's sleep.

Ric delivered our Cooked breakfast the next morning.  We had bacon, a sausage burger in the shape of a heart, a heart shaped bowl of baked beans (it was almost as if they knew I had a penchant for hearts!) sauted potatoes, mushrooms, tomatoes and fried egg with chunky cut toast and organge juice. All cooked to perfection.

We said our good byes and thanked Ric and Maggie for having looked after us so well and for making our anniversary so special and memorable.  We would definitely recommend the Enchanted Manor to other couples wanting a different type of romantic break away.

We had another glorious day for our trip home which made us sad that we couldn't stay longer. Somehow David managed to get lost on the way to the Ferry port. We could see our ferry but it was accross the water in East Cowes.  Fortunately we were able to get on a chain ferry to get to it.  We were a little anxious though as we could see all the cars embarking as we were still on the wrong side!

We were over on the chain ferry really quickly though and soon we were driving up the ramp onto the ferry ourselves.  We went up on deck and sat at the back of the ferry so we would have a good view of the Isle of Wight as we returned to Southampton.  The sun was beating down and we watched all the sailing boats heading out of harbour for the day.  It was a beauitful and breathtaking sight.  We drank it all in trying to savour every moment.

What a wonderful anniversary.  Goodness knows how we will ever top it for the next special occasion!!