Category: 2007 4pk News

Warrington RUFC Under 9s were playing at Leigh this morning in their first Sunday morning match of the season (excluding the Manchester Tournament). It was a very cold and foggy morning and the parents thought (hoped) the match might be called off, however it wasn’t and so the match commenced.

Warrington scored first with a fantastic try from Ben which unfortunately was shortly followed by a Leigh try, however there comeback was short lived and by half time Warrington were winning 4 tries to 1!

Daniel came on in the second half much to the delight of his watching fans – Mummy, Tim, Daddy, Uncle Michael, Auntie Alison (and Bob), Great Uncle Harry and Great Auntie Carol – it really was a super turn out from the family! Daniel didn’t fail to delight and after a few minutes he took the opportunity to run the ball over the line and score a try – he loves performing to a crowd!

The team continued to do well and by full time they had romped to an 11 tries to 1 victory!!

Amazingly after such a battering Leigh decided that they would try their luck and play another half, much to the delight of Warrington – Daniel did well again getting stuck in and even bravely trying to take on boys whoa re nearly twice his size and most definitely weigh twice as much as he does – he was driven into touch with great ease but he put up a good fight!

Needless to say Warrington turned Leigh over again and won 4 tries to 1!
Their is no official rugby try comeptition this year – but if there was Daniel would be running away with it already – in 2 games he has scored twice and Uncle Michael is yet to score!

Thank you to the rest of the family for their support – we know Daniel appreciates it!

We have a new addition to our household – her name is Huggles – she is very cute and we all love her to bits already.

Mummy (Alli) and Daddy (Tim) took us to buy some new trainers this afternoon and whilst we were at the retail park Daddy (Tim) thought it would be nice to go and look at the animals in the pet shop – so we did!

We loved watching the animals scurrying round their cages and we all, including Mummy (Alli) and Daddy (Tim), quickly fell in love with the hamsters, so much so that it wasn’t long before Mummy (Alli) and Daddy (Tim) were looking at homes for one.
We decided that we would like to take a Syrian hamster home with us – so the nice man at the pet shop got one out for us and put her in a green cardboard box for us to take home, by the time we got home Huggles had nearly chewed her way out of the box.

When we got home from the shop we were all very excited, Daniel assisted with the unpacking of the hamster food and bedding whilst Daddy (Tim) assembled the cage assisted by Mummy (Alli), when it was ready we all crowded round and watched as Huggles came out of her box and went and hid in one of the tubes in her cage. We left her alone then for a couple of hours and just before bedtime we went in to check that she was ok – she seemed very happy as she was running in her hamster wheel.

We aren’t allowed to pick her up yet as we have to let her settle in but we can’t wait to give lots of huggles to Huggles The Hamster!!

Daniel – a soldier or the lead singer of a band like U2 (he has inherited his mother’s excellent taste in music!)
Emilie – a hairdresser (She is so like her Nana)
Joshua – a train driver (Grandad Trains will be proud)

These indications of future careers were imparted to us today whist we were in the car, Emilie started the conversation by asking Mummy what she wanted to be when she grew up – Mummy explained that she was already grown up but that when she was younger she had wanted to be a hairdresser (Nana said no), then a doctor (but Mummy was sick when she had to have stitches out and that put her off) and finally at about the age of 15 she decided that accountancy was for her!

Daddy (Tim) didn’t tell us what he had wanted to be when he was younger but we are sure it was probably the pilot of Airwolf!!

Saturday morning arrived and it was time for us to leave â?? we were all very sad that this time had come around so soon as we had had a brilliant time!

A big thank you to Janet and Joe for making our stay in Malvern a very pleasurable one.

It should be noted that whilst we were all having fun in Malvern Bill, Janetâ??s husband and Joeâ??s Dad, was successfully climbing Mount Kilimanjaro â?? Congratulations Bill on reaching the top!!

The day got off to a very lazy start with the 3 parents lounging in bed with cups of tea discussing what activities we were going to do today. Before long it was decided that swimming and more fresh air was the order of the day.

After breakfast we headed off to the swimming baths â?? these were no ordinary swimming baths as it had a wave machine and a slide that even Emilie was allowed to go down on her own â?? which she absolutely loved â?? infact we think she went on the slide most.

We loved jumping over the waves when the wave machine was on and we generally enjoyed being water babies for the morning. When we all got wrinkly fingers and toes we decided it was time to go home for some lunch.

Josh was very tired after swimming and nearly fell asleep whilst eating his lunch so he went off and had a little sleep, whilst Mummy (Alli) and Janet washed the dishes, the older boys played Rugby and Emilie did more drawing Daddy (Tim) went to check on Josh and didnâ??t appear back for over an hour â?? you guessed it he had gone upstairs and laid down on the bed next to Josh and fallen asleep!

Whilst we were waiting for the sleepy heads the girls decided that we would play with the dolls (babies) getting them dressed, feeding them and taking them out for walks â?? before long we were joined by both Daniel and Joe who practiced their Fathering skills. Daniel managed to put a baby vest on one of the dolls upside which caused a bit of a problem when the poppers that should have been at the bottom were infact around the dolls head!

We have photographic evidence of Josh and Tim having an afternoon snooze and Daniel and Joe playing with dolls!

Then it was time for our next adventure â?? a trip to the local park before heading off to Pizza Express in Worcester for dinner. We exerted some more energy in the park and Mummy (Alli), Daddy (Tim) and Janet also joined us in having fun as there was a wooden adventure trail in the park that they were trying to race each other round. There was lots of laughing and lots of screams from Mummy (Alli) as she kept thinking she was going to fall off things especially when Daddy (Tim) was trying to make the balance bars wobble!

After 30 minutes we headed off to Worcester and dinner at Pizza Express – we all love Pizza Express and we had lots of lovely food including the obligatory dough balls and garlic butter!

Once we had devoured our dinner we headed back to the car and on our way back we noticed that there were some big water fountains that just came up out of the pavement – we all said that we thought it would be great fun to run through these fountains – so we did! We had an excellent time and we were all soaking wet by the time we had finished – Daniel and Joe were so wet that they had to strip off to their underwear before Janet would let them sit in her car!

ONce we got back home it was time for baths and bedtime dvd’s again – we were exhausted once again!

Sadly we had to say “Goodbye” to UM and AA this morning as we set off on part two of our half term holiday. We had a brilliant time at UM and AA and we can’t wait to go back there again!!

Thank You UM and AA!!!

We left UM and AA at 10am as we had to be in Malvern for 1pm to meet Tim and Joshua who were coming down from Warrington on the train. The drive was proving to be quite uneventful and boring until as we were some way down the M4 what can only be described as a HUGE green army helicopter flew right in front of us – it was so low it looked like we would be able to stand on the roof of the car and touch it. It was very exciting and we couldn’t want to tell Tim all about it given his love for helicopters!

We arrived at Janet’s at 12 noon after a few wrong turnings by Mummy on the drive across, but then she was relying on good old fashioned paper maps and directions and none of this fancy sat nav stuff. When we arrived no one was home so we waited round for a little bit and then Janet and Joe arrived home.

We made ourselves at home immediately as no sooner had we stepped over the threshold than Dan & Em were off playing hide and seek with Joe and his friends and Mummy was having a cup of tea. Just before 1pm Mummy set out for the station to collect Tim and Joshua and shortly after 1pm the 3pk were reunited!

Once we had devoured a wholesome lunch of shepherds pie and vegetables we decide to head out for a walk on the hills behind Janet and Joeâ??s house â?? we werenâ??t so keen on the idea of walking until we were told that on the walk there were football pitches and a stream that we could paddle in. As soon as paddling in the stream was mentioned our wellies were on quicker than Mummy (Alli) could say come and put your wellies on.

It was quite a walk up to the stream and poor Josh became a little disillusioned with this activity â?? until we remind him of the football pitch and the promise of being allowed to get wet and dirty in the stream!

When we reached the stream we had a good splash around and we played â??3 billy goats gruffâ? â?? Daddy (Tim) made Josh jump when he hid around the other side of the bridge and shouted â??who is that trip trapping over my bridgeâ?

Soon the enticement of the football pitches became too much for the boys so we left the stream behind, the girls quickly got bored and then Janet said she would show us the Fairy Ballroom â?? we had no idea what she was talking about and thought she might have gone a little bit crazy â?? but we went along with the flow. Mummy and Emilie left the boys playing football and we made our way over to a huge horse chestnut tree and when we went underneath its drooping branches it really did look like a Fairy Ballroom covered in a beautiful golden carpet â?? Emilie was beside herself at the thought of fairies. It wasnâ??t long before we were hunting for Fairy treasure (conkers) and Fairy boats (conker shells) and trying to get rid of the conkers that had been turned bad by the evil witch â?? perhaps we should explain at this point that although Janet is a little mad she isnâ??t completely mad she is infact a Primary School Head teacher and is therefore brilliant at interacting with children of the 3pk age!

Soon Joshua was bored of playing football as he had no fences to hoof the ball over and so he came to join us in our quest to find the fairy treasure and boats â?? soon we had more treasure than we could carry in our pockets and lots of boats to send down the stream so we left the Fairy Ballroom and Emilie and Joshua lead Mummy (Alli) and Janet back to the stream. When we got to the stream much fun was had by Emilie and Josh as they launched lots of fairy boats to the fairy kingdom.

Before long we were joined by the older boys and we set off for home â?? we decided that rather than walking the long way round we would all roll down a big hill, well the majority of us did â?? Daddy (Tim) and Emilie decided it wasnâ??t much fun but Mummy (Alli) and Janet loved it as did the boys!

When we got home it was time for the art class to start â?? this involved lots of cutting, sticking and blue glitter â?? that seemed to find itâ??s way into some very obscure places. Before long Janet and Joeâ??s house was adorned with pictures by Emilie â?? she likes nothing better than spending hours drawing.

Whilst we did drawing Mummy (Alli) and Janet made dinner, which we all ate very quickly as we were so hungry after all the fresh air we had had. Then it was time for baths and a bedtime dvd.

After a tiring day yesterday we managed to stay in bed until 7.30a, much to the delight of Mummy as she had very little sleep due to the fact that she was sharing a bed with Daniel on Tuesday evening – Daniel is a nightmare to sleep with he fidgets constantly, talks in his sleep, pinches the duvet and occasionally uses you as a pillow – much like Tim just WORSE!

We had a very relaxing morning, mainly because UM was shattered as he had not been able to have his little cap naps on Monday and Tuesday! At one point during the morning he tried to sneak off to bed for a little bit but we didn’t let him have much sleep!

We spent the morning watching a bit of tv, drawing, colouring, reading and playing in the park that is just outside UM and AA flat! After lunch we set off to the Coral Reef water park to have some fun splashing around in the pools and sliding down slides!

Emilie is a real water baby now and loves nothing more than floating round the pool, with her arm bands on! We had a brilliant time in the water and lost of fun on the slides. Mummy got to have lots of slides as she accompanied Emilie down twice and Daniel once! Emilie loved the slide and laughed all the way down. After a little persuasion Daniel went down a faster slide on his own swiftly followed by UM who caused a tidal wave in the pool when he got to the bottom of the slide!

After lots of splashing around it was time for us to go home and cook dinner for AA who had been hard at work all day whilst we were having lots of fun! We helped UM make tuna pasta bake and a delicious dessert of strawberries, double cream and meringue – it was all delicious.

Before long it was the dreaded bath and bedtime again!

We woke up bright and early this morning, much to the disappointment of Mummy who had wanted a nice lie in! At 8am Mummy sent us in to UM and AA to see if they were awake, she feels that they need some practice in the “being woken up by children” department given that “Bob” is expected in February!

Once we had eaten breakfast, done some homework (much to our disgust) and waved AA off to work we went out to the shops to get some supplies – then it was time for another adventure with UM.

We arrived at Wellington Country Park much to the surprise of Mummy as she had thought we were going somewhere completely different and her and UM had got their wires well and truly crossed. When we arrived we just thought UM had taken us to a park similar to the one we had been to on Monday however we were soon delighted to discover than it was infact a huge park full of adventure play areas – the type of park that Tim would have loved to have played in!!

Our first adventure was in the snakes and ladder area which was made up of lots of different climbing apparatus and some slides and a HUGE slide that both Daniel and Emilie loved. At first Emilie had to be helped to get up onto the bottom rung of the ladder but she soon found the strength and determination that enabled her to climb the ladder herself resulting in a another go on the slide! Mummy managed to get some fantastic videos of us coming down the slide. After a good 30 minutes of climbing and sliding we decided to go and see what else was in the park and this is what we found:

Spinning tyres – UM pushed Dan & Em round in these – they sat in a tyre that was attached to a spring on the ground and then it wobbled as it went round and round – this wobbling and rotating was met with howls of laughter from both of them.

Huge red dinosaur – he was as tall as the trees and didn’t really seem to do a lot other than pose for photographs!

Wooden adventure trail – we all had lots of fun on the adventure trail including Mummy. Emilie did a fantastic impression of a jumping frog when she was leaping from wooden wobble board to wooden wobble board. Unfortunately in this area an injury was sustained by Daniel thanks to UM – the boys were playing on the spinning boards that had a big pole through the middle unfortunately when UM stepped off the spinning board the pole hit Dan in the cheek leaving a hideous red mark, UM being kind and caring as he is said “stop being a girl” – he soon took the remark back though when he saw the shiner that appeared shortly afterwards.

By now we were getting a little hungry despite devouring a bag of grapes on our walk round the park, so we headed off to the cafe for our lunch. We ate our lunch very quickly as we wanted to go and play on the tractor and on another adventure playground that we had seen on our way to the cafe.
Before we left the cafe we discovered that we could paint our own pottery, obviously Emilie being the budding artist that she is really wanted to do this – so we did! Emilie painted a beautiful ceramic heart and Daniel did a football shirt, needless to say it was red to signify his allegiance for Manchester United. Once the painting was completed we all headed off for the adventure playground to do lots more climbing and sliding.
Time flew by and before long it was time to leave the park as we had a date with AA at the bowling alley or balling alley as Emilie likes to call it!

We met AA at the bowling alley, Daniel and Emilie were very excited as it was the first time they had ever been bowling. Obviously Emilie needed some assistance as she is so small – so we had a special bowling ramp that she placed the ball on and then pushed it down the lane.

We loved bowling – Mummy got a strike on her first go, which she was very pleased with. Daniel had a very extravagant bowling method which usually ended with him lying on the floor and Emilie liked the pretty coloured bowls and was particularly pleased to discover that the lightest ball was pin – her favourite colour!!!

The match was very close and it looked like UM was going to win but much to his disgust Daniel bowled a spare on his last go and managed to beat UM by 3 points!!!

Sadly we then had to go back home, have dinner and baths before going to bed.

Mummy, Daniel & Emilie travelled down to Reading to visit Uncle Michael (UM) and Auntie Alison (AA). We arrived in Reading at 1pm whereupon UM prepared us a delicious lunch of ham sandwiches, yoghurt and grapes. We ate our lunch very quickly as UM said that as soon as we had finished we could go out to the park and feed the ducks.

The park was a 10 minute drive from UMâ??s house so we were there just after 2pm and our holiday fun commenced. We had taken some bread with us to feed to the ducks however never one to miss an opportunity to involve rugby UM began a game of â??pass the loaf of bread like a rugby ballâ? the game was going well until Emilie made her first pass which resulted in the loaf of bread disappearing over a fence and into the brambles! UM helped Daniel climb over the fence in order that he could retrieve the bread and we were soon ready to commence the game again.

After a short walk we came upon quite a steep sandy bank that UM thought would be good to run up and down – needless to say neither Daniel or Emilie required much encouragement and they were soon running up the hill however coming down proved a little more difficult – Daniel took it upon himself to slide down the hill on either his bum or knees and Emilie, being so small, required the assistance of UM each time she wished to descend.

After much frivolity on the hill we made our way to the lake so that we could feed the ducks (and the dreaded Canadian geese), we quite enjoyed feeding the ducks however Daniel was not enamoured when the geese started chasing him for the bread, it was reminiscent of UM being chased by Deer when he was a similar age and made Mummy laugh a lot!

After being chased we made our way to the park and had a good play on the slides, swings and climbing frames – Emilie loved sliding down the pole with absolutely no fear what so ever!

Then it was time for ice creams!!! Sadly we then had to go back home, have dinner and baths before going to bed.

The 3pk woke up on Saturday morning very excited about the prospect of their “cousins” Amy and Callum coming for a weekend sleepover! Before 9am Mummy (Alli) and Daddy (Tim) had been asked at least half a dozen times “what time are Amy & Callum” coming?”

Shortly after 2pm the much anticipated Amy and Callum arrived, much to the delight of Mummy (Alli) and Daddy (Tim) and then the fun commenced – they had forgotten how much paraphernalia comes with a small baby of just 1, there was the cot, chair, nappies etc. etc.

An afternoon of much frivolity on the part of the 3pk and Amy then ensued – there was colouring, dressing up, playing football, taking babies for walks (NOT Callum!) and generally lots of running around making lots of noise! Meanwhile Callum was being entertained by either Auntie Allison or Uncle Tim depending on which one of us had just left the room i.e. if Auntie Allison left the room he cried and if Uncle Tim left the room he cried!

Soon it was dinner time and the 5 monkeys all sat down to feast on spaghetti bolognese and garlic bread followed by chocolate – the words “chimps tea party” spring to mind.

Then it was time for Operation Bath – it was decided that the youngest would have a bath first, what an experience that was Auntie Jennifer and Uncle Mike had told Mummy (Alli) and Daddy (Tim) that Callum loved bath time, well if loving bath time means you cry constantly from the moment you are undressed to the moment your pyjamas are put on then we guess he does love bath time!

After Callum it was time for the girls and they took an age washing their hair and generally making themselves pretty and finally the boys jumped in and out in a matter of minutes.

Once everyone was bathed and in pyjamas we watched Ice Age 2 – not everyone watched this though as Callum had to go to bed, Mummy (Alli), with the assistance of Daniel gave Callum his bedtime bottle and then it was off to the land of nod for Callum.

After watching the film it was time for bed – the boys were upstairs and the girls were sleeping in the playroom. The boys went to sleep very quickly however the girls decided that they would have a little chat before a final warning was issued “If you don’t stop talking and go to sleep then you will be sleeping in separate rooms” this had the desired effect and within 5 minutes they were both fast asleep!

Sunday morning arrived, all too soon for the liking of the parents, the first one awak was Callum shortly followed by Joshua – we have to say we thought Callum waking would wake the house but he played very quietly in his cot for an hour and then he shouted as he had decided that he really was hungry and wanted some food.

Breakfast was enjoyed by all and then it was time to get dressed as 3pk and Amy were going to the park – well Daniel was going to Rugby training and the others were going to the park – this was to let Callum have some peace and quiet so that he could have a morning doze.

Mummy (Alli) and Callum stayed at home playing – Callum loved playing with the magnetic letters on the fridge and a toilet roll. Mummy even had time to make us all sausage sandwiches for when we returned from our morning of activity.

At 2pm Auntie Jennifer and Uncle Mike arrived, much to their amazement theri daughter was not where they had expected her to be – she had gone with Daddy (Tim) to take Joshua back to Wrexham for a friends birthday party. Emilie and Callum were at home and again to their amazement Callum was running around and Emilie was in bed asleep!

Daddy (Tim), Daniel & Amy arrived home around 4pm to find Callum fast asleep on the lounge carpet and Emilie just waking up – once they had come round we all headed off to The Olive Press for our dinner. We had a great time there colouring in pictures, making our own pictures, picking at our cooked pizza and devouring our desserts!

It was the perfect ending to a brilliant sleepover and to make it even better Mummy (Alli) and Daddy (Tim) haven’t ruled out the possibility of Amy and Callum coming to stay again – BRILLIANT!!!!

Last night at 7pm Daniel informed us that he had a times table test today – nothing like advance notice!

Daniel and Mummy then had an intense revision session for 15 minutes and Daniel did quite well, although he kept insisting that 8×2 was 15.

Today was the day of the big test and we are extremely pleased to say that Daniel got a magnificent 10 out of 10!!!!

Thie morning Emilie came downstairs and informed me that she had crispy knees!

Yesterday she fell over and cut her knees at school and they had scabbed over during the night – I much prefer the term crispy though!