Wingham Wildlife

We were lucky enough to get 2 free tickets to Wingham Wildlife on Kent's Big Day Out 2009. Thanks to Naomi's email reminding me, I logged on at 10 am when the tickets were issued and went straight for Wingham....I think most of the good attractions were gone in about 10 minutes so I was pleased.

The weather was rubbish, but we made the most if it. Tracy Lewer and her 3 kids were also there.
We spend a lot of time in the reptile house and tropical world as they were the only warm places. At certain times in the reptile house they have a talk and get some of the animals out. James was keen, Kaitlyn less so. James had a snake round his neck, held a bearded dragon and a tarantula....Kaitlyn did touch the snake, but that was enough for her. Ava was really brave she held everything and had no fear.

The lovely thing about Wingham Wildlife is how close you can get to the animals - we stoked a deer and a wallaby, fed the chickens and peacocks, and got up close to otters, goats, rabbits and ponies.

Claire & Luke

My friend Claire came over for the day from Essex with her little boy Luke, who is the same age as James. We took a picnic to Wildwood, the weather was nice and it was good to get together with friends that we haven't seen for a while.

A day out of the office

With my job I often have to attend courses/seminars/workshops etc. Today I was attending a UCEA workshop (too boring to mention)in London. I had to get up extra early to make sure I didn't miss the train - James was going to school with Leah so I dropped him off first and Kaitlyn was being taken to nursery by my mum as the nursery doesn't open 'til 8am and I had to get the 7:52 train. On my way to take the kids my car skidded and did a 180 degree turn....luckily nothing else was on the road...the kids thought it was fun though!

Once at the station , I asked the ticket man for a return to London zone 1....£42.40 he replied....'for one day?' I questioned....'yes' he confirmed......surely you can fly to Europe for that? Luckily work was paying or I'd have told them to stick it....how can they justify prices like that!

The day was exhausting...I don't know how people do this day in day out. The workshop finished with a sandwich lunch at 1 o'clock. Unfortunately the trains to Chestfield are only every hour and I missed the 1.30 by a few minutes so had to wait, but arrived back at the station by 4, so it wasn't a long day...but felt it...glad to get back to the office tomorrow.

Keeping up with the kids

As a working parent, I like to make sure that the time I do have with the kids is spent doing stuff with them....so determined for them not to miss out we often have very busy days cramming everything in. Today was no exception. We started with a trip to the library, a wonder through town and then to the beach. They can spend hours just throwing stones in the water or jumping off the tide breaks. Whilst we were there we received a text from my friend Jo asking us if we wanted to go swimming with her and her son Bradley.

We decided to go, dashed home for the swimming stuff and met Jo and Bradley at the pool. James loves it when they have the water slide on and can go down by himself - Kaitlyn hates the slides and all the water fountains, but in general likes swimming. After swimming we went back to Jo's for a bit and then home for dinner. The kids were worn out so had an early night.....so it was all worth it.

Catch Up

It's been ages since my last blog entry so I thought I'd do a round up of the last few weeks. the reason why I have not been blogging is mainly due to being so busy. Work is manic at the mo and I seem to have had back-to-back meetings for the past few weeks. The few lunch hours that I have had have been spent getting the shopping in, sorting out things like tyres for the car, or paying bills on line....no time for blogging, facebook etc.

I did however have chance to meet up with a friend for lunch this week. Emma (Roberts) came over from Folkestone and we had lunch in one of the Uni restaurants. It was great to see her as it must have been a year since I saw her last. We caught up on all the happenings of the last year whilst eating a very tasty lunch...I chose the lasagna that I have had several time at Dolche Vita's but is soooo nice I don't want to try anything else.

A couple of weeks ago I did actually have a weekend off! Glen had the kids all weekend from early Saturday morning til late Sunday evening. I set this time aside to sort out the garden... and although I wasn't looking forward to doing so, it turned out to be quite enjoyable and satisfying. It was a lovely springlike day, which helped. There was soooo much rubbish in the garden....3 rabbit hutches, 8 wooden pallets, broken toys etc. I got rid of 2 of the hutches and the wooden pallets on freecycle.....it's such a good way of getting rid of old junk, advertise on freecycle, receive responses, and someone comes to pick the stuff up. All the stuff went really quickly, I just left it at the side of the house and it was collected the next day.

It was hard work shifting all the pallets, but a good work out! I decided to keep one rabbit hutch in case Pilchard ever returns. A few weeks ago he burrowed out of the garden and has not been seen since....It's quite upsetting, but I've told the kids that he's gone to live in the field with the wild rabbits.

Once I'd cleared the rubbish I dug a little flower bed with a brick boarder and then made a play area for the kids with some black plastic stuff covered in bark chippings. I swept all the decking and was pleased with the results. The grass still need sorting out, but the garden is much improved and now at least use able. It took about six hours to do everything so I was quite worn out at the end of the day.

In the evening I went to Emma's (Snell) to watch a DVD and eat chocolate...it was nice to be able just to go out without getting the kids to bed and arranging a babysitter. I also enjoyed a slight lie in on Sunday morning....however i did start to really miss the kids by this time and was glad to have them back by the evening. Kaitlyn was so tired she went straight to bed....and by Monday morning the feelings of missing them were totally gone!

Generally when I've not been at work, I've been out and about with the kids....the library, wildwood, the park, and the hippodrome are all favorite places. Over half-term I had an extra day off as I'd booked annual leave for the Thursday. As James was not at school he'd been shared out amongst friend and family for the previous 3 days, so at the risk of running out of friends I took the final day off.

We went to Wildwood in the morning with Carly, Josh & Dylan and Jo & Bradley. Although it was a bright day, it was really muddy and despite being asked not to walk across the huge bog in the middle of the playarea, Kaitlyn insisted on doing so...shortly followed by James. Luckily I'd had the sense to put their wellies on, but it didn't stop them getting mud on their hands, faces and with Kaitlyn on her backside when she fell over.

In the afternoon we went to Suzanne's stables to see her horse. The kids had a ride on another pony at the stables called zolar and had a really enjoyable time.

On the Friday of Half-term a certain un-named friend came to visit. I haven't seen her for years...since before Kaitlyn was born. I know her from Uni and she is actually a very nice person. However what she call 'honesty', I call downright rudeness. Within a few minute of arriving she was telling me how dirty my house was! the cheek...I work, I've got 2 kids, and I do my best...it's not a palace, but I'm not exactly a case for Kim and Aggy! She doesn't have kids and is not working at the moment and living of her inheritance. i really don't think she has a clue how difficult it is to maintain the basics in housework, let alone worry about whether the kitchen cupboards are untidy or that my dustpan is dirty - it's for sweeping floors, it's gonna get a bit dusty! She insisted in cleaning my sink...which did still have rice crispies in, but I would have gotten round to it, she cleaned my hob...which only had watermark on it! I was also informed that I would need a scourer if I wanted it to be 'really' clean! I asked her to stay out of the fridge as I knew it needed cleaning out...however she started pottering round in there and informed me that she had thrown out a nann bread that was turning green....I KNOW ALRIGHT!

Underneath her criticising ways she is actually a nice person...., she bought me a present and flowers and paid for us all to go to the cinema to see Bolt....but I was close to breaking point by the time she left that evening.

All-in all its been a busy few weeks, but mostly fun!