Cousins

The Badger Moot 2012 – Part Two: Halloween

Thursday 8th November 2012Monday 12th November 2012Baggie

So welcome to part two of my first two part update. If you have missed part one please click here.

For the first time in nine years the Badger Moot occured over Halloween. Every year we do a little something for the kids for Halloween, usually involving a piñata in a suitably Halloweeny form, this year, however, we went one step further and had our second fancy dress night of the week.

The Manor house is spooky enough and we quite often try to freak each other out with tales of unexplained noises or movements out of the corner of your eye. It definitely has a history and I am sure it could tell many a tale. Adam, Lucy, Steve and Zöe had volunteered to organise the party and food and dress the house with Halloween decorations. To allow them time to get everything ready we all headed out of the house and into the Dorset countryside.

We headed first to Bridport to collect a few minor items to add to our costumes and then we were going to head further down the coast. However the October weather had other ideas and the heavens opened. It wasn’t the fact that it was raining, it wasn’t the fact that it begun hailing, it was the fact that it was hitting you horizontally. So we took shelter in the car and since there appeared to be no break in the clouds we just took a drive down the coast road towards Abbotsbury to watch the power of the sea crashing into the shore from the safety and dry of the car. That killed a little bit of time but eventually we had to head back to the manor to dry off and get ready for the evening.

Banned from the kitchen and lounge we headed to our room to don our costumes. Éowyn and Amélie both had a choice of two costumes, a witch outfit and a ghost costume. Éowyn wanted to be a witch (well a witch princess to be precise) but Amélie refused to dress up. ‘No witchy thank-you.‘ So we asked her if she wanted to be a ghost. ‘No ghosty, thank-you.‘ So she was the only one who was not in costume for the evening, however she did take a shine to Finley’s axe and spend most of the evening dragging it around – which is slightly worrying.

Once suitably attired we headed to the television room to wait for the grand unveiling of the party. It did not disappoint. A lot of effort had gone into the decoration but the pièce de résistance was the skull and plastic limb bones surrounding a baking tray of ribs and sausages. Yes the main meal was presented to look like a corpse but it sure did taste good. The decorations and cannibalistic gastronomy was enhanced by the spooky Halloween sound effects playing on an iPod.

Once the meal was finished it was time for the annual piñata and the delights that it held inside. The children, as always, were very good in taking turns to bash hell out of the cardboard and papier-mâiché Frankenstein (‘s monster to be specific. Victor Frankenstein was the name of the scientist, Adam was the name of the monster – but you all knew that, right?). As always it took a while until it finally yielded the sweets inside which were then placed in a big pile to share evenly between them all.

It was a great night and fun was had by all and thus I decided to make this a two part update to do justice to the effort that everyone put into their costumes and the sterling work that Adam, Lucy, Steve and Zöe put in to spookify the Manor house and hopefully the photos below give you a little bit of the flavour of the evening.

Peace and Love

Baggie

Happy Halloween

Enter… If you dare

House rules

Welcome to dinner

I recommend the ribs

Scary kids

It’s a little unhygenic

Who’s for dinner?

I have something in my teeth

Are you OK Sis?

Feeling a little pale

Got a splitting headache

What a lovely couple

Haven’t had time to do my face today

It’s my natural colour

Hexenbiest

I’ll get you my pretty!

Behind you

Aarrgghhh!

Excuse me…

Someone’s hiding

And that is where the treasure is buried

Even undead have to put their feet up

The balloons are scary too

The Cousins

Behind you!

The Ghost of Finley

The Badger Moot 2012 – Part One

Thursday 8th November 2012Thursday 8th November 2012Baggie

As regular readers of this blog will know once a year the descendants of Granddad Badger hire the Puncknowle Manor Estate in the Bride Valley, West Dorset for a week’s holiday and a chance to catch up on all the family news. It might sound like hell to some families but I think to a man (and woman) the descendants (and partners) of Granddad Badger look forward to the annual pilgrimage to the country. This year there were even some Badgers there (despite the threat of a Badger cull), Uncle John and Auntie Margaret flew in from Sydney, Australia for the 2012 Badger Moot.

This is the ninth annual moot and I think it gets bigger very year (we, personally have added two new members) and this year there were 20 adults and 7 (and a half) children, which I believe was a record turnout. Unfortunately not everyone can make it for the the full week (work commitments can get in the way) and I was not exempt from this issue. Work, as regular readers know, is very busy at the moment and the weekend of the Badger Moot coincided with one of the busiest weekends of the season, and my presence was required in quite a fraught weekend. However with Lucinda still recovering from her appendectomy and our entire support team (i.e. the family) down in Dorset it was not an option for her to stay at home and for us to arrive as a family on the Monday. Therefore, I took the Friday off and drove the 125 miles or so to Puncknowle.

The holiday officially starts Friday afternoon as we can get into the house from around 3pm so the remainder of the afternoon and evening tends to get eaten up by arriving, unpacking and preparing the evening meal (Thanks Uncle Bill and Auntie Sally) rather than visiting any of the usual haunts and it is an opportunity to catch up on family news. It is also an opportunity for the cousins to explore the house and set up their dens for the week. Éowyn has always enjoyed playing with her older cousins and gets excited whenever she gets an opportunity to play with them and her little sister is no different. So a week of having them ‘on tap’ was a week of bliss for both of our daughters. And in fairness to the older cousins they are brilliant with both Éowyn and Amélie even if though there is quite a large age gap they involve them in their games and have a huge amount of patience with them.

So just as everyone arrived and begun to settle in I had to wake early on Saturday morning and drive the return 125 miles or so straight to work to put in a full shift. While I was having a difficult work weekend the remainder of the Badger Clan begun the week of fun. Saturday morning saw them disperse to various places in the vicinity including the traditional Saturday morning jaunt to Bridport Market to see what bargains lay to be discovered. Unfortunately for Lucinda Éowyn decided that she didn’t what to really be there and since there was no pushchair seat for her then she was going to play merry hell. So far from a pleasant mooch around a Dorset street market it became a battle of wills with a four-year old, which I think Éowyn won.

Saturday night saw the first of two fancy dress nights: an Hawaiian theme. Everyone dressed up a number with genuine Hawaiian shirts bought in Hawaii. Unfortunately I could not wear mine as I was busy working 125 miles away, well I suppose I could have but it wouldn’t have been the same. I also missed Uncle John and Auntie Margaret’s Thai Green curry and the traditional quiz night. This year saw the older generation versus the young generation with age and experience taking the honours. Due to my ability to absorb trivia I am usually banned from competing in the quiz night and thus have become the family quizmaster putting my general knowledge to good use, although this year may have been different.

Sunday morning saw a very traditional English pastime, indeed during the Middle Ages it was law that every man over the age of 14 should spend 2 hours a weekend supervised by the local clergy doing exactly what had been arranged by Lucy for the Badger Moot 2012. She had arranged for a morning of archery lessons for the family at the Manor and I was probably more disappointed to miss this than the Hawaiian and quiz evening. Everyone seemed to have enjoyed it with John and Lucy being the most adept with Lucinda admitting to being one of the worst. Maybe next time.

Monday afternoon I arrived back in Puncknowle for the rest of the week. We spent the afternoon round the house before heading to Weymouth for this year’s ghost walk. In 2009 we took a ghost walk around Dorchester with our guide Alistair dressed in full Victorian regalia. We enjoyed the way he told the stories, in fact he toned the stories down that night when he realised that he was scaring the kids a little too much, so we booked him again this year for a trip around Weymouth harbour (not Melcombe Regis – we don’t want any misunderstanding on that matter). He met us at the Boot pub dressed as 16th century pirate and took us for a hike around the sights of the old harbour. This year the kids were not as scared and Finley challenged him on many aspects of his stories. Indeed Éowyn joined in the banter, when began to tell us of a submarine shipwreck in the harbour and the ghostly noises heard by divers exploring the wreck. ‘I know what noises they heard,’ she said, ‘Woo-oo‘ she continued without waiting for an invitation to reply. We had been concerned that she may get a little scared by the stories and were prepared to leave if it came to it but Éowyn loves her stories and that is exactly how she saw the trip and the anecdote above just illustrates how much she enjoyed it.

Tuesday was my first full day there and so we headed to probably our favourite place in the area: Lyme Regis. It is a beautiful town on the edge of Dorest with a little sandy beach at the edge of the main pebbly beach. We bought the girls buckets and spades and after a couple of lessons off Granddad we happily making sandcastles. As you can see from the photos below it was not exactly pleasant, it was dry which was a bonus, but a little on the cold side so the coats and wellies stayed on. Tuesday was also our day to cook so we left mid-afternoon to head back to prepare the Mexican themed meal, O.K. Fajitas and Chilli, for the 20 adults and 7 children.

The next day was Halloween and our second fancy dress party of the week. Everyone put so much effort into the night and their costumes that I have decided that it deserves an update all of its own. So please click here to read about the day and more importantly look at the many photos of the night.

That left one day of our holiday. 2012 was the year that London hosted the Olympic and Paralympic games but London wasn’t the only venue to host events. Weymouth harbour hosted the off-shore sailing competitions and to take advantage of the expected influx of visitors Sealife built a tower and observation pod at Festival pier to carry up to 69 people 174 feet (53 metres) above Weymouth bay for fantastic views of the area. The great thing about this attraction for the Bagnall family is that the tower is operated by Sealife, which in turn is owned by the Merlin Entertainments Group which means that we could use our Merlin pass for free entry. The view from the top is spectacular and we were lucky that it was a bright and clear day and we could see miles of coastline and many of the landmarks of the area.

After lunch we headed to Weymouth’s sandy beach for more sandcastle building and splashing in the sea. Before we headed for the Manor house and packing up to leave we asked the girls if they wanted a ride on a donkey. Éowyn was initially up for it but when we got there it was Amélie that was the most excited and Éowyn changed her mind. So it was Amélie that took a trip down the beach on a donkey and indeed when the ride was over she got all upset thinking that daddy’s three pound meant that she could keep the donkey. ‘My donkey!‘ she screamed as we dragged her from the beach and back to the car. Cruel parents.

And so our annual trip to Dorset ended with a late night journey back home so that I could return to work on the Friday morning. It is quote often said that you need a holiday to get over a holiday, in many ways it didn’t feel like I got a holiday but nevertheless it was great to spend some time with Lucinda and girls, even if it was a bit of a rush.

Please feel free to click here for the Halloween write up and the photos.

Peace and Love

Baggie

Take me to your leader

An Hawaiian jigsaw

Hawaiian night

It’s a little big Mum

Monkey attack!

A typical Hawaiian scene

The power of the sea

Amélie

Éowyn

The Badgers strike back

Should I be aiming at my sister?

Don’t upset mommy

I’ll go this way

Enchanted garden

A natural…

Jump!

And turn

And Splash!

Throwing stones in the sea

Playing on the sand

Learning from the best

It’s a little cold

Dancing on the beach

Grooving on the beach

I crush your castle!

Nanny and Granddad at Lyme Regis

Weymouth’s latest attraction

Post Olympic glow

Tuesday 28th August 2012Thursday 30th August 2012Baggie

It is only a short few hours before the Paralympics hopefully picks up from where the Olympics left off. The whole of the UK still bathes in a post Olympic glow and not all down to the fact that it was our most successful games of the modern era (29 gold medals beaten only by our haul in the 1908 Olympics – also held in London) but the spirit that was generated by the whole event. Even the football stars are trying to use the country’s love of all things Olympian to try and raise its, sometimes, tarnished reputation. As a West Bromwich Albion fan I am very content that after 2 games of this season we are still undefeated. Olympics or no Olympics that makes for some very happy Yam-Yams!

It is August, the football seasons have arrived and as usual i am manically busy at work. Any regular readers to this blog and anyone that works with me will realise that August is a time when I get very little time for anything and so updates to the cyberworld are usually few and far between and days with my family are precious. However, two days off around the August Bank Holiday, Amélie asleep, Éowyn playing in her room and Lucinda shopping I thought I would try and take the opportunity and give a little update on the life in the Bagnall household.

As mentioned in the previous update after 3 years, Jo our childminder has given us notice and on the 21st August 2012 she looked after the girls for the last time. It is quite sad and it makes child care difficult as we have no true alternative, there may be lots of trips to Nanny and Granddad and Lucinda and myself taking days off work when possible. The joys of ‘family-orientated policies’ of this and previous governments. Nevertheless we will find a way, it will just require more advanced planning on our behalf.

Nanny and Granddad have spent the majority of the Summer with at least one, and on a number of occasions with all of their grandchildren playing at their house. Although this must be a nightmare (in a nice way) for them – and they are truly knackered at the end of the day – it is fabulous for the girls for they get to spend a lot of time with their older cousins who genuinely enjoy playing with the two little ones, even if they can be a little bit of a handful at times. I am sure that Nanny and Granddad enjoy it too and running after them all sure keeps them young and fit sometimes I am not sure how they do it I can be knackered after looking after just Éowyn and Amélie for the day.

Amélie has been worrying us a little of late. As anyone with kids will recognise (and I am sure ours are no different to any others), kids tend to go through growth spurts. That is, their growth pattern is not a constant rate but moreover a series of rapid growth spurts followed by a filling out. It is almost as though they bulk out, then stretch and then bulk out again. Amélie has just gone through one of these stages but during her growth spurt she seemed to lose and inordinate amount of weight and we were worried that there was something else. It is something that we will speak to the dietician when we next see her, for we went to see the doctor and the doctor assured us that there was nothing seriously wrong but admitted that it was a specialist question and that she did not feel qualified enought to advise. I think that is fair enough and since there was nothing seriously wrong and now that her growth spurt has ended she has begun to bulk out once again.

However, we have once again become really strict on removing all Cow’s Milk Protein from her diet to ensure that her intolerance wasn’t having any effect on the weight loss. Obviously she doesn’t get any dairy products per se but Cow’s Milk Protein is used in many foods that one would never realise, such as flavoured crisps. In our processed food world milk proteins can find their way into many foods and with one child that loves dairy food, inevitably there will be times when Amélie eats something meant for Éowyn. Now Cow’s Milk Protein intolerance does not mean that she will go into shock or come out in hives, but it does cause her pain and discomfort and, without painting too graphic a picture, doesn’t make her nappies very pleasant. A case in point was the other day when Amélie ate a yoghurt intended for Éowyn. Éowyn who is acutely aware that Amélie shouldn’t have any dairy, got upset because a) Amélie had eaten her yoghurt and b) Amélie shouldn’t have yoghurt (except her own Soya yoghurts). All was fine until the night when Amélie woke up screaming and I went into her and she hugged me tight saying ‘Daddy, it hurts.‘ Unfortunately there is nothing you can do except comfort her. At least when we see the dietician we can categorically say that she still has the intolerance.

Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz came to stop with Auntie Mary for Bank Holiday weekend, unfortunately I was working on that Saturday and Sunday so Lucinda took Éowyn and Amélie to visit their Aunties and Nanny. Although they were both very happy to see their Black Country relatives Éowyn was a little disappointed that her new best friend, Louise, wasn’t there. It was while they were there that Amélie first used her new phrase. She has been bouncing on the mini trampoline that Auntie Mary has and had fallen over. Everyone laughed and she stood up, pointed her finger at them, stamped her feet and said: ‘It’s not funny!‘ Cue howls of laughter. This has quickly become her new catchphrase and she keeps using it to the delight of everyone that hears it.

Although Éowyn’s new best friend, Louise, wasn’t at Auntie Mary’s, she does have a new best friend that she quite regularly sees. You may recall that last year Éowyn had an imaginary friend called Sam that came with us on holiday to Kent. He was quite a special friend as he could be small enough to fit on your thumb or be bigger than daddy depending on the day. He spent around a month in her life and then nothing more was said. A couple of months ago she acquired a new imaginary friend (or quasi-corporeal companion to give them their technical name) a brother (in her words) called Dizzy. She and Dizzy spend a lot of time together and he often tells her things that they should be doing and apparently they go on lots of adventures together. She hasn’t really described Dizzy too much and I haven’t pushed it too much as his appearances were very scant but now they are becoming more regular and she speaks of him several times a day I will delve a little more and see what I can find out about Dizzy.

Apologies for the lower than usual number of photos but as I am the photographer in the family (although a number of the photos below were taken by Éowyn and she seems to be following in Daddy’s footsteps) and I haven’t spent much time with the family then I do not have the breadth of photos to call upon. Will try harder for next time.

Peace and Love

Baggie