Christmas 2007

Well, they say time flies when you're having fun so I must have been having a really good time because I'm behind again....

So I will do my best to fill in the blanks.


Saturday 22nd December
Was the night of our Christmas party with our friends. We are creatures of habit so found ourselves at the South Lodge again but it's a good night with fine food and cheesy disco music so you can't really go wrong. The kids were sleeping over at Granny's and had been there since about 10am so Steve and I made the most of the day and I went to bed for about 3 hours!



It was really good night. I can always tell because I start to take what I can only assume I must think are arty shots with the camera on tilt!!










Christmas Eve
A big day was planned with Ally the kids and I going to Old MacDonalds Farm Park. As it turns out both Ben and Amy were sick during the night and Amy looked mighty unwell for most of the day so we just kicked about the house for most of it. We did manage to coax Amy out of the house to the Chris Ingle service at St Luke's which we all enjoyed.


Christmas Day
We were woken up nice and early as usual by Ben but Amy didn't stir until around 7am. When we went into the lounge the kids were thrilled to see that Santa had been and left two presents on the fireplace.

Father Christmas brought Ben a Bob the Builder armchair and Amy a High School Musical Sing Along game for the Wii.





We opened the rest of the presents under the tree and then Granny & Granddad popped in with some more presents.

They left and then my parents, Alison & the Nans arrived with even more presents. By this time Ben was a little bit overwhelmed but Amy was thrilled at all the lovely gifts she was receiving.



We had a lovely day singing to Amy's new game and Ben even built himself a stage to sing from. But I think the Nans got a bit tired towards the end of it!










Boxing Day
Well, most of what I have to say here is second hand because I came down with some kind of horrible lurgy and spent most of the day in bed or in the bathroom!

Brenda, John, Kirstie, Phil & the kids came over and by all accounts everyone had a lovely time. There were more presents and everyone had a dip in the hot tub towards the end of the day - which Kirstie had been looking forward to I know.




27th & 28th December
Steve and I had planned to do a spot of sale shopping but I was feeling rough on the 27th still and then Steve felt poorly on the 28th so we didn't really do much. We did manage to buy our new flooring for the lounge though so it that was good.


Saturday 29th December
So that brings us back up to date. Today we went to see High School Musical on Ice and took Amy's friends Lily with us. I swear those two girls did not move, speak or blink for over an hour - they were completely mesmerised.






Ben really enjoyed it too and joined in with the Wildcats dance as soon as it started playing.

We're going away with Paul & Gav, Evie & Morgan for New Years so hopefully I should have some more updates after then.

So Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to you all.

Santa Special

Last Saturday was fairly action packed....

We went on the Santa Special steam train at the Colne Valley Railway. It was really well done with Santa visiting the children on the train and giving them each a special gift. nothing good in the way of pictures I'm afraid - they just wouldn't keep still!

We went with all Amy's old nursery chums and it was really nice to see Amy & Lily playing together again. They both share a love of High School Musical and have already decided that a sleepover is in order in the New Year.

After the train we all went back to Daniel's house where the kids played together and the adults enjoyed some of the lovely food that Daniel's mum had prepared.

Then it was a quick dress change at home before Amy headed off to the Faces Christmas Party. It was a bit of a late night for her really and after such a busy day too I wasn't expecting her to make it through but when I went to collect her she didn't want to leave!

On Sunday we had Paula, Gav, Evie & Morgan over for a few hours playtime and then Bev & Gerry for next door popped in for a pre-christmas drink & a nibble or too.

It's getting close to Christmas now and Amy is very excited about it. Not sure Ben knows what's going on yet - maybe next year!

Postal Delays!!

No, not Royal Mail I mean me!! I have been reminded that it has been a little while sans post and I thought I'd better rectify the matter.

Last weekend I should really have posted about in full but it's a bit late now so here are the highlights - Amy had a sleepover at Auntie Kirstie's & Ben got to spend some quality time with Steve & I without having to listen to High School Musical on repeat!!!!

So what have we been up to this weekend....

Well, on Saturday we had Granny's pre-Christmas day when she gives the children lots of little Christmas oriented presents which would be largely superfluous after the 25th (like Xmas socks & Santa letter kits etc). It's become a tradition of sorts.

The kids had a great time and played together very nicely. We all slept over and then today we went to the newly refurbished Queen B for lunch. The food is pretty much as it has ever been but the surroundings have definitely changed for the better.

This afternoon we just stayed in doors, did a bit of cooking and played in the lounge. Amy wouldn't stay still enough for us to take her picture but Ben had some quite time to deal with some important paperwork!

Chill Out Weekend

We've had a bit of a chill out this weekend. We didn't do very much on Saturday during the day but I did surprise Steve with dinner out at his favourite fish restaurant as a sort of Christmas outing for the two of us.

Then today although we chilled out in our PJ's till about midday we did make good use of the time with Amy and I setting about giving her room a good tidy and Steve and Ben tidying up the Study.

It was a very fruitful morning's work. Then this afternoon we've spent most of it listening to the High School Musical soundtrack whilst Amy pretends to be a cheerleader - and that's more tiring than it sounds.

So nothing too exciting to report but thought I'd better let you know we were still here! Don't they look cute in their matching outfits!!

Happy Birthday Nanna

This weekend was Nanna's 61st Birthday (when you type it out like that it seems really old!!!) and I think it's somewhat of a tradition for her now to spend her birthday weekend in France with Roger & Yoita (and Dad, of course!).

This year Steve and I plus the kids (including Ally) joined them. We finally persuaded my Dad to ditch the Ferries and try the Eurotunnel - thankfully it wasn't jinxed and I think they found it ok.

We did some shopping in Cite of Europe and had a lovely spot of lunch in one of the restaurants there. There was lots of space for the kids to run about in whilst they were waiting to be fed and plenty of stairs to chase Ben up and down!

After our shopping expeditions we checked into our hotel which is a lovely little place not too far from the port which has a wonderful restaurant attached.

The kids behaved themselves (for the most part) and we all enjoyed a nice meal. I'd like to say that Nanna liked the birthday present we bought but unfortunately it hasn't actually arrived yet! Hopefully it'll be here by Tuesday and I'll let you know.


We left fairly early this morning - the kids love the tunnel and Amy treated it like her own personal dance studio - singing High School Musical the whole way home.




We were back home by 11am and immediately set to work getting the kids to tidy up the house and after they had finished they made themselves a well deserved cup of tea.

The Owl & The Pussy Cat

This weekend was Hetti & Jamie's wedding so we dropped the kids off on Saturday morning with Granny and headed up to London.

We had decided to stay over and were staying at the London Bridge Hotel. It was a lovely place just over the road from the train station and was very grand.

The wedding service was held in the Library at Dulwich college and was one of the most enjoyable wedding services I've ever been too - everyone was really enjoying themselves and laughing & joking the whole time and their reading of the Owl & The Pussy Cat was wonderful.

As luck would have it after having nearly forgotten the camera completely we then found the batteries to be practically dead but I did manage to coax one photo out of it before it gave up the ghost completely.

After the service we travelled in a double decker bus to a local pub for the reception. We had a wonderful evening dancing the night away til quite late.

This morning, after a wondrous lie-in, we took a walk to Tower Bridge and had a lovely lunch at Gaucho grill.

Back home this afternoon we were reunited with our the kids and had a nice time playing and dancing to High School Musical in the kitchen!

Congratulations Hetti & Jamie!!

Smashing Pumpkins

So I trust you all enjoyed your extra hour in bed this morning. We, of course, had no such thing. In fact, Ben had one of his worst nights for a long time and for Ben that's really surpassing himself!

We had burnt bacon at Granny's house today and very nice it was too. After that we spent the afternoon round Paula & Gav's.

The kids had a lovely time and Ben has just got to that age when we can (almost) leave them to play nicely by themselves. It would be fine if Ben wanted to play trains with Morgan but instead he tries to play dressing up with the girls and that doesn't always go down so well!

We did pumpkin carving as well and the kids put in a solid 5 minutes worth of effort before giving up and leaving the adults to wade through the mess!

Still they enjoyed the outcome.

Hen on Ice

I've had lots to tell about last weekend but I couldn't find the camera til today!!

Last weekend I went to the Hen party of Hetti, from work. She has a reputation as a hardened party animal & drinker so I was a bit nervous when she said we'd be staying out til 5am. I mean that's usually when I get up for the day!

I was staying over at Het's house in South London and we had a wonderful time. We started off at Het's with pizza, wine and Ryan our "butler in the buff" - who was wearing nothing but an apron and an embarrassed smile. Then we went to a cheesy nightclub in Clapham.

We got back to Hetti's about 2am and stayed up singing Karaoke til about 4am. It was very good night.

Steve had some friends over to watch the rugby but we all know out that turned out now don't we!!

We all met up again at the O2 Arena (the old Millennium Dome now put to good use) to watch Disney on Ice. I was wondering how I would cope with only a few hours sleep and a thumping headache but it was such a great show I barely noticed.

The kids were very well behaved and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. We can't wait for our next Disney Ice show which is High School Musical.

Amy has become obsessed with this. For the older folks, think Grease with a basketball element! She has spent the whole afternoon listening to the soundtrack and has now gone to bed playing it!

Could be worse I guess - she could be listening to Eminem!

40 Blissful Years!

I'm a little behind again so please forgive me but it was a bit hectic last week....

On Friday Steve went to Amy's school assembly. He said she was rather good this time and only forgot one of her lines. Sorry the photo is a bit poor.



Then on Saturday it was Granny & Grandad's 40th Wedding Anniversary Celebration - 40 years it's quite hard to believe I mean Steve and I are only at 10 next year!

It was a lovely do on Saturday afternoon/evening and there were loads of their friends and relations who can to help them celebrate.

On Sunday they opened all of their lovely presents and then we went to the Green Dragon in Braintree for a family lunch which was very nice. The meal was wonderful and the kids had a great time playing in the little ante room which Brenda & John had booked out

Back with Mickey

I know that some of you might think us a little crazy but we saw Mickey Mouse again last weekend! I know we've only just come back from Orlando but Disneyland Paris are doing a special kids stay and play free deal this year that was just too good to miss.

We really pushed the boat out this time and stayed in the big pink hotel which overlooks the park entrance. It was very swish and the rooms were lovely.

The park itself was absolutely heaving - and it wasn't even school holiday time but we all still had a great break and managed to do all the things we really liked.

We even caught a glimpse of Johnny Wilkinson and the England Rugby team who were visiting on the Sunday - shame it wasn't Johnny Depp or Orlando Bloom though!


I've added a couple of picture but for more of them please click here:
My Photos

Happy 2nd Birthday Molly

On Saturday we went to Molly's 2nd birthday party. As always the weather was lovely (somehow it always is for Kirstie - they say the sun shines on the righteous don't they!)

There was pass the parcel and lots of toys to play with in the garden and a fine spread for tea-time.

It was actually the day of Grandad's birthday and he got a lovely surprise at birthday cake time when after Molly's cake presentation he got one as well and we sung them both happy birthday.

It was a lovely afternoon and I think the little lady really enjoyed herself. I know our two did!

Oh But He's a Funny One

It has come to my attention that my youngest child is a complete lunatic.. I mean we all know him to be a strange (but lovely) little chap but just recently he has been excelling himself in the weirdness stakes.

Witness - his new fetish for play buggies. I mean try and strap him into a full-size version and he screams like a stuck pig but give him a tiny, weeny play buggy to squeeze his bum into and he's there!...

Last Tuesday - having a spot of tea

This Sunday - having a ride in the garden.

We've had a lovely weekend. Amy had a birthday party on Saturday and then we all cleaned out the garage (oh the joys of adult-hood!). And on Sunday, Amy went ice-skating with Daddy whilst Ben and I "helped" Auntie Alison do a boot-sale.

It was a nice late summer weekend and after lots of playing in the garden everyone was bushed.

Happy Birthday Granny

Today was Granny's 59th Birthday we celebrated by having a hot-tub party at ours. We decided against doing a bar-be-que and instead did chilli and sweet & sour chicken which was must easier.

The weather was lovely for early September and Granny and Kirstie arrived in full chav gear. A dig out our most recent purchase - heaven forbid! They would have both made very good footballers wives!
After our lunch we all had a turn in the hot-tub. The kids loved it - especially Molly and were very disappointed when we told them it was time for them to get out. They took it rather well though and had a splash about in the paddling pool instead.

We spent the rest of the afternoon out in the garden with the kids playing beautifully together. Ben even had a go on the swing!

We're Finally Home

We'll we're home, a little later than expected but back no less. No doubt you will all be eagerly awaiting news of our first ever trip to Walt Disney World well here goes....

Day 1 - Tuesday 21st
We had a little bit of a delay to our outgoing flight but we made really good time through immigration & passport control (something we'd been warned could take hours) and we arrived out our lovely villa around 8pm.

Day 2 - Wednesday 22nd
First stop was the Magic Kingdom - we made really good time the first morning and managed to tick off some of the long-wait rides (Dumbo, Pooh & Peter Pan) without hardly any queuing. We had arranged to try and meet up with Paula & Gav at some point during the cross-over in our holidays and as it happened we did it our first full day. We kept it a surprise from Amy and the look on their faces was priceless. I really don't think any of them realised they were so far from home!

Day3 - Thursday 23rd
We visited MGM Studios on day 3 and Ben was very excited to see Lightening McQueen - he even gave him a big kiss. The studio's was probably the least popular park with us so this was our only visit but we had a lovely time and Amy really enjoyed the Muppet 3D show.

Day 4 - Friday 24th
It was Animal Kingdom today - a first for all of us. My goodness it was hot in there! It was hot anyway (a rather sweaty 92 degrees on average most days) but someone told us that Animal Kingdom runs 5 degrees hotter cos of all the plants. We tried out lots of new things in here and our favourites were: Kali River Rapids (you got drenched but you also got cool!). The Kilimanjaro Safari (Ben fell asleep on this one!). Everest (well Steve liked this one but Grandad came off looking a bit green!) & the Lion King Show (where Ben had a good bop!)

Day 5 - Saturday 25th
This was our first "off-day". We had Disney tickets for 7 out of the 10 days only but we thought that it would be good for the kids to have some down time at their age. Steve hit the outlet malls and managed to spend a small fortune in the Ralph Lauren factory outlet store. As it turned out we were all much more tired after an afternoon spent playing "Chase Ben Around the Pool" that we all had an early night!

Day 6 - Sunday 26th
A special day today. We stayed in a little later and headed to Epcot around lunchtime for a "Princess Storybook Lunch". This was held in "Norway" and you got to eat traditional Norwegian cuisine whilst Ariel, Belle, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella & Jasmine milled about signing autographs and posing for photo's. Amy was in 7th heaven. Later that day we headed to the Magic Kingdom for the Wishes fireworks show. It was our only late night as Ben completely missed the fireworks and Amy only just about managed to keep her eyes open for it!

Day 7 - Monday 27th
This was supposed to be another "off-day" but we decided to take a trip to Seaworld instead. This is a different kind of park to the Disney ones as it is much more educational. Amy & Ben enjoyed the Killer Whale show (Amy was quite taken with the star of the show - Shamu) and all the adults thought the Dolphin & Whales show was very spectacular. The only problem with this park is that the distance you have to walk to get around it is immense and you can't do nearly half of it in just one day.

Day 8 - Tuesday 28th
Back to Magic Kingdom today to try out some different rides. We did Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain & The Laugh Floor (an interactive comedy show which was very clever). We also caught the "Dreams Come True" parade in the afternoon which was very well done.

Day 9 - Wednesday 29th
Animal Kingdom today were Ben had another little sleep on the Safari ride. They honestly couldn't believe he fell asleep during it and neither could we - it was very, very bumpy! Nana finally got up the courage to get wet on the River Rapids and ironically hardly got splashed at all!

Day 10 - Thursday 30th
Our final off-day. Some last minute shopping - we had to buy two more cases just to bring back all the Disney merchandise! and preparing for our trip home.

Day 11 - Friday 31st
Home time! We checked our suitcases in at Downtown Disney and then headed back to Magic Kingdom to do all our favourite rides one last time. We arrived at the airport at around 5pm only to find out that our flight home had been cancelled! It was general chaos with hundreds of people trying to figure out what was going on. Eventually we were bused to a nice hotel about 20 minutes away and told to come back to the airport the next day at 12noon.

Day 12 - Saturday 1st
Well we decided to make the best of our extra days holiday so we brought swimming costumes and spent the morning in the hotel pool. At 12:15 we were all bused back to the airport again and discovered that we had a 6 hour wait until our flight later that night. It actually didn't take that long to pass really but we were all very ready to go home by that point.

Day 13 - Sunday 2nd
So here we are back at home a full 24 hours later than planned but having enjoyed a wonderful holiday. The kids were impeccably behaved the whole time and no least the way in which they handled our unplanned extra day. We can't wait until we go back.