Adding to the family

Today we got some new furry friends for the kids. They really wanted something small and cuddly so we got them a guinea pig each. Spikee has called his "Atomic Betty Rat" and Stylish has called hers "Guiness" although owing to the beer reference she's thinking of renaming it when she thinks of a name.

Poor Spikee came off his bike at the park yestersay and has a HUGE bruise on his face, grazing and a cut the size of a 20c piece on the inside of his cheek. He's also got a badly grazed knee and a cut on his forehead from where the helmet hit the ground and quite frankly I'm very relieved he had it on. I was reading something not long ago about how helmets are no use. Well maybe they aren't in a collision with a car, but for falling off the bike when the dog wants your pink crocs .... they're ace. He would have cracked his skull without it, no question in my mind.

Stylish is very pleased about the guinea pigs, she's been hassling me to get rats for ages and I kept saying no because she used to let them run around the house, but now we have the pink croc chasing dog that's not really an option. The pet shop said the guinea pigs were skittish, but they look pretty tame to me, one in each lap as the kids watch a movie!

Angus is crawling all over the place, he has two teeth through and it threatening to get a new top one any day now. He is really miserable with the teething. He stands up on furniture now and is close to stepping around holding onto stuff. He is making all sorts of baby babble noises and is starting to wave. He loves it when we sit out in the garden and he can crawl around.

Yesterday we took advantage of a glorious Autumn day and drove down to Southport for a picnic. The kids ran up and down the beach finding shells and feathers. We also found dead squid like things that when you walk on them they ooze purple ink. That's why I assume they were like squid, they looked like seaweed other than that! We saw a starfish, and wallaby, penguin, crab and dog footprints which we're sure was edumacational for them. A has drilled holes through many of the shells and the kids are making necklaces out of them.

rats and restaurants .... not all at once

Stylish is full of amazing ideas for decorating her new room, and most of them involve prettying up the rat cage and the frog tank. We had a bit of a worrying moment the other morning because she realised that she'd left the rat's cage open all night and only one little ratty was still home. After her old rat Pip had deserted her only a week before we were a bit worried that these ones, which are far less tame, wouldn't show up again.

After a few hours of worrying and crying, and insisting that they were gone forever she came into my room and - lo and behold! - was holding one of the escapees. Over the course of the next few hours she saw the other one running up and down the hallway numerous times but was unable to grab it because it was so fast and jumpy. Then yesterday afternoon she opened her desk drawer and noticed that there was a toast crust in there. She wondered how it had managed to find its way into the drawer so had a closer look inside, and right down the back, trying to look inconspicuous was the last little ratty.

This morning she made them a run in the corner of her room and put lots of inviting (if you're a baby rat) things for them to climb on, hide in, and explore. They've been in their play pen all day having a whale of a time.

I took the kids out for dinner at a local Vietnamese restaurant tonight. It's too hot, and I was too tired and pregnant to bother cooking anything. It was nice to go for a walk in the evening air as everything cooled down. At the restaurant Stylish chose to have fish with ginger and shallots and I chose the deep fried bean curd with chili and lemon grass. We shared it all of course. Spikee had two big bowls of rice, and two cups of green tea, and refused anything nutritious or tasty looking (I'm so over his breatharian lifestyle). The tofu was so amazingly delicious that I ate nearly all of it, and even bothered to bring the last two bits home with us to eat later - as soon as I got home actually. Even Adam thought the tofu was delicious and he's not much of a tofu eater. fall that walking After all the walking I am way past my used by date. Stylish just brought me a very nice cu p of tea so I'm chilling out in the bedroom playing on the internet and drinking my tea. What a lovely summer evening!!!