Another Birthday Missed

With this blog, I've finally managed to catch up in number to that of MPLST. Of course, she resolved to do better in 2013, and looking at her blog, that didn't even last three weeks into the New Year! I, on the other hand, have managed to keep her up to date with photos of her brood much more frequently as we rack up the hours away from home. Score 1 Dad.

 

Now that I've got that out the way, back to this instalment of pictures. The first one (seems sooo long ago already) is a reminder of just where you can get to on a child free weekend, as rare as those are. MPLST and I ventured north and west for a weekend last month, and enjoyed a somewhat indulgent yet relaxing weekend away.

 



I know the rest is about C, but I couldn't help using this picture of O and Cara. I dare say it won't be the last time he ever snogs a dog....

So, C. His birthday proper was during my last trip away. As is the way, it was a fairly quiet affair, but red buses work a treat....

MPLST set up a "studio" to run a session with him. Granted, I've had to find the pictures myself (the internet data road thing must have been broken between home and work??), butI think he might become quite the photographer.

Yesterday, we had the grandparents and a few friends over to celebrate properly - i.e. the adults got to eat cake! Birthday Boy didn't really understand the effort mum had gone to.

Me and my Grandad.

Later though, the cake left its mark...

The Snowdrop Walk - Revisited!

Thanks to the lovely Mrs H, I had the company of a (very!) yummy mummy this afternoon whilst we took our kids around the snowdrop walk. Looking back at the quick blog from last year - one thing that remains constant is the look of love and admiration O has for her eldest daughter!

 



C was in my backpack, hence no pictures of him this time. I also filled the memory card, so gave up with the pictures before we made it to the park to play.

At dinner tonight, it was established there are only 3 sleeps until mummy comes home. Applying offshore logic to that, you don't count tonight, and you never count your last shift, so really she'll be home tomorrow.

I wish!

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.