It's Christmas!

It's that time of year again. I awoke at 06:30 and decided to send a few text Christmas messages and make a cup of tea. Whilst the kettle was boiling away, I went back to bed for a quiet moment before the kids got up. 2 minutes. That's all I got. The kids must've heard the sounds I was making when getting thew phone and putting on the kettle and awoke and ran out into the living room. Then Bees shouting "Santa's been here. Santa's been here". Sweet.
They of course wanted me to get up but I said there was no opening of presents until Nan arrived so they might as well have breakfast. Bees was too excited to bother. Jamie made himself a sandwich.I got up out of bed about 07:00 and got a few things ready. I set up the webcam so that family back in Europe could watch the kids opening the presents if they so wished. Rik and Leny did but Dave, Carole and the twins arrived just as we'd finished. Bees handed out the presents and thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing. After Jamie got a bit stressed over trying to put together a cheap Chinese Lego copy of a racing car. The instructions were a bit vague and incorrect and the bricks would not fit together smoothly like Lego bricks. Ah well. It happens. I decided not to buy any Lego (or cheap imitations) for Jamie as he has enough already.
After a few cups of tea, Esther went back home and as the kids played with their presents, I got a few things ready for the day, the final thing, picking the peas from the garden.
Off to Esther's for lunch and then the kids had fun on the water slide that they got from Esther. It took them a good hour to two hours to be brave enough to get under the water with their heads. Water on their faces is just too scary. after that and a Barbie video and a slight kip from me it was off to Amy and Iain's for an evening BBQ.
We arrived, we drank, we chatted, we ate. The kids played on the water slide again and had a nice evening there before coming home exhausted and needing sleep.
There are some photos of the day.

The best Christmas present ever

What more could a father ask for than a wonderfully compassionate daughter, who misses her mummy. Needless to say it had me in tears. Click on the picture to read what it says. I am so lucky to have a wonderful family.

Run Away!

I broke up from work for the year on Tuesday. The kids were staying at Nan's, idea being that I could pop into town and do some Christmas shopping and just chill out and enjoy some time on my own, without having the kids about. So I did just that, popping into town and getting some presents. I also caught up with some friends for a chat whilst I was in town which was nice. When I got back home I wondered what I could do Thursday. I decided to run away. Esther was going to look after the kids Thursday night so I decided on Wednesday evening to book a room at a motel in Hanmer Springs and spend Thursday there and come back Friday. Which is what I did. After I dropped Jamie off at Esther's place at 07:30, I took a leisurely drive to Hanmer Springs. It was a nice sunny day and I stopped off occasionally to take some pictures. As I couldn't check in before 14:00 I went and had a cooked breakfast at Robbie's and then spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon in the pools, hopping from one to the other. It was surprisingly empty which was good as a crowded hot pools would have been annoying and no pool was cold. So I left there after a few hours and went to the motel. It was very nice. I sat in the garden reading and having a coffee and then after, went into town late afternoon for an early tea. I had fush n chups and a couple of dark beers at the Montieth's pub before going back to the motel for a read and some TV in a nice, quiet, no kids atmosphere before going to bed. I woke up nice n early, which is always the case these days, and left there at 08:00 on the slow drive back home. I'd spotted on the way up 4 places that I wanted to take some pictures of. As it was, 1 I couldn't and another I couldn't find again so missed out. Back to Hornby, coffee and brief food shopping before coming back home. It was a nice time away and I'm definitely doing this again.

RIP Caleb - 1998 - 2011

This afternoon Caleb died after a short time with a heart condition. A few weeks ago he started to be short of breath and have what looked like seizure episodes. This was related to his heart which was wearing out after a long and happy life. The kids were upset but not as much as I would have thought. I think they're realizing that death, after all, is a part of life and it happens to us all in the end. Now that he has died, the kids like to think of Caleb with Audrey, going mental as he used to when he met anyone for the first time, when every time was the first time. Receiving lots of hugs and cuddles and "getting in behind" on long horse rides.
Caleb and I had rather a love hate relationship but I will miss him, not only because he was British (mad dog) or that he was Audrey's and there was still that open connection there that has now closed but he was part of the family. We buried him in our memorial garden next to Possum and Audrey's tree. Bye bye Caleb. We love you. XXX.

Sweeties for Breakfast

Every morning, I'd talk loudly, shout or scream at he kids to get ready for school at some point. "Hurry up and finish your breakfast", "get dressed", "what are you doing standing there, go clean your teeth". It was in effective because it was just annoying. Not just for the kids but me also.
"Got dressed before 07:00? Have a pascal swirl"
"Ate your breakfast before 07:15? Have a pascal swirl"
"Hair brushed, teeth cleaned, lunches in bags, shoes on and hi-via jacket on before 07:45? Have a pascal swir"l. Not sure about the third for 3 reasons. 1. Too many reduces effectiveness. 2. Too many and they'll become lardy. 3. Not just after they've cleaned their teeth, surely? As Jamie has a behavioural/psychological issue with the toilet, I think he'll get one for doing a poo.
For those that don't know what a Pascal Swirl is...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3aPo9mVyLY