Very Busy....

Sorry for the lack of updates. Here is the quick run down of what has been going on

• Got back from the Isle of Wight
• Gareth's Birthday
• School Fair
• Fiona's Recorder Concert
  
• Enya gets Influenza runs 101-104F temperature for a straight week (got the test results back today. It is not Swine Flu)
• Wendy left for a research dig for three weeks
  
• John goes slightly insane

I will try to finish the Summer Holiday update and everything else that has happened

Summer Holiday - Isle of Wight, Day Two

Sunday morning, warm sun and kids ready for some salt water fun! We headed into the sea and spent the morning chasing waves.



Gareth was slightly reluctant to get fully immersed in the experience, so John gave him a helping hand...













Gareth was perhaps less than amused at this, but in spite of this bruise to his teenage dignity, we all had a splendid morning. With the tide rising, we decided to spend the afternoon at Dinosaur Isle, a museum just a few minutes walk down the road from our holiday house.

Bronwyn was keen to see if the palaeontologists in residence could identify the fossil we had found among the cliff rocks of Sandown Beach the day before.

Martin, a helpful staff member at the museum, identified Bronwyn's fossil as Pterotrigonia aliformis, a type of clam that lived in the warm seas of northern Europe about 120 million years ago. Bronwyn was as happy as a... well, a clam!

The architects were hoping the building would resemble a pterosaur. We think they got pretty close!

Inside there were amazing models of dinosaurs, fossil remains all found on the island and incredibly fun interactive displays. Gareth got to get in touch with the ancestors...



And the entire family got up close and personal with John's favourite dinosaur, the Iguanodon, after Fiona discovered it hiding in plain sight on the wall! After a great afternoon, we spent the evening relaxing at home.

Summer Holiday - Isle of Wight, Day One

Excavation season is soon to be upon us, necessitating Wendy's prolonged absence from the family for the months of July and August, which is in fact the entire extent of the kids summer break from school! Thus, we took the we pulled the kids out of school for a week and went to the Isle of Wight.

We left on Saturday the 13th bright and early. In fact, we were so eager to go, we found ourselves all ready to leave an hour ahead of schedule. So rather than sit on our luggage for an hour, we decided to catch the earlier train. As Luck was on our side that morning, we did not have to wait more than ten minutes for any connection for bus, train or ferry! This in itself is a holiday when travelling with four children!



Since we left so early, we were all settled into our lovely holiday house by early afternoon. The people who manage the house left juice boxes for the kids and a bottle of wine for the adults, which was a lovely welcoming gift. John took a short nap, the kids explored the huge garden and the DVD collection while Wendy walked the 5 minutes to the seaside to get burgers for a late lunch. Then we spent the entire afternoon walking along the beach, collecting interesting rocks, shells and we even found a fossil! (more on that later). We had dinner in a lovely little Italian cafe where the proprietor spoiled the kids rotten, as he had 11 grandchildren and was missing them badly. Nonetheless, we decided that it would be more economical to eat at home for the duration.
That evening, as the children slept, we relaxed to the sound of lions roaring at the nearby zoo and the strains of Glenn Miller wartime favourites playing in the house while we sipped wine in the garden. Paradise, and only day one!
Our Holiday House!

Happy Birthday Wendy!

It was a mad dash to get everything done for Wendy's birthday and cleaned up as we left for our Holiday on the Isle of Wight the following morning!

The next few posts will be stacked. We have Wendy's Birthday, our Holiday, Larkrise School Fair, Fathers Day and then Fiona's Concert. It has been a busy week.

So Wendy has celebrated her twenty-ninth birthday again! She got plenty of models for the game of 40k that we play and many books. I surprised her with the first book in the series of Flashman by George MacDonald Fraser. Flashman is the memoirs of the fictional character who is a liar, cheat, womaniser, and scoundrel and somehow is made to look like the illustrious Victorian soldier at the end of each story.

Wendy also recieved many other books and some period drama DVD's.


It was a good day for all and over too soon as we had to start packing for our six days on the Isle of Wight.