Wasn't meant to be a photo drop

So I am now the proud (!!!) parent of an eight year old.  Oliver had a good birthday, with a trip to Frankie's Fun Park, where he and Isaac raced each other in the go karts.  Isaac could barely see over the steering wheel, bless him.  We had dinner there also, which was very nice.

Here is Oliver with his cake.  I may have ordered one that was slightly too big....

Saturday morning we went to Cars and Coffee up at the Michelin headquarters on Pelham Road.  This is only the second one we have been to, they are on every month.  The boys loved it, and there was even a Ferrari, which Seb had kittens over.  It is one of his new words, except he calls it a 'errari'.  Thanks mum for the t-shirt, Oliver loves it.

We had a BBQ on Sunday, or as it was known in this house, race day.  What with the Monaco Grand Prix in the morning, the Indy 500 in the afternoon and the Nascar Charlotte race in the evening, there was no shortage of racing (I have 3 car mad boys, when is there ever a shortage of racing?!?).  We attempted ribs on the BBQ for the first time, and they were delicious.  Definitely something we will do again.

It was Memorial day Monday, which meant everyone was off.  We were able to see the hot air balloons from Aloft fly over the house every morning, which was lovely.  one day we will make that event, but at $20 each, it is not cheap, then there is the additional costs.... Maybe one day!

Instead, Oliver built his Millenium Falcon.  I was surprised how quickly he did it, it is a very complex set.  We got him some Technic Lego also, to possibly prepare him for the next step in his Lego career.

Another of Oliver's presents was a slot car set.  Scalectrix brand is not really rated over here, and difficult to get, so Paul found a Nascar Carrera set for a bargain price from a local independant toy store, OP Taylor's in Greenville.  This is the set Oliver got.  He then found a slightly different set on Craigslist even cheaper, from an expat who is on the move, so we ended up with that too.  Works well though, as the boys are able to have epic tracks.  Paul has download a track design app, so he is having great fun too!

Tuesday afternoon Seb and I spent some quality time at the pool.  I realized it would be our last afternoon just the 2 of us for about 12 weeks.  This photo was taken about 5 minutes before he toppled over from the same pose, and went head first under the water.  Didn't phase him, he just got out and jumped in again.  We are loving the pool this year, especially as it has now got really hot and humid.

Today was Oliver's beach day at school.  A half day, followed by another half day tomorrow, then he is done till the end of August.  Isaac chose to wear a shirt also today.  He now picks his own clothes in the morning.  He has some firm favorites, and some interesting combination.

Isaac has been having a hard time at school the last couple of weeks.  He is very emotional when things don't go as he expects, and is lashing out a lot.  Not sure what we are going to do about it yet, I have his conference in about 10 days time, so I will get a good chance to chat to his teacher then.  He is like it at home, but I have a feeling he may be getting bored/growing out of the Montessori way of learning.  We will see....

Thank you auntie Jen for Oliver's sticker album, he loves it. He has even managed to figure out how to do the stickers on his own.  If anyone has any Panini World Cup stickers spare/swaps, let me know and I will give you our address!  We already have some swaps from the many packets Jen sent!

Last but not least, I got my car back today after the deer incident.  Paul reckons the rear quater panel looks a bit different than it should but I can't tell.....I am just glad to have it back in time for our trip.  I will keep using the mini this week, then swap back to the X5.  I have missed my heads up display....

Obviously, the summer holidays are upon us, I hope to do a blog post in the next few days about what our rough plans are...…

********************Don't forget to look for #theyearofoliver******************************

Oliver is (almost) 8!!!

Tommorrow my biggest boy turns 8.  I can't quite believe where the time has gone....

My smallest baby (5lbs 14 oz), my earliest arrival (35 weeks).  We had to stay in the hospital for 11 days thanks to severe jandice.  Can't believe that was 8 years ago.

He walked at a year, nursed for 13 months, and took his time talking.  He was potty trained just before his 3rd birthday, about the same time he started talking.

He started preschool just before he turned 3, and really liked it (eventually).  He learned to ride his bike pretty early, and his stabilizers came off when he was nearly 5.

Oliver went from preschool to school with 3 pretty good friends, 2 Jacks and a Connor.  He settled in to school really well, and was reading by Christmas.  

He has always been obsessed with cars, he still is.  But now he loves lego and his brothers too.  Not forgetting computers.  He would play Xbox all day if we let him (we never do, we have very strict rules about this!!!)

Then we moved stateside.  He still loves computers, but is becoming a tiny bit more understanding about our rules.  He is in an awesome school, where he is excelling.  He reads a couple of grades ahead, and his math skills are amazing.  

Oliver has never been the most coordinated of children, though this has not held him back.  He loved street dance in the UK.

Now he plays baseball, and really enjoys it.  He plays an important role  in the outfield, and rarely strike out.  He can't wait to get to the pool and get swimming.

He is not the easiest of children, but there has never been a dull moment since he came along.  He has been through a serious operation already this year, with another to come (more on that in another post).  He can be the most caring, considerate of children in one breath, then the meanest in the next.  I think that is eight year olds....  Doesn't stop me from loving him, even if he does my head in sometimes!

Paul was looking for recent photos of him to put on his birthday cake.  It was hard to find one!!!  This leads me to #yearofOliver.  Plenty of people have done something similar to this, where you take a photo everyday for a year.  I shall be doing this for Oliver, starting on his birthday, and posting them to Instagram. You can find me under claregosling55.  If I remember, I will share them on Facebook and twitter too!

The BIG trip - the plan

So seeing as we are about a month away from our trip, I thought I would share our itinery as we have had requests from family.  So here goes....

These are all the journeys we will be doing.  It is about 2500+ miles in total! and that's just from accommodation to accommodation.  There are hotels and vacation rentals spread out across the trip, 9 different accommodations over 16 nights.  The longest we stay on one place is 3 nights.....

Leg 1- Simpsonville to Norfolk, 431 miles, 6 hours 50 minutes

We initially wanted to head straight to Washington, D.C., but it is just too far.  I decided on Norfolk, as it seemed a good place.  We have a hotel right on the beach, and intend to leave early, so when we finally get there we can check in and chuck the boys straight on to the beach, then into the pool.  We are only staying one night here.  

Leg 2 - Norfolk to Washington, D.C., 188 miles, 3 hours

On our journey to Washington, we are hoping to stop at Norfolk Naval Base and do a bus tour.  This is one of the biggest naval bases on the east coast with a very interesting history (find it here).

Our hotel in Washington is pretty central, with underground parking (at an additional cost of course). We are staying 2 nights, which gives us 1 full day and 1 maybe 2 half days.  We will see how we go! We want to see the monuments, the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian Air and Space museum.  And of course the White House!

Leg 3 - Washington, D.C. to New York, 231 miles, 4 hours 5 minutes 

We are actually staying in Queens.  We are renting a top floor apartment, for a very reasonable rate.  The hotels were soooooooo expensive, especially in Manhattan.  The area we are staying looks interesting but there is an Indian restaurant within walking distance, and the subway is 15 minutes walk.  We are staying 2 nights again, so the one full day we have we intend to jump on a subway and go in to Manhattan.  The subway will take us to a boat trip in lower Manhatten, plus the World Trade Centre site.  Then up to Central Park, where we want to go to the zoo, then to the Empire State Building and Times Square, then back over the Brooklyn Bridge, change trains at the Barclays Arena (Brooklyn nets basketball team play here) and head back to the apartment absolutely exhausted!

Leg 4 - New York to Douglas, MA, 185 miles, 3 hours 15 minutes

This looks like quite a scenic drive along the coast of the Long Island Sound.  We are staying in a cottage in Douglas for 2 nights.  The cottage has a lake at the back of the garden, supplied by a small spring, and the owner maintains a beach there, so hopefully the boys will enjoy it.  

I initially wanted to stay in Boston, but it was sooooo expensive.  Douglas is about an hour away from Boston, so we will take a day trip.  This is for me really.  I want to do some of the Freedom trail, the USS Constitution boat, and take in the culture (as much as you can in one day!).  It looks like such an amazing old city, depending on our first impressions, we may go back again at some point in the future.

Leg 5 - Douglas to Cortland, NY, 285 miles, 4 hours 40 minutes

This was actually the first thing I booked through Groupon.  2 nights in a resort with day passes to a water park on site.  I have looked at the water park, and it seems good for the boys.  It is in the Finger Lakes area of New York State, so will hopefully be very beautiful.  This is a good stop over point, with hopefully enough for the boys to do.  It is actually a pretty good deal when you throw in the water park tickets (they would be $150 for all of us if we weren't staying at the resort)

Leg 6 - Cortland, NY to Buffallo, NY via Niagra Falls, 187 miles, 3 hours

As we are up there, we may as well do Niagra Falls.  Due to complications with the car insurance, we cannot go into Canada, so will be seeing the falls from the American side.  We plan to do the Maid of the Mist boat trip, and take lots of photos.  Other than that there doesn't seem much to do.  We are staying in Buffalo for one night as it is cheaper.

Leg 7 - Buffalo, NY to Port Clinton, OH, 280 miles, 4 hours 30 minutes

We have booked a ground floor condo in Port Clinton on the shore of Lake Erie for 3 nights  It has a pool, a beach and a playground, and appears to be a walk into town.  From what I have seen, the Great Lakes are quite touristy.  There are a few islands in the lake which we may take a trip to, or there is a big amusement park about 30 minutes drive away. We will probably do a bit of exploring, and a lot of relaxing here

Leg 8 - Port Clinton, OH, to Indianapolis, IN, 256 miles, 4 hours 3 minutes

My boys want to see the race track.  If you know my boys, you will understand this.  We have a hotel booked right in the centre of the city, which is about a 20 minute drive from the track.  We are already booked on to a tour.  The boys are excited about this, as am I.  We will be in Indianapolis for 2 nights, so intend to have a little explore.  I can't imagine it is that different from any other medium size city in America, but we shall see.  We are planning on doing the zoo also, and possibly the children's museum, it gets very good reviews.  I have also just found out that the terra-cotta warriors are on a special exhibit there while we are in town.  Super exciting!!!! From here on in we are heading home....

Leg 9 - Indianapolis, IN, to Knoxville, TN, 340 miles, 5 hours

This is a one night stop to break up the journey.  You can even see Greenville on the map above.  This is a hotel with a cool pool, so hopefully it will be ok.  

So there you have it!  It is a lot to take in, many places will be seen, albeit briefly.  But we are not the kind of people who go and crazily explore one place, we like to just scratch the surface and get a feel for places.  It is going to be hard with the kids, but they are excited about seeing loads of different places, and watching lots of films, so hopefully it will all work out ok.  I have lots of stuff planned in my head to make it go as smoothly as possible....

I am going to try and blog as I go too.....wifi dependent of course! 

Another photo drop

Apologies again for being a very slack blogger.  We are just living life at the moment, nothing strange and startling happening, but we are having fun.

Here is a rough outline of what we have been up to.

We had our friends Rachel, Riley, Layla, Christy and Edmund round to play a few weeks ago.  It was so much fun, and the kids all played so well together, making it a nice time for the mummies to chat.

I have been throwing myself into my Uni work lately, doing my best to stay ahead, especially as we have the holiday coming up (more on that to come).  But something popped up in my Facebook feed on Wednesday morning, and I was taken with it straight away.  Basically it was a pack of preprinted c-v-c cards, perfect to assist Isaac in the first steps to reading and writing.  So I spent the morning cutting and laminating them.  Isaac and/or Seb have done these at least once a day since I made them.  Not always properly, but they are practicing pen control.

Yesterday was Isaac's International Festival.  Paul took the day off, so we all went along.  We did not dress Isaac up, as we don't really have any costumes to represent England.  Last year he wore his Liverpool shirt.  According to his teachers, he got quite upset when he saw everyone else dressed up, so they found this for him to wear.

He looks so cute, and so pleased with himself.  The festival was to the usual standards, and i bought some plants for the garden after (more to come on that too....).  We went out for lunch after, and both Seb and Isaac fell asleep on the way home.  Isaac slept for about an hour and a half, Seb for about 45 minutes.

I get a little worried about Seb sleeping in the day unpredicatably.  He is now potty trained!  In the weeks leading up to Easter, he had loads of nappy off time.  Rachel had sent me a really good book to assist in potty training, so over Easter we went for it.  Friday and Saturday were nappy off days, Sunday was pants only, Monday was pants and shorts.  Tuesday he went to school in pants, and held his wee all morning.  The Wednesday he went twice at school.  We are now 2 weeks in, and he is doing pretty good.  Very few accidents, and even doing number 2's on the toilet.  He is waking up in the morning dry, and the same if he falls asleep in the car.   I am so proud of him for doing this, particularly as he doesn't tell us.  He just takes himself to his potty when he needs to go, admittedly his pants are normally the other side of the room, but at least the liquid is in the potty.....  The next step is to get him a bed, then we will be completely over the baby stage.

Sob, sob.....

Photo drop spring break

Isaac has been off this last week on spring break.  It has been so nice to spend some time with him.  Here are some photos with what we have been up to this week.

Sunday we headed up to the Kings Mountain area, just by the North/South Carolina border.  We intended to do Kings Mountain Military Park and Kings Mountain State Park.  We started at the military park by having a look at their museum, then did the battlefields trail.  This is a 1.5 mile trail around the battle field from the Revolutionary war.  There were many informative boards on the way, and you can get a tour on your phone if you wish.  There are many monuments along the way commemorating the people who took part in this important battle.

The boys did really well walking this trail, and hardly got carried at all.  We did it in about an hour, and thoroughly enjoyed our walk in the sun.

By the time we returned to the car, we were all pooped, so decided to give the state park a miss, and save it for another day.

Monday we met up with some friends, before atrocious weather set in for a few days.

Wednesday Isaac and I went for breakfast at IHOP.  I like doing this with my boys when they are off.  Now Seb is in school 3 mornings a week when the other 2 are off, be it separate or together, it is nice to do things just us.

Thursday morning Seb was off, so we headed to the zoo.  In the summer, they open at 9am, though all animals are not on display.  It turns out this is temperature dependent.  It was cold Thursday morning, and I did not dress myself or the boys appropriately.  I think we were the first ones in the zoo!  It was lovely.  The lemurs were playing, there was a snake up close to the glass, and the lions were roaring.  It goes to show, you can got to the zoo numerous times, and still see something different

Still take the same pictures though!

It was so cold, that I was not up for supervising the boys in the park.  We headed up to Pelham Road to meet Paul for a coffee.  My car has been in the garage for about 2 weeks following my run in with a deer.  I have had an X3 in the meantime, an alright car, but not my beast.  Paul had to had his car back on Thursday, and had decided on a Mini.  So I went to meet him to pick it up

It is an alright little car.  I quite like it.  A few differences to the X5, size being the most obvious. But......it has no sun blinds in the back and no heads up display.  Hopefully my car will be fixed soon (it's supposed to take 4-6 weeks)

 Good Friday I spent most of the day lying on the sofa watching HGTV, while Paul built  this

It was a full on pajama day, as the weather was supposed to be atrocious.  It wasn't too bad, but we enjoyed the down time as a family.  The boys watched a film or 2....

Having been cooped up all day Friday, we had to get the boys out today.  Unfortunately it had been raining again, for most of the day, so we decided to take them to Monkey Joes.  I had a coupon to get one in for free, so it wasn't too busy, and I was suprised how quiet it was.  They had a few electrical issues, never good in a room filled with bounce houses....  But they sorted it out, and the kids had a great time.

Then it was lunch at Twin Peaks.  What's nice about this place is the fact kids eat free Saturday and Sunday, making it a reasonably priced meal out. 

Today is  Easter Sunday, we are going to do our first ever egg hunt for the boys. Paul watched the Liverpool game this morning, followed by the F1, then a nice roast, and I think a day around the house.

Happy Easter everyone!

My first Five on Friday

Hey y'all

So this is a new thing for me.... One of the blogs I follow does a 'Five on Friday' post every week, and I love reading them!  I have been wanting to join in for a while, but never had the determination to do so.

This week is different.  I am looking for help and advice.  We are planning a BIG road trip in June.  I have been researching hotels, rental houses, things not to miss, and other things to take in when planning a 3000 mile drive.

Below are five of the destinations we want to hit on our road trip. I have ideas about what to do in each of them, but I would love some input from those who have been there, done that.  My biggest dilemma is accommodation.  There are five of us, so it is tricky.  At least we have a decent car with entertainment....

Here goes:

1. Washington D.C.

Photo credit here

There are so many things to do in Washington D.C. and the majority of them appear to be free!  The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum is a must for us.  Obviously we want to see the monuments and the White House.  The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History is another one I would like to hit, as long as the boys have the stamina....  I am having trouble deciding where to stay.  We either hit the bank account, and stay down town, where we can walk to most places.  Or we stay a few miles out, it is a lot cheaper, and there is a greater chance of a pool. Decisions, decisions


2. New York

Photo credit here

Who doesn't want to go to NYC?  We want to see Lady Liberty.  I have been advised Times Square is great for the kids to see.  And Central Park.  A friend has recommended a carriage ride.  But is it any good for 3 boys who would rather spend their time glued to a Kindle???  We want to go to the zoo, who doesn't? The prices of the hotels though, they scare me slightly.... I have looked in to airbnb.com, but am unsure.  Has anyone used this site before??


3. Boston

Photo credit here

I have been slightly infatuated with going to Boston since watching Larry the Cableguy's series on America.  It looks like such a historically rich diverse city.  And very beautiful in places.  Rizzoli and Isles has also added to my infatuation.  We would really like to stay on a house boat. I have found some on VRBO.com, but again, they are not cheap.  We feel it would be worth it, and the boys would love it.  So, what should we do there, and are there any family friendly, local restaurants you would recommend?


4. Chicago

Photo credit here

So this came into our itinerary quite late.  Paul has already been here, and says it is a great city.  He does not want to stay in the city itself, maybe somewhere a bit further north, near where the picture is.  It would be great to have a lake beach for the boys to play on.  Hotels are a bit more reasonable, but it depends on the type you want.  Any recommendations gladly accepted!  And what would you do, other than the beach with an eight, five and three year old???



5. Kentucky

Photo credit here

Ok, on our way back south, we are going to stop somewhere in Kentucky, after stopping at the  Indianapolis Motor Speedway for some pictures. We are not sure where in Kentucky to stop, heck, I don't even know much about the state!!!  Suggestions welcome, the more the better.  Hotels, vacation rentals, resorts, restaurants and things to do.  These are all things I need to look into....


So there you have our holiday plans, so much to do.  We have actually booked one place so far, a resort in New York State, which we booked through Living Social.  I have been keeping my eye on LivingSocial.com and Groupon.com  So far, none of their 'deals' have been terrific, so I am putting off booking.  Paul has just sold his golf clubs, so I actually have some cash to start booking now....

My friends say I am great at planning trips and vacations.  There are so many options and variables in this one, I feel completely bogged down in it all......

Thanks for reading, I hope to get some comments and suggestions from the lovely people on the Link-up

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Hilton Head - part two

The day dawned nice and sunny, and not too early for us.  We headed for the complimentary breakfast.  This was nothing special, no hot food, just toast, pop tarts, cereal muffins fruit etc.  didn't stop our boys from filling up on about 5 breakfasts each.  At least we got our monies worth....

Considering the weather report said it was going to be raining and thundering, we did not see any rain all day.  After breakfast we headed to walmart to stock up on beach essentials, you know, those things I stupidly forgot to pack cos I believed the weather forecast.

Once they were purchased, we headed back to Colligny Beach.  The facilities are good, so we parked in the same car park, and headed to the restrooms/changing facilities right on the beach.  It was still lovely and sunny....

The boys had great fun splashing in the little pool of seawater, before heading down to the waters edge.  The cold of the sea did not bother them at all, and they had great fun playing in the waves.  A group of kids were making their way along the beach. And stopped by the boys.  Here's why....

See the dolphin, no more than 20 meters from the boys?  Amazing.  By now it was rather cloudy, and the wind was starting to pick up.  Isaac was complaining of being cold, and so was I.  It was nearly lunch time so we headed back to the changing facilities.

We decided earlier in the day to pay the $5 entrance fee to get into the Sea Pines resort.  This was the first resort founded on Hilton Head back in 1956.  It is fairly large at 8 square miles, so takes up a good chunk of the island.  It consists of houses, golf courses, tennis courts, stables and shopping/leisure/dining areas, plus a few marinas thrown in for good measure.

In the whole time we have lived in South Carolina, I have never seen an alligator in the wild.  I was adamant this was going to happen in Hilton Head.  And I was right

After driving round Sea Pines, we spotted this little beauty, and her little beauties!  We stopped to take some photos then continued our drive.  Of course, once you have seen your first, you can't miss them.  We must have spotted at least another 10, of varying shapes and sizes.

We headed on to the Harbour Town area, Seb was determined he wanted to see the 'ight ouse'.  We parked up, right by a large playground and went for a stroll to find something to eat.  Harbour Town is a lovely little area.  It kinda reminded us of La Palmyre in France, a town we know very well.  This made us feel fairly comfortable.  Sebastian was estactic once he spotted the light house, and kept pointing it out to us.  We took a walk round the harbour wall and saw all the boat excursions.  There is even a boat done up like a pirate ship, and others with guaranteed dolphin watching.  Maybe next time.....

Of course, when you take 3 boys to a town two hours after they usually have lunch, you are going to get some stupidity

We eventually decided to eat at Harbourside Burgers and Brews, an out door, up market burger joint.  This was lovely.  Not too hot, and the boys ate their food quite well.  Isaac did fall off his chair, and throw a mini paddy.....

After lunch the boys had a play in the park before we decided to move on.  By now it was mid afternoon, and we were all starting to feel tired.  On the way out, we stopped at Lawton Stables.  They offer the opportunity for adults to go on trail rides through the resort, pony rides for kids under 7 and a free petting farm.  The kids loved seeing the animals, and it was really well laid out, lovely and shady and cool.  The sky had cleared again, and the day was really heating up.

Ever since the boys knew we were going away on holiday, they have been going on about playing crazy golf.  Hilton Head has two mini courses, and we went with Pirates Island Adventure Golf.  Seb doesn't normally play, but we decided to let him this time, and he was free!  The boys went so fast around the course. They skipped, a couple of people, and caught up to others right near the end.  They don't take it seriously, which I don't mind, but I think they are going to have to start soon.  Next time we play, I will be keeping score and we will be playing by the rules (I hate mini golf....)

As we had a late lunch, we decided to head back to the hotel, so the boys could try out the un heated pool.  Don't think anyone got in further than their knees.  Paul went in the hot tub with them, while I watched from the side in case anyone got brave enough to go in.

We had a snacky dinner, and settled down to watch Rio in the evening.  10 minutes into the film, Seb was asleep on the sofa.  We rearranged the furniture in our room to get his crib out, and away from the tv, and transferred him into in.  He didn't make a sound.  The boys were already in their pajamas, and thoroughly enjoyed the film.  This did mean that they ended up having lights out at the same time, never an easy feat.  Oliver feel asleep before Isaac, though he wasn't far behind.  It is actually quite nice to watch them sleep, it gives a real feeling of calmness and serenity.