SB has been trying very hard to sell air cadets to K, which wasn’t a hard task given that he was already interested anyway. On Saturday there was an open day, so he cut short his sleepover to go to that, with Bob taking him. It was very impressive and he’s even more interested now (as is Bob, I think!) but the major sticking point is still a major sticking point – he would have to cut his hair and he is simply not prepared to do that. He did have it cut a year or so ago, and sent off a 12″ length to the Little Princess Trust, but hated having it short and has been growing it back ever since. SB had rather optimistically suggested that he might be able to keep it long and still join, but staff at the open day gave an unequivocal no to that idea. So air cadets has been shelved as a plan, to be revisited later when perhaps length of hair will no longer be an issue to one or other of the affected parties.
While K and Bob were off finding out about opportunities with the RAF, I was collecting the girls in a rather more leisurely way, with tea and chat involved 😉 L had gym so we headed back in time for that, then enjoyed a quiet Saturday afternoon.
Sunday was a church sandwich: eucharist and mattins for the girls, evensong for the boys and an added special service in the afternoon at our home church, to celebrate and rededicate the refurbished church halls. L was reading at that, while K was singing at evensong, so we took him in early with the girls and left him with friends for the day – a happy solution in all ways other than the early morning, he felt 😉
J and H were due back from Oop North on Monday, by train to the same town where we do gym on Mondays, but a little too late to join in with the session, so we collected them afterwards, then stopped for food because they were as hungry as might have been expected for two teenaged lads who’d spent the morning travelling! They appear to have had a fantastic time, including visits to MOSI, Old Trafford and Alderley Edge, playing with Grandad’s remote controlled boat, watching the rugby and being well and truly stuffed in true grandmotherly style by Gran-gran!
On the way home we got stuck in terrible traffic, but fortunately Bob was working from home, thanks to office redecoration, so he was able to get everything ready and immediately take K and L to string orchestra (and fit in a bit of extra work whilst there) while I sent H off to the swimming pool (“I’ve been sitting down in a train or a car all day” not being a good enough excuse, after a week off, to get out of it in my eyes – we had words :roll:) and the rest of us pottered and got dinner ready.
Tuesday was a quiet catching up day (including some last minute work ready for WedEd the next day – nothing like a deadline to keep things moving!). I had a training call from my business support mentor at Usborne, which was really helpful in making some decisions clearer for me and Bob was still working from home, which I suspect is nicer for us than it is for him! A had Brownies in the evening, while L had fencing, which she is really enjoying.
Bonus WedEd on Wednesday 🙂 We went to TheBabs’ for a change, so swimming was added to the curriculum – or at least playing in water 😛 Science happened, as did Maths for those who wanted to do it, but lapbooks remained unopened since we were a little short of time and a new venue meant it was all just too exciting! We left J and H there and came back for choir, then HH kindly gave them a lift home. This could have meant extra time for maths, but I think actually led to extra computer gaming. Ah well.
On Thursday I was helping to test a new website for ICE, which involved using remote meeting software for video conferencing. I had to get J up to help me set it up – it’s so helpful to have a choice of computer whizz in the family 😉 It all took a little longer than expected (apparently I was the very first tester and there were a few issues to work through) so the children had to rush around and get themselves ready to go out while I finished off, then we dashed to multisport and made it in time to meet the others as they walked to the park. Phew! It was such a lovely day that the parents and hangers-on decided to sit in the park too, and we had a very interesting discussion about societal expectations and similar highbrow topics – it’s been a while since I did that and it was good 🙂 Trombone hasn’t got going yet, so we were able to stay and chat for a while at the end, unusually, but not as long as the children would have liked, I fear, before having to get A to gym and starting the quick turnaround of dinner and car-packing before collecting A again and going to band. K and H were both in junior band this week, rather than in lessons. They’re progressing well 🙂
Early cello on Friday, but no violin because L was getting more and more snuffly through the day and when I asked her teacher if he’d rather she didn’t come he said yes. Usual choirs and swimming to fill the evening and self-propelled work to fill the day. Saturday was another day of poddling along, with music school for the girls in the morning and gym for L in the afternoon, while Sunday was similarly quiet. The boys and I did start to get ready for Scaresville though, finding black clothes and dark shoes and working out what layers we could wear so I could see what gaps still needed filling.
