Keeping up with the Culveys – Dec 2014

Let me set the scene, it’s the middle of Summer, the days are long, and the sun is warm... Sounds great, and a long way from how it feels as I write this (because it’s the 1st March!). Still the memories are great, and many, read on to find out.

We left you last time following our rather glamorous day at the races, and races remained the order of the day as it was Indi and Kai’s Sports day!! Both of them were keen participants and enjoyed the team spirit created by the four house teams. Logan also had a blast cheering on his Brother and Sister! Keeping the competitive spirit going, we had a great afternoon Dragon Boat racing with Kai’s cub group. Diego and I joined Kai in the boat and gave them the boost they needed, our team won every race. Kai loved it, and especially the winning part!

Celebrations were the order of the day in July as we headed West to Nanny and Grampy’s for their Golden Wedding Anniversary. It was a lovely day with family and friends from throughout Mum and Dad’s married life. We had lunch at the village hall and Dad gave a funny (and a bit long) recount of the decades of marriage!! We followed this with a slideshow to music that I had pulled together with Gav’s help. Plenty of laugh’s and stories!

July is always busy as the school year comes to an end. At Jennett’s Park, we have the school fete and the finals of Jennett’s Park’s got talent! Kai had made it through to the final, and he played a lovely piece of music on the piano. He didn’t win, as he was trumped by a very impressive gymnast.

The end of term show is also a key part to the end of the year, this years show was called Aladdin Trouble, which was a great twist on Aladdin! Indi played OneTwo the main villains side kick and enjoyed some great lines!

Karate gradings came around again and both Indi and Kai were commended for their progress, it seems we are developing a couple of smiling Ninja’s!!  On the same day, India headed off to do her piano grade 2 exam as well! All went well, and her playing skills continue to grow, her rendition of Adele’s Someone like you is wonderful.

Finally before the kids headed into the summer hols, India had a sleepover at school, the theme was survival and they simulated crash landing a plane on a desert island, needless to say it was great fun but they didn’t get a lot of sleep!! This gave Indi a bit of a challenge as the following day we went off to Blenhiem Palace to meet Jane and Guy, her clan, and Abi for Battle of the Proms. What a truly British day, a little bit cooler than you would like for an outdoor day (but dry), fab re-enactments and a brilliant fly by with a WWII Spitfire. The music was good although they scrimped on the speakers sadly, but the day finished in style with an amazing firework display.

Not to be out done, Kai also had a school sleepover, but for him it was held at a very posh private school, Wellington College in Ascot. Well in the grounds to be fair, as they were camping!!

Earlier in the year, we had bought tickets for the kids to see Bastille at Somerset House in London, India in particular had been a big fan of Bastille and we were all looking forward to their first gig. What we hadn’t considered was that it was very close to their end of year performance from Artemis. Guess what, they had a dress rehearsal the same night! I think Lyra and I were more gutted I was really looking forward to bringing them to their first gig. Never mind, Uncle Chris and Kara stepped up and came along. It was a brilliant gig, Bastille were amazing, and the venue was excellent. Loved it!

One thing we love doing is catching up with old friends from our travels when possible. One such opportunity arose in July, Marcelle and Mazan were over from Kuwait with their brood,  Chloe and Chad. We arranged to meet up at a nice pub for dinner. The kids all got on famously and within minutes were running around the garden like long lost pals, complete with a little fella trying desperately to keep up!! It was a great evening and catching up with such friends was a joy. They always remind us of how much we miss our time overseas....

So, Indi & Kai’s show I was talking about was Aesop's Fables. Both Indi and Kai had great parts, but their key roles were the Tortoise in the Hare and the Tortoise for Kai (brilliant casting!!) and Bunny the roving reporter for Indi. They were excellent and the whole show was brilliant performed, it truly showed how much hard work they had all put into it, thoroughly entertaining!!

Then before we knew it, that was it, school was over for another year! Whilst being excited that it was holiday time, the end of term was a bit sad too for India and Kai as Mr Cotteral their wonderful Deputy Head was leaving the school to take up a new role. He got a great send off, and our guys will always remember him fondly, he was an inspiration and great support for them both.

School holiday madness started in earnest pretty much straight away! The first few weeks were full of trips up to see Abi, Kiera, and Cam, Claire, and her little Fitts came to stay, which is always a blast! and this time included Legoland (of course!), Matilda, Madame Tussaud's, and of course, dinner down the pub! Then before we knew it we were meeting Nanny and Grampy down at Monkey World for an afternoon with some close relatives, before saying bye, bye, to Indi and Kai for a few days!! The highlight of their trip was the Bristol Balloon Festival, which is always a stunning sight.

The next weekend was back down to pick them up then that was followed by a jaunt back up to Northampton, on the way we met Anita and Alan in MK. Lyra and India had a go at Airkix which is indoor free fall parachuting, they both did amazing! Then Alan stoked up the BBQ and cooked us up a treat in the rain!! The following day we reached Northampton and met the gang at the Queen Eleanor (there has to be better places!!). Then it was straight home to pack our bags for our epic trip to the good olde US of A!!

We flew, much to the delight of the kids Business class to Washington DC (good old Avios!!). We picked up our mini van and headed into the city in search of our hotel which was in Arlington, close to the Pentagon and by the huge Military cemetery. Remarkably we found the place and spent the afternoon wondering the immense cemetery and admiring the Iwo Jima Memorial. The sun was shining, it was all pretty wonderful, we were very glad to be away on our hols as a family!

The next day was the start of our epic journey.... when we booked the trip we were having great difficulty finding flights into Orlando, so we thought, let’s fly in further North and drive down.... so we did, 900 miles North!!! Day 1 was Washington DC to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina! The route wasn’t too tough, the only complications were getting out DC, and finding Myrtle Beach! The 500 miles in between were a synch, if a little dull! The kids did pretty well, especially Logan, but it was a long 12 hours drive! We did eventually find the place and just about had enough time to hit the beach and have our first holiday swim in the sea, followed up with a very unhealthy fried stuff dinner before crashing out!!

It was another driving day to follow, we were heading all the way to Orlando today, just the 400 and something miles. Our first big challenge was to get back to I95 that would take us most of the way, the maps were causing us trouble, the locals seemed to be sending us off in all sorts of directions, so we headed into Walmart and purchased a life saving Sat Nav!! Oh yes, a quality purchase, and plain sailing from there on in all the way to Orlando!! The second saving grace in Walmart was DVD’s! Our Minivan was fitted with an in car DVD player, so the kids overdosed on movies. The most memorable being Despicable Me as Logan developed his great passion for Minions, or La La’s to Logan, which has stuck ever since... bottom!!

It was another 10 hour or so hike, but as the sun went down we pulled into the Marriott Vacation Club Cypress Harbor... we were home!! Our Apartment was lovely, just how we remembered it from a few years back, the kids were straight into the big hot tub, all great fun until an over excited Logan dropped the video camera into the bath!! And that was the end of the camera! Thanks god for iPhones, or we would have had no footage to enjoy!

Our first full day in Florida was spent at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in the rain. We didn’t mind really, it was warm rain. Then as the evening closed in we hopped over to EPCOT for dinner and the fb fireworks. Next day we had the pleasure of meeting up with friends! Yes the Aingers of Kuwait were at their place just outside Orlando, so we took a trip out to say hi. We had a great day around the pool, a few beers, a lot of laughs, and really caught up on all that was happening on the sandy side. We had such a great time, we ended up staying over!

Of course we headed off to the parks again, next was Hollywood Studios with the sun beating down making it a sweaty affair. We had fast passes to the excellent Aerosmith roller coaster, with Kai and Indi experiencing it for the first time! I went first with Kai, he was a little nervous, but excited too. We strapped ourselves in and before we knew we were rocketing around the super fast, in the dark, rocking ride... Being strapped in so tight, you can’t see each other on the rife, and the music is loud, so you can’t chat. It was only when we came to a halt that I realised my man Kai was not having a good time :-( It was all a bit too fast, dark, and scary for him and sadly he didn’t want to repeat the experience. Kai is not an extreme roller coaster man! Net it was Lyra and Indi’s turn... Kai and I waited outside with Logan, and when the girls appeared out t he other side of the ride, the contrast couldn’t have been greater, Indi was buzzing, she loved it!! Her only complaint was why did people find it necessary to scream all the way around!!!

We finished off our week one with a brilliant day with Jackie, Carl, and the girls at Daytona beach, sitting under the pier, Logan in his paddling pool, a couple of beers, swimming in the sea, great chat, and finished the day off with a dodgy tepenyaki where we only just made it through the door before they closed, and were then given the tepenyaki experience at high speed as they tried to rush us through and back out the door! We were having none of it, and eventually they gave in, and just sat around waiting for us to run out of steam!

There were more hot days in the parks of course, Kai found a ride he loved, the speed test at EPCOT, sadly though Indi wasn’t well so we had to head home early that day. Then Saturday night was a night out for the Adults at a bar with a dueling piano’s! Cocktails and beer flowed well in to the night!! Yep, we all got a little silly, eventually ending up back at Jackie and Carl’s where he made the mistake of having a doze and became the latest contributor to the ice bucket challenge without even asking!!! Needless to say , the following day needed to be a quiet one, and we didn’t even manage to leave Jackie’s place... it was great.

Week two followed a similar theme with trips to the Magic Kingdom, which Logan loved, with all the Mickey’s, and Kai declared that he really didn’t like Mickey Mouse!! We watched a few episodes of American Idol live which was great fun and stayed late to watch the magical light show and fireworks in the rain!! Hollywood Studio’s was also on the itinerary. We met Kai and Indi’s pool buddy Will and his parents to watch the Fantasia extravaganza. What a great show, really impressive, lots of explosions and some pretty dark moments too, we thought maybe logan might get scared (based on Indi and Kai when they were little) but no, he loved it!!

In between the parks we managed another trip to Daytona beach with the Aingers, on Jackie’s birthday in fact! Jackie got a great long board and we all spent the day trying desperately to surf, on what can only be described as an awesome surf day!! There was a great swell and there was some serious surfing going on.... just not by us!! We ended the day on the pier for dinner and drinks which topped off one the best days of the whole holiday!

After all the action over the past two weeks we actually chose to spend a day going nowhere and spent the day around the pool, the kids had a great day in and out of the pool, especially around the jacuzzi section which Logan just adored. Their little buddy Will was there too so they were well occupied most of the day. During the afternoon Gatorland held a demo at the hotel so all the kids headed up to watch. Following the introduction they called out for a volunteer, Indi was instantly on her feet and was picked out to head to the front. The keeper explained that they didn’t just look after alligators at Gatorland but many different animals, some of which he had with him. Next thing we knew Indi was stood there, hands out, eyes closed..... then he placed a tarantula on her hands!!!!! Indi’s face was a picture when she opened her eyes as she is petrified of spiders!!! Big respect though, she didn’t drop it, she stayed very still and toughed it out while we were all told about the deadly tarantula!!

They showed us a great array of wonderful creatures, but then it was time to see the gators. Obviously they don’t bring the big guys with them so everyone was able to queue up and hold the little fella (I say little, he was just over a metre long I guess). Everyone got a great photo with the gator and a desire to go an visit.... great marketing!

Before we headed back north on the return leg back to Washington DC we took the Ainger clan for an Airboat ride in the everglades gator spotting! It was a corking day, and blasting through reeds on this huge hairdryer was brilliant fun! There were a good few gators around as well as plenty of other wildlife. At the centre there was great zoo too with lots of rather large alligators, but also lots of other animals and birds. We grabbed lunch at a Chinese buffet, that had enough food to feed an army, and then it was time to say goodbye to our lovely friends as they were heading home and we were heading back north the following day. Very sad, but seeing Jackie, Carl, Georgia, and Sydney had made this holiday truly memorable and very special. We miss them terribly!!

 So the epic return journey started, we managed to get all of our big suitcases packed and back in the bus, the sat nav was on, so was the DVD player blasting out Minions! I listened to that movie about 5 times before I actually watched it!! Today we were heading up to South Carolina and the lovely city of Charleston. It had been recommended to us by an American friend of mine and ww were thrilled to see it was a beautiful, traditional, quiet, American city. More of a big town really, but wonderful wooden houses, and the friendliest people you could imagine. The Southern hospitality, is all true, everyone we met had time to chat, and were full for advice and history of the area.

One great piece of advice we took was to head out to Folly Beach in the evening for dinner. It was a lovely place, we had a brilliant dinner sat out on the pier, and even met the Folly beach fire brigade who impressed Logan no end by flashing all their lights for him, then coming up to speak to all the kids and give them gift packs to remember their experience, it was just fab. After dinner we took a stroll along the pier and again met some lovely people.

It was time to head on though, and we made the final push back to DC the next day. It was again a long drive, but we managed to keep Logan amused with La La’s and spotting his new other obsession diggers!! It was late afternoon as we rolled into the nations capital and took the directions all through the city to our hotel for the night... the very posh JW Marriott Pennsylvania Ave (just up the road from President Obama’s place!!).

Being so central was was great and that evening after dinner we took a walk over to the White House to wave to the President before crashing out for our last night of the holiday!! Before we headed to the airport though we had most of the day to have a quick look around the place. Now clearly you can’t do DC in a day, but the sun was shining so we headed over to great monuments and saw the White House, the Washington Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, and the memorials for WWII, Vietnam, and the Korean war. Hugely impressive, all set around the huge reflecting pool, it was the fulfilling of an ambition of mine, and I wasn’t disappointed. 

Still time was running out so we packed up the car one last time and drove across to the airport and home.... A memorable adventure, and the realization, that Indi and Kai were well and truly over Disney!! 

Reality bit as soon as we arrived back home early on the Monday morning on the first day of September as I had to unload the taxi, have a shower, put on my suit and head straight in to work! Now that was one long day! 

September brought a few changes for us, not just starting a new year at school (Indi’s last at Jennett’s Park!!) but it was time to say goodbye to Diego as he was heading home to Spain after 8 months of Culvey time. We were all very as that Diego had to go home as he had really become part of the family and was loved by all, especially Logan. Before we actually said goodbye though we all had a day together in London. We had lunch in Giraffe on the South Bank, and then took the river cruise up the Thames to the Tower of London where the WWI commemorations were in full bloom. The ‘blood swept lands’ poppy display all around the moat of the Tower of London was breathtaking and a real spectacle to experience.

We took the cruise back down the thames as it was time to head to Battersea Park to take part in an experience that I had bought the family for Christmas... trapezing!! We ranged from very excited (me, and Indi), to excited but nervous (Lyra), to really not too happy about it at all (Kai!). The guys were great, really friendly, and they took us through the plan on the training bar. We all had a turn at hanging upside down to get a feel for what we were to aim to do on the trapeze itself. Then it was time to climb the ladder and give it a go. One by one we ascended to the platform and had a go. It was really quite difficult to complete as they had showed us, but we had 3 or 4 try’s to complete the task. We all had a go, but for Kai it was really tough. He was the youngest to try it, so it was huge credit to him to even get up there and try. We were all holding our breath as he stood on the platform waiting to have his go. It then became clear that he was too short to reach the bar! So what happened, they told him to jump, and grab it!! His fear was written all over his face, but he did it!!! Our brave man jumped from an 18m high platform and grabbed the trapeze and swung through the air!! he didn’t attempt to hang by his legs, but for an 8 year old he had done amazing.

Kai decided he didn’t want to try again, but his hero status was confirmed by completing it once, we were all proud of him. The rest of had a few more goes to get it right, then it was the test. Swing once with our hands, roll over and hang by our feet by the second swing. If we could do this, then they would attempt to allow us to by be CAUGHT and swung from another trapeze artist!! The pressure was on, I hadn’t completed one successfully, but when it came to the crunch I did it!!! Couldn’t believe it! Sadly neither Ly nor Indi could get the timing quite right, so it was just me that had a go at the final move to be caught! Timing was everything, I had to follow their instruction exactly, but I did it!! It was an amazing experience and felt incredible! We would recommend it, search Gorilla Circus and get down to Battersea park!!!

So the day came to say goodbye to Diego, we had lunch at Loch Fyne, then Diego treated the kids to some lovely presents, then before we knew it he was gone and we were adjusting to life without him. We decided that we would not replace Diego, and we would se how things went, without the assistance. Well it certainly took some adjustment for us all, but especially Ly, but we have found the routine now and Kai is loving being able to have his own room after to spending almost two years sharing a bedroom with Logan!!

For the last 3 years I have been working with Kai to teach him to ride his bike. It has been a roller coaster experience for us both, and had certainly made it clear that I should never consider a career in teaching!! Bit, before September ended, we had a breakthrough and our Kaibo finally made it in to that exclusive club of bike riders!! I cannot tell you how pleased I was!! The challenge still remains though, as he is still not  a fan of turning corners!!

As September ended, it was time to do my 6 monthly trip to Asia, this time I was going to Shanghai as well as Hong Kong so I would be away for 10 days. Thankfully Granddad was on hand to help with the multiple school and after school club runs! It was my first time to Shanghai, and I really enjoyed discovering this great city as I had the weekend there and was treated to an excellent tour by my colleague Maggie. While I was enjoying Asia, Lyra took Granddad and the kids for a day in Windsor with a boat ride up the Thames thrown in for good measure! Lyra also spends a day in London with her Dad and finally takes him on the London Eye, which was his birthday present (given in March!!). It was a beautiful late summers day, so the view from the eye was great, and they also relaxed in St James Park to finish the day off.

I returned back from Hong Kong on the Saturday, but there was no time to chill out as we had arranged to meet Mel, Mentesh, Leah, and Kayan in Watford to watch the live show of Horrible Histories! The kids loved it, but I have to be honest and say my main focus was just staying awake as the jet lag kicked in big time!!

Suddenly it was October and time to celebrate our Logan turning two!! Two years has flown by, and we no longer have a baby, we have a wonderful little man who fills our lives with joy and laughs everyday! Logan’s birthday started by us all waking him up and filling his cot with balloons whilst singing happy birthday!! Needless to say he loved it! It was a relatively quiet day, Chris came down to see the little man and Nanny & Grampy made the trip too! The lucky little fella got himself an electric quad bike for his birthday which he thought was just great!!

Logan wasn’t the only young man with a birthday as Devon hit a major milestone in October, 18!!Now, being a cool fella, he didn’t want a fuss, so an exclusive bunch were invited to join Devon for a curry at the world famous curry house on the Wellie road in Northampton, Imrans! Ok, so it’s ‘world’ famous... Anyway, in preparation for Devon’s big night, Jane had asked Chris to say a few words, as he has been close to Devon, through most of his life. Sadly Chris was booked on a retreat that weekend and would be busy having a colonic! This meant roll out the super sub, yes, you guessed it, yours truly!! Now we didn’t want Chris to get off scot free, so we got him to record a video message that we played on the night, it was a thriller... but you had to be there! Alongside Chris’s kind words, I did say a few too, and we toasted Devon and the life of adventure ahead of him!! Needless to say, Dev found it all a bit embarrassing, he was grateful, but couldn’t wait to get back to chatting with everyone!

Lyra and I were treated to what has become a rare night out alone (since giving up the Au-pairs!). Our treat was a night (well a couple of hours at least) with the very excellent Ed Sheeran at the O2. He was fabulous, one man and his guitar on a stage in front of 20,000 people and he completely filled that stage, bloody brilliant!!

As the month drew to a close it was of course Halloween!! Logan kicked it off for us this year with his party at Nursery! He went dressed as the devil in his horned all in one, and a trident!! he looked a picture! That was carried on with a great night trick or treating around Blamire Drive and the local areas with our three plus, Sammy & Euan, and Josh from Indi’s class arrived in the knick of time to join the rampage around the streets in the search of buckets of sweets! Logan really got the hang of it and was marching up to peoples doors in no time!!

Kick on the heels of halloween of course is Guy Fawkes! This year we chose to go back to Legoland after the great display last year, and the fact that this years show was themed around Chima, kai’s favourite lego! We headed over to Legoland in the afternoon so the kids could enjoy some of the park first, then as the sun went down we found ourselves a patch of grass, laid out the picnic blanket, and literally chilled until the show started! There was definitely the need for blankets, but we were well prepared and a good family huddle ensured we were all snug and warm ready for the display. As expected, the show was spectacular, even if we had miss judged where the fireworks would come from and had to make a swift switch around to get a good view!!

On the 11th of the 11th it was of course Remembrance Day, and this year being 100 years since WW1 started it was a particularly poignant one. As Indi was one of the most experienced Brownies, she had been promised the opportunity to carry the flag for her troop in Binfield, she was over the moon, and felt very honoured to be chosen. This was only slightly tempered when we found out that she could carry the flag to the church, but then she would have to hand it over, as she was going to have to shoot off to her Panto rehearsals! Kai as a cub now was also taking part in Remembrance day at Jennetts Park. After dropping Indi at her rehearsal we hot footed it over to Jennetts Park, just in time t join the ceremony there too. Luckily it was a cold, crisp, but beautifully sunny day.

Grandad came down again for a few days as i was off to Russia, I’m starting to think he is avoiding me, as he always comes when I go away!! Only joking Mike, we are always happy to have your helping hands!! During my trip to Moscow, I was lucky enough to get to go to an Ice Hockey game to watch CSK Moscow. It was my first live game, and I have to say it was great fun, and a great team evening with my Russian friends.

As November rolled on, it became very clear that Christmas was on it’s way. One, because our tree went up (yes, in November!!), and two, the Christmas fairs began. We headed over to Sunninghill, near Ascot with Kai and Logan (Indi was rehearsing as usual!), for a fun few hours looking at all the Christmas stalls, seeing Santa, and riding on the fairground rides! Logan managed to convince us to buy him a Minion (La La) balloon which he adored, and the lasted a good few months stuck to the ceiling in his bedroom! A bit of mulled wine and few mince ies and we were well and truly ready for Christmas to start!!!

Just because we are not busy enough, our wonderful investments in Bulgaria required one of us to head over and take part in an owners meeting in Bansko, in the mountains outside of Sofia. Lyra won the toss and she headed over for a weekend of ‘fun’. The meetings all went well, and she even had the time to head up into the mountains and enjoy some of the amazing scenery all around that area. If all things get sorted it could be a wonderful resort. One day.....

After weeks of long rehearsals all through October and November, the big day arrived before the end of November and it was Indi’s opening performance in her first professional panto, Aladdin, at South Hill Park in Bracknell. Indi’s commitment to this has been first class and it really showed as she put in a wonderful performance. Especially seeing as the Culvey’s had booked the entire front row, with Chris, Grandad, Abi, Kiera, and Cam, plus Olivia all joining us to watch Indi and her troop put on a wonderful show. This was the first of 20 shows that Indi would do over the next 6 weeks, and she was absolutely loving it!!

Now many of you may have noticed that our Logan is a bit of a big boy! Well it was never more obvious that he was on the grande size than when we put him to big, the poor boy filled his cot from top to bottom!! To remedy this, Logan made the transition to sleeping in his big boy bed!! To make it feel more his we decked it all out in La La’s (Minions for those not paying attention). Logan loved it, and settled right into it very quickly! After a few weeks we quietly removed his cot, just in case he started to like the idea of going back to his old cot...

It’s December!!! And the count down to Christmas is well and truly on! To kick off the party season, it was time for the TCC Christmas do! It was all held in central London, so Ly and i booked into a hotel, thanks to Abi kindly coming down and keeping the kids out of trouble for a night. It was a fun do, Arabian themed (although not sure why??) and the venue was complete with a rodeo camel!! Needless to say Lyra and I were among the first to give it a try, and it didn’t get competitive at all.... well maybe a little!!

After a very nice quiet start to day in our hotel, we had a wonder around Covent Garden, and picked up a ew more Christmas presents, had a nice curry for lunch, before heading back to our lovelies and relieved Abi of her burden!

The following week it was a night out with the Love’s to Reading’s Comedy Club for some Christmas giggles. We had a front row table (always a little concerning in a comedy club), thank fully we were relatively un troubled from the comedians. Sadly the talent was a bit lacking, and 2 of the 3 were a bit pants, and lacking in inspiration. Luckily, the compere was funny, and so was the final act, ho saved the night and had us all giggling.

Before the cubs finished for Christmas, they had a final bash at the dry ski slope where they did a spot of snow tubing. It never fails to amuse me how much energy our Kai can find when he really wants too, and snow tubing is definitely one of those wants, he was up and down that slope all evening!! they all had a ball, a great end to cubs year!

Brownies was also drawing to a close for India, but for her it was not just for Christmas, it was time for Indi to leave Brownies for good. She had stayed on especially to carry the flag, but now it was Indi’s last Brownies meeting. The pack presented her with a lovely framed collage of photo’s of Indi’s experiences in the Brownies and everyone gave her a lovely send off, it’s fair to say she was a popular girl in the pack. 

Indi also got the pleasure of performing in Aladdin to her Brownie Pack as they came to watch the Panto on one of Indi’s performances, Indi was very excited to be able to perform for her pack, and they all loved it, and gave her a wonderful reception after the show!!

Next on our Christmas build was Carols at the Albert Hall! This was the second time we had joined Steph and Grandad for a good old sing song to get us fully in the Christmas spirit, and once again it was a great afternoon. We followed it up with some dinner, we had been on a bit of a hunt to find somewhere to eat as it was all a bit busy, but we found an italian place and while we were getting ourselves sorted, Indi and Kai sat themselves at their own table and ordered dinner via the iPads set up at the tables!! Hilarious! Needless to say we had to take a look at their order and make a couple of changes, but you have to love their independence these days!!

Then all of a sudden and I’ve finished work and we’re heading towards Northampton for our Annual pre-Christmas extravaganza! This year we kicked off with a Peck Family Christmas lunch at the lovely Fawsley Hall, it was Tan’s birthday so we all treated her to lunch, complete with a visit from Father Christmas! Logan was an absolute delight when Santa arrived, he was so excited (he really got Christmas this year), but waited very patiently while Santa visited each table and met all the kids. Once he finally got to Logan, he was in complete awe of Santa, and politely thanked him for his gift. It was a lovely moment. Sadly the lovely moments turned to pressure as the lunch had dragged on too long and Tan needed to shoot of to her ‘not such a surprise’ 40th birthday party back  in Kettering. Auntie and Uncle headed off with Tan, as we sorted out the dinner bill etc so Tan  wasn’t too late, then we jumped in the car and headed off to join them at Tan’s party.

Bizarrely (or not so bizarrely, if you know Auntie and Uncle well) we managed to leave half an hour after them, and still arrive half an hour before they did in Kettering, what happened remains a bit of a mystery, but lets just say Tan’s guest had to wait about two hours for the guest of honour to finally grace her own party!! Big respect to Steve (Tan’s Fiancee) he kept very cool and calm about the whole thing. Then again, he does live with Tan, so I am sure this was just another day in the crazy life of our Tan ;-)!!

Once she turned up the party really got started, and guess what Santa turned up their as well! Seemed to confuse Logan a little, especially as Santa looked like he had been dragged through a hedge backwards compared to the Santa he had met not two hours earlier at Fawsley Hall!! Still, he came bearing gifts so all was good in the world!

The following day we were heading back to Fawsley Hall to meet Ann and Becky (Fellow Juicy friends)! We hadn’t seen them for about 2 years so it was brilliant to catch up and introduce them to our lovely littlies. We had a really nice afternoon with them, but it was over too soon. We vowed to not leave it so long before we met up again...

We checked into Fawsley for the night, and Grandad came over to baby sit in the room, while Lyra and i headed downstairs for a lovely quiet night with Jane and Guy. It was a lovely evening of great conversations, great food, and even a little great wine or two!! Then, after sending Grandad home, we could collapse into our beautiful, huge, four poster bed and just relax our way into our wedding anniversary... yep 13 years of wedded bliss were celebrated with a late breakfast, and a gentle drive back down the M40 home and  quiet day together as a family.

Chris and Kara joined us Christmas Eve and helped us get ready for Santa, the port was out, the mince pies, carrots for the reindeer, the stockings out ready, and then all that was left was to sprinkle the magic reindeer food onto the front garden and go to bed before they came to visit! Before going to bed, the kids checked the Santa Radar on the computer to see where he had managed to deliver up to so far, then it was off to bed to make sure everyone was a asleep in time!!

Christmas day started very early, thanks, not to Logan, but India and Kai who were up some ridiculous hour rummaging through Christmas stockings!! Then Logan woke, and discovered to his joy that Santa had delivered!! he was beside himself with excitement that Santa had been during the night! Once we were up, showered, dressed, breakfasted, and a glass of champagne was poured we sat down for some presents!! it was carnage as usual, and in the end we even decided to take a break to allow the children the chance to take a proper look at their gifts and realise just how lucky they truly are.

After lunch, it was time, for Abi and her merry crew, including Dee, and Tim and Astrid!! Now that certainly livened up the day!! Dinner was served around four and we all dived into a wonderful feast! Next on the agenda, was presents part 2, before we had to say bye to Abi & Co, but then it was part three of the day with an evening over at Joyce and Jims!! After more food, more drinkies, more presents, it was time the Christmas games!! Chris bailed out and took the kids home, but the rest of us got the pencils out and embarked a mammoth game of Balderdash! As the drinks flowed, the answer got more and more strange, and by the time we called it a day, at 3am(!!) nobody could really remember what we were even playing!! Congrats to Joyce, Jim, and Hannah though for managing to stay up with the Culveys while we were on a roll!!

A little lay in on Boxing day was in order but then it time to head off to the Panto again as Indi was performing and we just had to go along again!

On the 27th, we thought ‘why not have a few people round...’!!! We had had a whole day off after all, so we had a house full and another fun evening was played out. as people slowly headed off into the night, there were three people hanging back... surprisingly it was Joyce, Jim, and Hannah! there was a devilish look in their eye and talk started to drift back to Balderdash! And before we knew it we were off again, just for a quick game this time, Ha Ha, yes you guessed it, 3am again!!! These pensioners can really rock!!

The following day, I headed back to work for a rest!! Not for long though as that evening we had arranged to go and see Galina (Indi and Kai’s piano tutor) for a little Christmas drink. Thankfully, we managed to keep ourselves under control and it really was a little drink, but a lovely evening all the same.

To be fair, I think we had reached our fill, as New Years Eve came along, and despite many considerations of different options, we chose to stay at home and have a quiet one with just us! A unique experience that involved trying to teach the kids to play Taboo, with limited success, Jools Holland on the telly, and not many drinks at all! We all sat and watched the fireworks at midnight, wished each other a happy and exciting 2015, and pretty much sloped off to bed.

Now this meant another new experience, for Lyra and I, and that was January 1st without a hangover!! Felt a bit weird...

So 2015 had arrived!! We were all full of hope and positivity for a great year ahead. But before we could get too lost in what may happen this year, we had India’s final performance of Aladdin to enjoy!! We were joined by Nanny & Grumpy, Mia, and Brendan & Judit. We dropped Indi at the theatre and headed to the pub to meet the gang and have a spot of lunch, then all gathered in the front row of the theatre to enjoy Indi’s last performance. Everyone was blown away, Indi was the star of the day, and once we had finally managed to get through the crowds we retired to the pub to celebrate!!

So as we tentatively embark on our new year, I think we can say bye, and see you again in about 6 months to see just how special 2015 is turning out to be!!!

Hope you’ve enjoyed the read, love to all.

Xxxxxxx