All The Fun Of The.........Fete?

Today has been a great day, but it had its ups and downs!!

We were in London for the Innocent Village Fete in Regent's Park. Innocent are a client of mine so we were sent tickets and passes to the VNP (Very Nice People) area - free food and drink etc etc.

So we boarded a train at Portslade at 9:15am and arrived at Victoria at 10:30. We decided we would walk the two miles or so to Regent's Park as we had the buggy and did not fancy fighting our way on the tube - its also been blimin' hot today!

Unfortunately the buggy got a puncture, so we ended up having to walk all the way to Selfridges to buy a puncture repair kit and a pump. Then Vic's shoes broke, so we had to go and buy a new pair. Then Charlotte broke Vic's sunglasses, although Vic did not buy another pair today. So we eventually made it to the Fete by 1:00pm!!

Even that was not without incident. However, as hopefully the children will look back on this in years to come, all I will say is that the people from Innocent were absolutely fantastic in tracking down a certain someone who left us for about 15 minutes!!!!

Anyway, we got home at about 7:15pm having had a great day. Here are the pics!

Mmmmm, free food.

On the 'train'.

The VNP area - spot the fruit hanging form the trees.

Goal!

No comment.

Summer!

PS - Not quite sure how the pictures have suddenly become 'Large' rather than 'medium', but there you go..........

Happy Birthday Rita

We hope you have a lovely day!!

I want to ride my bicycle I want to ride my bike.....

Today was the first outing without the buggy. Callum has well and truly mastered the art of riding his new bike and has given his "baby bike" to Charlotte. He rode to the park behind the house then as we approached the house to come home he said "maybe go to the garage and get some milk?" and before the word "okay" was completely out of my mouth he had zipped off down the path on his bike.
Thank you to Grandma, Poppa and Lally.
I have some video on my phone but will post it later (once I've done some work!!)

Happy Birthday Callum!

Wow, what a great day!

It started with presents. In order to save Callum's blushes in years to come I'm only going to post this picture. Red pants don't stay cool for long!



Callum has been so excited about his Pirates Party for such a long time, and I'm glad to say that it was a great success. We ended up with 11 three year old's and five under threes!!

Here's Callum with Finlay and Alex.

And with Freya and Daisy

We were in the sports centre in Portslade. Vic produced an amazing amount of food for everyone.

There were lots of things to play on including a bouncy castle.

But we also had fantastic weather this afternoon so the party spilled outside. Here is Conor with Alex and Reiss.

The main man looked fantastic in all his gear.....

Vic baked an amazing cake....

.....and here's one I took earlier. (quite why I took this in the bedroom I have no idea!!)

These Pirate jelly boats were really cool.

Vic even baked individual Pirate cakes with names on. This one was for Flynn, but he did not turn up - your loss sucker!

The bouncy castle was meant for those shorter than 1.7 metres - that did not stop me and Tim joining Callum and Daisy for a quick bounce!


Callum would like to thank Nina for all her help this weekend and Fiona for her help today. He would also like to thank you all for all his wonderul presents. Bust most of all he would like to thank his Mummy for not only being the best Mummy in the world, but also for throwing the best party in the world.

Make Hay While The Sunshines

We had an unexpected day of sunshine on Tuesday so Callum and his friend Daisy took full advantage............

Footballs and Phasers

We were due to see Iona, Juliette and Hugh on Friday afternoon, but because of all the ridiculous rain the trains were cancelled! So, we visited them in Plumpton on Saturday instead.

It has been nearly a year since their last visit to Sussex, and Charlotte has certainly done a lot of growing up since then.


We had a bit of a kick about in the Garden, although Callum was more interested in his present, a Buzz Lightyear gun.

That's more like it! Hugh gets got.

The Cellar Bar

The finest Sussex ale (Harveys) was served in the Cellar Bar at Yew Tree House. There is absolutely nothing down there (apart from a polypin of beer). However, that did not stop us hanging out down there for about an hour and a half enjoying a few pints!! Great fun....

More Pictures from Last Weekend

Charlotte's Birthday Continued....

There was food............

There was drink..........

There was laughter..........

There was sunshine.............

There was cake.............

There were presents..............

And of course, there was Charlotte......

A huge thank you to everyone for Charlotte's lovely gifts.

Happy Birthday Charlotte

mmmmmmm cake!

More pictures later..........

Tribal Gathering in Hereford

We are in Hereford this weekend for Charlotte's first birthday tomorrow. What with all the grandparents and Adam and Hannah, Callum is very excited!!

We headed out this morning to Hay Bluff (big hill!) where the scenery in stunning.

In case you are wondering, Charlotte is behind me in the backpack.......

By the way, do have a look at From The Four Corners.....Andrew has added a post from California. Weird and wonderful photos!!!

One Year On

It seems hard to believe that it is exactly 12 months to the day that we started this blog. So much has happened since then! Of course, Charlotte was born. Another historic moment was when Callum had his first haircut. There have been trips to Scotland and Hereford, and we have had many comings and goings.

There have been a total of 100 posts in the last 365 days and lots of great comments - they are the best bit!

My favourite blog moment? Its probably this!

Birthdays & Anniversaries

Today marks the one year anniversary of A Seaside Perspective, and what a year it has been! More on that later..........

It is also Mum's/Granny's birthday, so Happy Birthday!!!!

Guitar Man

This picture was taken at a birthday party on Saturday afternoon.

Is it me, or does Callum look like a complete natural?!

Setting an Example

Now, I'm not proclaiming to be some sort of parental expert. But I reckon I've learnt some basics over the last nearly three years.

One of the things I've learnt in the importance of setting an example to your children. If you want them to behave in a particular way the best thing is to demonstrate what you mean. In this instance I'm talking about furniture and how it should be used.

i.e. Its best not to stand on the coffee table, and sofas are for chilling on, not jumping. If you want to jump, use the bed etc, etc.

Anyway, after my shower this morning I came down stairs to be greeted by this............

......Extreme sofa jumping!!!!

It was very funny, and if I had not been wearing a suit already, I must admit I would have had a go too!!!

Early Start

It was a scarily early start to the day today with Callum waking up at 4:45!!!!! Although we managed to keep sending him back to bed until 5:45 at which point we gave up!

The upside was that we caught the best part of a beautiful day down at the play park.

Callum has learnt how to climb up and down on this........

We even managed to watch some of the skateboarders.

Its always good to be in the beach.

We all went to the theatre at 10:30 to see the Gruffalo's Child.

"A Gruffalo? What's a Gruffalo?"

"A Gruffalo, why don't you know"

You know the one!!

Happy Independence Day!

To those of you living State side, Happy holiday!

A Sneaky Beer

Yesterday we jumped in the car with a plan of a quick walk on the Downs. However, both children fell asleep within minutes. so we took the opportunity to grab a couple of minutes with a beer.

This is the Shepherd & Dog in Fulking. The children were sleeping in Vic's car in the background. The best bit was when the guy on the horse turned up. He was dressed head to toe in all the leather gear - he really looked the part. The only thing that looked slightly out of place was the Bluetooth headset sticking out of his ear!