June Update

I have been a bit busy lately in a dark tunnel of report writing. Every time I sit down at the computer the only thing I seem to be able to do (apart from compulsively checking my emails) is think about writing another report. However, I only have four left to do now, so I am allowing myself a little deviation to update you on The Betazoids June.

Caitlin has had her birthday. She couldn't think of anything much she wanted so she's had yet more books, money and her Gran and Grandad paid for her to go on a school trip to London in November. Lucky girl!

 Two days before her birthday she managed to slice her thumb open on a can of tuna. That resulted in a quick trip to casualty for two stitches. It's her fourth trip in 13 months. Carl had to fill in a questionnaire, one of the questions was, 'Do you have a social worker?' I guess the answer was, 'No, but we might have soon!'

 Grandad also had a birthday. 91 and still going strong (if you don't count the bruise on his head where he had an argument with the shower). Mum did birthday cake and nibbles. Very nice.

Ellie ran her last Bluecoat Sports Day, held at Braunton Athletics track. She ran the third leg of the relay, took the baton in the lead and held on to the lead all the way round. She passed to Taylor who gave them even more of a lead and they came home with a gold medal. She also took part in the long jump and came a respectable second. She spent last week away from home on the Year 6 residential trip to Heatree House on Dartmoor. She had a great time, although she came back with a very croaky voice.

Adrienne has been for a volunteer job interview, and is now going for another interview for the same position only paid. If she gets it she may not be coming on holiday with us. At the moment she can't decide what she wants more, the money or a holiday. If only my life were that simple.

Jubilee Monday

Yesterday we had a small celebration, not in honour of the Diamond Jubilee, but for Caitlin's birthday - which isn't for another week, but apparently this was the only time her friends were free. She organised everything herself and the first I heard of it was Friday. Hey-ho! Alana came over in the afternoon and I bribed them into taking the dog to the park with me with the promise of an ice cream.

 Then it was back home for a BBQ tea. We sang 'Happy Birthday' and ate cakes.

 Abi came for tea and they all stayed the night. They were dressed in festive red, white and blue for the occassion, but were more interested in watching rubbish films in the other room than watching the Jubilee Concert with us. The only exception to that being when Ed Sheeran was on.

Today they've all gone off to do bowling, ice skating and karaoke. Good luck Superbowl!

Olympic Torch Hits Barnstaple

 Today, admid great excitement, the Olympic Torch came through Barnstaple. We walked the children down from school, all 250 of them, and found a spot on the Strand just down from the Civic Centre. It was heaving. The news said that 7000 people turned out in Barnstaple to watch. It certainly was a great atmosphere. This is Franky Astill Sheppard who carried the torch past us at about 11.15. He grinned all the way along!

And this is Ellie and her friends just before the torch came through. One of the last chances I'll get to photograph Ellie on a school trip. After July she won't be at the same school as me. It will be weird.

First Ice Cream of the Summer

 Finally a bit of sunshine! It was lovely in my back garden this afternoon but not so lovely out. I took my new camera down to Instow this afternoon. I got everyone to come along with the promise of an ice-cream, although disappointingly the Hockings van wasn't there. And as you can see it was very windy on the beach and the wind was VERY cold. We threw the ball for the dog until we couldn't feel our fingers any more then decided to call it a day.

 I discovered how to take panoramic pictures on my camera. Not bad for a first attempt even if I do say so myself.

In other news, Ellie played in her third annual sponsored guitar play-in. Des was there from 9.00am- 9.00pm, but Ellie just had a five minute slot at 9.00 this morning. I took this photo whilst videoing at the same time, all on the same camera. How cool is that? This will be the last time you see Ellie with her child-sized guitar. She's grown out of it and we bought her an adult one yesterday. She didn't want to play it in public until she got used to it though.

New Camera

This is my new camera, bought with money from my birthday and various other sourcres.

And here are a few photos taken with it today. I did love my old camera and was quite upset when it died, but this camera is much better and I am sure I will soon love it just as much. I was particularly impressed, when going through the Scene Positions, to discover there is a dog mode with face recognition for dogs! For any one who wants to know, the camera is a Fuji X-S1.

Visiting old friends

Okay, so they're not that old! We went to Leamington Spa this weekend, leaving Adrienne at home, to visit Rozi and David. We haven't seen them for four years. And it was great. We talked all weekend long, catching up, and the rain didn't interfere too much.

On Saturday afternoon we went for a walk to a lovely pub next to a river. The kids disappeared off to play Pooh sticks for a while. Then when it got too cold to bear we went inside and sat in some comfy seats. In the evening we had Chinese take-away and watched The Voice (well most of us did).

We stayed at a nearby Holiday Inn, had a lazy Sunday morning (I read the Radio Times in bed), breakfast in MacDonalds then round to Rozi's again. More reading of Sunday papers and chatting ensued. We had a lovely Sunday lunch, and at around 3.00 made the wet journey home again. If it hadn't been raining all day we might have gone out again, but even so it was a great weekend.

My new front garden!

After spending a small fortune, and Carl spending a lot of time and effort, we now have a brand new front garden to our house. It is sooooo much better than the weed-infested patio stones, old concrete and red-brick giant flowerless flower bed that were there before. We only have to hope now, that we don't manage to kill the plants that we have put in. Oh, and that Carl finishes the step by the front the door - its the only thing thats missing now.

Ground force, eat your heart out!!!