First day of School

Friday 17 August 2012

Esther started school today. When asked she said she was very excited and a little bit scared.  Daddy took her into school because it was 'fair' - Mummy had taken her on her first day at nursery!

She is going to Clydemuir Primary School and is in class P1b with her class teacher Mrs McBeth.

On her way home she said to me, "I really enjoyed my first day at school, thank you" and is really looking forward to going back on Monday.

Whilst she was there she said that she read a story out to the whole class called 'Kissing Hands' and then they did this activity to bring home.

Last day of the Olympics

Sunday 12 August 2012

To celebrate the final day of the Olympics we travelled into town to watch the Men's Marathon.

We stood near a pub that had a Jazz band which Archie loved - he was pretending to play the Sax, drums and piano at various times. We got to cheer on Tanzania (as well as lots of other countries) while Esther and Granny tootled off to a service at St.Paul's Cathedral, after they had seen the runners once, where they got given a whole service book, printed for just one service!

After that we went to visit Uncle Pete and his girlfriend El. They joined us in a playground so the kids could let off steam.  Little kids...

and big kids...

So that concludes our Olympic holiday. Seven years in the planning and it has been fantastic.

Kasia's Party

Saturday 11 August 2012

We had the pleasure of attending Kasia Herbaut's 18th birthday party. It was a delight to celebrate with her and catch up with lots of friends.

It was so much fun that I forgot to take any photos - so I pinched one of Hugo's just to show we were there! Thanks Hugo.

Happy Birthday Kasia!

We did manage to celebrate Ed's gold in the morning and Mo's in the evening too!

Hot

Friday 10 August 2012
Today we travelled to Eton Dorney to watch the heats and semi finals of some Canoe Sprint categories. It was hot and we were positioned in the sun so had to trust in the white cream in a plastic tube.

The entertainment in between races was very good once again making it a proper Olympic experience and we were pleased to cheer on 4 GB boats, 3 of whom made it into tomorrow's finals.

Travelling home in the heat was hard work (having been deposited outside by Granddad earlier), but we made it and we have now used all our Olympic tickets. Which is a bit sad as it has been lots of fun!

Wemberley (again)!

Thursday 9 August 2012

Thanks to Grandma and Granddad, Mummy and Daddy got a date night at the Women's Olympic football final at Wembley and were two of the record 80,203 watching a female football match after our tasty Indian meal.

We were sitting next to mainly American fans with quite a few Japanese spotted in amongst the "neutrals". The atmosphere was very good and friendly, we cheered on both teams and saw 54 Olympic medals presented live as well as an outstanding goal to win any game from Carly Lloyd.

It was nothing like a normal football match. What with the women kicking and heading the ball, the hordes of coaches preparing their team beforehand (there was someone specifically kicking the balls to the man kicking the balls for the american goalie to catch) the medals and the lack of proper passion in the stands (the US family, who left Jo some free chocolate under their seat, missed much of the game to watch the athletics on their gadget!)

Nevertheless Mummy and Daddy thoroughly enjoyed their day which had started with a family trip including cousins and grandparents to Bekonscot model village.

The boys are back in town

Wednesday 8 August 2012

Andy and Archie went to the North Greenwich Arena (aka O2 Centre or the Millenium Dome) to watch Basketball. After a very busy time Archie slept on the tube all the way there.

We picnicked outside on the grass.

Whilst the venue was very impressive we were in the very back row, singing "Allez Les Bleues!" with the French family next to us.

It was to no avail as Spain won their very hotly contested quarter-final whilst Russia   will be their opponents coming through past Lithuania despite being vastly outnumbered in support.

Jo, Esther and Susanna got to play with Georgina & Sadie (Jo's eldest nieces) along with Grandma & Grandad.  The girls spent time playing this morning and then after lunch went for a walk around Little Britain.

View Larger Map

Where we saw lots of little wildlife and picked blackberries.

{Left to Right: Georgina, Sadie, Jo, Esther, Grandad, Grandma & Susanna in the buggy, honestly!}

After that it was onto a garden centre to look at fish and go on the soft play

It was like a free Aquarium!

Row, row, row your boat...

Tuesday 7 August 2012

Well not exactly rowing but the closest we will see of it!  Jo, Archie, Susanna and Auntie Liz went to Eton Dorney to see the Canoe Sprint. We learnt that canoes are quite different from kayaks - you paddle whilst kneeling on one knee in a canoe and you only have a paddle on one end.

Canoes

Kayaks

Hmmm, they all look the same from that distance - trust me or look really close!

I haven't a clue really what was happening but there were lots of heats and semi finals of various distances with various numbers of people in a boat. It included one race where 5 people qualified in a heat that had only 5 people in it - that left me a little puzzled! Anyway Auntie Liz came laden with snacks so Archie was very happy.

We even met another Wenlock.

And waved at the Queen's house.

Windsor Castle

Meanwhile Andy and Esther went into London to see the Men's triathlon. Esther is really into the Rainbow fairy books and one of them "Olympia the Games fairy" is all about a triathlon, so triathlon was one of the sports we needed to see during this holiday. Whats more instead of finding a nice place where we could see the cycling it was quite important to see swimming, cycling and running.

The Olympic feeling in London is really quite something and with Team GB having the favourite for gold, people were getting to the Serpentine in Hyde Park really early to get a good space. We were there an hour early and could see (albeit 20 people deep).

 The only way Esther could see was on Daddy's shoulders, but she looked quite happy doing it. She even managed to take her own photos of the cycling (3 deep)

 and running (3 deep + a bit of space)

there is a runner there, honestly!

 

The Brownlee family won gold and bronze for GB and then Esther took a picture of some flowers on the way home!

 

 

Wembley!

Monday 6 August 2012

So after not going to Wembley for nearly thirty years, Andy made it for the second time in three months;

this time to see the women's football semi final between Japan and France. We also went to visit Booby Moore:

Unlike during the historic play-off final in May when the mighty West Ham United United won, he travelled there on the tube, cheered for both teams, took his family (including his mum) with him and sat down during the game!

This was the view as we came in - it filled up with people!

The result, however, was the same (2-1) and the game was very entertaining. France were let down by the goalie, their penalty taker and their lack of attacking intent until they were two goals down.

A signalling failure delayed our return to Grandma and Granddad's but the children were very well behaved, they even got to do a little more tube-pole-spinning well after bedtime!

Come on Burundi!

Sunday 5th August

Today we travelled to the City of London to watch the Women's Marathon. Upon arriving at Temple and Mansion House stations we found lots of rain so we decided to have some fun on the tube.

Throughout the trip Esther has enjoyed the different coloured underground lines, playing "Eye-spy" stations and finding our way around. Today, during the rain and the first part of the marathon we took in three more lines we had yet to use: Circle, Northern and Hammersmith & City. Esther was a little disappointed the Hammersmith & City does not have pink poles (like it should) but instead just shares the Circle line (yellow pole) trains.

We eventually found the rain had died down and a bus stop near Cannon Street station where we greatly enjoyed cheering on all nations, and our lunch.

Afterwards we spotted another Wenlock mascot.

When we returned home we were rewarded with Gold (chocolate) medals by Uncle Pete and Granny for Olympic spectating!

A day off?

Saturday 4 August 2012

Not likely! Most of the day was spent like this:

Yes, that's three sports on two screens...  Andy is missing the two TV's next to each other we had back in Estelle Road!

We did a deal with Granny - we would provide the food if she provided entertainment for the children. She did so in style.

Marzipan sculpting

She also made jigsaws, went to the park, read lots of books and been generally fantastic. We provided food but the quality was not as high class.

Even though we didn't go to an event today we felt that we knew more about what was happening across the Olympics because we could see it as it happened on the BBC and sung along to God Save the Queen four times so far (as I write we are waiting for the medal ceremony for Jessica Ennis [Heptathlon] and don't intend on waking the children!)