Abbotsbury Barn

A trip to Abbotsbury Barn with friends Charlie 8, Maisie 3 and Mum Emma. It was the first time Charlie and Maisie had been, so our four took great delight in showing them the ropes!

Oliver, Charlie and Bethany concocting a very complicated sand experiment, which went way beyond my physics capabilities!

"I really like your stripy dress Maisie", "Well I like your yellow shorts. Where did you say you get your hair done again?"

"This is how to make a square Jacob"

"No, don't do it Charlie!"

Two cheeky chimps swinging to and fro.

"We're the Kings of the castle!"

Kingston Maurward

Tuesday 2nd August and we went off to Kingston Maurward Agricultural College which opens its gardens, lake and farm to the public. Another good picnic and lots of sunshine made for a lovely day.

Oliver surveying the size of the fish!

Who is going to be first and is anyone NOT going to land in the hedge?

Bethany's photo of a summer day.

More Bethany.

And another one.

One tree and four children. How is this ever going to be a good idea?

Jacob and Rebecca having a natter over half a bread roll for the ducks.

My legs are tired. Come on big brother, put some effort in!

Poor Jacob is the other side of the hedge trying to have a peaceful wee.

Rebecca asked if she could have her picture taken with the "beautiful princess statue". It's actually King Henry 3rd, but I couldn't burst her bubble.

Cute piglet.

Shaun Alpaca. Slightly less attractive than the woolly version.

Oliver found a good use for its dusty back!

Handsome Ram

Very handsome Axis Stag.

Distinguished old Goat.

Seaside Stroll

This afternoon we all felt like a walk along the beach, so we parked at Greenhill Gardens and paddled towards the Weymouth Pavillion. Eventually we found a spot to park our buckets and spades and created castles & sculptures, then we walked home while eating ice creams from Rossi's Ice Cream Parlour.

Pirates off the coast of Weymouth! Arr ma hearty's

Run the pirates are coming!! they are after your sweets!

Cuteness at its best.. or has he just had a wee?

Auditioning for Billy Elliott

"Well Jacob if wore a dress like me, then you could do this"

Fairy tale castle, but watch out for the dragon

Daddy admiring his artistic flare.

Holt Heath Hike

This morning we went for a walk and a picnic to Holt Heath, which is near Colehill and Granny and Grandads house. We had a 3 1/2 mile walk we wanted to do from our Dorset walks book, but realised our book is 15 years old so the Silver birch trees we were looking for as a point of reference had probably turned into triffids or been chopped down! Scott managed to find our bearings and we did the walk with a really good picnic in the middle.

Oliver's picture of a cobweb covered in water from the nighttime rainfall. He was quite taken by it.

The two girls frollicking in the grass.

Family photo - apologies for the eight year old tongue sticking out!

A happy photo just before Oliver's shorts got stuck and the branch snapped. No major injuries but a few grazes.

Going back for more and showing his siblings how to do the same!

The rest of the day finished with a chance drive past Granny and Grandads who were in, so a cup of tea with them turned into a fantastic afternoon of blackberry picking, playing in the garden and a delicious four-course dinner in the garden. Unfortunately the camera stayed in its case as the good food and wine were calling too loudly for us to bother getting the camera out!

Pyjama Day

The children asked for a pyjama day today. They were worn out from the last few days and two late nights. So stay in their pyjamas they did! I lasted until 11am and then the shower and my clothes were just calling too loudly to ignore. We played games, wrote a couple of "thank you" e cards to those living in Walnut Creek USA, made a den, did some dancing to "Wham" ( ok, it was mainly me doing the dancing with Jacob holding onto my leg trying to stop me, Oliver and Bethany running around and Rebecca copying - bad move!)

The day finished with a trip to the park, but it was all too much as after half an hour the children all asked to come home and they have all gone to bed really early.

The results of our baking session after we had all eaten one for lunch! Four children and one bowl to lick out. Yes you would have loved to be a fly on the wall!

Four children, one swing and a golf ball?

Jacob and Rebecca having a swinging competition on the revolving mushrooms.

Any higher and they'll take off.

Far more giggles when you Riverdance together!

Who needs a skateboard?

Anything you can do I can do better!

Charity Volley Ball 2010

The time has come again when grown men think they can recreate a scene from Top Gun and relive their youth! Yes its Weymouth Charity Volleyball 2010, where local businesses enter teams to wow the tourists & local residents. We managed to lose our first two group games (not by much) then we drew the third match, this put us in to the section to win the Plate trophy and not the Cup trophy. This worked to our advantage as we scraped through the next round and only got better and ended up in the final after a HUGE win in the semi-final. But did we win?

Top Gun Team

Scott, Ken, Gerard,Nick,Paul, Lee, Richard

I should be a pro!

Tom Cruise could learn a thing or two from this!... probably stay fit!

Half time entertainment, the Magical Drummers

Team support watching from afar.

Nothing like team work & coordination

End of the night team photo, but with no trophy. After being 18-16 up in the final we managed to lose 18-19. Apparently we did receive a runners up certificate, but end of the tournament alcohol was required.