Who’s Normal Anyway?

We’ve had a fairly quiet Christmas at home, just the 4 of us. On Christmas Day we opened presents, went to Church, played with presents, ate too much chocolate and had a second Christmas dinner. Nothing out of the ordinary but it was a good day. L was a bit off colour and not quite with the opening presents thing.

On Boxing Day M was feeling ill and he threw up a few times, so that put a bit of a dampener on things. Then on Wednesday he felt a bit better and we went to Peterborough to see a panto. The traffic on the way in was dreadful and on the way home the road was closed, but the panto itself was quite good. M laughed loads and L fell asleep just before the interval (though kept jumping at the loud noises).

M got a bath bomb making kit for Christmas so one afternoon he and A did that together. He also has a new Lego RC car that he loves and is eager to take to the park asap but we haven’t got there yet. He got lots of bits and pieces for Christmas, including some money he’s excited about as he can buy a big Lego kit he’s been after (still need to order it online though) and has been reading his Bionicles and Stormbreaker books on car journeys.

L got some new bath toys and lots of wooden puzzles and a pushalong toy he’s playing with alot. He also got some cut-upable plastic fruit that has been a huge hit, though there are bits all over the living room LOL.

Today we went out geocaching and took some plaster of paris with us to try and take impressions of tracks. We got some fallow deer tracks and explored a new place. L got cold and tired and we ended up doing a toilet stop and feed and cuddle in the woods, which was a bit damp for my behind

I must get around to blogging about L’s new signs (really blossoming at the mo) and my thoughts on new years resolutions, but I’ve got blog apathy at the moment.

On Saturday we went shopping in the morning and got quite a few things sorted out. We booked for family photos to be taken at the end of the month (but need to change the date cos A has come home to say he’d forgotten he’s on a course at work that day and can’t leave early). We got a couple of bits to finish off the Christmas boxes. Then we went to the mattress shop and laid around on some beds picking which mattress to buy. A said it made no difference to him what we chose so I picked a more pricey one that I liked best. It’s due to be delivered on Friday.

We had some lunch out and then drove to a swimming pool we haven’t been to before. It is much cheaper than the fun pool with wave machine and rapids but fine for us. There’s a kiddie pool that’s only 50cm at the shallow end so L could toddle in it, though he got a face full of water several times. M practiced his swimming and learnt to tread water and then played. The toilets were in a horrid state mind you, but pool toilets often are. L was like the incredible weeing baby, going of a long wee half way through swimming, then again at the end and then we had to stop part way home for another wee.

In the evening we had chilli with spinach in (A told M it was a type of herb and he ate it all and said it was lovely) and then watched Robin Hood together and the ballroom dancing.

Yesterday we went to Church in the morning which was heaving with people who don’t usually come to church but had been rallied to attend the baptisms of 3 young children. We sat at the back and L tipped my bag out, found a biscuit and made lots of crumbs and played noisily with some toys and M went out to Sunday school. The sermon was about baptism with The Lord of the Rings for examples which I didn’t exactly follow but mainly because I don’t know the story and got confused with the various people and I was somewhat distracted by L’s antics.

We cam home for some bacon sarnies and then went out geocaching to an iron age hill fort. The sheep were very wary of us and there was no one else there so it was quite peaceful.

We found the cache and just had time to go up the road a bit to a garden centre for a cuppa and to buy some more pansies and violas for the border under our front room window before the garden centre closed. Back at home we put a roast on for a late tea.

Yesterday was A’s birthday and he had the day off work, so we’ve had a nice long weekend.

On Saturday we spent most of the day at home, only going out briefly to the library. We did some stuff in the garden and A cut the grass. M painted his model aircraft that he’s been building with A’s help - think it’s going to take a few coats of paint. We had a gorgeous roast beef dinner at tea time - but can’t think of anything else we did.

On Sunday we were up and off out to Lincolnshire to visit friends we hadn’t seen in a year or two. They also go geocaching (do much more than us) so we did one of their caches when we first got up there, walking along the side of an old canal and then scrambling down a banking to find the microcache (no drugs luckily!). We went to theirs for a cuppa and then out to the pub for Sunday lunch. We haven’t been out for a pub lunch for ages and it was very good, though L was restless and wanted to wander. He’s not been himself the last few days and has a lingering cold which is possibly more a reaction to teething, but he’s snuffly and a bit irritable.

The plan was that we’d go and do another cache with our friends that starts at the pub, but while we were eating it started to pour with rain and it was so heavy we abandoned caching plans and just went back to our friends’ house for the afternoon. They have 2 boys a few years older than M and so he and they played on their PS2 showing M how to get through some higher levels of the Lego Star Wars 2 game. L roamed about and seemed to especially like something in their bathroom and playing with the doorstop in the toilet. They have a dog and L gradually got braver about approaching her.

A did some male bonding over laptops and GPSrs (he bought their old one as a birthday pressie) and mapping software and I chatted to S about schools and teaching assistants and her OU course. It was nice to catch up again.

On the way home L fell asleep in the car (thank goodness cos he was getting fed up of the car seat poor lad) and we couldn’t decide what to do for tea so called in and picked up a Chinese takeaway. L woke up in time to eat some prawn crackers but not much else. M wanted to play his Lego Star Wars 2 after tea so stupidly (given he’d played on computer games all afternoon) we let him have 20 mins but he had a meltdown about not being able to do it like he had on the PS2 and shouted and raged about and got told to come off the computer and then he got even worse and we all had a big row until he’d gone to bed. So not a very good end to the day.

Yesterday I woke up first for a change (rare to wake before M) and decided to try making Chelsea buns as a special thing for a birthday breakfast, thinking A would lie in til 9 or so, but he was next up at 7.30am. The buns were done by about 9.20am which would have been OK if he’d stayed in bed, but we had already had breakfast by then so had them for elevenses instead. After opening cards etc we went out to Thetford to look around and do a cache down there trying out A’s new GPSr. I don’t see the need to ever go to Thetford again and if you’ve never been you’re honestly not missing a thing. It was like Aldershot only more so. On the plus side I did find some undies and socks I liked for L’s Christmas stocking in Woolworths (one of those traditional things we always put in).

We finished the cache and decided there was nowhere in Thetford we fancied going for lunch so we ended up driving to a garden centre near there where the food is OK and had a late lunch and a look around, then came home for pizza for tea. M went out to Cubs and learnt about knots and that was about it.

Thought I’d better get caught up and write about our week away before I completely muddle everything up it’s been so long ago. We don’t seem to have stopped since we left camp and by the time I have some computer time I’ve been too tired to blog.

Saturday

In the morning M had cricket practice so we all went to that as usual. We came home for lunch and to finish packing, but I had several things to finish on the computer that took me alot longer than the things A wanted to get done, so despite saying “we’ll take our time, there’s no rush” A was getting fed up about how long I was taking to be ready. We finally set off while the football was on and the roads were pretty much dead. It’s amazing how far you can get in Norfolk in an hour when there’s no traffic on the roads! It was hot and we were glad of the air con in the car.

Sunday

M had us out to the pool first thing in the morning so we did some swimming and it wasn’t too cold once you were submerged and moving. L came in and bum shuffled about in the shallow end until he got cold and tired and fed to sleep for a nap, wrapped up in a towel. M’s fairly new trainers fell apart at the heel on the way back to the caravan so in the afternoon we went out to Lowestoft to buy some new ones.

We got back late afternoon to hear that most people were doing sand castle building on the beach, so M wasn’t impressed that we’d gone out and missed it. We met Jax who’d just arrived and was erecting her tent, so A stayed to help her and I took Big and Small and M & L down to the beach. Got chatting with Tracy W on the beach and they came back for a drink I think. It was good to catch up again and have some time to have cuppas in each others statics and chat. John can wind me up so easily though, lovely as he is! He does it on purpose I’m sure LOL!

Monday

Monday was tie dyeing day. We ran this from outside our static - lovely long space with grass and a fence to stand all the dye buckets up against so they weren’t knocked over. At lunch time A went out to Lowestoft to buy more dyes because the popular colours had been used up. I hadn’t given much thought to how the dyes work but it was amazing to see how they came out of the water and just left buckets of no colour. I really don’t think it was anything to do with dampening the T shirts first - a few comments we got about how it all worked were rather wearing. I think most people enjoyed doing the tie dyeing. I found it a bit draining at times.

Tuesday

It’s become traditional to have a day out in Great Yarmouth when we go to Kessingland, so we decided to do that on Tuesday. But we didn’t pick very well weather wise, because half way through the morning it poured down. We were playing the pirate crazy golf on the seafront at the time and huddled beneath some scenery for the first shower and were just finishing our game off when it started to rain steadily. We ran for the American diner where we wanted to eat lunch but were soaked before we got there. So we steamed through huge club sarnies and fries and then came back to camp. I took M down the camp field to make his own kite and then we all went out to the beach to fly our stunt kite and look at the sea.

Wednesday

We went to Africa Alive with a lift kindly given by Steph - we were carless because A had driven home to go into work for the day and do a sponsored walk. His office were dressing up as Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs. Africa Alive was OK for a 3rd visit. We mooched about and M bonded with Steph’s boys a bit.

Thursday

We were up and to the camp field earlyish for Yoga which I dropped M off at, then I went back for needle felting mid morning. It was much easier than I thought it might be and I only stabbed myself a few times LOL. M made an abstract flat design and I tried to make a fairy.

In the afternoon we went out geocaching and walked through the woods, so we missed basket weaving, which I was hoping to have a go at. Still, A was desperate to go out and “do something” after sitting around watching L all morning while M and I crafted in the marquee.

In the evening M, L and I went to watch the cabaret in the marquee and it was very good. Lots of the children stood up to do a turn. I particularly liked Maddy’s singing - very impressed with her knowing all the words, singing in tune and standing there so long doing the whole song! M declined to take part.

Friday

This was our final morning because we needed to pack up and come home to go to the ABM conference in Birmingham. We chatted to people, M took part in some of Violet’s sponsored events and we got everything packed.

In Summary

Glad we didn’t do much Sparky this year. It was lovely to see people and to meet some newer home edders there. I still found it hard to chat properly to people - I think in a static we were on a different meal/bedtime type thing than the tents and by the time M and L were off to sleep I didn’t want to go out again and people don’t really come round your static for a cuppa if they are tenting. I was pleased to stick to using cloth for L in the day like we usually do at home - the weather was great for drying nappies though we didn’t go through them too fast. Having the organised activities and crafts made a difference because there were joint things to turn up to where you knew you’d catch up with people and you could feel less like a spare part wandering among other folks’ tents.

I expect we’ll be along next year to do it all again!

Monday

In the morning M helped A wash the car and then Tech and co came round for a reviving cup of coffee before driving home, so we fitted in a house tour and a bit of a gossip while the children congregated around the computer for a final session together.

Then we had an early lunch of beans on toast and went out geocaching. The sun even came out LOL! We came back via Sainsburys and a housewares shop where I got lots of dyes for doing tie dyeing on MuddlePuddle camp and some voile for our bedroom window.

Tuesday

We don’t stick to school terms and holiday times and we’re not observing the current half term here. In the morning M did some maths and we carried on into the Norman period with his history project. We read “Swearing on the Bones” in Britannia and then M got stuck into the Two Battles quiz and learning about the Battle of Hastings. Afterwards M played out for a while and I finished off sewing a new carrier (I haven’t taken a photo yet) and made a swim towel for L with some left over towelling from when I made M one a couple of years ago. This is it before I sewed on the hood part. Then M helped me with hemming the voile to make a curtain for our bedroom window.

Wednesday

Yesterday M did some more about 1066 and looked at the Battle Abbey website and the Bayeux tapestry. He asked to write sentences instead of doing spelling and got on with those really well. Then we had an early lunch with A and went out to Tesco to buy some cheap T shirts for tie dyeing. For the rest of the afternoon we went back to Gressenhall which has a wonderful adventure playground and we have a museums pass so didn’t have to pay to get in. It wasn’t even awfully full of children on school holiday because the weather was a bit iffy. The sun broke through in the end and we stayed there til tea time, bumping into a couple of families from the home ed groups here. We looked around the workhouse museum for the first time too. We came home to lovely stew for tea and M has decided he does like it after all, so long as I don’t put barley in with the stew mix. L got progressively more and more sniffly and warm and then had a fairly disturbed night - he’s got another cold and it’s upsetting his tummy too.

It was typical bank holiday Monday weather, but we decided to go out and do what we’d planned nevertheless. We currently have several geocaching travel bugs and the idea is to move them on fairly quickly, so we’d planned to do a couple of caches in the morning and send some travel bugs on their way (they have goals such as places they want to visit so you also have to find the right type of cache for each). We revised this down to just the one because of the rain - a “drive by” cache that didn’t take much traipsing in the wet, but still got us out exploring a new area. We went via Norfolk County Cricket Ground so that we could take a pic of the cricketer travel bug there, then found the cache and dropped him off.

Afterwards we drove into Norwich to park (bad mistake, car park cost us a fortune for the afternoon!) and went to Norwich Castle. They were running May Day activities with a dragon theme. M and I made scales to decorate the dragon and we looked around the castle keep and went back through the Boudicca and Saxons galleries to show them to A.

In the evening A had some stuff to finish for work today that he was trying to do on his laptop, except his laptop is on its way out and kept freezing and allsorts of frustrating things. While he was working on that I was redoing our gardening blog and sorting out old photos onto Flickr. L had gone to bed OK just after M, but woke about 10.30pm and just drowsed on my knee. When we went to bed he decided to wake up and was bouncing around the bed for a couple of hours, finally nodding off about 1.30am. We were shattered! Not sure what set him off, but I’m going steady on the freshly ground coffee and the chocolate today just in case!