May Blog Entries

You might have noticed a lack of entries for May. They will appear in time and the heading and pictures are in place. It just a question of filling in the gaps. So don't forget to check to see if something has been posted. It could take months to catch up.

The Country Park - Take 1

It was a grey start to the day when I woke up. It really didn't look promising at all for going out much but that didn't stop us in the end and we found a little gem of a park.

I was first up by a long way. I woke at 8.30 and everyone else was still fast asleep. It was nice to have a bit of quiet in the morning for a change and I sat with a coffee and got on with my café on Facebook enjoying the peace of the house. The time quickly passed and before I knew it was time to get our Lucy from her mummy. Waking the girls to tell them where I was going I was going off I went to get her locking the doors behind me to keep them safe.

We both got back 15 minutes after I had left and in we trotted. Lucy asked where is Catherine and Emily as she usually does and I pointed upstairs. She quickly set off up the stairs to find them and as it turned out to wake them up. They had fallen back to sleep. I think Lucy found it amusing telling them it is morning and time to get up in her own way of saying it. After all she would have been up for ages. 

Most of the morning was spent playing with each other and occasionally watching Peppa Pig on the computer. Lucy loves the fire engine episode on YouTube. The other day I was going through some DVD's and managed to find some episodes I had recorded for Mary, Lucy's youngest sister. This thankfully gave us a bit more choice in what Lucy could watch and she roped in Catherine to watch them with her.   

Around lunchtime we set off in search of fun and set out to visit the piglets at Northfield farm on A606 Nottingham Road. We had been there a few days before but Emily and Catherine hadn't been with us and missed out on see them. It seemed only fair to take them too.

They all had great fun at the farm seeing the piglets. Catherine loved the pony and made me take pictures of her with it for her Facebook page. Emily loved the Ginny pigs. She wants one for her Birthday. As for Lucy she loves the goats because they follow her around and seem to do what she says. They all loved feeding goats the long grass the goats couldn't reach.

Soon we all got hungry and headed to Melton and the supermarket with the little fuel there was left in the car. We never arrived. Instead we ended up going to the country park in Melton. I had never been there and thought it would be nice to take a look at the place before we hit the shops. 

I was pleasantly surprised by what we found. Another park which had something for all the girls and better still a café too. 

We first headed to the café to refill the empty little tummies. The food was good and better still there was party finishing and the girls got invited in to finish off the food and the cake that was left over. As you can imagine the cake didn't last long with three little hungry mouths to eat it. Once outside agin the big girls spied the climbing park while Lucy went off to play in the play ground and of course headed for the slide. They all had great fun and Lucy made a new friend to boss about. It was fun to see them enjoying themselves. It was a shame we had to leave but we had to make the supermarket before it closed.

All in all it was a lovely day.....

Pick ups and Drop offs

Just and observation. I'm not sure why after all this time I still find picking up and dropping off Lucy so difficult. I never know what to make of it all or how to handle it. Sometimes I feel that they go ok and at other times that I have done something wrong and everything is my fault. I know it might not be me that has upset her, but I feel that it is me. I'm just to sensitive to her moods, but I guess that is to be expected, I do care because we have someone special in common. I just wish we could be friends at least, but that is probably against the rules. There seems to be rules for everything. Lot of the time I feel we are not even amicable about dealing with our Lucy, but we do have Lucy together and she is the joy of both our worlds so it would make sense to build the bridges. I really don't feel anything negative about her, that all went ages ago. 

Shopping

Just one of those days were shopping needs to be done. There are things to buy and places to go along the way. You just have to hope you can create fun when the task at hand is so boring. This was one of them days

With Lucy picked up from her mummy and the girls in the car we set off to leave Rutland in search of bigger and better shops in Corby and Kettering. 

On our trip we stopped for lunch at KFC and al had fun eating finger licking food and ice cream. The bed shop for a quick bounce and generally made the most of a boring shopping trip.

Not much was brought, there isn't much money, but there is lots of.....

Two Years Ago

It was two years ago that I move my family to Rutland. All the people that mattered to me because I promised someone I would move them back home. It was for them I came here and with them I fell in love with the place. It is amazing to think I have been living here two years. At times it feels like a lifetime so much has happened. There have been massive highs, exciting times, fun times and the lowest point of my life, other than the death of my Mother and Father. All this in one place and over a short space of time and all in one place. 

The highs included moving in and the weeks that followed, which I must admit were some of happiest weeks in the past ten years or so, then our first Christmas, George coming to the house, the children at there new school and seeing them settle in, starting work again and the interviews for full time work, taking the girls out to parks and theme parks, the list goes on and on. The good times have been really good, even special. 

Then there are lows, or should I say low point in all of this. The a weekend in late July last year where it all went so badly wrong when Lucy's mummy did what she did. My heart was not just broken it was ripped to shreds and my life was left a ruin. I had put every penny I had into the family and more. What is strange is I have forgiven her, because I understand and know it is not her fault, there something bigger that she can't control and never will completely.

The bad time has gone now and it is time to rebuild. That is what I plan to do. I can never have what I had because that is gone despite what I feel inside, but I can walk into the future full of hope that one day my dreams will come true. They say never lose sight of your dreams and something I will never do. Lets hope for a better year this year in the place I love so much with the people I love.

[Edited 30th May 2010 - Content removed]

Farms and Parks

This is one of a few posts from May that have been written in retrospect, this one because I was busy with and another post and work. 

It was a day that we had loads of fun on. Not only did we get to go to the Northfield farm where Lucy fed the goats and the donkey carrots but we also managed to fit in some parks along the way going to Oakham in the morning and Langham in the afternoon with her sisters.

Like many of the days that Lucy is here, what remember most is the fun she had and joy in being with her sisters. Those are the memories of days like this that I will carry with me forever.

Roy's World

The old site "Roy's World" has finally been converted into extra pages for this blog. You can still get to it via the old link if you have it. If not look for the new link at the side of this blog next time it gets updated.

Out and About

Going out is great fun even without the children. There is so much to see and do in the area and little gems to be found if you search for them. 

Below is a picture of Donington le Heath Manor which is near Coalville in  in North West Leicestershire. It is a lovely old medieval manor house set in authentic layed out medieval gardens. It free to go there and that includes the parking. During the summer they have loads of events again all free. It is a lovely place to sit and enjoy the summer sun.

On the same weekend there was a old car rally at Northfields farm in Rutland. I found out about from the local paper and although it was small compared to others I have been to it was very friendly and the money taken on the gate went to a good cause.

I never been to the farm before but I had eaten some of the pork from there and it is wonderful. I was lovely to find a tea room as well as a shop, but better still there were some one week old piglets. A great find that is sure to delight the girls.

This is a couple of the places I have visited this month. Hopefully if I have time over the summer I will post the places I go and see over the holidays.

Expensive Trip to Melton

Another Friday with Lucy and this one turned out to be far more expensive than expected. 

Over the last week or so the brakes on the car have slowly been getting worse to the point that a scrapping noise could be heard from the passenger side of the car. Although it didn't seem to affect the braking to much it was clear that something was rubbing against the break disk. I thought it was probably a stone at first given the pads seemed to have some wear left from what I could see although they needed replacing, but it turned out to be far worse. 

The first part of the morning was spent on the phone getting quote to replace the worn front brake pads. Not my idea of fun but something that had to be done. Melton seemed the logical place to go and given the state of the brakes the closer the garage the better. Surprisingly the quota weren't too bad and I found someone that could do it the same day. I even found the parts to do the job again if only I had the time. 

We set off for Melton just before lunch carefully driving and avoiding using the brakes as much as possible. I was getting rather good at this as I had been doing it all week, leaving larger gaps and using the gears including first were ever possible. It is amazing how little you have to brake if you careful. The idea was to have lunch while the breaks were being fixed in the town. 

We soon arrived in Melton and the careful picking of the garage paid off. We were less than a  five minutes walk from the town centre. We dropped off the car and headed into town in search of some food. Gregs looked like a likely candidate for a sausage roll which Lucy loves and then off somewhere to park our bottoms for a drink while we waited for the call to say the car was all done. Turned out when call came it wasn't the sort of call I wanted. The first bit of bad news was that one of the discs had worn away, the next was that the parts were more expensive due to it being the larger model and finally that they weren't in stock and we would have to spend most of the afternoon in Melton waiting for them to arrive and be fitted. 

There was only one thing to do, go to the park for the afternoon and have some fun. A quick call to the school was made just in case we were late back to let Emily and Catherine know where we were and off we set. 

I hadn't been to Melton park in years and then only once to see Lucy's uncle Paul. It was lovely to go back there again after all this time and take Lucy. I can't even remember if she was born when I was last there. It was that long ago. She saw the park and announced straight away that it was going to be fun. She already eyed up the slide and ran there as soon as we were close. She particularly liked the rocking horse and had me riding it with her. As usual she made new friends by following them around and then order them and about. She had a lovely time playing on all the rides and walking round the park. Thankfully it was lovely weather for the park too and it was a great way of passing the time.

Eventually we got the call the car was ready and shock horror the cost of repairing the brakes. A small matter of £300 most of which were the pair of new double discs at over £100 each. But I guess safety is priceless and it was good to know we where safe and the new breaks were all tested. 

We managed to arrive back home just in time for Emily and Catherine to get home from school. In fact they were just walking down the walk as we arrived back home. Quickly they got changed out of their school clothes and it was out in the garden in the sun with Lucy. Ice lollies all round brought a smile to all of them and the y played beautifully until dinner.

All in all it was a nice day but an expensive one.

A Quiet Sunday

After all the excitement of Saturday it was nice to relax at home and enjoy a nice quiet Sunday and a lovely Sunday lunch with all the family.

Lucy woke at  a reasonable hour after sleeping all night in her big girls bed for the first time. I really expected her to get out and play but she called out to me to tell me she was awake.

Both Catherine and myself got up with her. Catherine as usual made her some breakfast and played with her until Emily surfaced from her bed who then took over in Lucy’s games. I must say that Emily really is getting the teenage bug of not getting of bed in the morning.

As they all played I cooked a lovely Sunday lunch for everyone and with the occasional cuddle and helping hand from Lucy She loves to pretend to stir the food and get involved. It is going to be lovely when she gets bigger and she can help out for real rather than playing at. It nice when Emily and Catherine help out. Both are slowly learning to cook basic foods and of course cakes.

After diner we headed off to the Langham park to burn off some of the food and have fun for an hour or so. Lucy equipped with red spotty wellies had loads of fun on the big girls slide. Climbing to the top and sliding down over and over again and together with her big sisters the all slide down the bicycle ramp hand in hand. Emily took her new football with her and had fun playing footie and Catherine did the trim trial and played on the swing. It was a nice way to finish the day with Lucy.

After Lucy went home to her mummy we all headed back to the house to mess on the computers and generally relax before going out for a drive around the villages. Occasonialy stopping to take the odd photograph or two along the way.

It was a lovely relaxing day after our twin lakes visit.

Twinlakes

It was one of the finest Saturdays weather wise we have had for ages, at last it seemed the cold had been replaced by the warmth of the spring sunshine. This made it an ideal day to get out and have some fun especially since it was my weekend to have all the girls together.

The morning was spent relaxing and just getting ready to go out. Instead of lunch we went for the earlier brunch and filled ourselves up with a nice warm lunch to stop those little tummies rumbling while we were having fun. After all when your out having fun you don't want to stop just to eat when there is lots to do and there is certainly lots to do at Twinlakes. 

For those that don't know what Twinlakes is let me take a moment to tell you. Twinlake once was a farm on the edge of Melton Mowbray that has been converted in to a adventure park for children in the age range of 2 to 14 which makes it ideal for a day with an active family of little ones as well as bigger ones. They all have something to do. There is everything from roller coasters, pirate ships, boats on lakes and mini parks for them all to play in and better still you can even go there when it rains as some of the things to do are housed in large barns. 

We set off the park just after we finished eating giving us about 5 hours to enjoy the sun before the park closed which was more enough time to wear them all out for bed later in the evening. With the usual singing and car seat dancing we made our way off to Twinlakes listening to the music picked by Lucy and played over and over again until we could take no more and picked something else to play on the car CD player. You could feel the excitement grow in the car from the children as we got closer and closer.

We arrived and everyone rushed out of the car and made there way to the entrance. We paid, thankfully for only the big two as Lucy was just under the height limit, and set of to find the soft play area for Lucy and some bigger things for her big sisters to do. Emily quickly found the rope slide and Catherine joined in sliding down it while I played with Lucy. Lucy, bless her, wanted to join in with their big girl games but she was just to little. She did manage to get me to go on the wild west horse ride again and again and again. Soon Emily and Catherine joined us and we were all waving madly at each other as we went round and round the track. 

Catherine took Lucy off to the big castle and they made there way to the top. They were having so much fun that I didn't see them for ages and I thought I had lost them. With two sacks for the big slide in my hand I went off in search of them. I walked all around the castle and still didn't find them until I reached the top of the slide when I saw them down at near the bottom. There was only one thing to do... slide down the slide. It was the quickest way down. 

Next we all headed of to the farm area to see the animals. Lucy loved it. All those little soft and cuddly animals and their little babies to look at and be amazed by. It was lovely to se her little face light up as we moved from one part of the farm to the other. She was really funny with the big animals holding her nose and saying how they smelled of poo. She made us all laugh as usual with her little ways. It is a lovely age of discovery. 

Emily was keen to get off to one of the barns for some climb and sliding fun. The barn closest to the farm has a massive climbing and sliding area. These barns are really high and the biggest slide is really high up. Of course Lucy didn't want to be left out. After a quick height check she went in with me and we got a mat and made our way to the top of the biggest slide with me helping up some of the harder things to climb. Once there we got on our mat and she sat in the front and me behind her and we set off down the biggest slide. She loved it so much we had to do it again and again before we stopped for some chips and a drink before we found a even better slide. It wasn't as big as the main slide but it was faster and a lot more fun. It was great to see her and the rest of them having having so much fun. I could have spent all day going down that slide with Lucy. We had so much fun together.

Next we headed for the next big barn for the falling chair ride. It is Emily's favorite ride in the whole of Twinlakes. I'm sure if I would let her she would have spent all day on the ride going up and down. She just loves it since she first went on the ride last year when all the girls were together. Lucy and myself headed off for the bouncy castle and the soft play area for some fun. There wasn't so much we could do in this barn compared with the other barn. All the same we managed to find enough to do to keep us going until we could extract Emily and Catherine off the falling chair ride. 

Next we went back outside and to the bigger outside rides. Emily headed of for the rocking ship and Catherine went off to watch. Lucy and myself spotted the caterpillar roller coaster and set off to see if Lucy was big enough to ride with me. Thankfully she just made the height limit and on we got and off we went again and again. She loved it. I was so glad she could go on some of the the rides and didn't miss out. Although the final ride I went on with her, the bouncy cars, wasn't my ride of choice. I can do that in real cars. While I was on the smaller coaster with Lucy, Emily and Catherine tried to go on as many of the big rides as they could time and time again.

The 5 hours past really quickly and with tired but happy children we returned home for tea. They had a lovely time and we must go again soon next time we have some spare pennies. 

Updates coming soon....

Well wit all that has been going on and all the fun to be had the blog has been suffering, but not for much longer. As soon as i get a moment I will catch up with the posts and all that has been happening with me and my beautiful daughters. 

Lucy's Weekend with Daddy

Sometimes it is just nice to have one of your children on your own and this was one of the those weekend. Two days of Lucy without Emily and Catherine or anyone else to deal with.

The first day was fun with shopping and playing and generally have a great time out and about. Shame we didn't have the best of the weather but all the same we made the most of what we had.

A Rebirth

Hello and welcome to those new people that happen to come across this blog.

This is the third Blog I have started. The first was purely personal and has been archives in the dark places where it belongs. The second blog (see picture below) I hosted on my own private web server, but after several hacking attempts and network outages. I have moved all the posts from that site here.

Please be patient during this transition phase. I will try and rebuild the site with as much content as I can from the original as I learn how to use Blogger. Note however it will ever look as good as the old one.