First Day at BIG School!

I can remember thinking when Callum was born he’d start school in 2010 … but that was ages away! Well, “ages” away has now arrived and Callum has started in Foundation at Francis Baily. His teacher has a wonderful name, Mrs Wigglesworth, obviously destined to be a primary teacher or on stage!



He started school on 9th September but frustratingly, he was only doing 2 hours a day for the first week and a half! No sooner than they walked through the doors, they were heading back home! Callum certainly was wanting more as he was climbing the walls in the afternoon … and there were none of his pre-school friends to play with as they had already started full time or were on the afternoon sessions at Francis Baily!


His cousin and best friend are in the class next door. Whilst separated in class, all three are inseparable in “independent learning”.

So far, he seems to like school so my fingers are crossed he doesn’t change his mind in a few weeks time! Roll on 20th September when they start full days!

The Blur That Was The School Holidays!!

Jon's parents came down to visit and we all went to visit Nic & Aly in their new home. They'd been trying to move to Reading for the last two years or so and were finally settling into their new home! Best of all, it's only about 20-25 mins away from our house if the roads are clear!

Lots of jobs to be done and furniture to be put together, and Callum decided he wanted to help out too. Just glad the drill wasn't really real.

The holidays were just flying by. It was just a shame the weather had turned and there was lots of rain and overcast days, although it was fairly warm. We made the most of our annual passes into Beale Park with at a trip a week (including the kids joint birthday party).

A couple of trips to Legoland were in order and had great fun with Claire, Janine and kids, although we did get a little wet at times!

We even took Daddy there and although busy, we enjoyed wandering around Miniland.

Closer to home, we managed to have a picnic and play at Donnington Castle with Claire & Janine and the kids had a ball. They thought it was really funny to keep throwing the ball over the walls so it bounced away down the slope and we'd have to go and retrieve it.

Jon also had his birthday (21 again!) and we marked the occassion by visiting Beaulieu Motor Museum. Callum was so excited that The Stig would be there (there was a Top Gear exhibition there), but once the mono rail caught his eye, he had to go for a ride on it ... and we had to be in the last carriage with the big window! Luckily, we were first in the queue so had pick of the carriages so Callum got his wish.

Jon was lucky enough to get tickets for the test match against Australia at The Oval ... alas the weather played its part and he only got to see 11 overs of play. The cynics amongst us would say that play shouldn't have taken place, but the pressure from the ground/organisers ensured that the minimum of play took place to ensure that they didn't have to refund the tickets in full! He did enjoy what he saw ... and will hopefully see more of a match next year.