just another morning here

Today was Josiah’s 10th birthday party; a little in advance of his actual birthday but practically the only time near to his birthday that we could fit in a party!

He really wanted to go out to the woods, build a den, and sleep in it – but this was a little outside of Steve and my comfort zone! Instead we found this National Trust Wild Tribe event going on which was about as close as we could get, so we booked places for two carfuls of boys!

They had a wonderful time in the woods, once they stopped being over-excited and actually managed to get on with building a den. Their shelter turned out rather well, complete with bracken waterproofing on roof and walls. They managed to get all seven of them plus an extra friend that they made on the day into the den for lunch

After our picnic we went down to the main campfire where a couple of the boys did some firelighting, and the group cooked sausages and then roasted marshmallows. Our gang of boys climbed down to the stream to build dams and bridges … then they came back up to the dens and just played in the woods.

I’m sure they could have played for much longer if we’d let them – but the National Trust rangers were probably tired of us by then! Plus it had started to rain a tiny bit. This is the National Trust blog with a post about last month’s Wild Tribe event … perhaps this one will get written up by them at some point (I dread to think what they’ll write about our gang of exuberant boys!)

Anyway, after that fantastic day, we headed back towards home to Pizza Hut for tea, meeting the girls there so that they could join us for something to eat. The boys were very excitable all the way through the meal which made it marginally stressful but the waiter was very good with them and didn’t seem to mind too much.

We had a little bit of time at home for Joe to open presents/cards, then we stuck Home Alone on the big screen for a chill out before parents arrived to collect the boys. They all said they had a lovely day, and Josiah certainly enjoyed himself, and that’s what counts

Yes, yes, I know, I shouldn’t speak in acronyms! But I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited about a blog post; I’ve had this one in draft for a while and actually couldn’t wait to publish it!

A while ago, I wrote about how much I love Exeter Children’s Orchestra … it’s been a fabulous place for my kids to play their instruments, develop musically, and make friends. It’s also been a place where I have made some wonderful friends too, through being involved as a parent and working on the committee.

A number of years ago, someone nominated the orchestra for The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service. We didn’t win it immediately, in fact we have been ‘pooled’ before and not made it through for selection, but the nomination is carried forward each year.

So, in the Autumn of 2010, we had a visit from one of Devon’s Deputy Lord Lieutenants to re-assess us, and I am pleased to announce that this year we were successful. I had the letter almost a month ago and have had to keep it a secret until the official lists were published today (that has been incredibly difficult, given how excited I’ve been about it!).

In a couple of weeks time some of us are off to County Hall for the presentation of the award by Devon’s Lord Lieutenant, Martyn Lewis CBE is going to be there too in his capacity as chair of the QAVS committee. Then in July, a few of us are going to Buckingham Palace for one of the Royal Garden Parties. To say I am excited about all of this is an understatement – it is an amazing honour for ECO and I’m so proud to be part of it

I think I would have loved the wedding even without the day as a public holiday, but an extra day off work is always a bonus! I have only the vaguest of memories of watching Charles & Di’s wedding when I was very small, in France – but I do remember being quite ‘into’ the Royal Family as a kid, when William and Harry were babies etc. I had a scrapbook and everything! Probably shouldn’t be admitting all this. Anyway.

We decided to go to the Food & Drink festival to watch the wedding on the big screen there, which I thought would be fun. Forgot that half of my family really don’t do crowds, which was a bit of an oversight Should have stayed at home! I thought it was a great atmosphere, but VERY busy, unsurprisingly – made it too busy to properly enjoy the foodie stuff really, though we did sit and watch a cooking demo together, while the balcony scene played out in the background.

I loved the wedding though – dresses and hats to admire (or not, as the case may be!) and the music was fab, not to mention the romance of it all

Came home and got a few jobs done around the house – having spent this morning setting up a Party on Chore Wars it was the only thing to do, really! I wasn’t sure it would work here as the family were making derisory comments all morning about doing jobs for XP, but funnily enough I had plenty of volunteers for help around dinnertime. Someone even emptied the bins when they weren’t overflowing! Anna is getting left behind as she has been at a friend’s house, and she thinks we’re all sad … we’ll see how successful it is but it’s a bit of fun, anyway

Tonight Steve has gone out for a gig, Anna’s still at her friend’s, so Abbie, Joe and I are vegging out with a film

Yesterday the four of us (without Josiah, as he was still on chorister duty) got up early and drove to Oxford, in time for church at OCC on Easter Sunday. We got there stupidly early – there was NO traffic on the road at that time of day on a bank holiday weekend! Met most of my family at church, and caught up with some old friends there too, an added bonus. Good service, then home to my parents’ house to see the rest of the family for lunch and the afternoon.

As usual it was a fabulous meal cooked by Lorraine, then we just had a lovely time hanging out together; we went to the park and some people played frisbee while others sat around and chatted. Back at the house, the true Thomases (Anna & Abbie included in this!) played cards, while the spouses were left to chat- really not quite sure why they all seem to think that they can’t keep up with us! I would like to add that I won Photos are here

Cups of tea were served, along with some rather strange cake made by Esther – apple, raisin & walnut, with a layer of goats’ cheese in the middle. Turned out to be a bit like Marmite, either you loved it or you hated it. I want the recipe!
Eventually left, not that we really wanted to … home and bed.

Today we did separate things. Abbie and I went geocaching with my friend, while Steve did some food shopping and fiddled about with a Toyota Starlet, and Anna spent most of the day making a birthday present for a friend. Abbie and I found 32 caches today, and were still home by 4pm! The first of them had a ??5 FTF prize in it so that paid for our post-caching ice creams Others included a ring where we had to build up the digits for the bonus using a stencil – the numbers were like digital clock numbers so each stencil added a few more lines, which was a very inventive idea, I thought. The bonus was a safe, which had been embedded into a stump, so you had to collect the combination for that on the way round as well – definitely worth a favourite point on the Geocaching site. I kept trying to take photos of Abbie’s hair as it looked particularly nice today but she wasn’t really helping …

So, we got home for ice-creams and a quick shower; Steve got home in time to sling a shirt on before we headed to the Cathedral for evensong – Easter Monday is when the choristers are joined by the Old Choristers Association, so it was a full house and a massive sound, excellent. Then we scooped Josiah up and most of his possessions from his time boarding – I say most, as he always leaves *something* behind He’d had a brilliant time, as usual – he thinks it’s one big holiday, which it is, for him. I’m glad the chorister thing is so positive for him and that he doesn’t resent it at all. We missed him, especially yesterday with family, but he didn’t mind at all. There was more chocolate at the boarding house, too
So, home for pizza & salad. He then had to catch up on Dr Who as they hadn’t watched it!

Bedtime now. I don’t feel at all ready to go back to work tomorrow, but at least we have a short week ahead.