Hmm let the blogging slide again a bit haven't I.
Charlie and I spent the weekend before last finishing off sorting out the garage and taking all of Charlie's baby clothes and bits and pieces into storage. I was okay until I got to the newborn babygro, both those that he wore and those he didn't. I wobbled at that point but was ok again until I got to the moses basket and that was the last straw! Anyway it's all at the storage place which I was fine with until a certain person (you know who you are miss!) mentioned on the phone that the storage place could burn down and it would all be lost!
Last week passed in a rush of assembling the warehouse racking in the garage and removing 25 out of 31 boxes of stock from the sitting room and hall and getting it all put away in the garage-cum-stock-second-stock-room. We can finally see the carpet downstairs now!
The last 6 boxes are lingering because they need a bit more sorting and thinking about but with one exception they are thankfully a normal sized box and not humungeous sized ones so we can live with that for a bit.
We ate out a LOT last week, indian restaurant one night, chinese takeaway another, plus two other meals that I can't even remember. We were both so tired from all the physical shifting around and the usual work and order packing that neither of us could face cooking.
Charlie did a lot of Draw Write Now last week and this is onging this week - he's now got back into the routine of doing one a day and in fact did two today. He's also continuing with his EC each day and is over the moon that German is now available, he loves languages and seems to have quite a knack for the Spanish and French.
Finally got round to ordering his new bed last week too, we went for wooden bunk beds in the end after MUCH deliberation. He's very excited to be able to combine the benefits of a den on the bottom bunk with a spare bed for any one of his beloved puddle girls to sleep in!
In fact spending money seems to be a bit of feature of the last four days, first bunk beds, then holiday for September to the New Forest, then MOT, service and fixing the car due on Wednesday and finally the damn tumble dryer broke today and having already paid for the heating element to be replaced twice in the last years we decided to go for a new one which will arrive on Thursday.
We had a nice weekend, a bit more garage/stock room sorting out on Saturday and one last trip to the storage place to get rid of a few more bits. We then picked up some DVD's, pizza, popcorn and ice-cream and came home to watch Charlie's DVD choice - Night at the Museum. My favourite bit was the Easter Island rock thing with his " you give me gum gum, dum dum"
Sure we went somewhere on Sunday but actually can't remember where. I know Charlie got grounded though - actually more for his own protection that anything he did wrong. There are two brothers that live a few doors down, aged 2 and 5, really lovely little boys but parental supervision is a bit lacking when Daddy is in charge. I only know what happened because my parents saw and heard it but in a nutshell, Charlie and the two boys were on the little bit of public space by the boys house rather than playing on their bikes in the close. They'd got a bit of rope from the boys garage and it had got stuck in a sapling. Charlie had decided it was a good idea to climb this sapling to try and get it down. Luckily my mum heard his voice and sent my dad to get it down for them (he could only just reach with difficulty) and tell them not to play on that bit of land because of the really steep and deep ditch that has a sort of stream running through it. My dad was thinking particularly of the 3 year old.
Apparently the mum had gone shopping and left the dad in charge but he was inside watching football. Bev and I though Charlie was on his bike in the close as we've told him to come and tell us if he wants to go the public space bit.
Anyway its a bit lucky that my parents were home as anything could have happened to any of them messing around with a bit of rope. I'm actually more angry that something could have happened to one of the two younger boys and Charlie would have been blamed. He's not their brother and he shouldn't be expected to look after them. He would however *want* to, and if they got hurt or worse he's the kind of child who would punish himself for the rest of his life about it.
It might be irrational but it would be so easy for someone to enter the public space by the gate on the road side, come down to the part where they all were and grab one of them and be gone in their car before Charlie could have raised the alarm and that makes me mad too.
Pah - I'm really angry at their parents. Charlie was grounded because he didn't come and tell us he was going on that bit of space which he is supposed to but also partly if I'm honest, just to keep him away from them for a bit as I don't appreciate the parents expecting him to look after them. The mum was gone for a couple of hours according to my dad who then stayed out there so he could keep an eye on them and the dad didn't appear at all.
Anyway, quiet-ish week ahead really, doctors for pre-IVF blood tests for me tomorrow, some business stuff going on tomorrow too and that's about it.
Must start packing for my holiday - its only 3 weeks away!
Monday, August 13, 2007
Saturday, August 04, 2007
Whoops
Two months without blogging is quite a long time. Not sure why I stopped really, a combination of no time, very little parent/child interaction actually taking place, yucky personal stuff, more hideous IF treatment not working and an overall feeling of why bother. Sometimes the blog ring feels like a very insular and excluding place, especially when you're in the no mans land of having been on the ring for almost 3 years and "talking" to the people on it for even longer than that through the list, yet circumstances have prevented you from attending all but one camp in that time. It's a bit like being back at school again in some ways. Ho hum, time to realise that the blog stands in its own right and not just on the ring I think.
But a post I read on someone's blog last night about why they blog about their children and everyday lives prompted me into realising that this is something that I need to do more often, Charlie is my only child and his life is rushing by, he'll be 10 in less than 6 months and I'd like to remember some of the rest of his childhood.
Can't really do a proper catch up as it would take too long but suffice to say life has been manic. I'm stuck in the really horrible position of Anara Toys being so busy that it needs me more full time, Reward Board getting very little attention at all but not being able to give up my legal freelance work as I support all 3 of us and neither of the other businesses is making enough yet to replace what I earn! Mortgage is huge - the same as many people earn in a month and that's without even considering the rest of the outgoings, utilities etc Arggghh. I really hate my life sometimes.
Charlie has been playing up terribly for the last month as he has had no attention/time spent with him at all. Anara had its busiest month ever last month and it has increased in turnover every single month without fail. I was talking to a very successful business woman with other night and when I told her the months turnover she was stunned into silence for a few seconds on the basis that it was pretty impressive for its 13 month of trading. That scared me rather. I feel like it is all tumbling out of control somewhat.
Charlie has finished Sonlight Core 1 (must order Core 2) which we happily passed onto the puddles when the come for a lovely visit. A highlight of last month for sure but inevitably poor Charlie was so upset when they went, this time he started crying 30 minutes before they even left. God I hate having an only child - the poor sod is so bloody lonely. Arrgghh.
We spent the weekend in Sussex last weekend, visiting my best friend from boarding school. She has a 6 month baby called Jacob, well Jakey really, and it was lovely to see them both and Charlie was in his element being mother hen - playing with him, cuddling him, pushing his pushchair, giving him his bottle - he loved it and cried when we left!
It's just Charlie and I this weekend, B has gone to London to visit friends and go clubbing. We've got an exciting weekend of taking more stuff to the storage place and tidying out the garage more ready for the racking when it arrives. There are currently 31 boxes of stock in the sitting room as the stock room and the shelves we already have in the garage are full. So the garage is about to become our second stock room with extra stock at the storage place too.
Determined to do something with him this weekend though, will absolutely have to make some time.
But a post I read on someone's blog last night about why they blog about their children and everyday lives prompted me into realising that this is something that I need to do more often, Charlie is my only child and his life is rushing by, he'll be 10 in less than 6 months and I'd like to remember some of the rest of his childhood.
Can't really do a proper catch up as it would take too long but suffice to say life has been manic. I'm stuck in the really horrible position of Anara Toys being so busy that it needs me more full time, Reward Board getting very little attention at all but not being able to give up my legal freelance work as I support all 3 of us and neither of the other businesses is making enough yet to replace what I earn! Mortgage is huge - the same as many people earn in a month and that's without even considering the rest of the outgoings, utilities etc Arggghh. I really hate my life sometimes.
Charlie has been playing up terribly for the last month as he has had no attention/time spent with him at all. Anara had its busiest month ever last month and it has increased in turnover every single month without fail. I was talking to a very successful business woman with other night and when I told her the months turnover she was stunned into silence for a few seconds on the basis that it was pretty impressive for its 13 month of trading. That scared me rather. I feel like it is all tumbling out of control somewhat.
Charlie has finished Sonlight Core 1 (must order Core 2) which we happily passed onto the puddles when the come for a lovely visit. A highlight of last month for sure but inevitably poor Charlie was so upset when they went, this time he started crying 30 minutes before they even left. God I hate having an only child - the poor sod is so bloody lonely. Arrgghh.
We spent the weekend in Sussex last weekend, visiting my best friend from boarding school. She has a 6 month baby called Jacob, well Jakey really, and it was lovely to see them both and Charlie was in his element being mother hen - playing with him, cuddling him, pushing his pushchair, giving him his bottle - he loved it and cried when we left!
It's just Charlie and I this weekend, B has gone to London to visit friends and go clubbing. We've got an exciting weekend of taking more stuff to the storage place and tidying out the garage more ready for the racking when it arrives. There are currently 31 boxes of stock in the sitting room as the stock room and the shelves we already have in the garage are full. So the garage is about to become our second stock room with extra stock at the storage place too.
Determined to do something with him this weekend though, will absolutely have to make some time.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Been a while
Things have been so,so,so busy here lately I have very little time for anything much! Have been expanding the business quite drastically by tripling the product lines - well over 300 now and still more to come. Business has also been very busy on Amazon which I've been particularly pleased with and the site has been getting much busier as well. We were a recommended company in Janey Lee Grace's new book published at the end of last month which was fantastic and has helped sales along nicely too. Lots of changes afoot there too with a re-design underway, a new logo, some serious SEO & PR work being done and all sorts of other things. All quite exciting really.
Managed to see a fair bit of Merry and girls at the beginning of the month/end of last month - most of which she blogged so I won't! Suffice to say it was all lovely gossip, play time and trampoline assembly time.
Charlie has suffered pretty badly from all the mad busyness to be honest and the last couple of weeks haven't helped much with several rushed visits up and down to London to the clinic. He has spent today with my parents, and will do the same tomorrow and Saturday so at least he is getting some full on attention there which he desperately needs atm. Its very hard not to feel really guilty but I know that in the end it will all be worth it and he does seem to understand that I need to work really hard on the business to enable us all to stay at home and continue with our current lifestyle. He also grasps that it won't be forever and that one day there will be hopefully be staff doing all the mad running about which will equal lots more time with us. I'm sure seeing me run 3 businesses is a good lesson in hard work anyway but the guilt is awful.
We had a lovely weekend away in Devon at the beginning of the month courtesy of my parents. They booked us all rooms to celebrate my dad's 60th at a rather lovely little hotel with its own private beach, indoor & outdoor pools, games room, tennis etc etc. Food was divine and Charlie had a wonderful time. He, my parents and brother climbed the rather large mountain just outside the hotel on the Saturday morning whilst B and I lounged around in the lounge, reading and having a drink whilst gazing over the ocean and watching their progress!
Ww went to Salcombe for lunch and it was lovely there - gorgeous beaches and we had a nice walk around. Charlie and Bev played table tennis, went swimming, played crazy golf and pool in the afternoon whilst I relaxed a bit and feverishly worked on some documents for the business on my lovely new Sony Vaio laptop. It was a really lovely weekend and very nice to just get some time to do nothing.
Charlie is very close to finishing his Sonlight Core now, apparently he has finished his Science core already. He's been doing really well on his EC too and his maths is starting to come along very nicely. Sometimes he even spontaneously ask maths type questions and fiddles around with numbers on the calculator so he's clearly trying to understand it all. His favourite thing on EC at the moment is the Spanish - he loves it which reminds me I must order some Usborne Spanish and French stuff from Joanne - keep forgetting.
This weekend we have a stand at the Herts County Show they're expecting 25,000 each day I think. We went over there to start setting up today and will finish off tomorrow before the show itself on Saturday and Sunday. Unfortunately my parents are going off on yet another holiday (they haven't been back from India for a month yet!) on Sunday so poor Charlie has to be dragged with us on Sunday - the busiest day. I think he'll enjoy it though as he loves chatting to customers.
Managed to see a fair bit of Merry and girls at the beginning of the month/end of last month - most of which she blogged so I won't! Suffice to say it was all lovely gossip, play time and trampoline assembly time.
Charlie has suffered pretty badly from all the mad busyness to be honest and the last couple of weeks haven't helped much with several rushed visits up and down to London to the clinic. He has spent today with my parents, and will do the same tomorrow and Saturday so at least he is getting some full on attention there which he desperately needs atm. Its very hard not to feel really guilty but I know that in the end it will all be worth it and he does seem to understand that I need to work really hard on the business to enable us all to stay at home and continue with our current lifestyle. He also grasps that it won't be forever and that one day there will be hopefully be staff doing all the mad running about which will equal lots more time with us. I'm sure seeing me run 3 businesses is a good lesson in hard work anyway but the guilt is awful.
We had a lovely weekend away in Devon at the beginning of the month courtesy of my parents. They booked us all rooms to celebrate my dad's 60th at a rather lovely little hotel with its own private beach, indoor & outdoor pools, games room, tennis etc etc. Food was divine and Charlie had a wonderful time. He, my parents and brother climbed the rather large mountain just outside the hotel on the Saturday morning whilst B and I lounged around in the lounge, reading and having a drink whilst gazing over the ocean and watching their progress!
Ww went to Salcombe for lunch and it was lovely there - gorgeous beaches and we had a nice walk around. Charlie and Bev played table tennis, went swimming, played crazy golf and pool in the afternoon whilst I relaxed a bit and feverishly worked on some documents for the business on my lovely new Sony Vaio laptop. It was a really lovely weekend and very nice to just get some time to do nothing.
Charlie is very close to finishing his Sonlight Core now, apparently he has finished his Science core already. He's been doing really well on his EC too and his maths is starting to come along very nicely. Sometimes he even spontaneously ask maths type questions and fiddles around with numbers on the calculator so he's clearly trying to understand it all. His favourite thing on EC at the moment is the Spanish - he loves it which reminds me I must order some Usborne Spanish and French stuff from Joanne - keep forgetting.
This weekend we have a stand at the Herts County Show they're expecting 25,000 each day I think. We went over there to start setting up today and will finish off tomorrow before the show itself on Saturday and Sunday. Unfortunately my parents are going off on yet another holiday (they haven't been back from India for a month yet!) on Sunday so poor Charlie has to be dragged with us on Sunday - the busiest day. I think he'll enjoy it though as he loves chatting to customers.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Claire needs
Claire Needs a Visit to the Bunny Planet - ermmm maybe...
Claire needs some TOUGH LOVE! - errr no!
Claire needs your help to win election - moi? A politician? An american politician - perhaps not.
Claire Needs Prayers From All of You She is Very Sick no, not sick
Claire Needs Attention. It is hour 22 of flying (hour 34 of the journey at large), becaue there is no really good way to get from Nairobi quite like plane journeys actually, perfectly capable of amusing myself.
Claire needs Malcolm to survive, yet she must somehow keep the dangerously seductive Master at arm's length. - here's where I die laughing at the idea of me needing a man!!!
Claire needs some TOUGH LOVE! - errr no!
Claire needs your help to win election - moi? A politician? An american politician - perhaps not.
Claire Needs Prayers From All of You She is Very Sick no, not sick
Claire Needs Attention. It is hour 22 of flying (hour 34 of the journey at large), becaue there is no really good way to get from Nairobi quite like plane journeys actually, perfectly capable of amusing myself.
Claire needs Malcolm to survive, yet she must somehow keep the dangerously seductive Master at arm's length. - here's where I die laughing at the idea of me needing a man!!!
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
32?!?!
How did that happen then??? Grumble.
So far I've celebrated my birthday by opening a presciption for clexane and steroids from my fertility consultant and rowing with the dumb ass receptionist at the GP's. What is it with GP receptionists? They all have such a power happy complex!
"Dr R has a pre-bookable appointment available on the 9th May"
"I need to start taking my medication on the 2nd May" etc etc
Anyway, I beat her down and I am now allowed to ring for an emergency appointment on Monday. Gee thanks.
So far I've celebrated my birthday by opening a presciption for clexane and steroids from my fertility consultant and rowing with the dumb ass receptionist at the GP's. What is it with GP receptionists? They all have such a power happy complex!
"Dr R has a pre-bookable appointment available on the 9th May"
"I need to start taking my medication on the 2nd May" etc etc
Anyway, I beat her down and I am now allowed to ring for an emergency appointment on Monday. Gee thanks.
Friday, April 13, 2007
Saturday, March 31, 2007
More catch up!
Saturday was spent in town - shopping and at the Lights and Optics exhibition at the Banbury Museum. Excellent hands on activities that Charlie loved.
The Bubble Sheet was awesome but impossible to photograph with the compact rather than my dslr.
Sunday was the photographic club outing to Cotswold Wildlife Park so we went along to that. Cue loads of stares from bewildered adults at the sight of a 9 year old walking round with a Nikon D70 and 70-300 telephoto lens, accompanied by his mother with a Canon 300d and measely kit lens. I hasten to add the Nikon is one of my dads old cameras that he has given to Charlie.
Anyway I have loved this wildlife park since I was about 5 when we first came here. My parents bought us here loads when we were little and I especially loved the brass rubbing activity but I never seem to remember to take Charlie to do that!
I didn't have my telephoto lens with me so my shots aren't so impressive but I liked this weird little penguin threesome thing going on
Bonus points to anyone who can work out what the last photo above is of!
A lovely few hours anyway and Charlie really enjoyed the playground, another one of my favourite childhood haunts.
Monday and Tuesday were work days, files, files, stress etc.
Wednesday we were up early to go for a jolly at the Puddles. Enjoyable day as always and fun coming up with the names for the Beedibles. Merry did an impressive job of photographing them with a little bit of expert direction from me.
Thursday and Friday I took as days off and just did a bit of biz stuff, mainly accounts stuff, bit of marketing and thinking about a whole new direction.
Today has been lazyish. Been into town, bought yet more business books and the HSM soundtrack and had a lovely lunch at the museum cafe. Mostly organic stuff there and yummy. Charlie had avacado and garlic dip with warm pita bread, olives and salad and was in foodie heaven!
Education wise Charlie has really powered on this week with EC, Sonlight and SOTW. EC is so worth the subscription price for us and has really helped difuse the maths stress in a big way. He was ecstatic to finally get access to the Spainish section as well.
He's done lots of art this week too, mainly from the usborne easter activities book we bought last weekend. He's done a painting, a printing and made an egg box gifty thing for my parents as their easter present complete with fimo chicks as his own addition. He's also made them an easter card - will photograph it all later. He also completed the hama mickey mouse which I have yet to iron.
The Bubble Sheet was awesome but impossible to photograph with the compact rather than my dslr.
Sunday was the photographic club outing to Cotswold Wildlife Park so we went along to that. Cue loads of stares from bewildered adults at the sight of a 9 year old walking round with a Nikon D70 and 70-300 telephoto lens, accompanied by his mother with a Canon 300d and measely kit lens. I hasten to add the Nikon is one of my dads old cameras that he has given to Charlie.
Anyway I have loved this wildlife park since I was about 5 when we first came here. My parents bought us here loads when we were little and I especially loved the brass rubbing activity but I never seem to remember to take Charlie to do that!
I didn't have my telephoto lens with me so my shots aren't so impressive but I liked this weird little penguin threesome thing going on
Bonus points to anyone who can work out what the last photo above is of!
A lovely few hours anyway and Charlie really enjoyed the playground, another one of my favourite childhood haunts.
Monday and Tuesday were work days, files, files, stress etc.
Wednesday we were up early to go for a jolly at the Puddles. Enjoyable day as always and fun coming up with the names for the Beedibles. Merry did an impressive job of photographing them with a little bit of expert direction from me.
Thursday and Friday I took as days off and just did a bit of biz stuff, mainly accounts stuff, bit of marketing and thinking about a whole new direction.
Today has been lazyish. Been into town, bought yet more business books and the HSM soundtrack and had a lovely lunch at the museum cafe. Mostly organic stuff there and yummy. Charlie had avacado and garlic dip with warm pita bread, olives and salad and was in foodie heaven!
Education wise Charlie has really powered on this week with EC, Sonlight and SOTW. EC is so worth the subscription price for us and has really helped difuse the maths stress in a big way. He was ecstatic to finally get access to the Spainish section as well.
He's done lots of art this week too, mainly from the usborne easter activities book we bought last weekend. He's done a painting, a printing and made an egg box gifty thing for my parents as their easter present complete with fimo chicks as his own addition. He's also made them an easter card - will photograph it all later. He also completed the hama mickey mouse which I have yet to iron.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Hmmm lets see - Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday are a blur of work, files, orders and stuff. My merchant accounts have finally come through and so I've been working on the Protx psp applications and intergration of those into both websites. The ever wonderful Sadie is doing all the codey/techy bits. My credit card terminal should arrive early next week - love those things. Had to get rid of the one I had with my last business because I need a mobile one now for when I do shows, fairs, playgroups etc.
I took today off and we were planning to go to London but Charlie still isn't 100% so instead we had lunch out and I've spent all day uploading all our music cd's to the computer and adding them to the 30gb video iPod which I got free with my new mobile and which finally arrived today.
We're going to put all our music on the ipod and get these really fantastic Bose speakers and dock for it and keep in the living room. We tested it out at the showroom in Bicester and the sound is pretty awesome. Will also get a smaller cheaper speaker/dock for upstairs so we can just move the ipod around if we fancy.
Charlie is going to getting B's ipod mini to put his own music selection on (he wants to download the High School Musical soundtrack among others) and will keep his ipod shuffle for his audio books. He thinks he's getting a set of Bose speakers too but err he's not! Not that he asked, he just looked wistfully in the shop and stated how good they'd look in his room and he might have enough in his savings account to buy them - err no! Bless
I took today off and we were planning to go to London but Charlie still isn't 100% so instead we had lunch out and I've spent all day uploading all our music cd's to the computer and adding them to the 30gb video iPod which I got free with my new mobile and which finally arrived today.
We're going to put all our music on the ipod and get these really fantastic Bose speakers and dock for it and keep in the living room. We tested it out at the showroom in Bicester and the sound is pretty awesome. Will also get a smaller cheaper speaker/dock for upstairs so we can just move the ipod around if we fancy.
Charlie is going to getting B's ipod mini to put his own music selection on (he wants to download the High School Musical soundtrack among others) and will keep his ipod shuffle for his audio books. He thinks he's getting a set of Bose speakers too but err he's not! Not that he asked, he just looked wistfully in the shop and stated how good they'd look in his room and he might have enough in his savings account to buy them - err no! Bless
Monday, March 19, 2007
Huge catch up
Last week consisted mainly of a load of work for me - files, working on AT and RB, accounts, quotes etc and was pretty exhausting. Running 3 businesses is tiring and very time consuming.
On Tuesday the Puddles came and we had a lovely day. Charlie was very pleased to see the girls and they all played nicely together. He had to be reminded to include Maddy as well though on a couple of occassions when he and Fran were utterly enthralled in whatever they were doing. We showed the puddles the lakes and it was lovely to get out of the house for a bit and the children seemed to enjoy it. Josie loved playing pooh sticks.
The bigger four climbed trees and everyone fed the ducks and just generally ran about enjoying themselves.
Merry had bought Hama with her in a judicious swap for Groovy Girls dolls, so after they left Charlie set about with the fantastic new Disney Donald Duck kit
He really enjoyed this kit - its the first double board design he's attempted and I was quite impressed with his efforts.
He's going to do the Mickey Mouse kit next I believe.
The rest of the week wasn't that exciting - more work for me, Charlie has EC'd and Sonlighted his way through the week and drawn lots. He's also done some Watercolour paintings with the set he got for Christmas.
On Saturday we had to go back to Milton Keynes to Ikea to get a replacement part for the unit for Charlie's room. After this we went to Willen Lake. What a find this was! We had a lovely walk around one of the lakes, and went in the bird hide which Charlie loved.
There's a Budhist Temple there and a Peace Pagoda which is the first ever one built in Europe. The garden was beautiful.
Medicine wheel - The Milton Keynes Circle of Hearts Medicine Wheel was inspired by Native American traditions as a universal symbol of peace. It offers a 'sacred space' for contemplation and an outdoor shrine to honour the diverse traditions and cultures making up the city.
We finished off the afternoon with fun on the trim trail (above!) and a hot chocolate in the cafe whilst watching the wake boarders spinning in the air. Lovely afternoon. Definitely going to go back as there were other things we didn't get to see like the labryinth and railway.
Mother's day was a lazy day, even though he was quite poorly Charlie got up early and bought us breakfast in bed - croissants and pain au chocolat, with our card and presents. Forced him back into bed at lunchtime as he was starting to get tantrum-y because he wasn't well. He spent the afternoon in bed watching dvd's and reading, burning up and coughing bless him.
Charlie slept much better last night and whilst his temp was really high all night and first thing this morning, it seems to have gone now. He's downstairs doing his Mickey Mouse hama kit I believe.
We're hoping to get into London on Thursday, not sure what we're going to do but maybe Madam Tussards and the planetarium as we've done the Natural History and Science Museums to death on our many trips to the clinic!
No legal work for me today, so I'm going to actually have some time to spend with Charlie which is nice. First though B and I are putting up his new unit and reorganising his room.
On Tuesday the Puddles came and we had a lovely day. Charlie was very pleased to see the girls and they all played nicely together. He had to be reminded to include Maddy as well though on a couple of occassions when he and Fran were utterly enthralled in whatever they were doing. We showed the puddles the lakes and it was lovely to get out of the house for a bit and the children seemed to enjoy it. Josie loved playing pooh sticks.
The bigger four climbed trees and everyone fed the ducks and just generally ran about enjoying themselves.
Merry had bought Hama with her in a judicious swap for Groovy Girls dolls, so after they left Charlie set about with the fantastic new Disney Donald Duck kit
He really enjoyed this kit - its the first double board design he's attempted and I was quite impressed with his efforts.
He's going to do the Mickey Mouse kit next I believe.
The rest of the week wasn't that exciting - more work for me, Charlie has EC'd and Sonlighted his way through the week and drawn lots. He's also done some Watercolour paintings with the set he got for Christmas.
On Saturday we had to go back to Milton Keynes to Ikea to get a replacement part for the unit for Charlie's room. After this we went to Willen Lake. What a find this was! We had a lovely walk around one of the lakes, and went in the bird hide which Charlie loved.
There's a Budhist Temple there and a Peace Pagoda which is the first ever one built in Europe. The garden was beautiful.
Medicine wheel - The Milton Keynes Circle of Hearts Medicine Wheel was inspired by Native American traditions as a universal symbol of peace. It offers a 'sacred space' for contemplation and an outdoor shrine to honour the diverse traditions and cultures making up the city.
We finished off the afternoon with fun on the trim trail (above!) and a hot chocolate in the cafe whilst watching the wake boarders spinning in the air. Lovely afternoon. Definitely going to go back as there were other things we didn't get to see like the labryinth and railway.
Mother's day was a lazy day, even though he was quite poorly Charlie got up early and bought us breakfast in bed - croissants and pain au chocolat, with our card and presents. Forced him back into bed at lunchtime as he was starting to get tantrum-y because he wasn't well. He spent the afternoon in bed watching dvd's and reading, burning up and coughing bless him.
Charlie slept much better last night and whilst his temp was really high all night and first thing this morning, it seems to have gone now. He's downstairs doing his Mickey Mouse hama kit I believe.
We're hoping to get into London on Thursday, not sure what we're going to do but maybe Madam Tussards and the planetarium as we've done the Natural History and Science Museums to death on our many trips to the clinic!
No legal work for me today, so I'm going to actually have some time to spend with Charlie which is nice. First though B and I are putting up his new unit and reorganising his room.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Best of Florida 2007 Part 2
We went to EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow or Every person comes out tired as some call it!) quite a few times during our trip. This park is huge - absolutely huge - over 300 acres! The parking lot alone is 141 acres!!! When we first went to WDW we missed on Epcot because we were so short of time, we certainly made up for it.
The first half of Epcot (EP from now on) is where the rides are. We were all dying to try out one of the new rides, Soarin. It was so worth the wait - awesome but hard to explain so I'll let Wikipedia do that bit:
"The attraction takes 87 guests at a time on a simulated hang glider tour of the Golden State. Guests "fly" over such California landmarks as San Francisco, Redwood Creek, Napa Valley, Monterey, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite National Park, Palm Springs (actually shot in nearby La Quinta), Camarillo, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, San Diego, Malibu, Los Angeles and finally Disneyland, Disney's California Adventure's neighboring theme park.
The vehicle consists of three rows of seats under a wing-like canopy. After guests have been safely restrained in the vehicle, the canopy comes down and a cantilever system lifts the chairs forward and into the air with the guests' feet dangling free. The vehicle is lifted into a huge OMNIMAX Dome movie screen onto which scenes of California are projected. Since the vehicle is moved forward into the dome, the effect is such that guests can only see the images projected on the screen and are given the sensation of flying."
We all loved, loved, loved this ride and rode it several times over our trip.
The new Nemo ride was fantastic too as was Turtle Talk with Crush which was so clever and so very funny. There are also several very good educational rides and attractions on this side of Epcot which went down well with Charlie.
The other half of Epcot surrounds the huge lagoon and consists of 11 pavillions each of which is a different country with themed buildings, gardens, shops and attractions. We particularly enjoyed Japan, China and Morroco. Lots of educational attractions here and "kidcot" stops in each country for children to do a themed art/craft activity pertinent to that country. Charlie loved picking his oyster in Japan and treasures his pearl - its a beauty. We had lunch in Morroco, dinner in Italy and snacks in Norway!
Charlie chose Epcot as his birthday and the cast members really made it special for him. We just had a few hours there on his birthday because we were up late and had dinner reservations but it was fantastic. He had happy birthday sung to him by cast members so many times which always leads to other holiday makers joining in at WDW, he was given special "dreams" and treats like two puddings and birthday cakes and cards from the characters and even decorated tables wherever we ate. WDW for a birthday is highly recommended!
Magic Kingdom is of course the park with the Castle and we had some really fantastic pure disney moments here. Charlie got chosen to play some games with the cast members whilst waiting for the afternoon parade to start
I had managed to secure the most sought after dinner reservation in the world - dinner inside Cinderella's Castle at Cinderella's Royal Table. There are "mommies" and "daddies" worldwide who get up at the crack of dawn, make practice calls, post endless threads on various disney forums discussing tactics on how to get this particular ressie. The restaurant can only seat 80 people at a time. Every day an average of 40 thousand people visit this reason and around 1/4 of them are chasing this reservation! First off there is the meet and greet with Cinderella. Charlie loved this soooo much. The upstairs to your table and for food. All the servers refer to everyone as "my prince" or "my lady" and then the fairy godmother comes out and sings and chats to everyone. Princesses get keepsake wands and princes get swords. Food was amazing here, Charlie had chicken, salmon and veg and I had the most amazing lamb shank. Can't remember what B had. Oh and that's apple juice Charlie is drinking not Coke, mum!
It was the most expensive meal we had whilst there and worth every penny. Just outside the castle people desperate people were offering hundreds and hundreds of dollars for my reservation - crazy people.
We stayed for the fireworks as well - Wishes. No-one does fireworks like WDW, love them to bits, absolutely amazing. Also love the castle at night - so pretty.
Later on in our stay we attended the first ever Princess & Pirate party in the Magic Kingdom. This was Disney at its finest - themed night time parade, themed fireworks - absolutely the best fireworks ever, ever in the world. they were perimeter fireworks and all sorts of other fancy effects that had never been done before - all too technical for me.
We'd arrived in shorts as it was really hot that afternoon but after dinner it started raining and we had to buy emergency trousers for Charlie as he was freezing bless him!
Charlie's favourite thing was the dance party where he got to dance with Chip, Dale, Lilo and Stitch. He got picked for some kind contest that wasn't a contest in the end because that would be most un-disney like, but it was funny and he loved it. He was very, very sweet with a little girl about 3 years old who had nobody to dance with in the "partnered" section. He saw she didn't have a partner, so gave up dancing with Chip and danced with her instead because she was too scared to dance with a big character. I was *so* proud of him.
The rides as ever were so much fun and we spent lots of time here. I love the Magic Kingdom, you just can't help but be happy there. We spent our last day here too (the day we flew home) and it was perfect. We caught the monorail over from the Contemporary Resort, had hot chocolate and pain au chocolat ( it was freezing in the morning!) on Main Street. We did some rides, saw Mickey's Phiharmagic (awesome 3d film), did Haunted Mansion again, had some lunch, watched the castle show (very good) discovered the very delicious funnel cakes, rode the stream train, did some last minute shopping and left for the airport feeling happy after a great last day.
For dinner on Charlie's birthday we ate at Crystal Palace which is a character buffet with pooh and friends. Charlie loved this and all the fuss from the characters too.
Disney MGM Studios is another of the Disney Parks and I got to ride my hands down all time favourite ride all of - Tower of Terror. I love this ride, it makes me laugh so much. Basically you're in an elevator that drops 13 stories in a random free fall way. Every ride is different as its programmed to do a random series of drops and rises. Its awesome! Charlie hates it and almost cries at the sight of the ride building so we got good use out of baby swap! It terrified B and she says she won't do it again. The women on either side of me were total screamers and thought I was nuts for laughing all the time!
We also managed to fulfill Charlie's ambition of swimming with the dolphins. He has been wanting to do this for years and was too young on our last trip but a mere 3 weeks as you must be 6 to swim with dolphins. We chose Discovery Cove as most going to Orlando do and it was fantastic. The park is themed and landscaped so beautifully, it's like paradise. We swam around the huge lazy river type thing, Charlie and B snorkelled with fish and rays and of course we all swam with the dolphins. They are just such awesome creatures and we learnt lots about them. The sheer power of them when the pull you back to shore is amazing. It's quite interesting as I do have an issue with whales and dolphins in captivity but the trainer I spoke to about that explained that the idea of Discovery Cove is to discourage all those tourists that go out to sea actively looking to swim with dolphins in the wild that perhaps don't want to be swum with. Apparently some people will "chase" them in boats for hours and hours which seem so cruel, just to swim with them. Anyway, Charlie loved it and was so excited and we both loved it too. No photos because you're not allowed cameras in the dolphin areas (obviously) and I don't have a scanner to show the official ones we bought.
We also went to our favourite non-Disney park - SeaWorld. Charlie loves all marine life so this is one of his favourite places to go. He loves feeding the dolphins, seeing the whales and manatees and its just a really lovely place. The dolphin nursery is so cute!
We stayed in 3 different disney resorts whilst we were there, All Stars Movies, Caribbean Beach and Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa. The last was our favourite - utterly beautiful and as it's a Disney Vacation Club resort we were able to get a one bedroom villa with a fantastic spa bath. We really enjoyed the grounds here and the pool looked gorgeous but we just didn't get time to swim. The boat ride to Downtown Disney was lovely too and we took advantage of being that close for loads of shopping!
So, apart from the 6 theme parks, water park, swimming with dolphins, character intereacting, parades, fireworks, shows, shopping, eating what did we do? Well Charlie and B did a fair bit of swimming in the hotel pools, I read a LOT (12 books in 3 weeks) whilst they swam. We did lots of wandering around, because the entire walt disney resort is just beautiful. We visited lots of the disney hotels because they are all themed differently and some are just beautiful, we hire a boat - that was fun, and screeched around the disney lakes, we armadillo spotted, lizard spotted, rabbit spotted, aligator spotted and just had a ball, in or out of the theme parks. I reckoned we must have walked hundreds of miles in 3 weeks. The UK's largest theme park fits comfortably in the car park at Magic Kingdom so you do a lot of walking!
We can't wait to go back and do all the things we missed and old favourites again!
The first half of Epcot (EP from now on) is where the rides are. We were all dying to try out one of the new rides, Soarin. It was so worth the wait - awesome but hard to explain so I'll let Wikipedia do that bit:
"The attraction takes 87 guests at a time on a simulated hang glider tour of the Golden State. Guests "fly" over such California landmarks as San Francisco, Redwood Creek, Napa Valley, Monterey, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite National Park, Palm Springs (actually shot in nearby La Quinta), Camarillo, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, San Diego, Malibu, Los Angeles and finally Disneyland, Disney's California Adventure's neighboring theme park.
The vehicle consists of three rows of seats under a wing-like canopy. After guests have been safely restrained in the vehicle, the canopy comes down and a cantilever system lifts the chairs forward and into the air with the guests' feet dangling free. The vehicle is lifted into a huge OMNIMAX Dome movie screen onto which scenes of California are projected. Since the vehicle is moved forward into the dome, the effect is such that guests can only see the images projected on the screen and are given the sensation of flying."
We all loved, loved, loved this ride and rode it several times over our trip.
The new Nemo ride was fantastic too as was Turtle Talk with Crush which was so clever and so very funny. There are also several very good educational rides and attractions on this side of Epcot which went down well with Charlie.
The other half of Epcot surrounds the huge lagoon and consists of 11 pavillions each of which is a different country with themed buildings, gardens, shops and attractions. We particularly enjoyed Japan, China and Morroco. Lots of educational attractions here and "kidcot" stops in each country for children to do a themed art/craft activity pertinent to that country. Charlie loved picking his oyster in Japan and treasures his pearl - its a beauty. We had lunch in Morroco, dinner in Italy and snacks in Norway!
Charlie chose Epcot as his birthday and the cast members really made it special for him. We just had a few hours there on his birthday because we were up late and had dinner reservations but it was fantastic. He had happy birthday sung to him by cast members so many times which always leads to other holiday makers joining in at WDW, he was given special "dreams" and treats like two puddings and birthday cakes and cards from the characters and even decorated tables wherever we ate. WDW for a birthday is highly recommended!
Magic Kingdom is of course the park with the Castle and we had some really fantastic pure disney moments here. Charlie got chosen to play some games with the cast members whilst waiting for the afternoon parade to start
I had managed to secure the most sought after dinner reservation in the world - dinner inside Cinderella's Castle at Cinderella's Royal Table. There are "mommies" and "daddies" worldwide who get up at the crack of dawn, make practice calls, post endless threads on various disney forums discussing tactics on how to get this particular ressie. The restaurant can only seat 80 people at a time. Every day an average of 40 thousand people visit this reason and around 1/4 of them are chasing this reservation! First off there is the meet and greet with Cinderella. Charlie loved this soooo much. The upstairs to your table and for food. All the servers refer to everyone as "my prince" or "my lady" and then the fairy godmother comes out and sings and chats to everyone. Princesses get keepsake wands and princes get swords. Food was amazing here, Charlie had chicken, salmon and veg and I had the most amazing lamb shank. Can't remember what B had. Oh and that's apple juice Charlie is drinking not Coke, mum!
It was the most expensive meal we had whilst there and worth every penny. Just outside the castle people desperate people were offering hundreds and hundreds of dollars for my reservation - crazy people.
We stayed for the fireworks as well - Wishes. No-one does fireworks like WDW, love them to bits, absolutely amazing. Also love the castle at night - so pretty.
Later on in our stay we attended the first ever Princess & Pirate party in the Magic Kingdom. This was Disney at its finest - themed night time parade, themed fireworks - absolutely the best fireworks ever, ever in the world. they were perimeter fireworks and all sorts of other fancy effects that had never been done before - all too technical for me.
We'd arrived in shorts as it was really hot that afternoon but after dinner it started raining and we had to buy emergency trousers for Charlie as he was freezing bless him!
Charlie's favourite thing was the dance party where he got to dance with Chip, Dale, Lilo and Stitch. He got picked for some kind contest that wasn't a contest in the end because that would be most un-disney like, but it was funny and he loved it. He was very, very sweet with a little girl about 3 years old who had nobody to dance with in the "partnered" section. He saw she didn't have a partner, so gave up dancing with Chip and danced with her instead because she was too scared to dance with a big character. I was *so* proud of him.
The rides as ever were so much fun and we spent lots of time here. I love the Magic Kingdom, you just can't help but be happy there. We spent our last day here too (the day we flew home) and it was perfect. We caught the monorail over from the Contemporary Resort, had hot chocolate and pain au chocolat ( it was freezing in the morning!) on Main Street. We did some rides, saw Mickey's Phiharmagic (awesome 3d film), did Haunted Mansion again, had some lunch, watched the castle show (very good) discovered the very delicious funnel cakes, rode the stream train, did some last minute shopping and left for the airport feeling happy after a great last day.
For dinner on Charlie's birthday we ate at Crystal Palace which is a character buffet with pooh and friends. Charlie loved this and all the fuss from the characters too.
Disney MGM Studios is another of the Disney Parks and I got to ride my hands down all time favourite ride all of - Tower of Terror. I love this ride, it makes me laugh so much. Basically you're in an elevator that drops 13 stories in a random free fall way. Every ride is different as its programmed to do a random series of drops and rises. Its awesome! Charlie hates it and almost cries at the sight of the ride building so we got good use out of baby swap! It terrified B and she says she won't do it again. The women on either side of me were total screamers and thought I was nuts for laughing all the time!
We also managed to fulfill Charlie's ambition of swimming with the dolphins. He has been wanting to do this for years and was too young on our last trip but a mere 3 weeks as you must be 6 to swim with dolphins. We chose Discovery Cove as most going to Orlando do and it was fantastic. The park is themed and landscaped so beautifully, it's like paradise. We swam around the huge lazy river type thing, Charlie and B snorkelled with fish and rays and of course we all swam with the dolphins. They are just such awesome creatures and we learnt lots about them. The sheer power of them when the pull you back to shore is amazing. It's quite interesting as I do have an issue with whales and dolphins in captivity but the trainer I spoke to about that explained that the idea of Discovery Cove is to discourage all those tourists that go out to sea actively looking to swim with dolphins in the wild that perhaps don't want to be swum with. Apparently some people will "chase" them in boats for hours and hours which seem so cruel, just to swim with them. Anyway, Charlie loved it and was so excited and we both loved it too. No photos because you're not allowed cameras in the dolphin areas (obviously) and I don't have a scanner to show the official ones we bought.
We also went to our favourite non-Disney park - SeaWorld. Charlie loves all marine life so this is one of his favourite places to go. He loves feeding the dolphins, seeing the whales and manatees and its just a really lovely place. The dolphin nursery is so cute!
We stayed in 3 different disney resorts whilst we were there, All Stars Movies, Caribbean Beach and Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa. The last was our favourite - utterly beautiful and as it's a Disney Vacation Club resort we were able to get a one bedroom villa with a fantastic spa bath. We really enjoyed the grounds here and the pool looked gorgeous but we just didn't get time to swim. The boat ride to Downtown Disney was lovely too and we took advantage of being that close for loads of shopping!
So, apart from the 6 theme parks, water park, swimming with dolphins, character intereacting, parades, fireworks, shows, shopping, eating what did we do? Well Charlie and B did a fair bit of swimming in the hotel pools, I read a LOT (12 books in 3 weeks) whilst they swam. We did lots of wandering around, because the entire walt disney resort is just beautiful. We visited lots of the disney hotels because they are all themed differently and some are just beautiful, we hire a boat - that was fun, and screeched around the disney lakes, we armadillo spotted, lizard spotted, rabbit spotted, aligator spotted and just had a ball, in or out of the theme parks. I reckoned we must have walked hundreds of miles in 3 weeks. The UK's largest theme park fits comfortably in the car park at Magic Kingdom so you do a lot of walking!
We can't wait to go back and do all the things we missed and old favourites again!
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