Forward Planning

[No Idea]

Well,

He had a few problems lol

He took one of the gear cables off thinking it was a brake.

He then stripped off the brake cables and replaced them. He even managed it without fraying them.

Impressed.

After an hour, he woke me telling me the brakes were done, but he couldnt get the gear cable in.

Took me nearly an hour. Hadnt taken one apart for years.

He had a go at threading the cable through the outers this morning.....

Er.....

He is going to need a new cable lol

This is getting me more sleep than I anticipated.

I did take them both to run around the park twice yesterday.

I used to do it with the dogs. I noticed that making the kids go too made them happier, so its a must through the hols.

Havent uploaded any pics yet. Sorry.

Ive just given the kids some money and sent them to the greasy spoon for lunch.

Its half a mile away. They took off at a run.

Meeting them there in the car as I stll feel flat.

This way they get the excersise they need and I get to recuperate.

Discovered Ive lost over a stone since starting these water tablets a week ago. Looks like the doc knew what she was talking about. Still exhausted though.

 

[Hulahoop]

Since I'm recent here, I'm a new comer to this thread. I think it is a good idea. I'm starting this now. But I'm sad I forgot to take a photo of today, as my parents visited.

Still... I'll remember in the future hopefully.

 

[Cobweb]

Big hugs to you No Idea, I hope you feel better soon and well done for keeping up with the kids, it would be easy to just ignore them while you were ill. I am very impressed and I love your posts, so refreshing to read and I have said it before- fantastic writing style!

 

[No Idea]

Aww sorry to hear you forgot to take a pic.

It takes a while to become a habit.

Glad to hear you are starting one. You will come to treasure them on your shelf in years to come.

I usually use my phone camera as I forget the normal camera and if I remember it, its got a flat battery.

 

[No Idea]

Aww Cobweb you are lovely.

Thank you

Huge hugs back.

 

[No Idea]

Its summer holiday time.

Took me a while to find this thread again.

As a lot of the thread was geared for this time, I thought I should ressurect it.

Surprised at how many other threads had happened since.

 

[Robbi]

Hiya matey !

hope all's well with you guys and looking forward to your next installment

 

[No Idea]

Hi friend Robbi

Missing you.

 

[No Idea]

21st July....

End of school term.

It sort of got here too fast and also too slow.

Curious.

School was over, so it was time to get the kids to focus on the holiday.

40 odd days.

Aims:- achieve some sort of activity every day.
Record the positive, funny and exceptional aspects so they have a record to remember how good and "I did that", moments
Get them to grow stronger and more mature with more confidence.

Send them back to school bursting with stories and excitement.

 

[No Idea]

First things first....

Need to get them to help me with the chores so that I have enough time to organise.

So....

School ended at 1.30pm...

Home.

Standing on doorstep..

I asked them to pretend they were their best friends.

"Hello Bill and Ben, would you like to come in?"

"Please be careful not to trip over all the rubbish in the hall"

"Er...would you like to sit here on all the bits and pieces and watch the dirty telly with us?"

"Well, in that case, lets go make you a sandwich in our workshop/ kitchen with stuff everywhere..."

"I know....lets eat in the garden in amongst all the piles of wood, broken bits of stuff, junk.....er..."

"How about a sleepover? Lets go look at the bedrooms..."

"Do you think your friends would be happy to come spend time with you?"

Took them 2 hours to clear the house.

Reward....

Spent our time discussing what we wanted to do this holiday.

I got to hear again exactly what they want to do and to check I was still on course.

They curled up happy with an ice cream trip to start the hol.

 

[No Idea]

22 July

He found some paint and started to do something positive on his own.

I got to grumble at him "Stealing" the paint and brushes I left lying around for him to find.

Each time they construct or positively build something, they get a little "bigger" Not mentally, not physically...not sure how, but its a noticable growth.

Now he wants a reward for actually using one of my paintbrushes and not getting any paint on the metal part. Worth a chocolate bar as it encourages neatness.

I get to grumble about being robbed.

He loves it.

This one hasnt quite finished this boat he was given.

He wants to go have adventures on it this summer holiday, so hes in a bit of a hurry.

Hes checking the damaged rigging.

"Er....I think this goes here...."

Ive become increadibly thick. I dont have any idea how to rig it. By working it out himself, he is growing.

Sitting on my fingers and waiting for him to work it out is like waiting for paint to dry..

Still...It helps him grow.

So they went fishing.

I fell in.

No one caught anything, but who cares. Dad fell in.

Then we went to Mcdonalds for tea.

THey both managed to hug both the waitresses, the girl serving in the paper shop and 2 female customers.

Im starting to be envious.

Stupid the dog arrived for a sleepover.

Took him to the slipway so biggest could break rocks with his new hammer

Littlest and I emptied the dog.

That is, we walked him until he did it himself.

Little one stole my scooter. Horrible sod.

They all curled up happy in a heap on one of the boats in the garden with the sleeping bags.

 

[No Idea]

Sat 23 July

The wife arrived

She took them to the pictures. No Idea what they watched.

I went and emptied the dog again.

Then Stupids dad came and collected him.

Lunch at the Greasy Spoon..

I curled up and went to sleep, the kids worked on their boats.

Biggest discovered the big boat trailer bearings had seized and pulled it apart.

The bearing had actually spun in the hub.

He took it apart in the kitchen, like you do...

It has mini hubs. Took a while to find new bearings and some locktite to glue them back in.

Then the grease gun died. The trailer is still in bits. This I class as a failure as its not available should we want to go take it out.

Was pleased he found it and had the confidence to strip it, though.

In the evening, we spent some time playing with our hobo stoves.

It had to be me that meesed up and spillde some meths under my stove.

Its just starting to flame from the jets.

This is a new twist on the coke can meths burner we have been playing with. The jets are on the sides so we dont need a cage to hold the pot.

Im a bit nervous in case it ignites in a fireball.

Im not touching the handle until it stops flaming.

The kids did theirs properly and thought me fouling up was great.

Eventually the fire ball went out and it settled down like I thought it should.

 

[No Idea]

Sun 24 July...

Do you remember...Littlest started making himself a thermal hammock some months ago.

He suddenly remembered it when we were preparing to go play.

Cutting out the insulation...

He just couldnt manage to hold all the insulation and material straight and get it through the sewing machine, so I relented and actually helped, after he broke 3 needles.

He got to try it though...

Its a bit difficult when Biggests boat Tank is in the way.

Tying in the ends...

Visited Mother and had another picnic in her gazeebo.

Then....
Soup cooked on our coke can stoves and a hammock tryout next to a river with fish.

Biggest is trying to thread his hook and some beads on his line..

The exertion nearly killed him.

I spent some time hitting the fish, which we could clearly see with my weight as they didnt have the decency to take my hook.

I wonder if the fish are related to the dog.

Managed not to fall in this time though.

Hes in....

He put it up himself and tied his own knots. If it falls out of the tree, its his fault.

A blurred book...

The pocket is just big enough for the few things he might like to take with him for the night...

Laptop, torch, sweets, drink, toilet paper, book, mp3 player, knife...ect...

He farted and nearly fell out of his hammock through coughing and giggling.

While they went doing their Idea of fishing...

I noticed I had an audience...

He left when they came crashing back.

Slept really well.

They built something - albeit with some help, they practiced their skills, they had an adventure.

Happy with that.

 

[Robbi]

Fantastic glad you guys are back

 

[No Idea]

Mon 25 July

Time to go play with the canoes.

Had some problems sorting out kit, so didnt leave until nearly noon.

Took off across the harbour into the wind and the tide. Luckily, both were gentle.

They built the boats, they sorted their provisions, they picked the route.

Its a beautiful day.

The blue bags have hammocks, hobos, dry clothes, etc. Enough for an overnight if we decide we want to.

This place is beautiful.

All the planning and all the work to get to this point has just, to my mind, paid for itself.

They are doing this themselves. Im pretty much along for the ride. A few more of these, and the Wareham to Bramble Bay trip I started looking at in December....

This is the edge of the RSPB sanctuary at Arne.

I love this place.

Balls. He nicked my boat.

So did he.

They didnt like it, so I got it back.

Then things got hairy.

The wind had been steadily rising.

The tide was getting stronger. We were nearly at the point where we needed to have to stop.

Maybe we should have.

The stretch of water here is the water ski area.

Some lunatic with 3 kids on a blow up rind hurtled past in a speed boat.

They were gone before their wake turned my little ones boat over.

He managed to half turn it into the wake, but a wave got him as well.

The weight in the boat made it difficult to right.

We were at least 150 yards out.

He didnt panic.

I managed to get alongside.

He kept hold of his boat.

I told him to get into the corner between my outrigger arm and my canoe so he could hop onto the back of mine and bail his from there.

Only, there was too much wind and too much waves.

He also tried to jump on mine from upright.

This pushed mine under.

Now we had two canoes full of water.

Biggest couldnt get too close as the waves were throwing the boats about and washing straight over mine.

A wave took Little Idea back off my boat and into the sea.

While he was splashing around, I managed to tie his boat on and was fighting to get to my VHS radio in case we had to call for help.

He ended up laying across my boat, bailing out his with my billy, as that was all he could reach.

His was emptying, but he would have to stop each time a big wave came and just hang on.

Credit where credit is due, there was no panic about him. He just pushed on and did what he was supposed to do.

Then another big wave came....

Bed time.

Gnite.

 

[No Idea]

Mine ended up swamped too.

I sort of rolled over and got over the side to take some weight out of mine. I needed it to rise a few inches so I could start to bail it.

I was sort of in the gap between the boat and the outrigger.

Littlest managed to finish his and rolled back in.

Mine settled more level and rose enough to stop taking on any more water.

Biggest had managed to get hold of the rope on the front of my canoe and was paddling furiously for the beach.

Discovered a problem as soon as I got close enoug to touch the bottom. This part of the bottom was thick mud.

Biggest managed to drag us a bit further down past the mud.

I was pretty much exhausted by the time I made it to solid ground.

By this time, I had most of the water out, but still not all.

I bailed the boat and had a brew with our coke can stoves so we wouldnt make any smoke.

I needed to settle a bit.

While I was drinking it, I noticed the wind changing direction.

Within 20 minutes, the wind swung from SW to W. It had been practically straight in our faces all the way there, and now was going to be straight in our faces all the way back.

My little one, who never really worries about much, came and told me his arms were aching and he didnt know how much more paddle they had in them.

I had expected to have the wind behind us on the return, allowing me to tow him with the sail if I needed to...Not an option now the wind had moved.

I suggested to my eldest, who is a bit like Obilisk, that he stay close just in case Little One needed a tow for the rest of the trip.

I was hoping it wouldnt be me needing it.

The trip back started hard, then gradually got worse.

Couldnt understand why we seemed to be barely moving, until I sussed the tide had changed and now was against us too.

Still....at least it dropped the wave height to manageable levels.

The kids staggered out of the water several minutes before me.

We stopped in the pub on the way back for some tea.

THe kids were far too tired to cause any mischief, although one of them had flatulance...

This waitress walking past, sniffed, coughed and glared at the people on the next table.

My two managed to look angelic until after she went....

....just.

We all slept in the following day.

 

[No Idea]

Learned some more about the strengths and limitations of these canoes.

Convinced myself that I still hate canoes.

Littlest discovered he had some strength that he didnt know about, that if he needs it, he can call on.

Biggest had a nice time.

I discovered I still have that pigheaded determination to push on and win if I really need to.

Came out of this day feeling battered but somehow stronger.

Three good wins.

Not sure how they will write this up from their perspectives, but I will make sure to wait a few days before presenting the pics for them to stick in their diaries.

 

[swyn]

Now that was a fun read and lovely pictures! Thanks
No 5 (boy) is working out how the Mirror dinghy goes together. This still needs some attention from me but I'm nearly done. The new oars are just drying from their second coat of paint.
Brightlingsea beckons next week-end Hay making this one.

 

[No Idea]

Tue 26th July

Staggered out of bed late. Very late.

THe kids, much to my surprise, wernt whingeing about anything, beyond some sore feet.

Not quite sure how they managed that.

Was expecting visitors to arrive, so until they arrive...admin.

Emptied the boats. Discovered the outrigger on mine took on a little water. Cant quite see where. Need to keep an eye on it.

Polystyrene in the kids boats looks a bit battered, but is still surviving.

The Locktite arrived. BIggest fitted the bearings on one side of the trailer and got the wheel back on.

Couldnt finish it as the grease gun hadnt arrived.

Sent the kids on foot tot he Greasy Spoon for breakfast and met them there.

Restocked the house at the shops after.

Easy bbq in the afternoon/evening.

Curled up in a heap in the lounge in our bags after watching some mindless violence on the box.

Good easy day. Even my two need some down time occasionally.

 

[No Idea]

Hi Swyn

Thats brilliant!

Hope you have lots of pics too!

Please post them as we would love to see them.

Is he going to sail it too?