Fifteen!

Zoe had some friends round to celebrate her birthday.  It stayed dry enough to light the firepit for smores.....

Pressies!

Cake!

Sparklers!

Harry Potter spell!

Hot Chocolate

And then they were twelve!

It is such a cliche of being a parent, but the years seem to be passing at an accelerating rate. It is hard to believe that it is twelve years since Hannah and Daniel were born.
They seem to have settled in well at school. No doubt it helps having an older sister to show them the ropes.
Hannah had some friends round last Saturday for her party. They chatted a bit, and watched "The Hunger Games" on DVD. Neither of us had seen it, so we relied on Zoe's advice that it wasn't too scary or inappropriate for Hannah's friends.  They all seemed to enjoy it and we haven't received any complaints from the other parents about nightmare!

 Daniel is going "do-nutting" with some friends this afternoon. Should be fun..
They were both pretty miffed that they had to go to school on their birthdays. Especially for Hannah as she says that Tuesdays at school are "boring".
They both survived though, and we had a fun evening watching some video of their first birthdays.

Sent from my iPod

New school!

Three weeks after the operation Daniel started secondary school!  Obviously with Hannah and Zoe for company....

Where did those years go?!



...and hospital

On Sunday evening Daniel complained of having stomoach ache and was ill before going to bed. Lynda stayed with him all night, and on Monday Daniel pretty much stayed in bed all day, and didn't eat anything at all.
Zoe and Hannah had been treated to a pony trekking trip on Monday. After they had returned , we decided to pitch camp and head home. By then Daniel's stomach was causing him a lot of discomfort, and he was saying that he wanted to see a doctor.  So we knew that he definitely wasn't right.
I took him to A&E, and after various doctors and surgeons prodding him to see where it hurt the most. I signed the consent form for him to have an operation to have his appendix removed!
Daniel came home the next day, and was still in quite a bit of discomfort, but after a few days started to make really good progress. After a couple of weeks he was running, cycling and even pogo-sticking around the place.

Camping, pony trekking.....

We headed down to Lytton Lawn near Milford-on-Sea just outside the New Forest a few weeks ago. All was going well. The weather was ok, and we went for a walk out on the spit of land to Hurst Castle which had good views of the Isle of Wight and also some opportunities to fly kites. We then took the small ferry back to where we had parked the car. Then heded to Lymington for some crabbing on the harbour wall. That was on the Sunday daytime.

Inspire a Generation!

Dismbarking the ferry

Waiting for a .....

...catch!

Hannah and light up Poys

"Let's trek"

Hannah on pony

Zoe on pony

Kite Buggying

I was given a voucher for a kite buggying lesson for my 50th last year. I booked a lesson down at Camber Sands near Rye in Sussex. I got up early and headed down. The people were freindly and helpful, but unfortunately there was very little wind. So in the end I had a couple of hours practice flying some big kites, but will be going back for the actual buggying part another time.

Globe Theatre and Olympics London (Part 2)

I mention the Olympics as London seemed full of the volunteer helpers giving directions and travel advice. We also found that they were giving away "free stuff". At Waterloo station, we were given ice creams and maps, a,nd whilst walking along the South Bank, Zoe got a pair of sunglasses and I got a small electronic fan which lit up when it span.
There were also some large versions of the Olympics mascots, Wenlock and Mandeville.

Would you like a map sir?

Nelson with new hat!

A phonebox (didn't work)

Mascots at St Paul's

Free music!

Near "Wobbly Bridge"

Outside Tate Modern



Rings and Fountains