Splash!

It's been pretty warm here since a few weeks ago, with sold bits in between. I literally melt in the heat - it feels really HOT to all of us when it's low 20s (celsius), and any hotter is just unbearable. So I've been a bit jelly like the last few days, and achieving anything seems like a ridiculous idea. I try, and then all energy is sucked right away by the sun.

Well, when the sun first came out a little while ago I figured the children may as well cool off in the paddling pools. Just look at them trying!



Samuel LOVES water. He drinks from and splashes in any little bit he can find. He has absolutely LOVED drinking from any water fountain we've come across (rare here). So I thought he'd really enjoy splashing about outside. He ended up falling asleep when we finally got the pools filled, but it was a good job really - it was a bit too much of a squash and a squeeze as it was. Still cool and fun though!




So I figured if we were going to need some cooling off time, especially with Samuel awake (and he would NOT be content to stay in one small spot), then we needed to expand slightly. I'd seen a 'family' pool and when I went food shopping that week I managed to pick up the last one they had. So a few days later, Samuel got his first outdoor splashing with space to roam. He just had to be let in while we were still filling the pool with buckets of water, otherwise he'd have been in there in his clothes!

Loads of crawling room...



...and room for some siblings too.:o)



Samuel's little friend Isaac (and his lovely Mum) also came round to visit as the monstrosity of a pool was part way blown up, so after a while he ended up have a play in the little pool.





Samuel was interested, and did want to join him,



... but not quite enough to actually leave the fun he was having in the big pool!



I never could seem to catch it on the camera, but Samuel was splashing madly, and laughing so heartily it was so much fun to watch, even to listen to. I'd say he enjoyed himself. So did everyone else, and most of the time they managed to agree happily on who went where. They were lying like sardines in a tin at one point to all get their own space to lie down without kicking someone else though - that was once Samuel got a bit tired and had to come out.




The next time Samuel went in the pool a few days later, he actually took his first step alone stood up in the water while on his way towards me. I'd have thought it would be harder walking in the water, but then it must be nicer than the wooden, concrete or decking floors we have here.

The real thing!

We'd like to introduce you to the newest member of our family. He is as big as Rachel, bigger in some ways, and came to us today with only a scarf to his name. He is very lovely, and hopefully will be here for a little while.

Please meet Snow Bear. :o)



It started snowing yesterday, and clearly did a lot over night (a lot for here anyway) as we woke up to 15cm of snow this morning. The thing I noticed straight away was the beautiful silence! Even in the very early hours of the morning there is no silence here - always cars going past on one of the nearby main roads, or all three. There was traffic apparently, but it was going so slowly I couldn't hear a thing - how lovely that was (for me at least)! Michael saw one lorry backing down the road outside. Presumably it hadn't been able to make it up over the hill at the top, as it gets quite steep there.





The children were very excited and of course couldn't wait to get outside. Michael would have been out playing with them, but had to go to uni so walked in today (not suitable weather for riding) only to find it was closed. He was disappointed art first as he enjoys the computer programming-type class he has on a Monday (biological modelling really but near enough he same!) When he got over that though, and explained a few things to me he's been learning about, we went outside to build a snowman at the front. The children had exhausted themselves playing outside the back in the morning - mostly a big snowball fight that well and truly trampled the snow down in the back garden. Peter was so funny to watch joining in with that. He had snowballs (or snow piles) just as big as the others and was throwing them at everyone, and laughing loudly when other people hit him with theirs. He had told me while watching the snow yesterday that snow is really nice. He clearly does enjoy it.





So with everyone sort of snowed out really, we were joined by only Rebekah to start with , followed by the others one t a time as they realised what fun we were having. :o) Once Rachel was outside she started with the snowballs again, but she did help us to get the snowman head and body we had rolled from the driveway up a wooden plank ramp and down into the garden where he would be nice and safe. The three of us together couldn't even get the body off the ground it was so heavy, but the seesaw-type ramp worked nicely. :o)

We decided in the end he looked more like a bear with his big snout, and we gave Peter the last vote (he had just decided to join us). A bear he wanted, so a bear he became. There were a flurry of snowballs flying around - Daddy versus children once everyone was outside. I stayed out of the way and finished the bear's face as I didn't fancy slipping over since we had pretty much packed down the rest of the snow that was left. It was fun to watch though. I was joined by Peter after a while who soon worked out how to add snow to the big bear's body. So he got lots of little lumpy mounds all over him after that, and Peter enjoyed himself immensely helping make the bear.














One thing we wondered about as we rolled our big snowballs was whether the left behind TO LET signs would make good sledges. They seemed slippery enough. So once the bear was made, we tried it out from the gate at the back down the driveway. It goes straight down to the road, but not steeply, and while Michael started people off at the top I stood a bit up from the pavement to stop those who might go a bit too fast to stop. It worked really well and there were several times I had someone hurtling right at me!







Rebekah was the best on it - hurtling down the drive in a straight line on most goes. It was getting quite dark by the time we finished and everyone was clearly exhausted. Nice that Daddy got a play day today. :o)







New Note (Friday 5th February):

We just got back from registering with a new doctor (not too happy with the first one we registered with here). On the way back we saw lots of snowman bodies left over, the rest having melted. Then when we got home, Peter wasn't ready to go inside yet -- he was bothered about the state of our snowbear. So he and I took advantage of the fact that we had made such a big snowbear in the first place, and reshaped him into a little snowman - about two years old I'd say as he's a little smaller than Peter. S snow boy I suppose then, and a happy one at that - probably the smartest in Brighton right now. :o)