September

The end of August and the start of September went really quickly.  We had a birthday celebration (mine, Dan's and Joe's) at the Robin Hood pub on Bluebell Hill where we had a Sunday roast.  Afterwards we went to Wouldham recreation ground to play rounders but about 5 minutes after we all got out of the cars it started to rain really hard and we had to retreat to the cars, then back to Natalie's to play tennis indoors on the Wii!  Regardless of the lack of rounders, it was one of the few times that Alexander, Amelie and Hiren were able to spend some time with each other and this made up for the rain.

On the August bank holiday Monday Ben took and passed his CBT course ready for when we manage to get a scooter.  Hopefully, this won't be long.  We looked at one on the way to Dan and Helen's on Dan's birthday but it wasn't what Ben was looking for (wrong colour)!  No scooter yet but we had a lovely meal at Dan's.

Back to school and work, clubs started up again and life became as busy as ever.  I will carry on getting the bus to work, as last year, but this time we don't have a second car as a back up.  This means that we are having to get the bus to things like football training, tennis and rowing, which takes up more time but, as long as we plan ahead, isn't an inconvenience and is surprisingly cheap.  Ben and Beccy still need to learn a bit more about planning ahead so that there isn't such a rush for the bus or the real possibility of missing it!

Midge, Beccy's kitten, is growing and is very active.  She likes to pounce on Poppy's tail and even sometimes to jump on her back.  Poppy and Smudge are gradually accepting her and she seems quite happy.  She needs to stay in until she is at least six months old, when she will have been vaccinated and maybe microchipped and speyed.

On Saturday 11th September we ran the Bedgebury Forest run (as we did last year).  Dan, Ben and Natalie ran 10k and the rest of us (me, Beccy, Helen, Sue, Mum, Josh and Izzy) ran 2k.  There were hiccups for all of us.  In the 10k race, the leader took a wrong turn and ran in the wrong direction down a hill before realising and turning back.  Of course, the rest of the runners, including Dan, Ben and Nat, followed him and all ran between half and one kilometre extra.  There were a few very cross runnners!  Ben came in around 6th in around 48 minutes despite the extra.  Dan did a very respectable 53 minutes but neither knows how long the actual 10k took them.  The rest of us lined up at the start with what we thought were the fun runners (there weren't very many).  The starter gun went off and we started running.  As we got to the first junction we realised that we were on the 10k route and we had started with the 10k runners.  Mum, Helen, Sue and I turned round and headed back to the start, we couldn't stop laughing especially when we realised not only that nobody else had done the same but also that Beccy, Josh and Izzy hadn't realised the mistake and were still running!  Fortunately for them there are very few occasions on which Beccy doesn't answer her phone, even in the middle of a run, and I was able to tell her to collect Josh and Izzy and come back.  The 2k had started by the time they got back and it took Beccy at least a kilometre to catch us up!  We eventually all made it to the finish line where we met Brian and Alexander.  As it was Natalie's birthday and she was the last to run in, we sang Happy Birthday to her as she ran to the finish line.  She had her earphones in and didn't hear any of it so wasn't too embarrassed!

That afternoon we went to Beccy's football presentation where we played rounders, then had fish and chips.  Beccy won the parents' player of the year award and we presented Steve, her manager with some goodies from the parents to show our appreciation for the amount of time he puts into the team.