We went out with Janet and James last night, and for what I believe was the first time the kids had a ‘stranger’ babysit for them. Stranger is a relative term; we’re part of a babysitting circle, so everyone there is at least a ‘friend of a friend’, and our babysitter’s daughter is one of Claire’s Brownies. All went well, we received a good report, and my only fear now is that I’ll be expected to take part in a game of charades like they played last night. For the record, Sam chose a different Star Wars movie each time.
Babysat
December 6th, 2011The update of shame
December 5th, 2011OK, it’s been too long since the last update, as evidenced by the amount of stuff I don’t seem able to recall. Here’s what does spring to mind:
Parent-Teacher meetings for both went very well. Lauren is likely to be entered for the standard SATs they do at the end of year 6 plus the following year’s SATs, which apparently gives the high school a head start on placing her in the right groups. She was complimented particularly for the enthusiasm she displays in most subjects; she works hard to do more than she’s been asked to do. We laughed about this, as it’s very much the opposite of Sam, who while every bit as smart as Lauren will do the minimum required so that he can concentrate on things that are important to him. At the moment that consists of a 3 page explanation of the Tudor elements of a game he likes, with annotated diagrams and an impressive amount of text. None of this was required, but he wanted to do it so it happened.
Christmas lists have been compiled and tweaked, using Amazon for the first time instead of the previous list of Argos catalogue numbers. In another contrast between the two Lauren has a carefully crafted list of 11 things she’d really like, whereas Sam’s list is a scattergun collection of over 40 items. He would say, nonetheless, that he would really like each one of them.
Lauren went on a residential trip to Beaulieu for a week with school. She appeared to enjoy it, at least judging by the number of “This one time, at band camp” stories we’ve heard. Sam reacted similarly to a weekend away with his friend Kyle during the summer. Given the number of anecdotes he had to relate it appears a weekend camping in the New Forest is equivalent to at least a week in the real world.
That’s it for now, I’ll promise to try to do better with updates (which isn’t the same as actually doing better, of course).
Tudors
September 19th, 2011Sam just brought in a book about the Tudors, asking if he could take it to school as they’re studying that period. I agreed, but was thinking that it was an odd thing to do, and that the teacher would presumably have to feign interest. And then I immediately remembered doing exactly the same sort of thing when I was his age, and how pleasing it was to be able to do it.
Orlando Day 4
August 13th, 2011Today was Magic Kingdom, the centrepiece of Disney in Florida. I was struck at how few big thrill rides it and the other parks have; in part that’s a false impression based on our lack of interest in such things, but I still think there’s a deficit compared to, say, Alton Towers. The emphasis on the overall experience instead is what has charmed me.
Lauren: At Magic Kingdom we went on the Runaway Train but I was the only one who enjoyed it. We also went on a jungle cruise which was really funny because the man was cracking jokes.
Sam: My favourite bit at magic kingdom was the runaway train but I also liked the buzz lightyear laser game.
Orlando Day 3
August 7th, 2011Friday was spent at Epcot, or at least half of it; we still have to go back for the world tour bit. This was probably the bit I was looking forward to most. I have a memory, which I may have manufactured entirely, of an uncle telling me about a visit to Epcot. It seemed entirely foreign, a million miles away, and glamorous beyond words. And now I’ve been.
Lauren: My favourite thing at Epcot was by far the Universe of Energy when you saw a ladies dream where she met Dinosaurs and there was lots of anamatronics.
I also really enjoyed the test track where you go really fast
Sam: my favourite thing at Epcot was was defiantly the test track but I also liked the universe of energy