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.

Poznan, Poland

We visited Poznan in Poland.  My husband was there on a business trip so we thought it would be fun to tag along too.  It was pretty cool, we got ourselves a few 'free' meals out and did a fair bit of sightseeing while we were there.  I loved the buildings, they were all tall and crammed into small spaces, each one colourful with just the right amount of character to make you want to take a peek inside.  We were only there for a few days but despite this it was still a nice trip. The weather was hot, we weren't prepared for the mercury to hit 32 degrees Celcius and I ended up buying some more appropriate clothing than what I had brought with me.

I loved the market, we bought fruit and found the sellers to be very generous towards the children.

The buildings were all so ornate.

The street cafes, our hotel was the green & white building 4th from the left.

Poznan town hall. The mechanical goats above the clock were iconic, they came out every day at 12 noon and butt heads together. There's a bit of a story that goes with them I am linking the wikipedia page, I hope this is allowed. GOATS STORY

The tram lines, I loved them, they fascinated me! They always looked so busy I didn't dare go on a tram, I was afraid of where I might end up.

A street cafe - very pretty.

Blowing bubbles!
"What's the story in Balamory?"

Easter Week Photos

These are just random photos taken over the Easter week.

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. 

Tropical Beaches

The weather here last week was glorious! We spent a few days on the beach just soaking up the sunshine. Who would know we would have a paradise beach here just a couple minutes from my house. Love it!

Babies are here!

The kits are here! they were born on May 14th much to the delight of the children. The children understand that all these rabbits are going to a new home in a few weeks but I am sure there will still be a few tears. There were eight babies in total, our very own octuplets! Sadly one kit died, we think the mum accidentally squashed him.

This one is called Lucky as he almost died twice. He fell out the nest and had got so cold we actually thought he was gone, just by chance we saw a little twitch as we were disposing of his body. I brought him in and warmed him on a hot water bottle, he survived! This happened again, same thing he was cold and appeared dead and once again we revived him.