Who's the Perv in the Park?

Today, I donned my bunnet and headed to the park with O & C and a long range camera lens. Why did I take this chance of getting my name added to the sex offenders register you ask? Because MPLST is away offshore again, and one of my many roles in life is to make sure she gets photos of her boys when she's away. I take this burden of responsibility seriously of course, despite being able to hide behind her pathetic efforts over my last trip away.

 

I think O is doing his best Bodie & Doyle walk across the park in this one. Can't think of a blond equivalent though.



 

C supervising at the bottom of the chute, making sure his big brother is coming down safely...

 

After a while, we were joined by a few friends who brought this inflated ball. It's brilliant, kept them amused for ages. One of the spines has a weight, so doesn't go where you kick it. I want one!

 



The best of the rest....

 

 

Fortunately, everyone who turned up knew me, so nobody called The Old Bill.

HMS Unicorn

In my many journeys between God's Country itself (for the uninitiated, that's The Kingdom!) and Aberdeen over the last twenty years or so, I must have driven within one hundred yards of this thing over a thousand times without actually knowing it was there in the first place. I happened to hear one of the other mums at our toddler group talking about it on Friday morning, and as I needed to entertain the kids on Saturday, decided to find out a bit more.

  

They were suitably excited to be visiting one of the oldest 6 ships in the world. I was pleasantly surprised with their enthusiasm as I got dragged around the various exhibits.

 

 

 

As we moved deeper into the bowels of the ship, head room became a bit more restricted. C and I pretty much stayed put down in the hold (below), mainly because I was crippled! There was a narrow walkway up each side of the vessel with gaps perfect enough to lose a toddler in. The other three went off and explored the whole vessel on this deck by themselves though.

 

A Game of Two Halves

This weekend SS came to stay for only the second time this year. Her brothers had been looking forward to it all week, so when Friday came, and we went straight from school to Grans to pick her up, everyone was excited. The boys love bed time stories with Big Sis - in the case of O, she reads his story before he calls it a night, and the R reads his story to his elder sister, which has been the way ever since he started reading. This picture is the same every night she stays.....

 



 

Our hectic schedule meant that I had to squeeze in a recycle run with O during the afternoon too, as it was his turn to recycle the milk bottles from nursery. Never has a little boy been so happy with a job to do.....

But.....it would appear that SS isn't enjoying Dad's house quite as much as she says she is. Quite the dilemma is brewing for me I think.
It's reasonable to expect that with my Victorian Dad tendencies she will indeed become bored from time to time. However, she has to be treated that bit different to her brothers, which in itself gives me another dilemma to consider. It's very easy to be "hard but fair" on your kids when you and your wife are aligned in a common approach, but when one's ex wife's parental style is poles apart from your own, it's not really constructive, helpful or possibly even right to be either hard or fair in some situations.
Ah well, this will take over the stress of the new job for a while and give me something different to ponder and lose sleep over. I did expect some of this around the age of 9 or 10, but I'm no better prepared for it as a result.

Back On Duty

It's been an eventful start to 2013. My good lady wife got delayed offshore at the start of the year, leaving us just a day and a half before I went for my trip offshore. During that time, I interviewed for another job and was successful. I returned on Tuesday, but worked yesterday, meaning today is my first day back on the job being Dad.

C and I ventured out in the snow this morning for a quick photo opportunity. So much for him being a grumpy so and so (according to MPLST), he's been happy as can be all day long. I've obviously still got it.....

So, aside from parenthood forcing me to grow up these past 5 years or so, and pursue a "career," MPLST and I are busy considering, and yet again re-evaluating our wants, desires, goals and ambitions as we work out what is really important to us individually, and as a family. It may mean job changes for her, house moves for us or maybe even maintaining the status quo - who knows? Watch this space.

Oh, and that most rare of opportunities is on the horizon......date night. Lucky us, can't remember the last time we got out together. I love them dearly, but I make no apology for looking forward to a night without them very soon.

Mum's Away Again

Mum has taken up a late request to head offshore over the New Year period. We're pretty philosophical about festivities offshore, and since we had Christmas as it should be, it made sense to take the trip this time, and hopefully......hopefully, we'll be able to use her lieu days to do something that bit more productive with the boys.

 

All that said, I know she is a sentimental sod and missing her boys lots, so this post and the pics are for her benefit more than anyone elses. We got togged up and headed for St Cyrus beach today. I took your muckle big camera, but found the battery flat when I got there, so these were taken on my phone. There are no photos of FB3 because he was on my back, and with your camera strapped around my necked, it was all just too much of a pain in the bum to be honest!

 

R explaining to O that that is the sea mum's oil rig in in. She is about 150 miles that way...

 



 

Further down the beech was a good sized tree washed up by the tide. Would have made a fine prop for pictures with the light had the camera been working. Slightly gutted. O was content throwing stones in the water.