Lizards, Turtles and Snakes, oh MY!

Well, Mae is not quite 5 yet, but we had her party yesterday and it was a success! We had this one at the local community centre, which in some ways was much easier- but as Mae wanted to invite loads of friends from school then we figured that would be the best thing.

Lee, who owns a reptile shop, came with scorpions, bearded and chinese dragons, tortoises, a python, corn snake and other slithery things and the kids got to stroke them and learn about them- it was quite good and only a couple weren't interested. Mae thought it was great and ended up holding the snakes. Notice the birthday girl in her dino pyjamas- glad I didn't buy a new dress for this party!!

Dino cake and games came after, two kids cried, parents seemed happy and most just chilled. So it was good!!

I can't believe she is almost 5!!!

Spring madness sale

No, there is no sale, it's just spring Madness.

Been to Northampton last weekend to visit great and dear friends. Great time. This weekend is a birthday party (avec reptiles) and a visit from (different) great and dear friends. So it's a bit nuts around here. More pics when party happens.

And I probably won't explain this later, but Mae held a giant millipede in her hands today. I wasn't there, but she said she loved it. She also held a hissing cockroach, and wants one for her birthday. That won't happen. Unfortunately, it is now almost a year since we got her cousin two stick insects for her birthday, however as auntie is very pregnant (and looking good on it) I am hoping and praying they have forgotten this minor misdemeanor.

Credit Crunch My Ass

When Shoes are still selling for £1600.

And people won't accept a reasonable offer for a house. No way is there a credit crunch.

Centre Parcs

What a week! For those of you who haven't heard of, or have never been to a Centre Parcs holiday village, it is absolutely nuts! Check out the link, it's a slideshow.

Cente Parcs is a fairly secure, huge wooded, car-free forest filled with holiday cottages, parks, activity centres, bike paths, etc etc. We were invited by Chris and Elaine and joined by parent-in-laws.

I think you would have to be there for two weeks to even see the whole place. We did a week and spent most of the time in the pool(s)!! There was a beached area, with intermittent waves, a pool with jacuzzi seats. Three outdoor pools. Four flumes, three slides. A river area. Waterfalls. Shallow pools, deep pools. Baby pool. Cold water, warm water and hot water pools. It was nuts. And we went every day!! My favourite bit is the river area, as the currents pull you around really fast. It's hilarious, but really hard to get out of, you have to swim like hell. I saw a woman in her 70's in it on the second day who couldn't get out! Her relatives were trying to catch her to get her out. They were laughing but I can imagine it could have been quite scary!

And you can join in about 75 different activities. Cooking, pony trekking, teddy bear making, the list goes on a mile. But unlike the pool and park and bike riding, these are all chargable, and expensive. So the girls just did a 'pony pals' ride and taking care of a pony. Mae smiled like a fool the whole time.

It was slightly surreal, but we would go back again!!

Birthday Bonanza!

Happy Birthday to Jack, Henry and Hannah this weekend!!

Happy Birthday Lilian!!

Another milestone reached.....

Armpit farts.

"MAE!!!"

Mae and I had to pick up some cinema tickets at the Burns Centre, which has a tiny independent film theatre in it (which apparently you can rent for £18 for you and all your pals! Cool!) the other day. The centre also has a cafe/upmarket (for Dumfries) restaraunt called Hulabaloo's, as well as a Robert Burns exhibition.


Mae decided that I needed to learn more about Rabbie so she hauled me upstairs (I have no idea how many times she has been there, but never with me) and gave me the tour:


'this is what Dumfries looked like when Robert Burns and his wife, Jean Armour lived here'


'this is his soldiers jacket'


'this is his sword'


etc, etc.





After this we were on our way out and she said she needed a 'wee break and a bite to eat, do you want a coffee' trying to entice me into Hulabaloo's. After a bit of wrangling she hauled me upstairs. There were about 9 people in there. Five of them shouted 'Mae! How ya doing!!?'





Oh my god.

Man, what a night!!

Acrually, I think this photo may be used again (you know who you are...)

But, by the fourth trip to the farm this week we figured we may as well take a few pics. Mae has grown into the go karts, this was taken just before she crashed (I wouldn't make a good paparazzi as I was screaming 'look at me!'look at me!).

And she has made a new friend, baby alpaca, who is incredibly cute, he looks like a puppet (although I wouldn't shove my hand up his ass to see if he can talk), and he loves Mae- he always comes up and gives her a sniff and a nibble on her jacket.

The cutest bit was the new baby goats, no pictures as they were sucking my fingers the whole time!! I would love a pet goat. Who though, would offer to take care of it when we go on holidays? Seriously. WAY better than a rabbit.

My worst nightmare

No, it's not being up for lots of the night with the Reid girls staying over. It was actually a really nice visit, especially as Claire is loving me at the moment, and getting to see Heather grow into a very intellegent girl is great fun (she knows how to play the second child, that's for sure).

It's rabbits. There was one out front today, obviously a pet and so Mae and I tracked down the owner and they got it home. I tried to catch it at one point, but if Sharon had run over it on her way home I would have been quite happy.

On the news tonight was a story about these horrific monsters, that they are being bred and may 'hit the shops in about three years' as the newsreader stated. What, in a ramraid....?

This is fun

I kicked ass, and got loads of rice. It's weird, and maybe not really ethical, in some ways. Maybe it will spark a debate. Come on, Bethanne, Patrick and Tracey!!!

Fartgunya

No, it's not a new dish, like Chicken Gunya. It's when you make Mae angry about something. She bends over, and says, I'm Fart gunning ya. And then farts. It's not pleasant. I would say it's all out warfare.

This is for Andrew. Enjoy!!

FINALLY!!

We got some snow- just a little.

This weekend, we decided to cancel our trip to Northampton. What to do? Go to Newcastle for the night!! I really like Newcastle, having visited for the first time last year. We didn't get to stay at the Hilton this time, just the modest Premier Inn, but it was a good day and night.

We took Mae to the Seven Stories kids book centre, which was great, where we met the Gruffalo!! Geoff got a picture on his mobile which I will add soon, but he was a great big mascot-y type thing, brown fur, black tongue, purple pricles all over his back. All the kids ran up to him and started hugging him, but Mae was having none of it, sensibly.

Next day we went to the Blatic where we caught a bit of the Yoko Ono exhibition, which was a bit interesting, and her drawings were lovely, but there was an installation of a perspex maze, but under 16's weren't allowed in. Gimme a break, Yoko.

The night before we went out for dinner, and were walking along the waterfront, when we passed a man's club. Newcastle is a notorious hotspot for hen and stag nights, people wearing very little clothes and loads and loads of drunkeness. So we were passing this club and these two yahoos were walking by and one young guy ran up and peeked into the window, and started to shout 'Hey!! Let's see if we can see some fannies' (which is a stupid word for female genitalia), when he saw Mae and actually shouted, 'Hey!!! Let's see if we can see some FAN............oh, sorry.....'. Geoff and I almost killed ourselves laughing! He was nice to think that we might be offended, but unless he screamed 'Kooka' Mae would have been none the wiser.

And Mae has been taking loads of photos these days and I told Andrew I would post them: I like the one of PeeWee and Snow Bear.

We're not going

We were planning on visiting friends in Northampton this weekend. But the trains aren't running down south, and to be fair there is a bit more snow than this. BUT this is all that is in the news at the moment and it's getting really annoying- why should a foot of snow cause so much disruption? When mom, in Canada, needed her hairdryer to thaw open her FRONT DOOR!!

As Ross would say, for goodness sake!

Dancing the Night Away

This is about 2 minutes- you don't have to wach it all!!!

Actually the dancing is so that we can all SLEEP the night away, although one pee and one nightmare usually puts a halt to that. But, she is pretty good in a crazy hilarious way!!

Tam O'Shanter

How cool was our Burns Night? The coolest, because we were in a huge lantern procession which was one of four that wound it's way downtown, and included timorous beasties,

dragons (I think in honour of Chinese New Year),

Horses (Meg), Ships, Geese,

and so on!! It was great, and although it never really proceeded anywhere after we got off the bridge, it was lovely to be a part of. Geoff and I then dashed home to leave for Glasgow, which was in order to see Cerys Matthews, his dream woman and wonderful singer, who put on a fabulous show!!

However, we missed the best part of the Parade, when Tam O' Shanter, Meg and the witch (made by Trevor Leat, who also makes the Wickerman sculpture for that festival) was lit and burnt in the middle of the river. Here are views from the morning, the parade, and the sacrifice! (courtesy of Ross)

Great Day all round, and Gung Hai Fat Chow to all as well!! Happy Year of the Water Buffalo!!!

Happy Robert Burns Day!

It's not really the kind of thing you ever imagine yourself saying (especially to a child) but it's 250 years since he was born and you live in the place that he died, well, it's a big deal.

Hopefully I will have some lovely photos tomorrow.

Is this damaging?

When Mae asked, why did Elvis die? I told her he ate fried peanut butter sandwiches. For breakfast, lunch and dinner. I did show some restraint: I didn't go into the barbituates issue.

Hear Speak and See some evil

Wow, last night I went to see 'The Boys in the Striped Pyjamas', having read the book over the holidays. The book was stunningly horrific and even knowing what happened at the end, my nerves were absolutely frayed coming out of the theatre. The score (which I never EVER pay attention to), was brutal and perfectly matched to my emotions.

Go see it and listen to the music. Read the book first if you want, but your heart will be pounding at the climax anyway.

And read this, it's an article by Naomi Klein about boycotting Israel. The news in Canada may not be the same as what we are seeing here (it rarely is, being heavily biased towards America)- but something needs to be done and boycotting may be a small step, but just standing by is unforgivable. I am sorry to pontificate, but if children are having to spend days waiting in terror for help, next to their dead mothers, an annoying blog isn't really a big deal.