Half Term antics

Half term rocks. I think we've knackered the kids out. And if we haven't, I'm sure not what else we could have done aside from knock them out with Medised.

Monday, as you know, was The Gruffalo, followed by the scorchingly hot Surrey County Fair.

Tuesday was filled with a blast from the past. My very, very lovely friend Toby, who I used to hang out with a lot during and after uni, is over from South Africa were he's been living for 10 years or so. So we caught up, hung out at the park with the kids and he regaled me with stories of his extraordinary trip round Africa for ten months. His blog is at www.toby.co.za. He is bonkers for what he's done, but that's why we love him.

On the third day, we rested. Never again will I not leave the house for an entire day with the children. We were all ready to strangle each other by 5pm.

Thursday was football with Terry and then the park with Izzy, Joel and Susi, followed by Joe over for tea.

Friday was a trip to the beach to celebrate the wonderful weather we've been having. We headed off to Hayling Island with Ted, Fred, Billy, Kip and Mike. Ted is Oliver's best friend from school and he spent all week asking if it was Friday yet as he was 'going to the beach with Ted'. I use the term beach loosely, as with most English beaches, it was a shingle beach but for one little person (Pip) that proved a marvel. He spent the days sucking on beach pebbles, not dirt or sand, so that made Mama marginally happier. The boys spent the day rolling around in the surprisingly warm sea, looking for crabs, and scrambling over the enormous granite looking rocks scattered between the breakers. Mama spent most of the day trying to tear her eyes away from the tremendous feast of Englishness that the beach provided - bright white or lobster red skin tones, bellies to rival Pip's and the chav watching at the Beachlands funfair. Oliver could only be mollified from not getting a go on the rollercoaster, by going on the outrageously expensive 'Hayling Island Historic Railway' (£7 return for a five minute trip - even British Rail would be envious of their blatant extortion).

Saturday we had lunch out, then an afternoon of parties. Jeff wisely stayed at home for a spot of gardening while we headed off. First, a brief stop at Matilda's second birthday party, where Mama spent much of the time looking for the keys and phone Pip had kindly hidden for her. Second, a longer stop at my pilates teacher's 40th birthday party. There was a huge marquee, booze, food, hog roast, more booze, band, and most importantly, two enormous bouncy castle type things. A slide which was almost vertical and made Mama think she wouldn't actually stop at the bottom. I learnt three things at this party. One, Pip eats pig. Lots of pig. Second, Oliver is quite prepared to launch himself down a 30ft slide with very little consideration for his, or Mama's, general well-being. Third, Oliver is also happy to run with the (much) bigger boys and at one point was telling them all to "come up here guys, come up here guys, it's fun up here".

Only tomorrow left and then we can crash into the mundane school routine once more. But Sunday may be the piece de resistance. Jeff has a driving day at Mercedes Benz world. Watch this space........!

Bags of fun

Pip likes handbags.

Bank Holiday Monday

We had a jam-packed Bank Holiday. Not content with seeing Julia Donaldson at the Haslemere Festival, we headed to the Surrey County Show too.

I had booked the tickets for seeing Julia Donaldson months ago, and almost forgot we were due in until I'd checked my diary earlier that week. On the day it was lucky I'd been up since 5, so getting to Haslemere Hall for 11am wasn't being a problem. Oliver has loved 'The Gruffalo' and pretty much any Julia Donaldson book for ages now, and with Pip obsessed with finding the cats in 'Snail on the Whale', it seemed an appropriate time to see the legend in action.

You know you have an image of an author in your head when you read a book? Well, I had Julia Donaldson pegged as a late 30s, short-haired, slightly hippy artistic type. What I should have been thinking is slightly dumpy, in bad need of a stylist, man-made fibre wearing, frumpy woman. Sorry Julia, but I am still coming to terms with my (admittedly baseless) image of you being shattered.

The show itself consisted of her and her amateur-dramatic, guitar playing husband Malcolm singing her songs and stories with some help from some puppets and the audience. Jeff and I agreed it was so hilariously amateurish, it ended up being immensely endearing. What's that adage about never working with animals and children? Try having 15 odd under 9s on a pitch black stage in various stages of stage-fright trying to remember their one line, and terrified of the 10ft furry dancing Gruffalo (complete with 'nobbly knees, turned out toes and a poisonous wart on the end of his nose, his eyes were orange, his tongue was black and he had purple prickles all over his back.).

Nevertheless, Oliver stated he had enjoyed himself very much and could we now go and see the tractors at the fair? So off we trotted to the Surrey County Show, supposedly the premier show in, well, Surrey to show your prize cow/sheep/pig etc and enter the cut-throat world of cake making and donkey judging. We saw Morris dancers, tractor driving competitions, wood whittling and sheep shearing. Pip spend the day running around in bare feet, screeching every time he saw a dog. Which was a fair bit as it seems dog owners feel they can't bring their mutts to most events and, as this being one of the rare exceptions, they came in their truckloads. Oliver concentrating on developing his death-wish and insisted on going on the Ferris Wheel, the up-and-down-horses (or the 'round-about' as he called it) and the huge inflatable slide every fair can't do without.

Jeff had to get a £2 hat as (totally unfair) punishment for Mama taking out all the sunshine gear moments before leaving for the day in a fit of peak when the heavens opened. Mama's punishment was having to share her ice-cream with Pip (and getting maybe one or two sneaked mouthfuls of the pot). But purchase of the day has to go to Mama for buying a rounders bat for the big game of rounders we'll be having on July 19th for our street party. Yay.

Despite the fair being not up to years gone by, we still managed to spend 4 1/2hrs there (how? doing what?!) and came home to collapse on the sofa. Just about managed to eat and bath before hitting the sack. We didn't even watch an episode of '24'. Crickey.


THE GRUFFALO!

The Ferris Wheel

A happy camper indeed.

The produce of sheep shearing.

Pony-trapping.

Charlie the Caterpillar

Lala as Pip calls him, is a new addition to our stupidly large menagerie of 'things we're calling part of our family'.