2014

A week in Wales: part one – getting there

Wednesday 11th June 2014Baggie

After four updates in a little over a week we are back to the self-imposed fortnight hiatus. However, the two week gap has not be idle and there has been a lot happening to the Bagnall clan, not necessarily in the Bagnall home though so this, once again, will be the first of a trilogy of updates that I will delight you with this week.

I have worked for my company for nigh on 19 years and as such I sit on the top tier of holiday entitlement (28 days plus the usual public holidays). My holiday entitlement runs with the calendar year so we are nearly halfway through and as yet I have not taken any days from the this year’s quota. This is not down to idleness just not had the opportunity and with the biggest technical move in IMG’s history reaching its conclusion in the next few months I probably will not have another opportunity until the autumn. Hence the Whitsun half-term break seemed like a logical time to use some of that entitlement. This was not a happy coincidence that just happened, this was something that we had identified at the beginning of the year and booked accordingly.

The main decision had been where to go. With three kids everything starts becoming very expensive. You can’t guarantee the weather in the UK at the end of May (or at any point in the year) and we felt that Ezra was a little too young to take on an aeroplane, mainly because of the paraphernalia that you have to take added to the fact that Éowyn and Amélie are a little too young to take responsibility for their own things so you end up carrying a truckload of gear while shepherding kids while trying to negotiate airport security before you even manage to get to the resort!

Lucinda was interested in taking a ferry to Brittany and staying in France for a week, which is definitely a possibility for the near future but in the end we decided to stay in the UK but head to foreign climes: Tenby (or Dinbych-y-pysgod – the little town of the fishes in Welsh) in Pembrokeshire in South West Wales and the Kiln Park Caravan site. Taking advantage of the two inset days that Éowyn’s school had tagged to the end of the half-term break we booked the caravan Monday to Monday as it was cheaper than going weekend to weekend.

I am unsure if this is a phenomenon in other countries but in the UK the holiday companies completely rip off families. Knowing that it is increasingly difficult to take children out of school during term time (in principal I agree although I completely disagree with the local education authority imposing fines on parents that do!) the holiday companies increase the price of holidays as much as three fold. It is outrageous that if we had taken Éowyn out of school the week before or indeed the week after the half-term break we would have saved over £700! Although you can see the supply and demand argument from the holiday companies point of view and the argument for the local education department to try and ensure that children have a fair chance at education but as fair as I can see it is profiteering on both sides. A week’s missed education at the age of five is not going to adversely affect a child, I missed nearly three months of education at the age of nine due to open heart surgery has that had a detrimental affect on my cerebral ability? This is going to become more of an issue for us as a family as the kids get older as my job means that my busy times are Christmas, Easter and July-September, all the major school holiday times. Watch this space to find out what happens.

However, before we headed into the principality we had a weekend off and so we decided to fire up the barbecue for the first time and invite a couple of our new neighbours around. Emma and Martin and Clair and David may be new neighbours but they are not new friends we met them nearly six years ago on our NCT course and thus both have children the same age as Éowyn. Emma and Martin live a couple of doors down from us and that is how we knew our new home was up for sale. Unfortunately the British summer wasn’t exactly barbecue friendly (heavy rain) but that is where a few strategically placed umbrellas held in the scaffolding that still adorns our home kept the worst of it off me while I cooked the meat. Despite the weather fun and food was had by all and it was a rather successful first barbecue.

Not really giving ourselves much time for relaxation the next morning both girls had been invited to separate birthday parties, so Lucinda took Amélie and I took Éowyn. We had managed to complete the packing so Lucinda’s car was full to the rafters (do cars have rafters?) ready for the afternoon drive to Nanny Fran’s.

Yes, after driving the girls to their parties we reconvened back at Chez Bagnall and headed up the M40 to West Bromwich. We hadn’t seen Nanny Fran for a while and so we thought we would pop up and see Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz and drive to Tenby from there. Although West Bromwich is a lot closer to Wales than Staines Upon Thames, it is only about 30 miles closer to Tenby however it did mean that we could head into Wales on the M50 and miss the toll on the Severn bridge (not really worth the extra diesel on its own though!).

The girls we as excited as ever to see Nanny Fran and while there we charged Nanny Fran with a challenge. You may recall that for various achievements both girls had been promised items from the Disney store and both had chosen Frozen related items. Frozen is the by far one of the biggest Disney films in recent history. For some reason it has captured children’s imaginations and the song ‘Let it go’ has become the bane of most parents life’s with constant non-stop renditions from their little ones and countless you-tube covers invading social media. However the success of the film seems to have caught Disney on the hop and dolls and costumes are incredibly difficult to get hold of, with some people paying up to £1000 off auction sites for the correct outfit. Éowyn bares a passing resemblance to Elsa and Amélie to Anna and with those characters being sisters in the movie then those are the two that the girls have identified with respectively. So with the demand so high we have been unable to source an Elsa dress and doll for Éowyn and an Anna dress and doll for Amélie, so we charged Nanny Fran with the one week challenge while we were on holiday.

We left Nanny Fran’s on Monday morning and headed to Tenby in glorious sunshine. The long term weather forecast had not been promising and so we thought that this was just another example of the Bagnall luck with the only beautiful day being our travel day.

The DVDs in the S-Max earn their money with the girls kept quiet with two films during the journey. The countryside was beautiful (except for the proliferation of mobile speed camera traps) however there was the odd countryside smell (if you know what I mean?). Indeed as we crossed the border into Monmouthshire and thus Wales, I asked Éowyn was she thought of the Welsh Countryside. ‘It smells like horse poo!‘ Although truthful was not exactly the ideal start for Anglo-Welsh relations.

We arrived mid-afternoon and the weather was still glorious and so, with half an eye on the long range weather forecast, after checking in and dropping the bags off at the caravan (5 Caldey View – although there was no view – unless you count the back end of another caravan – and you certainly couldn’t see Caldey Island!) we decided to take full advantage and follow the signs for the short (although longer than we expected) walk to the beach. Pembrokeshire is famous for some of the most beautiful sandy beaches, indeed the best beach in Europe, according to a recent tourist organisation, is the harbour beach in Tenby. So we were blessed that it was a short walk to the 2.5 miles of golden sand; sand, perfect for sandcastles. However, the sun was going down and we had three tired and hungry children so we headed into the leisure complex to investigate the pool and the food outlets.

The caravan park was blessed with a nice pool and with Éowyn’s (and to a lesser extent, Amélie’s) growing confidence in the water we decided that we would have to take advantage this week especially when we saw a notice for beginners lessons for the over fours. After a brief conversation we signed Éowyn up (Amélie still too young) for a 0900 lesson each morning.

A warm meal in the Mash and Barrel and a quick trip to the onsite supermarket for essentials (like toilet paper!) and it was back to the caravan for our first holiday sleep and the start of the holiday proper.

Tune into ‘A week in Wales: part two’ to read about the holiday but feel free to peruse the photos below as a taster of what is to come.

Peace and Love

Baggie

Hippy Child

Bounce!

Rainbow Pirate

Barbecue food?

The Bagnall Kids

Amélie and Ezra

To the beach

Tenby

Look up!

Narberth

Motorbikin’

Don’t make me angry

I’m going to tickle you

Shall I tickle you?

No, I will kiss you

Ezra

Éowyn

Mommy and Amélie

Push

Wheee

Moody breeches

Enjoying the beach

Sleeping Bubba

Sunset on Kiln Park

Mommy’s Birthday

Friday 23rd May 2014Baggie

I find it very interesting that if I don’t update this website for a couple of weeks it becomes very easy to fall out of the habit and I have to struggle to sit before the keyboard and type. However, once I have got back in the habit then a wave of verbosity washes over me and you are treated to write-up after write-up, May has become a very fruitful month on Baggie and Lucy dot com. It helps that we are doing some interesting things and secondly, that I have evenings and weekends off now that the football seasons have drawn to a close. Before you say it, I know that there is still the matter of the Football League play off finals but I can live with that kind of schedule!

So what warrants another write-up before the end of May? Nice weather and Lucinda’s 41st birthday.

Lucinda always likes to go somewhere for her birthday. For many years she would go somewhere exotic, taking advantage of Air Canada or shorter flights into Europe. However, now we are with children that becomes more difficult, it takes such an effort to organise three little ones and squeeze all their paraphernalia into carry-on luggage. In addition, Lucinda’s birthday is mid-May. My job, as many of you know, very much revolves around the Premier League season and unfortunately this tends to end around the same time. This can make going away for a weekend a little difficult, indeed last year the last day of the season was the day after Lucinda’s 40th birthday, although we still managed to take a day trip to the coast. This year was a little different, with the summer break to be dominated by the Men’s Football (Soccer, for some people) World Cup the Premier League season ended a week earlier than usual meaning that Lucinda’s birthday weekend fell on my first weekend off.

Ruling out an exotic weekend left us with a weekend away in the UK. For once the signs for the weather seemed to be good, indeed the weekend saw temperatures top 25°C, so we headed to the south coast to a stretch of coastline we know well. We have made the round trip in a day many times before (most recently in the first week of the Easter holidays) but we wanted to stay overnight and make a weekend of it this time. Fortunately the nextdoor neighbour of Lucinda’s brother owns a chalet in New Milton, just East of Mudeford and Hengistbury Head that we have visited a number of times before; a chalet that was vacant for the weekend. So we booked the night, picked up the keys and headed down on Saturday morning.

New Milton is on the border of Hampshire and Dorset and the chalet in a holiday park at the top of a cliff overlooking the Solent. The chalet had a prime spot with and uninterrupted view of the sea and only a short walk to the clubhouse, playground and swimming pool. A little small and a little tired, but more than adequate for our family of five and because the weather was so nice we were not indoors for any length of time.

We arrived at lunchtime and so after unpacking the car and taking lunch we headed to the beach. It was a steep climb down to the beach (and thus an equally gruelling climb back afterwards) but we soon found a small deserted sandy place (the beach was mainly stones with small sandy areas close to the sea) and made camp. The girls thoroughly enjoyed splashing in the sea (although it was a little cold) and building sandcastles. Ezra wasn’t too keen on the dipping his toes in the sea, was a bit of a shock, I think; give him a few more years.

An ice cream each before heading back up to the chalet and swimming costumes on for the pool. Amélie didn’t want to go swimming so Lucinda and Éowyn went while Amélie and I headed to the playground while Ezra slept his beach adventure off. Amélie had collected rather a large stone on the beach and had carried it all the way back up to the adventure playground. It was her ‘rock baby’ and I had hoped that she would have given up carrying it on the climb back (she did try to offload it to the mother of another family halfway up). She still had it at the adventure playground and indeed took it back to the chalet and tucked it into bed when we returned.

For our evening meal we headed into Christchurch for pizza. Neither Lucinda or I had been to Christchurch and it was swiftly added to our list of places to return. We have been to its namesake on the South Island of New Zealand (prior to the 2011 earthquake that destroyed much of the area) as part of our honeymoon but for some reason we have never been to the original. The girls enjoy their pizzas and even Ezra demolished doughballs, pizza slices and chocolate fudge cake before we took a short stroll around the town and the return journey back to the chalet. After putting the girls to bed we sat up a short time watching the sea and drinking champagne.

Sunday was Lucinda’s actual birthday and we were joined by her parents and niece Lauren. The girls, as usual, were very excited to see their grandparents and cousin. We had spent the morning breakfasting on freshly cooked croissants from the park store and just slowing easing into the day, something we seldom do.

As it was approaching lunchtime (do you have the same feeling that the majority of this write-up is about food?) we headed to the local pub for Sunday Lunch before heading to the beach. It was a glorious day, hotter than the previous day and there was barely any free space on the beach. I was paranoid about keeping the kids topped up with suncream because being fair skinned I know how easy it is to burn and indeed the only person to catch the sun was yours truly: the top of my feet between my sandal straps. The girls made more sandcastles and splashed in the sea. Éowyn collected seaweed (which we brought home to put on the veg patch) but thankfully Amélie didn’t collect any more rock babies!

After a quick stop back at the chalet and the obligatory cup of tea we headed to the swimming pool. Éowyn has a real confidence in the water (when she is wearing her armbands) which she got from our trip to Centreparcs last winter; Amélie, however, not so. I managed to convince her to get into the water but she clung to me like a monkey-limpet (you know that there is such an animal as I coined the phrase last year in the aforementioned Centreparcs write-up!). Her vice-like tetrapodal embrace had not got any less intense. So with Mommy, Granddad and Lauren in the pool keeping an eye on Éowyn and Nanny relaxing by the pool keeping an eye on Ezra, it allowed a rare opportunity for me to spend some time with Amélie in a pool.

I wouldn’t say it was a complete success but we definitely made some serious strides forward. She went from clinging to me for dear life, to floating horizontally with me supporting her belly while she focussed on kicking her legs and doggy paddling. I never managed to completely let go but it was an enormous leap forward for her. Even Éowyn pulling her underwater (because Amélie was winning in a mock swimming race) didn’t completely put her off, especially as I made Éowyn have a time out at the side of the pool while we all carried on having fun. Éowyn doesn’t like losing – like her Daddy!

We returned to the chalet after swimming for another cup of tea and Lucinda’s birthday cake. Then quickly tidy up the chalet and pack the car up (it is amazing how much we had actually brought with us for effectively one night) before heading back home. Although it was a bit of a hectic two days it was well worth making the effort to get out of the big smoke and head down to the coast. The most important aspect was that Lucinda thoroughly enjoyed herself and we managed to do all the things that she had wanted to do for her little birthday sojourn and it was novel that we had glorious sunshine for the two days. That doesn’t happen very often if you are a Bagnall!

Now it has to be said that you have been spoilt with four write-ups in a little over a week, don’t get expecting another by Tuesday! However, now that I am back in the habit and my weekends are free from work there may be a little more regularity to the updates over the summer, and plenty of photos.

Peace and Love

Baggie

The Family Bagnall

That’ll learn ya!

Lucinda and her kids

Cheeky-boy!

I can see you

Mr McGee, don’t make me angry

Peep-Po!

Model!

Sweetie

A bit of sun on this leg!

Having fun

Just relaxing

It’s hard work

Only ones on the beach!

Incoming!

Mommy and Ezra

A kiss from Mommy

Mommy and Amélie

How do you drive this thing?

Sitting down nicely

Mommy and Amélie selfie

Mommy and Amélie

Sororal Love

My big sister

Granddad’s glasses

A piggy back from Granddad

Lucinda and Dad

Superstar and new shoes!

Wednesday 21st May 2014Monday 19th May 2014Baggie

So you hadn’t had an update for weeks and then, in the manner of buses, three come along in a short time. See, I am trying to make up for my poor showing in 2014 as well as regale the happenings of the Bagnall clan. I hope that this meets with your approval.

If you cast your mind back to before the solar panels write up to the first of this trilogy of write ups you will recall that it was Easter holidays. You also may recall that at the beginning of last term I made a promise with Éowyn. She would receive an item of her choosing from the Disney store (an Elsa dress that we are still waiting for stock in her size to return to the Disney store) if she managed to achieve superstar status five times during the term. She made that target before half term and so as a Dad of my word she will receive an Elsa dress, assuming that Disney ever manage to restock.

I was not foolish enough to make the same deal for the last term and I am glad that I didn’t! Éowyn returned to school on a Tuesday. In the four days of that first week she achieved superstar status every day and topped it all with the weekly award that she received in morning assembly before the entire school. It was confirmed with a note in the school newsletter and a certificate. I could not allow that achievement to go unrewarded and so there is yet another trip to the local Disney store planned to choose another prize. Actually it will be the same trip, she will just pick up two prizes. Not sure how long this encouragement can go on, either Éowyn will get bored and the incentive will no longer work, or I will be bankrupt. Buy Disney shares!

Éowyn’s superstar statuses this week were based on reading and writing. She moved up a level with her reading and is now where the majority of reception class children should be at the end of their first school year and her writing is coming along in leaps and bounds. She is encouraged to write and not to worry about the spelling at the moment, it is all about getting the ideas down. An approach many adults still have judging by their Facebook statuses. Éowyn’s class have recently been learning about ‘People who help us’. This has included firefighters, nurses, police officers and vets. Then they have to write about the people who had come into see them. So for the police officer she wrote a report about a thief that had been apprehended, so far so normal, but that was part one, he then absconded from gaol and was eventually recaptured. She is finally using the imagination she uses everyday to make up games in her writing.

For the subject of her nurse story she related she relied more on memory than imagination. A couple of weeks ago she decided that she would try a lift Amélie. Amélie wriggled and Éowyn lost her balance and fell backwards. Amélie landed on Éowyn’s head and there were tears. After the usual cuddles and checks to see if they were OK, Éowyn complained that her ear hurt. There was nothing obvious so we slightly dismissed it. However as the evening drew on the pain was getting more intense and she began to cry with the pain. Thinking that she may have done so serious damage I took her to the walk-in clinic in Ashford. After a short wait the on-duty nurse looked into her ear with anotoscope and said that she could see some swelling but nothing to be concerned about. She asked if Éowyn had a cold, which she had, and said that the impact had probably bruised the one side of her ear while the cold was putting pressure on the other side. She suggested that we Calpol her up and wait for the swelling to go down and to return if it wasn’t becoming less painful. Éowyn received a sticker for being brave and returned home fine. The Calpol did its job and the incident gave Éowyn inspiration for her nurse’s story.

Éowyn is not the only one who has received a sticker for being brave at the nurses. Both Amélie and Ezra have had stickers in the last week or so. Both were due booster jabs so as Lucinda and I were both off we decided to get them both done at the same time. I would hold Amélie and Lucinda would hold Ezra. As with Éowyn two years before we forewarned Amélie that the injections would feel like a scratch and may hurt a little but if she was a brave girl she could choose something from the Disney store (I did tell you to buy shares!). As an added incentive Ezra would be in the same room and she would have to be brave for him. I know what you are thinking cruel parents!

Amélie was incredibly brave, she didn’t cry, only winced when the first one went in and whimpered a little on the second one. In complete contrast to Éowyn who screamed the place down when she had hers. After receiving her stickers (one for each arm) we said that it was Ezra’s turn. Amélie then said that she didn’t want to see Ezra have his so I took her back to the waiting room, while Lucinda held Ezra. Again Ezra was brave (he must have seen how brave his sister was). He didn’t make a sound on the first, whimpered a little on the second but the third was a bit of a shock and then he cried but not for long. So the girls are now inoculation free until secondary school while Ezra will have his last set in about two years time.

So what else has been keeping me from this website?

There have been a lot of housey things. With the recent fine weather we have been able to get into the garden and use my new toy (a self propelled petrol lawnmower). We have also begun our new hobby (if you can call it that) growing our own vegetables. Three rows of potatoes are growing nicely, as is a double row of green beans (because I don’t get enough of them at work!). Unfortunately my strawberry plants have been dug up and taken by culprits unknown (although my suspicion lies squarely with the local squirrel population). We have a row of herbs starting to grow and our pumpkin plants are nearly ready to make the move outside. We also have some bunny tail grass and sunflowers for decoration and half a dozen tomato plants. Not exactly the self-sufficient lifestyle à la Tom and Barbara but it is a start with relatively low maintenance crops that even we should be able to get something. It is also nice for the girls to see where food comes from and give them more reason to eat the produce when we come to harvest. Fingers crossed that they will taste nice too.

The other addition to the garden is the wendy house from the last place. It is actually about 11 years old bought by Nanny and Granddad for Lauren (and Maddie). They have outgrown it so we inherited it and not only has it lasted pretty well for the decade or so it has been built three times (by Granddad) so it is doing well. Just needs a lick of paint and it is good to go, not that has stopped them so far. Even Ezra has been inside.

Ezra has also had an eventful time he has increased his vocabulary by one word: ‘that’. This word is used ubiquitously in conjunction with the pointed index finger. If he sees something that he wants, anything that he wants, even if he knows he is not allowed to have it, the finger straightens, he looks you in the eye and ‘that’. It is the only word he needs. We have tried to get him to say ‘ta’ when he is given something. Not interested. ‘That!’ He has also learned to wave goodbye, whether you are going or not. Probably linked to not giving him ‘that’.

We have also bought him his first pair of shoes. He was spending so much time on his feet holding against things, that we thought that if we bought him some shoes it might encourage him to walk. When standing he also tends to tiptoe. Primarily so that it gives him a little more reach to get hold of ‘that’, but it is also one of the stages that little go through before they start to walk. So we also hoping that with the shoes he would not be able to tiptoe so easily and encourage him to use the whole of his foot. We are still waiting.

Amélie also had new shoes (a trip to Clarks cost us a fortune!). Her feet had grown very quickly up over two sizes, how she had managed to squeeze her feet into those shoes for so long we will never know. It will be Éowyn’s turn next with new school shoes a must over the summer.

So another season draws to a close, West Bromwich Albion survived (just) and now the hard work of the Summer begins. Usually the off-season is quite quiet for me, last season that was not the case and neither will it be this season. The Summer will see the transfer of Premier League Productions under the bosom of Stockley Park and all the testing and installation to go with that. There is also a World Cup (of men’s football), Wimbledon and The Open Golf Championship. I have got to try and squeeze in some vacation among all that. Hopefully I will have enough time to keep you abreast of our little family unit.

Hopefully you have enjoyed this trilogy of updates and I promise not to leave it so long next time. Don’t forget to have a look at our Flickr page (link on the right hand side) there are a few hundred new photos.

Peace and Love

Baggie