Campfires and Cream!

This weekend has been wet,wet,wet!  Mum and Dad made us go on a soggy walk around Blenheim Palace Gardens.  To be truthful, I actually enjoyed it but we got incredibly sogged and dirty.  The funnest part of the seven mile walk ( we've suffered more! ) was the chocolate cake from Combe Tea Rooms and jumping in muddy deep puddles. The best thing about jumping in deep muddy puddles is that you make your annoying little brother really cross as he's soooo wet.  Wolfboy didn't enjoy the walk.  He got bad blisters in his wellies.  None of us had the right sized wellies - mine were 3's and I'm size 12 and a half, Wolfboy's were size 10 and he's size 12 and the Badger's were size 5 and she's now size 7! 

On Friday night, I went to a friend's barbeque.  They had an excellent camp fire.  Me and all my friends played with the fire and got fire onto sticks and ran around with it pretending we had the Olympic torch!  Luckily, mum had no idea.  We also played a great game of Capture the Flag with the older children (the oldest ones were 13 and 14).  We went on the trampoline lots and we ate loads too.  It was East meets West food with sausage and dahl.  It was so fun.  It got dark soon and we all sat down by the campfire in the dark and some of the dads who knew the guitar played old rock tunes.  Some of the older boys played along with drums.  It was so late when we came back home that we were very tired and a bit grumpy the next day.

Before that, I went for a day at Forest Farm holiday camp.  We painted flags and we danced and did drama.  The best bit was making our music video with Absee and her little sister.  It was about going to the seaside and we had the Summer Holiday tune in the background!  I'm looking forward to going back next week.

On Saturday afternoon, we went over the road to our neighbours and we played with the girls who live there.  Me and the biggest girl made camera videos of our Beckley news thing.  We did lots of news interviews and specials.  After we did that, we had a very special afternoon tea and we had biscuits, scones, strawberries and ......CREAM!  I love love love cream - single, double, clotted, whipped, sour - I love them all! 

Music, mosaics and madness

 These three days have been lov-ely!  I've been on an art course with my friend Ena. We've done mosaics, grafitti art and silk painting.  When we did mosaics, I did flowers and a square sun.  It is really interesting what you can do with a couple of tiles, glue and some very smelly paste!




Before that, at the weekend, dad and the other 2 went to Bath (INF=it's NOT fair!) and me and mum stayed behind and we went to the Oxford Olympic Brass Fanfare at Christchurch cathedral with Ena and her brother who plays the cornet like me.  It was very exciting.  See this link for details:
http://www.oxfordphil.com/node/640

The organ boomed and the trumpets shouted.  Christchurch cathedral is very beautiful, we were sitting in the choir stalls - they were so uncomfortable!  My favourite bit of music was from the composer (John Williams) who wrote the Star Wars music.  It made me think that trumpets could sound beautiful.  We ate massive burritos before.  I had chicken and blackbeans in mine.  Mexican food is my favourite food.

Wolfboy ( my little brother ) has been being especially annoying at the moment.  This morning I got into a load of trouble because he pulled my hair so I pulled his back. I don't think it's fair that Dad shouted at me and not Wolfboy, I mean, Wolfboy was the one that started it!

The Badger is also being normally annoying. When you enter her room she counts to 10 and if you aren't out by 10 she tickles you and hits you with a pillow.  The bad thing about The Badger is that ( I think!) she's soooooooooooooooooooooo bossy! She'll act like a grown-up if she has the chance.

Now for a different subject that's not about annoying siblings. One thing that makes me really happy is Cats.  They're so furry and friendly and they're nearly always there for you to swear about people on them. It happens to be that I've got a cat and two kittens. One's ginger and two of them are tabby, and they have such soft coats, especially baby Siddy who is a long - haired cat.

On Tuesday after Art-Class I went to Ena's house and we went swimming at the Strongie's pool. They have a beautiful blue pool surrounded by grapevines.  Me and Ena did diving and bombing and swimming.  We've already made up our own synchronised swimming routine. 

We watched the Olympic men's gymnasts getting a bronze medal on Tuesday night.  They nearly got silver but the Japanese team complained.  If I was in the Olympics, I would do cycling, the road race.  I like cycling. 

Right now, mum's just come home from work and we're discussing what we should do this evening.  I think we should go to Blenheim Palace and have a picnic, mum says no, let's wait for the weekend to do that.  Dad wants to make a banana cake.  Let's have a row!

Foam canons and water fights

This week has been sooooo fun! I stayed with my granny and granpa for a week and went to the Marlborough Summer School. The food was great [well, better than my school dinners anyway!] and the games were fun, fun, and more fun. The most exciting thing of all was going on that amazing water slide with the foam cannon and the hose. It was heaven for the Crazy Squirrel [that's me!] and my new friend, Olie.

Marlborough College is a beautiful place - it has amazing flowers and grounds.  It has EVERYTHING.  Much more than my village school!  I also went swimming in the Marlborough College swimming pool and the deep end was two metres deep! I mean two metres deep! Anyway, Olie and I played deep sea diving for two whole hours and then we went off and played Water taxi with Woggles [those swimming things]. It was awesome!

OK, time for you to learn about my mad cousin, Jess.T bum-with-wings. She is so hilarious - get ready to battle hiccups for eternity! To go to Marlborough from my granny's house is about 35 minutes so me and my annoying big sister liked to have some entertainment for that time. Luckily, Jess.T was there to tell us a story. The most popular story was her amazing TRUE [honestly] story of the world with large dolphins that lived in chestnut trees. There were also walking noses with brightly coloured skin involved too.[One of her questions: " Have you ever noticed that one day your nose is green, the next it's purple?"] and we all laughed hysterically after that! It was so funny!

One of the funnest bits about the holiday is when me and Jess.T came back to Granny's.  We had a water fight [it's been so hot!!!!] but it was no ordinary water fight. You would fill your mouth with water and you would chase the other contestant around and spit the water at them: the other contestant would do the same.  There wasn't really a winner.  Jess T was the best at it and my big sister, the Badger, kept breaking the rules.  Granpa made a barbeque with a bucket and it was delicious.  I also remember Granny waking us up at half past 6, so there was time to smear us all over with suncream.

When I was away from home, I really missed all the cats (Beefy Keef has just come into check what I'm doing, 'MEOW, purrrrrr') and I've also missed mum and dad.  I didn't miss the Wolfboy though.  He has busy constructing some Ancient Greek armour whilst we've been away.  His project has been waking up at 5.30am, and then messing up lots of lego before bullying mum to making papermache helmets and shields.  Since I got home, I've been fighting with Wolfboy.  It is very satisfying.

It was very exciting getting back last night because I just couldn't wait to watch the Olympic Opening Ceremony.  It was amazing - there were great fireworks and great acting.  The best bit was the sick children jumping on beds.  They were from Great Ormond Street hospital.  Mum was happy that the real doctors and nurses were having fun.  I fell asleep on the sofa as the atheletes from countries starting with 'F' came out.  About 3 hours later, mum realised I was asleep and carried me up to bed at 12.30!  I'm going to support Jamaica!  I like their flag.

I'm very tired but I've had a very happy week. Thank you Granny and Granpa! 

Sleep over calamities and Trojan horses

Ok. hi people!  I'm the crazy squirrel around here and school's broken up for me.  Hooray!  six weeks of worry-free wickedness and fun! I plan to tell you about the wicked stuff I'm getting up to and other interesting bits and pieces.

The sun's come out after weeks and weeks of rain and I'm busy introducing my mad tabby kittens Sid and Viv to the great outdoors. It is quite funny watching Viv bunny-lop through the long grass [Dad hasn't mowed it for months! In fact, it could be years!]. Anyway, we keep thinking we've lost the little fluffballs because they love to climb the trees and hide in the bushes. The only clues we have are the blackbird's alarm calls, the quivering of the bushes and their bells (only Sid's lost his collar already). 

The Hoplite

Viv in the Great Outdoors

My annoying little brother, the Wolfboy, is as usual collecting lily bugs from mum's lillies.  He is dressed up as a Greek Hoplite soldier, as his latest enthusiasm is for the Greeks and weapons and armour.  Yesterday he made a Trojan horse on the climbing frame.  The Badger (my big sister), her friend IVZ, and I joined in because the bonus were army rations (biscuits and pistachio nuts)....

On Friday after we broke up, my best friends, Newwie and Ena, and I had a sleep-over at Newwie's house.  Unfortunately, Ena was a little unwell in the night and had to go home.  Poor Ena. Poor Newwie's mum.  The vomit soaked through the duvet, then the mattress and into the bedstead.  That actually happened.  It was very upsetting because we had planned this for weeks and weeks.  Newwie cried quite a bit.  Newwie and I finally went to sleep at about 1 O'clock (in the morning!!!!). 

I was shattered the next day and to double it all, I had to go to a Tie-Dye party for my friend Em. Em has a lovely Golden Retriever and it's absolutely HUGE!!! It is as big as a small John Deere tractor.  The party was very fun because we got covered in dye and we played on the village green.  I wore an old tye-dye dress and my shoulders got a little sun-burnt. It hurt.  I must remember the suncream next time!

Viv in embarrassing knitwear