Slip n slide

Slip n slide
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb

How can it be that the UK is having a heatwave, and we have now had 26 days of rain so far this month?

Yesterday wasn't so bad. Mike put the new slip n slide out and the children slipped and slid (and argued) happily.

PM I went to a sex toy party - well you've got to go to one in your life haven't you?

Today it poured. I mean it POURED.

We'd never been to Augusta, and they have a children's museum there, so we headed over there.

Had a very strange experience driving there up I-295. The northbound side is being rebuilt, so they've redirected all the northbound traffic onto the southbound side, and the southbound traffic has to go down a completely different freeway (actually not even free, which must be annoying).

It's very strange driving on the wrong side of the freeway. It just feels wrong. The yellow line should be on the left, and the white line/breakdown lane should be on the right. But they aren't. It was even more confusing to me, because I felt like I was in England, except I wasn't. It's hard to describe, I just felt a bit confused the whole way.

So anyway... Augusta on a Sunday in the rain = totally dead. We found the children's museum and the kids had a fab time there, but there was no food to be found anywhere within a mile or two, and of course we arrived right at lunchtime. So after an hour of exploring, we headed off through the increasingly heavy rain to find food.

Ended up at one of Augusta's ENORMOUS shopping malls. They're not indoor sadly, just huge carparks with huge shops around them. Had a meal at Longhorn Steakhouse. Meh. It was all right.

Then we found an Iparty shop - which was sort of fun then the kids started asking for things and it quickly became unbearable.

Back home we wrote hundreds of thank you letters, which will shock everyone who knows us, and Mike cleaned his car, which shocked me.

Mark got a taste for the vacuum cleaner and has been going round looking for things to vacuum ever since.

Nashi - any idea of breed?

Nashi - any idea of breed?
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb

Hannah and Nashi

Hannah and Nashi
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb

More birthday stuff

On Saturday Nadja and Carl came over for a birthday cuppa and cake. Carl's working away in Bangor at the moment so we haven't seen much of him. Mark misses him, especially. We all ate cake (as you can see) and Ellie got a fabulously flowery hat. Hannah got lots of classic books, which she and I are now fighting over.

Nashi came over. She snuffled around under the table (especially under Mark's chair), then nibbled on toes and noses.


How wide can you go?
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb

Ellie delighted with her present

Ellie delighted with her present
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb

Two happy guys

Two happy guys
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb

Happy 6th birthday Ellie and happy 8th birthday Hannah

It's been an expensive and busy week. Ellie turned 6 today, and Hannah turned 8 last Friday.

Hannah's birthday was also the last day of school, so she did a school concert, then a show in her classroom, then we said a sad goodbye to her teacher.

Later the girls had a fantastic birthday party - well, I thought it was fantastic. Mike arranged the whole thing. We booked David Spark from Spark's Ark to come and do his animal show. As always he was interesting, funny, informative and entertaining.

He brought a Saw Whet owl, a Great Horned Owl, a baby seagull, a cockatiel (who sat on everyone), a chinchilla, a skunk, a nest full of baby mice, and a huge snake. The kids all got to hold a baby mouse, then those who wanted to also got to cuddle the snake. There was a lot of giggling and a big of screaming.

Then there was macaroni and pizza, followed by cupcakes a la Nadja.

And then a lot of running around the garden in the rain (we had the party at the Cousin's Island Community Center - and boy was that a good move!)

Everyone had a great time as far as I could tell. Even I enjoyed it...


Great horned owl eyeballing the camera
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb

A lot of children and a lot of cupcakes

A lot of children and a lot of cupcakes
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb

Hannah and Ellie and birthday cakes

Hannah and Ellie and birthday cakes
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb

Mike dancing with snake

Mike dancing with snake
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb

Hannah and Ellie and snake

Hannah and Ellie and snake
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb

Mark cradling a day old mouse

Mark cradling a day old mouse
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb

Hannah with day old mouse

Hannah with day old mouse
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb

Hannah and Ms Skowronski

Hannah and Ms Skowronski
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb

Hannah's last day in 2nd grade. She's had the most fabulous year and Ms Skowronski has been a wonderful teacher.

How alike do these two look?

How alike do these two look?
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb

If Ellie had a beard she would truly be daddy. Well, and if she had dodgy hair.

Anyway... where was I?

We had a beautiful day today. This morning Hannah had a three-hour party at the Cousin's Island Community Centre. I left her there with a magician and about 15 other screeching girls, and went and had some mummy time.

Shopped for PJs for Mark, bought herbs to fill in the bed in front of the house from a farmstand, found some Father's Day cards (yes! More than 6 hours before Father's day!)

Giggled in the car back from the party as I listened to Hannah, Pie and Lulu coming up with bonkers names for the doggies they got in their party boxes. Those three together can be hilarious.

Hannah missed her Kettle Cove school field trip yesterday because the weather was so bad (we had about 6 inches of rain in the morning), so this afternoon we went over there. She searched for crabs, everyone waded in the sea and dug in the sand and climbed on the rocks. Then she and I sat on some rocks and chatted. Then we all had a go at doing gymnastics - bit embarrassing in front of so many people but it made Hannah happy. It was about 75°F and just lovely.

We debated where to eat afterwards. Rudy's is always a favourite, and I did really fancy a beer. But then we were tempted to try the Spurwink Cafe because we've never been there. And then I really fancied the Lobster Shack, so we could do more climbing on the rocks.

In the end we went for the Lobster Shack. Of course the food was overpriced, and they didn't have any beer, but climbing on the rocks was so much fun. It's amazing how it gets the huge waves, whereas Kettle Cove just round the corner is so sheltered.

And finally, on the way home we found ourselves in the Old Port, and there was a parking spot free right outside Coldstone Creamery and... well... you can imagine the rest. Mmmmmmm... We were the only people out and about in the Old Port wearing swim suits.

Mark was asleep by the time we got off I-295, and is now curled up in bed still wearing his swim suit. If those children don't sleep tonight then I don't know what it takes...

Rock climbing at Two Lights

Rock climbing at Two Lights
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb

Ellie Hannah and Mark - Two Lights

Ellie Hannah and Mark - Two Lights
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb

Two lights panoramic - love the sea effect

Two lights panoramic - love the sea effect
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb

Gorgeous Girls at Kettle Cove

Gorgeous Girls at Kettle Cove
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb

Hananh at Kettle Cove

Hananh at Kettle Cove
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb

Kettle Cove

Kettle Cove
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb

Jill and kids searching for crabs

Jill and kids searching for crabs
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb

Work and sniffles

I have a box of tissues beside me, a sore throat, and I should be in bed. I've worked for 9 days straight now, or is it 10?

What news do I have other than work work work?

Very late on Friday, after a late printing session at work, the children welcomed me home with shouts of 'Mrs Wallace has got a PUPPY!' Yes, the Wallaces have a 6 week old gorgeous little mutt called Nashi. She is adorable. She falls asleep everywhere, and nibbles on toes a lot. I'll post a photo when I get one.

On Saturday, Patricia (who works with Mike) had a chainsaw massacre party at her house, so of course we went along - how could we miss it?

Everyone who wasn't looking after children took their chainsaws and other implements to the many trees hung with vines on the west side of the garden. It was a bit of a pick-up-fest. Poor Mike felt very unmanly in his soccer-mom minivan.

Meanwhile the children cooed at the 2 day old chicks, played with the teenage chicks, bounced on the trampoline, played on the Wii, and Mark spent a very happy hour driving a remote control car around.

The weather was beautiful. We had a big barbeque, then back to work. By evening I discovered I'd burnt my shoulders - how embarrassing.

Sunday I worked all day while Mike took the children out to Payson Park to run around in the sprinklers. They arrived back home with $93 worth of plants, compost and tools. We all spent a mosquito-filled hour turning over soil, digging in manure, planting bedding plants and arguing over who got to water them.

The excitement was too much, so we gave up and headed to Gritty McDuff's for tea. I had the most heavenly gin and tonic, followed by another, at which point I stopped feeling any pain. We sat outside under a huge umbrella - first watching the children play, then all cuddling up watching the rain. There was something a bit lovely about sitting out there, in a cosy fleece, knowing that if I moved a foot to my right I'd get wet, but actually feeling completely dry and happy.

Back to work on Monday, but today I managed to make it to Mark's last day of nursery. They did a little concert which was hilarious, then I got to say a quick hello to the other parents, who I hardly see nowadays.

The next couple of weeks are going to be manic. The children seem to have something on almost every day at school/nursery during my work hours. They're constantly bringing home works of art and requests for donations towards teacher presents.

The last day of term is 19th June, which is also Hannah's birthday, and the day of the girl's birthday party, and the day of Ellie's post-school playdate, and the date of Hannah's show, and the date of June's party, and the date I have to have my office packed up ready to move, and the date that I have to change all the URLs of everything at work that points towards our Sharepoint site.

Then Sunday 21st is father's day, Monday 22nd is Ellie's birthday, and also the day they start doing various summer camps, and the day I have to move into a new office and unpack everything.

I'm hoping to get through it all without my head exploding. Next year I'm taking that week off.

Back from England

I nipped over to England for Uncle Keith's funeral - got back a couple of days ago but am still completely shattered.

The funeral itself was lovely but very emotionally draining. It was hard to believe Keith was in the coffin. The dedications (is that what you call them?) were all lovely. Lesley summed up everything I would say about Keith. One of his colleagues (Tom I think) just stood up and talked and cried for about 10 minutes and had everyone in tears.

Afterwards we went to Wrabness where he was buried in a woodland burial ground - the sun was out, the sky was blue and it was beautiful.

And then we went to a pub somewhere in the beautiful Essex countryside. There were (I think) 16 or 17 Werbs in one room. Nick was there with his wife Clare, uncle Chris with his partner Jo, uncle Mick and his partner. All people I haven't seen in decades.

The rest of the weekend was really lovely. The sun shone, and we were in a beautiful place. Bobby and I were both there with no children, so we could actually finish all our conversations. We had a day with Mark and Rosie, and Archie and Immy (who had just learnt to walk). Then we had an evening with Sue in her beautiful house and garden. And then we had a day with daddy and Lesley, and we got to see Ben and Jon again, as well as finally meet Tanmy.

And after all that I drove my little Corsa back to Heathrow, then flew home, still going on adrenaline. Mike and the children met me at Boston Logan, having spent the afternoon at the Boston Children's Museum, and had lunch in Portsmouth NH. I was quite jealous actually.

By the time we got home we were all shattered, and Mark's struggling to catch up on his sleep this week. My body's well and truly confused, and work's throwing everything it's got at me...