Fly By Summer...

I can't believe we are already almost into the second week of August! How is the summer flying by so very fast :(

But we've been busy ~ doing inside things and outside things...

I have spent a few day clearing out piles of clothes from the landing (into massive boxes) and last Saturday, Paul and I had a MAJOR tidy up (and re-arrange) in the garage. We didn't throw away very much, in all honesty - just one run to the tip, but we did get to a point where we now know what we have and consider none of it to be a waste of space! And I can actually get to the boxes of clothes that the younger boys will grow into!

The children have mostly played together a lot. Just yesterday, Joel invented a game ~ 'spoon football' ~ played like table-football with spoons! Two teams and two goalies required + plus lots of spoons and a robust table!!

At the beginning of summer I invested in new skipping ropes, French skipping games, Cats Cradle and a book of '101 ways to play with marbles'. All have been used, some more extensively than others. The marbles book only just came, and it's been a little wet the last few days, but it looks fun :D

We took the Children to Wheelock Hall farm one afternoon, while Paul's parents were here ~ but it was one SERIOUSLY hot day and we didn't last all that long. Perhaps we'll go back another cooler day :D. Chip loved the animals, especially the cows, there's a great play park there with climbing frames and go-karts (but I was avoiding the sun, so no pictures of that sorry) and they have a hay-stack in the barn, just for the kids to play on. It's a great place to go and only cost £2 per child! :D

PLUS they sell delicious ice-cream!!

We have been down to the village brook to play & build dams ~ a great way to cool off on hot days!

And played crazy roundabout games in the park...

We've played with the Crazy-Daisy in the garden (on seriously hot days).

and we've BBQ'd with friends & filled up their bird table with stones! :D

The children have 'mummified' each other ~ just for fun!

And we've been to the beach in the POURING rain (just after the pictures, although it was drizzling even then) ~ fun in a not-so-fun-but-you-have-to-laugh kind of way!

Taz has embarked on building himself a go-kart to keep himself busy.

And DD is working hard on his gym conditioning (whilst they are on a break) and is on a mission to get his splits (box and front) to the floor by term start  ~ he is SO nearly there on both counts!

He's not the only one on a mission either. If you follow me on Facebook, you will know I have decided to swim myself fit (and hopefully thinner). Dieting is too hard, so I'm just eating better and exercising more. I've managed to get from struggling to do 10 lengths (300m) three weeks ago, to swimming 45 lengths in 45 minutes yesterday and feeling I could have carried on if Paul wasn't waiting in the car-park for me! I am determined to get to 60 lengths (a mile), three times a week, and be doing it in an hour by the end of summer. I think it's achievable. But then the outside pool (which is open all the time) closes and I will have to fit swimming around the craziness of term-time again. I am even considering joining the gym, but I'm not there in my head yet!

The other great thing about the swimming is that TP & Lilo often come with me and are working on their stamina too. I have set Lilo a target ~ if she can swim 10 lengths by the end of summer she can stop having lessons. Currently she can swim only 3, but I think she will do it. :D

Next week we are all busy with the church holiday club ~ Pyramid Rocks ~ and then my Mum will be here for a few weeks.  Just now TP has a friend to stay for a couple of nights and the biggest three are down at the church helping set up for the club. The youngest ones are about to watch a video I think, but they have been playing well all morning. I am about to embark on the ever-dreaded mountain of marking before summer actually runs out on me ~ I'm going to sit in the garden to do it I think!

Holiday 2013 ~ Part 7 ~ Ipswich Park & After...

This was the last day of our holidays and we began it by driving up to a park in Ipswich to meet up with some of our home-ed friends.
The park was lovely and it was really nice to have a brief catch up :)


After a good cool off in the Splash Zone,

the older children went off in a big group and hunted for Geocaches. They successfully found one, but the other was illusive (possibly moved, as it hadn't been found in a while apparently). For whatever reason though, I just didn't take many pictures :(

After this we headed into Colchester because the children were all desperate to go to the Leisure Pool there. We were pleased to see some extra bits added since last time we were there and we all had a lovely time. Chip was a bit hesitant at first (he'd not been swimming a great deal up to this point in his life), but the lovely warm spa pool sold it to him quick enough :D And after that he just warmed to the whole idea and had a lot of fun. We stayed in the pool a good hour and a half and by the time we were all dressed and ready, it was getting well on towards tea time as we walked up through the park.

We had already decided that tonight would be the night we went to Sloppy Joe's ~ which was always one of our favourite places to eat when we lived in Colchester and we were SO happy to see it was still alive and well! The meal was as amazing as ever and almost everyone ate everything! The children all loved it just as much as they always have :D So it still remains one of our favourite places to eat as a family...

Holiday 2013 ~ Part 6 ~ Colchester Zoo

For me (and mine) there is only one zoo that I consider worth the expense of visiting and that is Colchester. It really is THE best zoo :D But Thursday's excursion was made all the better by the very fact of it being FREE!!! Yes, my wonderful friends are Platinum members, and with that they get one complementary pass per membership ~ in total they had 9 & Chip goes free anyway ~ AWESOME!!

So we met them all there and trooped 23 children around the zoo (Chip, Bugs & J are not in the picture)!

[Just for posterity, here's a couple of pictures from the previous times we've had this crowd together, some of whom weren't even born or just aren't in these pictures!!

2009

2006

(The younger baby here is DD)

It amazes me how, despite the years and the miles, these children & mine remain firm friends. The internet may have it's downsides, but this is truly on of it's greatest positives :D. I wish we could get them together more often, but it's hard... 
For most of the day I handed my camera to Bugs, so I'll link to his pictures when he publishes them. Suffice to say, the zoo has changed massively since last time we were there, but is brilliant as ever. 

We finished the day back at Lizzie's with hotdogs and chips! The children played for hours, while we laughed and chatted together. A couple of the children (not mine) were feeling the effects of the sun, but thankfully recovered as the evening wore on. It had been a VERY hot day!

A brilliant, brilliant day, with too many goodbye tears :(

& here's today's slideshow of a few animals and lots of kids!

Holiday 2013 ~ Part 5 ~ Kentwell Hall / A Day in 1559

Today was our day to take a step back in time...

Wednesday,  July 3rd, 1559

Our visit to Kentwell Hall was very much enjoyed by everyone. I personally wished the day was longer, but I'm sure on the 'other side' of things I would be glad the day was not!

It was fun to see some familiar faces, even if they carried slightly less familiar names :D

I found every conversation I had to be interesting and informative. I particularly enjoyed the potters yard (I've always wanted to do this...) and I loved this clock, made by Dr John;

Minnie seemed quite a natural spinner (on a drop-spindle) & DD was a dab hand at carding :D

Taz tried his hand at making a pin, and made a quite acceptable job of it I believe.

The Still Room fascinated me too. I love the idea of natural medicines and could have kept listening (and learning) for a goodly while, but for little restless people at my heals.

Chip mostly enjoyed throwing food to the fish (and stones to the water).

The biggest kids thoroughly enjoyed putting their hand to the long-bow and loosing some arrows upon the but.  Even Paul & I took our turn! We visted the archers twice and had a goodly stay the second time, until we were ushered off the land (as the site was closing for the day). 

And now I'm left with at least two children who fancy living life in the tudor camp next year. I'm not against the idea, but it will mean a LOT of sewing and travelling between now and then... so we'll see!

One of the lasting effects that 1559 has had on my children has been the language! They now have much fun 'playing' with tudorese in their conversations ;)

Even MORE pictures below!!

Holiday 2013 ~ Part 4 ~ Maldon & Movies

Tuesday was our 'free' day. We did try to organise meeting up with someone, but it just wasn't possible in the end. So after seeking advice on Facebook about what to do for the day we set off for Maldon Promenade. Actually it wasn't the greatest decision. There wasn't too much there for the older ones and the Splash Zone, which was the main purpose of the trip, wasn't going to open until 4pm. So the little ones played on the pirate ship for a while (which was pretty fabulous actually).

Sol was not into it the ship much though, so after a bit we all took a stroll up to the end of the 'pier'. It was very windy and pretty chilly, so even though on a sunny day (by now the sun had hidden away) that might have been nice, it wasn't really!

We headed back to the 'cafe' and bought chips etc... for lunch while we reconsidered our plan for the rest of the day! We were visited by a family of starlings while we ate, and that amused the children for a few minutes!

As we sat there it began to threaten rain - entirely putting pay to the Splash Zone idea, as it was now unlikely to even open at all in the rain! Paul, brilliant as ever, had the wonderful idea of quickly booking us all into the cinema in Braintree. The children had all asked to see Despicable Me 2 this holiday ~ and now seemed like the perfect opportunity - how to redeem the day! :D


Before we left Paul and big kids walked up the other end of the prom, to have a look at the boats (and take some pictures) and I took the smaller ones back to the park to play for a few more minutes (DD & Stitch were begging to). This time Sol warmed to the idea and they had fun playing there until the rain came...

After the cinema we had to come up with a meal plan, so we headed to an Italian 'Tutti' restaurant - thinking you can't go far wrong with pizza and pasta! The meal was very mediocre though, and, I felt, pretty expensive for what we had (and of course we didn't spot the 2 for 1 vouchers on the back of the cinema tickets until two days later!). But it was warm and edible, which was a plus! Sol, however, was past eating and Paul ended up missing out on pudding (not that he missed much) to take Sol out of the restaurant. He was just too tired to cope with the sitting nicely thing that night!

So, not the best day, but not a total disaster either... there's always tomorrow ;)