1066 and all that!

Yesterday was the 940th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings and to celebrate the event there was a huge reenactment of the battle in the very field that Harold got it, all those years ago. Now, I don't know about you, but whenever I have seen TV footage of people all dressed up in medieval dress prancing around a field and pretending to slaughter each other, I've just thought sad nutters!!

Well, my opinion changed yesterday having spent the day in the company of around 3000 Saxons and Normans. Those taking part take it all very seriously. We got the low down from a professional Saxon (such a nice man, a real pity he was going to end up on the losing team!) They are under instruction to always be in character. They are not allowed to use mobile phones or eat and drink out of anything other than bowls and goblets. He also told us that there were around 15 different nationalities involved in the reenactment, and we certainly heard Polish, French, German and Dutch being spoken. There were a few Americans too.

Even the very young were involved.

It took a lot of blowing, but he did get the fire started in the end!


When Callum spotted this fire he thought he would make himself at home. Little did he know at the time, but these guys were Normans!

This guy tried to sign Callum up to the cause, however, once Callum refused he told him he was off to burn his country!


So, on with the battle. The bloke on the horse is William, who was actually booed by the watching crowd!

We left before they had finished(it was expected they were going to be at it for two hours!) in the safe knowledge that we knew how it was going to end!

All in all a great day out - we really did enjoy it and Vic is already talking about next year!

The Hugging Machine

Saturday morning Callum and I walked up to Richardson Road to pick up a newspaper and have a coffee. In the time it took us to walk there and back he managed to give a big hug to six random members of the older generation. He has a real thing for grey hair!!! One very old man was walking up the street with his walking stick (he would not have managed without it) and Callum gave him such a big cuddle he nearly fell over. Luckily I grabbed his arm just it time.

By late morning I was up on the Downs near Washington (north of Worthing) with Callum and Charlotte for a walk. It was a beautiful day. Callum managed to hug two more retired types (I think I will start a rogues gallery of those who have been Callumed!) and chat to some horses.


On Saturday afternoon Nina and Isaac came to spend the weekend and in the evening the three of us left all three children with a babysitter and headed out to a party!


Sunday was a bit of a slow day due to lack of sleep for all the night before! After Nina and Isaac had left to go home the four of us set about baking some cakes for tea. Delicious!

And finally, a couple of rather cute pictures of Charlotte taken today!

Two Cakes

My birthday was brilliant. I came home from work to discover that Callum and Charlotte (with a little help from Vic!) had made me a birthday cake with green (Callum's choice) icing. We washed it down with some champagne. Callum was quick to grab a glass left unattended and downed the contents - another champagne lover in the family!!!

On Friday we traveled up to Hereford to spend the weekend with Mum and Dad and Callum was clearly delighted to see another cake!

On the Saturday we went to a great Owl sanctuary which had lots of other animals too.

There was definitely a spark here!!!




Here is Granny and Callum in the Cave of Wonders, or, under the kitchen table!
And finally Grandpa and Callum collecting vegetables from the garden for Sunday lunch.

Callum's First Haircut!!

After 788 days Callum has his first haircut today. He no longer looks like our little baby, but more like a proper little boy. Very smart though!!!

Castles and Long Walks

This weekend we took full advantage of the fantastic weather and headed into the country. On Saturday we packed a picnic and went to Bodiam Castle.

The moat is full of carp and ducks so you can imagine how excited Callum was to feed them with his leftover sandwiches. There is an organic vineyard just behind the castle but unfortunately we could not buy the wine at the castle. However, after a little bit of investigation we discovered that Sedlescombe Organic Vineyard was just down the road. Naturally we popped in and picked up a couple of bottles including a delicious sparkling wine.



On Sunday we headed out early for a three and a half mile walk through beautiful woodland. Callum walked virtually the whole and Charlotte was as good as gold. We stopped for a pub lunch on the way back and were all absolutely exhausted by the time we got home. It did not stop Callum from waking up at 6:30am as usual though!!!

All these pictures were taken on my phone so the quality is not great!

Dat's Funny!..................

On Saturday the four of us joined up with the rest of the Richardson's for Susie and Ryan's wedding near Henley. Susie is the daughter of Merv and Val Hall, very old friends of Mum and Dad's.

The children were brilliant. Every time the guests laughed during the speeches Callum said (in a voice that everyone could here!) dat's funny. Charlotte fell asleep in the bottom of the buggy and Callum partied hard long into the night, finally falling asleep just before 11:00pm.

We took Norma's camera as ours had run out of battery (and I have no idea what has happened to the charger!). I clearly did not master it, but there are some wonderful pictures here.

It's been a while!

Here are a collection of photos taken over the last couple of weekends. The lously weather was the weekend of the 2nd September and the stunning weather was last weekend. You would think they were months apart rather than one week!!!!

The winter hat photos were taken at the Forgoton Village of Tide Mills near Newhaven on a very windy day.

This weekend my Mum and Dad stayed with us on Friday night and had lunch with us and Laurrie and his son Aiden on Saturday.

The Last Few Days

Quick disjointed (and badly laid out!!) update and some photos to go with it. Summer is fading fast so we had a "last picnic" on Friday to celebrate Dan's great success in his marketing diploma, complete with my mother and Dan's favourite drink. It is Callum's favourite type of meal. Dan had a curry - which is his favourite type of meal - (home made - so maybe it's not quite as bad as it sounds) for breakfast at the weekend. Odd - very odd.

The park behind the houses has a new attraction - proving difficult to get away from there fast now.
Charlotte is smiling lots - despite her reflux and terrible cold which I think Callum must have given her.
Sadly missing pictures of Dan's most recent kayak adventure - stormy seas, riding the waves - fear of capsizing - "awesome dude!" I was planning on getting down to capture the event but driving rain brought the intrepid explorer home faster than I could get two little people waterproofed and out.

Stormy Weather

Today has developed into a windsurfers paradise with high winds and high seas.

We had an early lunch at the Pizza Express in the Marina which was delicious, before coming home and everyone falling asleep!

To rid the sleep from our eyes we took a walk along the front. As you can see, it was pretty blowy.


There are some other pictures taken today below this entry.

Three Generations

Brother and Sister

Charlotte

Saturday

Lally flew down on Wednesday night and is staying with us for a week. Callum was very excited when he woke up to find her here and was quick to introduce Charlotte.

Iona, Juliette and Hugh came for lunch today and we had great fun playing football in the park and with the Callum's cars.

I think Spurs could have done with Hugh today!

New Photos

Vic took these today - I love the T-Shirt!

Heathrow

It has been a little while since the last post, mainly because I have been at work and Vic just does not have the time at the moment to think about blogs! But all is good with us, and the children are brilliant.

I have had the last couple of days off work as Bleue and Saige were supposed to spend a few days with us before their flight back to LA tonight. However, because of all the chaos at the airports lately their flights kept being cancelled (the first one being on Saturday!), so in the end they flew into Heathrow at 10:30 this morning and flew out again at 5:19 this afternoon! We had originally planned that I would go up and spend the hours between flights with the girls, leaving Vic, Callum and Charlotte at home. We had no idea what the airport would be like and thought it best to keep things simple. However, we changed our minds at the last minute this morning and all went! Thankfully there were absolutely no problems at the airport and Callum was very excited about seeing his cousins again (as were we!).

Rather than spend all the time at Heathrow we drove into Chiswick and had lunch at an Italian place on the High Road.

These pictures were taken on my phone so are a little fuzzy!

Sunday Lunch

Today Adam and Bee, Laura and Ruby came for lunch - a delicious fish pie which Bee very kindly brought with her, thank you Bee!


We ate in the back garden as it gave us a little more room and although it was overcast the temperature was still warm.

We took a stroll down to the beach after lunch where Ruby dipped her toes in. Luis and Yvonne popped in for a cup of tea late afternoon to meet Charlotte. Callum for some reason called Luis People to begin with - no idea where that came from.

I'm not sure what Adam is looking for here, but if I'm right then I think the shout is......
.........it's behind you!!!

Another Week Older

Thankfully my first week back at work has flown by and it is once again the weekend. Mum came down last Sunday and stayed with us until Wednesday which was a big help. We are very lucky that both sets of Grandparents are able to come down and give a helping hand. It is very much appreciated by us both - thank you. On Thursday Vic took Callum and Charlotte on the bus to the SeaLife Centre on her own!! I thought she was crazy but the whole trip was a great success!

Tessa arrived this afternoon and will stay for a few days before heading back to Dubai. This afternoon we hung out in the park behind the house where a random fridge had appeared overnight!