A day staying local today to give the kids a chance to catch up with themselves. They had a sleep in to almost 7am! After a leisurely breakfast we headed up to the common for the equivalent of backyard cricket...it's too boggy to play in the backyard at present, and even the common is muddy, so gumboots (wellies) are the footwear of choice. Must admit it does have a bit of an impact on your bowling technique, and the fielding was rubbish! But we managed an hilari...

An exciting day today, we trekked up to Kent to visit Leeds castle... A real castle with a rich history, dating back to the 1100s. The weather was fantastic... To the extent that we wished we had packed a picnic! Gemma had visited Windsor Castle when she was 5, but didn't remember much about it, so this was a new experience. Daniel didn't even want to get out of the car because he couldn't see a castle so thought it was going to be a complete waste of time... But...

The weather is not flash today, a good day for mooching around at home. The kids brightened things up with a good old fashioned gingerbread smash! After a moochy start we headed to Maldon for a roller skate .Then headed to the promenade for a seaside walk along the estuary .The children had a great play at the adventure park,then ice creams at the seaside store. Then back to stock for a quick late lunch before Lynn and Stacey and her children Connor and Ruby came...

For Boxing day we all headed to Southend for brunch, having not eaten enough on Xmas day, followed by a walk along the sea front. What started as a wet day turned into a mild windy day (reminded me of home!) and it saw loads of people come out to walk off their Xmas dinners. And dogs too! I have never seen so many dogs in one place. It was a great atmosphere with kids trying out their new Xmas toys, families together, and dogs playing happily. We had fun running ...

Quiet on the blog for a few days, as we immersed ourselves in all things Xmas! ''Twas the night before Christmas... Christmas Eve we let the kids have a quiet day mucking about at home, and then we walked to the village for a late lunch with a group of school parents. The pub had never been so busy! "The Bear" is a traditional English pub, with the low ceilings and roaring fireplaces...a great atmosphere. Things were set up as I remember them as a child, with a k...