Beach Boys

I haven't posted in ages and this time it's because we've been so busy and also because we have entered a completely new groove! Since returning from our holiday both the boys have not been going to bed until about 10pm. It has had a dramatic effect on our rhythm and mostly for the better. Now all our smalls sleep roughly at the same time and the boys are sleeping much longer than they used to, putting them in a better frame of mind generally. The later morning wakening does mean our day seems to start later and we miss a chunk of the morning but we have also gained a chunk of the evening and daddy gets to spend more time with the. Happiness all around.

This week has involved meeting in the park with fellow home ed friends, a day on the beach-where bean built his own sandcastle city with moat, an unexpected but delightful play date with friends at our house, gymnastics classes, daddy's birthday preparations and celebrations, a spontaneous trip to the seafront, and a weekend away with our church family.

Monday: our regular gymnastics class for bean followed by a play in the park. Bean appeared to get himself locked in the toilets but it transpired that the door was not actually locked just very stiff. It took me and another to pull the door before it opened. Pumpkin has been trying out the spinning egg cups as a new venture and plum is loving the zip wire. She's also loving having the command of a few of the other home ed smalls and it's great to see them playing with her.

Tuesday: a knock on the door from friends who were returning the space shuttle we left at their's last week quickly became a morning play date. An additional three smalls in the house and a new take on many familiar at home activities. The morning was spent playing between 'the world of dark' and lotions and potions. The world of dark involved taking everything luminos or light bearing into the bedroom which had the curtains and blind pulled.
The garden housed the lotions and potions and the children had a bowl each to mix powder paint, water, colouring, bicarbonate, moisturisers, bubble mix, washing up liquid and a few other household items and the decant the into bottles. It ended up being a group production as they mixed all their lotions together.

Wednesday: our first UK trip to the beach, oh how I had forgotten how much I love to spend the day at the beach. It's the first time I've gone solo since having plum walking and I was a little anxious but it was amazing. There was paddling and rock pooling and sandcastles and sand writing and football and treasure hunting and ice cream and tree climbing and den inhabiting and more. Brilliant day, well spent.

Thursday: we went to our new gymnastics class for the second time. The problem with not blogging daily is I now have to explain that last week the boys joined in for the last five minutes. This week it was the last half an hour. I'm not forcing them to take gym classes! They are both keen and want to, they just get a bit anxious when they arrive. New venue. New teachers. Pumpkin is very keen but won't go without bean. But we'll get there in their own time.

Then to the shops and home to make daddy a birthday cake and wrap presents.

Friday: an unplanned breezy trip to the play area on Worthing seafront. Certainly blew the cobwebs away! Lovely time together followed by a crazy hour trying to pack our bags for the weekend. The boys really enjoyed checking out all the different play equipment and we were faced again with Plum's dislike of sand. 

Saturday and Sunday: Church Family Weekend Away. I saw the boys for meals and swimming and bedtime but other than that they have had a crazy wonderful time with their church friends, cooking marshmallows on a bonfire and making things out of boxes and forts in the grounds and playing team games and a whole load of other things. They went to bed slightly later than usual but took themselves to bed about 10.30pm and were up slightly earlier too so very very tired. Brilliant time away with our church family though. loved it.

Lego Star Wars Party: Happy Birthday Bean

Friday 10th May 2013

This week has been crazy busy. Organising home made birthday parties is always a time management  operation as much as anything else. Today daddy went to work and had arranged to come home by 3pm for Bean's birthday celebrations. This left me and the smalls to cleaning the house, getting the last few games ready and putting the food out onto the table. The boys hoovered and dusted for me whilst I dusted the higher up areas and cleaned the bathroom. it was a complete surprise to have their help and of course it made the process a little longer than if i'd done it solo but we enjoyed ourselves and put on some music to help us on our way.

The theme of Lego Star Wars was quite a challenge for us but i think we did okay. We had
design your own minifigure
pin the Darth Vader mask on the minifigure
sweetie hunt
Guess how much lego is in the jar
Lego pinata
Lego cupcakes
Star Wars cake
Star Wars food selection: Leia rolls, yoda soda, han burgers, chewie's chips, Vader's veggies, c3po salad, r2d2 h2o, droid dip.

It was a small affair, at Bean's request, he had two friends to play plus grandma and pops, and FA1 and cousin B. Friends started arriving about 3pm and everyone had left by 8pm. We spent some time playing with Bean's remote control car and putting together one of his Lego presents before tiredness finally took over and all were sleeping by 9pm.

It is also worth noting today that Pumpkin put a clothes peg on his eyelid which turned out to be rather painful for him but mummy had trouble stopping herself from laughing...only Pumpkin would feel the need to try out that question just to check the result!

Boys and girls come out to play

Tuesday

You will find this post interesting if you're looking to find out how jet lag effects a family.

Daddy didn't get any sleep on the plane and stayed awake an amazing 27 hours before sleeping on Tuesday afternoon for a couple of hours. Out of everyone in the family he is the one who will have to adjust the quickest to BST as he has to return to work tomorrow. He finally went back to bed about 11 pm, ready to get up at 6am in the morning.

Plum has found today most difficult. She is all at sixes and sevens! She slept amazingly well on the plane and slept again when we got home, literally curling up on the sofa! Completely adorable. She then soldiered on until 9pm when she cried uncontrollably before finally falling asleep. There was no comforting her :( We rather thought this would be her down for the night but she woke after an hour and cried and cried and cried. Daddy and mummy both tried settling her but she wasn't having any of it. Daddy finally went to bed and mummy stayed with Plum until she calmed a bit and accepted milk. I fed her for an hour and then she fell asleep again about 1am and didn't wake until 10am the following morning.

Pumpkin had a restless night sleep on the plane and fell asleep in the car on the way home, continuing to sleep on the sofa for a while. He then stayed awake for the remainder of the day and fell asleep on the sofa with mummy whilst watching The Tigger Movie about 8.15pm. He was first awake the following morning at 10am.

Bean slept restlessly on the plane but somehow managed to stay awake all day. He literally fell asleep whilst eating his dinner. He was chewing as he slept! It was about 6pm. And surprisingly, he slept until I woke him at 10.30am the following morning. That's 16 hours of sleep. (I woke him as we had a dental appointment at 11.20)

I slept restlessly on the plane and slept for a further 3 hours when I got home. I still felt awful. I dozed a little when watching the movie with Pumpkin but felt better after that and was happy to sit with Plum until 1am. I was also happy to sleep until 10am the following morning especially as I had anticipated an early rise from Bean.

As we have no strict appointments over the next few days and our general attitude of allowing the smalls to decide when they are ready to sleep and when they are ready to wake, I wonder how long it will take to return to our previous sleeping patterns?

Home again, home again

Day 11: unexpected

Weather: hot still

Our unexpected last day had us getting up at 8am thanks to blackout curtains. We headed to the restaurant for a buffet breakfast, we had thought how much Pumpkin would enjoy it, and he did, but not as much as the two teenage boys on the table next to us!

We followed this with a swim and Bean rather adventurously went down the slide with daddy. The boys really took on board when we said they had to change fast and get packed and they were ready before mummy and daddy! As we checked out we learned that the flight would not be leaving for a further delayed 2 hours. However, we still had to be at the airport for 12 noon to check in. So, here follows a how to guide of  how to entertain three smalls for nine hours in an airport.

Firstly, queues. We didn't do too well at this until we remembered the back packed with activities that I had bought for the flight over and not used ( as the boys were loving the entertainment system) Pumpkin was happiest playing with the shuttle he had bought from the Space Centre and Bean looking at his Where's Wally book. We stood in the first queue for an hour just waiting for check in to open, not moving at all! Fortunately, Plum was sleeping soundly in the sling.

Now, to give daddy some space to contact work and cancel our food delivery and contact lovely friends who had originally offered to meet us at Gatwick when we returned. I took the smalls for a walk around the shops and we found toy Pheneas and Ferb and Perry and Agent P in the Disney store which were just the right price for spending our last few dollars (although I didn't tell the boys this an wanted to check with daddy if we had another planned use for them) When daddy was finished we went and got some lunch and had our last chick-fil-a of the holiday. There was a huge fish tank in the middle of the food court. All three smalls spent a long time watching the fish.

A toilet stop next followed by some lolly eating and constantly explaining to Pumpkin that riding the exterior of the travelator was not a safe idea and distracting him with aqua draw and colouring. Daddy took a walk to see if he could find a place to charge any of our devices but there were no USB charging points :(  Next, we got changed into our 'return to England, it's going to be cooler there' outfits. This was not the best hour of the day. Plum kept running off into the men's toilets!

Daddy and mummy had decided that spending the last few dollars on the gifts for the children. We took the boys back to the store and they both choose an Agent P to take home. We then joined the next queue of the day and went through passport control. This was decidedly quicker than expected and kept moving rather rapidly, although Pumpkin had flaked out on the floor and I thought he was going to go to sleep (which would have been disastrous!) On the other side we found a comfy carpet spot and daddy took the boys to find drinks and cookies :) We spilled most of the drinks! We played naughts and crosses and drew pictures and played snap with the cards, we played catch and I-spy and rock, paper, scissors. Daddy took Plum for an extended walk and Pumpkin found the water fountain and went back and forth for repeated trips. Then, for no reason, other than we had sat there for over an hour, we took the final walk to the gate.

Here we watched planes take off and land and Plum walked around smiling at all the other babies. We watched then bring our plane to the gate and unload and load it with the food and suitcases. The boys ran around the seats and we joined a collection of exhausted parents who had been entertaining their children for 8 hours and still had another hour to go! They were tired little smalls and hungry little smalls by now. It was 7.30 and there was no sign of boarding and we knew food would be at least another two hours away.

And finally, they called us to board. Blessed relief. They have the entertainment system ready to go immediately so that was the next distraction until, at last, we took off and then food was served. Both boys ate well. Plum had fallen asleep on daddy's lap. Pumpkin turned off his computer about 10pm and curled up and went to sleep andPubeqn went to sleep about 11.30pm. I watched two movies and then tried to rest but found it really difficult especially when Pumpkin was restless and needed lots of cuddles and blanket tucking.

Surprise surprise

Day 10: our final day in Florida: Sunday: church day

Weather report: hottest day yet.

This morning we spent at First Baptist Orlando, there is no denying that it was huge. It was a great place to be and we really enjoyed it. Our smalls stayed with us and daddyR ended up taking J, 4, and Plum for a long walk whilst we stayed in the meeting. Bean and Pumpkin both sat so still as they were tired. I thought Pumpkin was going to go to sleep.

We followed this with a picnic lunch at (?) lake. It was the hottest day we have had yet and I was glad it hadn't been this hot our entire trip. It was quite tiring walking just a short distance. The smalls had time for one quick play together before we headed to the airport to say our goodbyes.

Except, when we arrived, we discovered that our flight had been delayed by 24 hours! Although we had to stay in a hotel and plans were to return to the airport early so that we could check in and get allocated seats together for the journey home. We still had to say good bye to our friends :(

The hotel we stayed in was great. The smalls were very tired and hungry by the time we got there and we had run out of a few necessities ( nappies and toothpaste) We ate at the restaurant, yum yum, and the boys were in bed asleep by 9.30pm which was surprising as they had to share a bed but they just crawled in and fell asleep instantly.

Daddy and I watched a little tv and spent half an hour together before I went to bed.

If you go down to the woods today

Day 9: Saturday

Weather report: long heavy showers, on and off all day. Except it was still hot so we dried out quick and still managed to go to a country park and cook a BBQ.

Today was a little more relaxed after the previous two days busyness. We got up and relaxed our way into the day slowly, especially me who had made the mistake of making a caffeinated the at 9.30pm the previous evening (I didn't mean to) and couldn't go to sleep until 1 am so daddy let me sleep in and I woke about 9.30 this morning.

We packed up a picnic and headed to the country park. We took a walk along the river, hoping to see some local wildlife as the water is really clear and it would have provided a good viewing. We saw a lot of fish including alligator gar. We also saw a stork across the river bank. The rain showers came and went and we dried off quickly.

We sat under a covered area and BBQ'd our lunch and the smalls all played on the play area during the dry periods. Bean and Pumpkin took turns at pushing each other on the swings and GDS played with Plum on the slide and the swings. J, 4, found a caterpillar, although how he spotted it i don't know. It looked like a small bottle brush and was double ended.

We got some lovely photos today, can't wait to add them to the posts.

Where dreams come true

Day 7: Thursday

Weather report: a few short showers...so much rain a few rides closed at Down Town Disney due to inclement weather! Seriously it was a 2 minute shower. All rather comical.

We have got into a good waking routing now. Bean about 6.30am followed by Pumpkin and Plum between 7 and 7.30. Bedtimes, as usual, are a little erratic and constantly later than at home but it's all good.

So, today's big outing was to Down Town Disney. We had meteor bites and drinks at the T-Rex Cafe and spent a long time at the lego shop building and racing vehicles. We walked the entire length of the complex finally reaching the Rainforest Cafe where it began to rain (if only briefly) Pumpkin had spotted a small train ride that he wanted to go on but we were planning on a boat ride for everyone, this would also take us back to the beginning so saving our legs. Unfortunately the boats weren't running though due to the wind ( it was a 4rather pleasant breeze) so I went to take four of the smalls for a train ride, which is when we discovered it had closed due to the adverse weather conditions. Crazy. We waited a while and returned but it was still closed so we headed for the merry-go-round which was just reopening and the smalls had a turn on this instead.

Plum was particularly fascinated with the birds and daddy had the opportunity to go into a Disney Store and came out feeling slightly nauseous. I looked in a shop to see how much the Perry t-shirts were but as they didn't come in kiddy size and they were Disney prizes I've opted to home make one for the boys at a later date.

One small step

Day 8: Friday

Weather report: hot, one shower on the journey out.

Feeling lots better, although still have remnants of a cold, there is no more ended for drugs.

Today's adventures took us to the Kennedy Space Centre. It was amazing and mostly I will be posting photos of our great day out. We have seen rockets and rockets and rockets and space shuttles and launch pads and touched the moon and met a real astronaught. The boys loved it. Pumpkin especially enjoyed the IMAX 3D film on the Hubble space station and it was hard to keep his excitement quiet!

Bean enjoyed meeting an astronaught and looking at the space vehicles. He has decided that he would like to pilot a spacecraft. Interesting for us was, when the astronaught was asked how he got chosen and what he had to do to become an astronaught, he said, 'work hard at the things you love' (amongst other things like physics and pilot and team work) but this was echoed later in a film presentation where they were asked a similar question. Of course, being an American citizen helps!

We also saw some wildlife out on the cape, two large alligators and a manatee and the largest bald eagles nest (it obviously felt that in the land of building things extra huge it had found a good spot!)

It was a bit like driving around the land of the giants. Everything: buildings, vehicles, launch pads, shuttles, were so big it was incomprehensible really. It was a great day out though and I'm so glad we went.