Triple-decker bus!

My blog entries are like buses: you wait ages for one and then three come along all at once (well, in the space of 24 hours anyway.)

At Football today Luke did his usual; he refused to take part in the matches unless he's allowed the yellow bib.

Aidan Davis, Flawless, Diversity

Check out these dance acts for Britain's Got Talent.

Aidan Davis
audition
Semi-Final

Diversity
audtion
Semi-Final

Flawless
audition
Semi-Final

There are some great singing acts in the final too (I think everyone in the world has heard of Susan Boyle) but I'd really like one of this lot to win.

Loadsa words

Ben is stringing words together like no-ones business. okay, most of it seems like gobbledegook but the he put such meaning into his expressions when he's saying it that there's gotta be some meaning behind it!

Okay, there are quite a few clear ones coming through now (on top of the Daddy, which he's been saying clearly since before he was 1, and Mummy, which he says ever so sweetly.)

And then there's a bunch of other words which Mummy and Daddy can understand but not every one else. For example, babir=blackbird. bro-ah=brother uke=Luke aye=mine, and of course humph=I'm angry (Okay, that's not a literal translation but it's what it means. the arms are either crossed or slapped onto any object to emphasise the point!)

Ben's new trick

"Ben, where's your tummy?"

Cheeky grin creeps across his face, pulls up his shirt to reveal his podgy belly and pats it, proudly chanting "pat pat pat."

Earlier this morning we were looking at some old holiday photos (me in Florida in 1994) and he spotted his good friend Mickey Mouse. After a bit of pointing and squealing he said "Mmmm. Mmuh. Mic....key!"


Image sourced from Disney Records

The philosopher

This morning I was jogging around the lounge (WII Fit, of course!) and Luke asked: "Dad, what are you doing?"

I replied: " jogging around in circles."

Luke's instant response to this was: "don't go around in circles. You'll end up back where you started."

Football bloopers

I watched some football bloopers on the telly this morning -and thats why I stuck some on here. THe quality gets a bit grainy at times.

More pics

chuffed

I found out today that passed the Diploma in Business Systems Development specialising in Business Analysis. Yay for me!!!!

Finally, some Eurodisney pictures

Meeska Mooska.....Mickey Mouse!

We've back 8 days and already the memories seem hazy.

So, rather than the detailed account I'd planned here's a bullet-list of the good, the bad and the Francais!

Bad points
1) We arrived slap bang in the middle of French National holidays. Parks and hotels were packed. There may also have been other European holidays going on at the same time because there was a fair few Dutch and Belgians at our Hotel.
2) Being English, manners/politeness and the ability to form an orderly queue are second nature (okay, we have some "elements" of society who let us down but it is a minority). Let's just say our European cousins don't share the same good standards.
3) Smoking. Disney put lots of designated smoking areas in the parks (too many). These are well adhered to in Florida - but not in EuroDisney. All the French (not finger pointing but 99%+ of the attendees were French) completely flouted the law, even smoking in queues. With high volumes of smokers in Continental Europe you were never more than a couple of metres away from someone smoking (I'm not kidding.) Nasty.
5) Food. I almost died. I have a nut allergy and an innocent purchase of pasta at an unnamed global franchise resulted in an adverse reaction. I managed to avoid needing medical treatment by drinking over 2 litres of water really quickly. I could only assume they had cooked using pesto. At another restaurant I almost selected pancakes and cream for desert -I'm glad I didn't because the cream was laced with nuts. I had similar issues in America and other Countries, so, I've concluded eating outside the UK is dangerous for anyone with allergies!
6) Hotel - Disney's Hotel Santa Fe - not great. Expected better from Disney even though it was 3star. At breakfast-time it was like a free for all in a crowded mental asylum.
7) Currency - poor exchange rate. Everything was really expensive.
8) Atmosphere. As Russ Abbotts said, "I love a party with a happy atmosphere." And at parade time it did - but overall there was something lacking. Perhaps I've been spoilt by 5 trips to Florida...
9) Train journey going home - Waiting in a massive queue (like good Brits!) that was so long it went down a flight of stairs. On thejourney back passport control caught some immigrants [actually, that should be a good point! :-)]
10) Upkeep of the parks. Pot holes and cracks everywhere.
11) Some of the rides were completely "en francais", and others were a mixture of English and French.
12) Characters had a siesta that lasted until the following day. THe characters had photo shoots at certain points thoughout the morning, but none of them were available after 1pm.
13) Albion lost - bah!

Good things
1) I wasn't a work. Yay!
2) Luke didn't find out where we were going until the train departed Lille on the final leg of the journey. He went mega nuts with excitement (although he thought at first he was off to Florida...)
3) The boys loved it!
4) The boys behaved really really well (okay, Luke had a couple of incidents and got too excited at times, but overall...)
6) I was so cream-crackered everyday that I fell asleep before 11pm (ever happens at home!)
7) Weather was good for this time of year.
8) Parade was good, and Mickey's Winter show was great- I got some good pictures and video footage of both.

Photos to follow....

Bonjour!

Okay, at this time of night it should be "bonsoir!" but I'm too lazy to change the title.

So, It's late February and this is my first post of 2009. Pretty pants eh?!

As ever work pressures have kept me away from blogging and other things, like having a life. Any spare moment is definitely spent with my little boys.Priorities right, and all that jazz.

LATEST MAJATO NEWS

Unfortunately I've had to remove my Christmas Eve message because the cool video (which was someones Xmas lights set to Jingle Bells sang by the Bare Naked Ladies) has been removed from YouTube. Bummer.

Luke is 5 in a few weeks time. Blimey - the past 5 years have gone mega fast.

THis time of year I start to get Disney withdrawl symptoms, but as I can't really afford to go to Florida again this year, we're off to EuroDisney next week for a short break. And the best part? Luke won't know until we get on the EuroStar!!! He's gonna go nuts. Mind you, I'm soooooo looking forward to seeing Ben's face when he sees Mickey Mouse for real. When we went to Floirda last year he wasn't even 6 months old, so didn't quite take it in. So, now he walk up to a 7 ft mouse he's gonna be totally chuffed. Either that or he'll be scared because on TV Mickey is only 30cm height at the most.

Nuts

The last few months have been a hard slog at work, so when I walk out that door on Christmas Eve, I know I will totally deserve a couple of days off.

In fact, I'm fairly sure I could put last week's bout of Flu down to work; the kids being poorly with it at the same time was coincidental.

So, it will be with relief more than anything that I greet the festive break.

And after a couple of days recharging batteries, I will be raring to go again in the new year.

Step....One

Yay!!!!!!!!!! Yesterday Ben took his first steps on his own. For ages he's happily held on to fingers or trousers or used various toys to walk along, however he's never been keen to go it alone. We've tried a few techniques to tempt him: Jaffa Cakes, toys, biscuits, chocolate, the TV remote control (that was the most likely to succeed...)

So, what worked? Well, I can't believe I didn't think of this before. Afterall, he is totally obsessed with this fella......Mickey Mouse!!! I left him standing while I put on a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse DVD and he starts clapping along as usual, then start a jigging as usual, then takes a couple of ginger steps towards the TV. Whoah! I need my camcorder (run run run, run fatty run!!!)
Okay, tape is rolling (metaphorically speaking, seeing as it's a HD camcorder) and Mickey is still appealing but Luke is now prancing around and has totally put Ben off. A minute later; eldest child politely told to stand back (he's a limelight hog) and we've ran Mickey back to the opening credits.... and the little jig starts again.
Oh yeah baby, this is dynamite. I remember to tell the camcorder that this is two days before Ben's first birthday and back up as much as I can to get him completely in shot. But that becomes a bit harder as he's on the move. One step, two steps, three steps, four, five, six, sevennnnnnnn, eight. Plonk. On his bum pointing up at Mickey (a mere two feet away) saying "tehtehhteh! isssss tehetehteh!!!!" FYI That's Ben talk for "It's Mickey Mouse!"

Can't believe the little blighter is gonna be 1 tomorrow. Man, that year has gone quick.


Source:Disney-Clipart.com

Just 'cos i want to.

I'm in a Harold Lloyd mood.

So here's some stuff I found on YouTube......."Hooray for Harold Lloyd...."

Does Obama like to get bladdered on Guiness?

Apparently somewhere in Barack Obama's family tree there's a slither of Irish.

Here's the (ahem) musical proof.