Turbine Views

There's a wind turbine near us, it's located in some woodland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Made It In One Piece

Well, it's over. The surgery for Sol that is. All those years, all that worrying and it feels like strange that its finally done. Sol did great, she's a little trooper. We arrived at 8 am and she was anaesthetised by 9am. The surgery lasted 90 minutes and it took Sol another hour to come round. There wasn't a single tear, no complaining, the medical staff all commented on how she's been the best behaved child they have operated on in a long time. :D

 

Her eye looks surprisingly good, the white is red and sore looking but there isn't the bruising that I was expecting. To be honest I am not sure what I expected, whatever it just went really smoothly. The orthoptic person said they are very happy with the results.

 

At the weekend, prior to Sol's surgery we took a little trip into Bangor to the marina, and along to the splash park. Hardly weather for splashing but the children had fun all the same. It was nice to do something fun before Sol was in hospital, not knowing how long Sol would be laid up for instigated it too.

 

 

Oh, and totally off topic ...

my apple trees have gorgeous blossoms right now.

 

 

 

 

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Sun, Sand, And The Wetlands.

What a busy week it has been for me, for us all really. Last weekend the weather was pretty good and we spent a few days on the beach. Not sunbathing beachy stuff, but dog walking and playing in the sand weather. The puppy loves the beach too which is just as we'll considering we live a two minute walk from the sand.

Sadly on the way back from the beach last Monday Sol had a bit of an accident. We were almost home, maybe 30 yards from the house when she walked into a wall and hit her mouth. She badly broke one of her front teeth and hurt her mouth considerably that she couldn't stop crying for quite some time. Lucky for us the emergency dentist was on hand and we were able to get seen within about half an hour of the accident happening. They repaired Sol's tooth with white resin like material and she went back the following day for x-rays. It is left with this repair on it, which actually looks pretty good, and we have to watch for discolouration incase the tooth dies. Sol is fine about it now, but I am still a bit upset at the damage.

Yesterday we went to the wetlands, we've been before and it's not really advanced much since it was created three or four years ago. Still the wildlife must like it as we saw a few birds and came across a frog. The frog was just sitting in the water, we picked it up but didn't realise it was spawning till we got it out the water. Amazing though.

You will see in the photos that Sol is wearing a patch on her eye. The patching has been ongoing due to various eye problems that she has had since birth. She patches three hours a day now and it's an essential part of her treatment even though it isn't nice to look at. Sol is having surgery at the end of the month to help the cosmesis of her eyes, is going to be milestone for her and probably a traumatic time for me. It's taken many many years to get to this stage in her treatment.

 

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Missing Cake

Seb's birthday turned out good.

Looking back on my blog all the recent posts have been about birthdays.  From July to October we have a birthday every three weeks, its a very busy time of year for us.  Other half kicks it off on the 19th July then there is no rest till all six of us have celebrated our special days (or not as in my case).

I was cruel to Seb.  I didn't bake him a cake or cupcakes, I bought a cake instead but refrained from letting him know.

I waited until the Friday night and I told him that I was so sorry that I didn't have time to bake. He said that was okay and not to worry about it and that he would be just fine.  All day Saturday, which was his actual birthday I dropped in now and again that we didn't have his cake or cupcakes done. Each time Seb was really grown up and gracious about it.   He was given some chocolate from a friend so he even agreed that I would use the chocolate bar and put a candle in it to sing Happy Birthday to him.   We had a nice meal and afterwards I disappeared off to 'prepare the chocolate'.   Everyone was in on the secret.
When I walked back into the room with his cake this is what his face was like ...

You could not have faked that look for a million pounds.  He was thrilled with his cake and not one bit cross that I had tricked him.

We got him a kindle as his main gift, which he was delighted with.  He also got plenty of books, chocolate and a few other bits.

This year we didn't really plan any birthday parties.  Money was a bit tight for a while and to be fair I thought the children could have a choice of what to do now they are getting older.  Each child opted for a day out or a shopping trip.  Seb chose to go to the transport museum, despite visiting the museum on a previous birthday he still loved it.  

Kearney Village & St Cooey's Temple

Well, we had planned on going out for the day to escape the triathlon crowds in the village.  It was also to be a little birthday picnic lunch for me, you know two birds killed with one stone.  The weather yesterday was glorious, the news reported that it was the warmest day this year.  Thinking today would be the same, and there was a distinct blue colour to the sky early this morning we loaded the car to set off.

About half way down to Kearney village a chilly mist drew across the water and by the time we got there the children were shivering.  We were well equipped for paddling in the sea and sitting on the grass eating lunch.  The swim wear and rugs stayed in the car.  We did mange a quick look around despite the cold feel to the air.

Plans of paddling abandoned, we headed on our way down the coast.  We came across a little temple with some holy springs St Cooey's Wells.   The temple was fascinating to walk around, there must have been many people who have visited over the years either out of curiosity or for spiritual reasons. There were coins pressed into the bark of the trees and ribbons tied to the branches around the holy wells.The children decided to try out the holy water for themselves.

Hoping For Good Weather

This week is my birthday.  There have been a number of discussions about my birthday supposedly without my knowledge. A well meaning friend wants to plan a surprise party for me and to be frank I could do without it.  I don't want a party, I'm not up for it, I'm just doing my own thing on the day. I've been troubled with depression the last few months I just don't want a party.  I'm struggling on a day to day basis already and this is causing me a certain amount of anxiety.

Anyway tomorrow our village will be closed off due to the Triathlon so We have decided (if the weather holds) that we are going to go out, away from the crowds, for the day to 'celebrate' my birthday.    I'm hoping we can go to Kearney Village, it's beautiful yet there's nothing there.  Peaceful, pretty, and perfect for a picnic.  There's traditional looking cottages, fields and a lovely beach.  So in the morning we will pack the car up with a picnic, the kites, footballs, the kids, whatever else we can think of and heading off to have some fun.

Birthday Blues

It was Sol's birthday, she is seven now. Sol has been looking forward to this day for such a long time and counted down every morning when she opened her eyes.

To be truthful the day could have been better organised. We decided not to have a party, instead Sol expressed excitement about going to a local beauty spot and flying her kite.  All week we watched the weather and prayed that it would be kind to us.  On the day we were woken at 7am with a very excited Sol and her siblings.  A few yawns and groans later we were ready to do the gifts. Sol was very pleased as she received a pink LED TV with a DVD player in the side, she wasn't expecting it which made for an entertaining display of arm movements.

The trip for kite flying failed the moment that the other half switched the 2012 Olympics on the TV. He sat there glued, explaining to me that there were only so many kilometres left on a certain race and how the participant's were so dedicated.  Three hours passed and I resigned myself to the fact we weren't going out to fly the kites after all, I was disappointed to say the least. If I had I known I would have organised a party after all, at least I would have felt like we had made an effort. Sol was still happy prancing about but still I felt the day slipping away with barely a moment that we could call memory making.

In the end I got cross and insisted that we all went to a near by walled garden to at least take some photos so I could have a birthday memory of my daughter. The photos turned out good and the whole family raved about how beautiful the Walled Garden was and how they were sorry thay had never made the effort to go there before.  

My Teenage Plank

My teenage plank.  Mag is a bit crazy, there are times he just likes to muck around and today was no exception.  He thought it would be funny to be bounced about on a see saw whilst remainging in the perfect plank position.

Round Up

The last couple of weeks have been a blur of going out every day for some reason or other. I'm not sure if I could recall it all and publish it here on my blog.

Easter was interesting, we spent almost every day that week out soaking up the sun. We spent a day in Kearney Village flying the kids kites and had a very tasty picnic. Two days on the beach and several other days just out and about, we hit the town of Portrush too. The children all have a little colour in their cheeks now and me a healthy glow.

Other things were GCSE exam papers, three of them to be exact and now a stack of revision work for the eldest child's next three papers. Once the 27th May is here that will be the last exam for a few months. I am wondering what subjects he will sit next - its a real toss up between doing three more GCSEs or a couple of AS/A levels. Mag also got the results of the six GCSE papers he did back in March, 3 of them he got 100% on, one was 98% and the other two were in the high 80s. Not bad for a 14 year old kid who doesn't go to school.

We have been busy planning out foreign trips, we have two weeks travel coming up and another couple of weeks in the pipeline including a possible trip to the USA on the cards.

Sol has had problems with her feet, well she always did. As a baby Sol had what was called Positional Talipes, in other words her feet were real bendy and curved inwards. This was caused because of her laying breech in my belly for the whole time she was in there, once she was born she has a real tendency to lay with her feet tucked under her. She had a little bit of physio and wore boots to try keep her ankles straight. The last few months I started to notice her feet turning in again. I called the hospital clinic where she was registered before and they wouldn't see her, they said it was acceptable that her feet turned in again despite her history. They suggested that Ryan Giggs the footballer has feet that turn in and because he does its okay for Sol to have that too. What the F***, Ryan Giggs has millions of pounds and a full medical team at his beck and call, and further research shows that he actually gets treated for his foot problem.
I wasn't going to accept this, after all we neither have a million pounds nor the skills of a footballer. We ended up going private and she has been diagnosed with pronation, in most cases pronation turns the feet outwards but in her case they went inward. This un-natural curve in her feet had her hips misaligned so she had to have them manipulated and is now having to do special excercises. A long time ago talipes was treated with ugly boots and frames - Sol is very lucky now to be able to have orthotics made to wear inside her shoes. They are sort of like insoles but actually have a heal and are moulded in a certain way so her feet are shaped properly. She has had them for a few days now and I can already see how straight her ankles are compared to before. 

Walk from Groomsport to Orlock

I love where I live. Its not until you are forced to make decisions which are life changing that you really appreciate what you have. My husband has been offered a job in England and it is, in theory, a step up for him. Originally we were to be off by the 1st of march but that didn't transpire. At the end of this month there will will be a further job offer, a different package and hopefully a better one at that. Then we have to go through the whole agonising decision making process again. It really is a toss up between the 'lifestyle' we have versus some extra money and the lifestyle that we don't know about yet. So the jury is still out, we are still living in limbo but it is no longer a closely guarded secret. Its days like this, meaning the other day when I took these photos, that you really realise what you have on your own doorstep.

~~ The children call this the giant chess piece, and it does look like a rook.

None of these are ours, our boat is teeny in comparison.

This one was after we had trekked along many little sandy coves - 'enough is enough mom'.

Shells - my five year old is fascinated by them. I guess last year she didn't really appreciate them the same as she does now.

We found this old boat on the sand at Orlock, the children had a lot of fun playing in it.

I love this shot these two are just like man and wife.