And they're off...

So this is it the Dunnottar to Dunvegan Daunder has begun.  230 miles across Scotland in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support and in memory of my Mum.

We were up bright and breezy  (4 am) due to mini munch still being on the timings of our sunny island.  He was banished to the travel cot with a plastic cup and a Royal Baby Happyland Playset for amusement when the hair pulling and eye gouging got too much.  By some miracle we all got out of the house on time and in the right attire (if you can call Mr S's kilt the right attire).  We have already lost one of the group - the Masie Dog - who has been banished to Colditz for dogs for the next 2 weeks. 

Setting off from Dunnottar Castle we posed for the obligatory photos; loo stops before the start and monster munch had his first taste of Scottish weather.  Most people were in t-shirts, monster is in jeans, 3 tops, a coat and a woolly hat and his teeth are still chattering - he wanted to go home "RIGHT NOW, I'M COLD MUMMEEEE" and had a sulk on the cliffs over looking the Castle.  Many thanks to Dunnottar Castle for letting us start our journey from within their grounds.

There had been a plan to introduce tourist terrorisation to Scotland; however, there were  several hundred steps down to the Castle and then several hundred more up.  The buggy, a cold and grumpy monster munch and his cousin, Super S, were not going to make it so we made the sensible decision to go to soft play nearer The Dad's house.  Munchkins happy, mummies happy (with coffee), local business supported.

Meanwhile on the walk...

Progress was not what it should have been due to pilfering the hedgerows of soft fruit; feeding horses extra strong mints (Missy V was memorised by their tongues); frog capturing; blisters; been held in a field by a less than friendly cow and Missy V's alfresco wee/nettle incident (you don't need a further description).  The munches found another park and got muddy and chocolatey whilst we waited.. and waited...

We eventually met the walkers at Auchenblae and the locals were treated to Mr S on a zip wire in a kilt, they even threw money (this may not have been in support).

Collie Dog Campers dropped off the camper van (many, many thanks to them again) and The Dad's Mate made the best spag bol for a very long time.

We're under way, we're even enjoying ourselves and the sun shone.  So please show your support and donate at:

http://www.justgiving.com/DDDaunder

or by texting LJTH58 to 70070 and you will donate £5.

Jen xx

Extreme packing

I am unashamedly a worrier and a list maker - I plan and over think to the nth degree so why oh why did I choose last night  (or should I say the early hours of this morning) to wing it?

Today we flew to Scotland from our sunny island to start the Dunnottar to Dunvegan Daunder - a 230 mile walk across Scotland in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support and in memory of my Mum who died last October after fighting breast cancer for 8 years.

We are going for 3 weeks; camping with a 3 year old and a 9 month old; Mr S decided he would do each day in a different costume so he could raise more money and we have to take all our camping equipment and stay in the airline weight limit.  Instead of lists and spending last week washing the required clothes; laying everything out so nothing was missed; checking our suitcases were actually in full working order; finding our passports and considering how to keep the munchkins entertained on the flight - I procrastinated; I ate chocolate; I nursed vomiting children (who then had to miss the rest of the week of nursery - further compounding my lack of preparation); I painted mugs and biscuit barrels; I made grass heads with monster munch; I went out to dinner; I went to the wine festival (twice) and then to top it all off on Friday evening I accidentally got a bit tipsy.

When I woke up at 11pm on Friday (we were flying under 12 hours later), Mr S was at work (having not selected his 'fancy dress') and the house looked like an explosion in a laundry and a toy shop combined.  My head hurt and I was knackered and the house had to be tidied before I could even attempt to pack.  After some further procrastination on face book (and a cyber waggy finger off The Dad) I started.  I then realised that we live in 30 plus degrees and we are going to Scotland in the summer so are bound to be cold and miserable and the munchkins only have swim shorts and sunhats.  Mini munch has been given the monster's hand me downs (here's hoping they fit) and I managed to unearth a pair of Thomas the Tank jogging bottoms, a rugby shirt with a dodgy stain and a pair of shorts that will be slightly too long for the monster munch so may pass as 3/4 length trousers!  I can only hope the local Tescos is 24hrs and has a clothes department.

I vacuum packed the fancy dress box, put what I think is the tent in a bag, found some walking boots and a wicking t-shirt and eventually went to bed at 3 am only to sneeze and wake up mini munch who then screamed for an hour.  Got up at 6am, got to airport, fed the munches chocolate brownies, drank coffee by the bucket and the (luckily) we all passed out on the aircraft (thank god for BA and G&T) and woke up at the hell that is Terminal 5.  Two and half hours of queuing later (and fishing mini munch's boarding pass out of his mouth) we made it to our connecting flight.  All I can say is thank heavens for a good British curry on arrival at The Dad's house.

If you would like to sponsor us on our fool hardy misson we have a just giving page:

http://www.justgiving.com/DDDaunder

or you can text LJTH58 to 70070 and donate £5.

Jen xx

Things are a changing...

Today was mini munch's first day proper at creche.  He loved it, I was a bit sad as this starts the wheel turning towards me going back to work after nearly a year off.  Not only is it returning to work, it's a completely new job, in a new location, with a new house to boot.  So I did what every woman should in these situations - ate ice cream.

What was good was I got 4 hours of monster munch's time uninterrupted by poo-ey nappies, feeding, squeaking and general baby behavior.  I think I was more excited than the monster munch.  We had to wait for a man to mend the water tank which encroached on our morning of fun but once that was sorted we headed to the Port to watch ships being off-loaded (a small boys heavy machinery heaven) and then went for ice cream.  I also let monster munch touch everything in the bead shop and make all the tourist wind chimes tinkle in the tat shops.

Mini munch was as happy as Larry when we picked him up - he'd spent most of the morning gnawing on a drumstick and flirting with the creche ladies.  I think the changes will not bother him one jot!

The afternoon had been planned as making grass heads (hey ho we can save this for another day) and making spinach and lentil curry (again I'm sure I can do this another day) and instead we played with bricks and trains, went swimming and mini munch ate a turtle!  Luckily it was not the endangered variety but the egg box version - he went green and the eyes went missing - luckily I located them in the roof of his mouth before they caused any damage.

Tonight I have started the final preparations for a small walk across Scotland that my family and friends will be starting next Saturday.  230 miles in 2 weeks, the boys are doing the walking, I'm driving the support vehicle (kindly donated by Collie Dog Campers) that will contain me, Missy V, the munches and a dog.  I think Mr S got the better deal! 

The walk is in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support, but more importantly in memory of my Mum who died of breast cancer last year just before mini munch was born and after 8 years of fighting beast cancer.  We will be walking to many places we visited with mum and dad as children and I think this time it will be very different  - we will be creating new memories with the munches but also remembering the old ones. 

So whilst today didn't involve any physical making of things - I endeavor to remember the memories we made - ice cream and cranes, first day at creche and a turtle murder - as I have memories of my Mum that will never change even though the decades and people have.

Jen xx

Spreading the love

Yet again life has conspired against my blogging aspirations and there has been a distinct lack of handmade-ness for the last few days.

However, a first was achieved this weekend - we took the munchkins to the cinema to see Planes and we actually saw the whole film without a single toilet stop, stern talking to or collecting monster munch from behind the screen (its an old cinema).  The secret to our success?  They both fell asleep in the first 10 minutes!  Whilst it was nice to have nearly 2 hours of peace and it was nice to go to the cinema again - I don't think it is the cheapest way of having some down-time!

So what have we been up to?  Today was mini munch's first foray into unsupervised art.  I picked my time - post nap before he realised he was hungry - covered the floor and let chaos commence.  The idea was to write LOVE in masking tape on a canvas, squirt red paint on a tray and then see what happened.  The hope was it would complement the hand/footprint canvas we made earlier in the year.

Luckily he obliged and squidged his mitts in the paint and then splatted them on the canvas, apart from the odd hand removal from mouth, the result was entirely his own work and I'm quite pleased with it.  I think painting the canvas red and then giving him white paint to slap about might have looked a bit better - but then hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Monster munch got in on the craft action (he had been causing a flood in the back garden whilst the painting was going on) and decorated a ceramic mug - it started off blue - then some green was added, then some yellow and then some red.  Not on the mug, but in the dish and mixed up - so what colour it will turn out when fired I don't know.  The results will be revealed at a later date.

The obilgatory weekend beach trip and tea out completed our Sunday and mini munch ate his first sand - Mr S was in charge!

Jen xx

"Chasing dragons with plastic swords"

Today we repeated one of our favourite family pastimes - tourist terrorisation.  This is also one of monster munch's favourites as he gets to misbehave without the prospect of a waggy finger from mummy.

We pick a local historical building (normally a castle) and take monster munch's plastic swords, knight's helmet and dragon costume (it's actually a toy story Rex costume, but it serves a purpose) then spend the morning being knights, slaying dragons and jabbing the odd tourist in the back of the knees.  Most of them don't mind and there are now many stranger's holiday photo albums that include pictures of the munchkins waging war.

Mini munch joins in and is usually made to be the dragon, but today he did get to have a quick chew on monster munch's second favourite sword.

Freshly squeezed orange juice in the castle cafe finished off the morning.  Monster munch declared the day "the best day ever", but then yesterday was also given the same tag line - I suspect he's picked it up from cbeebies.

Jen xx

Holy guacamole

Well it's been a few days since I've written anything due a number a events:

A horse themed party in which monster munch won the best dancer competition! His 'dance' involved wagging his finger and wiggling his bottom and has now (buoyed by the win) added the lyrics "no babies, no babies, no babies".

A trip to A&E for a phantom broken arm - mine, after a wet floor/slipping incident.  As eloquently put by one of the lovely ladies - I slipped in my own wet patch!

An impromptu night out which ended in table dancing.

Swimming lessons galore.

A wonderful BBQ at friends,

And a photo shoot with the  marvellous Billy of Precision Photography UK

Doing anything creative with the munches has been near impossible as when they haven't been down the pool or the beach they've been snoozing.  As a consequence you are being treated to my simple pimple guacamole recipe which I made for the BBQ we went to.
                                    
All you need is an avocado - make sure you find a squishy one or if you can't, leave it next to the bananas for a few days.

Take the flesh out, stick in half a teaspoon of easy peasy or lazy garlic (I have also used garlic purée in the past) and about the same of chilli flakes (or more if you want a real kick).

A good slug of olive oil and a good squirt of lemon juice (the oil is good for consistency and the lemon adds a tang and slows down the oxidation of the avocado).

Use a hand blender or food processor to whizz it up to the consistency you like (we go for smooth) and you are good to go.

I also made a yoghurt and mint dip which was just a heaped teaspoon of mint sauce (the stuff you put on lamb) into a pot of Greek yoghurt and give it a good stir.

Enjoy!

Jen xx

Monster evacuation

We've all been there, munchkins tucked up in bed, sitting down for some well earned peace and quiet; then you hear it

"mummy help me....daddy help me". 

You sit for a few minutes more hoping they'll go back to bed and it comes again

"mum-meeee heeeelp meeee...dad-deeee heeeelp meeee". 

You realise they are not going back to sleep and you really need to see what calamity they have got themselves in to this time (usually it involves a botched escape plan and we need to untangle monster munch from the child gate).  Unfortunately, on this occasion monster munch had fallen foul of bedroom monsters and they were running-a-muck in his bedroom.  He was not best pleased, quite rightly so, and needed to be rescued.

The mature adult in me would love to dismiss the 'appearance' of bedroom monsters with a quick tut and put him back to bed.  However, we all know these pesky devils return and multiply.  Decisive action was needed, this called for biological warfare.  The 'Monster Spray' was deployed in vast quantities.

Monster Spray? What is such a product?  Well its my perfume liberally sprayed all over monster munch's room to fend off bedroom monsters.  He bought it, the room smelled less like a hamster's cage and he went back to bed.

Or did he - what can I hear now.....

Jen xx