Merry Christmas!!

Christmas tree purchased

Dreamland

The girls had a great time, I did too as well as grandma and Grandad. Grandma loves the slide!

New outfit

Selfie

I had been out the night before, hence the baggy eyes, Emily insisted on watching Sleeping beauty the next day, who was I to argue.

Wing ham wildlife park

We have an Annual pass for the park, Emily loves going for the old boat to play in, who needs lions and tigers?

Ilkley

Fabulous few days up North

Party time

Emily is on the mend after a nasty 5 days of being poorly. Think it was a reaction to the mmr jab. Glad that's over with now

Dynamic duo

Legoland

Had a brilliant time at Legoland, Emily and Beth both got their driving license although Emily did keep crashing.

Why not?

Snake

At Herne Bay air show today there was a reptile tent, as you do. Beth held an albino king snake. Brave girl. Air show was fabulous .

Birthday beer

Birthday minions

Birthday bonanza

Someone's happy with their present.

Party Girl

Great fun at splash park

Marathon runners

Running

Emily and Beth completed a cross country run at Beth's school on Saturday, Emily ran all the way round and was amazing. Beth also ran her socks off along with her class mates.

Warrior

Beth had a school fair on Saturday to raise money for their swimming pool renovation. They were joined by a 1066 battle re-enactment troop, this is Beth sizing up a shield with her mates.

Mr and Mrs Joyce

Spent a lovely evening with the Joyce's at their wedding reception on Saturday night. It was a proper Ramsgate party.

McDonalds

A content lady in McDonalds.

Exam

Uh oh. It is that time but to be honest I just want it out of the way now, fail or pass. 

Marriage

Emily has been getting married lots recently. Here she is with her latest husband Prince Albert.

Emily the Artist

Stringer potato head by Emily

Hot Pizza Action

Lucky girls. 

Post Holiday Blues

Grrrrrrrrr. It's hard going back to work after a lovely family holiday, especially after what happened before we left to go away. However the week passed without incident and we made it safely to the weekend. Bekie is on a hen weekend this weekend so it is just me and the kids (who have found this first week back especially draining!).

Keith, Lois and I have booked tickets to Liverpool Festival of Psychedelia in September. It should be a great do with lots of shoegazer, droning types of bands playing.

http://www.liverpoolpsychfest.com/

Beth has got new glasses. Last weekend she had her eyes tested and the picture below was taken after the pupil-dilating eye drops were administered.

Poisonous Gas by Beth Stringer

Alas I smell gas!

The war is so mighty

When will I ever go back to Blighty

I hope the war won't last long

What is that smelly pong?

Britain is the biggest nation

Where is the cleaning station?

I wear khaki-green

All my comrades are so lean

We have guns, no buns

I am underage, locked up in a cage, captured by Germany

We had a night attack and I am free

Sadly I got covered in wee

I see a wild boar lying down on the floor

He was shot (not by a robot)

Back from Tenerife

Got the holiday blues after 7 lovely days in Tenerife. We all had a lovely time and Granny B had a memorable 70th birthday. Back to work tomorrow and not particularly excited about that but I'll console myself with the photos from our trip - some of which I'll post here.

Pool action

Starting her young

Beth enjoyed a few shots at the driving range

Happy Easter!

Emily's pony ride

Anything goes

Saturday Morning TV Selfie

Curry Night with Bugs

Walk of Dooooom

I will be setting myself a personal challenge in July whereby Steve and I will be attempting to walk 50 miles in one day around the lovely pastures of East Kent. We are trying to raise money for the Upton Junior School Save Our Pool fundraising campaign, which is attempting to save the swimming pool from permanent closure. The pool is not only used by the kids of Upton but also eleven other schools in the area.

If you are feeling generous and would like to encourage our nutty crusade around Kent you can sponsor us using the link below. Many thanks.

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/super-yompers

3rd and 43rd Birthday!

Having a great day!

3rd Birthday

Where did those three years go? Emily had a fabulous day, thank you to everyone who sent cards and presents. Oh, Jon had a great Birthday too!

Candidates for Thanet South Constituency

The candidate list reads as follows;

Craig Mackinlay (Cons) 

Will Scobie (Lab)

Russell Timpson (Lib Dem)

Ian Driver (Green)

Nigel Farage (Ukip)

Ruth Bailey (Manston Airport Independent Party)

Nigel Askew (Reality Party) 

Tim Garbutt (Ind)

Al Murray (FUKP)

Prophet Zebediah The Leader of the Al Zebabist Nation of Ooog. 

What a cracking line-up! 

One plate of food destroyed and a funny face to go with it.

Bonkers

Due to Upton Junior School's need for funding to save their swimming pool, Steve and I have decided to take on the mammoth challenge of a 50 mile walk around east Kent in one day. Neither of us have ever walked this distance in a day (or anywhere close) so it is a trip into the unknown. 

We'll be starting and finishing in Herne Bay and taking in Whitstable, Canterbury, and Thanet. It'll be an early start as we'll start at 5am and probably finish at around 9pm in the evening. Yes, we are bonkers but you can't beat a good walk!

Powell-Cotton

The family and I spent Saturday afternoon at the Powell-Cotton museum at Quex. Although I've visited several times before I am still impressed with the exhibits and educational aspect of the place. It leaves me feeling a combination of wonderment for the beauty of the beasts behind the glass and dismay that people could kill them for "trophies" (although Powell-Cotton did advance  knowledge and understanding through his hunting). Powell-Cotton also brought back fascinating tales and artefacts from his interactions with the indigenous populations of Africa and India in the 19th and 20th centuries, all of which are on display. 

If you haven't visited the museum I strongly advise you to go. Lovely, friendly and knowledgable people work there and there are good tea and cake facilities.

Beth and Emily seemed to enjoy themselves in the newly-opened sensory and research area in gallery 6 - they spent best part of an hour banging bongos, drawing and putting items under the microscopes. Oh, and stoking stuffed badgers.