In the past month we have been up and down to North Wales like loons. My father in law has been increasingly unwell and as a result we have had to move him into a care home nearer to us. Although this is nice because the boys can see more of him and vica versa,it has meant a lot of leg work literally and on the phone. I think ALexander learned more about Welsh language from my cursing and muttering than he would have through living there for a month!! Anyway,Jim is now living 20 miles from us so things should now be much easier for us all. What else have we been doing? When the weather permits we have been out out out! Walking for miles,going to the parks to let off steam,swimming etc etc. Alexander has been off all over with his camera and will hopefully have some good pics for his folder. Alexander has been spending a bit of time each week learning more about sewing machine repairs and maintenance,and using them correctly,this is something he is enjoying immensely.Although he could never make a good living from doing sewing machine repairs,I feel that the skills he is learning are easily transferrable into any part of life and that the experience in itself is extremely good for his confidence. Alexander has now achieved more than 30 open water dives so well done him! Academically we have been looking at maths and physics in relation to both diving and aerodynamics,and we have watched programmes such as ones about the Vulcan Bomber etc,and today we are off to AirBorne. Because it has been the summer holidays,we have slacked off so that Alexander can spend time with friends that are at school and kick back a bit. Alexander is booked in next month to complete his Makaton stages 3 and 4. He also plans to start at Sea Cadets. We will also be going to Hampton Court Palace next month so we have been talking about Henry VIII and whether he has been a misrepresented case in history. We are also going to go to a chocolate factory for a day and have a go at making yummy chocolate stuff and even better,we get to keep what gets made! OH YEAH!hehehe!! Vampires have also been a topic here lately,so I think Bram Stoker may well be next on our reading list. Our vegetables are doing well,the sweetcorn is hugely tall,pumpkins are little hard balls growing nicley,sadly we lost our cabbages to hungry critters during one of our trips to Wales :-( hey ho,the strawberries have been very generous this year tho Toby generally eats them all before anyone else gets a look in! Alexander is currently in the process of making a family of stuffed pigs from a pattern that he has had to cut out etc. He is also making me an oak chopping board from an offcut left from making my worktops. I think that just about covers it! This week Liam is in Abu Dhabi again,so we'll be doing alsorts as usual,and hopefully now things will settle into a less disrupted routine.