Canada

After what seemed like the longest flight ever we finally touched down in Calgary on Sunday afternoon and we have not stopped since!

After something to eat on Sunday we went for a walk down at Fish Creek. It had been a beautiful day so there were alot of families there having BBQs and riding bikes. We found a spot where the boys could throw stones and they were quite content to stay there. Getting back to the car wasn't so easy and we nearly got lost in the woods! Danny lead the way and was very proud that he found the path.

The weather was going to be good on Monday so we decided to go to the zoo. The zoo was huge and the boys really loved it. We saw animals that we have never seen before, there were hippos, bison and even camels. As the weather was so nice it was quite busy, Danny loved the play park there and I think he would have been happy if we had left him there. We only got them off with the promise of an ice lolly and they turned out to be the biggest ones ever!

With the zoo done we went to see Nicola and the family in Airdrie. The kids loved the creme eggs I had brought them and the boys thought the huge trampoline was great. When we got there only Ethan was at home so the girls got a surprise as they came home. Two hours flew by and we needed to get back to pick Joseph up.

Jennie had made us a lovely tea which Danny gobbled up really fast so we went to Dairy Queen for afters. Danny chose a hot fudge sundae and I had a strawberry one - very yummy! The whole day had been too much for Hollie who just didn't seem happy. After getting the boys to bed it was obvious that Hollie wasn't well so it was off to the doctors. 12 hours later and a trip to the most colourful hospital that I have ever seen she was much better and thankfully we were able to come home and get some sleep-something I hadn't had much of since we had arrived.

Tuesday was mostly spent catching up on sleep. In the afternoon Danny and I went on a park hunt. We found two great parks really close, then we went on a walk all around Bridlewood. We then had to pick big Joseph up from work and took him to play football and we tried to find a Tony Romas (great ribs). When we ended up at a gravel quarry on the top a hill in the middle of nowhere we realised that asking for directions in a restaurant for another restaurant wasn't the best idea and went back to Dairy Queen for burgers instead which were great. We picked Joseph up from football and came home. Yet another late night for the boys but hay it's a holiday.

I've discovered that Danny's most favorite things are Mario Kart, Ice cream and parks. Two out of three isn't bad!

Sorry no pics yet, I'll have to put them in later. Hope you are all having fun too. We love and miss you. Mummy, Danny and Hollie x x x

Beamish

Took the girls to Beamish today. All the forecasts said that it would rain all day but we risked it anyway as Em and Aimee are back at school tomorrow. They really loved it. We had great fun and got some great photos.

Aimee loved going down the pit although Emmaleigh & Abs didn't feel the same way.

Blogging from both sides of the world

Well Juli, Danny & Hollie are in Canada now, they landed about 4 hours ago. The girls are really missing their mam, especially Emmaleigh.

We'll get the chance to use this blog to show each other what we have been doing by updating each other. Probably ours will look better coz putting the photos and stuff on will be easier. Might even work out how to put a video clip on.

Danny's 5th birthday

Yesterday was Dannys 5th birthday and we had his party after school at our house. He invited 7 friends over so it was crazy. there were kids jumping and shout everywhere. We had to take the glass shades off the living room light to stop them from being smashed as the floor was literally shaking.

They started off by making pizza and then devouring the pizza following by jelly, ice cream and squirty cream sundaes.

Needless to say danny loved his party and loved his presents even more. It was certainly a ben 10 year this year with just about every alien possible, books, comics, blankets, t shirts pajamas the lot.

Now we have to get everything togteher for Julie Danny and Hollie to go off on their jollies to Canada. I have the pleasure of entertaining the remaing 3 noiseboxes for the week. We have film nights, bowling, Beamish & Life museum on the cards for the older ones and park and softplay for the pest otherwise known as Anna-Belle.

Day out with Dad

To give me a bit of a break Chris took the older kids out on Saturday. They went to Toys r us (always a hit) to get Abbs birthday present and then went to the Metro center to go shopping for my mothers day presies. As the were so good the stopped off at the Angel of the North on the way home. It was a lovely summers day and the kids have been asking to go for ages. As you can see they had a great time. They all came home in a good mood-including Chris!

Hollies first week

This is her first bath. I'm sure she'll thank me for this one in the future! She may not look that impressed in this picture but she loved being in the warm water. I think she'll be a water baby like her siblings.

Getting to hold Hollie is still a novelty. Aimee and Anna-Belle are more keen than the others, either way it's a help to me.

I think Anna-Belle thinks shes some kind of doll. She loves being a big sister and is always wanting to help. She gets her her dummy when she cries and strokes her head to calm her down and always has lots of cuddles for her. So the ost important thing is that she managed to survive her first week in the crazy Poulton family life. Shes been to her first stake activity, first walk around the lake, been into the town centre, spent time at Grandma & Grandads, met all of her siblings teachers and mums friends, first Asda shop, had her first night out with mummy, had her first sunday at church, and has been to her first fireside . No wonder I fell asleep on the sofa last night! It didn't seem that busy until I wrote it all down! Here's to a quiet week!

Welcome to the World Hollie

So at 3.30 am on Saturday 14th March Hollie Evelyn Poulton decided to join our family at last!!! Will put some more pics on later but we are all doing fine.

Anna-Belle totally loves her. She is so cute when she says Baby Hollie! The kids just fight over who gets a hold of her.

Mario Kart

Mario Kart is supposed to be fun but for Aimee nothing is fun unless she can do it and do it well. So much for a nice fun game that we can play together, it has caused world war III in the few days that we've had it.

As for Danny the first thing that he says to any new person he meets is I've got Mario Kart. You will see him doing his tigger impression bouncing around the room whenever he's either watching or playing on it.

playing on it.

Yummy Pizza

We only have one photo as we were too busy eating the best pizzas ever! On saturday evening we went to our friends house (Andrew and Helens) for pizza. Andrew has built his own pizza oven in the back garden so we had to go and try it out. We all made our own pizzas and they cooked soooo fast-this is Emmaleighs creation cooking away. Helen was saying that they put casseroles and rice puddings in to cook when they finish cooking pizzas as it stays hot for ages. The oven was still warm the next day. Needless to say I now want one as I think they are great.

World Book Day

The children celebrated world book day on friday. An event we look forward to each year as the whole school including teachers dress up as characters from books-or in most cases their fav TV character or just whatever costumes they have at home.

This was our best efforts this year. Danny actually wanted to be "Munch" again but we managed to persuade him the Robin Hood would be better. You have no idea how much we had beg him to wear the dog tags!!

The scary thing about this is that we think the Aimee actually looks like Stephanie even with the crazy wig that still didn't look any better despite me combing it for what felt like an hour.

Emmaleigh was adamant that she wanted to be a cheerleader even though most of the girls in her class were planning in being one too. I think she looked great. I really fun day however I am still trying to wipe the image of Aimees teacher dressed as Tinkerbell in a very short dress from my mind.