family

if this were a proper blog i’d talk about how watching kezia at a disco party this afternoon was a strange experience as i don’t often see her playing with her contemporaries (what with being at work and everything), and how i watched to see if she was a leader or a follower etc and how i thought such parties might go for her in 15 years time.
but it’s not, so let me point out the toddler in his baby walker zooming about between the manic 3 and 7 year olds with minimum effort because of the very slippery floor

it was esther’s first school nativity play yesterday afternoon and it was fantastic !

after the play finished there were photo opportunities for each part of the cast and the angels were last which is why the stage looks a bit empty. here they are running off

here are esther and kezia busy crafting at their tables whilst making a house call.

here is our family as drawn by esther. it’s interesting to see who’s in and out compared to last year’s portrait.
the good thing is we all seem very happy. this photo doesn’t do the real picture justice unfortunately.

what is kezia saying to esther here?

the girls are away for a few days so jane (my lovely wife) and i took full advantage of our free weekend by going to Sonning Mill which is a great place.
here’s the view from our table (the people who were sitting this had already gone through to the theatre)

jane and the girls have been in Nottingham for a few days. here is brother-in-law kev with all the kids

the weather in england is quite mad at the moment. it’s more like summer than summer was. we’ve been taking advantage of it again and yesterday afternoon went for a cycle ride.

yesterday evening (after a walk up some hills) we had a family pizza and (mary) poppins night. here is the pizza that kezia made for me – it’s my jolly face !

yesterday kezia and i had a daddy/kezia day (and jane and esther had a mummy/esther day). kezia and i travelled to henley and went to the Rowing Museum which also features Wind In The Willows exhibition.
this photo is kezia inspecting her audio guide standing next to one of the displays.

esther spent most of the time on the beach the wrong way up as she practiced hand stands and cartwheels.

after a while jane got up and showed she could do it too ! i had no idea. here’s a hand stand:

and here’s an eternal cartwheel:

here is brother edd. i saw him at the Reading Festival today. i went and sat down near the stage and at the end of the band looked round me and there he was sitting but a few metres away. neither of us had spotted each other, and neither had we agreed to meet in that location.
how very strange.
here he is holding one of my funkypancake ‘business cards’ which i give to people who ask why i’m taking pictures of boring things.

jane and i went for a drink in the fantastic danesfield hotel on saturday night. i was woefully underdressed which added to the fun. people thought i must be someone famous (i should have told them about my radio berkshire appearance !).
here’s jane enjoying her pimms:

and here’s the very strange crisps they brought us:

i tell you this because jane and the girls are off camping for a few nights.

cycling seems to be our new hobby. today we went for a three hour cycle round Windsor park with us all cycling. here’s my attempt at taking a photo whilst cycling.

and here’s kezia cycling on her own last thursday

our whole family is now capable of cycling which opens up a whole range of exciting cycling trips. hoorah for wheeled mobility