Abi & Izzy - the next 5 years

Aghhhhh!!!!  This week we are mainly trying to live through the nightmare that is no kitchen - not fun. After everything else that we've had done in the house over the past 5 months you would think we would be immune to dust and upheaval, but nothing is quite like having a kitchen ripped out and trying to make do with the utility room and a few boxes of stuff scattered across every corner of our house.  Obviously while we stress about the world being out of kilter, Abi and Izzy are loving the random eating options this is presenting.  They have been allowed to eat in the front room, on the floor in the dining room, in my study, and in the playroom using their trip traps as tables. We may never return completely to normal again! The upside of this was a late arrangement to see Simon and Audrey for the weekend so we could break out from the 'cheese sandwiches for tea' rut we are stuck in. The sun shone, we played games on the lawn, swam and chatted - a very pleasant inter

After 5 fun packed days in Somerset a sense of quiet descended over the house.  We got back last night, put the girls to bed and then smiled to ourselves this morning as 7am passed, 8am... 8.30... Izzy finally came down looking a bit bleary-eyed at 8.53am, followed by Abi at 9.10 - a minor miracle for her!  They have had a ball over the past few days, playing in the river, helping Fifi and Grumps, spending lots of time with Ben and Laurie and (most importantly for Abi) catching up with the pigs!   We planned to do a number of touristy things while we were there which we achieved - we visited Dunster castle where the kids got to bang the dinner gong and hear all about Victorian kitchens, we went to Dunster Show where we spent a fortune on the funfair and Glenn taught the kids a thing or two about archery (popping the balloon in the end!), we had lunch at the seaside (well, looking out over the Bristol Channel - almost the seaside).  We also spent lots of time catching up with fami

  RM350 2-3 August 2014   What a weekend! After all that training and worrying, Glenn completed his epic 24 hours, 350 mile cycle ride, raising over a £1000 for the Core in the process. I'm so proud of him. We waved goodbye to Glenn on Saturday morning as the skies darkened and then watched with baited breath as the heavens to a rainstorm of biblical proportions.  We could only hope that it was a little drier in Southsea where he was starting his ride.  We had agreed that e would keep his phone switched off unless he was at a rest stop, so the news of how he was going was sporadic.  The girls were oblivious to my concerns - 350 miles is such a long way! So he rode from midday on Saturday through to about 4pm on Sunday - a total of 28 hours and 25 in the saddle - ouch!  Amazingly he felt fine on finishing and still on Monday, but the stiffness has now set in and there were a few yelps of pain now and then.  Funnily enough, he wasn't keen to get on the trampoline eithe