Percy "graduated" from nursery in July. Some people have been getting annoyed about that, mainly people who value their degrees, but as someone who just messed around with paint for a degree I don't really mind. I remember one time at uni when I got acrylic paint all over the floor and really made no any effort to clean it up. My tutor came over and said "I love what you've done with the floor". If only my mum was that supportive while I was growing up. Anyway, the point is both me and Percy have spent a few years mucking around with paint and deserve to be rewarded for that by wearing a silly hat.
We had our big holiday in April so that we could make the most of Eric getting a free plane ticket, so we didn't have big plans for the summer. It turned out to be pretty full of mini holidays in the end.
At the end of July we had an extended family holiday at my parents house aka the boat house. My middle sister Jo is now back from New Zealand so it was great to hang out with her. The weather was super hot so we did a lot of river swimming. At one moment a herd of cows tried to ruin our picnic - my bangolele was nearly trampled as I tried to prioritise rescuing my terrified youngest child. Luckily we all survived.
That week was still a busy week for comedy as I had a competition in York and a trial spot at the Frog and Bucket Manchester. Thankfully my family had the boys so me and Dan could go to York child free (it was also our 8 year anniversary). We had a lovely time wild swimming, I did my comedy and then we went out for a meal, which I've decided is a winning combination of lovely things. The Thursday we did a ladies road trip to the Frog and Bucket so I could do my set, which apart form the 1st minute where I was a bit flustered went pretty well.
At the beginning of August I went to Pembrokeshire, just me and the boys, to visit my lovely friend Hazel. Hazel is a legend. We've been friends since 2008 when we worked together at the Bluecoat gallery. She's just one of those people who it's really easy to be real with, and also have a laugh with. She's the only person I've ever done an improvised tribal dance (including a baby sacrifice) in a forest with. She's super positive about life even though she's gone through some really horrible stuff.
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| Percy and Hazel 2019 |
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| Percy and Hazel 2014 |
Pembrokeshire is a lovely place, it's like Cornwall and Devon without the traffic, I sort of don't want to tell you about it so I can keep it for myself. Because obviously this blog has the power to make Pembrokeshire the most popular place in Britain next year. It was a bit of a risk driving for 5 hours with just me and the boys twice in a week (dan had work) but I live by the motto "better sorry than safe" and overall it was worth it. Apart from the time I lost Eric in a farm park for half an hour, that bit wasn't fun. All the staff were radioing each other about it, eventually he was found playing in the fairground section. Embarrassingly I then lost Percy for about 10 mins because he wondered off from the bit he was told to stay in. I couldn't bring myself to tell the staff I had lost another child so I just had to keep searching till I found him. The best day was the Tenby day ... such a great beach, and the name of my form group when I was in year 10. (10B)
My Dad's birthday was a highlight of the summer, what do you get for someone who lives on a river and has a love of the middle east?
Near the beginning of the holidays I saw this meme:
Which made me think. Percy is starting school later than most kids, I could get a cheapish holiday in here. Next chance isn't until Percy is doing A-levels and Eric's doing GCSEs, if the world still exists then. If climate change hasn't killed us by then Center Parcs subtropical swimming paradise might have to be reamed "the pool" because the whole world with be subtropical.
On the way we stopped in to see my friend Josh who lives in a horse box. It's not finished yet but how cool is this? He's a proper genius.
At Center Parcs we let the kids do one extra paid activity, they chose roller tots. Turns out tot's can't skate (I'd say 5 should be the minimum age for trying skating.)
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| cute pic but Eric gave up after 10 mins |
Dan paid extra for a gym pass and went every day. I flicked through the list of things you could do and didn't especially fancy any of them so for my luxury activity I choose to buy a box of 12 Krispy Kremes and have a supper long lie in one morning. Kind of the opposite of the gym. I'm happy with my life choices though, apart from when I chose to share the doughnuts.
So Percy started school last week. It was a weird week of only 2 hours a day in the afternoon. WHY?? He used to do nursery 8am till 4:30 three days a week. He can cope with school. Next week he is doing mornings and lunch times. It's not that annoying for me as I don't really work but it's super annoying for working parents who have had to take all their annual leave to cover this. So far he thinks school is "brilliant" but he did say a funny thing about his teacher, which I shouldn't write on the internet. I have mixed feeling about schools. I find them a bit one size fits all and I didn't quite fit, but thats a whole blog post in itself. I'm excited for him to start properly I hope he continues to love it, I hope they don't squash his creativity, I hope I still have a good few years of cuddles from him left.
Love you Percy x
