Adventures in home working

We all attended the fireworks at Blackpool last night,  launched from North pier they were the best we have ever seen.  We walked in from Star Gate along the promenade and it was a great night out for all.  We decided to watch from the beach which added to the fun as the kids played in the sea and sand while we waited for it to start.  Stephie also played with the camera, hence the pictures!  The kids had chips on the way home.  A few more details can be found here:

Top firework companies from around the globe will be invited to stage pyrotechnical displays, bringing an International flavour to Central Promenade during the opening weeks of Blackpool’s World Famous Illuminations season.

One display will be presented per evening on Sunday 2nd and Fridays 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th September 2007.

2nd September Portugal
7th September Canada
14th September UK
21st September Austria
28th September Winner Announcement and Celebratory Display

To out-shine their opponents, entrants must demonstrate cutting edge pyro-musical design with a display that represents the style or traditions of their country. Each competing company will launch fireworks particular to their homeland and showcase their own pyrotechnical expertise, to win the public vote.

Build up will commence around 7.30pm Fireworks from approximately 8.30pm

 It started a bit late, and I recommend that if you decide to go along that you wrap up warm!

Anna had her face painted at the weekend

I have always lived a pretty active life,  never for example having any interest in a spectator sport. 

Now with 4 kids and Arthritis I find it’s even more important to keep active and living by the sea gives me a great excuse. 

We all have bikes of course but we also really enjoy getting around on scooters and here is a picture of us taking a brief pit stop in the centre of town before we head home along the promenade.

It can get pretty windy by the coast, but that’s no excuse for not getting out their and having fun,  in fact we all enjoy braving the elements now and again. 

I suppose I am a bit obsessive about it because I really do need to get quite a bit of exercise every day to avoid seizing up from the Arthritis.

My eldest two girls have a difficult – love/hate – relationship like most sisters, and very unlike the twins who are more like best of friends and always have been since the shared the same cot when we bought them home from hospital. 

They continue to enjoy each others company, share toys, friends and show considerable empathy for each other even though they are not identical.

For the first couple of years though they looked so alike that we had to dress them in different coloured clothes so we could tell them apart and they still have their names on their school jumpers to help their teachers call them by name.  In fact for the first year or so the only way to distinguish them was by a small birth mark that one of them has on her back.

We have extensive sand dunes which provide our main sea defences but more importantly provide a wonderful place for the kids to play,  we often walk home from the park in the evening along the dunes,  which means quite a lot of difficult climbs.  By the time we get home the kids are exhausted so we tend to have a peaceful time at night.

In this picture the twins are just setting off to explore some of the smallest of the dunes.

My Nan had a cottage in a small village near Mablethorpe on the North East coast of England so I spent a lot of my childhood on the beach and I realised when I started looking for a place to settle down that it had to be next to water. 

In fact although I have lived in many places I have rarely been more than 5 minutes away from salt water.  I feel instantly at home as soon as I can see the water reaching to the horizon.

I’m delighted that the kids have inherited my love for the sea side life.  In this picture we have just finished breakfast and walked out of the cafe door which faces the beach,  which is probably why the kids are all so happy,  they are well fed! 

Tessa is still sporting a sling which is cradling her broken arm caused by a fall from a climbing frame.

Although the addition of a 12’ trampoline to the garden has made the kids much more active, it still amazes me how they love to just sit on it – or under it – to do all manner of activities from playing music to having lunch.  In this case the twins and friend are just chilling out after a mad half hour!

When I was a kid I used to roam for miles all over the country side around my house and before I was 12 I was often away all day canoeing down the river, exploring the woods or just riding for miles on my bike.  For some reason though my kids have generally stayed closer to Debbie and me, and spend a lot of time playing in the garden,  although that’s gradually changing as more kids from their school have stated to move closer to us. 

Which means that our garden often looks like this from Spring through to Autumn. 

They don’t just chill out all of the time though because we discovered just how much fun trampolines can be and now they spend a lot of time bouncing!  I must admit that I love the trampoline as well, and when I last went round to my brothers I was amused to see him bouncing around on his as we pulled into the drive!

When I am away from home and think about my kids,  I almost always imagine them crowded around the kitchen table doing craft activities. 

My Wife – Debbie – has always loved craft activities, so four kids is a dream come true from that perspective.  In fact she loves planning and helping with this sort of activity that she runs a kids club every Thursday night at the local church and also runs a week long event during the summer holidays. 

Debbie lays out a huge plastic table cloth and the kids just get stuck in!  Craft stuff doesn’t come as naturally to me, although for Christmas this year I asked the kids to get me a craft box and all the pens, glue, card, glitter etc that they could find. They did a wonderful job as well and I have already used it a couple of times this year,  which is more than the previous ten years put together so thats progress.