Life is a Highway - it’s the journey, not the destination

What with all the war stuff going on here, I was thinking we could get a model of a plane for Marcus to have a go at. Have had a look online to see what there is, although been a bit dissapointed when looking at sites that it doesn’t show you the skill level or even what paints are required (some sites, not all of course) Anyway, it reminded me that we actually do have a model car that M got for his birthday last year that had been awaiting a father/son type day to get started on. Of course, this hasn’t happened as neatly as we’d have liked so it’s laid in wait in the back of a cupboard. I dug it out yesterday and we duly got started.

As expected really, M was a bit heavy handed at first with the painting, but as it progressed he got better and better and has really enjoyed doing it. It’s not perfect by any means, but for a first model he’s done really well. It’s not quite finished, I’ll do a pic when it’s done, should be done by the end of the weekend.

We’ve been doing quite a lot of looking through books about the wars. We drift from one world war to the other quite easily! This book arrived yesterday and M was over the moon at it. He is absolutely obsessed with guns, not just with playing with them, but knowing the names and everything about them. I, of course, am not the best at supplying him with the information (but my FIL is) so I thought this book would come in handy. We also cleared the library of almost every war book around, oops! I managed to pick up one of those Michael Morpurgo books, Jan mentioned in the comments. It was the Private Peaceful one which I’ve started to read to see how it would be. I’m not sure just yet that it will be good, always got to check for anything that might cause anxiety and nightmares. The first chapter has the boys dad dying and him blaming himself! Might be a book better read in the day time! I’m enjoying it so far though. Haven’t read anything in ages. I did pick up this book from the library too which is lovely. Yet to read it to the kids, but will do soon.

Alex and I have been playing some games. We got Landlock and Castle Keep from PlayMerrily. A absolutely adores Landlock, even though we’ve only played a couple of games of it. She just likes to make up a little world for the gnomes! Also of note is that M played his first ever full game of chess with me. I’m not great at chess, and have hardly played it but he did really well with the game and I only just beat him. I should probably have let him win, but I was being a bit of a meany!

Also had a couple of nice visits from Jax and kids. Finally managed to actually get to chat to her on the second which was nice, even if my children were just being awful. I think they’ve had too many e numbers or something lately, but they’ve just been going mad. Acually, maybe it’s the paint fumes!! Apart from that though, we’ve been a bit stuck in the house as FIL has had to borrow our car. Meant I missed our violin lesson too

Speaking of violin, A did her practise in that today (I need to try and make her do more as we’re just never managing to do it) and she’s also started her new recorder book I got her. It’s called Recorder Wizard which I quite liked the look of and so far she’s been able to do it on her own as it has a cd with it. She def seems to like the recorder and is getting much better at it, mostly from her own steam too which is good. She can play Mary Had a Little Lamb well now. It’s actually taken her this long to be able to cover the holes properly (and she still sometimes struggles) as her fingers are so small. Of course I did find my old recorder book as soon as I ordered the new one, but hey ho. She has a few things to go through now.

As I may have mentioned before, M has a definite interest in both the world wars, any sort of military stuff, guns, fighting you name it. I decided it might be an idea to get a few books on the subject and let him educate himself on it. Actually he’s been educating me mostly!!

Last week I got The First World War Usborne book which I’d been eyeing up for a while (still would like to get the 2nd WW book). Wasn’t sure whether M would go for it as it’s a bit hit and miss with him when I get books, however he loved it and spent a good half hour at least looking through it with me, telling me all the bits he knew about etc. Now, I know *nothing* about the 1st world war excpet a bit about trenches so this is all new to me. M wanted me to try and find a WW1 game that he could play. he really likes Medal of Honour on the Wii (I know not really appropriate for his age!) and wants a WW1 game. Doesn’t seem to be much there, apparantly due to the boring-ness of the fights but looks like there might be some plane games about I said I’d look into.

Anyway, today I spent a good while reading up the book so that I’d have a bit better grounding in the subject. I managed to also find a couple of free online games for M which he really enjoyed - here and here for anyone else interested (and for me to find when I lose them). We had a bit of discussion about the planes and I told M I had found out what Aces were (was one of his questions the other day) and so we talked about that.

I realised I had enough in various survey accounts to get an amazon voucher so spent some of it on various WW1 books. A horrible histories audio book and a couple of those My Story books. Hoping they won’t be too harrowing though.

Am going to try and take the kids to the Imperial War Museum as there is a Frightful First World War Exhibition on there. No rush though, it’s on till the beginning of next year.

Bedtime story was the first from the War Stories book I’d also bought. I wasn’t planning on these being bedtime stories, but M insisted. The first was a very long winded overview of the war, how it started, ended and the main bits inbetween. Anyway, they said they enjoyed it They were looking through some horrible histories cards (from the magazine) at the time, and managed to pick out some WW1 cards which we read afterwards. There were quizzes on the back which we did too and not just about WW1 so lots of history done!

yay - we love camping! We spent 2 nights near Ipswich this weekend so we could be near a party the kids had been invited to. I think we managed to get all sorts of weather thrown at us!

First of all, and one of the best bits for me, was as soon as we arrived at the camp site there was some kids in the playfield and Alex shouted ‘can I go make friends with them?’ and so Marcus and her went off and we hardly saw them. I don’t think we’d even got the tent out of the car by this point! My poor children who can’t socialise Always nice to see them make friends so easily, especially lately as I do tend to be worrying lots about M. I know I shouldn’t!

The tent went up nice and easily althought it was windy and we never managed to get the canopy up. We just couldn’t control it and I was worried we’d end up paragliding down the field. The wind only got worse over the weekend, so probably just as well we never managed it. Saturday was really nice weather, I managed to catch the sun while putting up the tent, so we went to Felixstowe for a much needed visit to the sea. I really liked it there actually, wasn’t sure what to expect, but being the bank holiday weekend I expected it to be slightly busier. We had ice cream and a nice walk and it all felt rather holiday like Went to buy some food supplies and then headed back to the tent for some tea. Again we hardly saw the kids, think it was 9pm when we finally managed to convince them it was time for sleep. One camper was doing a magic show (not sure if this was arranged by campsite or not) and Alex really loved watching it.

I think it rained a lot in the night, although sometimes it seems hard to gauge how much it did. Was slightly annoyed that the tent was dripping in some places but on driving out in the morning and speaking to other people we realised it was a spectacular amount of rain so maybe I should forgive it. We headed off, trying to stay respectable looking, to the party which was held at a gymnastics centre. All was great fun, for adults and kids alike. Although I think James hurt his back doing and indiana jones like rope swing. Hmmmm. We headed back to the party house for food and games which was lovely. Was really nice to catch up with people and have some nice chats. Lots of house and ‘rainbow stuff’ envy went on!

We were a bit worried to get back to the tent so put offf going back by having tea at Mcd’s. I just couldn’t imagine cooking in foul weather. The tent did survive though, just a few drips but as we’d covered up all bedding that was fine. We spent a nice evening playing ds’s and battleships before bed. I think the fact we were in the bedroom for most of the evening led to me being a bit claustrophobic and I struggled to sleep that night. It was extremely windy too and I was worried the tent would go so that didn’t help! Managed about 4 hours I think.

Taking the tent down again was nice and easy, small tents have advantages. Felt sorry for some of the others taking down huge tents which were inner first, just looked really hard work. Journey home was uneventful.

Kids had a fab time, M has requested that we camp for his birthday so will have to see what we can do. Shall try and add some pics in later on

he looks at your ‘FCUK it’ t-shirt and says - Ahhh now I get that t-shirt!!

ok, I was going to buy a khyam windbreak with a canopy even though they have very mixed reviews (you either love em or hate em (in other words can’t put them up well). The reason I was thinking about it was basically just for somewhere to cook in the event of rain.

But, I’ve seen this atrium canopy for small tents. which will fit our new weekender tent and looks like it will be a useful extra space if we need it, plus we could use for cooking under. The more I was thinking about it the more I wondered if it would fit our big tent too. But just wanted to see if anyone else thinks it might do too. It says it fits to the front pole of the tunnel tent or the porch pole of a dome. Now our Tourer 600’s back bedroom section has a door and we normally don’t put the bedroom up in that bit so we can use both exits. It’s a lower door and has a pole that I am assuming is a porch pole. But I don’t know if what I think is the porch pole is what they mean is one iykwim!! You can see the back of the tent in the rhs of this pic (courtesy of TRB’s). Does anyone think that the atrium would fit that side? The height of the porch pole is around about the same height of the tent we’ve just bought I think.

I guess I’m just looking for another reason that it would be a good buy… (maybe I should just e-mail Khyam and ask…)

and feeling sorry for myself

Anyway, have spent some time browsing camping sites and thinking about various possibilities of places to go to. Not a bad way to spend a day really.

Have been looking here for places near the F of H - not much nearby is there? Are there any thoughts on it all yet? Not even sure where we should be discussing it, obv don’t want too much given away on blogs. Any ideas?? Edit - or was it decided to go to same place as Beans last year? Fine by me if so, I’ll stop looking

Thinking about going away camping is the only thing that’s keeping me going at the moment. Havign a few stressful days lately. Normal stuff really, I’m hormonal and the kids are just being too boisterous and I can’t cope with it.

But today the new tent arrived and after our violin lesson we headed off to my mums garden to put it up. Admittedly I didn’t pitch it well (didn’t put any guys out so it looks slightly lopsided), but am fairly happy with it.

We’re off to this campsite at the bank holiday weekend and so will test it out properly there. Half of me is dreading camping on a busy weekend and half me is so excited. I just prefer nice quiet spots!!

Been reading this book too which is very armchair camping, but my kind of book all the same. Some gorgeous looking campsites in there. Have to buy them all, but thank goodness for the library.

Hoping 3 bad days in a row will be the end of the run and tomorrow will be better.

ok, a bit of a more cheery post than that one below (although I suppose it is helpful to write things down, I hate being down constantly on the blog).

I meant to blog my decision to become vegetarian when I first decided about 6 weeks or so ago but I never got round to it. So for those that don’t know: ‘My name is Kirsty and I now no longer eat meat!’ I’ve often thought about being veggie again (I was veggie at school) but had always talked myself out of it on the ethical side as I never felt it would make as much of a difference to animal welfare as buying good quality meat would. It wasn’t as if I never liked the taste of meat, I did, so i kept on.

When james went to the doctors last month and was told he had high blood pressure it made me think about our diet (I constantly think we eat badly!!) and I knew we had to do something. I googled (as I do about anything!!) and saw that vegetarians tend to have lower blood pressure and asked James if he thought it was a good idea, he agreed and my decision was made. James lasted about half a day and had chicken sandwich or something to which I said: ‘ that’s not very vegetarian is it?’ and he replied ‘but I’m allowed fish and chicken aren’t I? Otherwise I’d be vegan’ Hmm *rolls whole head*. He hasn’t done very well since (why on earth did he say he’d do it in the first place - was it one of those Homer Simpson moments where he was just agreeing while thinking about donuts??) but I’ve decided I’ll stick to it and since I cook all our main meals will be veggie so I suppose he’ll benefit a bit.

Have to say I’ve really enjoyed it so far. Such a far cry from being at school and my mum feeding me chips and a veggie burger all the time. No wonder I didn’t stick to it. We’re still trying to figure out meals we’ll all enjoy. M is very fussy with food and tbh it’s taken ages to get him to eat what he does like now, but mostly his faves are spag bol (made a nice one the other day with mushrooms instead of mince which we all loved), pizza, boiled eggs and pasta and tom sauce so don’t think should be too bad and certainly no worse than normal in trying to get him to try other things.

Some of the sites I’ve found really helpful are Lucy’s Vegan Family House and also Vegan Dad. Lucy’s site has been such an eye opener for me and tbh I didn’t realise I had such strong preconceptions of how ‘weird’ and ‘extreme’ a vegan diet was until I started reading about it. But I started looking at the recipes and thinking how fab they all looked and sounded and realised how wrong I was. I actually think I’d like to aspire to being as animal free in my own diet now (again for both health and ethical resons), but am taking it all a step at a time. I don’t really eat cheese that much anyway, in fact normally only on pizza and I’ve even given that up (I have sesame seeds on instead of cheese now if I do make it for myself) so it’s really only milk, yoghurts and eggs. Eggs will probably be the only sticking point, but we’ll see. Oh actually - chocolate!! That’s the hard bit. I’m trying to wean myself away from milk chocolate and develop a taste for plain which I’ve always hated so far. It’s working a bit Anyway, I’m not in any real rush to change.

I guess one of the best things about it all is that i’m trying so many new things. I’m a really fussy person when it comes to food, (M certainly takes after me!!) that I can sit in a rut for ages but this has made me have to try new things and it’s been great. Not to mention that I’ve managed to lose half a stone since starting it (I was doing WW too before my hol - not since coming back but in the weeks on hol and since coming back have lost another 2 lb). Now if I can just lose the rest I’ll be happy

Any veggie recipes, especially ones that kids seem to love will be really appreciated!

One of the other things we’re going to be starting doing is cutting out Aspartame and sweetners in the kids diets. I was always dithering about what way to go on it as I never saw any Hyperactive effects on the kids. One of the deciding factors of my starting to *not* worry about it was that M was having teeth problems and as he won’t drink just water we figured the sugar free drinks would be the best way to go.

However, lately one thing that has been getting me a little concerned is M’s constant worrying and anxiety in situations. I do really feel he’s not getting better with it as time goes by (if anything he’s worse) so I was looking into it and wondering if his diet could make it better. Seems Aspartame may cause anxiety so I’m figuring it’s got to be worth a go to see if it will make any difference to him. Will be starting it tomorrow (as kids had one last day of crap at my mums shop so I could brief her on it) and I’m going to try and keep a food diary. Will see how it goes, anything so I don’t blame myself for it (I keep blaming the moving about we’ve done although I’m sure it’s not the only reason). If anyone has any ideas on the anxiety then I’d be happy to hear that too

this past week has been quite a nice reintroduction to the British Climate it has to be said We’ve been ever so busy (by my standards) with something happening most days. I’ve taken some photos which are on flickr, mostly of kids out and about enjoying the fresh air. Always good. I also took some photos of a Home Ed Day in Pictures which I’ll blog about soon hopefully.

Only downside to this week has been falling out with my FIL over the whole HE thing. Had started a blog to get out of my system but never finished it. James saying he sticks by our decision regardless of anyone else seemed to make everything just feel better. I do love him!

Seemed to have a little bit of a wobble this morning over local friends. Dunno why, because I’ve never given it much thought. Maybe I had a dream about it last night or something, whatever it was really shook me up. But basically I was feeling pretty crap about our lack of local things that we do (I do tend to be envious when I read of other peoples HE groups and stuff). I can’t seem to penetrate the local scene at all and feel at home there and make good friends for the kids and it really got me down. Reminded me a bit of starting work life. All my school friends seemed to have gone in different directions and I assumed I’d make friends at my first work. As it was it seemed they were all happy with their own friends and I didn’t seem to be very good at getting in with people. I eventually felt I had no-one special to call a good friend, it shaped my whole future and is why I’m so crap in social situations now I’m sure. It seems the same now. I feel like I’m struggling more now than I ever did when starting the HE thing. It’s not like anyone is nasty or unfriendly, I just seem to be just someone who people say hi to, maybe have a little chit chat and that’s it. God I’ve been down here for 18 months and feel lonely as hell sometimes. I just wish I was better at it all, but it just drives me more into my shell and I want to run away and start somewhere new. I suppose I just need to be brave and start asking people if they want to come round. I guess just sometimes it would be nice if someone went out of their way to invite us round to get to know them better and I can’t remember the last time that happened. So the cynic in me thinks it’s because I’m not worth getting to know better or that the kids are annoying as hell and noone wants them as friends for thier kids.

(reading this back, don’t mean to say I don’t feel like the local friends I do have and see aren’t good enough cos they are and I value them loads. I just feel like I aint getting anywhere with anyone else and I suppose wondering about if my social crapness is going to be passed on)

Ok I’ve slapped myself now and will shut up. This wasn’t supposed to be a moany post

Slightly sunnier this time though

Had a nice time in the Algarve, we were there for 12 days and managed pretty much fantastic weather for 11 and a half of those. On arrival there were a few showers, but not much. The thing that made it ‘only nice and not a great holiday’ was the distance we were from everywhere. The hotel was another of my mum and dad’s timeshare deals so didn’t cost us anything but it was really set up for people who had hired a car (we wanted to but as we don’t have a credit card were having problems). It was nowhere near *anywhere*. The first day we figured we ought to try and walk to the shop and it took us over an hour. There were no taxis anywhere and if James hadn’t flagged one down luckily we’d have had an hour walk back. It just made life very difficult there as we were constantly worrying about food and when we’d get more. Couldn’t even treat the kids to an ice cream either and we certainly couldn’t afford the restaurant there so didn’t try it!

There was a couple of trips out due to the courtesy bus the hotel did have. We managed to go to Albufiera and Vilamoura and although touristy, it was so what we needed - life!! (and ice creams ) Managed to do a couple of supermarket trips with this too which helped, but I was still stressing about food!

Kids loved swimming in the pool. At the start of the holiday it was a little cold outside in the pool, but warmed up after a few days. There was an indoor pool too and both kids really improved in their swimming. A is without armbands now!

Mostly we spent time around the pool and at the beach which was a shorter walk than the shop thankfuly. It was a very relaxing holiday with not much to report, but I do wish it had been different. I hardly felt we were in Portugal, we could have been anywhere really. We would love to come back and do it justuce, although as James and I are hating flying more with each trip we might drive!!!

Photo’s will follow once flickr uploads them, I pruned them heavily as James was in charge of the camera mostly and there are just loads of the kids on various beaches!

Oh and before I forget, I must mention that James met Kate Garraway from GMTV at the airport on the way back. She’d been out to do a report for the Madeleine anniversary and we’d seen her on telly on the morning. He asked her for an autograph for his dad which just really makes me chuckle!!!

Photos:

A few of my favourites, rest are on flickr

Marcus just loves the sea. He really is just like a different kid, he;s so at home there. More fuel for me to go and live by the sea!!

and finally, I don’t really like this one as the sun was in our eyes, but it’s the only one of all of us together.