Reepicheep and Caspian
Fine names for guinea pigs, yes? 
Best not to ask just why and how we have managed to end up with guinea pigs in addition to a hamster and a fish. Anna says I am working up in pet sizes and that one day I’ll manage to convince Steve to have another baby! (I think not.)
Not much else going on here other than the excitement of the guinea pigs. A couple of music lessons and a bit of music practice, but other than that we’re still on holiday so have been doing nice things like baking, seeing friends, etc. Although the other day Anna did get so bored that she picked up a spelling workbook and started doing it! She is the world’s worst person at finding herself something to do 
The other two are very happy bimbling about together, lots of games of Scrabble (great for spelling practice and maths too!) and Mindbender going on, and drawing, and other bits and bobs.
Last night Joe’s violin teacher measured him up with some bigger sized violins and pronounced him ready for a 1/4 size so he’s excited about having a new violin. I’m jolly glad that from the 1/10 we were able to skip the 1/8 size and go straight to the 1/4, as it will last for a good 2 – 3 years and therefore make it worthwhile buying one.
Today we had one of Anna’s friends with us, and took her into town to do a drop-in craft workshop at the museum. We had to wait a while so spent the time doing one of the museum quizzes in the Egyptian Mummy section, so that was interesting. Back down to the activity room – Abbie’s choice of the workshops on offer this week was felting, and all three girls came away with great felted pictures. Joe opted out and sat doing jigsaws in the museum instead.
Followed that with sausage rolls from the bakery eaten on the Cathedral Green. I love our Cathedral Green, it is always packed out with people sitting around on a beautiful day like today, and such an eclectic mix of people – from those sitting outside the cafe of the poshest hotel in town, students, business-people on their lunch hours, mums and dads with buggies and small children, to the Big Issue sellers and today some drunk person singing very loudly entertaining (or not!) the rest of us. And there is something about the cathedral being right in the middle, accessible to everyone … I dunno, I just like it! You can almost always meet someone you know there as well. And for some reason the children love it too. Just another part of my ongoing love affair with this city …
April 19th, 2007 at 17:18
Very fine names. Amelie insanely excited about the idea of a violin. (ARGH.) Well done Joe on being big enough
April 19th, 2007 at 19:20
(Caitlin here)
I’m worse than Anna. I sometimes get so bored I wish I was at school!
April 19th, 2007 at 19:21
(Caitlin here again)
And why is a guinea pig called Reepicheep?
April 19th, 2007 at 19:24
Well that is sort of the noise they make … I know Reepicheep was a mouse but it’s close enough
p.s. what time are you setting off on bikes tomorrow?
April 19th, 2007 at 19:37
Caitlin *is* worse than Anna. I think it’s a first child thing. Probably setting off around 1100ish. I need to buy bathroom furniture first! We should talk…
April 19th, 2007 at 19:39
…did you just change something to ‘Big Issue sellers’ – it’s political correctness gone mad, I say!
April 19th, 2007 at 19:40
lol, yes! stop being so observant
April 19th, 2007 at 19:41
and talk? Who needs to do that when we have blog comments! Give me a shout in the morning whenever you’re ready and I’ll bring Anna down, then we can take things from there
April 19th, 2007 at 21:32
Exeter……the 293rd best place to raise a family in the UK according to the Reader’s Digest (out of 408). Oxford comes a creditable 399th and Reading, even better…….408th!!!!! The *worst* place to have a family in Britain. It makes me very proud.
April 19th, 2007 at 21:46
What sex are your guinea pigs?
April 19th, 2007 at 22:15
I don’t think I really care what Reader’s Digest says! What’s the best, just out of interest?
The guinea pigs are boys.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:57
Abbie must be thrilled that you’ve got some new pets! and thanks for the package, got it yesterday.
April 20th, 2007 at 7:24
Bridgewater.
April 20th, 2007 at 7:24
You LIE!
April 20th, 2007 at 7:43
Seriously, I read the article this morning. I wonder whether I would have said the same things or put them in the same importance as their what parents want list. Anyway I’m not exactly sure how you can compare a rural location with a town and then a city, surely those should be three different lists, or am I splitting hairs now?
In any case, actually my fondness for Exeter began well before I was a parent, and is therefore a combination of more factors than just those I consider as a parent. Obviously its bland high street is a contributing factor
April 20th, 2007 at 7:56
Yeah the criteria were mental. Didn’t include anything like facilities for children, swimming pools, museums, cinema, good restaurants. I’d also argue that proximity to London is a big plus
The risk of flooding was bizarre, surely anybody (not just families) would rate that? House prices was interesting too. House prices rise because demand does so places that people want to live are marked down!!!!! Local University – I didn’t understand that at all.
What they didn’t say (most importantly) was who the 1000 people who ranked the criteria were. If they were RD scubscribers then I think we have a fatally flawed sample.
April 20th, 2007 at 8:58
ha ha, yes, you are right enough there!
April 20th, 2007 at 15:10
You sound just a shade smug …
April 20th, 2007 at 15:47
Who me? I do hope you mean me. Yes, I am smug and arrogant and conceited. But fortunately I love myself very much and thank my stars everyday that I don’t live in Scotland.
April 20th, 2007 at 22:44
BTW Rog, I have to put in an official objection to the idea that “first children can’t find themselves things to do”
April 21st, 2007 at 6:46
me too Alison, I think it’s more a personality thing. I never have any problem finding myself things to do!
April 21st, 2007 at 9:04
Hiya.
Just dropped by via Jo and O, love the GPs, there is a sweet little site which talks about their wide vocabulary, with recordings of the noises…
http://jackiesguineapiggies.com/guineapigsounds.html
It’s too many years since I sat on Cathedral Green – 35 I should think. That’s sad.
I made a hungry caterpillar costume for my eldest once, and the hatched butterfly for his sister. My favourite part was the blue lollipop, and the watermelon I made from felt tarted up with acrylics(just linking to different bits of your blog here, lol).
Have bookmarked to come back and visit again. Tahnks.
E
xx
April 21st, 2007 at 9:33
We got some guinea pigs 4 weeks ago, two baby girls and I decided to take the mummy too. Clover, Tiggy and Lily.
Anyway I am convinced the mum was pregnant when we got her as she is steadily getting bigger !!!!
We are now holding our breath while waiting to see if a zillion babies arrive.
The pigs are great though
April 21st, 2007 at 10:55
I am a first child and I can never think of anything to do. I think I will name it PBD (perpetual boredom disorder)
April 21st, 2007 at 11:44
What about buying things?
April 21st, 2007 at 12:07
I only buy stuff to try and relieve the boredom.
April 21st, 2007 at 13:17
Me too. I have decided that the researching, ordering, and waiting for items to be delivered is the bit I actually enjoy. Once I have the item I need to start researching the next.
June 8th, 2007 at 10:09
greate names. chronicles of narnia is also one of my favorite books!
peace