A little mole.

Hello! Hope that this finds you well on this lovely summer evening here! It has been chilly and cloudy today but the evening is pleasant! Tomorrow it is supposed to get hot, but I shall wait and see. They said that it was going to be cool yesterday and hot today but it was hot yesterday and cool today!

We are fine here and have had a good week, which seems to have flown by! On Monday we did a few bits of shopping in the morning as Silas needed some summer sandals and Naomi needed a new hat and then in the afternoon I took the girls to the Highlands Park which so that they could do some cycling, which they loved! They had a really good time cycling up and down this very long path, whilst Silas played with the ball.

They both did very well on their bikes but Naomi needs a bit of help starting off which can be a bit of a challenge, when she is miles away and Silas and I need to get to her! It is easier taking them on their bikes when there is 2 of us but it is still possible to do it on my own and as they get older and more practiced at it it will be easier still! At the minute, both Silas and the girls need a lot of attention which is difficult when there is only one of me!

Silas saw something on Monday at the park that made him stop in his tracks and make loud and insistent gestures! It was a skateboard!!!! He was very excited and was very keen to have a go! Mummy was very mean and held onto him as the boys whizzed past! I see my son's future before me! He was also in a very helpful mood again on Monday and brought me my shower cap and my glasses whilst I was washing my hair in the shower! Funny boy!

The girls and I also made some ice-cream on Monday afternoon which worked out OK but very soft at first. I gave it the time that it should have had but I think it needed longer. We made a vanilla ice cream with chocolate chips and it was very nice; we shall have to try something a little more adventurous next time! The nice thing is that you can change the type of cream / milk that you use so you can make low fat versions too, which is good! I doubt that I will make it very often but it was fun to try!

On Tuesday, we had to return Silas' shoes as they broke (!) but we have a better pair now so that was OK and then in the afternoon we went to the Castle Park in Kirkland; all the children enjoyed it and I am sure that we shall go back again before the summer ends! I was hoping that we could get there early but we didn't in the end and so by the time we left we got caught in all the traffic which was a right pain! However, we weren't too late home and it is the holidays so it doesn't matter too much about being in bed at 7:30!

The girls are taking a long time to get to sleep at the minute - I think it must be the summer nights! Esther  will sleep in a bit in the mornings but Naomi is not so good although she is sleeping later than a school day. I think Naomi only needs about 11 hours sleep anyway and so as long as she is asleep until about 7:30 she functions quite well!

Yesterday was a really bizarre day as Silas, who has been waking up very early, was really tired by 10:00 and went to bed for over 2 hours for a nap! I needed to go shopping but we had to wait until he woke up! Instead, the girls and I did some 'big picture' painting and then we went and did the shopping once he was up! In the afternoon, we met up with Ulrike and the children at a newly opened splash center in Crossroads in Bellevue. This was brilliant and all the children had a great time! There is a large plastic Orca Whale with a steady stream of water from it's hole, as well as 2 smaller whales with similar jets of water, several little small water shoot things as well as a frog and a sea monster also with jets of water shooting at you on a timer system. There is also no standing water, so no-one can drown although there is a gap both ends of the fence so I still needed to keep with Silas. The children all loved it and got very wet! It was fun!

Last night, just as we were putting the children to bed, we had a power cut! It was really bizarre as the weather was calm and sunny but it was off for 2.5 hours! Tim and I cleared up and read until it got dark and then managed to have enough battery power on our computers to watch an episode of Scrubs before it came on properly! IT was very odd!

Today, we went for another bike ride this morning, but to the park at the bottom of our hill, but the girls didn't like this one as much for cycling even though we parked at the other end to where we normally go so that we could access the flat paths. There is still a gently incline which Esther didn't like although Naomi wasn't bothered but she preferred the long straight path where she could go "super fast"! This afternoon we went to the twins house to see them, which was lovely as we haven't seen them for a month of so!

Naomi and Esther have been doing a bit of reading and writing practice too, not a lot but enough to help them remember things when they go back to school in September! Naomi wrote a letter to Maddie yesterday and this is what she said (Translation at the end!):

"To Maddie,

I lve yoo. I wet to the Carrsl pac. I wet on mi bic. We r going to the zoooooo"

Translation: I love you. I went to the Castle Park. I went on my bike. We are going to the zoo (extra ooooo's added deliberately by Naomi for emphasis!!!)

Wasn't that clever? I was very impressed! Esther did some copying too and wrote very nicely. They did a good job!

Anyway, I have to do the clearing up and the ironing and so i will stop now! Lots of love to you all!