4 years ago.

It started  in the afternoon, a week overdue with me completely clueless as to what was going to happen. I was resting my enormous baby bump on a gym ball. Rich came home to me wondering if my waters had gone, and took me to the hospital to get checked over.

We got there and had a frankly hilarious conversation with the midwife who was quite insistent that I'd possibly just wet myself. Only before she'd come into the room, my waters had gone all over the floor on the other side of the bed. While telling me I'd probably just wet myself, she walked around the bed, and skidded in the enormous puddle. Bit of karmic justice there. She told me I was 'probably not in labour' and she'd send me home, except my blood pressure was up and with it being 8pm, Dr's were few and far between to check me over and I couldn't go.

Two hours later and we went over to the labour ward as I was progressing, hurrah! I got set up with the lovely gas and air, and later an epidural, and I got a little sleep.

Rich went off in search of food, and found a vending machine with one sandwich in it. Filled with carrot and hummus. He left it there.

I woke up just before 3, and after 40 minutes of really *fun* pushing, Ethan James Brown came hurtling into the world. 8lbs 11oz, 53cms long, and spreading out like he was relieved to be out. He looked pretty big to me, and he pretty much filled the fishbowl cot.

He was scrumptious, and he was ours.

I remember it like it was yesterday, but somehow he's already at nursery school. In September he'll start reception. He already has an 18 month old brother. He can write his name. He draws. He asks questions about his world. He has the most amazing imagination. He comes out with the funniest things. Yesterday he was telling me that when he was in my tummy, he decided he wanted to come out because he wanted a cuddle with his Daddy. A few days ago he said "The bees won't fly in my ears now because I smell like jelly beans."

It has been a demanding, crazy, tiring, awesome, infuriating, hilarious 4 years. I can't wait for more.

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

Exercise

Found on Pinterest but unfortunately it just linked back to spam.

Today I walked/jogged 3 and a half miles :) I'm once again on the weight loss wagon, and I'm attempting to follow the couch to 5k plan in a vague sort of way. It's not that I particularly wish to be able to run 3 miles per se - I still see it as a chore rather than enjoy it - but I do want to be fitter and definitely thinner.

The basic of the plan is that you start with jogging short distances in between walking. I figured I could manage that, as I was already used to walking 3 miles in the morning. So, I started my walk, waited til I was sufficiently warmed up, and started to jog. Within 20 seconds I thought I was going to die, but I pushed through, the only reason being that I only had to jog for 60 seconds at a time.

What I hadn't thought about was that it was much harder to run than it is to walk... when you're pushing one of these.

About 30lbs of cute. Plus the not very light pushchair. 

BUT I did it. In fact 3.5 miles is the farthest I've gone during pre-school hours, and it took me slightly less time that 3 miles did walking. I'd say I nailed it!

And I don't regret it at all, even though my legs hurt and I was cold and it rained on me ever so slightly. I felt great, invigorated, ready to go! In fact I'm looking forward to doing it again. Well maybe that's going a bit far. But I'm not dreading it :)

Next Hurdle: *Shudder* getting up early specifically to go do exercise. It's a big hurdle, I love my bed, but it brings a reward, not having to push the pushchair. I'll let you know if I manage it. I'm slightly doubtful, as I woke up early enough to get up and go do it this morning, but I chose to rollover and go back to sleep.

That's just how I am, I love a nice warm bed, but the quest for the waist of yesteryear is strong in me, We shall see if I succeed or fail.

On another note of success and failure, I told my sister about this morning's run/walk, and there was talk of signing up for Race for Life. Wibble.

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

It's the little things...

... that can really pick me up. For example:

My boys flying down the slide together too fast for me to take a picture.

My biggest boy begging me to make him a roof so he can read outside.

A neighbour's cat straying into our garden and making the boys' day.

Finally being able to hang the washing out on the line again after Winter.

And Finally...

Every time I vacuum feeling like I'm using a helmet from a Star Wars Clone trooper! Although it does tend to make Rich wonder why I'm humming The Imperial March when he gets in ;)

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

Cookies!

These cookies are the bomb. They also taste slightly like brownies and make A LOT. For example, yesterday I made 159, because Ethan asked to make star biscuits after school and the only star cutter that I could find was only 1 and a half inches across! It worked out alright, because I got to give lots away as well as have a tub at home.

As requested, here's the recipe...

3 cups Plain Flour
1/2 cup Cocoa
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking powder
1 cup Butter/Marg - you must use butter if you want to roll it out rather than just make blob cookies
1 3/4 cups Sugar
2 Eggs
2 tsp Vanilla
2 bags of chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 200°C

Mix the flour, cocoa, salt and baking powder.

In a separate bowl cream the butter and sugar, then add the eggs and vanilla. Add to the dry ingredients and add the chocolate chips. Mix to a smooth dough.

If it's a hot day, refrigerate the dough for an hour before rolling out. otherwise, go to town! Roll out, cut out, place on baking trays covered in greaseproof paper. If you've got less time you can just roll it into balls and flatten with a fork.

Bake for 15ish minutes, depending on the size of them.

Eat with milk. Sigh contentedly. Get fat.

You're welcome ;)

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

Weekends are the best!

My lovely parents visited us this weekend as they've just returned from New Zealand. It was awesome! The boys totally adore them, we went to the Light Railway again as my Mum loves steam trains, and then met up with my sister Amy and her kids to go geocaching. It was fun and we found two caches, with only moderate mud traipsing.

The only massive downer was that Rich had to be off schmoozing clients and missed out. He had Friday off in lieu so we managed to get shopping done and stuff but it's not the same. Plus the shopping made us late to pick up Ethan from nursery school. I had to ring the school receptionist to tell her we were on our way and then literally run (I do not run well. at all!) to his class from the car to get him. He was upset of course, but only by the fact that Daddy didn't get out of the car and come pick him up. Charmed!

Today we went to church where I got to actually listen to almost the whole 3 hours without child related interruptions. I also heard that my friend had her baby yesterday which is always lovely :) I'm excited for the impending cooing, I do love a squidge with a teeny one! Later we had a delicious dinner and put off the parents leaving as long as we could :( I hate that part, though we do at least know that we'll be seeing them again soon for Easter. Also sad - Jess didn't come with them. Then comes the depressing looking at houses near to them and realising how ridiculously expensive it is down there, though the gap is slowly lessening.

On a happier note, I looked at my bookmarks and discovered some semi forgotten blogs to look at, which always cheers me up a bit. And there's always pinterest!

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

The day in which I get completely spoiled

Yesterday I was treated to a day of spoiling, it was lovely!

I was woken up with two bunches of flowers.


Why two? well, Rich and Ethan were picking the flowers, and Ethan picked the bunch of yellow chrysanthemums. Rich tried to persuade him to pick the more colourful (and probably more expensive) bunch. Apparently, the conversation went like this.

Ethan: These ones Daddy, these are pretty.
Rich: Yes they are, but how about some with more colours in?
Ethan: No Daddy, these ones! Girls like yellow too!
Rich: You're right they do, but these ones have lots of different flowers in.
Ethan: Fine! I will just get them with mine own money!

Considering he's 3 and has no money to speak of, Rich decided to let it go and got both as the chrysanthemums were very cheap anyway.

I was brought downstairs and told to close my eyes, and they each brought their bouquets forward. It was so sweet, Ethan's little hopeful face that I would like his flowers broke out into a huge grin when I said they were lovely. He then took me into the kitchen to put them in water where I was shown....

Donuts! 12 Donuts, no less. Well, one less actually, as Ethan couldn't wait til they got home. The numbers quickly diminished, as we have 2 small boys who love donuts as much as life itself, something they have not inherited from me, oh no. Ahem.

I was then treated to a whole afternoon of shopping, and bought a very summery dress (that I forgot to photograph) for church today. I'd originally planned to wear it out for dinner that evening, but Rich told me the restaurant wasn't really a fancy place. He was right, I'd have felt silly, and this way I got to show it to people I know :)

My lovely in-laws babysat for us so we could go for dinner at Fazenda in Leeds.

Picture from here

This place is amazing. You sit down and order drinks, and the moment you're at the table they bring you a little basket of dough balls and what can only be described as mini pasties. Then you go to the salad bar. Oh, but it's so much more! Salad, potatoes, a fish dish, cured meats, veggies. Some sort of black bean stew that I avoided. Pork and Apple stew stuff. Two kinds of bread. A cheese. Rich told me that when he went with his work team, the cheese was the size of a barrel. It was a bit smaller last night but still, a huge cheese!
Basically, you could eat your whole meal right there, but then you'd miss the meats, and oh... the meats. 15 different types or cuts of meat. Pork, chicken, gammon, sausage, and of course, steak.

That green circle that looks like a beermat? Everyone has one, and the other side is red. If you turn it to green, the chefs come to your table and slice meat off a big sword like skewer, and you grab it as it comes off with your individual tongs. Turn it to red, and they stop. Great system, as you get to try a little bit of lots of stuff, totally removes the difficult "argh, what shall I have?!" moment!

Their signature meat is the cap of rump steak and it was so so amazing. The outside had a crispy texture, it was just mouth wateringly delicious.
The desserts all looked amazing, Rich had a trio of sorbets, apple, mango, and cactus and lime. Cactus and lime is very odd, it tastes almost spicy, but odd in a good way. I had a Marquise de Chocolate I think it was called, and it was so good. Chocolate biscuity base with a brownie/torte middle, with a layer of toffee and cream on the top. Heaven! The service was brilliant too, everyone was so happy and helpful.

Clearly, I would massively recommend it! My lovely husband has been working so hard that his boss gave him the money so we could go for dinner there as he'd planned it for a team bonus, but said that Rich deserved it even if the team didn't make the target. I am so blessed to have such a hard working husband, and not only that, but one who noticed I'd been a little down and so kindly decided to give me a lovely pick me up. I knew about the dinner, and that I was going to be able to buy something new (desperately needed, I miss my black skirt!), but the donuts and flowers, and lovely moment with my biggest boy were all lovely surprises. Thank you Rich x

Update: I ate the last donut. Less than 48 hours after they arrived in the house.

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

Books are the bomb

I love to read. Love love love. I will read almost anything, and going to book shops is bittersweet. I love having books of my own, but funds and space (or rather the lack thereof) dictate that I must not buy. I recently downloaded the Kindle app for my phone, and later when we got an iPad, there too, so I can check out free and cheap books on there.

I'll be honest, I don't love it. I much prefer a real book, pages, bookmarks, the ease of flipping back several chapters or even just a few pages. I'm sticking with it though. I am currently reading this:

Picture from Amazon

It's a little bit hard going, and I'm blaming a lot of that on the kindle app - on the iPad it's back lit which is probably a little harsh on my eyes when I subject them to hours of it. I'd do much better with a hard copy. However, I am still at the beginning, Jean Valjean has barely made his appearance, for goodness sake. I'm sure that now it will get better.

Not half an hour ago, Ethan presented me with this:
I have left the few Puddle Lane books we have out and reachable for him for a LONG time now, I try hard not to push books at him because I've got a feeling he has my rebellious streak and it might put him off, but now we've read it and he's gone for another. I love that boy. Especially watching him do this:


And now finally, finally, I am getting Rich back into books. He doesn't have a lot of spare time, but I have convinced him to give this a go...


He's a few chapters in and likes it, but has fallen behind again. So much so that on Friday morning while Ethan was in school, I started it, and overtook him. On Saturday night I finished it. I forgot how that book grabs you!

Although I think saying I convinced might be too soft a word. I think my exact words *might* have been "You have to read this before we go and see it at the cinema."

Where books are concerned, there really is no arguing with me, and he started it that night. I think I might cajole him into reading a bit more tonight. It's all part of my not-so-evil plan to make us a family of book lovers :)

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

The Light Railway

On Saturday we were at a loss for what to do, having remarkably few errands to get done and visible sunshine, an amazing combination! We settled on the Light Railway, thinking that we've not been for ages and Ethan would be at least vaguely interested in the trains.


He was so excited, we were taken by surprise! He was charging about like a mad thing.


Ok, that picture doesn't show it, but he was really excited. He was being silly for the pictures and kept frowning and fake smiling!



We were given a leaflet with a picture hunt on it, and when the correct numbers were filled in you could collect a free badge. Ethan was beside himself, and bordering on slightly manic while finding the pictures. When we went to collect his badge he was hopping with glee! He took the badge into school today to show his teachers and (as predicted by myself) left it behind. I haven't mentioned it in case it is *whispers* lost.


Sam was not too impressed with the trains, and whilst we were moving mostly made this face:


Though we did also get a (very) few of these:


He was pretty happy with the toy trains in the cafe at the other end though. I had a scrumptious bowl of leek and potato soup and an AMAZING scone. It was possibly the best I've ever tasted. Even with only butter and jam rather than clotted cream.

The other thing about the Light Railway is that right next to it is a luxury caravan showhome site. It is my guilty pleasure. There are 5 static caravans to look through, fully furnished. I realise this is making me sound mega trashy, so let me elaborate. They are bigger than my house. Each one has 2 double bedrooms, the master bedrooms have en suite and walk in wardrobes. They have separate living, dining and kitchen rooms. They have nicer furniture than we do, with the exception of the beds. One of them even had a kitchen with an island in the middle. Each one is a Tardis. I love them not to live in (regardless of how good they look inside, on the outside, it's still a caravan.) but to try to figure out how exactly they have managed to fit what's inside, inside. I mean come on, one of them had a utility room!

Plus it kept us out of the wind until our train left, so win win!

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

Poor Sam, poor Ethan, poor us!

Sam did not get better the next day. Or the next. Or that week. In fact he was very poorly for 6 days and then slowly picked up. The day he stopped vomiting, Ethan started. Though he at least lasted only 2 days, and being older, knows vaguely that he will be sick rather than springing it on you.

We now are well thank goodness, just in time for Shrove Tuesday yesterday :)

Disclaimer: these pancakes were actually made today. They are the good normal thinny pancakes. Yesterday I made fatty pancakes (also known as fluffy or American) and they were not much cop. Bit stodgy. Once again, the simplest method remains the best! So today was the second day in a row we had pancakes for lunch. I love that there's an excuse :D

The children loved them too, and I was kind enough to let them finish off the last of my maple syrup. Surely, sainthood to me? No? Really?

In other news, Ethan has decided he likes drawing! I am pleased, I love to draw or doodle or scribble or whatever, though I rarely do anymore and I miss it. Today he has drawn me several mazes in different colours, the puppy who was brought into his class today (more of a blob with spots, but not the point) and this:

That's all of us at the bottom ("I did mine wrong so I crossed it out and drewed it again") and that at the top is a pretty big deal - it's the first time he has written his name alone by choice. He writes it every morning at school, but always says he doesn't want to, and insists he needs help. Again, very proud of him! He's left all his drawings in a nice tidy pile to show Daddy when he gets in.

My boys are so cool! Granted, they are both asleep at this moment, but they are!

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

Today I have been mostly...

Doing this. Poorly Sam has been very sad, and surviving on bread sticks and water.
He has such a pitiful wail, it's so very much "Mummy, I really don't want this anymore, I am tired and I don't like it."

Then he flaked out.
Poor little mite.

The cuddles were nice though. He's not normally much of a snuggler, too much to be doing. Hopefully tonight will be less vomity than last night and more sleeping will occur. Please.
At least tomorrow, being Thursday, we will have Rich working at home.

Please be better though. Poor boy :( x

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

You might think you're just making conversation, but actually, you're being really quite rude.

So, you're married. You might have been married for anything from a couple of hours to a couple of years. You're talking to someone, who might know them fairly well, you might barely know them at all, suddenly, they randomly drop the bomb.

"When are you going to have children?"

Just reading it written down like that, it seems innocent enough right? And it is innocently asked, of course, it's never meant with any maliciousness. At first it's kind of hilarious that people (even almost strangers) feel like they can ask you this incredibly personal question. I had a friend ask me at my wedding reception, and I laughed my head off, it was so crazy-out-of-the-blue. Especially when you consider I was not yet quite 20!

Fast forward a couple of years. I was at church one Sunday (where this question is especially prevalent) when someone whose name I still don't know asked me the same question. I don't remember what I said, but I do remember how I felt. And I remember crying in the car on the way home. It was a bad day, and definitely a bad day to ask me.

At that point we'd been trying to have a baby for about 18 months. We were at the stage of being tested by our wonderful GP. I had just had to have blood tests, and the reason on the form was Sub-fertility. Even seeing that word on the paper was horrible. It's a fairly long story, and though it has a happy ending, the middle was not a huge amount of fun.

I'm not angry at being asked, not anymore. Before it was something that affected me I am sure I asked it myself, but I don't now, because the real question is, what makes us think we should know something so personal? Even completely ignore the hurt caused to people in situations like I have been, or harder, How is this anyone's business except the couple? I have few people who I would be happy asking me this, and they are generally people who know my situation, and add to that the fact that I have mellowed a lot now that I have 2 children, it doesn't bother me nearly as much anymore.

Except.

A couple of weeks ago, while at church again, I happened to be out of Sacrament meeting with a particularly whingey Sam. I was pretty frazzled, Sam runs on a lot less sleep than I like to run on, and I happened to be talking to the same person who had unwittingly initiated the sob fest about 5 years ago (I still don't know her name, she's a friend of Rich's family). Can anyone guess what's coming?

After asking me how the boys were (fine, hard work, enjoying nursery school, whingey etc), came the doozy. "So, are you going to have any more?"

Seriously? I'm out wandering the hallway with a whiner. It can be enough, in the moment at least, to put off any serious broody feelings. I gave her a curt reply, inferring that two was enough (not true), and it ended the conversation and I made excuses and left.

I'm not sure why people think it's acceptable to ask. It probably doesn't even occur to them not to. All I can say is, if this is a question you would ask without thinking about it, please reconsider. I'm pretty sure I didn't tell anybody that we were trying to have a baby for at least a year. It's a difficult situation to be in.There are a lot of people out there who are desperate to have a family, and either find it difficult or impossible without medical help, or can't have children at all.

I'm not saying don't ask, just be considerate. Unless you barely know the person, then I'd say yeah, don't ask ;)

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

Christmas (A little late!)

We had a brilliant time at Christmas, with Christmas morning at home, Christmas day at Rich's parents and Boxing day at home with my parents and Jess and Jonny.

This tree is slightly different to the original tree this year - Sam decided that the lowest string of lights were ripe for the picking, and pulled them off, breaking them. On the 22nd of December. We dashed out to the shops for what I though was an easy find, Christmas lights at Christmas. Ha! Everywhere was selling off anything that was left, and what was left was rubbish. We went to B&Q, Sainsbury's, Tesco, and 2 branches of Asda, and in the 2nd Asda found some white 'berry' lights, which weren't what I was looking for, but I wanted white ones, so they'd do. I got home, stripped the tree and started over (lights HAVE to go on first don't you know!) and they looked really good. In fact I bought another box the next day as this year's tree was a bit little and so I might need more next year. So three boxes in all. Oh, and when I took the old lights off, they magically fixed themselves. I had tried to push in the bulbs again, but apparently bashing them on the floor was the way. Still, I like the new ones better!


Christmas eve we went to Pizza hut with Rich's side of the family, where Sam ruled as pizza king..

And loved it :) We were lucky, as every time we go to a restaurant, Sam is very restless, but this time my parents had taken him out in the morning and he'd had a lovely sleep, so was happy as Larry!
Christmas eve pyjamas from the elves! And gruffalo slippers this year for Ethan, he was so chuffed, and the Elves found them in Sainsbury's for a bargainous price!

Sam was less impressed, as he was totally shattered. But check out that after bath blow dried hair, it's so much fun to do it!

Christmas day! This is Sam absolutely adoring the stuffed horse Ethan picked out for him, so lovely!


The mini quad bike from Aunty Amy and co, which he also loves :)



Ethan and his loot, the grabber was his favourite, but he loved it all.


Sam now takes Horsey to bed, and I snapped this smoochy pic before we went to bed. Sleeping babies - there's nothing like it!

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

It's a small world after all, or, how the internet causes me to embarrass myself.

This actually happened months ago now, and I keep meaning to blog it but recently had it brought back to the front of my mind.

So picture the scene, I am in Nando's with Rich and the boys, one of whom is still very small and therefore making a bit of a racket in the very full restaurant. Not embarrassing enough apparently.
I turned to see a couple of people leaving, walking past our table as they went.

"Oh," says my brain, "That's Sarah. Check her badge just in case." I did (she was wearing a work badge, not just for funsies) and it said, funnily enough, Sarah.
"You should smile at her so she knows you've seen her." said brain. So I did. "You should wave too, I don't think she saw you," said brain, "it's important for us to be nice to people. Go on, wave."
So I did, just a little wave, the kind you do to someone you know, but not well, across a small space.

Sarah gave me a very odd look with a polite smile, and hurried on to exit the restaurant.

Under normal circumstances, that response would probably have upset me. As I say, under NORMAL circumstances.

It was then that my brain chipped in again....

"Ah... We don't actually know Sarah do we?"

No, brain. We do not. Thanks for that.

Sarah is in fact, the Sister-in-law of an old friend, Tim. More recently, I have been reading the blog of Sarah's sister, Rachel, Tim's wife. Therefore, I have only ever seen pictures of Sarah online. As a side note, is this not slightly bizarre? Sarah lives not far from me, but I don't know her except via her relatives, who live 200 miles away near my parents. And yet I've seen her dancing to Feliz Navidad.

Facebook and Blogs have made my world a smaller place. To Sarah, (and no doubt the future similar victims of my friendly wave) I'm sorry.

Just know that the random woman waving at you wasn't crazy, or drunk, just internet-addled. *waves* :D

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

Pre-Christmas Fun!

Bit late with this post, as Christmas is almost upon us!

Christmas Tree!

I had to relinquish control over the tree totally this year. It was a difficult day, but actually a lot of fun decorating with Ethan this year. I am now doing constant battle with Sam for him to please NOT pull off all the decorations within his reach (the precious ones are at the top, for example the glass angels!)

Gingerbread house! With candles inside, that remain lit for very short periods of time, seeing as the roof has chocolate on!
Matchmaker log doors, Windowsills, and log pile. and Jelly tot lights! It smells amazing in my kitchen right now.
I built it, but didn't bake it. I want to try that next year :) Ethan and I decorated it together. What this picture doesn't show, is that when the house was facing the other way, Sam climbed up the stool Ethan had been using and pulled off some of the roof. Clearly his mothers son ;)


Sam and Annabel (his little friend) at their toddler group Christmas party. Food, Bouncy castle, presents. What more could they want?

Ethan in Sunday's Nativity, as a cow. He was supposed to be a sheep, but was very upset as he was a sheep last year, so we asked if he could be a cow instead, and he was delighted. So it's not traditional, but there were probably cows in the stable, right?

So Christmas is fast approaching, much to do! Have a great one!

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

Centre Parcs - Updated with new pictures :)

Totally Awesome.

So I don't have many pictures at the moment because the good ones are on Rich's phone and I can't find his cable, so, helpful. Even so though, we didn't take many anyway as we are forgetful and get too busy having fun. It happens every holiday.

The swan up there - lethal. That was our little patio, every morning we were greeted pre-dawn by squirrels, ducks of many varieties, pidgeons, the occasional seagull and these 2 monstrous swans. They were fine for a couple of days, but on day 3, one of them saw me coming with the food, and started PECKING THE GLASS. It was also pressing it's body up against it. There was no way I was opening that door. It was not giving up. I had to go around to the bedroom window and lure it away while Rich opened the door and threw out the food as quickly as he could.

The squirrels too were fearless, we had a few mad scrambles to shut the door before one got in with those too. Sam and Ethan loved it though, and spent ages each morning watching them.

After that it was swimming each day. On day one Sam cried the entire time. Rich and I kept throwing each other what-have-we-done? glances, as we'd bigged up the swimming everyday to Ethan, and so couldn't really back out! The next day we let Sam nap first, fed them and then went and he decided he loved it, phew!

On the Tuesday evening we took the boys to 'Animal Magic' and animal show and tell sort of situation, with all your fluffies, rabbits, baby chicks, a couple of cute rats. Then they brought out the hissing cockroaches. Bleurgh. They didn't hiss, as we were told they'd become too domesticated and they only do it under attack. All I can say is thank goodness, they were revolting enough as it was. Funnily enough, none of the children or parents wanted to hold them.

Then came 'Rosie' the Tarantula, who also didn't get a hold. I did however learn that if you drop a tarantula on it's abdomen, it will pop like a light bulb. Thanks for that, animal experts, excuse me while I throw up.
After that was a bearded dragon, a boa constrictor, and a tortoise. Much better. Sam loved it ALL and wanted to touch everything they brought around!

We took Ethan for a pony ride to Santa, which he loved, and he got to pick a present from Santa, he picked a Lego digger, which was handy as he'd been talking about a digger for Christmas recently and we'd not got him one. He loved it so much we took them both again the next day as Sam had been asleep. Sam was slightly wary of this man with a beard (never seen one of those before!) and just stood and stared at him, but was happy enough to get a stuffed Tiger from him :)

One of Ethan's favourite things was the child sized trolleys in the little shop, too cute!

We went to a gorgeous fireworks display, where there were also some jugglers and 2 dancers, who were doing hula hoops, 4 at a time. Ethan thought it was very cool so he and Rich went to look closer. The dancers were wearing very small skirts over shorts (I guess to not impede the hoops) with tights and fluffy boots, and the girl did a spin while spinning these hoops (I'm not explaining this well!) and turned her back to Ethan who promptly said "Daddy! I can see her bottom!"
Santa then did a pass of the beach on a speedboat, which Ethan loved, and then came round again. We'd already put him back in the pushchair to head home, and so we started getting him out to see over the crowd. He started shouting "Daddy! make Santa wait! I want to see him!" we got him out in time and he said "don't forget to come to my house Santa!" and blew him kisses. Bless him!

All in all, a wonderful week, we didn't want to come home at all!

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!