What a busy Half Term we have had..

Half Term and school holidays always seem to arrive very quickly. We had several activities and outings planned to fill the days with a little excitement thrown in. Raffi's first excitement came when Eric surprised him by bringing home a mini motorbike..

but his excitement soon turned to crossness when he realised he would not actually be riding it as the bike was just TOO big! (Besides, mother would not allow it and mother was truly thankful it was non functional!!!)

Fortunately grumpiness does not last long with Raphael, he is quite easily distracted, but has a painfully good memory when it comes to promises. I am careful what I promise! Thank goodness I was able to tell him we had all been invited to a Bouncy Castle/Barbecue Party the next day, he was hugely excited about that thought and was soon smiling again!

Bouncing Party Day finally arrived and he bounced for 5 hours flat!!! totally exhausted on that hot afternoon.

The Barbecue was delicious, Eric cooked the meats and I had prepared and taken a Tabouleh (Middle Eastern Salad). Everyone enjoyed the food especially the younger members at the party. Raffi tucked into garlic chicken kebabs with great gusto!!

Bank Holiday Monday (surprisingly) dawned with exceptionally clear sky's, just right for a walk at The Humber Bridge Country Park, Hessle.

We all enjoyed our walk, although having Raffi's bike with us was a nuisance, we spent most of the time pushing it!

Raffi and I enjoying one of those cuddles (they get less as they get older)!

Just Eric

Back in the car-park after our walk, Raphael's Scooter came out of the boot of the car, he just loves this Pooh Bear Ride on Scooter and can get some amazing speeds up. He was wonderfully happy to have so much space and freedom to scoot in.

Friday of Half Term saw us pack up for the day and travel to Hornsea beach, this is our closest beach, about an hour up the East coast from Hull. We arrived at lunch time to buy the BEST fish and chips ever, ate them in the car with tomato sauce and wooden forks, looking out on the breezy North Sea!

Once we got settled on the beach, Raphael immediately started collecting stones, to build a house!


then....digging holes, for chairs!


After digging and playing Eric and Raphael took an amble down to the waters edge, just for a very short paddle in the super cold water!!

Home time and an hours drive inland back into Hull where the sun was shinning 5 degrees hotter. Ah well, it was great to see Raffi enjoying himself so much, worth it for the smiles. It was an excellent but exhausting day on the beach.

Amazingly the sun shone again early on Sunday morning. Just right for The Race For Life for cancer research. Raffi and I planned to cheer our good friends Hannah, Etta and Nicola on in an all female 5K race.

Below, one of many pictures of the staggered start. Runners, joggers, walkers, wheelchairs set off on a brilliant pink fund raising cause, competitors of all ages and abilities negotiated the 5K course with the winner finishing in about 18 minutes!!!

Most participants were dressed in pink or original costumes providing a moving train of spectacular colours around the course. Fantastic! If you would like to see many more pictures of this event please take a look here
http//hullisneverdull.blogspot.com/

This crazy woman started, walked and finished in those wild stacked shoes, nice one!

Raphael has had an exciting week off nursery school. He now enters his final nursery term, I am a little sad, (needless to say, he isn't) about him starting primary school. He is great company and I shall miss him at home every afternoon. He keeps telling me "I am a big boy now" and he is so impatient, wanting to join the older children.....and run as fast as them!!!

Not long Raphael, not long.

Whats all the Twitter about?

I had never heard of Twitter until I came across it through a YouTube clip. I am not promoting what I saw but if you are interested to see what made ME investigate Twitter further click the link below. It makes very interesting watching.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_zBeYkZw2o

I was interested in their claim that they could increase traffic quite considerably by installing Twitter Traffic Machine. I listened intently to what they had to say. It made me want to look into Twitter further, so I did.

I discovered Twitter is a kind of social networking site, generating huge amounts of interest across the globe thanks to one simple concept. All Twitter.com does is ask: "What are you doing?" Simple in itself, user friendly and HIGHLY addictive! I also suspect this social networking site will become an extremely dangerous competitor and rival to other social networking sites, for example, MySpace and Facebook.

My interest grew, and I registered and started "Tweeting". If you are familiar or have used Twitter yourself, you will know that you are limited to 140 typing characters....not alot to concisely describe "what I am doing". My brain goes into overdrive, challenging boring words and replacing them with interesting relevant information. Definitely Twitter is an asset reviving ailing brain cells. For sure my creative words are flowing freely on my Twitter addiction!!

I did consider, before opening an account if this networking site would be beneficial to ME. I don't have sufficient time to give 100% to chatting with new friends, but I did like the idea that I could promote my own blogs through this network medium, particularly my favourite blog:-

"Hull is Never Dull"

http://hullisneverdull.blogspot.com/

This blog relates to my hometown and something new everyday catches my imagination for blogging. The more readers I have the more satisfied I feel.

Twitter seems to be used for a multitude of purposes, from announcing events, to promoting charities and generally talking about ANYTHING and EVERYTHING.

I like it, alot.

An ace marketing tool, I shall be using Twitter to its maximum advantage and hope that this blog will spread the word about its diversity and popularity.

Perhaps you will join, if you do... see you there :-)

Thoughts

I'm listening to Khod Balak Alaya-Elissa on YouTube and thinking, we need a holiday to Lebanon, the beautiful land of my husband and his family. His dear mother who misses him so much, his brother who adores Raphael and scolds us continually for not visiting more frequently. The cost of the flights is our main barrier.

My mouth aches....like really aches, I had a tooth out today. I'm happy though, the dentist fills me with dread every time and its great pleasure to get out of the chair and come home. The sheer RELIEF is a fantastic feeling! I shan't go into the details of my visit....I know it would make freaky reading!!

I picked up a recipe book today from Oxfam, Dr Atkins Quick and Easy New Diet Cookbook. I am running out of ideas of what to feed Eric that is varied and meets the Atkin's criteria. I have found some interesting recipes, no doubt I shall be cooking tomorrow.

Tomorrow, I am attending a meeting at Raphael's primary school, the one he will be attending 8th September 2009. I received his formal letter and felt very excited for him, his name on the letter and the offer of a school place. As his nursery school is attached to the primary school he knows lots of the children and seems to get along with them all just fine. He is happy to go to the nursery and is a popular boy. I am sure he will be as enthusiastic about attending 'big' school. I shall be a bit sad though, I really LOVE his company.

My age is getting me down, not the number, but all the 'womanly' things that go with it...sometimes I despair at being a woman, the hormones just won't settle grrrrr! Nearly time to visit the GP before Eric divorces me for irrational behaviour!!

English weather is something always in the back of everyones mind. Countless visitors to our home launch into mundane conversations about the weather every time!! Our friend Hannah actually studies aspects of the weather and loves nothing better than to give us the benefit of her knowledge. One male visitor ALWAYS tells me the state of the weather.....perhaps I look like I would be interested, or he is just being polite!! I find myself joining in and then wonder why we talk about the weather all the time!

Time to stop rambling, when I read that last paragraph, I thought no more thoughts for now.

Have a good evening, morning, afternoon whilst you are reading this :-)