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.

Countdown to Starting School – S-6!

Well, we had to mark the start of the school holidays with a treat.  Toy Story 3 with friends followed by lunch at Wagamamas is about as good as it gets for four-year-olds!! 

Considering its the third film in a series, its actually been brilliantly done and lots of bits for the adults that go right over the childrens’ heads :-). 

Meal at Wagamamas was as good as always.  Callum loves the noodles and for me it’s the Teriyaki Salmon that goes down a treat.

 

Monday proved to be a busy day … after getting back from Reading, Callum had a speech therapy session and after that we baked some very scrummy banana bread thanks to the CBeebies website!

On Tuesday we went along to Beale Park, taking full advantage of our Season tickets.  The kids played in the wooden play area, we had lunch then over to the Little Tikes play area before wandering around the park to see the animals.  A pit stop in the deer area so the boys could go on the zip wire before heading back for a ride on the train and then we all headed home.

Wednesday was a doing jobs around the house day – Gran and Granda were coming to stay from Thursday so needed to get their room sorted and the house sort of ship-shape.

Thursday turned out to be a pretty relaxing day too. We went Raspberry Picking with my friend Catherine and her kids in Bradfield.  I did have concerns with Callum – I really thought he’d eat his way around but was really proud that he held back until we’d paid.

 

He really enjoyed it, but best of all, loved eating a bowl of raspberries and ice cream – less than 90 mins from picking to eating!

Friday he spent the day playing numerous games with Gran and Granda whilst Jon and I took full advantage and dived down to IKEA in Southampton to sort out some toy storage for his bedroom.  Mission accomplished … but really do need to paint/wallpaper his bedroom asap.

Last Day at Pre-School

Well, the time had come … Callum’s last day at Pre-School.  He’d been going to Pre-School for the last 2 years-and-a-term and has truly loved every minute.  He was not inclined towards to drawing and painting but given the chance, would be outside playing as soon as the doors were opened.  He also loved story time and the sing-songs!

This year Pre-School marked the end of term with a “Pirates and Princesses” party – the staff truly made this a very memorable morning for all the children leaving to go onto Big School in September.

Thank you ladies for everything you’ve done for Callum … although he’s looking forward to BIG School, he will miss you all (and also his friend going onto Spurcroft!). Safe to say, I will miss the daily chats with the mums of a morning … so very pleased that some will also be there at Callum’s new school xx

Court No 1 @ Wimbledon

I managed to get myself organised last August and actually applied for tickets through the Wimbledon Ballot.  Well, I am happy to say that my number came up and on Thursday, I headed off to Court No 1 with my friend Sue, who I’ve known since I was about 6 years old.

We did the school run and thanks to both our hubbies and my fab friend Lisa, both children were sorted out once pre-school and school was over.

The timings to get to Wimbledon couldn’t have worked out better.  Train from Thatcham into Reading – VERY quick change and ran straight onto the fast train into Paddington.  Headed for the District Line and the tube was just pulling in.  We even managed to get seats!.  From Southfields Tube Station, it was a 25 minute walk to Wimbledon itself – exactly two hours after leaving Thatcham, we were stood outside Court No 1 – very exciting!!

We had time for a brief walk around some of the courts and saw a little French/German action on Court No 14 beat Beck and Benneteau before taking our seats on Court No 1.  We had fab seats opposite the umpires chair and we were about a third of the way up.  The sun would be on us all day so we made sure we slapped on the suntan lotion and drank loads of water (along with a Pimms or two along the way).

First on court was Maria Sharapova who had a reasonably comfortable win over her opponent.  Then came Robin Soderling against his opponent … once they figured out how to return the serve, there were some great rallies (but plenty of aces!).

They saved the best match until last … Sam Querry against Ivan Dodig.  Soderling took the first set reasonably comfortably but Dodig fought back to take the second and really got the crowd behind him with his personality coming out.  One lone voice in the crowd shouted, “Come on Sam” and the response was a unanimous, “Come on Ivan”.  In the end, the fourth set went the distance to a tie break.  Both players had chances, but in the end Querry went through 10-8.

Throughout the day, scores of the top matches were displayed on our scoreboard.  We could hear massive cheers go up so we knew that there must have been a conclusion to the marathan match between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut … but frustratingly, we had a rather long couple of games so the score took a while to come through.  A huge round of applause went up when the 5th set score of 70-68 went in favour of Isner.  You did have to feel for Mahut, but his place in Tennis history is cemented. 

Big cheers also went up for Murray’s win on Centre Court in front of the Queen … and lots of gasps for Nadal’s topsy-turvy match when he was pushed to 5 sets and big sighs of relief when he finally won the 5th.

Just as we were about to leave, we heard they were bringing a Doubles on court so we stayed to see who would be playing.  Laura Robson and Sally Peer were up against Zheng and Kanepi.  We decided to stay until 8pm as we needed to get the trains back home and Robson/Peer had just lost the first set 6-2.

Coming home wasn’t so easy.  We caught a Route Master bus from Wimbledon to the tube station and joined the back of the queue for the tube.  There were problems on the District Line so things were moving slowly.  We were hoping to catch the 2121 train to Reading.  We eventually got on the tube and were making good progress until Fulham Broadway, when some pressed the passenger alarm so we weren’t going anywhere until it had been checked out.  No emergency and were eventually on our way making our train with 5 minutes to spare.  Train onto Thatcham was waiting for us and were back home by 10.40pm.

Fabulous day out … and probably the first time since having kids that Sue and I have been able to spend to the day together and actually chat without being interrupted or sorting the kids out.  Fingers crossed, we can make this a yearly day out.

Happy “Farmers” Day!

Callum bless him, came running into our bedroom this morning shouting “Happy Farmers Day, Dad!” Try as he might, he could pronounce the “th” (Daddy’s Day is so much easier to say).  Dad’s present was a DVD and a bungey-man bird seed feeder.  Not expecting that to last long given how greedy the starlings are in our garden!

Dad is on holiday and has gone armed with a bottle of champagne which they can hopefully enjoy if the seas are calm!  Ray got an old book on the Houlder Brother ships lost at sea.  Ebay does come into it’s own looking for old, out-of-print Merchant Navy books for Ray!

Heading Home!

Our first of three sea days heading home and what a gorgeous sunny day it was – not long before people were heading for the sun beds. Today was Circus Day for the kids and Callum surprised us when he announced he wanted to be a Tiger ... and that he would get his face painted. Not all over though, as if they painted over his eyes, he wouldn't be able to see!! You do wonder what goes through kids minds at times!!

The sea was so calm, Aurora was just cutting through with ease and apart from the noise from the engines and the ship breaking through the water, you wouldn't know we were at sea. It was perfect for spotting the numerous pods of dolphins on our journey around the Spanish coast line.

The circus show was brilliant. Callum and his fellow tigers put on a cute display. Tom was helping a girl do some magic. There was a strong man, and elephant and rider, some clowns, dancers and finally Youth Director Sarah ended up with a face full of foam pie!!

An announcement early evening told us we were diverting to Gibraltar as there was another medical emergency. This was the fourth that we seen taken ashore to hospital during the holiday. We stopped just off Europa Point about 7.15pm and a launch sent to collect the patient, wife and luggage along with a doctor and nurse  to hand them over to the medics ashore. We resumed our course for home about 9.30pm.

Doug and Maureen were back with us for the Quiz and Pat brought along a bottle of champagne. His wife would be celebrating her birthday and doesn't drink so he thought it would be nice to share as a team. We once more ended up in a Tie-breaker and missed out on the prize by a few years. When were Birds Eye Fish Fingers introduced - correct answer was 1924 and we guessed 1941. One team guessed closer than ours ... the other two were 40+ years out.

Sailing off the Iberian Peninsular

Day Two of Three and fancy dress day had arrived. This year, Callum wanted to be a zebra so Jon made his excuses and left to go to the Virtual Bridge Tour and it was left to me to make Callum's costume. Actually it was one of the easier costumes I've done. White crepe paper tabard with black stripes. Head band with a mane and ears attached and a plaited tail with frills at the bottom.

Lots of parents groaned when they were directed into Jumping Jacks and greeted with piles of crepe paper, sticky tape, staplers and string! Quite a few dad's sat around supervising ... and a couple even sprung into action!

The virtual bridge tour was actually quite interesting although Jon did say people ask the most odd questions for the sake of asking them! He's got a mind full of interesting facts and figures which I'm sure he'll mention over the next couple of days.  Oh, he was told there that the “fire” wasn’t a fire but some equipment running really hot.

Today was really misty and it didn’t lift all day.  As a result, the ship had to keep sounding it's horn every two minutes to alert others of our presence. Fingers crossed our radar is working then!

It was the Chocoholics Buffets this afternoon. We opted to do the Galley Tour and "ooh" and "aah" at the shiny chrome in the kitchens. Afterwards, we made a very quick pit stop in the Chocoholics Buffet before heading off to Masquerades for the Fancy Dress Competition.

The fancy dress actually went down really well. Unlike previous cruises, no parent spent all day preparing costumes in the Kids Club - the creativity was all done and dusted by 12 noon as scheduled. However, the costumes on parade were fantastic. A spider with her web, a couple of pirates and mermaids, a knight and a family entry of a bottle of wine, bunch of grapes complete with cracker and cheese!! We were chuffed to bits with Callum. He didn't want us to take him on stage. He bounded up to Sarah (Youth Director) really confidently, told her how old he was ... then answered "Yep" to every question asked!! One of the mermaids won (fantastic costume though and the ribbon hair was amazing)

It was the final formal night tonight and the Parade of Chefs through the restaurants. Food was OK but we made the wrong choice of Lemon Sole for our main meal.

Off to the quiz and met up with Pat and we were well and truly on our own. However, the questions were really kind to us and we would have won if we'd stuck with our initial gut-feelings. We scored 16 points between the 3 of us ... and would have scored 19 if we stuck with "Levi Jeans" for which adverts used "Stand By Me" and "When a Man Loves A Woman" as their music (we put British Gas down); "Galahad" for the son of Lancelot and Guinevere (we put Gawain); and "Blue" for what colour are Bart Simpson's shorts (we put Red). Dooh! Anyway, we were quite chuffed to finish second and avoid the wine!!

Sailing Across The Bay of Biscay

Alas our last full day of our holiday had arrived. We would spend most of today packing and keeping fingers crossed that we would get everything back in the suitcases we'd brought with us!

We were crossing the Bay of Biscay ... and Jon was still hoping for a much more adventurous crossing! Alas, things never got any more exciting than a Force 5 with little swell - and no stabilisers deployed!!

It was Pirate Day in Kid's Club which is a fab way for the kids to end the cruise. They were making Pirate Hats and Swords and playing Pirate Games. The afternoon was rounded off with a Pirate Treasure hunt and a battle between Stinky Pirate and Scarlett Pirate which ended up with Stinky being thrown into the Terrace Pool by Scarlett. It was really windy on the deck and am very surprised that no pirate hats blew overboard!!

Doug and Maureen were back with us for the Quiz tonight and a fab evening was had by all. We were tied in first place so were in the tie-breaker to win the final bottle of wine for the Quiz. "How many films did Fred Astaire appear in with Ginger Rogers" ... we guessed 5 as we didn't think it was that many ... but the answer was actually 11! Oh well, at least we didn't have any arguments as to who would take the wine home. Our farewells were said, and we hope that we would meet up on another cruise in the not-to-distant future.

Most of the packing was completed before Dinner. There were just a few things to be thrown into the cases after we'd finished for the evening, and the final cases put out in the corridor before we fell asleep. Callum had had his final Magic Show ... we'd spent the last night on board ... and only 14 months to wait until we head off on another cruise!

Back in Southampton

We awoke as we arrived back in Southampton and we did our very best to pretend that this really wasn't our last few hours on board.

Disembarkation had changed since our last cruise and you no longer had to be out of your cabin by 8am. Instead, you could leave your hand luggage on the sofa whilst you went for breakfast to allow the Stewards to start preparing for the next set of passengers and you could wait in your cabin until your allocated disembarkation time.

As a result, breakfast was actually relatively stress-free. No people hogging tables ensuring they had a seat until their disembarkation times even though they had breakfast 2 hours previous ... no piles of hand luggage to negotiate around. Bliss!! Callum had his last Bacon, Sausage, Beans and Tomato for a while ... he's not going to be happy tomorrow when he's back to Coco Pops!!

We disembarked at 9.30am, found our luggage very quickly, retrieved our car and were heading up the A34 by 10am.

We had a fantastic cruise and have decided our favourite ship is the one we are currently on!!

We loved the position of our cabin. Near to the back staircase/lifts so it was easy to get Callum back to our cabin at night. It was also located above one of the lifeboats used as a tender so you had some great views in Sardinia, Elba and Cannes. Noel, our Steward, looked after us really well and kept Callum supplied with extra chocolates!!; Jenny on the Pennant Bat introduced Callum to some very special smoothies which he loved and if Callum wasn’t with us, she would always stop and ask how Callum was; and Rosalina on Cafe Bordeaux kept a couple of "normal" glasses behind the counter for us - if we stopped there for pre-dinner drinks, we couldn't take the MPW glasses down to the Alexandria Restaurant! 

Barcelona

We'd arrived at our final port of our holiday, Barcelona. We went out on our balcony to see our ship being manoeuvred into a gap between Adventure of the Seas and Ruby Princess. We felt a bit sandwiched as both were much larger ships than ours. There was also another small cruise ship in the shadows of Adventure of the Seas; Sovreign –from a cruise line we hadn't heard of before.

It was Saturday and Barcelona was very hot and sunny - and heaving with people. We caught a shuttle to the port gates and jumped in a taxi to La Sagrada Familia - the Gaudi Cathedral that's still being built 100 years after work started! Apparently, they are now aiming to get this finished for 2030. We just walked around the outside as there were lengthy queues to get inside.

From here we jumped in another taxi to get to Placa de Cataluna so we could walk back down Las Ramblas back to the sea front.  The human statues were amazing.  There was one man dressed as a transformer ... when you gave some money, he got down on hands and knees and became a car!!

We stopped for a drink in a pavement cafe, and got a shock when the bill came - it was more expensive than Cannes!! Euro 16 for three soft drinks.

We carried on walking down part the artists sector. I wanted to have a look around La Boqueria - the market just off Las Ramblas - but this was so packed you couldn’t move so this was skipped in the hope that next time we call there, it will be quieter.

Back onboard, we took Callum into the big pool. He went in without any woggle and practised his rockets with Daddy. He was trying his hardest to swim, but when he ran out of breathe, he tried to stand up ... and as he couldn't touch the bottom, he sank! He thought it was very funny!

Callum really wanted to go into Toy Box (again!) in the afternoon - it was Chocolate Day so he was bound to get messy. They made Chocolate Truffles and played lots of games with chocolate as a prize. They all loved the "Don't Eat Tommy" game. Afterwards they all went to Carmens for a Chocolate Party then settled back down in Toy Box to a movie. Judging by all the chocolate chops, they all had a fab day!

Doug and Maureen deserted us this evening at the Quiz as they were going to see Bobby Davro. Without two of our star players, we only turned in a average performance but still had fun!

Cannes

We were arriving our penultimate port of call today. Our itinerary was changed from Villefranche to Cannes a few months ago as there were too many cruises ships scheduled for that port.  We were a little disappointed, but hopefully we’ll get to call there on another cruise at some stage.

We started off by wandering around "Le Suquet" - The Old Town and the roads wind their way up to La Tour de la Castre which overlooks the harbour town. It was a really picturesque part of town with narrow lanes, flanked on either side with bars and restaurants. On the way down, we passed a man drinking from a water fountain and Callum wanted to have a go too. I thought Jon was going to baptise him for a split second!! A short walk further on, we passed a fabulous ice cream shop and at last Callum had found proper Strawberry Ice Cream!

From the old town we headed passed the Hotel de Ville and walked along to the Palais des Festivals des Congres (where the Cannes Film Festival is held). Callum and Jon sat on their stairs which still had the red carpet on and we wandered around looking at the hand prints of the stars. Most were French but we saw a couple of names we recognised; Gregory Peck, Mel Gibson, Bruce Willis.

We then walked along the Promenade de las Croisette. It's a road with all the big hotels and every single designers shop you could wish for. Chanel, D&G, Gucci, Emporium Armani to name but a few. We found a bar to have a drink. very expensive. Euro 13 for a beer, small fizzy mineral water and a Cola Light!! The Cola Light was the most expensive drink of the lot at Euro 5!!

We headed back to the ship about 1pm and we seemingly timed it perfectly. We sat out on Pennants having lunch and it was only when we left that we realised why all the seats out in the open had been vacated - it had been raining!! It's the first rain we've had all holiday - so much for Cannes reputation of being one of the sunshine capitals of Europe!!

A lazy afternoon was spent on board and Callum joined in the fun and games of Space Day in Toy Box. In the evening, another magic show was put on for the kids whilst we got ready for the third formal night - Black and White Night. After Dinner we popped along to listen in to the James Bond Quiz. Even though we arrived at Question 11, if we'd joined in, we would have run as no-one playing seemed to have watched any James Bond Films!!

We went along to the quiz and finished in a very respectable 2nd place.

Elba

We ordered tea and coffee to be brought to our cabin this morning - insurance policy to ensure we were up in good time for our tour this morning. We needn’t have worried as we were woken up to the sound of tenders being lowered!  Callum thought it was fantastic that they bought Breakfast to our cabin. There was even two pineapple juices for Daddy and Callum and an apple juice for Mummy. He now wants to have breakfast this way every morning!

We could see the weather was overcast when we stepped out onto the balcony. Cloud was shrouding the top of the hills and we have views of very pretty little inlets. We wandered down onto the Prom Deck to see what the view was from the other side, and the town certainly had the WOW factor. Really pretty little harbour with a huge wall built around the headland with fortifications. Houses were once again that yellowy-orange colour with terracotta tiles.

We had to meet in Carmen's at 8.15am as our "Footsteps of Napoleon" tour was the first to go ashore. We met out guide for the walking tour, Lucia and she was great. We walked from the harbour through the old city walls built by Medici. We first tried to visit the theatre ... I say tried as when we arrived, the theatre was all locked up! She was not overly impressed and said that the Elbans had a "Domaine" attitude to life! We were able to admire the views as we had climbed up a little way. Someone eventually opened and we were all very glad she waited.

It was a very small theatre - only about 200 seats. Half were in the stalls, and the rest were in small boxes built around the edge. 16 boxes, three stories high. The safety curtain had an old "Masterpiece" painted on it. It was a stunning theatre.

Next we walked a little further up and visited Napoleon's main Residence during his exile on Elba. after this we walked up into the top of the fortress which had fab views of the ship in the harbour and over the town. Afterwards we wandered back down into the town, grabbed a coffee and a couple of postcards and then headed back to the ship.

Callum couldn't wait to get back into Toy Box and play with his new buddies. It was funny food day so dreaded to think what they'd all get up to! We arrived back a little later to take him to kids tea, and they'd been making sandwiches (Callum's was packed with ham, cheese, carrot and cucumber sticks and a smear of Marmite added to the top for good measure!). They'd also made pasta necklaces too.

There was a very special guest at Kids Tea tonight. Mr Bump was visiting! Tom the Magician was also helping out making yet more balloon things. This time Callum went for an alien. The ghost and the fish were really cool though.

Quiz night again followed and there were a lot more teams entering. We were starting off with a -2 point deduction, but we did OK. We ended up only getting 3 questions wrong ... and the team that won scored an impressive 18 points. One of the teams got a bit stroppy with the quiz master and told her she had two questions wrong. As everyone else had got these questions right, he wasn't going to win that one! At least we can start the quiz afresh tomorrow without any points deduction.

Callum had had a great time in Toy Box though. They had ice cream sundaes and a slumber party ... only the third lot of ice cream today. Judging by the state of his clothes, he'd opted for chocolate sauce too instead of his usual choice of strawberry!!

Civitavecchia

We pulled back the curtains this morning and we'd arrived in Civitavecchia – the port closest to Rome. We also saw a fair few other cruise ships were in port so it was going to be busy. We could see four other cruise ships from our cabin: Thomson Destiny, Ruby Princess (again!), MSC Lirica and the Costa Deliziosa was reversing into its berth in between the last two.

When we went up for breakfast and ate outside again, we could also see that Royal Caribbean's Voyager of the Sea's had followed us from Naples and were also joined by NCL's Norwegian Jade. That was not the last as we were heading towards the port gates, Iberco's Grand Holiday was also in port!

We were giving Rome a miss (hopefully we can make it out there for a long weekend sometime soon). At least the sun was shining unlike last year when it teamed down all day. We caught the shuttle bus to the port gate and had a stroll around the port town. The place was immaculate – total contrast to Naples.  We found the local market to see the wide array of fruit and veg they were selling, along with the fish and meat.

We headed down to the promenade area and the town is investing a huge amount of money in revamping the port area. It was all cordoned off but once it's complete will make a fantastic area for cruise ship visitors to the town. Callum had his ice cream and we made our way back to the ship for lunch.

As we were eating on Pennant Grill tonight, we got changed quite early so we could be up on deck to watch our sail out along with all the other cruise ships. We were a little later in leaving than expected as on of the coaches didn't make it back until 7.15! Aurora would be following Voyager of the Seas and Thomson Destiny out of the port ... Costa Deliziosa was hot on our tail followed by the others in turn. From our table on Pennants, we could watch the ships follow our course for a while before veering off to the left and right depending on whether they were heading west to Barcelona or north to Livorno.

The meal was lovely. A smoked salmon starter which was not what we expected followed by Fillet Steak. We opted for a flourless chocolate cake for pudding thinking it would be light, but instead it was rather heavy going, but very delicious!

After dinner we kept up with the usual routine of heading off to the Syndicate Quiz in Vanderbilts. As we'd won the night before, we were starting off on -1 ... and as an additional handicap, we were drinking the plonk we'd won the night before! We did OK once more and found ourselves in the play-off for first place with three other teams. "In what year was Roger Bannister born?". We guessed 1929, another team guessed 1934 and the other two both guessed 1935. We were all shocked when we were told that ours was the winning answer! Well done Doug! Another bottle of wine and we would be starting the following nights Quiz of -2!!

Naples & Herculaneum

We awoke to the sound of car horns honking, so knew we had to have arrived in Italy! Our cabin was overlooking Vesuvius although it was completely shrouded in cloud so we could only see the foothills. Buildings filled every available bit of space and starting to climb up the slopes of Vesuvius.

 

We ate breakfast out on the Pennant Grill as the back of the ship gave great views of the city. The view from the starboard side of the ship was looking up to a large fortress on the hill. We also saw that Ruby Princess and Royal Caribbean's Voyager of the Seas were in port.

We got off the ship in the morning and wandered around the harbour for a bit. We must have been accosted by 10 taxi drivers upon leaving the port gates and the roads were completely gridlocked. Everyone on their horns and kamikaze moped drivers weaving in and out of the smallest of gaps. Callum was fascinated and loved watching the crazy mopeds.

We had lunch on board Aurora before heading off to catch our coach for the trip to Herculaneum. As the coach could use the roads in the docks, we avoided the traffic jams, but you really did see just how run down this city was - not at all what we were expecting to see. What perhaps shocked us even more was the cardboard city that is sprawling out on the tiny stretch of land in between the fences for the ports.

 
 

Herculaneum is a small excavation beneath a town on the outskirts of the city. The roads are pretty narrow to reach the place and only a small portion has been excavated. It wasn't long before Callum was getting bored on the tour and just wanted to ride again on the bus! The tour guide helped a little as she got Callum to hold up the "23" sign. But whilst she was very enthused about the place, she would stop and talk for 20 mins at a time.  It wasn’t just Callum that was struggling to cope – quite a few more elderly passengers were too. We kept up with the tour for about 45 mins before we broke away and just looked around the excavated buildings on our own. Quite fascinating how much was preserved.

Once back onboard we sat out on Pennants Bar until Aurora sailed. By now the cloud had pretty much lifted off Vesuvius although it was still pretty hazy. We went up on the sun deck and watch Naples and Vesuvius slip away. Back to the cabin to get showered and changed for the evening and we were lucky enough to be treated to an amazing sunset. The sun just slipped into the sea ... and no clouds to spoil the effect.

Quiz night followed yet again ... and we had a run of luck with the questions. We scored 17/20 and we won!! Our handicap is either a -1 point deduction for tomorrow night (or drinking the bottle of wine we won before we start!). We opted for a nightcap in Champions afterwards and it was deserted. Everyone seemed to be having an early night before they hit Rome tomorrow.

Callum went to Toy Box once more ... and asked if he could take his PJ's down tonight as some of the other children got changed before they put the movie on and they all settle down for the night. It worked a treat as Callum was out for the count when we collected him later on. Oh, we also had to take an enormous balloon hat back to the cabin with us. They said he'd be very upset if it got lost!!

Sardinia

Somewhere new for us to explore – neither Jon nor I had been to Sardinia before although we had heard great reports on the place.

We were woken up this morning by the sound of the davots being extended from underneath our deck so the tenders (lifeboats) could be lowered to take passengers ashore. Callum was up and wanting to go out on the balcony as the lifeboat stored below our cabin was being used - lifeboat 10.

We eventually got ashore by 10.30 following a very uneventful tender crossing to the island.  Palau is extremely picturesque with the terracotta coloured buildings lining the streets. We started heading out towards the beach area but the weather really started to warm up and as the beach had no facilities or caffes.  We didn't think we'd last long and it was a fair walk. We grabbed a drink at a bar on a campsite (Euro 6 for 3 drinks – great value) and headed back into town. We wandered around the marina and found a restaurant and had pizza for lunch. Pizza's were fab and Callum loved the pink ice cream so we had one very happy little boy on our hands.

We headed back to the tender point, just in time to beat the 4 coach loads of people returning from trips and wanting to go back on board. Back onboard Aurora, Callum headed into Toy Box for the hour running up to Kids Tea. This afternoon was Noddy's Birthday Party. We collected Callum to take him down to Kid’s Tea and he was very excited when Noddy got in the lift with him. Out of nowhere, he asked Noddy "How do you eat as your mouth is filled in!" Noddy just patted his tummy and laughed.

Tom the magician was also at kids tea making all the kids animals and objects out of balloons. They were fab! Callum wanted a dog, but the other kids had some aliens, flowers and other wonderful creations.

We watched the sailaway from Sardinia from our balcony and must admit the coastline was particularly stunning.

We’d opted to eat at Marco Pierre White’s at Cafe Bordeaux this evening. Food was delicious and service very attentive.  Jon started with a huge portion of mussels whilst I had the asparagus and poached egg. Soup de Poisson was then followed by Fruits de Mer and both were delicious. We had just enough room to squeeze in a portion of Chocolate Mousse but we did have to pass on the Cheese and Biscuits.

Gibraltar

We were due to arrive in Gibraltar at lunch time – just as well as we had to wake Callum up at 9am this morning!  We'd missed breakfast in the Medina Restaurant so we ended up going to The Orangery instead and it was really busy up there.  No free tables inside so we took the opportunity to eat outside in the Pennants Bar area. It was lovely and warm but not very sunny. Seas were still very calm though.

Callum ended up going to Toy Box for an hour or so in the morning whilst we watched Aurora pull into port in Gibraltar. Fred Olsen's Black Watch was already there and was dwarfed by Aurora. The sun decided to come out as we pulled in to port so it was looking to be a good day.

 

Our original plan was to catch a cable car up the rock to see the apes, but as we disembarked we decided to take one of the taxi tours instead - £22 each including entrance fees and Callum would go free.  We would also see more than we’d initially planned as well.  It proved to be a wise decision … what we didn’t know was the amount of walking we would have done had we gone on the cable car (and the roads were really steep).

We saw lots of apes (including a couple that were just days old) and also The Pillars of Hercules, the stunning St Michaels Cave and also the Great Siege Tunnel. Oh, we also had some stunning views from the top of the rock, especially looking down onto Aurora. You could just about see the hills of Morocco through the haze.  We would have liked to have spent a little more time exploring the Great Seige Tunnels, but there’s always next time!

 

We were dropped back in town at the end of the tour and Callum was STARVING!! He saw Burger King and wanted to go there, but we found a little American Diner called Latinos and the food was fab. Callum had a huge burger and chips (and scoffed the lot!), I had a chicken sandwich and Jon the Pizza. All really tasty and freshly cooked.

We continued walking down Main Street, passed Marks and Spencers, BHS, Dorothy Perkins and the usual array of British High Street shops. I think Jon was more impressed that I resisted temptation and didn't even go into the Swarovski Shop! We eventually came to Casements Square and started to head back to the ship. The building work that we saw last year was still continuing but at least the pavements were clear this time around.

"Walking is tiring" so once back onboard we found a table at Pennants Bar to have a drink. Jenny recommended a Berry-licious Smoothie for Callum which went down a treat. Callum managed a couple of sandwiches from Kids Tea and then wanted to watch the first Great British Sailaway Party as we departed Gibraltar. Lots of music and flag waving … and even Noddy joined in the party too.

Usual evening routine and back to the Syndicate Quiz again. It's actually been really nice to chat to some fellow passengers and listen to what they've got up to during the day (both had been shopping in Marks and Spencers!). We finished in second place again ... good enough to ensure we don't win the bottle of vino on offer to the winners.

Crossing the Med

Our last sea day for a week - we would be visiting different ports of call over the next six days, so our days are going to start getting busy!! We were making steady progress across the Mediterranean heading just south of the Balearics en route to Northern Sardinia. The sun was shining and the sea was as flat as a pancake!

Callum had yet another lie-in so once again we headed up to The Orangery for breakfast. Afterwards Callum headed off to Toy Box for Teddy Bear Day. When we arrived, they were making teddy bear ears in preparation for the Teddy Bears Picnic this afternoon.  We arrived down in Toy Box and the picnic was in full swing. Callum (unsurprisingly!) was leading the way when it came to food. Sandwiches, carrots, cucumber and sausages all eaten followed by  cake with pink icing!

Tonight's formal night finished in the usual way with the quiz. We finished in joint first place ... but missed out on the tie-breaker question - how long is the Orinoco River in kilometres!

Sea Days

To get to the Mediterranean, we had 2.5 days sailing ahead of us … and would need to cross the notorious Bay of Biscay.  Much to Jon’s disappointment, it was foggy but the seas were as flat as a pancake!

From the moment Callum awoke, it must have taken him all of 5 seconds to utter those words, "can I go to Toy Box now!". Well, you can have breakfast first!!  We opted for breakfast in the Medina Restaurant rather than join the bun fight in The Orangery Self Serve. By luck, our waiter was Anil, our table waiter in the evening. Callum still got his bacon, sausage, tomato, beans and potato for breakfast ... along with a tropical fruit smoothie.

Afterwards, he couldn't wait to go an play in Toy Box, especially as Noddy was coming to play. We headed to listen to the port talk on Gibraltar. Lots of interesting places to visit and the network of caves sound intriguing to explore. On this visit we're planning to take Callum to see the apes and keep fingers crossed for good weather to get some great views!

There was a Magic show laid on for the kids tonight which Callum enjoyed. He pulled flowers from his jacket sleeve and magiced up some sweets that he ate himself and didn't share.

The evening was the first of two semi-formal nights – suits/jackets and ties for the men!!  We took Callum back to Toy Box for the evening whilst we got ourselves ready for dinner.  Callum was asleep when we went down to Toy Box after dinner, so we transferred him to the Night Nursery and we headed up to the Syndicate Quiz in Vanderbilts. Luckily we were joined by three others so we weren't left to struggle on our own. Maureen and Doug; retired primary school head mistress and teacher (and P&O cruise quiz addicts - luckily for us!) and Pat, a retired gentleman from Andover.  We did pretty well but should have won!! 

Day Two at sea was another quiet day that disappeared before we knew it! Once again the sea was calm and sun was shining. We decided to go to the wine tasting session organised by the Head Wine Waiter. We were surprised that only 6 of us turned up! We sampled two whites (a Sauvignon Blanc Oro de Castilla from Rueda in Spain and a Gewurztraminer from the Alsace region in France) and two reds (a Montepulciano d'Abruzzo from Italy and a Don Cristobal Malbec Oak Reserve 1492 from Argentina). Co-incidently, we'd actually ordered the second red with our meal last night!

Whilst we didn't learn an awful lot, it was actually pretty good fun and VERY good value for money.  You’d rarely have the opportunity to sample four very different wines back to back. The samples you were given to taste were very generous and at the end you could choose to have a glass of your favourite of the four (and if you asked for a second glass, it was forthcoming). We couldn't as we had to pick Callum up from Toy Box!!

At 4pm, Callum and the Kids Club had their Captains Coke-Tail Party so we went along to watch the antics in Carmens. Once again, they dragged a couple of the cadets along to liven the party up!

We had our first of four formal nights so Jon got the opportunity to dust off his DJ and I could wear some posh frocks!!  It was the Captain's Welcome Party with pre-dinner drinks in Carmens. Unlike last time on Aurora, the free drinks were free-flowing.   We didn't join the queue that snaked along the ship to have your photo taken with Captain Philpott and headed straight in! We got chatting to another passenger on Aurora for the first time and the Senior First Officer.

Dinner was lovely. We both chose the same options ... Smoked Salmon, Mushroom Soup followed by Lobster. Jon rounded off his meal with a champagne and mango sorbet whilst I went for the port marinated stilton with biscuits. The officers dining in the restaurant didn’t get to finish their dinner though. 

Whilst we we having our main course, there was an urgent announcement from the Bridge. "Assessment Party ... Assessment Party to Deck 4 Dry Storage". Well, I've never seen officers move so quickly. Three were dining in the Alexandria Restaurant and before the announcement had finished, they were all running for the exit! Jon had noticed before this that Aurora had stopped as there was no wake and the ship was bobbing around in all directions. Afterwards we did find out there had been a small fire onboard but it had been quickly extinguished by the crew. We guess the ship had stopped in case a situation had developed and they needed to report our position.

Quiz night followed and came third.

Cruising 2010

With Callum starting school in September, we were making the most of one final cruise outside of the school holidays.  We were going back on Aurora – the ship we had our first cruise on three years ago, and got us hooked!  We were departing from Southampton so an easy drive down the A34, M3 and M27 and we were making our way to Ocean Terminal.  A bit more of a trek than Mayflower, but you couldn’t fault the organisation once we were there.  A porter took our cases away and we would see them (hopefully!) in our cabin in a few hours time.

We were onboard for 2pm so headed straight to our cabin to drop our hand luggage off and meet Noel, our cabin steward who would be looking after us for the next two weeks.  After that, next port of call was lunch in The Orangery (self service buffet restaurant).  Very quiet and no problems finding a seat as everyone was heading off to find their cabins.

Before sailing, we all had to attend the muster briefing … checking to make sure everyone understood what to do and where to go to should an emergency arise … and to make sure everyone could put their life jackets on. 

From here it was up onto the sun deck for sailaway.  It was a gorgeous sunny afternoon so armed with a glass of champagne (and Callum primed with a glass of Apple Juice!) and we watched Southampton disappear into the distance and the Isle of Wight become ever closer.  Our next port of call was the kids club briefing to find out what activities they had in store for all the kids and then we moved onto The Orangery to see what delights they had in store for the kids tea.

Callum couldn’t wait to go and play in Toybox for the evening so we dropped him off and headed back to the cabin to unpack.  Loads of storage space in the cabin (just as well, given the amount of stuff we brought with us!).  We were on second sitting so we had a little breathing space and enough time to get changed and head down to the Alexandria Restaurant.  An early night was in order on the first night – Callum was still wide awake in Toy Box but pretty settled watching Toy Story 2.  Once back in our cabin, he was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow … and we weren’t too far behind him!

My Godson Scores at Madejski Stadium!

I really can’t believe that one of my fabulous Godson’s turns 18 later this year (where has the time gone!).  His U17 football team, Fernhill,  reached the finals of the Cup Competition and they were all chuffed to bits to be playing the final at the Madejski Stadium.  Their opposition was Reading Youth.

Before we set off, Callum was adamant that he’d be cheering on number 8.  It was a bit of a relief to get there and find out that was actually Matt’s number!

Fernhill had their first goal disallowed (allegedly for offside – it wasn’t … not that we were biased!).  A few minutes later Matt took a free kick. Fantastic strike, straight into the goal area and ONLY WENT STRAIGHT INTO THE BACK OF THE NET!!

1-0 Fernhill!  There followed an injury time out (Fernhill’s goalie had broken his finger, but wanted it strapped up so he could carry on).  Reading Youth then won a penalty in spite of Fernhill clearing the ball.  Penalty scored … along with two further goals in quick succession and Fernhill were facing an uphill struggle from then on.

The guys all played their socks off and it was just a shame they couldn’t get the result they all so badly wanted.  Well played everyone (but especially #8, Matt Smith!) 

Matt Smith in red, shaking hands with Reading Youth's #7

Easter Holidays!

Callum’s penultimate term at pre-school ended with an Easter Bonnet Parade and Concert. The concert was short but was raising money for the Bell Ward at the John Radcliffe Hospital.  One of the girls at Callum’s Pre-School has a heart condition and has  spent a huge amount of time at the JR - she is just amazing, so fiesty and very determined and our fingers are crossed for her for the future. 

The singing was so sweet … my favourite was “I had a tiny turtle”.  The kids and parents came up trumps with the bonnets for the kids.

We marked the first day of the Easter Holidays with a trip into Reading on the train with the kids to grab some noodles.  We all had an absolute ball.  The kids did pretty well with their noodles (especially Riley who at 9 months old couldn’t get noodles into his mouth quick enough).  Callum loved the ice lolly – pure crushed raspberries and very scrummy).

Gran and Granda Harrison came down from Newcastle to spend the Easter Holidays with us.  Callum was in his element, playing games non-stop throughout the weekend.  Things got even better when Nic and Aly came over for a couple of days.  We went to The Rowbarge for Easter Sunday lunch – lovely main course … shame about the puddings!  A walk down the canal resulted in a couple of games of Pooh Sticks before heading home. 

      

Callum ended up with a few Easter Eggs too.  Aunty Nic came up trumps managing to find an Easter Egg with a Mini (Callum’s fav car)but he still enjoyed eating his other eggs.  He also bought a couple of new games with the money he received from both sets of Grandparents.

My friend, Jill, had arranged for the kids to visit a Fire Station during the holidays.  Callum is a huge Fireman Sam fan so was very excited!  First of all the kids were shown how the fire engine uses its stabilisers and saw just how high the ladder and cage could reach.  They were then taken inside and were able to sit inside one of the engines.

Sadly the day before our visit, two fire fighters lost their lives in the call of duty and it really hit home how dangerous this job is.

The first full week of the holidays was rounded off with a visit to Marwell Zoo.  A lovely sunny day … but it was such hard work.  None of the kids seemed that interested in the animals (which was a first!) and were more interested in running off and we spent most of the day shouting.  An earlier than expected end to the day … and a quiet evening in to get rid of the headaches!

We normally rely on Grandad Jackson for supplies of tomatoes and radishes throughout the summer.  This year, we’re having a go at growing some of our own in pots.  Callum “helped” Jon plant two tomatoes, one pepper, one carrot and two rows of radishes.  Callum loves cucumber so bought a packet of seeds to take up to Grandad’s and they planted the seeds. 

 

The Cookie Cafe were organising another Easter treats and crafts morning so we took the kids along.  They had great fun making some chocolate Easter nests complete with eggs and chicks.  They then made and decorated some Easter baskets.  Even better, we could sit back and enjoy a coffee!

All too quickly the Easter Holidays were over for another year.  On the last Monday, we organised another breakfast for all the kids.  They all turned up in their PJ’s and we caught up with news from Kathryn and Jessica in New Zealand.  Hard to believe they started their new life down under almost a year ago.  We still miss them and the kids keep asking where Jessica is and when she’s coming back! Afterwards, we cooked pancakes and the kids stuffed themselves silly.  For some strange reason, Callum and Ben decided they wanted to eat the lemons (!) … unsurprisingly, none of the others followed suit!