Spitfire

 Day 2 of DIY - painting and therefore my job! So Steve and Jen took the boys to an airplane museum near York that Sam has been desperate to go to, because they have Spitfires (Sam's topic at school is World War II).  It was a long way just about 2 hours there and 2 hours back again, but the kids really enjoyed it (although the same can't be said for Jen!).

Spitfire!

Army truck, what joy!

Pilot and co pilot

Dreams, dreams, dreams

Sisterly devotion

I believe I can fly

Dad liked it as much as the boys!!

I have a tank and I'm not afraid to use it!

We have established, indubitably, on this museum trip something that we had long suspected... Tom is not the sort of boy who enjoys looking at things!!  Sam, on the other hand, loves looking at things.  He will wander around any museum and find something to interest him.  For Tom, unless you can play with it, or on it, he has no interest in it and no entreaty, threat or bribery will change his mind. 

And you know what?  I ADORE both these outlooks equally.

Farm talk

As a result of some intensive DIY, and it being Steve's turn (sanding down the bathroom walls and woodwork in preparation for painting) Jen and I took the boys out for the day.  After some discussion and some googling we decided on "Down at the farm" in Houghton-le-Spring, 30 mins drive away - that is 30 minutes unless you leave the sat nav in the hands of a novice  (and you know what I'm talking about Jennifer Sarah!!).  It was cool and grey when we left home, courtesy of the sea fret that had descended upon Whitley Bay the day before, but by the time we reached the farm it was lovely - sunny and warm.

The kids were very excited the minute we arrived and the extent of the vehicle rides were revealed!

Sam LOVED the quad bikes (for age 6 and over)

"When I grow up I'm going to be a farmer"

Ha Hah!

Barrel train ride

Tractor crew

"Its sniffing me"

Farmer Jen and her 2 farm hands

I really am enjoying myself, honest!

Just milking a cow...

Bunny!

Fire engine rides!!

We had a picnic, went on a tractor ride and the kids tried out the jumping pillow (SO cool!).  The kids had a little cuddle with a bunny and Sam and I went in the haunted house (eeeeeeek, really rather scary in parts... and ridiculous in others!!).  We saw some birds of prey, including Bones the vulture, went on the inflatables and the Octopus and saw lots of animals, including baby lambs (ahhhhh).

All in all, a fun day, with great company (thanks Jen). 

Can you waddle?

My friend Emma, who is a super mum to two lovely kids aged 6 and 20 months, helps out at her daughters school on the PTA, is a Brown Owl and who helps out at her church decided she didn't have enough to keep her busy, and so organised a Toddle Waddle in aid of Meningitis Trust! Being the good, supportive friend that I am, I signed up my whole family to take part, and Tom to get sponsored (it was for under 5's). 

 It is a topical issue as there have been 4 recent deaths (in the month of April) of young people in the UK from Meningitis, including one of a teenage boy from Gateshead.  The deaths were all in people outside the most ‘at risk’ age group for the disease, the under fives, and struck outside the peak season for bacterial meningitis, the winter months – highlighting that it can affect anyone, of any age, at any time.  So I am pleased that any small sums that we could raise can go towards helping this worthwhile charity.


Today was the day and we all gathered on the beautiful links of Whitley Bay, with yellow and white balloons, some littles dressed in duck outfits, and a profusion of yellow. It was another sunny day in the bay, but once again the bloody wind added a chill to proceedings. We met at 1pm and within 15 minutes we had set off, Sam and Tom setting the pace along with Hannah (Emma's daughter) and Kira (our friend Helen's daughter). They must have done double the distance of anyone else, what with climbing up and down hills, racing on and then backtracking, their balloons bobbling about in the wind. It did not take long to reach the cafe, and soon everyone was tucking into halfway ice creams and receiving their certificates

We decided to walk on further, as the kids were enjoying themselves, and it was so nice to be out in the (admittedly very) fresh air.  Helen and Kira joined us, and we had a lovely walk along the beach and then back along the grass.  The kids frolicked like spring lambs - Sam trying to copy Kira's cart wheels and Tom doing an impressive 3 forward rolls in a row!  It was fun, but eventually the cold got to the parents and we soon had them bundled up in the cars and on the way home.

Get on yer bike

Steve asked for a bicycle for his present this christmas just gone, and it has been a great buy...  last Sunday we went for a family bike ride to St Marys lighthouse here in Whitley Bay.


Steve was on his bike, Sam was on his raleigh that he got from Father Christmas and Tom was in the child seat attached to the front of my bike.  It's a five mile round trip and as it was an absolutely beautiful day when we set off from our secluded spot in Trewitt Road, we took very little in the way of warmth.  By the time we hit the beach front we were being buffeted about by the icy wind off the north sea and Tom's cries of "I'm freezing" soon began!  But despite that it was a really enjoyable cycle out along the glorious Whitley Bay sea front, and Sam did really, was mostly sensible and kept up a great pace.

The lighthouse was as stunning as ever and Steve and the boys had a little poke about in the rockpools. 

We got ice cream and then started back into a VERY cold wind, Tom was almost in tears and whining big style, and so in irritation, and to try to shut up his whinging I took off my cardigan and put it on him.  So there I was blue armed in the cold - Steve said "you're a hero"... I still don't know if was said in admiration or exasperation!!!

A dvd for happiness

While I was in South Africa, helping my mom pack up her house, we found an old 8mm film reel.  When we got to Cape Town I did some research and found a company that could convert the film to dvd.  There was no time to take it along there before I left to come home, but I left Mom with all the details so she could sort it out.


On Wednesday last week I got a copy of the dvd in the post. 

Oh My God. 

It was awesome.  It was the best gift my mother has ever given me.  It was footage taken in 1971 by my aunty Lynne's then husband, David Levin, on my maternal grandparent's farm in Whittlesea, near Queenstown in the Eastern Cape.  My grandfather and his second wife Iona (my grandmother, called Mama by us kids, died in 197?) moved to a little town called Komga, when the farm was bought out by the South African government in 197?.


But the film itself... a lot of it, which is only about 20 minutes long, shows the farm, gardens and animals - all in silence, with some spectacular, if grainy, arty shots of sunsets and trees blowing in the wind.  There is also some fantastic footage of the farm workers and their children dancing - and even though there is no sound, you can still pick up the beat!  Towards the end we start to see my people and this is the real WOW factor for me. 

My grandfather, Eric Filmer and my grandmother, Roslyn Filmer playing with their grandchildren.  My sister Lara when she was a 9 or 10 month old baby, cute as a button.  My dad messing about in the swimming pool, pretending to drown.  My aunty Dee with her first 2 children Christian and Andre.  My aunty Lynne with long, swishy 70's hair.  My mom, young and beautiful in a blue bikini, bouncing her baby in the swimming pool.


It is such a wonderful snapshot in time.  It filled me with so much joy to see my parents as young people (younger than I am now!) rather than as my parents. 

I love the silence of it, the happiness that seems to bubble along in the smiles, in the laughter and in the sunshine.  It may or may not have been the idyll that I see in it, but damn, it does make me happy!!!

Lets talk about guns baby

I have to confess that I have gone against my principles.


After six and a half years of insisting that I will not allow my sons to own toy guns, we have given in.


But, wait, let me explain!  We live on a street which is pedestrianised and has loads of neighbourhood children.  This is great because the kids play out a lot - we have two boys next door to us, ages 6 and 8; we have two boys across from us ages 6 and 10/12 ish; another two boys a couple of houses down, ages 6 and 9, as well as four girls ages 5 to 8.  All the boys play out together, sometimes on bikes or on scooters, but often with guns.  Whenever the guns come out you can guarantee that within a little while Sam will be indoors either sobbing because the other boys won't let him play because he doesn't have a gun , or stomping because he is angry that he can't play with them because he doesn't have a gun.


It finally wore me down.  I felt so badly for him, that my principles were the reason that he was being left out.  And I really didn't know what to do about it.  I didn't want to give in to the peer pressure of a bunch of kids because I am fairly sure that without the influence of the kids on our street Sam would not have asked for a gun of his own accord.  He never showed any interest until the games involving guns caused him to be left out.  I hate watching little boys pointing guns at each other and pretending to kill them.  But research also shows that little boys will always want to play with guns, and even without pieces of gun shaped plastic, will make their hands into gun shapes.  "Bang bang, you're dead".


So Steve and I talked about it after a particularly tear filled afternoon (one of the boys had lent him a gun and one of the other boys had changed the rules and said that you had to have two guns to play) and we agreed that we would let him have a gun.


Gulp.


Feelings of betrayal of principles.  But confused because they are my principles, not his and my principles were causing him to suffer 3 or 4 times a week.  And surely that's not right?  But maybe I am just trying to justify giving in to the popular vote.


Oh but the happiness of the little dude when he got back from the shops with his dad, holding tightly onto his plastic machine gun, with the ratatat and associated juddering motions.  When the neighbourhood kids came knocking "is Sam playing out?" and he shouted out, "just going to get my gun" and he swaggered out, filled with pride and a sense of belonging.


Anyway, yesterday we were at Poundstretchers, both of my boys clutching their savings in their hot hands.  Sam looked carefully at the available guns after explaining that he had seen one that came with a compass that he wanted, it was £4.99 and wasn't that good because he had £5 and was going to get a penny change  (genuinely excited about that change!).  And when we left, it was Tom who had a new gun (small hand gun, no accessories, £1.99 - and look, a penny change!) and Sam who was empty handed.


This did give me a budding sense of optimism - it wasn't just guns for the sake of guns that would make my lad happy.  He wanted a whole experience, and if the experience that he wanted wasn't available, he wasn't going to get just any old gun.  

So with Tom's gun, we are now a 2 gun family and I eavesdropped as the boys ran upstairs to play with them.  A complicated game unfolded that actually involved very little shooting.  It did involve sleeping bags, a shopping trolley, back packs and a host of soft toys... lots of imagination, but very little violence.

Hurrah!