Sunday, July 05, 2009

The weekend in summary

I wasn't going to post regarding this current weekend as we have a few updates to do until the blog is up to date but - well, its been a weird one!

It stared off on Thursday with a super-groovy friend of mine, Armando (who I used to work with at 'Arts) coming to visit from LA for the weekend and we had a long lunch with some other friends at the local pub. Fantastic to catch up with Armando - fingers crossed they will be back in SF soon!

Friday was our day off (unpaid!) for the 4th July and the regular picnic/BBQ/piss-up at the ranch, courtesy of Mr Lucas. And, more importantly, the first one for me not driving! (yes, you can guess whats coming!)

10 beers and a belly full of BBQ later found me covered in chocolate ice creme, talking random crap to random people, trying to figure out how a supposedly "super cool" ILM guy can take his son to a party and lose him COMPLETELY for several hours and be more concerned about the shit his wife would give him rather than the welfare of his kid, simultaneously catching and throwing 4 children at a time into the swimming pool (where were the parents?), being kissed by a horse - literally, getting very nice sunburn, being told off for taking beer into the pool area and finally crashing out at 9PM with super-duper dehydration. Friday was fun!

Saturday was partially spent recovering from Friday and then, against our better judgement, going to the local county fair (rides, games, music, fireworks, food, beer etc). We have been every year since arriving and its usually a blast but yesterday was insane... I never saw so many people. We live within a mile of the place and it took the best part of an hour to park the car! Everything was min 20 mins queue. And we mean - everything. Even to buy a hotdog - half an hour wait, best case. Some of the "proper" rides that I would have enjoyed - at least 2 hours. Madness. Then, of course, the utter chaos that is home time once the fireworks are over. Crazy... its incredible the level of asshole-ness you see when everyone is on a mission to get home. Needless to say, words were exchanged!

Sunday. Wow. Stared off with lots of jobs that I have been putting off (blog update being one of them). Ended up in an Ealing comedy situation! By the afternoon we decided to have a BBQ. We had a nice big steak, some hotdogs, salad, wine, Pepsi etc etc. All was good - until Kyle decided to water the plants. 5 minutes of that under supervision was fine but inevitably it descends into chaos. Screaming when you turn off the water, I go inside to do some stuff, next thing I know he turns the water on and starts spraying full force from the hose into the house. We get that over (with a suitable level of discipline) and the 2 go into the bath. Next thing we hear is "uuurrrgghhhhh! Kyle poo'd in the bath!!!!!". Yep - he sure as hell did. A full submarine log floating its way to Karina and, as you can imagine, mega-panic.

So as I write I am still hearing the kids arsing around, and thinking to myself "Wow, I really need a weekend now".

Happy Monday everyone!

posted by Shaun S @ 9:54 PM 0 comments

A couple of Misc pictures.....

Just a couple of miscellaneous pics of Kyle being... Kyle :)



Packing materials make great shoes, especially when worn over Dads shoes!!!

King of the castle... "Whats everyone looking at?" :)



posted by Shaun S @ 12:55 PM 0 comments

Miller Creek

Miller Creek Park - quite near to us here in San Rafael, right off the road that leads to Mr Lucas' ranch. Its a very nice little park with the standard playground, and a nice picnic and BBQ area and a big swimming pool. But this is the best bit - the stream!







On a hot day its so cool down here as its completely shaded and the water is crystal clear and full with baby trout. We had a nice few hours... me, Karina and Kyle while Mammy was at work, even though they got themselves soaking wet insisting to wade in the deep parts :)







posted by Shaun S @ 12:48 PM 0 comments

A long time ago in a country far away.....

Yes, as my darling wife pointed out to me while I was juggling work, childcare duties, visiting the county fair, painting the house, planting trees and saving the world from alien invasion (ie I was very busy!) - I didn't update the blog for a long time. She, of course, if completely unable to do this so - sorry for the delay, what can I say, I'm a lazy sod! :)
OK - enough! Here we present... our trip to good old blighty back in April.

Travelling with 2 kids is VERY hard work - night time flying is easy, returning during the day is hell. I guess an 11 hour flight seems like 11 days to them when they are bored.

This time we planned to do some sightseeing so the kids could start to have some familiarity with their country so we went into Durham for the day, to our local castle, to a farm to see the baby lambs and chicks and also up to Northumberland to visit the magnificent Alnwick Castle. Alnwick is most famous in recent years for being the setting for the Harry Potter films, the Quiddich sequence in particular.

We chose a good day for it - overcast but not chilly and the spring flowers were in full bloom, we had a blast exploring the ramparts and battlements, checking out the dungeons and visiting the "home" areas of the castle as its in actual fact a stately home, fully occupied by the Lord and Lady for half of the year and their living areas are available for public visit.

We love Durham! The cathedral always impresses me, no matter how many times I see it. We were just a little disappointed that we couldn't go up to the top (the stairs are very steep and they don't let kids go up unfortunately). Anyway we still had fun and picked up some traditional toffee on the way home - I think I have been doing that since I was about 4 or 5, going to Durham with my Mammy :)
Feeding the ducks...... amazingly Kyle wasn't scared of them! And.....
...relaxing in the Riverside Park in Chester-le-Street. A beautiful day as you can see, lots of families playing on one of the best children's parks I have seen (completely different structures and play things than you see in most council parks who all seem to use the same supplier and designs for their swings and slides!) I spent many many hours here as a kid fishing in the river back in the days when it was teeming with fish. Nothing looks to have changed but the fishermen aren't there these days - not for a long time. A real shame.
This place smells of GARLIC! :) We visited Lumley Woods - another place that played a big part in my childhood. Its a beautiful little wooded area with a stream running through it and wild garlic everywhere. The shafts of light coming through the trees, and the wild bluebells make this a really magical place. Couldn't get Kyle away from the steam, of course!
And it all sits behind this beautiful castle. The castle overlooks the park and is only a mile from our house. Its a working hotel (haunted too!) with a bar in the dungeon, full medieval banquet hall and a really awesome, intimate restaurant with pre-dining drinks in the library. It really is an incredible building and has a great deal of history attached to it, as does the entire area of County Durham. You can read more about the castle here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumley_Castle
Kyle found Thomas! In the little shopping mall beside Grandads house. We spent a lot of money very quickly on this thing (and the double decker bus next to it!) and ended up making avoidance strategies.
Hall Hill Farm. We went to this little farm way way up in the Durham Hills on a very cold, wet and windy day! The main draw is the baby chicks and the lambs in spring, we really enjoyed holding and feeding them! It was very busy however with lots of school visits. We also took a tractor ride round the farm which was probably the coldest we have EVER been, anywhere! Then Karina had a pony ride and we retired for well deserved hot chocolates! Needless to say, Kyle enjoyed the drink but was terrified of chicks, rabbits and guinea pigs. What will we do with him? :)
And finally - the Rogues Gallery! We had a lovely day out with some of my very best buddies and their kids, all of whom are roughly the same age. We went to a huge indoor children's playground - you pay to get in then let the kids run wild. While the adults catch up and drink coffee... very nice! Then we found a nice little pub for lunch (and to annoy the other guests with 4 kids full of sugar!). Top to bottom, left to right: Marcus and Callum, Karina and Natalya, Indi, Matt and Meena. Great seeing you guys, lets not make it so ling till the next time.

posted by Shaun S @ 12:01 PM 0 comments