new zealand is ... swimming in post industrial rivers
family archives
my lovely wife jane
i've been publishing our family pictures elsewhere so funkypancake is now less autobiographical. but anyway, here's a picture of jane with an egg benedict (i think). a popular local dish (the food, not jane)
jane's old lampshade
sorry about the confusing chronology of pictures at the moment. i fear it's going to get worse before it gets better. so hang on to your time travel hats
we moved out of our house a couple of days before we left the UK as all our stuff was loaded in to the container to be shipped to the other side of the world. Our last two nights in the UK were spent at Jane's parents who kindly hospitalised us (i think that's what i mean).
jane and i slept in her old bedroom which had her old lightshade in. it was a fitting end to our time in the UK !
tony
here's tony. my excellent local photographic sparing partner
i asked him if he could take a family portrait of us yesterday when we were saying our last goodbyes and he obliged. in fact he threw himself in to the task quite literally, treating us like a wildlife project
i'll miss tony and his family.
more goodbyes
this weekend has been spent with jane's sister and family. we had a really lovely time and i managed to grab a few nice photos of our families together
here is lovely jane with lovely binky. more sadness for all involved. i won't go on about how hard it is saying goodbye again. (but it is)
here is lovely jane with lovely binky. more sadness for all involved. i won't go on about how hard it is saying goodbye again. (but it is)
and here is a rather dry lawn outside cliveden house
not quite abbey road ...
a day out with my dad
i went to the national space centre with my dad yesterday for a last day out. that's him in the picture above fiddling with some controls in a mock up version of the actual space station (i think).
i do know he's not wearing the regulation space suite, but they seemed pretty relaxed about that at the museum
we then went and stood in front of a magical heat detecting camera and turned in to spooky sci-fi bods
here's my dad by a rocket. he made me take a vertical picture as he was worried by my wonkly ones.
eventually he did put his space suite on.which pleased me no end.
then we went in to this psychedlic area which i wasn't entirely sure about.
after that we left the paid for museum and went to the free sewage museum next door which was even more fun. pictures of that to follow.
and on the way back home i popped in to see my grandma to say goodbyes too.
it was a day of strange mixed up emotions and memories, all taking place a very short distance from the hospital where i was born. once again, i was surprised by how much it affected me. I've now said my last goodbyes to my mum, dad, brother and grandma. gulp.
not long now until 11th October ...
my hardest goodbye
here's my mum in a pub last friday kindly posing for a picture. I like the peacefulness and calm of the picture.
and now i've said my final farewells to my mum in person it's also quite poignant.
We'll see her in NZ in not too long, and the power of the email / skype means we'll still be in touch. but still a rather renching thing.
sorry the blog is a little down beat today !
my mum
here's my mum !
my lovely wife jane ...
... is amazing. and totally in charge of our emigration. which is handy.
anglesy abbey
we went to the excellent anglesey abbey at the weekend as part of a weekend away with my mum.
there was some wedding reception going on, although they seemed to be over an hour late arriving. that made for a nice photo of an off a master of ceromonies who had lost his ceromonies, a chilly harpist who had no audience, and a statue flautist.
the house itself looks lovely, but we spent our time wandering round the fantastic gardens
and posing for photos which will become part of our family archives
and here's my mum and a statue relaxing. my mum's the one sitting down
brother edd
it was great to see brother edd and jacqui yesterday. we saw him a couple of weeks ago too, but we had a proper chance to have a sit down and a chat about his american adventures.
spot the difference
it was lovely to have a family together day with my dad, brother, pam and vi. we got some photos for the album then tried some comedy shots. there was definitely a generational divide in participation in the 'look silly' photo
jane's birthday
it was jane's birthday yesterday and the girls decorated this fantastic cake (millions of thanks to Kim for doing this as i'd totally forgotten that cakes were an essential part of my wife's birthday celebrations. ooops)
birthday celebrations
esther has two birthday parties this year. here's #1
then we went to tgi friday where we ate so much we felt ill. quality stuff.
the big concert
both esther and kezia's orchestras played in an extravaganza yesterday. it was very good, but we now realise that as our girls get older their concerts will get longer. this one was 2 and a half hours, and although very good, we were slightly relieved when we could exit the rather warm venue.
anyway i grabbed the shot above at the end of kezia's orchestra's practice, so i wouldn't get evicted.
his and her's
jane's dad with a tray of plumbing bits and jane's mum with a bowl of fruit sala
farthers day
i was greeted with some great cards and rosettes yesterday morning which i wore with pride throughout the day
a walk down the lane
this time of year is fantastic. everything is so green and grow-y. jane even climbed in to some stingy nettles to check a geocache for travelbugs. there were none.
earlier in the day we went ice skating with friends. i noted that ice skating is like a mini-example of parenting:
* you start by pretty much carrying your kids round the rink
* then they trust you and you go round hand in hand
* after a number of exhausting laps you start to let go
* eventually they go free and start zooming round on their own much faster than you do
* and finally, you fall over in a very dramatic way, and they laugh their heads off.
mmm
family sports day
jane's sister and family came to stay over the weekend and as has become traditional, we held a sports day. (the picture above shows the three legged race)
things warmed up with the cheerleaders doing their hoolah hooping
bother-in-law kev spent a while geting in to the zone and wasn't going to be moved by the pre-match frivolities
before we knew it the egg and spoon race was underway
the oldies showed the youngiest how it was done
it mostly seemed to be about the level of concentration
there were other games involving water, which eventually broke down in to a sponge water fight
bother-in-law (bil) kev threw himself (and his sponge) in to it
but ultimatly the excitement was too much for him
and he ended up with a soggy face (this looks quite impressive big so click for full fun)
people them moved on from sponges and simply started chucking water at each other
here kezia shows her airborn throwing technique whilst thomas recovers from a wetting from esther
as james decided it was time to sit somewhere a little drier.
finally we hung some doughnuts on a washing line which were to be eaten without touching
sarah's string was longer than the other's and it was dangling in the middle so she had the hardest challenge. i like how the blurred background on the picture above makes her look like she's breathing fire (a bit)
anyway, sarah stayed well in to the night after everyone else had finished trying to eat her doughnut. which she managed in the end.
so, all in all, big fun had by all
my mum
we saw my mum yesterday afternoon and had a lovely time !
resized brother edd
since you asked, brother edd is now staying at cousin dawn's house and having a great time by the sound of it. he decided to squash his head for us whilst on skype yesterday which esther found amusing and disturbing all at once.
happy birthday pooch !
jane's mum kindly had a birthday which gave us a great excuse to get dressed up smart and have a raclette
much fun and laughing was had
health and safety restricted candle-age to 1
and esther even invented a board game for the occasion which we all played. it's called Animal Adventure and was rather good actually, so if you ever come round, be sure to ask for it by name !
a fine day geocaching
when we were in minehead a few weeks ago we had a great afternoon geocaching with cousin chris of toy ahoy and family fame
it involved rather more vertical walking than originally anticipated, but was great fun for all involved (and the space hopper)
and here is cousin chris.
how to start the seesaw if you are too short to climb on
kezia came up with a scheme to get the see saw started. she sent esther up the pole to balance her out.
things aren't looking up
this was my cunning way of preventing blindness
but it's also a neat way of checking receding hair lines
don't skype and drive
here's my mum talking to brother edd sitting in his hire car (stationary in a motel car park)
a very funky pancake party
as had become traditional, jane's parents came over last night for our annual pancake party
esther made a sign.
jane made the mixture
and then we got down to the business
i create chaos by taking photos in continuous mode with my external flash on, causing blindness to anyone in the same room
jane's dad was particularly surprised by my approach and use it as an excuse to do a particularly elaborate setup
his throw was a great visual success. the picture below is the catch part of the manoeuvre. the throw bit is the picture at the top of this post
jane's mum threw a smaller pancake. can you spot it ?
having got her eye in she then went for some more complicated shaped ones
we did actually eat them (but not me due to egg allergyness)
even esther had a go
and of course jane did too.
one thing worth noting is the difference in our kitchen since we've had our extension. above is this year (now with extra space to the right). below is last year (viewed from the other way round)
hoodie
esther loves her coat hood being up
my lovely wife jane
jane and i went out for a wedding anniversary meal yesterday and it was jolly good. it was a bit presumptuous as it's not our wedding anniversary for a few days, but i recon we can make it !
kezia's party
kezia had her birthday party yesterday. quite loud at times, but generally excellent because some lady came in and did a couple of hours of activities. jane did the food and i just got in the way. like a proper dad should.
back to work
kezia sums up how we all feel on back to work monday
my mum
we met up with my mum yesterday and had a lovely time at Waddesdon Manor. here she is in and out of focus
and here she is in 3d (nearly)
family activities
writing thank you letters and visiting friends (who have a wii)
gaming old and new style
on the day after boxing day our family got the horrible winter vomitting bug. whilst jane and esther lay in their death beds upstairs our hosts let kezia and me wander around their house.
we'd had to abandon the sky part of this jigsaw the night before as we'd run out of time, but the extra half day meant kezia and i could spend a few hours putting a few hundred identical blue pieces together
meanwhile kevin and thomas played some proper games
and sarah (who popped in the last piece on jigsaw above) played with her Dora head. she said "it's brilliant because i love and dora and i love heads". surely a winning combo.
a walk in the park
james loved chucking leaves
thomas loved taking pictures
everyone loved posing for a group photo
here's kevin's parents
here are thomas and kezia dangling
and here's kevin trying to make jane and esther sick (oh the irony)
and when the kids still weren't worn out we put them on this training wheel where they could run round in circles without going anywhere (thus preparing them for later life)
thomas loved taking pictures
everyone loved posing for a group photo
here's kevin's parents
here are thomas and kezia dangling
and here's kevin trying to make jane and esther sick (oh the irony)
and when the kids still weren't worn out we put them on this training wheel where they could run round in circles without going anywhere (thus preparing them for later life)
thomas and kezia
thomas had an idea to surprise his dad with this picture of him and cousin kezia on our thames path walk last week. he really wanted the picture to appear on the blog. so here it is.
hello thomas (and his dad) if you're reading this !
Waddesdon Manor
another lovely trip to waddesdon yesterday to meet my mum before she disappears for a few weeks with work. we had a lovely morning as usual with a brunch and a walk.
we got very 'lost' on the way thanks to me putting the wrong postcode in the satnav. satnav got us there, but it was the wrong place. then we realised we hadn't got a map. then we saw my mum drive by so we quickly turned round but failed to keep up with her along a wiggly road, but then esther remembered that her car was a different colour and we'd be following a stranger.
so we stopped and i found the proper postcode via my blackberry and we weren't actually that far away, so it only took us a couple more minutes to find it.
this new arty tyre tree thing was good.
we got very 'lost' on the way thanks to me putting the wrong postcode in the satnav. satnav got us there, but it was the wrong place. then we realised we hadn't got a map. then we saw my mum drive by so we quickly turned round but failed to keep up with her along a wiggly road, but then esther remembered that her car was a different colour and we'd be following a stranger.
so we stopped and i found the proper postcode via my blackberry and we weren't actually that far away, so it only took us a couple more minutes to find it.
this new arty tyre tree thing was good.
black and white
we had a family funeral yesterday to celebrate the life of a great aunt. it was the kind of party she would have loved to have attended with her family and friends travelling from all over the country to be there.
this picture is of the vicar and the undertaker. what a great contrast the two made. you'll want to click the picture to study the undertaker - he was dressed perfectly, right down to the wonky pince-nez glasses !
british beaches
my father-in-law avoiding the paps at the beach
jane and me
i'm often accused (by people i know) of not posting enough dreadful pictures of myself despite me often looking like a complete loon who would easily qualify for inclusion. so here's a picture taken by my lovely wife jane (below). jane isn't a loon.
esther's birthday party
esther had a cooking party to celebrate her birthday. due to numbers it's turned in to a weekend festival with a party yesterday and another one today.
they cooked pizza shaped like cats (of course) and cookies and truffles
and jane mad a magnificent fishy cake (don't tell the cats)
kezia meets the mayor
i took kezia to a concert yesterday to mark the end of the year. the mayor was there to give out the certificates (although he outsourced that to his wife)
of course the parent paparazzi were out in force as usual
and the mayor himself was very jolly
stuck in the mud
i took the girls on a bike ride yesterday to the local village post office where we saw a famous person who lives locally. he laughed at me (in the nicest possible way) for having my bike hat on backwards. oops. we went on a more elaborate way back and had to cross this slippery mud pit, which esther managed to get stuck in.
later on i took esther to watch the indiana jones film. indy wouldn't have got stuck in a muddle puddle i expect.
the sad story of kev
bother in law kev has been tagged. he looks proud of it here, but the reality will catch up with him soon.
he found himself stuck behind the bars in the don't go in there place
and ended up in a bare cell.
let that be a warning to you all.
(thanks to bother in law kev for not being too bothered when i take his photo!)
let the bank holiday begin
the weekend holiday began with a party for jane's dad (referred to as Party). this is his grandson (my nephew) Thomas and not Party doing a cart wheel.
here is bother-in-law kev and party
and here's kev doing egg 'n' spoon as part of the faily obstacle race jane constructed
waddesdon manor
we had a agreat day as usual yesterday at waddesdon manor with my mum. more photos to come - just haven't had a chance to sort them yet !
a slippery day
who'd have thunk the ice would have been slippery
i took the day of work yesterday to look after the girls as they had an inset day and jane was working. so we went ice skating in the morning then headed to a transport cafe for a greasy slippery fry up.
happy anniversary
happy wedding anniversary to mrs funkypancake who i married 12 years ago. great stuff !
kezia's birthday
kezia became a year older yesterday and said she felt like a completely new person. i asked what was different and she said her age. so that's that. here she is playing a birthday game with poochy.
kezia's birthday party
it was kezia's birthday party yesterday and i'm exhausted.
about the only think i had to do was to cut this banner so it would fit on two lines. of course i chopped it at the wrong bit and we ended up with 'happy birth' on the second line. ooops.
for the first time ever with our girls we got an entertainer in (as we weren't sure if our house would be up to the job this year - in fact it was, but hey ho).
the entertainer chap was very good and at one point got the kids to wrap jane and tanya up (it was going to be me, but jane kindly took my place).
big shout out (as they say) to jane's mum, tanya and julie for their massive helpage too.
here's jane's mum in the giant kitchen
and here's the pink lady bird cake that jane built
and here's a picture from before the party where the girls were blowing up lots of balloons
bother in law kev
here is my bother-in-law kev who has been staying with us for a couple of days. they head back north tomorrow and i'm back to work tomorrow so the normal mundane funkypancake will return, rather than the recent geocaching and family/friends pictures.
thomas and kezia lose their marbles
as with all good marbles games, some became lost under a chest of drawers. here is kezia and thomas attempting to retrieve it.
my mum and the girls
here's my mum and the raclette machine
modern grandma
my mum loved listening to esther playing christmas carols on her (esther's) violin.
so much so that she phoned her parents (my grandma/pa and esther's great grandma/pa) and put them on speaker phone so they could hear. esther's first live performance 'down the wire'.
visiting my mum's office
my mum sells christmas decorations so every day for her is christmas. sometimes it's christmas for us too.
kezia's punch and judy
kezia's reaction to seeing a crocodile
this punch and judy was part of kezia's home learning. i videoed the performance for posterity.
great stuff. and very funny to watch
uncle david by esther
here's a picture from our scottish trip. esther drew the picture of uncle david. good likeness i'd say.
ballooning in the garden
plumbing disasters and visitors inside, but outside there was much balloon fun
kezia's first homework
here is kezia doing her first ever homework. it was spelling, and she walked it. although to be honest they were quite easy. not that i'd get them all wright.
various pictures of brother in law kev
these are from our holiday in dorset a few months back.
kev works for a church. can't you tell.
various birthdays
my mum came to visit yesterday so we went out for a birthday dinner (4/5 of us have birthdays within a few weeks of each other). we then came home and watched Flushed Away.
happy 80th birthday
according to kezia it was my lovely wife jane's 80th birthday yesterday. happy birthday maaam
jane
my lovely wife jane doesn't usually let me post photos of her, but she let me put this one on. not sure why though !
esther birthday party (2 in a series of 2)
it absolutely chucked it down with rain during hte party, but we still did the crafting outside under the shelter of the gozeeeebo (with the military poncho acting as an extension)
the final kezia and daddy day
after church kezia and i played on our computers (me editing/uploading this, her playing cbeebies). when the rain stopped we went to the local village show and kezia ate candyfloss
and got her best shoes all muddy (sorry jane - my fault) ooops
kezia / daddy fun day
jane is off camping with esther this weekend, so kezia and i are having a daddy/kezzy day. it's mostly involved watching lots of glastonbury on the telly, but today we went bowling, fast fooding, village feting, play stationing and more telly glastonburying.
we both started off our second game by getting strikes which wasn't bad - but it all went down from there.
the stag and huntsman (and us)
i had a day off work yesterday so jane and i went for another walk and a pub lunch. we're getting in to quite a nice routine, and i can see a nice retirement ahead in about 30 years time (assuming we can both still work by then. might be zimmer framing down to mcdonalds).
anyway, we had our lunch in the Stag and Huntsman in Hambleden and the food was fantastic. you must go.
waddesdon manor
whilst jane has been busy with her exam marking (if you feel sorry for people doing exams, spare a few thoughts for those who have to mark them - and their families!), anyway, i took the girls to waddesdon manor where we met my mum
less tulips this time
party's 71st party
it was my father-in-law's birthday yesterday, so we went over to their house for cake. he's known as 'party'.
kezia decided he wanted to remind party how old he was so wrote it on his card envelope. i think this is a practice to be encouraged.
to work off the cake and beer we played french cricket
and here's the man in action on the field
posh picnic
we've recently got a fancy posh picnic kit which involves proper plates, knife and forks and a table cloth (and a few other bits and bobs).
it had its first outing yesterday. we had cloudy lemonade (made from real clouds)
and strawberries and cream
the funkypancake family
continued thanks are due to my lovely family for putting up with my funkypancake activities !
my lovely wife jane (and lovely daughters too)
my lovely wife jane
and my lovely fambily
dora waves goodbye
we've all been ill with a stomach bug, but somehow kezia managed to hold off getting it until after her birthday party and had much fun. anyroadupdown here's dora waving goodbye.
dora the cake explorer
it's kezia's birthday party tomorrow and jane has built this magnificant dora the explorer cake. fantástico
kezia starts school
big day for the family yesterday as kezia started proper school. i worked from home so i could be part of the sending off ceremony and then we went out for lunch just the three of us (kezia is only doing half days to begin with).
kezia had a great time and is really looking forward to going back tomorrow. jane is having an identity crisis. and i've put on over half a stone in weight since early december. it's all change here !
ice skating
we went ice skating yesterday. we had planned to explore portsmouth but the weather forecast didn't look great and the girls wanted to go skating (just in case you wondered what our plan A had been)
family portrait
(using the classic "everyone looking sideways" pose)
the bikers
esther on her new bike
kezia on her new bike
kezia walking her bike
jane on kezia's bike
kezia's granny on kezia's bike
brother-in-law caption competition
here are two pictures i took of my brother-in-law (and sister-in-law) when we visited them a weekend back.
i think both these photos deserve captions, but i thought i'd leave the wording to you. Be nice (because they are!)
james' baptism
we were privaledged enough to attend nephew James' baptism yesterday. It was a very jolly day and much fun was had.
james' new godfather jumped straight in to action by reading him the Church Times.
and here are three clergy types. only one of them is a proper vicar. can you guess which one ?
i also got to meet the chap who took the photo of the fantastic scary hassock
a walk in the park
isn't this just the best thing to do with your coat when you're a kid ?
kezzy wonka
here's a photo from last week's trip to the Roal Dahl museum
40th wedding anniversary
i realised i never explained why we went to norfolk last month year. it was because it was my parents-in-law 40th wedding anniversary.
here is their cake:
and here they are reading some newspapers:
and here's some other family members:
(how behind am i - this was a year and a quarter ago, and i've only just found the unpublished photos festering in my draft folder)
the birthday tea
jane and her mum playing a drawing game at jane's birthday tea
brother edd's belated birthday present
i gave brother edd this fantastic birthday present, but he left it behind when he went home. looking back at the pictures i can see that perhaps he wasn't as pleased with it as i'd imagined.
esther's birthday
esther is now 7 ! how amazing is that.
pooch and party
jane's parents
a family voyage
it's not quite Moses parting the oceans and leading his people across the sea. instead it's esther leading the family over some stepping stones across a pond in a National Trust property. It didn't quite have the same religious significance of course.
happy 70th
my father-in-law turned 70 last Saturday. i used to think 70 was incredibly old, but now it doesn't seem so amazingly old. It's still impressive though!
happy birthday lady
here is poochy (esther and kezia's granny). it was her birthday yesterday so we had a big slap up sunday roast and birthday cake.
a day out with daddy
kezia and i had an impromtu day out in london yesterday.
we started off at little venice (now a very short walk from Paddington station) where there was a canalway calavcade (it's on until 1st may, so you should pop along if you live near/in london). more info here.
we then tracked down the canal boat stop and got a canal to Camden (more info here). the canal trip was very nice and stops by London Zoo which might be a neat way or reaching it from paddington.
we then wandered round camden looking at people's hairstyles and enjoying the various smells and sounds, before dropping down the Northern Line to Bank where we got on a DLR driver-less train. unfortunately the one we were on broke down so it was driven a little of the way, but it was still good fun to sit at the front and pretend to be the drivers before it broke down !
then we had a wander round Canary Wharf and West India Quay before heading back on the Jubbly Line.
despite all the loveliness of the canal and the crazyness of Camden, Kezia loved the Docklands and the dark tunnel on the DLR (as it leaves Bank) best
formal family feast
last saturday night we had a family feast. it was a formal affair and i wore my dinner jacket. we also had a family disco. here are esther and kezia waiting for jane and i to sit down and enjoy the raclette.
home and away
jane and i have just been away for a couple of nights for our anniversary.
here is jane dancing at Blenheim Palace. Lots more photos of follow. but first i'm off for a few days with work.
photos from both trips should appear before the week is out !
10 years of marriage
it's our tenth wedding anniversary today. hooplah !
it's probably a good time to thank jane for being a fantastic wife. so. er. thank you.
here's to another 10.
comedy walking
here are esther and kezia doing some comedy walking styles. practising for the ministry perhaps.
the final piece of the cake
for the third and final time we sang happy fourth birthday to kezia.
we turned off all the lights and hadn't realised it was going to be quite dark once she'd blown them out. here are the final glowing moment
happy birthday kezia !
(candles on what remains of her birthday cake!)
love is ...
... letting your little sister wobble your wobbly tooth
banned from the party
we had a party at our house last night and poor old kezia had to stay in her room because of her potential contageousity. we think she might be going down with it though as she went straight to sleep without complaining.
but to be sure i made these posters to warn people of the danger.
a daddy / kezia day
kezia and i went to henley yesterday to get out of the house whilst esther stayed at home being itchy with her 'chicken plops' (as kezia calls it - she knows what it's really called but thinks the word 'plop' is quite funny. which it is).
we went to the 'toad house' which is the Wind In The Willows exhibit that we went to before. kezia stops being 3 in a few weeks time so we're taking to everything that's free for 3 year olds and under whilst we can ! Actually, this was her choice anyway.
seeing new year in
in my thanks to you the blog reader, i didn't thank jane my wife for allowing me the endless hours i've put in to funkypancake over the last [insert number here] of months.
jane's patience with me isn't limitless of course and i went too far on new year's eve by taking photos as we rolled over in to the new year.
for a while it looked like this would be the only photo i'd have of the period around midnight
(i was the only willing subject i had left)
cousins
here are cousin thomas and his cousin kezia (not to be confused with his imaginary friend 'kezia') out walking in Burnham Beeches. it's a great place, so you must go.
i like the fact it's run by the Corporation of London which sounds very 'industrial revolution'.
brother in law kev
here's bother in law kev, who's here for the new year.
party
if this were a proper blog i'd talk about how watching kezia at a disco party this afternoon was a strange experience as i don't often see her playing with her contemporaries (what with being at work and everything), and how i watched to see if she was a leader or a follower etc and how i thought such parties might go for her in 15 years time.
but it's not, so let me point out the toddler in his baby walker zooming about between the manic 3 and 7 year olds with minimum effort because of the very slippery floor
esther is an angel
it was esther's first school nativity play yesterday afternoon and it was fantastic !
after the play finished there were photo opportunities for each part of the cast and the angels were last which is why the stage looks a bit empty. here they are running off
busy at work
here are esther and kezia busy crafting at their tables whilst making a house call.
our family
here is our family as drawn by esther. it's interesting to see who's in and out compared to last year's portrait.
the good thing is we all seem very happy. this photo doesn't do the real picture justice unfortunately.
caption competition
what is kezia saying to esther here?
a lovely night out
the girls are away for a few days so jane (my lovely wife) and i took full advantage of our free weekend by going to Sonning Mill which is a great place.
here's the view from our table (the people who were sitting this had already gone through to the theatre)
fun in nottingham
jane and the girls have been in Nottingham for a few days. here is brother-in-law kev with all the kids
more cycling
the weather in england is quite mad at the moment. it's more like summer than summer was. we've been taking advantage of it again and yesterday afternoon went for a cycle ride.
pizza and poppins
yesterday evening (after a walk up some hills) we had a family pizza and (mary) poppins night. here is the pizza that kezia made for me - it's my jolly face !
kezia silhouette
yesterday kezia and i had a daddy/kezia day (and jane and esther had a mummy/esther day). kezia and i travelled to henley and went to the Rowing Museum which also features Wind In The Willows exhibition.
this photo is kezia inspecting her audio guide standing next to one of the displays.
my wife still surprises me
esther spent most of the time on the beach the wrong way up as she practiced hand stands and cartwheels.
after a while jane got up and showed she could do it too ! i had no idea. here's a hand stand:
and here's an eternal cartwheel:
brother edd
here is brother edd. i saw him at the Reading Festival today. i went and sat down near the stage and at the end of the band looked round me and there he was sitting but a few metres away. neither of us had spotted each other, and neither had we agreed to meet in that location.
how very strange.
here he is holding one of my funkypancake 'business cards' which i give to people who ask why i'm taking pictures of boring things.
danesfield hotel
jane and i went for a drink in the fantastic danesfield hotel on saturday night. i was woefully underdressed which added to the fun. people thought i must be someone famous (i should have told them about my radio berkshire appearance !).
here's jane enjoying her pimms:
and here's the very strange crisps they brought us:
i tell you this because jane and the girls are off camping for a few nights.
cycling
cycling seems to be our new hobby. today we went for a three hour cycle round Windsor park with us all cycling. here's my attempt at taking a photo whilst cycling.
and here's kezia cycling on her own last thursday
cycling in windsor park
our whole family is now capable of cycling which opens up a whole range of exciting cycling trips. hoorah for wheeled mobility
jane's birthday
it was my lovely wife jane's birthday on friday and i had been so useless i didn't even get her a cake. in my defence, i am always totally rubbish, so it wasn't anything personal.
life has been completely hectic of late so it was great for just the two of us to go out for meal.
unfortunately we showed our age by feeling tipsy after one pint/one glass of wine and too tired to stay for a dessert or even coffee !
anyway, many belated returns jane !
brother edd, jacqui and my mum
it's a party weekend. preschool party saturday lunchtime, family birthday party for esther and my mum last night and sunday is esther's 6th birthday party.
awared winning cake
i woke up this morning to the smell of chocolate cake being cooked. it was esther baking a cake for her school fete.
esther did all the cooking herself and it won first prize for the best cake. it tasted absolutely fantastic so no wonder it won.
kezzy on a sea-saw
the sea's a liquid so why does it need a saw ?
broken joke requring punchline: why did the sea saw ?
marlow
here are jane and kezia in marlow. a very nice place on a very nice (and hot) day. it was officially 42degC today (probably)
jane's bike ride
today (19th June) is jane and lynn's day for doing the london to brighton bike ride ! the support team is ready (with their buckets and spades) to meet her at the finish line.
details here
the transformation is complete
kezia finally becomes gemma
seeing double
have i got two identical wives ? is this a trick photo using a mirror or digital editing ?
no, it's jane and a portrait of her drawn by kezia.
the real jane is the one on the right
two gemmas
kezia seems to be spending more of her time as her alter-ego 'gemma the dog'. she'll often refuse to talk and simply say 'woof' instead. she even wakes up at night in character.
last night we went for tea at our friends' house where kezia played with the real dog Gemma upon which she bases her other persona.
the racing form
i learnt early on it was best to let others win at beer drinking races. here i am with my father in law (as seen through brotherinlaw kev's mobile)
family restaurant
we had a family meal last night. it was a raclette and we all had to dress up fancy. esther was a fairy and kezia was a ballerina (ballernina as she says it). jane and i wore our bestest clothes
much fun (and cheese) was had by all
the family holiday
for every sensible family photo there must be an equal and opposite silly one where everyone pulls comedy faces (or vice versa).
jigsaw
the 'holiday jiggy' is a family tradition.
here are my wife, her sister and their mother doing a jigsaw on holiday.
the finished article:
family portrait on the beach
esther and me in jane's glasses
trapped cousins
esther and cousin thomas trapped behind bars
kezia reads to bella
here's an old picture. it's kezia reading to bella the dog in hull some months back.
the other bestest thing about holidays is ...
spending time with my lovely wife !
snuffer
here's my mum teaching my daughters how to use a candle snuffer. there's always some fire related fun going on when we go to visit !
kezia the racing driver
kezia's legs are a little short, but she can still do the foot pedals if we put them on a box.
bank holidays are tiring
we visited our local village church yesterday morning for their Good Friday children's activities. it's interesting visiting other people's churches and it makes you think what it must be like for people visiting our own church.
after all the activities we went for a massive bike ride. unfortunately my bike had two flat tyres for most of the way. some kind souls came out of their houses at one particularly 'low' moment and lent us their pump !
when we got home the girls were exhausted despite not doing much cycling themselves (although i think esther does some with her tag-along bike).
after a family hour of midtown madness computer games we all watched Shrek 2 and went to bed !
esther's first gig
esther did her first concert yesterday afternoon. i wasn't able to go as i had to take kezia to a birthday party, but jane and esther's granny were there.
esther recreated the scene with katie and kezia later in the afternoon. i tried to capture the sound in vision with a slow sync flash.
anniversary meal
jane and i went out for an anniversary-meal last night. it was very good and we did lots of laughing.
hoorah for lovely wives (please note, i've only got one wife. i wouldn't want you to get the impression i was supporting polygamy):
pudding:
wedding anniversary
it's jane and I's wedding anniversary and i stuffed up on the card front, so these flowers can be for my lovely wife of 9 years.
click to inspect
away with the fairies
there's a great fairy exhibition going on in the Reading Museum at the moment. there's some fantastic dressing up stuff for kids, as demonstrated by kezia and esther here:
the kids dressing up were cute, but the funny part was watching the mums and dads who couldn't resist trying a few items on themselves.
i fell in to this category and esther insisted on taking a photo:
cheeky kezia
kezia with a drink in a cafe
sheepish
jane was on a course yesterday so esther and kezia only had me to entertain yesterday. we decided to spend the day in Reading Town Hall where we went to the museum and the Jelly Leg'd Chicken Art Gallery.
esther and kezia spent a good hour and half making these sheepy puppets.
party girl
it was kezia's birthday party yesterday.
before:
during:
here is the party girl and anna:
part of the party involved craft activities (amateur millinery):
and then mad dancing to jiggle the food about:
kezia and her oil rig
kezia, aged 2 and a lot, made a mini oil rig at her pre-school yesterday . how fantastic is that !
a family trip to london
we had a rare sunday with no church commitments yesterday so we decided to have a family day and go to london. we did lots of nice touristy things and spent hours in the tate modern.
here are the girls on the tube
yikes
esther lost another tooth yesterday. if she carries on at this rate she'll be toothless by the end of February. And that would suck.
luckily the tooth fairy delayed her appearance until last night when she picked up the two of them, so that saved her a trip.
a weekend walk
click for big
kezia in a big girls bed
exciting life milestones - kezia is spending her first night in a big bed.
so far, so good (ie she's asleep!)
modelling
here are esther and kezia playing with some clay:
and here is a rather sad looking clay birthday cake made by kezia:
my lovely wife
here is a gratuitous shot of my lovely, photo suffering, wife jane.
take the kiddies bowling
my mum came to visit yesterday so we went bowling. esther won (by a long shot).
kezia loved looking down the hole at the side of the lanes so she could see the balls whizzing back. As soon as she'd pushed her ball off she'd throw herself on the floor to see down the gap (and jane would chase after her as seen here)
esther's make-up
here is esther putting on her new christmas make-up.
her little mirror was a bit wonky so she ended up with a slightly strange shaped face in the reflection !
big kid in the supermarket
it's brother (in law) kev and a big kid sign.
esther wonders
esther likes to write little letters before she gets up in the morning. she often writes little stories in her 5 year old's writing and spelling.
last night i spotted this in our room and thought it was very sweet.
it says:
Every day is a busy day ! why does bedtime always come. we all need sleep to get us ready for tomorrow
brother edd's alien
we went to visit brother edd and jacqui this afternoon. here is edd's alien. it was knitted by our aunt apparently.
there's a tradition of aliens being knitted. the clangers are the most obvious example.
panic in the post office
i took the girls to the post office to post some letters. we were given a pile of stamps and had to sit on the floor and lick'n'stick them on the letters.
it was all very complicated and panicy but we managed.
wooden games
poor man's jenga was played at length on our recent holiday to the isle of wight.
kezia is particularly daring when she lunges for her piece. but she knows this and enjoys the danger !
To celebrate the successful removal of each piece she gave it a quick kiss. We thought it so funny we've incorporated it in to our house rules for future games
where's esther?
when i come back from work the girls often hide and i have to try and find them. if it's dinner time they are usually under the table.
but if it's bed time then they could be anywhere. esther hid brilliant this evening and i failed to find her.
can you see where she is (i've helped by narrowing the whole house down to this small area)
the holy in-laws
here are jane's sister's family outside their temporary vicarage residence in Nottingham. we went to visit them for the weekend and had a lovely time.
here is cousin thomas and kezia in the Denby Pottery shop. Thomas enjoyed dangling out of his pram grabbing cup handles and plates as he went past the stacks of crockery !
and here are cousin thomas, esther and kezia in a row by a wall
working from home
i was working from home today so jane went in to esther's school for lunch. kezzie and i had lunch together and then she decided she wanted to do her own work too so pulled up a table and chair next to my laptop.
when jane got home a few minutes later she told her to be quiet and not come in as we were both working.
i'm sure her book of nursery ryhmns were much more interesting than the thing i was reading.
kezia and esther having a boogie in the queen's park
click to download movie (teeny weeny 56KB)
(the photo above looks rubbish as it was a screen grab from the teeny video clip !)
a classic british picnic
here we are having a picnic in a carpark in some cold november rain. british life at its best.
sparklers
we went to my mum's house yesterday and had a very nice day. she even looked after the girls for a couple of hours so jane and i could go speed-shopping.
when we got back it was time for sparklers.
where's esther
here is esther on a beach. can you see her ? she's wearing a red rain coat.
click to have any chance of finding her
esther's poem about trains
esther wrote a story about trains. it goes like this:
chuffa chuffa, choo choo, on the track
where are you going clickety clack
off to london, then we're coming back
chuffa chuffa, choo choo, on the track
here are esther and kezia performing it for you. Download file (500K).
FLAGS !
it's weird going back to work after having a week with the fambily. i miss not listening to the same tape of winnie the pooh multiple times each day. i also miss not shouting "FLAG!" out loud every time i see a flag (as is popular with the female members of our household).
so here, as a reminder of just a few days ago, are a load of flags so we can all shout flag flag flag flag together.
we can pretend we're all one one big happy bloggy fambily.
hoorah.
kezia grows up
kezia had her first day at pre-school yesterday and absolutely loved it. she made a whale which she painted herself.
To celebrate her growing up she was also allowed to sit at the dinner table on a grown ups chair for tea. She understands it's a probationary period and any messing will result in her being relegated back to her old chair.
how life whizzes by.
travelling with kids
by now we will be heading back from our week's holiday (did you miss me ?), so a topical post
how do you keep kids amused during long car journeys ? well, we find listening to CDs and tapes works well. Esther's favourite are joseph and the amazing technicolour dreamcoat, The Young Person's Guide to the orchestra, various rockin' kids church songs cds and story tapes.
on a recent trip to the north of england i agreed to sit in the back of the car with kezia whilst esther sat up the front. i borrowed jane's CD player so i could listen to my own music. i also took two sets of headphones in case kezia didn't want to be left out.
the first problem was kezia's head was too small and speakers hung at her neck level. so i raise them up with her mouse toy. then she went all space age and wore them sideways.
then esther wanted to wear the other pair and they ended up jiggling away to BRMC whilst jane and i listened to winnie the pooh.
but if you really want to be amazed, watch this and see what realy happens when the funkypancake family go on long car journeys. (it's 392KB but is worth the short download - believe me!)
esther's first school disco
esther went to her first school disco last night. as her father i was very anxious. but all went well.
here she is warming up
potty
esther and kezia potting bulbs in the garden with their granny.
more domino challenges
today it was jane's dad's turn to do the domino challenge. interestingly he chose a different construction method which proved quite stable (though not as high as other attempts due to the limited supply of dominos).
kezia's art
i was working from home today and took half an hour out at lunchtime to go and have my sandwiches with esther at her school. i was SO completely nervous going along but it was fine.
all the kids were in fancy dress because it's national book week (!) so it was even more surreal than i thought it was.
anyway, here's a picture of kezia's picture:
And here's a picture of kezia doing a funny face. please do your own funny face whilst looking at kezia's funny face to add to the total web fun-factor:
national poetry day
it's national poetry day today apparently. at esther's school the kids were encouraged to learn a poem by heart to perform to their class.
so esther learnt one about a snail which you can listen to by clicking here. (137KB MP3 file)
