WOW What A Month This is Turning Out To Be
Our beautiful sweet daughter turned 16 years young on Sunday 14th October. To celebrate this monumental of teenage birthday's we decided to celebrate the entire week last week so took the kids off for a surprise family holiday to Butlins. The photograph above is Angelica and Harvey with the Lazy Town Gang after we watched their live stage show on holiday.
Monday when we arrived at the holiday park it was pouring down with rain, actually it had rained pretty heavily for the entire two hour drive which was disappointing but we didn't let it spoil things. The kids faces when we were about two miles away from the place lit up because of all the huge signs along the roadside pointing the way, they were over the moon with their surprise. After spending some time looking around, Harvey bumped into Fireman Sam and we snapped a nice picture of them together, he started to realise what a cool place Butlins is and had a biggest smile ever. We were all smiling because we knew that an ever bigger surprise was coming up on the Wednesday when Harvey would see Thomas the Tank Engine up close and personal, he adores Thomas and watches the program every day, has a Thomas bed, bedding, curtains, toys, PJs and slippers so we kind of knew this was going to be epic for him. The rest of the first day was filled with checking in, picking up our key cards, fun fair rides, eating dinner and watching the Lazy Town live stage show performance. We were all pretty tired so went to be around 10:30pm in an attempt to have an early night together. The boys took turns waking me up throughout the night so by Tuesday morning I was too tired to cook breakfast as planned.
So on the first morning waking up at Butlins we decided to go out for some breakfast and were not disappointed. We found the Beachcomber Inn and went inside when they opened at 9am. I ordered a cappuccino (pictured above) which came so nicely presented that I couldnt resist photographing it before taking a sip. The food was absolutely delicious, I ordered poached eggs, bacon with the fat cut off, vegetarian sausages which were made of quorn and two large mushrooms. Everything was cooked to perfection and melt in the mouth delicious. As it was raining most of Tuesday as well we took advantage of indoor activities. First we watched the live Pingu, Bob the Builder, Barney and Little Big Club show, Harvey's face lit up when he saw the huge characters in front of him, it was very special indeed. We were also very lucky to have secured tickets on our way to breakfast for the "I Can Cook Live Roadshow" with Katy Ashworth.
This is a photograph of Katy with Harvey and Me after the show, he gave her the biggest hug ever which was magical, after watching the show for almost three years it felt really lovely meeting Katy, she is so entertaining and really pulls everyone watching into the live show so that everyone felt included. The stories were so funny, the kids and parents loved everything. Best of all though, after Harvey gave her a super huge cuddle she bent down and asked me if I'd like her to sign his recipe card she'd given him. Such a thoughtful thing to do I hadnt even thought to ask, now I know already that Harvey is going to remember this week for ever so will also have this little card as a momento as well. How cool is that!
In the evening on Tuesday after doing lots of other activities, we went for dinner than out to see another live musical show. I was so tired at the end of the day it was unreal, my body started to ache in places I'd forgotten about. The kids went to bed all together in the living room having made a camp out of the quilts and pillows. This seemed to settle both boys who didn't wake up at all, only Harvey crept into our room about 5am. Hubby and I went out for some drinks on our own around 11pm, it was loads of fun we could not stop laughing and giggling the whole time. We met another couple, the lady was in her late 40s and in a wheelchair too so we kind of hit it off immediately. We rolled into the chalet around 1:30am so it was a good entertaining night out with good adult company which we both thoroughly enjoyed.
Wednesday morning finally arrived and so did the sunshine, just in time for Thomas The Tank Engine and the Sodor Celebration Day. My body was aching so much by the third day I could barely move and had become swollen up as well. The photo above is all of us with Thomas the the Fat Controller, I struggled so much to get up those stairs out of my wheelchair but was utterly determined to be in Harvey's special photograph with him, it was only when I did it all the other kids ran over to join in too. The whole hall gasped and the Fat Controller man said "well done" to me as I took my seat proudly alongside my beautiful children. We have the official photographer's photo from this occasion too but I havent had a chance to scan it in yet, its beautiful though all of us looking directly into the camera, a very special gift indeed one which I will treasure, Harvey was in his absolute element meeting Thomas and by this time he'd met so many characters from all his favourite tv shows he is totally convinced Butlins is actually us going inside the TV!
The afternoon looks like this :
The effort involved in climbing up on to the carousel then actually getting on to the horse, well it was a major achievement for me but again complete determination paid off, I've taken each one of my six babies for their first carousel ride at Butlins over the last 20 years so this one with Harvey's first time was no exception, wheelchair or no wheelchair there was nothing that could keep me from doing it. The man operating the ride was really good about waiting, and he did have to wait as it took me ages to get on and off the ride but boy was it worth it. We all laughed so hard all the way round, hubby on the ground snapping away with my nikon camera caught some great photographs whilst the ride was moving around. The giant deck chair was funny as well, we sort of discovered it whilst looking around and could not resist all falling into it and taking crazy photographs of each other. It was a top afternoon made all the more enjoyable by the fact that it was sunny. We packed so much into that one afternoon even a quick meet and greet with Angelina Ballerina much to Imogen's delight.
After being thoroughly entertained by the Red Coats in the evening, we watched three shows and stayed out really late, it was well past 1am by the time we went back to the chalet straight into bed, I was so exhausted I didn't ten take off my makeup falling straight to sleep as soon as my head settled down on the pillows.
The three shows were a celebration of british festival music, street dancing and a tribute to Elvis, Queen and Freddy Mercury which was totally awesome. They have a facebook page for King Meets Queen which is well worth a look.
On the Thursday it rained and rained and rained. We were all so tired we didn't get up and dressed until about 10am, I cooked scrambled eggs and bacon sandwiches for a late breakfast then we went out, more looking around at things, shops, entertainment, playing together and generally enjoying things inside under cover because of the rain. By the afternoon though I started to develop the chills and a fever which was not so good. We did go out in the evening but by then I had started to become in a pretty poor state so we decided to skip the Michael Jackson tribute show and pack up the chalet instead with a view to having an early night. Instead though, when hubby saw me taking even more codeine tablets and paracetamols he asked me if I would like to go home that night instead of waiting for the morning, I jumped at the chance as I'd felt too bad to ask given the good time all the kids were having I didn't want to spoil it for them. So the last hour there we spent cashing in the prize tokens the kids had been saving all week and loading up the car, once the wheelchair was in the car I had to stay there sitting in the car which was freezing, I know made a thousand times worse because I had a raging temperature by this time. It was very late, about 11:30pm but we didn't take too long to finish everything and leave handing in our keys at the main gate and thanking the staff for a fantastic few days away.
At home I went straight into my bed completely with electric blanket, more tablets and pain killers and got very comfortable indeed.
There is nothing like your own bed and blankets when you dont feel well and boy I stayed there until Saturday evening having only come downstairs once on Friday evening to measure the ingredients for the turkey breast fillets curry the girls and I prepared and cooked together by throwing everything into a pot and leaving it to cook for 40 minutes. It was very nice to eat a home cooked meal like that, I'd missed it but hadnt realised how much until I was eating it.
On Saturday evening, feeling a bit brighter we decided to give Angelica the first of three birthday presents, the first was an original 1970s record player unit, she went mental as she loves it sooooo much. The second gift given to her was the original Duran Duran Rio album from 1982. She was totally speechless when she opened it. Top result.
On Sunday, the actual birthday day we gave her the iPhone which she has not put down since. My brother and sister in law came up with their kids for dinner, it was a wonderful day they even took Ivan and Imogen home with them for me to have more rest which was just lovely. They are coming home today, I've missed them so much its unreal. Our family never does handle separation very well at all but still, it has been nice to have a silent well fairly quiet house for a change and I have rested which is also great for my body as its still recovering from being outside in all that rain in the wheelchair getting soaked through to the skin most days several times a day last week.
Sunday also saw the totally unexpected arrival of Kai, who is a Siberian Husky Alaskan Malamute dog cross breed. Basically someone put a post up on one of the local facebook groups very late on Saturday night asking for help with the 15 months old dog. He'd been castrated two weeks ago but the family needed help because he was still presenting them with problems. I messaged not expecting to hear back from them but sure enough when I opened my laptop on Sunday morning there was a message reply asking me to phone. When I called I suggested they come around and meet us to discuss things then perhaps we could try taking the dog for a trial period to see how things go and if I could work out what his issues are. I used to do this a lot when the boys were little so have a lot of experience especially with Husky's. The man wanted to come straight round but I was still in bed at this point so asked them to give me an hour or so. Exactly one hour later I still wasn't dressed and they arrived with dog and two kids.
It was totally love at first sight with hubby and this dog, I have to admit he is a gorgeous looking boy just massive and way bigger than I had expected but agreed to give it a go. They left promptly, they were only in the house like six or seven minutes, it was weird as they didn't even say bye to him or anything just left. I've kept in touch with the lady over facebook though so its not all bad and she's been answering my questions too which is good news.
The dog is settling all be it slowly. First night Joseph had to go to hospital, that is a whole separate post, but whilst there the dog cried and howled all night long only stopping when I fed him cake and stroked him whilst humming tunes laying on the hallway floor next to the front door. Last night was much better, he slept through most of it so its a good sign. I am certain he will fit in well here although there is a big question mark over territory with him and Krispy both wanting to be top dog. I am sure we can work this out, will have to see how things are when Imogen and Ivan get back I guess.
