family archives
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