I'm having a few days away with the Boys on a Stag Do this weekend, to an 80s Music Festival in Henley. We'll be camping between Friday and Monday, I'm sharing our tent with the Stag himself. I only started thinking about what to pack last night, and I'll not get chance to pack tonight, so it will be a very last-minute thing tomorrow lunchtime. Expect the blog to go quiet until next week!
Look at who's playing at the Festival here. All the real artists, no cover bands!!
Olga and Lara are in the air as I write, I assume everything went OK at the airport, the internet shows the flight left almost on time. I've put some more photos up in the Web Album (see two posts below this one), Olga took Lara to a water park on Tuesday and Wednesday, it was a safe place to watch while Lara played in the large, shallow pool, or drifted around in a little boat.
Given the lovely weather we're having at the moment, I took pity on Mishka today and gave his coat a strip. Normally Olga does this, but I need to know how to do it, and he looks, and hopefully feels, a lot cooler now. Jackson had his second lot of injections this morning, and has put nearly a kilo on in 2 weeks, going up from 2 to 3 kilos, so at least I've been feeding him properly. Olga and Lara went to the beach today, so I'll be hoping for some photos later tonight or tomorrow. I've been invited to dinner at a friend's house tonight in Wycombe, so I'd best get out of my stripping gear, ooo-err, missus. Here are a couple of the boy playing this afternoon:
First, an update from home. It's been a busy week at work, so my plan of quiet nights in front of the TV then early to bed haven't materialised. I was supposed to be on holiday yesterday (my delayed holiday from last week) but I had to work, but I have managed to have a day off today, pottering around in the garden. I'm treating myself to a night out tonight, I'm off to Henley with Anton & Simon, which will make a nice change. I'll still seperate the boys while I'm out, I'm happy for them to play around with each other when I'm nearby, but I don't want to take any chances with Mishka losing his cool when I'm out! Jackson loves it when I put the lead on Mishka for a walk, and it's not clear who's going to take Mishka out, me or Jackson:
As you can see though, Mishka takes it all in good humour.
On the away front, I've posted some more photos up in this album, this is where I'll put all new photos that Olga sends. Lara is getting better at going off to sleep now, and for the past two nights she's even slept in the cot rather than in bed with Olga, which is better for everyone. They went for a boat ride on Wednesday, they enjoyed themselves for the 40 minutes they were on board before they set off, then were bored after 5 minutes! Kids...
Here are the first photos and video Olga has sent back from Cyprus. Contrary to the BBC weather forecast (heavy showers but hot) you can see the weather is typical Mediterranean in August, hot and blue skies.
That second photo, and this video, remind me of a photo I remember seeing from a holiday to Spain when I must have been a similar age to Lara, being led into the sea, and I don't think I was anywhere near as happy about it as Lara. Mum, can you confirm this!?!
Lara took some time to get off to sleep last night; the whole trip, and the new surroundings, were all a bit too exciting for her, plus she has to get used to only Olga being there, rather than both of us. As adults we'd take that for granted, but this is the first time Lara will have been in unfamiliar surroundings without both of us, and it doesn't help her get off to sleep. In the end she slept with Olga on a mattress on the floor last night, and mostly likely she'll do that again tonight. We reckon that in a couple of days she will have relaxed enough to sleep in the cot that our friends have provided. Once she's got off to sleep, she's fine and slept through last night as usual until 7.30 (OK, that would be 5.30 for her body clock!) when the room got light. During the day she's been absolutely fine, and we were both pleased to see that she doesn't seem to be afraid of the sea. She did drink some seawater today, but I don't see how we can prevent her from doing that without physically restraining her when she's in the water! Any ideas, anyone!!? Well, I can hear the boys playing downstairs, and it's time to put Jackson to bed, then myself!
