Was May pretty uneventful or was it just me?

Yeah so its been a bit of a while since I updated the old blog, and Tracy was bugging me to write some more and a few of the Pawpad crew have been on the ole email blower for updates so, now that I have a quiet 5 mins to myself I will update for the last few months.  First lets start with some family news.

After our holiday in Blackpool, the blog for which I actually wrote in May but only just published now cause Im a lazy cow, not much really happened in May to be fair.  The kids’ dad lost his job again so the measly maintenance that I get from him stopped.  Not that I actually got it with any regularity anyway, just when he feels like it.  The kids are becoming less and less interested in him and its getting more obvious as they get older.  He is not interested in their schooling, nor their hobbies, nor anything really.  I told him a year ago that Dylan was being tested for Aspergers – then when we got the diagnosis I called him to tell him “yes our son does have Aspergers” and his exact words to me were “what the fuck is Aspergers”  I mean come on, if you cannot be bothered finding out for yourself, you dont deserve my kids.  It’s was a rough month with Dylan in May.  We had a few Aspie moments as we are now calling them, and we are slowly finding ways of dealing with him that work for him.  My mother is making more of an effort since my full on rage at her for previous behaviour and my sister has so far kept her mouth shut, which really is for the best.

Caitlyn took a part in the school play, and oh how proud was I watching her acting debut up on stage at her schools version of West Side Story and her delivery of the character Maria – her destitute sobbing scene at the end was sheer brilliance and she received a roaring round of applause when she finally stopped bawling over the death of young Tony (portrayed by the very talented young Troy who happens to be best friends with Caitlyn).  I think I may have a little actress on my hands, which would not really surprise me at all. She is coping remarkably well with having a brother with Aspergers and seems to really understand everything that we are doing with Dylan and how to deal with him.  For a 10 year old she is so considerate and caring and shows a maturity way beyond her years – that is until Troy from High School Musical comes on the telly and suddenly she is a blubbering wreck screaming like a Beatles fan at a concert lol.  There is no accounting for taste really.

During the month of May I also considered the possibility of changing my shifts at work because 13.5 hours a day is killing me at the moment and I am absolutely sick of it.

On the riding front, Arion is doing great and May saw us take our first tentative leaps back into show jumping.  We started low, cross poles on the ground, working on our approach and my balance, which sucked really badly to be honest and I did lots of hacking with Tracy and Kamber.  I am pleased to report that Kambers reverse napping action no longer bothers me nor makes me scream like a big girl.  I was getting more and more confident out hacking and we were cantering round the park more and more.  I actually found myself wanting to jump again.  Little by little the jumping bug is working its way back into my heart and my head and I am no longer satisfied with “just flat work” and telling myself that we “dont want to push it too far this year” or “we are going to take our time” is just not entering my head as often as it once did.

So thats pretty much the month of May – it was dull it was boring and it was just May.

We went to Blackpool and nobody was killed by a speeding tram!

Hihihi its been a while, sorry, just been so busy with life not had a chance to come on.

Well our holiday to Blackpool was great really. The kids had a fantastic time emptying my bank account to the point where I should have just given them the card and the pin number and saved myself the daily walk to the cash point. In all fairness we crammed a helluva lot into 5 days so its not surprising that I spent so much. But holidays are for fun, not for penny watching so we just went daft.

We saw the Tower, the kids loved the play area and it gave me and Kev a chance to sit down and catch our breath. We did have an issue with Dylan while we were waiting for the lift to do the Tower Top Ride. He decided to have a small panic about it just as the lift arrived so I had to step aside and sit down with him while Kev took Caitlyn to the top of the Tower. Once he had calmed down we went for food and on hearing all about the Tower Top from Caitlyn he decided he would give it another try – bless her, she was trying so hard to convince him it would be perfectly ok, pointing out that the Tower had been there for years and hadn’t fallen down yet, it was so sweet to watch her trying to reassure her brother. She is such an understanding child and has taken his Aspergers in her stride. She never mentions it but she just seems to naturally know how to deal with it. So in the end, he did go up to the top of the tower and he loved it. They both ran over the Walk Of Faith, the large glass section of the floor and got certificates to say they had done it. Dylan even went right to the very top of the tower with me, climbing the few flights of stairs upwards despite the rather windy conditions.

We visited the Dr Who Exhibition, which was lots of fun. Caitlyn is a huge Dr Who fan and came away with several souvenirs including a pair of Dr Who pyjamas. I drew the line at paying £300 for a real life sized Tardis though, I would have nowhere to put it even though she offered to give up her bed and sleep in it to make room. haha

We walked all the way from the South Pier to the North Pier, took a horse and carriage ride, played on the amusements, ate toffee apples and candy floss till we felt sick. We walked on the beach at 9pm in the evening in the wind because we were determined to take a walk on the beach before we went home. The kids drew shapes in the sand and, despite the wine, it was quiet and lovely.

Our flat was lovely, 2 bedrooms, a kitchen area and bathroom. All mod cons available and comfortable and clean. We could not have asked for more and we only saw it when we wanted to sleep. We left the flat at 10am every morning, had breakfast at the cafe at the bottom of the road and didn’t get home till after 9pm.

We spent a day at the Pleasure Beach, which was huge fun. Dylan came on some of the rollercoasters with me and Caitlyn stuck to the more sedate Beavers Creek rides, some of which I went on with her which was funny. The boys vanished for half an hour to go on the Valhalla ride – an indoor water ride – they came back dripping wet much to the amusement of us girls and we teased them relentlessly about it.

All in all it was a fun 5 days, which we finished off with a trip to the Zoo and the Miniature Village that I had not been in since I was a child myself. With it being Easter they had a bunny hunt which the kids took part in and they were rewarded with a chocolate egg upon handing in their completed sheets. The rain held off until we were leaving and at 2pm on Friday as we were driving out towards the motorway, it started coming down by the bucket load.

So some nice memories for the kids.  So some nice memories for the kids.  Some holiday snaps for your enjoyment – I am planning on doing a photography course this year so have tried to take some nice snaps with my little Kodak clicker, not professional I know but I wanted to see what I could pull off with the minimum of equipment – let me know if you think they are any good lol