Charlie's party

Charlie and Ethan held a shared birthday party at Laser Quaser in Hemel Hempstead. I didn't get to go into the Laser Quaser shooting with laser room. Ollie and George did that. I got to eat toffee from Thorntons and cake.

Grandpa and Grandsons

Found this pic of Dad with boys on the steps of Douglas Rd, Chappaqua. It is a good pic.

My Best Week (by Charlie)

Friday

At school every week theirs an achievement award for who’s been good at school. And guess who got it Charlie Barnett and Faazah Afzal. That very day I was special person.


Saturday

I am in a team this year. I played a game on the 11th September 2010 in the 1st mach I did not play but in the 2nd mach I did play. We beat those 11-1 and 1st mach we won, 2-1. I scored the 4th goal.

We didn't have a picture of Charlie from the week in question, unfortunately. So I have inserted this picture from the narrow boat holiday instead. For all pictures from holiday, click here

Charlie Takes An After Dinner Nap

Slightly strange way to do it, but hey.

The Wooz On Flickr

I have already posted on The Wooz and I going on a boy's weekend to Paris, here. At last I have posted all the pix to flickr, here. There are too many pix, certainly too many duplicates, and no labeling of the shots. I will have to go back to edit and label. At least they are up. Narrow boats next.

Charlie and Daddy go to Paris

On 20/21st Feb Charlie and I took a trip to Paris. I had taken the other boys away on their own when they were young and my previous trip with Charlie was a bit 50:50 (we went to Norfolk, Charlie was ill), so I was hoping for better this time. Charlie was very keen to go on Eurostar, and fortunately I had lots of 'points' from all my trips to Brussels. Charlie was very excited. Here he is in the business lounge at St. Pancreas (I have a card that gets me in):

We got on the train:

And stood by the front of the train at Gare du Nord:

We had a decent room in the hotel opposite la Gare. Here is a view of the station from our bedroom window: 

After a little rest, at Woosie's request, brought on by all the excitement of the train, we headed off towards the Eiffel Tower.

We went via the Tuiliers: 

And got our first glimpse of the Tower: 

We headed towards it: 

And then up it:

After all this activity we needed sustenance. We walked across the Seine and up towards the Trocadero. We found an excellent restaurant and tucked in. 

The Wooz had Le Menu Enfant, which included some ice cream, but he was desperate for a chocolate crepe, so he got both! 

We put the ice cream in the coke bottle so The Wooz could eat his crepe. After dinner, we checked out the lights on the Eiffel Tower.  

We got the metro back to the hotel and went to bed. Charlie could not go to sleep so he read a book. 

Next day we walked to the Sacre Ceour: 

And Montmartre:

We walked back to La Gare du Nord, where The Wooz took some photos of Eurostar, TGV and double decker trains.

We then made the return journey back on the train. Here is Charlie on the moving walkway at St. Pancreas:

We had a fantastic time, Charlie loved Paris - good chap - and walked like a trooper. And I got to spend some quality time with my beautiful third son. 

Charlie Joins The Table

Following this post, about boys birthdays, I found this charming shot of Charlie.

It may not look like it, but he is sitting at the table with George and George's pals on George's birthday. He clearly wanted to join in, but felt a little nervous so sat a little away from the table, but it was clear that he had his part of the table which was his: even from long range!

Boyz Birthdays

It's that time of year. Birthdays for boyz. They fall within 2 months of each other, and Christmas. 

First was Ollie. He was ten on 20th December. He is blowing candles out using some kind of swing-wing technique borrowed from dart shaped planes.

Then George, a teenager on 21st January. He is using the deep breath technique with bent arm to create a stout and straight back for better blowing efficiency.

And on 12th February, The Wooz was seven. And he is gazing adoringly at the segment of cheesecake that has no jam on and is earmarked for him!

Charlie-isms

One day over the Christmas break, Charlie started talking about the electric bacon. We didn't know what he was referring to. Then it struck us: he was talking about the target he was trying to destroy in a pc game we were all playing. It was The Psychic Beacon.

(The above picture is not Charlie really smoking, or promoting smoking. It is a liquorice pipe and he is eating it : )

Charlie-isms

The best 'mail from America' (my occasional email letters back to UK from USA) I never wrote compared the difficulty of translating English to American English with the difficulty of translating Charlie speak into any language (he was 2-3 years old at this stage). I really ought to do a glossary before too long before I forget. Anyway, following on from this one here are his latest two. 

Firstly, when talking about tactics he referred to them as Tic-Tacs. 

Secondly, when referring to someone else's verruca he referred to them as bazookas. 

I still like Guerilla Cheese (grilled cheese)

What a dude!

Charlie Goes Cycling

Charlie is getting very good, and keen, on his bicycle. This is him zooming around Clarence Park today. Here are some more pictures of him. 

I like how it is a series of pictures with Charlie in the same pose; earnest peddling and head down in concentration with a variety of backdrops. I guess that is what cycling is. But I thought it was cool. The best Charlie has ever done. However, it is not as cool as this:

It is still a little dangerous for Charlie to cycle his bike to the park. So rather than carry it on the downhill bits of the journey, I ride it.

Last Weekend

Was a good one. Everybody got to so something for them. On Saturday, Ollie's football team was in a 6-a-six competition. Here he is with Guiseppe: 

His team made the semi-finals and Ollie played very well throughout. He passes very well. He also scored a couple of goals. One was from a free-kick. This is him, just after he struck the ball, 'majestically' he tells me. 

It was very hot. Hot enough to have a REAL barbeque in the evening. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture. 

Sunday morning was time for Charlie to practice his cycling. We have a vested interesting in him being able to cycle properly; namely so that we can go for a family cycle ride. We went to to Clarence Park to practice. Charlie was fantastic. Best ever. He was almost cycling around the park after a couple of goes. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of that either. 

In the afternoon, we went sailing at Stanborough Lakes.  It was warm and gusty.  George took the tiller. This time I did have my camera but we capsized before I took again pictures. Luckily, I managed to cling onto the boat whilst George got wet. I was able to hand over all valuable items - camera, expensive sunglasses - to the instructors in the power boat before I also got wet. I did take a picture of the lake after we have got onto dry land: 

And for the evening, it was 10cc (for Jill and I anyway). Excellent 1970s art rock/pop band. Only Graham Gouldman remains of the famous four, though there are a couple of musicians who were with the band from the start so it isn't a bogus set up. And the gig certainly wasn't. First an acoustic set of well know songs Gouldman had written prior to 10cc then a full on, really tight and rocking set of all of 10cc's hits. It was very good. And in St. Albans as well. Andy came with us, though Fiona didn't due to their long long drive back from Swanage. 

Charlie Wins The Treble

On the final day of the season Charlie single-handedly wins the Premier League, FA Cup, and European Champions League with one amazing strike.

BBQ English Style

As George has been away in New York and Florida, Jill decided that the remaining boys needed some excitement of their own. Wednesday was BBQ English Style and a chance to sleep out in the chalet at the end of the garden. Ollie played chef.

And Charlie was his assistant:

Charlie and The Grand Pee

Charlie confused the Grand Prix with a grand pee today. 

Battle

The young warrior was blinded by the Force of the Light.

It was overwhelming.
Out of the light came Daft Vader. The two fought.
The young warrior morphed himself to safety using his superpower light transporter. He escaped safely.

Scooting From School

I went to pick up Charlie from school today. I took the scooter, partly so he could scoot home and partly as I was running late and I could scoot faster to get him than if I walked. I can confirm that Charlie is a better scooterer than me.