I know it’s been over a week since I posted on here, no real excuse other than a rotten summer cold and the fact that I have been a tad busy.
Early last week we went to Disneyland (about a 2 hour drive from here) and I took my two children and two of my son’s friends (one of whom was visiting from the UK). At the start of the day (5.30 am) I felt fine but by the middle of the day I knew I was coming down with something. While we were waiting in one of the long lines, this time for Space Mountain, I realised that it that it was probably going to be the last time that I went with the kids for some time. The next time they want to go, they will be old enough to drive themselves and won’t want Mum hanging around with them.
Just to prove that I went on Space Mountain here are a couple of photos.
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| That’s me in the back row, but I’m not sure what’s going on with the boys! I can only claim to be responsible for the one in the second row on the right. |
I have to admit that I love roller coaster rides. I’d never been on one until my son reached the age of about 12 and wanted to go on them, but did not want to go by himself. I became the designated adult to do them with him. My husband will not do them at all and nor will our daughter. There are some rides that I simply won’t do – anything that involves just dropping from a height and also the silly (and tame) motion/movie rides. The later makes me feel really queasy for a couple of hours so I’ve learnt not to do them at all. Luckily, the motion/movie ones are the ones that the kids will do by themselves. To tell the truth, I think I only still get to go because I’m able to drive them all!
The children are in fact old enough to drive in California (kids can get their driving permit at age 15 1/2) but not old enough to drive our rental (you have to be 21). Because my husband works in San Diego six months of the year we keep a car at our home here. Our daughter, Jenny, is able to drive it (on her UK driving licence) but things are complicated by the fact that we have Green Cards and legally she should have a California driving licence. Getting a driving permit at 15 1/2 is a little complicated because it involves Drivers Ed., a minimum number of hours behind the wheel, and not being able to drive friends etc until you have passed your test for over a year – quite sensible rules but not something that can easily be achieved if you are only there for the summer. Jenny is now 18, so she can take her test as an adult. The test as an adult it similar to the UK, there are two parts, the first being a written one and the second a behind the wheel one. I will let you know more about this in another post because she is taking the first part this week and hopefully the second part next week (or sooner if she can get an early appointment).
By the the middle of last week the cold really took a hold but I started to feel better on Saturday. This is just as well because I planned to take a class with one of the local Stampin’ Up! demo’s by the name of Jenny Wood. She and some Stampin’ Up! friends have a blog called Pink Paper Bakery so click on the link if you would like to see some of their lovely ideas and projects. It is always great fun to be able to do a class organised by another demo – so many ideas to swap and there is also the opportunity to meet fellow Stampin’ Up! enthusiasts. Of course, I was also able to play with some of the product not yet available in the UK. The only problem with this is that I can’t as yet post a photo of either of the cards that I made. Check back at the beginning of August to see one of them and details of August’s Stampin’ Up! offer.
I promise to have a few projects posted in the near future so please check back soon and see what I’ve been up to with my stash of goodies that I brought with me from the UK.