Penarth Aug 2011

At the end of our August holiday, we spent a couple of days staying at Aunty Jenny's house in Penarth, just outside Cardiff. It is a great apartment, with the added bonuses of being near the beach, having Milly the cat to meet and get to know, and Nana and Grandad stayed too, so we got to see lots of them. We spent a lovely afternoon at Barry Island beach, playing on the rocks and making sandcastles with Nana.




So, an update on the kids as of August 2011:
William played about 15 games of Ludo this week and 25 games of Snakes and Ladders. Despite the fact that these are either totally or mostly games of chance, he seems to win about 85% of the games he plays. Shall we take him to Vegas....? Although these are his first board games involving a dice, he now recognises the numbers on the dice instantly, not needing to count the spots. He has been giving Sophie a good morning hug and kiss each day and it is super sweet to see!

Sophie is learning the meaning of new words and can point to her ear, nose and throat when asked to. She points at lots of things/people that we then have to name for her. She is also becoming more vocal, and can say 'No' and 'more' (very useful words for a toddler). Sophie now understands a lot of the things we say to her and we are beginning to get a feeling that she is a very determined little character. Two upper canines came through this holiday. One thing she likes is doing buffas (aka raspberries) on Mummy's tummy, but William is still the family buffa master!

St David's in August

Five days in St. Davids, Pembrokeshire, Wales, to play on the beaches, walk the cliff paths and see a lot of Nana and Grandad. My highlights were that I actually read a newspaper, and went to bed early most nights. I also especially enjoyed finding a place called Druidstone (Thanks to Stephen who introduced it to us), that had great, simple, home-cooked, hearty food (just right after a windy clifftop walk), lots of art for sale on the walls and a very relaxed atmosphere. I reckon it'd be a great location for my 40th birthday celebrations. I just wonder who might want to travel that far to celebrate with me?






We took a boat ride with Aunty Jenny around Ramsey Island, where we saw seal pups. It was all very enjoyable, except for the fact that Sophie screamed almost the whole time.....until she final fell asleep and the boat had some peace.

The Just So festival

In August we spent a weekend at the Just So festival. It is a family camping festival that was full of so many fun things for us to all do together. As a treat, we stayed in a canvas bell tent, which had air mattress and loads of room inside. It was erected and waiting for us on our arrival - now that is easy camping! Easy for me to get used to, for sure.



We did a pirate workshop, spent a lot of time playing in the giant sand pit, made Green Men out of clay (Andrew's are shown below, but William made one that he said was a representation of Sophie), built dens, made claves and a woodland badge (William used a band saw and power drill with help and supervision), made leafy crowns, had a wild rumpus, listened to story telling and a performance of Peter and the Wolf, played with hoola hoops, balloons, bubbles, ate pizza and even relaxed! It was all super fun and we plan to go back and do it again next year.



My personal highlights were special because they were completely unexpected - not that we really new what to expect at this festival. The first was one evening at a cabaret performance (the kids were really engrossed in the acts) when we watched a dance off between the Gruffalo and Elmo (the patchwork elephant). Imagine 7 ft tall characters from books trying to dance in their costume suits. The other was while we were listening to story telling and the author bounced out a 4 ft diameter bogie that we bounced above our heads, around the audience. I wasn't expecting that to happen.....

New Forest Camping July 2011

We had our annual camping trip to the New Forrest, with two other families with kids. Much fun was had by all!


We went to a village festival one day, and the kids were SO excited by the rides, but even more excited when we told them that they could go on one.



It is never possible to get all 6 kids in one picture, all being happy - this was our best attempt.

Summer in Oxford

The fact that I'm posting our Summer pictures in mid-October may give you the hint that I'm just not keeping up with this blog so well any more. Life is busy.

On the up side, Sophie has discovered that she LOVES being bounced by William on a bouncy castle.

William's 4th Birthday

William's 4th Birthday was celebrated with Jenny, Seb and Simon, who all came to visit William (and us) on the day. There was some balloon bopping! He also had a party in the local park with 8 friends. Andrew devised and lead some great games, including 'chuck the wellie' which the kids loved. William had a picnic lunch with a dinosaur cake. Thanks to Great Uncle Barry and Aunty Linda for the ukelele!

William graduates from nursery

The kids all looked very grown up and very little at the same time. Primary school starts in September.

Lake District July 2011

Isn't it great when your best friend on holiday wants to do exactly the same thing that you want to do?




William and Megan found that muddly puddles are the best things to play in, and if there isn't one around, then they'd just find a stone to sit on together, as an ideal location to eat, or fish, or just watch the world go by from.
















We had a lovely holiday in the Lake District, staying near Coniston, which was mostly spent playing in streams, lakes and ponds. With three families coming together (the Marshall's, Stacey's and Brown's) we numbered 6 adults and 7 kids. I'm already looking forward to meeting up again next year.