Been over a Year

And so much has happened in the Carlisle household. The girl is a year older, the boy is a year older. Dad is just Dad, while mum has lurched from one health problem to another health problem, and is currently awaiting 2 lots of different surgeries.

There's been no big holidays this year but a trip to Alton Towers and a ferry trip to Amsterdam has taken place and the summer holidays were ok to start until Mum broke her foot. This meant only short trips until mum got better but now she has a long term broken foot :-S.

The girl has dance exams coming up again and came 2nd top in the exam she sat in the summer. She's also participating in this years Gang Show and has performed in her dance show.

The boy is playing away for the boys club football team.

Lots of fun days coming up soon on new school trips etc.

Happy Birthday to The Boy!!

The boy is 7 today happy birthday xx

Hope you have a great day and have fun at your party!

October?

October Holiday already?

Mum has been busy working. She's been at the same school and has been very happy there. Dad's work is picking up and the girl and boy have been doing very well at school and both got great reports from parents night.

Mum and dad are leaving us behind. They're off for their 11th wedding anniversary. We get one day with them before Mum is taking us to York. We're very excited about that.

Reports when we all get back xx

Jeez....time's flying

We're nearly in September. The last 10 weeks have flown past and I have no idea where they have gone.

The children are back at school and Mum should return to work next week. All the usual activities have resumed. No more lazy weekends. So we need to treasure as much as we can.

Busy Week 3

On Monday we went fruit picking at another farm. It wasn't as good as the Fife one but we had fun.

On Tuesday we had to meet friends at Costco to collect a cake and had lunch.

On Wednesday it was our friends birthday and we had a day out to East Links Farm. We had pony rides and went on Go Karts.

On Thursday we walked to the library and it felt like a long walk.

On Friday we went swimming.

On Saturday we went Bowling to Crazy Golf and then McDonalds.

On Sunday we had a lazy day.

Busy week meeting up with everyone who's finally home.

High School Musical

We went to see High School Musical on stage. It was good but not as good as the film. They changed some of it. But we had lots of fun.

Fruit Picking

We had a lazy morning before heading to Cupar in Fife to go Fruit Picking and visit the Maze. The maze we gave up when we got fed up after 30 minutes so we headed over to the fruit picking area and got Fresh Strawberries and Raspberries which tasted so divine. Daddy and Boy liked doing the Strawberries because they were low down and Mum and girlie picked the raspberries which were quite high up. Unfortunately it did start to rain so we headed off. But will be visiting nearby places to pick fruit as they enjoyed it so much.

Holiday coninued

We got up late on Monday morning and had showers then headed to a nearby Morrisons for breakfast before heading to Bournville in Birmingham. There's one reason for going to Bournville.... the big purple sign. Cadbury's. We went to Cadbury World.

Mum checked in while we had a wander about. Then she got some free chocolate and our tickets and we headed for the cafe for dairy milk ice cream and hot chocolates. We looked through the maps and headed to the Bournville Experience which tells you how it was all strutcured and came about. Then we played in the playpark while awaiting the essence queue to go down. The essence experience was about how long it took them to make dairy milk. Then we got thick hot melted chocolate. Boy had it plain, Girlie had wine gums and mum had midget gems. (dad did have some but mum can't remember what). Then we headed back to look at the shop before heading into the actual factory. We got told about how chocolate came about and moving on to Cadbury's opening a tea merchants before expanding to chocolate and their subsequent move to Bournville. We got told about what the different factories are for and had a simulator ride on a factory machine. We had a small ride with the chucklebeans as well as getting to play with chocolate, writing our names in chocolate as well as seeing how they make hollow chocolate for fillings. Lots of things to see and do before ending up in the cadbury's shop.

We then headed to Frankie and Benny's for dinner before heading back to Leicester to pack up for an early start.

We got up early the next morning and headed down the M1 to London towards Legoland. Just after we arrived it started to rain but we managed to get some rides done before the rain stopped play. Ate lunch in the pasta and pizza place. Some stroppy patrons in there. Then onto doing rides between downpours. We ended up leaving early as we were all wet. Headed and checked in at the hotel before heading into Slough for dinner at the Buffet Chinese. Headed back to the hotel and had a drink in the bar before heading to bed for the night after our early start.

Next morning up at a more reasonable time. Headed along to breakfast where we had all the continental offerings and the added bonus of a cooked brekkie. After filling up we left early to get to Legoland again and headed on as many rides as possible that we could get on. Had a late lunch in one of the cafes before heading to the hotel and having dinner in the restaurant.

Thursday was a beautiful Sunny day... typical. We headed into London to spend the day in Hamleys, on the bus and river tours as well as dinner in Rainforest Cafe. Late train home but it was good but busy trip which flew past.

Friday was another train into London. The train and tube was very busy. We headed to the London Eye then to Trafalgar Square before lunching in Covent Garden. After that we headed back to Paddington to get a train back to Slough. For dinner we ate in the bar and had an early night as well as packing.

The drive home took just over 7 hours. It was much easier than expected and was nice to be home and get washing done.

Gone Away

We’re on Holiday. Girlie and the Boy went to school on Thursday and mum collected Girlie after an hour as she had to sit her Flamenco Exam. The Boy was collected by a friend while girlie got her hair cut.. Then we all met up and we travelled down towards Stafford. We had a good start to the journey but there was a crash on the M6 Northbound and it resulted in our bit being very congested for 2 hours so our journey should have had us there about 5.30pm instead it was closer to 8pm as we stopped at services for some tea. But the delay annoyed mum as it meant she missed Eastenders. Like she’s not got it recorded on virgin plus or anything??

Friday morning was a beautiful wake up. It had been a hot night so you can imagine our dismay when it started pouring down with rain. We were headed for Alton Towers. The car park was like a huge lake. We were soaked and despite the rain the park was very busy but we managed to ride many rides and dad got fast passes for Nemisis and Air. We had lunch at Burger King as we were so wet but it was so cold. Mum took Girlie and the boy on Charlie and the Chocolate factory ride. That was sooooo cool as you could actually smell chocolate as you entered. Then mum watched Girlie and Boy on the driving school and dad met up. By this point the sun had got his hat on and we dried out and stayed until the park closed.

We headed back to Stafford and had a Chinese for dinner at the Chinese opposite the hotel. It was a gorgeous meal and very quiet. Then a drink in the bar before heading to bed.

Early wake up on Saturday morning for our second day at Alton Towers. The sun kept his hat on and it was a good day but we found it to be packed but had a good parking space. We managed to go on the river rapid ride which was fun. But we gave up on the flume ride as it was too busy for us. We left early and went to the wacky warehouse for tea. Few drinks in the bar before bed. Packed up for moving on.

Tried to sleep in but the children didn’t allow it. The hotel must have been booked out as breakfast was a busy affair with people waiting for tables. We then packed up the car and headed to Leicester. Mum’s friends live there and their wee girlie is the same age as our boy. We met them at Snipstone Discovery Park close to where we were staying. The discovery park was a colliery but is now a mix between a science centre, a museum and has a lovely big park with various experiences which are so much fun. Before we knew it, time had flown past. It was time to head on to our room in Leicester. Advice was to go to a local pub for dinner. Turned out to be another wacky warehouse. Headed back to the room via costcutter for juice and some food for the room as we didn’t have breakfast available and didn’t really fancy the services

There's One More Angel in Heaven

Grandma passed away at 3.25am after suffering a massive heart attack 3 weeks ago and major heart failure last week.

RIP Grandma and thank you for the wonderful memories and for being a VIP in our lives.

June Already

Dear me we're in June. We had a busy weekend with CJ's birthday. Bouncy castle party followed by the girls going shopping and manicures and the boys all going crazy golfing.

Unfortunately things have been hard here. Grandma suffered another big heart attack. She happened to be in A&E at the time when it happened. Just as well as she wouldn't be here otherwise. She thinks mum is 15 and doesn't remember our children which we're finding hard.. She's bright and happy enough.

Day off from school tomorrow due to the elections. Dad's having one of those things called a day off. A huge rarity but we're gonna have a great family day and hope the weather continues being dry. Friday is sports day then hopefully we can have a restful weekend.

He scored a goal

The boy has expanded on his footie and is playing on a Sunday for the under 8's. Mum went along last week having dropped the girl off with Granny Plumb cos she was moaning. In the first match the boy scored a goal and his confidence began to grow so much that he decided to tackle a BIG boy and he went head first over the other player and the ball. He got up and on with the match.

But Mum is adament that she is NOT going EVERY Sunday to be his lucky charm.

Reports and Parents Nights

Both children did very well in the reports. They have been a pleasure to teach and The boy has his Level A's and the girl is on her way to covering Level C before the summer. The teachers were both very happy with them.

Reports.....

Today the school reports come home. Will be interesting to see who needs a battering. Only joking. Both bound to come home with glowing reports once again. Will update once we know more.

It's been a while....

Since we last updated. We've been back at school for 3 weeks now. Had 2 Monday holidays and various letters home demanding money for various things.

We've also seen Coraline the new 3D movie. Lots of suspense and bad bits that it really isn't for little people.

Girl is getting on well in dancing while Boy is doing well at the footie. Dad is managing the house by himself as mum is on the medication now and it knocks her out.

Today we're doing a bollywood dance to raise money for the food lab. We've also had raffle books home for the school fair which has been hard work. No one has any money in the current climate.

Lots of birthday parties this month. We were at one on sunday and had a ball on the rope swings etc. Mum's friend still hasn't had her baby either which is a big waiting game as we were hoping for an April Baby but he will come in his own time.

Another Week Bites The Dust

WOW what a quick week.

The weather has been rubbish. But Mum has been sooooooo much better. She's managed to take us out this week.

On Tuesday we headed out to Vogrie Park to meet Mum's friend and her children. We all had a good time. The time passed really quickly and we were late home because we had a great time.

On Wednesday Gran and Grandad Plumb took us over to Dunfermline and we did Crazy Golf and walked round Primark and went to McDonald's for lunch.

On Thursday we had a pretty lazy day and met Granny Oz for lunch and went into her new work.

Friday we got spoiled.... we did Pizza Hut buffet for lunch. Then we lazed about all afternoon and had stew for dinner late.

On Saturday we did football. Turns out it started at 9am and we erm well we were half an hour late. So we came home and played. Then we went to B&Q as mum wants to decorate all the bedrooms.

Today we headed through to Fife. We went up to Anstruther. Had a wander round and up the town. Then got an ice cream and had a seat. Then we wandered about and went to the fisheries museum before getting chips for a late lunch out the famous fish bar. Then we wandered along and had a play on the beach. We decided to head home but did a bit of a long detour to Kirkcaldy links funfair. Bumped into some people who Mum and Dad Tweet. Then came home via Asda in Dunfermline. We got another Maccy D's.

Got tomorrow off with no plans but bet Mum finds something for us to do.

Easter Weekend

We should have been away this weekend. But due to Mum and Dad being ill they cancelled it.

Dad was meant to have a day off on Friday but it didn't happen due to being busy. Our friends popped over for a wee while then we just lazed about until we did a food shop at teatime.

Saturday we went to see 17 again. Rather inappropriate for under 10's. But a good story line with lots of funny bits. Had lunch at the mexican. Then had a wander round the shops.

Sunday the Easter Bunny came. We went for a visit to New Lanark through the west. Had a great time there with a picnic lunch. It was just such a lovely time. We left about 3pm and popped to the Fort in Glasgow and did some shopping then ate in the Italian.

Today we popped to Peebles and had a play in the park and a wander and then lunch. Found the tiniest toy shop ever. Now lazing about.

Mum is finally on the mend.

Oops..Been AWOL

This hasn't been updated in a while. Mum hasn't been well. She went to work one day and came home with a banging head. By the next morning it hadn't shifted and she was tired. The next morning was April Fools and she groaned and Dad joked this you playing an April Fools on me? He soon realised mum was really ill. Temp of 40 degrees, very sore throat, bad headache etc. She couldn't get out of bed. Turned out she had a very bad throat infection. But the headache continued and on Thursday night despite attempting to make it through the night to the next day to see the GP, she couldn't and NHS 24 rushed her into hospital. We got plucked from our beds and taken to Granny Plumbs. Well Granny Plumb was out but Grandad was there.

It turned out Mum's muscles in her neck had siezed from the fibro and that was what was causing her headache. Friday resulted in Mum in so much pain that she called an Osteopath who has managed to unloosen the muscles a bit and give some relief.

She did manage to take us to the park the other day. The park is no longer the same. They've lost so much equipment and it's just not the place to play safely.

We went out with Granny and Grandad Plumb to see Monsters V Ailens which was really good.

Our Great Uncle has also suffered a stroke and is in hospital. Granny Oz was looking after our cousins when it happened so mum ended up looking after 4 kids when she was ill. We've also had to cancel our holiday but Mum promises Sunday will be fun.

The good news is we still have 6 school days off :p

Mad Party Time

On Friday Mum was collard in the playground by a mum who wanted the boy to go to her son's party....today. So off he went to the football party. He was goalie which caused some hilarity between the parents there due to boy being so wee. But he made a great goalie and made some good saves. He had chicken nuggets and chips for lunch.

Then on Friday afternoon Mum got a phone call from a mum asking if boy was going to her son's party this afternoon. So the afternoon was softplay where he had Pizza and chips for dinner. Saved mum feeding him.

Girl went out to play all afternoon but it didn't occur to Dad to feed her.

Viking Boat

The project for the upper school was Vikings. A viking Artefact was required to be built. Most people did swords, shields or jewellery. Our child had to do a boat. Not just a log boat but a LONG Boat. First attempt was abandoned but we were delighted with her work on this. Shame it fell to bits! Hey ho.