LINSWORLD

Although it has been 6 months... 6 MONTHS.... and there is probably no one to read this anymore, I had to post the pics of Sam and caitlin on dressing up day at school. I had these costumes planned as far back as february and most of it made by the end of february. Then the school added a theme of Space... (thanks guys!).. so we added the book jacket of There's no Place Like Space, a Dr Seuss book, to the back of Caitlin's t-shirt and Sam took in a box of Wonka Meteorite bars, and Starmix sweets! Sam was fully geared up for the fact that he wouldn't win as he has won for the last two years running. Frankly I'd have been a little embarrassed if he's pulled it off again. Caitlin left her hat off when the "Spaceman" aka Mr King, came around to judge the costumes so that was her out really. But as she said, "Mummy, they said it didn't matter if we didn't dress in a costume about space.. but when the spaceman came they asked everyone who wasn't in a space costume to sit down. Did they LIE???" Oops. Teachers beware!

Both sides now.

So the other day, after one of the snowfalls of the last week, Steve and Jess came home from early morning seminary. Steve came in the door first, shutting it after him.

"You really need to have a word with your daughter," he said. "She's rolling around in the snow."

"Rolling around in the snow?" I asked, "is she making snow angels?" (I remembered that she and Rachel used to like doing that.)

" I have no idea," he said.

Then Jess knocked at the door.

 
 
"Mum!" she wailed, "Dad threw me down in the snow and rubbed my head in it!"

*************************************************************************

And for more examples of Steve's humour - check out Rachel's status update for 30th November on facebook, and the comments that were made...

 

 

ACHIEVEMENTS IN READING, KUNG FU, AND THE ART OF SNOWMAN BUILDING.

November has been a good month  at our house. The bulk of the kitchen has been finished, and will form a blog post all of its own in tribute to how chuffed I am with it. We had the gathering of the clan for Laura's birthday ...

 
 

With my nephew James and Ben, Ben's fiancee Holly, and my neice Victoria.

 
 

Laura's best smile...

 
and showing her best side...

So, a good time was had by all. It was lovely to have all of our family under one roof, with the exception of Rache, who I miss every day! (miss, but not pining for!)

Even earlier in the month than that, Caitlin received a Headteacher's certificate. Since starting school in September, she has learned all the sounds, with a little help from me, and was one of the first children in her class to go on to the reading scheme. She is now on the sixth book - the last on the first level, and is doing brilliantly! Aside from that, when we have our family scripture reading each night, she takes her turn to read a verse, with help for the words that she can't sound out, which is exposing her to words that AREN'T found in her reading scheme. She's a star.

 

 

Sam has been going to Kung Fu classes since September and he LOVES it. His Sifu looks like he'd be more at home in the army, but is a 6th level Grandmaster and while being a lovely friendly chap, commands respect. Sam is the youngest one there and the newest. Two children, a brother and a sister were being graded for their yellow belt last wednesday and Mark, the Sifu, asked Judy, who was grading, to let Sam join in, just for the ride - to give them an idea of how many weeks away Sam was from being ready for grading himself.  As they were going through their paces, I was hearing Judy say things like "That's brilliant Sam, well done!" and "Sam,  how do you know what's coming next each time?" to which Sam replied that he has a copy of the grading syllabus and practises at home. After the grading, Judy and Mark came over to me and said that Sam had totally surprised them and scored 56 - he needed 50 to pass - and that he actually scored higher than one of the other two children.  They were happy to let Sam have his yellow belt on that basis and the grin on Sam's face was a mile wide, I kid you not. As you have to have the kit to be graded, he also got his t-shirt and satin kung fu pants as well. An expensive night all told, but worth it. I should mention - he DID have a grin on his face a mile wide, but we took the photos the next day and he wanted to put on his serious Kung Fu face for that!

 

 

Sam in "dragon" stance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

... and finally, with the snowfall this weekend, and with more promised during the next three weeks, we thought it was time to practise our snowman building skills. When I say "we"... that's the royal "we" and I really mean Steve and the littlies. Note the details like, the rows of teeth, and the arms and hands - although I'm not sure about a gun-toting snowman... good job it's just a water pistol!

 
 

 

 

 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

This is the first year that I have been in overall charge of pumpkin carving, without the more creative presence(s) of Jess and Rachel around. And I have to say that between the three of us, Sam, Caitlin and I didn't do a bad job!

First we gouged out the innards!!! Sam and Caitlin LOVED that job. I particularly loved how their hands had to touch every surface/fabric/facial feature in sight with their pumpkin covered mitts.

 

Next we designed faces. Sam was very specific about how he wanted a roaring lion. But he had me to help him so the roaring lion idea was dumbed down to a face with triangle eyes, an oval nose and gappy pointy teeth. If there is a lion out there fitting that description, please come forward.

Sam loved being able to carve this himself with the nifty little pumpkin carving tool from Asda! (which I only found when  was clearing out the kitchen).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Caitlin decided that she wanted to do hers herself and fought my guiding hand ALL the way. It's a mercy that one of us wasn't impaled on the carving tool! But hey, it was all worth it - TaDa!!!

 
Here is Caitlin with... KANGA Pumpkin!

 
And Sam called his Mr Scary. No repeats of last year's Gordon B. Pumpkin. I guess neither of them looked like a Thomas S.

 

 
 

From four scary pumpkin faces....
 to just two!

And to get into the spirit of the occasion (Praise be to Poundland, saviour of the needle-inept, purveyor of all Halloween Tat!)

 
 
Say NOTHING!

Oh and to all the husbands who think it will be fun to put a plastic spider complete with cobweb, on top of the butter in the fridge? It's NOT funny, your wife WILL have a coronary, and you may end up with it in your sandwiches the next day!

Happy Halloween!

It's PUMPKIN Time Again!!!

More than school photos, more than Christmas and birthday photos, I love to measure the passing of time with our tradition of going to Hill Farm to pick our pumpkins each October. Sam and Caitlin always love going there and despite my resolution each year to actually buy all our vegetables from their farm shop, it still remains the only time each year that we go. But nevertheless, the farmer remembered us and asked me if I'd brought my camera.  (Maybe we are the ONLY ones who go pumpkin picking with a camera - maybe he remembers me as being the wierd, camera obsessed mother with the pumpkin children...) Last year I didn't realise the camera batteries were dead so I piled the children back into the car while the bemused farmer looked on, went back home to get new batteries and returned to choose the pumpkins.

This was last year. (On looking back at October 2009 I see it was such a busy month - I was a more dedicated blogger back then - that I neglected to blog our pumpkin pics. So somewhat belatedly, here's one! Or two!)
 
 

Due to the early frost this year they had picked most of their pumpkins, all but a very few and put them under canvas in the field to stay warm and dry. So this year, rather than meandering through a sea of pumpkins (and sloshy mud)  Sam and Caitlin are clearly visible in each photo and don't blend in!

I remember the second time we went and Caitlin was so unsteady on her feet that she actually fell off one pumpkin that I'd attempted to sit her on (anything for a photo, I'm so cruel!). see it here! www.linsworld.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/10/index.html 

And just to see how time passes, here's the FIRST time.

www.linsworld.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/10/index.html

Unbelievable how time flies.  And so to today.

 

 
 
 
 

 

Lest you think it is an optical illusion that as the children are getting bigger, the pumpkins are getting smaller, Sam and Caitlin decided to choose "baby" pumpkins this year as everyone wants the biggest ones and the baby ones are all sad and forlorn that no one wants them. (nothing to do with the fact that none of us EAT pumpkin; that the only nice pumpkin thing we've eaten was made by Susannah about 6 or 7 years ago; or that I HATE the gloopy insides...)

 

 

 

 
... to be continued in October 2011!!!

FIRST WEEK OF SCHOOL . . .

CAITLIN'S FIRST DAY .. ..

 

 
 "The best bit is playing outside with my friends."

 

Can you see my heart strings tugging???

 
 "Being that I love school so much, I'm going to go every EVERY day except for when I don't go."

 

 

Getting the book bag is a HUGE deal! Very important and exciting stuff!

 
 
 Caitlin loves having her big brother around at school. Although just who will be looking out for whom is another matter!
  

 
   

Sam

I know I am somewhat late in all this. Blogging Sam's birthday two weeks after the event, but Happy 6th birthday Sam!!!

This birthday was much anticipated... Sam finds it hard to reconcile the fact that although he is older, Caitlin's birthday comes before his. And so we've been counting down the days.

Sam is, to all who know him, the loveliest. most gorgeous, gentle and loving boy in the world. He is also a boistrous, noisy, mischievous monkey with a typical fiery redheaded streak. (And he still prefers people to say his hair is ORANGE). He is definitely a boy of contrasts. 

Sam loves knights, soldiers, forts and castles. He loves monsters and ogres and dragons and dinosaurs. He has a 4 year old shadow who also loves these things, in particular whatever "thing" he happens to have in his hand at the time. This can cause major ructions and disturbing of the peace! While he is a peace loving boy, quite content to play his games, when he is disturbed by a four year old someone who always wants to muscle in, he can sometimes get... a little more cross with her than we would like... which can end in tears for both of them and metaphorical hair tearing out for me. He has his own sense of justice and fair play which sometimes needs tweaking, but he is generally very fair, and truthful. He has tried to pull a fast one and lie his way out of a situation but it always ends abruptly as a huge and tell-tale mischievous grin takes his words hostage, and try as he might, he just can't do it!

As much as his little sister drives him mad, he loves her fiercely and is her greatest ally and playmate. I can't begin to express how loving and encouraging and supportive he is of her. It brings a lump to my throat and to everyone else who watches as he comes running out of school at the end of the day, always with a treat for Caitlin. They are allowed to take any left over fruit from the school's snacks, and Sam always chooses what he knows she would like best and runs out to give her a hug and give it to her, When she started school last week (more of that in another post - you DID know I was behind after all) and they both came out at the end of the day, he saw she had a sticker on her cardigan. The conversation went like this:

Sam: Caitlin! How was your day! You've got a sticker? What did you get a sticker for?

Caitlin: I got it for tidying up.

Sam: Well done Caitlin! I'm good at tidying up too but I didn't get a sticker. You must be super amazing at tidying up, better than me, because you got a sticker - and on your first day! WELL DONE!"

All the mums around me just looked at me - amazed at the love that abounded between these two and how demonstrative Sam was. (They didn't witness the push-and-shove that happened five minutes later as he tried to prevent her getting to the car ahead of him!)

Similar conversations go on if she shows him a picture she has drawn, or the way she has written her name, or any other achievement.

The best and most contented cuddles you could ever wish for, to soothe your soul come from this boy. A minute with Sam cuddling right in can make you forget a weary day. He loves to just cuddle up watching a dvd (and to be fair he loves to just watch dvds too!). I still say things to him like "Sam, I have a problem and I need your help!" and he'll knowingly respond immediately by dropping whatever he is doing and coming to give me a kiss (or however many I ask for) and a cuddle. At the age of six he can now say that he loves me as much as he loves his Daddy, To prove just how much i am loved, he tells me that he loves daddy THSI much - and holds his hand high in the air, and loves me THIS much - and brings his other hand up to meet it. I can tell by the way he says it that he can bestow no higher honour on me than to love me as much as he loes his beloved Daddy. And he shows it too. He is now quite happy to sit and cuddle me in church (this time last year it would always be daddy). Or to play with me, have a story with me, etc when Steve is also around. But when push comes to shove, when he bounds over to kneel next to me in our family prayer, he'll then look over at Steve and want him to come over to where we are. He doesn't want his daddy to be lonely without him. I love the adoring relationship that they have.

Sam loves both of his big sisters in equal measure although he tends to clash more with Jess, (he flares, she flares...). He loves cuddles with both, loves trespassing in their room full of forbidden treasures, loves playing with Jess's hair. I LOVED how thrilled he was with their birthday presents... Jess bought him an Action MAN on a bike - something he'd played with and loved elsewhere. He loved it so much I wondered if Rachel's present - a boxed set of Roald Dahl would pale into insignificance. I needn't have worried. He sat with it on his lap and fingered it almost reverently, saying how much he loved it, deciding what he would read first, and second, and after that. He took all the books out and laid them out and put them back in. He took two on a four mile round trip and barely spoke for the entire journey.

I LOVE that he loves books. He takes after me. From the time he could sit up he has loved to be surrounded by books. He was the first in his year at school to become what they call a "free reader" i.e. off the reading scheme and now just a week into Year 2 his teacher has heard him read and has put him on to the highest colour band in the library so he has much more choice. (Although chances are he will still come back with Harry and his Bucketful of Dinosaurs!) He also loves to read to Caitlin, loves the stories in the Book of Mormon and the Bible and will read anything that has words on! Sam loves to check the weather on the Met Office website. He knows that many of our outings are dependent on the weather doing what it says it will and he likes to keep abreast of developments! He is also (unlike me - that's Steve's line of things) very good at maths. He views schoolwork mostly as that otehr thing they do at school when they aren't playing and his modus operandi seems to be to finish his work quickly - whatever it takes - so he can get back to the real business of what school is about. He has lots of friends but doesn't enjoy fighting games, and isequally happy in his own company. His teachers love him.

Sam loves music and at the moment is trying to find his singing voice. Any time we sing - at home or in Primary, he sounds like he's lost the tune somewhere. He moves up and down in all the right places but isn't singing the same notes as the rest of us. I can get him up to where we are by telling him to go higher, and then he'll get there and stay there. But recently he told me that he's just singing like Daddy. Apparently daddy doesn't sing high like I do so Sam would rather sing down low like Steve! HIs favourite Primary song is I know that My Saviour Loves Me - a new one for this year. The words are just lovely and Sam loves it. Sam loves bedtimes with Daddy when the three of them chat in the bedroom and decide what they are going to dream that night while daddy rocks the armchair. He loves bedtimes with me when I sing to him. His current favourites are Willie McBride and The Song of the Clyde.

Sam has to have a stick. Everywhere we go he has to find a stick. What else would you use when you're striding along for goodness sake? Every day he'll run out of school, pick one up from the ground and take it as far as the car, whereupon he agrees to give it back to the land that grew it, until he finds another the next day. I guess it's a boy thing.

Sam has always had very sensitive palette and sense of smell. He can smell coleslaw and gag. If he doesn't like something he just can't tolerate it in his mouth. He'll normally oblige and try it (if he doesn;t mind how it looks) but if he doesn't like it there is little we can do to get him to chew and swallow unless we want to induce vomiting! The other day I gave him a sweet. He didn't like it. I told him to just hold his breath, chew and swallow. Holding your breath means you won't taste it, I said. You need to get used to NOT spitting it out I said, firm in my principle. He spent five minutes swilling it around his mouth, totally unable to swallow it, muttering, "i can't BELIEVE you are forcing me to eat a sweet! I'll tell Daddy!"

Favourite books are George's Marvellous Medicine, the BFG, The Richest Crocodile in the World, Dr Seuss, How to Train your Dragon. Favourite dvds are Night at the Museum (Sam IS LArry - complete with torch, dark clothes and a big bunch of dangling keys...), Kung Fu Panda, The Mountain of the Lord (he likes to pretend to be a stone mason...), Madagascar, Ice Age and Toy Story (escept the third one - where he cried his eyes out thinking that Buzz, Woody and co were not going to escape that fiery furnace). He loves trips to the cinema, to McDonalds, to Pizza Hit, to the Park, out on his bike or his new go-cart, he loves ANY trip as long as daddy is there.

When he grows up he wants to be a policeman, a teacher, a fireman, work at the UEA like his daddy, WITH his daddy, be a doctor, and a pilot. He's just started Kung Fu - and LOVES the idea of being a Dragon Warrior! He's picked up some of the moves really well, especially as he's only been once. But you know what impressed me hugely? twenty children of varying ages and abilities all moving around a room on fluid motion, lining up behind each other to do various moves along a mat before foinf to the back of the line again. The line that stopped when it came to Sam's turn to do a forward roll, or a backward roll, or a cartwheel. He couldn't do any of them. But he kept trying, encouraged by the instructor, and even though he couldn't do it, he kept smiling and ran around to line up for another go. He didn't get discouraged one bit, or let it spoil his enjoyment. He just grinned at me as he ran past.

I love Sam's optimism and enthusiasm. I love his ability to find what he thinks is a grand solution to any challenge (like him not being able to go to tea at Grandma's house this week due to grandma having a broken foot. sam's answer - just get Laura home from work early to help cook the tea! simple!) I love that he can make you feel a million dollars. I love that he shows such gratitude for gifts. EVERY gift was his favourite (although he played the most with his bow and arrows, a robot and a playmobil pirate...) I love that he is generous with his affection and praise. I love the rough and tumble, always on the go, knight in armour, stick/sword wielding all action boy. I love my pyjama clad, dvd and sofa bound bundle of quiet cuddles. I tell him a hundred times a day how special, handsome, precious and gorgeous he is. I tell him how many people love him. I tell him he's a hero. I tell him all these things but really there are no words that exist to tell him JUST how much.

 

Caitlin Susannah

... is now 4. And has been for a good few weeks (but I've been a bit slack in the blogging department.) She grows more gorgeous each day. And with the gorgeousness comes added FEIST (is that a word? The noun, to the adjective FIESTY???) Also - to my dismay - comes added bolshiness and a bit of strop in for good measure. Thankfully (and I may come to regret "boasting" of this) Caitlin doesn't do temper tantrums. But if anyone wants a masterclass in BOLSH, look no further. The Maestro is here. But she's a redhead so I figure it's in her genes and I may be responsible for a bit of that!

 

Caitlin is still a Mummy's girl who loves cuddles and stories and kisses (although if she's asked for too many kisses there is a slight roll of the eyes and a weary sigh like it's all a bit of an effort!) She loves to sing and sings beautifully in tune. What she doesn't like is snging when she knows that people are listening so we have to be very careful to compliment her AFTER and not during a song if we want to hear it all! She has just got into baby dolls and My little ponies and girlie things although her very best toy ... is still whatever Sam ahs got in his hand at the time, which tends to disturb the peace in the house. Consequently she likes dinosaurs, dragons, knights and swords, transformers.... Today her biggest bugbear is that Sam got a go-cart for his birthday that she is just a bit too small for and a bow and arrows which are for age 5+. Steve showed her the writing on the package which said "Not to be used by girls called Caitlin who are only 4" - which she thought was very unfair and duly stropped.

Caitlin is Sporty with a capital S. She loves running, kicking a ball, kicking anything, jumping on the trampoline, sliding down the pole at the park and swinging from monkey bars. In fact her upper body strength is so good that she can descend the pole without actually sliding - just coming down hand over fist in a slow, controlled way. She tells us that she is so strong, her muscles can crush bones. She has an "Anything you can do I can do MUCH better, especially if you're a boy" attitude, and I have NO IDEA where that comes from (although I might glance sideways at Jess for this one.) We werw at the Playbarn in Poringland on a playgroup outing. Thi is a fantastic place with soft play and climbing indoors as well as tractors, diggers, pony rides, climbing frames, mazes, ride ons, slides etc outside. She has a lot of friends at playgroup but mainly plays with boys and this day was no different as she, Kyle, Cameron and Callum decided that they wanted to go outside to play with the diggers. There are three very popular diggers in an area covered with bark and children can pedal the diggers and work the mechanism to scoop up piles of bark and deposit it somewhere else. As we made our way to the door, Kyle said to no one in particular, "Caitlin will have to wait for her turn because there are only three diggers and there are four of us." Leaning down as we got to the door, I whispered, "Caitlin, when the door opens, RUN to the diggers." She turned and asked why, and I said "The boys will run so YOU run." The door opened and Caitlin turned to look at me when the boys started running. I mouthed RUN! to her and she took off and powered ahead of them, reached the diggers and sat down on one just as they got there. That's my girl! Anything you can do...

Caitlin loves to laugh. Her deep throaty giggle is one of the loveliest sounds in the world. I love it when I hear her and Sam playing and something makes them giggle together. Apart from playing with Sam, her favourite things to do are drawing, cooking, dancing, playing at the park, riding her bike. Favourite DVds now include Disney's Robin Hood and Mulan, Kung Fu Panda, Night at the Museum, Stardust, Elvis Presley in G.I. Blues and Blue Hawaii. She still loves Les Miserables. Oh and she likes to do Tony Horton's P90 routine with me.

 

Oh yes!

She has a competitive streak a mile wide which we are trying to tame! She loves playing games but hates to lose. We are currently teaching her how to lose graciously and how to be a sporting winner. There are plenty of teaching moments! She loves waking her big sisters up in the morning and going into Rachel's bed for a cuddle (which Rache loves too as it means she gets longer in bed!) She's great at imaginitive play and planning out the stories. She and Jess love hiding from Sam - they always hide under the duvet on Jess's bed and Caitlin lies so still and stays there for so long that I start to worry!

Caitlin has lots of favourite foods. She loves blackberries, crisps, blackberries, melon, strawberries, blackberries,pineapple, coleslaw, party ring biscuits, cheese, fish fingers, toad in the hole, bacon and more blackberries. She loves anything that you might be eating when she isn't. She loves cake, chocolate, cookies, fizzy drinks and sweets when she can get around me (which isn't often because I tell her that they are only for grown ups). Chicken is too chewy but pork is OK. She likes sour cream but not salsa, raw mushrooms but not cooked, cooked carrots, not raw. Corn on the cob, peas, broccoli and ice lollies like me and ice cream. Lots of ice cream. Like her daddy. And her mouth never minds the cold. No brain freeze for her!

Caitlin is a minx, a monkey, a mischief maker, and a little madam! She still loves to suck the life out of Mumble's fin at bedtime and loves putting the other dry fin on her nose (who knows why?) - when both fins are soggy, it's time for another Mumble. Recently she has taken to disappearing in the afternoon. If we don't realise soon enough that she is actually not with any of us, we'll find her hiding half underneath our bed, sucking on a MUmble (which she isn't allowed during the day - hence the hiding bit) and fast asleep! She loves endless stories being read to her and is doing so well with her phonics that she can now recognise the, and, of and it and can sound out cvc words like man, can, but, not, etc. Sge's enjoying George's Marvellous Medicine which i have been reading to her and Sam, the Gruffalo, Hairy Mclary, Room on the Broom, The Large Family and Charlie and Lola. I love our afternoons together when we play games, or do what she calls "Mummy and Caitlin's school day." when we do number games and sounds and phonic games and things like they do at big school. Where she is going in one week. She is ready - I'm not. I will miss my playmate!

Caitlin is adorable. She says she's not. Rachel said to her today "Caitlin, your hair looks beautiful." Caitlin replied, "Baloney!" (Thanks Steve for teaching her that one!) You say she's beautiful, she'll say she's not. Ask her what she is and she'll say "I'm not anything!" But cuddle up in bed with her, and whisper in here ear and she'll nod when you say "Are you my princess? My special angel? My treasure from heaven? My gorgeous girl?" And she is.

 
  
 
  
 

(In the paraphrased words of Cliff Richard...) We all went on a Summer Holiday!

And what a lovely holiday it was. You know, the Dorset coastline is spectacular. The sea is blue and clear (grey and sludgy here on the East coast), the coastline boasts gorgeous beaches and rocky coves. Absolutely perfect. I want to go back. I'd like to live there. On a permanent holiday - no bills, no work, no worries. No chance. But I can dream! We stayed in a caravan in a caravan park with entertainment facilities. If you ask Sam and Caitlin they will tell you that their top three favourite things about the holiday were:

1) the children's disco in the evening with Sid the Seagull and Lizzie the Lizard (Oh yes, good times!)    2) the outdoor and indoor swimming pools - which they both absolutely loved, and     3) the caravan itself and their tiny bedroom.

Needless to say, the girls and the adults have a different set of top threes. (Ya think?)

We arrived on Friday and after dismissing the first two caravans because they didn't meet my cleanliness standard, we were upgraded to a lvoely three bedroomed caravan. It would make a lovely first home for anyone starting out - very spacious!

On Saturday we stayed close to home as Sam and Caitlin were so thrilled with everything on site. After breakfast they played outside the caravan, and treated us to a Toy Story puppet show.

 When I grow up I want to be a tree...

Then we went for a ride on what the site called "buzz bikes" but I remembered as Social Cycles from my childhood holidays. Although they had 4 and 6 seaters, we opted for a 4 seater and a 2 seater thinking we'd try the six seater out another day. Sadly (or not) we were too busy to do that! but the 4 and 2 seaters were hard enough work!

Look out, Rachel's driving!!!

 

 

Sam's turn, followed by....
 

Caitlin who needed a bit of Daddy-Power to get going. These things are really hard to steer and power. The four seater one which I was pedalling on my own with Steve helping out the others, was a great workout for the legs! I knew we should only have booked them out for 15 minutes and not half an hour!

On Sunday we went to church in Poole and then drove the short distance to Sandbanks, which is said to be the most expensive place to live in Europe with most of the houses costing at least 1.5 million and a whole host well over 3 million. If you're wondering what they look like ...

.Sandbanks is so exclusive because it forms a narrow tip in one of the bays of the Poole harbour coastline. Driving through it you will see a lovely sandy beach on one side and a beautiful blue sea on the other which is home to countless kite surfers and other water sport enthusiasts at the weekend. A well-positioned house could have gorgeous sea views from every window. Kite surfers.

So if anyone is offering, I wouldn't be picky - I'd take ANY house in Sandbanks. And did you know that just along the road in Lilliput, lived an author called Jonathan Swift! ANYWAY - after a picnic lunch in Sandbanks and a coastal drive to Swanage where we took these -

 

ON MONDAY we drove into Weymouth and played Pirate Adventure mini golf. For a boy who likes golf and loves pirates, this was heaven for Sam. It was great fun and had loads of info of real life pirates from days of old ARRRGH! Fairly typically as it seems to be with all things physical, Caitlin proved quite adept at hitting the ball when she stopped still enough to aim. And she learned that pretty much at the same time as she learned that that is what it takes to win. Hers, by the way, is the red ball on the left... nearest the hole! 
 

  

It's behind you!

Jess is very proud of her hole-in-one!  

Boostrap Bill kept popping up out of his barrel but my timing was lousy!!!

Rache pulls.

Then it was on to 

where Sam and Caitlin were told they had to hunt for little mice, hidden in various nooks and crannies in the fort.  If they found all of them there would be a prize. They counted 11. We were told on leaving that there are well over 100! Oh well... There were some absolutely beautiful viewsover the blue sea looking out at Portland, and the isle of Wight, but Jess kept well away from them because as well as being our resident photographer, she is also our resident Acrophobist! (Along with me, but I was OK here!)

 a model how it looks from the outside!

After lunch at the fort we went on to Weymouth beach, played around,

the girls walked out about half a mile into the sea, and were still waist height, the littlies and I recreated Nothe Fort in the sand... and To end
our day we took Pedaloes out into the sea and worked out muscles AGAIN! Caitlin, in with her daddy and Rachel and Sam was in with Jess and I. Both littlies got to steer the pedaloes while the grown ups with the thigh muscles powered them. I'm not saying they were hard work but 15 minutes would have done me! As it was we had them for half an hour, with Jess occasionally steering us out of range while the blonde life guard chappie had to take his boat out to us to call us back. Sure it was Sam, Jess!

On tuesday we satyed close to "home" as Sam had been sick a few times in the night. I felt so sorry for him and didn't want him to miss out so Rache and I took a trip to Tesco in the morning and bought Kung Fu Panda, some games and activity books in case we needed to hole up in the caravan for a while! Thankfully Steve had given Sam a Priesthood blessing in the wee small hours and not only didn't sam have any more sickness but he perked up miraculously as though he had never been ill, in time to spend the afternoon with us in the indoor and outdoor pools and to go to the children's disco in the evening.

Posing with our team captain, Lizzie the Lizard! (who amazingly enough NEVER appeared with the ParkDean Trouper who was sent off stage to fetch her!)

Sid the Seagull (from the opposing team, hiss boo,) strutting his stuff while the children tried to follow the most complicated dance routine I have ever seen!

 
 
 
 
 

Steve was LOVELY - look at this.   Not his favourite thing in the world, especially to bubblegum pop, but he took Caitlin out on the dance floor!

   

Thankyou Daddy!

If you haven't been to Corfe castle and Lulworth Cove in Dorset then you are mssing out. We did both on Wednesday. Corfe castle is a delightful ruin with plenty to climb on and explore.  

"We're the kings of the castle"... (I did tell caitlin that she should be a queen but Sam was being a king and she wasn;'t going to be outdone....

 

How in the world did this one sneak in???  I LOVE this photo (not to mention the GORGEOUS man in it!!!)

And what visit to a castle would be complete without a pair of knights of the round table?

And a spot of fencing....

Or a Maid Marian wannabe? (Oh Robin, Robin, wherefore art thou Robin???)

Or a teenage daughter saying "Daddy they're trying to make me dress up, save me, save me!"

There's nothing like a spot of hill-rolling. This was at Lulworth Castle. And it started off fine...

 

BUt it was worth it to get this photo! 

Rache and Jess at Lulworth Cove. The place is beautiful.

 

On Thursday - as we liked Weymouth so much, we spent another day there, taking a boat ride out to Portland - which is an almost-island, connected to the mainland by a stretch of beach. This is where the 2012 sailing Olympics will be centred around, and we saw the New Zealand, French, Italian and British teams practising. I love the sea and despite all the gloomy predictions of my cynical family, I didn't get sea sick at all, even when it was choppy. We all loved the boat ride, including Caitlin - who in one of the photos, may have needed to tell her face she was enjoying it....

 

Has anyone seen the rest of Caitlin's body?????? 

Sam basks in the sunshine!  

So then Rachel wanted to be buried too. "Let's bury Rachey!" they cried enthusiastically. But we needed more wet sand so I sent Sam to the water's edge with two buckets. And he came back with some water, Which he added to the sand. On Rachel. Actually, he added it TO Rachel. He obviously felt she needed diluting!

 
 

SCHOOL'S OUT FOR SUMMER - FOR JESS AND RACHE AT LEAST!

Yes, Jess has finished her GCSE exams and life can go on in a much less stressful way. Rachel is home for the summer too, so all is well with the world. (She's been called as Young Women's President - in charge of the girls youth group at church in her ward in Lancaster - no small responsibility for a 19 year old!) They've worked hard and done well this year. They sang at Jess' school summer concert which I shall be putting on Facebook - meanwhile here are a couple of their photos, taken on a day out with a friend last week.