Keeping up with the Culveys – June 2014

As I sit here looking out on the beautiful sunshine, you would think I’m writing this in the midst of summer, but no, it’s the 1st November!! We having some very pleasant, but weird weather right now!!

Unsurprisingly, it’s been a busy year, this having 3 kids thing doesn’t get any simpler, to say it is non stop, truly is an understatement!! Still, lots to tell you about, so I guess I’d better get on with it!

We left off last time just about to head into the new year.. New years Eve itself was spent at home. We played host to the Love’s and the Pause’s. There were a few drinks involved, and probably a few games, but it was a while ago now, so I’ll need to stay vague... What I do know is that at midnight we set off an indoor confetti bomb that made a fantastic mess!!

Now what I do remember about the end of last year is that it was on the wet side, and that January continued that theme right through the month. Heavy rain and high winds turned our garden into a bog and blew down the fences! Any household troubles in Blamire Drive are always a stress as we are in a rented house and to say that the landlord takes a hands off view of property management is an understatement! Still I think the fences were fixed by May...

January of course always hits us with a dose of reality and for the Culvey’s it was Aupair trauma (again!). Sadly, just as we thought Jonathan was settling nicely, he returned home from Christmas in Spain, and swiftly fell into to a depression about missing home. By the end of the month he was heading home.... the search started once again. Thankfully, Jonathan had created a pretty good network of people and he came up trumps with another lamb to the slaughter came into our lives, Diego. Diego came from Madrid, but was already in the UK, working in a Hotel. He was also studying English and keen to work with a UK family so he could get plenty of practice using his England, so he became our 4th Aupair in just over 6 months!!

Of course India owns February, as our Princess had a landmark birthday, she finally made it to double digits!! Before the big day though, both Indi and Kai had their first big challenge of the year, they had their LAMDA exam for performing arts, in fact Indi had two exams! They both approached it with great confidence and did a great job (Kai scored a Distinction, India scored a Distinction, and a Merit). So back to the birthday, her main party was going to happen in March as availability for her chosen fun was all booked around her birthday. Never the less we did have a little shindig at home with Nanny, Grumpy, Grandad, Uncle Chris, Auntie Tanya, Uncle Steve, Kyra, and Isaac, Abi and the crew, Ros and Jed, and Joyce. Lots of cake, crazy kids, and of course a few presents!!

On her actual birthday we had a nice surprise for her, she had been going on about wanting to go for dinner at our local pub, the Stag and Hounds, but it had been closed for a refit. Luckily though, the day before her big day. Ly happened to drive past and noticed it was opening back up on her birthday, so we booked up and had a lovely dinner at the newly tarted up Stag& Hounds, very nice it was too!

Lyra escaped to a spa near Ascot, a gift from last valentines day, Ly booked it in on the very last day before it ran out!! Having said that it was a lovely chilled day, after the stress of getting all the kids to their various places!!

February also saw Kai hit the stage without his Sister for the first time! He was taking part in the Scout Gang Show as a singing cowboy! The show was at South Hill Park and they played to a full house over 4 nights. It was great to see him up there doing his thing. Indi of course was a great member of the audience, giving him all the encouragement she could!

Logan was approaching 18 months and was becoming a right little chatterbox, but was still not walking! He was enjoying zooming around on his hands and knees too much. Meanwhile, India spent a night with the Brownies in a spooky church! She didn’t seem the least bit phased by it, not sure Lyra would have joined in if she’d had the chance!!

As we headed into March it was parents evening time, both Indi and Kai had their teachers gushing about them as usual, India’s teacher declared her undying love for her, and Kai was described inspirational and motivated. It is lovely to hear and reassuring that we are developing great little adults.

I ran the Reading Half Marathon, on a blooming cold Sunday morning! It was just after all the crazy rain of the beginning of the year had finally subsided, but water was all around in the fields. The race went pretty well and I had set myself a 2 hour target. I came so close, but on the way around I just had to pee and when I crossed the line in 2 hours and 9 seconds, I knew that pee had cost me!! I wAS still very very pleased with myself and it was great to end the race in Reading FC’s Madjeski stadium.

Of course March is my birthday, but it seemed that this year, little miss India was going to take it over as it was time for her birthday party. This years party was at Coral Reef, our local fun pool, and it was her own private party, they had the place to themselves! Fun in water walkers and all the slides to themselves. Indi and her 10 besties had a blast! Sadly poor Kaibo was really not well and had to miss out, he was gutted. 

My birthday was a quiet one, but shortly after we had Danny Boy’s 40th and a great night planned in London with the Gilert’s and friends. We started at a great rooftop bar over looking St Pauls in the Spring sunshine, and then it was glad rags on and off to dinner at Gordon Ramsey’s Bread Street. Fab place, top food, and a good few wines to boot! We finished the night off in a couple of bars before heading back to Malmaison to sleep off those beers... In the morning (just) we all headed for a great breakfast before heading home to see our little monkeys.

Before March was out, Kai had some big moments... 1st he passed his 1st Piano grading with an excellent score (very proud!!), then he moved on from Beavers and joined the Cub troop! He was very nervous but in no time at all he was loving all the activities they do. He even did his first cub camp! Now Kai had tried this once before and had got very upset, and resulted in me collecting him in the middle of the night. So this time we were all a bit nervous, but we took a new approach, have Nat and Mike around for dinner and leave the phone in another room!! Kai’s Scout leader did call as he had get scared and upset, but sadly we didn’t hear the phone so he had to tough it out! Great parenting!!! :-( Still, he made it through, and is now actually looking forward to the next camp. 

Indi wasn’t going to be out done though as she had her Karate grading and reached red belt (still one behind her Bro!). The instructors were very pleased, and used her to demo the moves.

I decided to get Ly an early birthday present in April, a respray on her beloved car Midnight... It all happened when I had a close encounter with a bollard at the school (in my defense I was in a hurry to get to the airport), nothing too serious but a lovely dent, a scrape, and left the bumper hanging off!! Sorry Babe!!!

We also had a great day at the Natural History Museum with our old buds the Reids of Kuwait!! It was such good fun and the kids loved seeing Fletcher again, and I think young Fletch was a bit taken with our young Logan, they hit it off big time!! We topped off the day with dinner at Jamie's in Covent Garden, now you can’t get anymore English than that now can you!! Perfect for our Expat Buddies! 

We kicked off April with a trip to see the birds at Feathers and Fur, India and Kai joined a group of adults to meet the birds and showed off their knowledge so much they had to be asked to not answer to give the adults a chance!! Logan watched from a distance but seemed to like the birds!

Kai’s Birthday Bash also had a water theme with a fun hour at his pool party. They kicked off with a bunch of water games and then hit the massive Pirate ship inflatable! All was going well until not one but three of his little buddies slipped off the inflatable into the pool, and at this point we learnt that they couldn’t swim!! Alarms triggered, thankfully they got then out alive, but it was a bit of a scare! There were a few interesting conversations when their Mums came to pick them up!! Key question...it was a pool party, did you not think it was a good idea to mention your lad couldn’t swim!!!??? Still many health and safety forms later, all was well! After the excitement of the pool, it was grub time and they all tucked in merrily to their incredibly nutritious burger king meals!!

If that wasn’t enough, we had a crowd up the following day to celebrate again at home!! All the usual suspects, Grandad, Nanny & Grumpy, Tan, Steve, & Co. and of course Uncle Chris!! Lots more unhealthy grub, lots more cake, the perfect birthday weekend really!!

As we headed towards Easter, Kai’s class led the Easter service at school, it was a brilliant service and kicked off Easter wonderfully. Diego took the opportunity to head home for Easter, so Ly and I had a practice at being solely in charge of our 3 monkeys!! Went pretty well, kept them all in one piece anyway until he came back to rescue us!!

As the weather improved, the kids had a gardening day at school, parents were invited,so Ly went along, by all accounts it was a great day, but you had to graft, something to remember for next year!!!

Before we knew it, the Easter holidays were upon us, and to kick things off we headed down to Nanny and Grumpy’s for the weekend. We arrived in the West Country late on Saturday as Indi and Kai were at South Hill Park to start their Just So workshop, where over the Easter holidays they were rehearsing for a big performance over the holiday weekend (more on this later). Then on the Sunday, we headed over to Bristol to visit the SS Great Britain, which is in dry dock there. It was a stunning day, with lovely sunshine. We had a good look around the ship and discovered that you could climb the rigging, well this just had to be done, a show of hands saw Grumpy, me, and India give it a go!! Lyra fancied it but was wearing a skirt, Kai was too young (phew, he thought!), and well it just isn’t Nanny’s thing!

So Indi and I went first, Indi climbed up to the crows nest in record time, even beating me!! Once there they asked her if she wanted to walk out across the main sail, ‘absolutely!’ she cried, and off she went out across the main sail until she was stood over the water, about 15m up!! Well, that meant I had to do it, so I headed out the other side. It was an amazing feeling, and a great view! Once we made it back on deck, it was Grumpy’s turn! He wasn’t about to be out done by Indi either, so he climbed up and headed out across the main sail too!! What a great experience, made a visit to an old vessel, all the more exciting!!

So after all the excitement, we took a short boat ride across the dock and dropped into a great pizza place, we all had blooming lovely pizza, and a few enjoyed the vast array of cider on sale!! As sun set, it was time to say bye, and head home as the kids workshop started the following day...

Indi and Kai’s Just So Theatre workshop was a two week affair leading up to 8 shows over the Easter weekend, and it was a full on rehearsal schedule. 09:00 - 17:00 every day, even Saturday and Sunday for 7 days straight. Indi was in her element, and skipped in each morning in full on Glee mode, with hi 5’s galore, for Kai it was a really tough experience that pushed him hard. Big credit to him though, he stuck at it, and looks back with great pride, and satisfaction for achieving so much, and being part of a great show.

In the middle of all this we decided to ‘pop’ over to see our friends Mel & Mentesh, and of course their little darlings Leah and Kyan. Straight from rehearsals, into London, a fun night at their house, great company, great dinner, great fun all round! Then first thing the next day it was back home, and back to rehearsals!! Madness! During the second week things calmed down a little, the kids had a day or so without rehearsals so they all went to Windsor with Diego for a fun day out. Again beautiful weather, so much so, the kids even got to play in the fountains! In April!!

Then all of a sudden it was Easter! Keeping with tradition, there had to be an Easter egg hunt at Jane and Guy’s for the kids in their lovely garden. This year it was on Good Friday, the weather was lovely, so we could spend the afternoon sitting out in the sun, enjoying the company and of course, Jane and Guy’s wonderful hosting!!

Then it was back home and the big show started, Just So is a stage show telling the Just So Stories of Rudyard Kipling (how the leopard got his spots, how the elephant got his trunk etc). It was a very professional production, with a mix of professional actors and the kids.  Obviously the kids played the smaller parts but they had a lot to do and played their parts brilliantly.

Uncle Chris, Grandad & Nanny & Grumpy came to see it with us and were also impressed! The final show came and went and then it was time for the after show party! I can honestly say it is the closest I have come to appearing in Glee! At one point Indi was on the piano playing Adele with a whole gang singing along with her! The whole experience was a triumph! Indi was even introduced to the Director of this years Christmas Panto, he recommended that she audition! Her network continues to expand!

Around this time Lyra was introduced to a research micro biologist Professor at the Royal Holloway that had recently gained some significant funding for a Project and he needed a Project Manager. He met Lyra and wanted her to come on board to coordinate. Lyra was only available part time and he was ok with that, but when Ly saw what was needed she knew that he needed someone full time, plus a few other people. He couldn’t see it, so Lyra decided that it was a bit of a poisonous chalice and turned him down.

And then of course it was Lyra’s Birthday!!! Firstly it was lunch with the ladies, and Darron (who is an honourary lady) at our favourite Loch Fyne, then at the weekend we headed to Abi’d to have the mob around for a few drinkies and a round of Happy Birthday!! No bumps though!!

As May came around Indi and Kai sat their test SATS and both did really well, then Heyford the football team that Uncle Chris manages were in the local cup final and won!!! So a winning start to the month!

Lyra and I had a night at the Comedy club in Reading with Darron and Lucy, suitably non PC to be great and we followed it up  by hitting an 80’s club, oh and how it all came back!! we rocked!! Talking of rocking it though, Ly and I then headed up to Birmingham to see Prince!! Now it has been a while since Prince was on the scene, but apart from the frizzy hair, he still had what it took and played a great set, a little self indulgent at times but it was great to see the little man strut again!!

May half term was coming our way and we were going to be heading to France with Abi and the kids for a week just outside Paris at a Marriott Resort. But before the fun could begin I was heading to Hong Kong for a week with work. I left on the Saturday night and arrived on the Sunday.  I spoke to Lyra on the Monday morning and she informed me that India’s passport had expired the month before! This is 6 days before we head to France! No problem I thought, just book an appointment and do a fast track... Nope, service is not available for kids!

Lyra rang around the the passport offices and eventually managed to find an appointment in the few days before we were due to leave, only it was in Durham! Just a five hour drive!! The appointment was at 09:00 in the morning so Ly travelled up the night before and was waiting outside the passport office when it opened, job done, a heartfelt plea to treat it as urgent, but the promise is 7 days turnaround... still we remained positive hoping that a miracle would happen.

Ly travelled back home timed perfectly to pick up the kids from school, meanwhile Diego was to pick up Logan from nursery at lunchtime, well that was the plan. Sadly though, Diego managed to lock himself out of the house with no way back in!! Lyra rang the nursery and yes, Logan could stay all day, and Diego, well he sat on the doorstep and waited!!

The weekend arrived and we were due to leave the Sunday, I had flown back from Hong Kong Friday night, but sadly, there was no miracle awaiting, the passport didn’t arrive. That meant Abi, Kiera, and Cam, would travel down to Paris, with Logan, Kai, and Me, but no girls. It was going to be weird.  Mum and India were putting a brave face on it, and already planning some girly treats.

We delayed our trip by a day, but then on the Monday we headed to France. The trip to Dover went smoothly with no drama’s and we were there early so even had time to stop for a cup of tea! We headed onto the ferry, noted that as we went through passport control, they didn’t even look at them... could we have sneaked Indi in??

It was getting dark by the time we drove off at Calais and we hit the road for another 3 hours or so. Luckily again it was pretty uneventful, Logan slept beautifully, so we were able to shoot straight down. Navigating around the Paris ring road was fun, especially as our turning was closed for roadworks when we got there, thankfully the Sat Nav could guide us around. Then at about 11:30pm we finally arrived at Marriott’s Village D’lle de France. Check in was easy, and soon enough we were in our quaint little house for the next week. Needless to say we all just hit the sack!

Again Logan slept well so I managed a decent rest. The morning was a bit grey, but warm enough to sit outside and have breakfast by the pond surrounded by ducks!! We chilled out for a while and then decided to hit the pool! There was an indoor and outdoor pool, but today it was definitely indoor swimming weather so we all took the plunge... even Cam, into the deep end, with no arm bands.... and yes he shot straight to the bottom! Thankfully Abi is too aware of Kamikaze Cam so she was straight in after to drag him back to the surface!! 

The following day, we were all excited as Karim was flying over from Kuwait to see us for a few days!! We hadn’t seen him (except on Skype) since he left us in July the previous year! His flight was an early morning arrival so I was out before everyone else was up, and headed to the airport. It was brilliant to see him, he was a bit surprised that I was alone, and he wouldn’t believe me when I told him Lyra and India were still in England! He was convinced I was winding him up and that he would see them when he got to the house.... he was disappointed!

Anyway, we hung out together around the complex as the weather wasn’t great and the kids were happy in the kids club and the pool, and on Wednesday we had spoken to Lyra at lunchtime, still no passport so everyone was a bit down, it was starting to look like we wouldn’t see them at all! Then we got a call at about 5pm and they were on their way to the airport! The passport had arrived!!!! Lyra had called BA and got the next flight over which was at 8pm!! They were coming tonight!

And so we were all reunited! It was late in the evening when I collected my girls, but it was so great to have them with us and we could enjoy a few days of holiday together!

Lyra’s influence on the group was immediate and the very next day we headed into Paris for the day! No more hanging around for us! We had a mission at last! The first challenge was finding the train station and then working out which tickets we needed! We got there, but it was far from simple. We jumped onto the next train and within an hour we emerged from the station right outside the Arc de Triumph! The first thing we came across was a bunch of street performers doing some pretty funky hip hop so we watched it for a little while. Then suddenly they wanted volunteers to join them, I am sure you can guess who was straight out there to join them.... yes you guessed, our India Neve!! All good fun, and Indi enjoyed the opportunity to perform!

Feeling fighting fit, we all decided that we could walk over to the Eiffel Tower, so we kept our eye on the tower in between buildings and set off. Thankfully it didn’t take long to find, and it never stops being amazing to walk up to. We grabbed a snack of crepes or hot dogs and headed on until we were right under the tower. It truly is a mammoth construction, we decided not to attempt to go up, as they queues were immense, so we headed off to find the metro to get to Notre Dame. After a rather large beer, we headed on towards Montmatre, the arty district, and home to all those bohemians! The view from the top looking across Paris was wonderful.

When we woke the next day, the sun had arrived! There was only one thing for it, we all hit the pool for a couple of days of sunbathing and general craziness in the pool, especially for Deigo who quickly became the kid tree as they loved being thrown about in the water (it was great to give me a rest for once too!!). During all this fun, we sadly had to say goodbye to Karim, as he was heading home to Kuwait. We all said our goodbyes and I drove him to the airport. 

At the exit from the car park at the airport, I had to insert the ticket to lift the barrier but of course as we were in France the machine was on the passenger side, so I pulled up and climbed across to lean out of the passenger window. As I did I obviously knocked the car into gear with my knee (it’s an auto) and the car shot forward and through the barrier!! It made a right mess of my car, scraping all the way up the bonnet, smashed the windscreen, and damaged the passenger side upright. Bloody nightmare! I tried to get it fixed while in France, but I couldn’t repair the windscreen without fixing the body damage, so we had to drive home with a smashed windscreen. It was ok, as the main smash was on the passenger side, but we all felt a bit weary and wore sunglasses the whole way back!! Thankfully it didn’t rain as there was no way to use the wipers!

We, well I, hadn’t had the best of luck with cars after banging Lyra’s lovely Midnight as well, thankfully Lyra’s car was fixed while we were away, so I just needed to get mine done now. It went in pretty much straight away, and our big 4x4 was replaced with a Mini(!) as a courtesy car!! A bit of a squeeze!

Quickly following on from our week in Paris, was Lyra and my annual pilgrimage to Juicy Oasis in Portugal for our detox and re-boot into to all things healthy! We had beautiful weather all through the week, and both Lyra and I engulfed ourselves in all the activities we could. I got a little over enthusiastic on the first rebounding session and managed to jar my back by jumping too high and pushing right through the rebounder to hit the ground! That meant I had to take it easy for a few days and one of the ladies on the retreat did some Bowen Therapy which really seemed to help relieve the pain and allow me to continue with most activities. The week was fruitful for both of us as we came home feeling great and a few lbs lighter to boot. Happy days!!

While we were away, Deigo and Grandad had been looking after the children at home. All went well and I think everyone enjoyed themselves, although India did mention that Grandad’s jokes did get a bit hard to take after a few days!! Logan behaved really well and slept well for them which was a big relief for us, as he had been difficult for a while before.

One day after arriving back, I was off again, and guess what, I was heading back to Portugal! I was attending our annual Sales, Operations, and Marketing Meeting in Faro. It was a really great meeting with a good balance of work and play! Having said that, I was still very pleased to get back home to see everyone!!

While I was away, India had an audition for the Bracknell Panto - Aladdin. As usual she wasn’t nervous and she was confident of her piece that she was going to use, the Roald Dahl poem Little Red Riding Hood. India is a acquainted with many of the local performing arts people so she was not at all intimidated and gave a great performance. Typical Culvey style, at the last minute, Indi also announced that she had a swimming gala at the sports club, that day! So Lyra raced around and managed to get her to all the right places as needed. Indi said she enjoyed the gala but wasn’t sure it was something she would want to do all the time!

Indi’s busy time continued with her Karate grading, with Kai this time, they are now both Yellow belts now, and Indi also took her grade two exam for Piano. In spite of her very busy schedule Indi did great and passed with a great score again. Both Indi and Kai were also progressing well with horse riding and even Kai was getting more comfortable with cantering.

While all this madness keeps us on our toes, our little Logan was becoming a wonderfully sweet, loving, and very funny little boy! He is developing a wicked sense of humour and is always wanting to be involved in all Indi and Kai do. He really has become such a wonderful addition to our family!

Before we finish with June, there is just one more event to fill you in on, and that was our day at Ascot with Jane and Guy. It was full Top hat and tails for the boys, and cocktail dresses for the girls as we had tickets for the Royal Enclosure, so we had to dress to impress! It was a beautiful day and we met Jane and Guy outside the racecourse and headed in Guys car to the centre of the circuit for our picnic. We had ordered picnic’s from Carluccio’s which were absolutely lovely, if a bit on the large side! This was washed down nicely with some chilled champagne, and once our bellies were full, and we felt the buzz of the champagne, it was time to head for the royal enclosure and get a bet on. Now in the royal enclosure, you didn’t just have to dress in top hat and tails, you actually had to keep your hat on at all times as well, now in this scorching heat, that was a bit of a sweaty affair at times! Thankfully there was a bit more champers to keep us hydrated and cool!

Once the racing started we pooled our funds and started the betting too. We did pretty well with placed horses in the first few races. Confidence growing to pushed up the stakes with our winnings which culminated in us putting it all on the last race, which...... we lost!!! Never mind, we’d kept it to our limit and it was great fun! Once the racing was done, we made our way back to the car and headed to Maidenhead, where we were staying for the night. We dropped the car off, and jumped in a cab for Bray and a lovely dinner at Heston Blumenthal’s restaurant The Crown. It was a lovely relaxed atmosphere and great to spend some time with Jane and Guy without all the normal distractions, the wine went down very well too, especially for Guy as he was finally not driving!!

So as we basked in glorious English summertime, we will say bye for now.... but never fear, another update on 2014 part 2 won’t be far away....

Love as always,

Dan and those very busy Culvey’s, Lyra, Indi, Kai, and Logan!!

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