Olympics, Lego & Dirty Laundry.

So we have all arrived home safe and sound and are glad to be home. LBR was hoping for rain, as he wanted to feel cold. (that has changed today as hes been freezing all day) The Lego is out, the dirty laundry is in the basket and the trampoline has been used all day. The house is full of noise and mess, but it doesn't matter how great a holiday you have had, you can't replace your first cup of tea and sleeping in your own bed.

We have had the Olympics on all day. My goodness, the Brits are the first to put ourselves down, but haven't we got a lot to shout about? Not just about how many medals we have won, but how great the organisation has been as well as how sporting and amazing the crowd has been. I feel very proud to be British!

Proud to be British

The girls are all safe in their respective homes after quite an interesting journey home. If you are a regular reader, you will know we gave the girls money for them to budget for the whole holiday. The whole time we were away, I reminded them they would need money for the return journey. Of course being 14 and 18 they knew better. Why would they need a drink or food for the 5 hour journey?  They would much rather go out the night before we left. We did feed them breakfast and lunch on the day we left.  They started "begging" about an hour after we arrived at the airport. We relented and brought them a drink, but were determined not to give in on the food front. We wanted them to learn a valuable lesson. We in the end had to really tell them off on the plane. They  continued to make such a fuss about how we were starving them and could they have any one of the boys provisions.(asking every 2 minutes)  By the time we arrived home they were nearly fainting with hunger! Poor loves!

So we all had cereal for supper this evening, (as that is what the boys wanted) and we now have returned to normality. Its great to be home.

Silent Sunday

Outside of our Finca, covered in bougainvillea

LBR and LBL in their Zoobug sunglasses

The outside our bedroom window

Did you know....?

Did you know,  If a teenage girl throws her sisters Ipod Nano into the pool (whilst having a strop.)  that it still works if you get it from the bottom of the pool and put it in the sun for an hour?

Did you know,  In Mallorca the chickens and their chicks (which are days old) see off all the cats and eat all the cat food?

Did you know, If you let teenagers have "a shandy", they end up having "a  few" beers and think you can't tell? (coming back completely plastered)

Did you know, Life doesn't get much better than this?

Did you know, If you send teenagers to the shop to buy bread, cloth's and milk, they come back with a few sweets and nothing else because they can't find the rest?

Did you know, As a mother of 2 young boys, sitting even for an hour to read a book is impossible? (I have been here for 10 days and am on page 20)

Did you know, When the husband and I go out without the children for the evening, (our first time since LBL was born) after an hour, we spent the whole time looking over our shoulder, really excited the boys are coming to join us?

Did you know, Although I have absolutely no "me time", my clothes are being pulled at all the time, my clothes are constantly dirty with snot, food, dirt, I am still sleep deprived, I have aged 10 years in the past 5, I would not change a single thing?

Did you know, I was born to be a Mother and feel extremely privileged and very lucky

Teenage Experiment with Money

We decided when coming away, as 2 of the girls are 14 and the other is 18, to give them a little bit of independence by giving them money on day one to last them the whole 2 week holiday.We decided to give them the same amount each, to teach teenagers about the value of money, which would also give them the freedom to come and go as they please. The amount between them is equivalent to a weeks shop. . .so a fair amount.

Teenager 1

It has been a really interesting experiment. The first night, (after I had completed a big shop,) they came home at 11.00pm (after us feeding them 3 meals and copious amounts of snacks) to raid the fridge, including pop, pizza and cake.

Teenager 2

I explained, the money we gave them was for goodies and any other provisions outside of essentials, so if they wanted crisps, pop, sweets, they should buy them their selves. The following evening  we went out for drinks. All three of them sat there without buying a drink. All of a sudden, they were not thirsty. (any other time, they would have had at least 2 drinks each!) They begrudgingly bought a drink themselves the following night!

At home they still haven't brought provisions (they have decided they don't  want to snack as they are on diets) and yet without fail they will go into the fridge and ask if they can have a....I have offered to take 10E off of each of them and buy all the goodies they need. But of course they they don't want me to do that.

Teenager 3

So the moral of the story is (which I and the world all ready knew) is, Teenagers are very prepared to spent every penny you own, but will do everything they can possibly do to avoid spending a penny of their own. I will never make this mistake again!

Zoobug Sunglasses

I wrote a few weeks back about childrens sunglasses. I fell in love with Zoobugs great designs for young children, which I felt were stylish, yet still practical.

The good people of Zoobug read this blog and very kindly sent the boys a couple of pairs of Aviators for our trip.

LBR being a"a boy" wearing his Zoobug sunglasses

Redd absolutely LOVES them! At first he wouldn’t wear them and just carried the case around with him, because he didn’t want to them to break, or get them dirty! (believe me, that is praise indeed!)

Zoobug glasses and a blue tongue!

He says (in his words) “they are very comfortable, They make everything Orange, They are nice for my eyes in the sun and the case is orange” I must say they look fabulous. They have hypoallergenic stainless steel frame with flex hinges. Which makes them very light. Perfect for little noses. obviously they have all the necessary UV protection.  (Polycarbonate UV400 graduated lens)

Silent Sunday. Mallorca

LBL stroking a chick in Mallorca

Now that's a water Melon

A Very Happy boy

A perfect Mallorca Peach

Fresh Eggs

LBR wearing Zoobug sunglasses

Campanet, Mallorca

The Finka we are staying in, is in a little village called Campenet at the foot of the Mallorca Hills, to the north of the island, about 10km from Inca. There is a pithier of shops and small cafes around the central square were a beautiful church dominates. The Church  chimes on the hour and the half hour.

Campanet Mallorca

It is very much a traditional Spanish village. The square is “the place” to socialise. Where gossip is exchanged, where the elderly and the young mix and equally feel at home. Last night and tonight a touring theatre is in town. They provide 15minutes sketches using the local shops and pubs as their theatre, which surprisingly proved really popular with the locals

The food served in the café is a mixture of traditional Spainish and American to cater for the tourist, especially cyclist who stop here for a break, before tackling the Huge Hills( a lot of the Olympic team train here)

Its incredibly child friendly. All the children are still out playing in the middle of the square at 10.00pm whilst the parents have a drink and keep an eye on them. Everyone is extremely well behaved.

Alcudia Beach is about a 15minutes drive away. Far enough away for the village to keep it's Mallocan feel, but close enough to enjoy one of the best child friendly beaches in Europe.

The Mallorca hills

If you wanted a holiday that has the feeling of being in the middle of Spain, with all their traditions,  with child friendly facilities a spitting distance away. Then this is the area for you.

Mallorca and Travelling with 7

I sit here by a beautiful pool with the Mallocan hills behind me. The temperature is a blamy 30C degrees, the chickens and their chicks are resting barely a few feet away from my sun bed. The peace is occasionally broken by the cock crowing and a dog barking occasionally in the distance.

The Teenagers

I have to say, this is the first time I have sat down in the past 3-4days. The actual travelling from Bournemouth to Mallorca was pretty simple. The cab arrived as promised pretty promptly at 4.45. We arrived at the airport 20 minutes later. We went straight through departures as we only had hand luggage. The flight was on time and thankfully none eventful. We were in a cab on the way to Campenet within half an hour of landing and arrived in Campanet half an hour later. Simple.

It was the organisation to get to that point that was so stressful. Due to family circumstances, my parents now look after my 2 teenage nieces. In order to give them a break, “the husband” and I take them away every year (that sounds very grand. . .this is the second yr) to give my parents a break. Step D, also comes along. So it is the 7 of us. 3 Teenagers, a 2 year old, a 5 year old and “the husband and I”

The day before we travelled I had to go and pick both girls up from different locations in London. The dogs had to be looked after, so I was franticlly trying to find someone who would be willing to come into the house to look after them. Which led to more stress, as then the house needed to be really cleaned. (not just the lick and a polish, I would have done!)

LBR finished school 2 days early. Before I set off to pick up the girls, I had to go to see his new teachers and find out about yr 1 (that’s another post!). Ryan Air require you to check in on-line before departure. The system kept crashing and wouldn’t allow me to check in Step D and then the printer wouldn’t work, to print the boarding cards.

Family fun!

So I sit here now, really, really appreciating where I am. One of the girls is teaching LBR to dive, (there is a lot of laughing going on) LBL is asleep and the others are laughing in the pool, throwing a ball around. Does it get better than this?

Olympic Torch & Nathan Blackie

The Husband is friends with the local pub owner "The Porterhouse" Jonathan is a very proud man. His son Nathan Blackie, 14, (who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at nine months old,) was nominated by his coach at the AFC Bournemouth Ability Counts football team to run with the olympic torch. A whole team from our local area went to Dorchester to cheer him on. This is what the local newspaper Daily Echo  had to say about his run.

"Torchbearer Nathan Blackie, 14, from Bournemouth, cast aside his crutches to walk 300 metres past the cheering children.

The brave youngster suffers from cerebral palsy and was determined to carry the flame unaided.
He said: “The cerebral palsy tightens the muscles in my legs.
“I had an operation and I’ve spent time a long time trying to get around.
“I was very nervous and so glad I managed to get around.”
Modern penthathlete Jamie Cooke carried the torch up to the house.
He said: “I was nominated to carry the torch by the British Olympic Association and it has just been so overwhelming. It is great to see all of the community together.”" The whole community is so proud of him.

Redds school is also very excited, as Jonathan (Nathans father) has agreed to take the torch into his school. So they will all get a chance to have a look at the torch close up!

Boys Sun Hats & Swim Hats

At last the sun is out. There are some lovely sun hats for boys around at the moment. I really like this twill beanie sun hat which retails at £10 from jojo maman bebe.

These are pretty much the only style I can keep on LBL head. Stylish yet practical. They come in a varity of colours , greeen, red, blue, navy and stone.

This hat from Tiger Joe would be perfect for LBR. It is on the same lines as the twill beanie, but I think suitable for bigger boys!

Tiger Joe reversible swim hat, solid surf blue with a friendly bat on one side and a spider's web print on the other.

May be worn in and out of the water. XS-S is suitable for 2-4 years and M-L should fit 4-8 years and Retails at £19.95

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Wearing these with zoobug.sun glasses. Your little boy will not only be safe from the sun, but will super stylish, but still look like a little Boy!