Easter Sunday

We've been out visiting family today. We took the kids out for some fresh air and exercise first, then stopped at Appledore for Hockings ice cream and a quick visit to see Grandad, once we'd persuade him to unlock is door and let us in!

We had a chat about computers and Ellie gave us three reditions of 'Mary had a Little Lamb' on the keyboard, then it was off to see Aunty Beth. The kids played in the garden and the grown ups discussed Dr Who over a cup of tea. It was all going well until Ellie fell off the slide. She's OK now, just a few bruises.

It's all good fun, and it stopped them OD-ing on chocolate. I wonder what I can find for them to do tomorrow. Housework perhaps?

Norway

Following on from Turkey last May, I have now visited Norway - the third leg of our project to promote international links with other schools. The last leg will be when they visit us in June. Our first stop was Tromso, inside the Artic circle. I was a bit disappointed to arrive and find hardly any snow, but didn't have to worry for too long as it came down heavily the day after we arrived. By Saturday there was loads of it. Enough so that we could go Dog Sledding. A fabulous but scary experience. We went at night, in the hopes of seeing the Northern Lights (we didn't). It was a bit of a shock to learn that after three minutes of instruction we were expected to drive the dogs ourselves. One in the sled, one on the back. It was OK until you came to a hill and had to push. It was fairly magical though - until the snow storm came. When it was my turn to drive it was almost blizzard conditions. I had to take my glasses off because they steamed up, the light on my head was failing and getting clogged up with snow, so I just had to hope that the dogs knew where they were going! I did nearly kill one when the people in front of me stopped suddenly and I didn't, but fortunately it was OK after it had been run over.

This is the view of the lake across the road from my hotel in Hamar, the second town we stayed in further to the south.

We visited an ice hotel. Caroline said "I wouldn't want to stay here - it would be cold" Duh!

And this is me on one of the rare occassions that I was upright on my ski's! I don't think I'll be booking a ski holiday any time soon, but I would love to go back to Norway - it was beautiful and the people are beautiful also!!

Out To Play!!!

We found some giant snow drifts whilst out driving on the moor this afternoon.

Caitlin did her best to bury herself in them, but they were a bit too solid.

We had fun though.

Snow Day!

Hooray! School was cancelled for everyone today. Adrienne and Caitlin escaped yesterday but me and Ellie had to suffer in a grotty old classroom all day. So we made the most of it today and went out and played.

There were snowball fights (this one ended in tears when Caitlin got snow in her eye)...

snow angels...

Caitlin made a snowman (his name is Jeff)...

and even the rabbit came out to play.

Carl took some arty photos when he went to work.

And Adrienne went out with Brodie and took some arty photos too.

This is Pilton Park.

And this is Adrienne and Brodie posing for the camera.

Christmas Day 2009

Christmas Day - over now, but here's my annual photo-by-the-tree. Adrienne insisted on opening her present before I took the photo. She had the clothes she has on and wouldn't get dressed before opening her present either. Switchfoot clothes all the way from America. Then the other two had to open their presents too or it wouldn't be fair. Those were the only presents we let them open before lunch. Everything else waited till the afternoon.

Mum, Dad, Beth, Andrew and Francis came in too so it was mad here for a while. We just about had time to clear up the carnage and have a bite to eat before we all had to settle down in front of Dr Who. Only a week to go and then no more David Tennent. I think I might cry!

Motorway Hell

From Hampton Court to the M3 there were no worries. Then we hit the motorway and it was hell. The sleet turned to snow and it came down fast! Before long this was our only view - millions of cars going nowhere. From Sunbury to the A303 is 37 miles. It took us 4 and 1/2 hours!!!!

Ocassionally the cars moved a bit faster than 2 miles an hour - but not for very long.

Once we got past Basingstoke it all became a bit clearer. This was the scene in the car park of the first services we found on the A303. We bought a basket of food in the M&S Simply Food store, Carl went off to pay while we girls got in the queue for the loo. (One of us had already been in a bottle in the car - bet you can guess who!) The wait was made a bit more exciting when Hermione Norris came out of the loo about five people ahead of us. Caitlin didn't realise who she was until she'd gone past, but she was impressed nevertheless - she loves 'Spooks'.

We finally got home at 12.20, eight and a half hours after we'd started our journey.

London Weekend

The weekend started with such promise. We left home in no particular hurry and reached Kingston by 2.00, we had some late lunch and found the Travelodge just round the corner from the famous falling telephone boxes. I love this photo, Ellie looks like she might have knocked them over herself!

Once we'd settled into our room we made our way into town. I made us all get off the tube at Oxford Circus so we could see the lights. So we had a bit of a mad trek down to the Arts Theatre near Leicester Square, but we made it in time to see the show, "A Christmas Carol - The Musical". We had great seats, in what is only a tiny theatre, sixth row back in the stalls and right in the middle of the row. The kids loved it. It was on early and so finished by 7.40. We had a late tea in Pizza Express, then walked, slowly this time, down to Piccadilly. We looked at all the lights (Ellie wondered how London could afford it), saw Eros, then caught the tube and train back to Kingston.

The next day they all decided they wanted to go shopping, especially when I told them I'd take them to Hamley's, a shop with six whole floors of toys. They loved it (although Adrienne was disappointed in the gadget floor.) On the fifth floor is a corner devoted to film memorabilia, mostly Harry Potter. There are cupboards full of wands. Caitlin fell in love with a Time Turner, so I let her have it on the understanding that she paid for it out of her savings. I put my foot down however, when Ellie said she wanted a Marauder's Map. £30 for a bit of paper is just too much!

Then came the decision as to what to do next - London Dungeons, or Hampton Court Maze and Ice Skating. They chose the latter. This is where it all started to go horribly wrong...

We miss our train by about 30 seconds. The next one was delayed. By the time we got back to Kingston it had started to rain. By the time we got to Hampton Court it was sleeting. The ice skating was outdoors and the rink looked more like a lake. We decided to go home...