Almost forgot: Dotto turned 1!

December round up

This year we had our first Christmas tree in our house. It was also a month of many awards: Willy's ju jitsu grey belt, Sofia's level 5 gymnastics and a school certificate each for 'Exemplary behaviour' (yes, really, that's our William) and 'Tremendous effort and improvement'. We were particularly thrilled for Sofia who had desperately wanted a certificate and was sure she was never going to get one.

This month we are also faced with concrete evidence that the sleeping arrangements are getting out of control.

 Still at least it shows that the house is nice and warm. 

Last weekend we went to Bath and had a great time, buying Christmas decorations at the market and visiting the Roman Baths which everyone enjoyed. The dedicated kids audioguides are a great idea. 

We also went to see 'Frozen' (too much singing for everyone except Sofia) and had a first bash at ice skating. Willy came off the ice cold and wet and saying he was never ice skating again, but we went at Ally Pally again this morning (better prepared in waterproof trousers this time) and he got on much better. Sofia of course is convinced she is an expert as she can get around without help. 

The loft is kind of finished and yet not finished - needs annoying things doing like siliconing around the bath and fixing the insane inner layout of the wardrobes and then of course decorating, which we have to look forward to in January. 

Happy Christmas everyone! We will be at home with our rotisseried poulet de Bresse and a buche de noel from Uncle Paul. 

Progress on the loft!

The loft - end of day 2

Got this pic by email from Jules, about the same time as a text from our neighbour complaining of debris falling on his conservatory. As Jules said, there's no going back now...

This picture also gives a good view of our WW2 bunker on the far left outside the kitchen (open door). 

Our very first Halloween

photo, originally uploaded by Racmol.

This year we went trick or treating with some friends down in the Queens Park Estate (a series of roads with lots of identical small terraced cottages - very pretty).

Lots of people had pumpkins out front and plenty had even decorated their front windows or in some cases the entire front of their houses.

The kids were beyond excited - this is the least blurry photo I could find as they were all jumping about crazily before we went and I only had my phone with me.

Up till that night, I'd always been a halloween sceptic. Knock on strangers' doors and get sweets? What could go wrong? But when I saw how many kind and lovely people came to the door and fussed over the kids I changed my mind pretty quickly.

We finally got home about 8 o'clock which felt like midnight as it had been dark for hours and I just poured the kids into bed, not a sugar tantrum in sight.

So of course, now we have to do it all again next year and Sofia's being a mummy this time.

Speaking of which, our day out with the mummies worked really well. There's enough bling about the sarcophagi to impress even the smallest kids and plenty of x-rays of skeletons and weird mummified animals. 40 minutes max though I would say.

'Arf-term acroBATics

So it's half term this week and we're keeping ourselves amused. (All right, I was utterly exhausted this afternoon after the zoo and we're only on day 2.)

Still the Pygmy hippos seem to be having a nice time in the tigers' old area - the tigers having moved to the swanky new tiger territory. 

And here's a lovely shot of a cold London day spent mingling with the meerkats. Actually it was quite sunny but it's a nice gloomy effect when you take a photo through a sheet of Perspex. 

Now I thought I'd done well and I'd have two exhausted kids when we got home (walk,bus, tube, more walking) but I opened the front door and Will says 'can we play rugby?' And Sofia says 'I want to carve the pumpkin!'

 Feeling revived now after wine and cheese courtesy of Jules. British Museum tomorrow in search of a real mummy or two. They are going to be so disappointed cos they're expecting something out of Scooby Doo...

William's family tree

William's family tree, originally uploaded by Racmol.

The latest school project for the boy. Now well settled in and happy at school too.

Rotisserie lamb on the bbq

photo, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Sofia's first horse ride

Sofia's first horse ride, originally uploaded by Racmol.

...in the wilds of North Kensington, just 10 minutes drive from home. She's super keen to sign up for lessons - parents just a little concerned about the inevitable upgrade from hamster to pony...

In other news, Will now does Brazilian Ju Jitsu on Saturday mornings and kicks a rugby ball around the park with Dad in the afternoons. Home for apple pie afterwards today - thank you Mr Sainsbury.

Donkey rides a penny each...

First donkey ride, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Or thereabouts. It was a very wet Queens Park Day this year but we still had a good time. Pics of Sofia and her donkey plus candy floss on flickr.

We grew a peach!

photo, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Miraculous NW London peach. 2 others waiting to fall from the tree.

Look out school, here I come!

Look out school, here I come!, originally uploaded by Racmol.

First day of Big School today for Mr. W. I would tell you more about it but I have already fallen asleep on the tube and in my armchair today and I'm now falling asleep over the keyoard! 

Dotto turns 6 months old...

IMG_4277, originally uploaded by Racmol.

...and celebrates with a hedgehog cake courtesy of Mr Sainsbury (no, we didn't really let him eat it) and a change of gender. Or more accurately a change of name, since he must always have been a boy. Once we actually bothered to tip him upside down to inspect, it was pretty clear.

Family of 4 at No. 44

IMG_4288, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Amazing what you see when you're home alone in a quiet house. I had thought the fox had moved away when the garden got ripped out, but I see now she's just been busy the last few months.

Still living - much bigger and bolder...

Still living - much bigger and bolder..., originally uploaded by Racmol.

Planting the flowering cherry

Planting the flowering cherry, originally uploaded by Racmol.

One of those 'I was there' moments outside my work

photo, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Dot enjoys a small snack

Dot enjoys a small snack, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Dot is a calm hamster. She really likes sleeping in the daytime. She likes to play at night and she kind of makes a little rustle rustle tap. By Sofia.

Introducing Dorothea (Dot)

First pet, originally uploaded by Racmol.

So, we have news! After two weeks of extensive research and many hours on Amazon, we are the proud owners of one enormous cage (designed for ferrets), occupied by one very small hamster.

We went out in the snow this morning (I know - it's mad - nearly the end of March) to choose a Syrian hamster, clutching the Minimals small animal carrier that had arrived earlier in the week in one of the (many) boxes from Amazon.

We meant to choose a male hamster, as the hamster book says males are less bitey than females, but the guy in the shop suggested we look at this girl who was a little older than the others (13 weeks) and very friendly. So we all took it in turns to hold her and she seemed a bit more robust than the tiny jumpy males and not freaked out by Willy so we brought her home and now we have our first family pet.

She has her own covered toilet, which she seems to be using - apparently they are very clean animals who like to choose a specific place as a toilet. In any case hamster poo is just small black pellets and not offensive at all.

We quickly discovered she can climb right to the top of the cage so we may have to string up some hammocks to avoid her injuring herself if she falls. (Clearly I have been spending too much time on hamster forums!)

Tomorrow we will be getting her out to handle her and hopefully not losing her around the house...

Northern Lights odyssey

So we're back from our adventure in Finnish Lapland and we can all say we've seen the Northern Lights. I know this isn't the steadiest photo you've ever seen but somehow it's the most atmospheric and it was taken just on the path outside our cabin.

We left home at 7 am on Saturday and spent most of the day getting there - flying first to Helsinki then on to Ivalo and then getting a minibus to Kakslauttanen. In my mind, I'd thought that it was a romantic exaggeration to say that the resort was just a collection of log cabins in the forest and that really they'd all be clustered together around the restaurant complex with covered walkways but actually they are dotted about in the trees. Here's a shot of ours, complete with sledding inhabitants.

The sledding was fun! So we did quite a bit of it. 

We were glad not to have stayed in the romantic glass igloos as apparently they were pretty spartan - just a bed, and then a walk through the snow to the communal toilets and showers. Some people we met seemed pretty disappointed to have paid extra for the experience. 

The first two nights were cloudy and we met lots of people who had not seen the Aurora at all during their stay. Finally on the third night it was clear and Jules and I went for a couple of walks (individually) before Jules decided to have a final look before bed and discovered a huge green stripe in the sky above our cabin. So we got up and had a proper look and got the kids up (as we'd promised to). They were unimpressed - but then we had just grabbed them in their pyjamas and carried them out to look, not wanting them to miss it. And of course it wasn't quite the multi-coloured display that you get in Brother Bear. 

Jules went on a snowmobile safari on one of the cloudy nights and then, when it looked like our last night would be clear, we booked a Reindeer safari for Jules and the kids and a snowmobile for me, as there was only one sled available for the reindeer one and we couldn't all fit. 

Unfortunately, Sofia was violently ill at the dinner table just before the reindeer safari left so they pulled out. Willy had also vomited in the night a couple of nights previously and now Jules has it - I really don't know how we could get ill when we basically ate toast and jam for four days, interspersed with meat and potatoes but anyway. (Soft-boiled eggs one day, Jules says.) The only good thing to be said was that they didn't get charged for the trip, despite the strict no cancellation within 24hrs policy. 

As you might expect, once we had snowmobiled up on top of a mountain, and waited in the cold for an hour, the Aurora came out properly and filled the sky from horizon to horizon with the shimmering waves of green that you hope for. So I got to see what I'd come to see. I got back and showed Jules the photos and he said: 'You're horrible.' 

The funny thing was that Jules was adamant he did not wish to go on a husky safari and did not understand why I was determined to make my family freeze to death on such an expedition.  Afterwards he said that it was the most fun of the entire holiday and he would love to do an overnight husky trip into the wilderness. Secretly he would love to have his own team, I think. 

It was quite fun, in an exhausting sort of way. My passenger (Sofia) was way too light a load for our team and I spent a lot of time standing heavily on the brake so as not to run over the team in front, who had an adult and a teenager as passengers and an adult male driver. 

The huskies are Alaskan huskies, not Siberian, and bred with quite a few other things, as you can see.  Sofia and William were a bit of a tourist attraction in their snowsuits - a few people asked to have their photos taken with them. We had to explain firmly to Sofia that there was no such thing as a girlie snowsuit, just one that keeps you warm. Willy coped pretty well with his pink and purple suit, in the end, once we pointed out that it had planets on it. 

Sofia has a new arctic fox, called Snowy and Willy did have a toy snowmobile called Pusher until Dad sat on it in the plane and now he has a new blue car instead. 

Back in London it was 1C today and we foolishly went kite flying without gloves or hats and nearly died. Luckily we live close to the park.  

The school run...

photo, originally uploaded by Racmol.

From bad to worse...

photo, originally uploaded by Racmol.

This doesn't really do justice to just how heavy the snow is at the moment, and I have to go and pick up William soon (which I will be doing by train).

If anyone is wondering why I'm not blogging:

We have no bathroom.

Or living room.

Or dining room.

The shutters were finally coming today but the van went into a railing and decided to go home to Brighton.

I have had eight cold sores. Four remaining.

And a bacterial infection requiring antibiotics.

We have to move out again next week so the hallway ceiling can come down.

So I am not really in the mood for posting pictures of sunny New Zealand.