Summer Holidays Listography

Inspired again by Kate Takes 5's listography, here are my top 5 'thangs' about the Summer Holidays that I love (incidentally, living in Scotland means I only have 2 weeks of the summer holidays left up here so I am feeling somewhat nostalgic rather than staring 6 weeks in the face)!

1. NO SCHOOL RUN - I have never been a lark and don't leap out of bed full of the joys of spring.  I do, however, grimace when the alarm goes off, grumble under my breath and grump all the way to the bathroom.  Needless to say, I can do without the shout fest that is 'getting ready for school'.  "Do you have your lunch bag?"  "Go and clean your teeth." "For goodness sake, get your shoes on NOW!!"  "Have you cleaned your teeth yet?" "No, I do not know where your hair slides are." "What do you mean you haven't cleaned your teeth?!"  I haven't missed any of that.  (Although, I should mention here that the BEST response EVER to the question, "are you ready yet?" was my then 8 year old son saying "Not yet. I'm dusting my Batmobile.")

2. CHILLING OUT WITH THE KIDS AND NOT REALLY DOING ANYTHING - I quite like a spot of 'what shall we do today?'  This could end in painting pottery, going to our new (and quite fantastic) library, baking cakes, going for a walk or, as my previous post today shows, going for an Olympics inspired 'run'.

3. DISCOVERING THINGS WE NEVER KNEW ABOUT IN OUR PART OF THE WORLD - We live in East Lothian, just outside Edinburgh.  Truly a beautiful part of the world.  Gorgeous countryside, long, yellow sandy beaches, winding country walks and woods with hiding places and picnic spots aplenty.  Of course, during the other 46 weeks of the year, we're too busy running around to actually fully appreciate it so it's nice to take the kids to a local beach, huddle together against the wind (I'm not feeling that nostalgic yet!) or go for a long, pointless walk.  Bliss.

4. NO ACTIVITIES - OK, so that's not strictly speaking true.  We do book the kids into a few summer activities.  They both went to rugby camp last week and they're doing gymnastics and archery this week but it's all very leisurely and, more importantly, we don't have to balance it with school and homework.  My usual week consists of the school run accompanied by Tuesday: badminton (Cheeky Boy), swimming (Toots); Wednesday: hockey AND cubs (CB), Rainbows (Toots); Friday: swimming (CB), Saturday: guitar (CB), ballet (Toots); Sunday: rubgy (both).  Sure, we've booked them into all these activities and, on balance, they love doing them and we love the fact that they get to try out so many different things but not having to do them makes me appreciate the break that the summer holidays gives us all the more.

5. FAMILY HOLIDAYS - now I fully admit that purchasing an in-car DVD player was THE BEST decision I ever made and has made family holiday travel all the more bearable but I do like a wee trip with the kids too.  The chance to take them to countries they haven't been to before (France this year) or parts of the world that they don't visit regularly (Devon last year or London where their auntie lives) means that we get the chance to introduce them to new things and I am constantly surprised at their interpretation of the world - not to mention that it gives us the chance to see things afresh too.  My son's new found independence in France this year going to the local bakery every morning for baguettes, speaking French and figuring out the money was fantastic.  It was a joy to see his confidence grow - and to have a lie in while he went for breakfast!

Still, as I said in my intro, this is almost a nostalgic look back for us with 2 weeks and only a few playdates and sleepovers left, it won't be long until the school run and the myriad of activities starts up again.  So I really better make the most of it, hadn't I?

Listography - 5 Teenage Crushes

After laughing over the entries in this week's Listography over on Kate Takes 5 I had to stop my chortling and join in.  First of all, at the risk of seeming to have completely copied Kate, my first 2 are exactly the same:


1. James Dean - I loved him and was strangely devastated about the fact that he was dead (even though he was quite clearly dead before my crush began!)  I never said I wasn't a weirdo.

2. Michael J Fox - I saw Back to the Future, Teen Wolf, Family Ties - everything and anything that he was in about a million times.  And was very happy that he was about my height!  Suspect it was because I was 14 and he was totally unthreatening (being that he resembled a teenage boy).

3. Harrison Ford - yep, from the sublime cute boy to the ridiculous!  I LOVED Han Solo and Indiana Jones with a passion.  And I definitely didn't get the whole Luke Skywalker thing (and time has borne me out on this one - compare the two actors and see who you think has aged best).  And when Blade Runner came out (or possibly, when I was old enough to see it) I fell in love with him even more.  Even the fact that he's only 2 days younger than my Dad didn't put me off (and it hasn't put Calista Flockhart off either!)

4. Prince - ah, the diminutive one - do you see a theme forming?  I watched Purple Rain (the bloody awful film) about a million times and hated Appolonia (or whatever her name was) followed by Sheena Easton (although I think I already hated her).  I didn't mind the fact he was little and wore heels - I just adored the purple midget.

5. Leroy (yep, from Fame) aka Gene Anthony Ray.  My walls were covered in Leroy posters; I bought the Kids from Fame albums (the ones accompanying the dodgy TV series, not the edgy Ridley Scott film); and I even went to see them in concert.  At end of said concert, I ran to the front and shook hands with Leroy - and didn't wash it for about a week!  

Thankfully, I'm not a teenager any more and can only blame hormones for my, quite frankly, dodgy taste in the opposite sex!  Thanks for the trip down memory lane Kate.  Now I think I need to hide in a darkened room to get over the shame.

My Top 5 Kids Christmas Toys

Looking through my favourite blogs today, I just had to link up to Kate Takes 5's Listography of top 5 Christmas toys for kids - as my little angels decided to write their Christmas lists for Santa yesterday!  Yep, 22nd October and the lists are already 1 side of A4 long and apparently, about to be added to!  Jeez. (How to break it to them that Santa is a busted flush due to 'necessary' purchase of iMac yesterday afternoon...).


Anyway, inspired by both the kids and Kate here are my top 5 all time best kids toys (not necessarily cheap but definitely value for money):


1. Lego - this is a time honoured favourite.  I had loads of it when I was a kid, as did my sisters, as do my own kids.  Whether it's a specific type of Lego (son is partial to the Atlantis range) or the more generic sets, Lego just doesn't go wrong.  It keeps them entertained for hours (although it is partial to getting sucked up by the hoover).  The kids can add to it either with an expensive set or with cheaper smaller sets.  And, of course, we all get involved (it's addictive! - and our trip to Legoland this summer just made the addiction in our house even stronger...)

2. Monopoly - I love this game.  It reminds me of Christmas's gone by and the kids really love it too (they think the money is real - bless!).  My main complaint about Monopoly used to be the length of time it took to play it but I notice that there are new sets available with choices of games that take 30, 60 and 90 minutes so, as my son has added Monopoly to his Christmas list, I may have to investigate one of those.

3. Hama Beads - these are a recent discovery for me but Toots was completely engrossed by them at a friend's house the other week.  I have to admit that my initial thoughts were that it looked fiddly and slightly dull but both Toots and her wee friend were engrossed (for which read: quiet) for well over an hour.  AND you get to make something that you can keep at the end of it.  Don't know how long she will remain enamoured of the beads but Santa may well be persuaded to get some for her.

4. Nintendo Wii - I am not a fan of computer games and I don't like the kids spending any time on them but my little sis rather generously gave Cheeky Boy and Toots a Wii for Christmas a couple of years ago and I've had to review my opinion of them.  I do like the fact that they at least jump around and I encourage them to play the games where they challenge each other (rather than games like Pokemon where they play them on their own).  I have even been known to become completely engrossed in a bijou game of Mario Kart of an evening myself - so the Wii has well and truly won over this particular sceptic.

5. Chess - nope, I'm not kidding.  It's a classic and Cheeky Boy can't get enough of it.  He loves playing either the wooden version with board or the computer version equally.  It's improved his concentration and encourages him to think about strategy, planning and seeing through his actions rather than simply reacting.  Personally, I've forgotten more about chess than I remember (which is my way of saying that he always beats me) but I've got to include this old favourite on the list as my son loves it - and I seem to remember that I did too.

I am, of course, going to be doing lots of research to see where I can get the cheapest possible versions of these items - ebay, Amazon and Gumtree being obviously starting places - so any suggestions are much appreciated.  I'm also going to be checking out Kate's ultimate Top 10 Kids Toys once the listography linky is up for some Santa style inspiration!

Listography - 5 Games I Used to Play

Encouraged to get writing again - I've been a bit quiet for a while - I was inspired to link to Kate Take 5's Listography of games I used to play - mainly as a challenge to see whether or not I could actually remember the rules of any of them!  And of course, also because they illustrate the main aim of this blog - thriftiness!  (It being the '70's and early '80's when I was growing up and the chances of parents splashing out on expensive toys were extremely low).


1. What's the Time Mr Wolf?
One person turned their back on all the other kids while they tried to sneak up on the person who was 'it' and get to them quietly without them noticing.  'It' would turn around at various points during the sneaking to catch someone moving and you all had to freeze.  If caught moving, you were sent back to the beginning.  (Sounds completely rubbish now when writing it down but it was great fun!)

2. British Bulldog
This sounds like a version of Kate's Red Rover and was so rough it was actually banned at my primary school!  Anyway, one person was 'it' and the entire class had to charge from one end of the playground to the other without being caught by him/her.  If caught, you then joined forces to help 'it' catch other members of the class until they were all caught.  (It was banned at school because vast numbers of little ones were knocked over like bowling pins in the ensuing charge!)

3. Kiss, Cuddle & Torture
I think everyone knows how to play this game.  You run away from the boys (or girls depending on your gender) and if caught can go for the option of kiss, cuddle or torture.  Torture was usually either a Chinese burn (ouch) or being tickled until you screamed.  Most of us opted for a cuddle (unless particularly cute boy was on the other end - then we were all terribly forward!!)

4. Kerbie
Game played with football/basketball where two opponents stand on opposite pavements and throw the ball to try to hit the kerb.  If you catch the kerb at the right angle, the ball will bounce straight back to you and you get 10 points.  If it hits half heartedly, it'll only come part way towards you and you get 5 points and stand in the middle of the road(!) to try to hit kerb again.  And of course, if you're rubbish, your opponent gets it and it's their turn.

5. Chinese Ropes
I have no idea what was Chinese about these ropes.  Basically someone (never usually me) had loads of elastic bands that had been tied together into a huge loop.  Two (girls usually) would stand - as if at opposite ends of a skipping rope - with the bands wrapped around their ankles and another girl would jump around in the middle trying not to get caught up in the ropes.  From memory, it was a kind of glorified skipping with a bit of hopscotch thrown in.


Having written down all of these it's made me realise why we were bored by week 2 of the school holidays!  And in the end, I think we just played endless games of hide and seek - the old ones are the best ones after all.