Around the Cadac with bunting, tealight chandeliers and fairylights on the EHU

[notwavingjustironing]

Gawd, the minimalists will kill us.....

It was Someone Else's idea, all right?

Carry on where you left off, be it owls, bins, sharks, tins of vodka, karaoke etc. [grain]

Evening [grain]

Tis a evening. Both kids bathed & in PJ's by 6pm - CHECK ME OUT! Mind you neither of the buggers are in bed yet

Thanks for the site pointers Yellow - I shall be perusing later

I am with the [glum] crowd - wanted to go away this weekend. Fave site is full. DP is reluctant to bother anywhere else. Forecast is good & I'm gagging to get one more trip in this year - we could wait & not get another good weekend. Grrr.

Holy fuck @ £34 kids shoes! That would make me weep, funtime.

about nits Seashells. But thanks for the tip of Nitmix lovecat - I shall hunt that down too. I live in fear of nits & thread worms

Got a lovely afghan crocheted blanket thing in the BHF charity shop today. Tis in the wesher as we speak. Sadly not mahoosive, but very colourful & only £1.95. Very chuffed. Tried B&M for collapsible chopping boards but failed again. They did have jars of <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=banderillas&hl=en&biw=1280&bih=709&tbm=isch&tbnid=6EiQlcgtSDv5yM:&imgrefurl=quixotestapas.wordpress.com/2007/06/28/banderillas-a-tapa-full-of-taste-and-color/&docid=Vt9r6u7P9lIkqM&w=400&h=266&ei=ZFxVTqfwMM2AhQejmMjYBg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=529&vpy=94&dur=2920&hovh=183&hovw=275&tx=159&ty=95&page=1&tbnh=129&tbnw=177&start=0&ndsp=25&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">banderillas - already skewered pickle things. 49p! They'll go down well with a G&T on the next trip, whenever that may be.

Don't google banderillas BTW - lots of nasty pictures of bullfighting

yellow - congrats on exciting popup purchase [grain]

Have just spent the last hour trawling the shops in Meadowhell trying to spend some vouchers I've got. What would you spend £10 for WHSmiths and £5 for Waterstone's on? I'm reluctant to buy novels as I tend to use the library.

JetLi - great blanket buy. I never seem to find any of the good bargains at B&M when I go. And a virtual applaud for getting the kids ready for bed so early!

DS has gone to bed wearing blue nail polish on his toes.

Hooray for Keeper Tent! Sounds fab. DH and I have finally got around to rolling up the bell and easing it into the bag - I'd spread it out over the spare bed (well, actually, over the entire spare room) to air out after I suspected it might have got a wee bit damp last time, and then shut the door on it. Am now eyeing it, squatting on the floor in front of me. I swear the thing's grown since I last saw it.

Filthy - it's a folk fest, Shrewsbury.

No nits here yet (DS1 calls them 'Slice' ) but I'm dreading it - how will I keep a 3 yo still while I'm slathering him in conditioner or whatever?

at Kir Royales.

Meh to spoiled weekend plans. But I spit in your eye of shoes; my 14 year old has men's size 13 feet and if I can't find him shoes ('just pick the ones that y dislike the least and you will thank me when it snows') it's going to be about £70+. And thats before the trainers and football boots and the same combo for ds2 who is diabetic and has to have well fitting shoes.

Interesting day trying to persuade my dear dad who is somewhat on the large size and still somewhat confused not to ride the £50k hospital bed like a fairground ride. The minor op surgeon in the next bay who was stitching a mans head wound had to stop for a while and go out as he was giggling too much.

Dropping back home for a couple of nights soon. I may have to go via decathlon.

Is the netting stuff a mosquito/fly/ nit prevention thing yd?

Jetli most impressed at both kids bathed by 6pm!! You are a genius! Wine definately deserved!

Scaryt I always use WHSmiths tokens to buy kids presents - wait till you get a £5 off when spending £12 token and then buy a couple of 3for 2 or similar deals. Or if you want something for you but don't want novels how about magazines? Cookbooks? Camping books?

Reshape good luck on packing the bell tent away! I tend to do similar - spread all the stuff out and then not get round to putting it away! I had our windbreak draped over the stairs for over a week! And the stuff from last weekends camping trip that needs to go in our garage is still in the car!

Brambles at your ds shoe size! Dh is size 12 and finds that hard enough. Glad to hear your Dad is amusing his doctors although hope he is improving too... No the netting stuff isn't fine like mosquito nets - more like webbing sort of stuff with holes about 1mm in. The bedroom inner tent is hitched up with more of the same. Hadn't expected a SIG to look like that as I had expected it all to be water tight. Still not sure it would stop me keeping this tent but it would make it slightly less amazing...

morning. My ds' nit technique (for the one time he had them, but at age 6 so less wriggly) was to be sat in the bath covered in tea tree conditioner whilst I combed through his hair. I wiped the comb on loo roll and each time I had to flush the loo he got out the bath and had a wee on the nit infested paper.

His brother came into the room as backup, won't tell you what he did to the nit paper. He was three at the time and let me use the same conditioner and comb technique - mind you, he has very fine hair.

ah reshape, love folk music....

Hope you all survive wet friday and saturday, weather looks nicer sun and mon.

The festival i would have liked to have gone to but couldn't afford looks like being a mudbath (Shadenfreude snigger)

Good morning. Sorry for short message, but Wifi being very annoying here since yesterday, so I gave up trying to post last night when the fifth message just died on me again! Good to read what's everyone's up to though. Which is some consolation.

Typing this (very slowly) from my iPhone. How on earth do teenagers type the gazillions of messages per month? My finger aching already! I am my grandmother, aren't I? Sigh.

Yay, internet back properly.

Yellow, fantastic news re the tent! I wondered how you got on with it.

Bramble, hope your dad better soon. I couldn't help laugh at his adventures on the bed though! Your family sounds great, loving the nit procedures, haha.

I dread thinking of shoe purchases. As it is I already have a near heart attack every time I have to buy a new pair - and ds is not even 4 yet! His feet are quite wide, so I can't ever find any nice ones in TK Max etc, so good old overpriced Clarks it is, time and again. Time for new ones soon, sigh.

Woke up with a horrible headache, but it's thankfully gone now. Can't be the cocktails, I only had 2. Am I the ultimate lightweight?

MissSal good to have you properly back! Do you have a Clarks outlet shop near you? We do - they don't have the most amazing selection but fab for school shoes and half price. Or we buy in the sales!

Tent is fab. Boys very excited by it - they looked like this when I showed them how it went up earlier! Want to go away for a night with them this weekend now but dh is being Mr sensible and pointing out that I am shattered, run down, and taking a week to throw off a cold so its probably not sensible! Particularly as I have a very busy day at work on Tues with a complicated breast reconstruction that will mean the whole day in theatre, probably over running, with only about 20 mins break for lunch. I know he is right but I don't like it!!!

yellow, I have a DH just like that...he usually is right but I hate to admit it!

Get better soon.

I have packed the car! I had to snatch the odd half-hour here and there throughout the day, while DS1 was absorbed in a dvd and DS2 was absorbed in taking his brother's train layout apart... And it does all fit, though I left out the awning because I don't have confidence that I'll get it up properly, and I suspect there won't be room on site for it. In fact, there are pockets of space to be filled...
(as well as the tent, I packed two sleeping bags and a single duvet, assorted bedding including two pillows, two woollen blankets, baby grobag, four SIMs, a moon chair, two other chairs, a table, a doormat and a small rag rug, a coolbox, a food bag, a kitchen bag and the Bivouac, three slings YES THREE, ok?, the McLaren buggy, a cheap windbreak, waterproofs all round, clothing ditto, nappies, a potty, the highchair, a golf umbrella, first aid stuff, a few toys and books and craft stuff, some funky battery LED lights. And the bunting. And all that without a roofbox or trailer. I think we need one, though.)

It's going to be down to 10 degrees at night. I'm the one in the duvet (I sleep next to DS2 and need to feed him at night, and was worried I'd be dangerous in a bag). Should I dig out a hot water bottle?? [grain]

Yay for the tent - glad it turned out to be all right :)

Brambles, glad your dad is providing amusement for the Drs - hope he's back on his feet soon.

DH is up North on business, I'm hoping the curse of the interweb doesn't strike again, I have 3 episodes of Torchwood to catch up on!

I've just finished painting an old leotard of DD's with glitter and sticking ostrich feathers into an old hairband so that she can be a 'circus performer' for her holiday club show tomorrow. Don't they realise we send our children to these holiday camps because we have to work ie don't have the bleedin' time to spend making fancy dress outfits to a theme each bloody week?? At least last week's was pirates, and she already had that one in her dressing up box...

MisSal, I like the sound of your hairdressers... a bit too far away for me, I fear, but anywhere that plies you with Kir Royale sounds good to me [alkie]. Pre-DD when I cared more about my appearance I used to go to Charles Worthington and they threw gin at you like it was going out of fashion (and the haircut wasn't bad either!).

Boo hiss for boring-yet-ultimately-right DH's.... we were hoping to go on the MN weekender, but have had to pull out because, as DH pointed out, we have been wanting to decorate DD's bedroom since May, all her stuff is piled up in the spare room in prep for that, and my mum is coming down next weekend, so we have to finish DD's room and put all her stuff away. Groan.[grain]

On the upside, although I still haven't found my cable, I have found the memory card reader that DH bought with his ridiculously expensive camera many years ago and it still works!

Sooo, not on the profile, but hopefully this link will work... heeeeere's www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150350642849853.408776.752354852&type=1Bedgebury!

It's so hard when you're itching to go away but know you really shouldn't!

No discount store that I know of nearby, but at the prices the local children's shoe store charge, we might as well do a special trip to a store and make a day out of it.

Oooh Lovecat, you've got a lot of exciting Torchwood in store! I wasn't sure I liked this American re-imagining of it, but it's holding my interest. Lots of very decorative nekkidness this evening, too. [wunk]

The Bedgebury link didn't work, BTW - says it's not currently available...

Gah! It says it should be viewable by all (will change back to private once noseys have been had..). try again: linky

Am waaaay behind on TW - have only seen the first 2! Am liking it so far but it's very different...

Man, I should refresh more often, sorry and hi to everyone.

Lovecat, love your photos, it looks wonderful! I'm gutted that you're not coming to MN meetup, I thought you were. We def def need to do a meetup next year.

Reshape, am impressed (and exhausted just reading!) your packing. We're leaving tomorrow straight after dh back from work, and I haven't done a thing. Urgh, I should start, I know I should... Have a list typed up, if that helps.

Gorgeous kids, gorgeous site and gorgeous tent! Good tarp wrangling

MissSal-we will have get us saddos camping regulars together next year.

reshape - that pack sounds nothing short of miraculous. What slings are you taking, I miss slinging DS.

lovecat - the site pics and your review of it make it sound unmissable :)

VV impressed with your tarp erection.

Yes I was most impressed by your tarp too lovecat! Bedgebury looks amazing - definately one for the future! Sorry you'll not make the BH weekend - gah for sensible boring!! dh's!

Reshape can't believe how much stuff you have packed! You didn't mention what car you have - a lorry right? I thought I had a lot of stuff! I too miss carrying ds2 in a sling. Didn't do it much with ds1 but my hugabub was a godsend with ds2 as he was a wingey baby who ony really settled when I was cuddling him and the sling meant I could look after 20 month old ds1 too! Have really fond memories of it actually

Oh yes definitely, SeaShells. I'm not sure I can compete on the Proper Camping front (see lack of packing and planning post above), but I do have wine. Wine and campfires - what's not to like! 2012 is a date. Don't any of you lot go and disappear before then.

Scary, you just made me laugh with your "I miss slinging DS" comment. I often feel like slinging DS. (Do know what you actually meant, of course, I'm just easily amused!)

Reshape, is your car actually the Tardis?

That's an amazing packing list, we take about the same amount and it's crammed in to the back of the estate AND we have roofbox!

I used to have a ring sling for DD, saved my sanity when she had reflux. She was a really happy baby but every day from 4pm onward (you could set your watch by it) the only way she'd stop screaming was to carry her upright against my shoulder and walk briskly up and down. I must have worn a track in our living room carpet... ah, t'was a joyful time :)

Thang yew for the tarp-related compliments. I made a complete balls of one side of it, but it was very forgiving and with another pair of hands there (my mate who attracted every midge in the West Kent area to fly around her head that weekend) to hold the poles while I pitched the guys, it went up v. smoothly. Even though I say so myself I was impressed with my knots - haven't done them since guides but I did a tautened hitchline(I had to go look that up just now to find out what it was actually called rather than the 'twice round double knot thing') to secure each guy rope and they worked beautifully :)

Yes, a meet up next year would be fab :o. Much as I'd love to go away again over the bank hols, I have to be sensible (mutter mutter) and poor DD has been very good about waiting for her new bedroom for the last 4 months... We went away last year in September and it wasn't too cold - we have a site v close to us that allows campfires, so I may get 1 more weekend before my chilblains call time on this years' camping.