Forever Blowing Bubbles

The Dummy Issue

Just an excuse to post this photo really. 

But the other night I couldn't find Esme a dummy at bed time.  So I decided she didn't need one.

We agreed she was a big girl now and Olive needed them more.

She didn't shout, pout, hit or throw live ammunition at my head.  If anything I'd say her sleep is better.

Dunno what all the fuss and dread is about!

The Sleep Issue

Sleeping patterns in our house are quite comical at the moment.

Esme and I seem to end up co-sleeping at least twice a night, which could take place in any bed, and Tash seems to spend a chunk of the night awake downstairs only to retire back up with Olive when us other three head down.

Previous techniques to get Esme asleep - even when she is beyond tired - are somewhat hit and miss, and I often find myself cuddled up with her in her bed to get her to drop off.  Now I wouldn't have a problem with that, it's just I swear its a ploy to get me asleep so that she can wreck havoc.  Just the other night she escaped downstairs and emptied Tash's cup of tea all over the floor, which when questioned with 'where the hell were you?' all I had in my defense was 'I must have dropped off'.

And then she might wake in the night.  So we can end up cuddled up again, in either her or my bed.  Sometimes I think I prefer her bed, this photo shows the space she leaves me in my own bed.  And no, its not that enormity of empty mattress behind her, she believes I can levitate for her to be able to lay on her right.

20th June - A Day To Celebrate

Superworm Is Super Strong!

Another Climber!

With Alfie at school Esme set to work on developing her climbing skills.

Most notably moving, and then scaling,  the wicker wood basket.  It amazes me how quick she sorts things out and masters them!

Poorly Boy + Snowfall. End of World Imminent

Today in a nutshell.  Boy was ill.  Boy was so ill he fell asleep.  So me and Essie had lunch in the kitchen.  It snowed.  Tash came home early.  I took Harry for a walk in the snow.

A Christening, A Cruise, and Some Chaos

Had one of those special little moments with Alfie this morning.  We fixed his 'scoot' bike together and he loved helping wield an 8mm spanner, grease the cable and pump up the tyres.  All this means he'll leave his little blue 'bike' to Esme and now ride the repaired yellow 'big boys' scoot.   We went for a quick ride and boy did he adjust to the narrow tyres and faster speeds quickly!  Just a shame I didn't have a picture taking device with me. 

Meanwhile,  Esme was torturing Harry, no change there!  Seriously though, they are so sweet together.

The afternoon was spent attending our friends little girl, Felicity Rose Booth, Christening in Stotfold.  It was a lovely afternoon yet for some reason I seem to have failed at picture taking again. 

Apart from that it was highlighted that I currently look somewhat like Rolf Harris.  What amazing friends I must have!!

Beware, Giant Gorillas!

Alfie went back to school today.  Now doing 2 days a week.  This gives me and Esme a bit more time together which is pretty cool.  Though she isnt too sure on giant plastic gorillas.

We also took Harry for a walk by the river.  It reminded me I should go that way more often as it's so much nicer than the 'Tuns field'.

The evening was spent at the Retro Rides awards night down at the Ace Cafe - which was excellent - and then listening to that god aweful football team I support lose the first leg of the league cup semi final to Bradford - which was rubbish.

First Bread of 2013!

Baked my first bread of the year and as per usual Esme caused max destruction in the kitchen.  Split my dough into three instead of the usual two to give me more baguette style loaves.  Basically a loaf that can be a bit more versatile and provide slices for toast as well as double up as a 'super-sub'!

This evening I jogged a couple of miles with Harry. It's not exactly a new fitness routine,  but I figure if I need to walk him I might as well get the chubby hound to lose a few pounds in the process.

Ink And Animals

Life seems to have been super busy recently and I've fallen way behind with the blog.  Well the catchup starts here ... I hope!

Nearly a month ago (23rd Sept) Tash took a day off work so we could have a family day out down to the south coast.  My friend Nicky now lives in Australia and I hadn't seen her since the days when I worked in the city.  She has a young boy, Riley, who is just a little older than Alfie and we had often spoken about how lovely it would be to see the two of them play together.  They were in the UK for three weeks and ridiculously busy but we managed to squeeze in an afternoon shortly before their boarding call was announced.

This also presented an opportunity for me to visit Skelly in the morning and get some ink on my leg!  With the day planned out we set off ridiculously early and comfortably reached Portsmouth for 10:30am.

This piece was started over 10 years ago, but I wanted to give it a freshen up and so we squeezed in a few hours before lunch.  That gave us time to do the outline and a large chunk of the biomech shading.  I hadn't seen Skelly for nearly 10 years either so it was great to catch up and check out his new shop.  Next sitting will see the biomech shading finished, the leopard gecko touched up, and then start to think about introducing the weeping angel around the other side.

Here's the before and after pics. I am very excited for my next sitting and to see the leg all finished off!

 

With my leg all wrapped up we made our way out to a farm just outside of Pompey and met up with Nicky and Riley.   This is Riley, such an awesome little dude!

Animal feed was purchased and the kids were let loose.  And what fun they had!

And whilst the boys enjoyed being boys Esme enjoyed some quality sling time with Tash.

Some went high and some went low.

Whilst others went left and a few went right.

A few years spent around the Aussie bush has led Nicky to forget all about British farms.  The goats caused her enormous surprise!

 
 And she made for a very awkward customer at the kids 'shop'.

 Eventually chickens, goats, pigs and alpacas get tiring though and it was time for refreshments.

 

But its as we were about to leave that the real fun was found.  Cos what more do kids need than a pair of wellies (or not in Riley's case) and some muddy puddles.

And if the pictures leave you in any doubt here's the video to back it all up!

It was a great day, and just a shame Riley and Alfie can't play together more often.  But maybe days like this wouldn't be so magical if they could.

And to round off a great day we rolled round to Hayling Island and enjoyed fish and chips with a view out to sea.

All my photos of the day can be found here.

Whats Small and Fast and Painted All Over?

Alfie had his first day at pre-school this week.  No dramas, and as expected with that one he ran off to play and make new friends as soon as he set foot inside the building.  I could probably have snuck out and he wouldn't have cared but that's not the way I do things with Alfie.  After about 10 minutes I managed to get him back, explained Esme was tired and I was taking her home, but that we would be back later.  I didn't even get a kiss goodbye!

According to the staff, and indicated to me by the fact his hair returned somewhat multicoloured, he had an absolute ball.  "He's quite a character isn't he!?" were the words offered to me as I collected him after 6 hours of 'school'.  And did he want to come home?  "No, NO WAY!" was bellowed towards me as a little pair of legs made like a blur in the opposite direction.

I'm not sure if they found him tiring but he sure found them tiring!  I managed to get him out of the car still sleeping and let him lay on the sofa.  I wondered what Essie would do at the sight of her brother in the land of nod next to her.  She choose to play with all his toys right under his nose!

And then, which had me in absolute stitches, she investigated why her brother wasn't giving her attention for playing with said toys!

I didn't really have time to miss him - there's too much to do and six hours goes SO fast - but bloody hell the house was quiet!

And If You Can't Go For A Run?

Last Saturday (8th) we got a surprise family night away down south.  Tash had booked a hotel in Cobham some months ago but it was expected to be used for pre-race prep for a half marathon she had enrolled for on the Sunday.  As life would have it though she developed an injury and the physio said her hip wasn't good enough for her to run on.  Shame that, especially with it being the Speed Trials down on Brighton Seafront that Saturday!

Thankfully the hotel (a Hilton no less!) accepted dogs and so we all loaded into the Mighty Benz and set sail for Brighton early on Saturday morning.  And yes, the dog is the wrong side of the dog guard.

We reached Brighton, found a NCP car park, and voiced numerous expletives at the price for four hours parking.  £18.  Yes, EIGHTEEN pounds!  Still, we figured four hours would be enough and we were 'on holiday' after all.

Brighton was awash with awesome cars and bikes and there was a great atmosphere about the place.  I was especially excited to see a Ducati Demosedici RR.

 

It would appear this guy has more confidence in his front end than Valentino too!

As we had Harry with us we couldn't go down the pit lane and so opted to walk along the road above to watch the action.  It was a great viewpoint with the piers as a lovely backdrop.

Lunch break was approaching and so we agreed to watch the racing till lunch and then go in search of food.  Alfie was strapped to Tash's back and he was loving it!

 

 

There were all manner of cars and bikes being tested over the quarter mile and it was great to see such a variety on display.

 

With the mornings racing done we took a stroll back down the seafront towards a cool little Hot Dog place we'd seen on the way up.  A drink and a meaty sausage in the sunshine, what could be better!?

Fed and watered Alfie and I toddled down to the waters edge to throw stones (at other children).

Once he had successfully caused a good proportion of bathers to suffer blood loss we all made our way back to the car and then onto the hotel.

Tash and the kids had a swim in the pool, we all grabbed some food and then the entertainment that was bedtime began.  Two adults, two kids and a dog fitting into one double and one single bed.

I'm guessing no-ones gonna be surprised that it ended up a bit like this.

On Sunday we went to the Brooklands museum as it was literally 2 miles from the hotel.  We got there early, we had been up since 5am.

I've wanted to go to Brooklands for years.  Its one of those places that was pivotal in the the development of motorsport during its early years, and Malcolm Campbell had his famous "Q Shed" within Brooklands' premises.

Brooklands is also home to John Cobb's awesome Napier Railton.

Alfie and I even managed to get up on the famous banked track where those mighty leviathons would have once raced.

As well as automotive there is loads of aero stuff at Brooklands.  A large section is devoted to Concorde, and their collection includes one of the original test planes, the simulator used to train pilots, and even sections of the fatigue test airframe!

We opted to board a post-war RAF bomber training plane instead though.  I absolutely loved it, and the volunteer on board was so clued up on what he was talking about as he guided us through the craft.

 

Everywhere you look at Brooklands it seems that theres some treasure hidden under a tarp.

 

Or left nestled under some listing tree or other.

We found ourself round by the Bus museum which was also fantastic.  A bus chassis with no body on it looks bloody enormous!  Alfie thought the buses were especially great!

There was even one from closer to home!

With the Bus museum visited all that was left was for us to negotiate the souvenir shop.  Alfie spent many many minutes trying to decide over a plane, car or bus.  He chose plane.

And with that we renegotiated the London Orbital and were home in time for dinner.  Quite simply an amazing weekend.

All my photos from the weekend can be found here.