Recent posts have been very Sam focused. But I haven’t done away with Jack, promise.
He has been on a 3 day magic and circus workshop and LOVED it. And he made it into the local paper!
On Thurs they did an Olympic themed show for the parents.
And then we picked up Subutteo in a charity shop yesterday and he loves it.
And one of his oldest friends came to visit from the States.
A good week all round.
Jack still had his workshop on Thurs so after dropping him off Sam and I headed over to the Dockyard to catch up with Claire, Oscar and Herbie.
We started off with a quick tour of the Mary Rose Museum and some dressing up.
King Oscar and Sir Sam his loyal knight
Mini Archers
Armour!
Then it was on to Action Stations where they know their way around like the back of their hand and trying to keep up was futile.
Lunch and then HMS Warrior. By this point Claire and Herbie were settled in the cafe and I was left trailing in the boys wake as they carried on with the treasure hunt/trail they were following.
They wanted to do some colouring (turned out to be colouring flags that I had drawn for Activity Village 
) and treated all on board to a rendition of the national anthem.
Another lovely day.
After dropping Jack off at his workshop on Weds, Sam and I headed to the City Museum in Portsmouth to meet up with some friends at one of the museums ‘Out to Lunch’ activities.
They…
…played with buzzwires…
…writing and sending messages in bottles…
…made paper cup telephones and spent a lot of time running around and playing in the beautiful museum garden.
And then I got conned into some new clothes from Gap and some new maps (Sam likes maps!) which proved a hazard to other shoppers!
Jack is on a 3 day magic and circus skills workshop in Gosport and is loving it. While he was there on Tuesday Sam and I went to the Submarine Museum.
The walk to the museum takes us through one of the many local marinas (and very pretty it is too).
Haslar Creek, and time for me to display my ability to recall pointless facts. One theory behind the origins of the phrase ‘up the creek without a paddle’ comes from when sailors were brought up Haslar Creek by boat to the Naval Hospital in Nelson’s time often to die. The location of the site made it into a sort of prison so even those who recovered could not escape and desert.
We opted not to tour the Submarine at the museum as it was busy and ticket are valid for a year so we’ll go back. Instead we stuck to the science galleries
They have a Horrible Science exhibition on at the moment which we were looking forward to but was actually dull. We love the Horrible History stuff and the Geography but the science doesn’t work anywhere near as well somehow, it should the subject matter is there but… The exhibition didn’t seem to contain any actual ‘science’ just cartoons. Good for some kids I suppose but Sam much preferred the permanent — not child focused — gallery.
It was Make and Take day so we stopped to make …
Jolly Roger — also the flag of submarines. If you click on the picture it will take you to a site with info on what the symbols.
Horrible Science inspired bag
When we got home we spent ages playing with bubbles (I was blowing so no photos) and Jack did some juggling practice.
Ha Ha Ha
When we put our request in for Olympic tickets we decided to pick the venues rather than events– we were never going to get or afford front row tickets at the stadium to see Jess Ennis so we went for Wembley and Wimbledon. Failed to get Wimbledon but did get Wembley.
Women’s semi’s actually. France v Egypt
Stadium was wonderful. Brilliant seats. Lovely atmosphere (Sam was fascinated by the Mexican waves). Football was appalling in the first half, exciting in the second. Other people’s kids were a pain as ever. I nearly got stabbed in the eye by the Egyptian flag, enthusiastically waved by the very large, loud map next to me. Fabulous day.
Stayed the night in the worst hotel EVER. Travelodge out on the North Circular. Called itself Wembley but was a good hours walk from stadium. Spent a bit of time pottering around Wembley yesterday morning — it was dismal! I love London but not there.
It was HOT!!
And it is still hot and I’m tired and can’t be bothered typing so here are some photos.
Buddhist Hearse
Motorbike Hearse
Football tent
football
Playing in the woods
Catching pond animals
Sam in a den
Kids
Sam found his bedroom (bombsite — get it!)
Vegetable tent
Old time farming
For Hannah
Jack got to sit in a Spitfire
They bought an entire armoury home from the fair
… well we did, but that was for a toilet break.
Our real venue was…
It was absolutely fantastic. Words fail me, so here are lots of photos instead
Actually I think it should be ‘I saw three ships come sailing in’, but that didn’t work at all.
And as it happened we didn’t see them sail by as it started raining very hard. We just saw them coming out of Southampton and even that wasn’t very clear thanks to the mist…
Yesterday marked the 175th anniversary of P&O cruises and all 7 of their cruise ships set out from Southampton at the same time.
Pete was late back because of the traffic so we ran (or hobbled fast in my case) down to the beach. Unfortunately no Red Arrows thanks to the mist.
You have to squint, there are ships there I promise. I had no idea until I moved down here how big and impressive cruise ships are. I remember the first time I saw the Queen Mary II (not one of these), I was on the bus going to an OU exam and as we turned on to the bridge into Southampton as one the whole bus drew a breath and went wow!
A hovercraft! Also impressive to see — if bumpy to ride (living by the sea is great!).
Like most of the kids down there Sam was more interested in throwing stones.
We left before the ships came past as the rain was coming down hard and owing to leaving the house in a hurry I’d realised half way there I was in my slippers!!!
We’re just back from a week and a half at my Dad’s in N Wales. When the kids were young I used to be so relieved to get home as the trip would leave me physically exhausted and mentally drained, now the kids are older and able to cope with the strangeness better I just feel sad to leave. Don’t get me wrong I miss Pete of course and it is nice to be in my own house. But Wales will always be home.
Lee is a lovely place to live (much nicer than the town I grew up in) and I have friends down here I’d miss if we left. But apart from Pete and the boys the people I love are all back up in N Wales and I miss them a lot. It’s over 7 hrs each way so really a once a year trip. Oh well we’re not in a position to move up and even if we could I’m not sure we would, the boys are settled here.
So holiday was off to a bad start as the first day was my Aunt’s funeral. Not an easy day. My aunt was a wonderful woman who has been ill for 20 years but kept her spirit and her sense of humour throughout and I will miss her hugely. But she also represented a link to my mum as they were extremely close sisters and the day was full of little reminders that my mum is not here and without my aunt here my mum feels that bit more distant.
Anyway, cheering up a bit. After the funeral we collected the kids from my friend’s and went for ice cream. There is a farm near Chester where they make their own ice cream and they have lots of activities for kids. It was very wet so we settled for just an ice cream and a run around the ‘pig maze’.
Sam and ice cream
The ‘pig maze’
Saturday was wet again so I took the boys into Chester for a potter.
Chester Rows
Chester Cathedral from the roman walls
Sunday,we went round to my oldest friend’s house for lunch and I got to cuddle a gorgeous baby. I tried to get a photo by giving the baby to Jack — that didn’t end well! No permanent damage done though
Monday and the sun finally came out so it was off to the beach.
in the cage — peace!
Oops!
The tide was in when we got there so there was time for a play in the park.
As soon as the sand was visible it was onto the beach and into the sea.
There were also sandcastles (and a sand fish!)
And football!
chillaxing!
Tuesday was nippier so we went out to lunch
And they had a park
And then to the Ice Cream Farm again for pudding. Since it wasn’t raining we got to see all the areas which they have added since last year.
There were playgrounds
calves
and a model coe you could ‘water’
Sam had a go at panning for (fools) gold and yes I have a bag of grit!
And there were quad bikes!
Weds was supposed to be really hot so back to the beach. Unfortunately stiff sea wind was chilling so not much sea this time.
Thurs was cold and wet so we went into Mold to have breakfast with my sister and nephew (who is off school having finished his GCSEs which makes me feel very OLD!) and a very quick potter about the shops. Then back to Grandad’s where I drew a map of Avantia (Beast Quest) for Sam to scribble all over.
Jack read
And they both drew
Friday was wet but we went up the hills
Then we nipped to the shops to get the 100th Blue Nose Friend!
… I mean, look at the camera and smile — simple! How is it impossible for them both to manage that at the same time!
I deleted the worst 4 too!
At least they are happy I suppose
These were taken outside the local church where the Beavers were helping at the Diamond Jubilee Thanksgiving service, Jack was press-ganged in to bulk up numbers. I intended to use the picture to head a moany post complaining at the way many parents treat the volunteers that run youth groups such as Beavers and of course Rainbows. Never got round to it though and the moment has passed. Sure I’ll come back to it though, term isn’t finished yet!
Activity Village updates
