an entry (of sorts)

My goodness have I been really really busy recently!!!! Apologies for not adding an entry recently.

So I went to the balloon fiesta and had the best time, I have to say that for the whole day I reverted to the age of about 7...one very valid reason for this...the red arrows.
As a child, every year my parents took my brother and I to a local air show and the red arrows performed the most amazing aerobatics...incredible.
So when the red arrows came whooshing threw the air I almost wet myself with glee. They are everything and more that I remember as a child. This time had an added little touch though, the gentleman on the tannoy system allowed us a treat of listening to what was being said in the actual planes!!! the planes were going straight up in the air and what came over the tannoy was "whooohoooohoooo thems the g-force" I was crying with laughter (from all this you can imagine that Nathan was the parent of Theo and I at this point).
Then came the balloons lift....wow. During the day the arena seemed huge, then the balloons came in and all of a sudden it became rather small...with 98 hot air balloons inflating and taking off, again wow.
Oh and the decorated tent went down a storm.

Then back for a week doing washing and packing for a week down in Cornwall....oh my beloved Cornwall. Now my love for the county was really tested this holiday as the weather was atrocious, wet wet wet...and then some wind for good measure.
I really did pack shorts and summer dresses in the lean expectancy of good weather...foolish I know.
But we had a brilliant week. My sister-in-law is pregnant with her 3rd child and if anyone suits being pregnant, its Kate. To put her life into perspective at the moment, she has sold her house and they move today, they are borrowing an aunts 2 bed flat, they are going to build their own home, her husband has handed his notice in at work and will be doing a change of career as a tree surgeon and then her eldest daughter goes to secondary school in 1 week!! and I thought I had to juggle things!!
We went for beautiful walks, we went to Marizion and had fish and chips on the beach, I met a real life artist and got all star struck (big fan)..Nannette Martin. And we went SHOPPING!!! Theo wasn't going to bed till about 9.30 every night as he was far to busy playing with his cousins...limited child care required!!

Now we are back and I am really trying to concentrate on shedding weight before I start college in 2 weeks...still don't want to be the fat, eldest student.

I also have the responsibility of creating a miniature garden with Theo to enter at the local veg fair!!!

so when I write this all down it doesn't seem to be that much but the time has gone somewhere!!!

So here's to you my friends who read my blog and I hope you are all enjoying the "summer".

MY question / thought for this entry is..what have you been up to recently and did you enjoy it????

Beyond excited!!!

I have been looking forward to this weekend for months.

About 4 years ago, my husband and I became aware of the Bristol hot air balloon fiesta. Its a weekend of hundreds of balloon's in one place taking off twice a day, the fiesta has a massive market, red arrows fly over and in general promises to be a rather brilliant weekend.

So for every year we have known about the fiesta we have deliberated on going, some years we have just plain forgot and since Theo has been able to walk, we decided that he was not strong enough to walk for that amount of time without being picked up (as soon as he could walk there was no physical was he was getting into a stroller).

This year however we are going, and I am like a child. I love the mystical-ness of hot air balloon's, the way they glide across the sky, I adore the fantastical strange shapes that some are and I love the colourful ones best!!

We have a tent and now have all the kit...to describe....
The tent is, I suppose, kind of dome shaped from the outside and is blue. You walk under awning and into a "lounge area" (this my affection name for it) which is about 6ft by 6ft. On either side is a room both exactly the same size and big enough to fit a double air bed in and not much more.
So its a tent.

the kit we have is a double gas burning stove, a fold-away-table, cooking equipment and utensils, red (Theo's favourite colour) plastic cutlery and crockery and of course the air beds with sleeping bags...Theo in his (red) and us in the other room in our double sleeping bag.
A camping excursion right???? wrong.


Aha, this camping trip will be a tent with a bit of fun. I have made bunting to go on the guide ropes at the front, I have made flowers to go round the legs of the table and Theo has put glow in the dark star stickers onto a massive piece of paper which will be hung in his area. I have 2 picnic blankets, one will be used for its intended purpose and the other will serve as a rug for the "lounge area". I have tea light holders that are like lanterns on sticks and, because I always get annoyed at flies getting into the tent, I have 4 citronella candles to light in the evening at the front of the tent!!!! -
I am over excited at this point and have running around all day making sure that we have got everything...and now, as I sit and type this poised on the edge of my seat, watching the clock not moving, I await my darling husbands home coming. The man is not gonna know what hit him when he walks through that door...I want / need / have to be outta here asap!!

I love camping...why should it all be about communal showers and and going for a wee in a bush????

I am sooo excited about the whole experience, the tent decorating and of course the balloon fiesta, I hope to get heaps of photo's with my now dried out camera (a long story which I couldn't tell before as it just made me cry and I may reveal my stupidity another time!)

So my thought / question for this entry is....what did you make fun that should have been slightly mundane???

have a great weekend everyone

and we had a great time

When I decided to quit my job in ready for my course, the decision was made to enhance my summer and spend it with my son.
I had visions of us spending lazy days at the park with a picnic of delicious juicy fruits (to cool us down) and a football and maybe a kite on windy days.
What I didn't foresee was a wet summer...a very wet summer...am not a happy bunny.

We have spent days cutting, sticking, painting, making, baking, and watching dvd's...not the summer sun I had dreamt of, and I am very quickly running out of rainy day activities (all suggestions gratefully received).

Woooohoooo, yesterday was a very nice day, so with my husbands hard earned cash in hand we went to the brilliant Warwick castle.

We ALWAYS have a really great time there. We buy swords as soon as we can and in between shows we sword fight, my knuckles get bruised and I inevitably ask him a million times to be a bit more gentle with Mummy!

We saw golden eagles, vultures, a fire eating jester, 4 knights doing battle for the hand of the princess, he threw rats through a hoop, we saw 2 men trying to kill each other in sword to sword combats, we were entertained by an archer and we watched the worlds largest trebuchet do its thing at 150 mph!. The sun was shining and our smiles were broad.

Theo and I were also knighted. We had to do various swordsmanship and charge and stuff whilst wearing armoured helmets and having fits of giggles in the ahhhhhh of whacking the swords on the post (sure there is a more technical term but whacking it will do for me!) See the photo for Theo doing is whacking!!

This morning however was yet more bloody rain. I mean really, where is it all coming from? It's not as though we have had an amazing dry spell to warrant all the rain is it?

To add to my concerns about the weather, we are supposed to be camping this weekend at Bristol's hot air balloon fiesta. I don't mind camping when its raining, its the getting the tent up in the rain and everything getting wet before you've even begun. I have very attractive wellies which are very comfy and I think will be used a lot this weekend!!

So my question / thought for this entry is...how are you combating the rain boredom with your kids this "summer" holiday?