A Long Weekend In Liverpool

Friday 24 May 2013

I don't always enjoy bank holiday weekends. Yes, I enjoy the extra day out of the office, however sometimes they just turn into an extension of a normal weekend - too much housework to do, trying to entertain two children inside as the weather's miserable... not this time.

I'd arranged to switch a couple of days around at the office, so instead of finishing at 5.30pm feeling tired, I finished at 2.30pm and was raring to go.

Go, in this instance, was Liverpool. We were spending a long weekend staying at the in-laws house, which is always nice. As ever, it took longer to get the other side of Wolverhampton than it did to get the rest of the way. Whether it was Sarah headbanging to Bohemian Rhapsody with G being suitably embarrassed from the back seat (I would have joined in with her, but it was a particularly busy stretch of road and I needed to concentrate!) or G singing quietly (word-perfect) along to a song we had no idea she'd heard before, even the journey was fun.

Saturday 25 May 2013

Saturday started fairly normally for me, but unusually for Sarah in two ways. The first was that G woke up at stupid o'clock. In her defence, there was no clock in her room and it was light enough for her to think it was time to get up. However, in going past S's room and into the Grandparents room, she disturbed S. Believe me, the last thing you want is an awake S at 4.30 in the morning! Despite Sarah's best efforts, getting him back to sleep proved impossible.

The other new thing for Sarah was that she did her not only her first Parkrun, it was her first 5k run and I was very proud that she completed the distance. The rest of the morning was a chill-out session as the kids played in the garden until it was time for Christmas!

Although we had planned to see Jodie on a couple of occasions, for one reason or another, we hadn't managed to meet up, so it was nice to be able to see her again (and exchange Christmas presents). The six of us (Grandma, Jodie, me, Sarah and the kids) headed down to Crosby beach.

Grandma is in training for the TOGS marathon (I still haven't got my head around how this works as it doesn't appear to involve travelling the required distance). However, as a part of her entry she needed to make a video introducing herself - here's a quick excerpt of her doing her chariots of fire bit.

By the time this had finished, Sarah, Jodie and the kids were nowhere to be seen. The kids had decided to explore the dunes and they had gone to supervise! After a while we headed back home, however it was still a nice day so we sat in the garden and chatted whilst the kids played.

Sarah and Jodie putting the world to rights in the garden.

Eventually it was time for Jodie to go home. Grandad was feeling under the weather, so he headed to bed, closely followed by the kids. The three of us left sent out for a Chinese Takeaway, however this did open a completely different debate - perhaps you can help us out with it!

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Sunday 26 May 2013

The Duck On The Clock

After a cooked breakfast on Sunday morning, we caught the train into Liverpool City Centre. S caught sight of the River Mersey and excitedly claimed "It's the swimming pool". As much as I love his enthusiasm for swimming, I'm not sure that would be the most hygenic stretch of water to take a dip!

We headed to the Pier Head, where there were a couple of helicopters and a typhoon jump jet that could be sat in. As we arrived, S pointed to the top of the Liver Building and exclaimed "It's the duck on the clock!" Kids have such a funny way of looking at things sometimes.

Prepare to die, Daddy!

S was intially a big worried that the helicopters would take off with him inside, but he was reassured into going in. I didn't survive long as he found a gun on one of the helicopters whilst I was outside, pointed it at me and shouted "Prepare to die, Daddy!" In the next helicopter, the children were allowed to sit in the cockpit and pretend they were flying it.

We'd brought a picnic into town with us, so we took the opportunity to have a sit down. It was a bit of a backwards picnic as we started with ice-cream and followed it with more savory stuff. Batteries recharged, it was show time. First we watched a fly-past, then there was a Tiger Helicopter (I think) that performed all sorts of maneuvers over the river. We were impressed that S commented that he thought that the way it moved was like a shark coming out of the ocean and I have to say he was right. After the helicopter returned to base, the local sea cadets treated us to a show that included the sailor's hornpipe, club twirling and a display on the rigging.

As the cadets display finished, we started to head to the Museum of Liverpool as there was some kids colouring activities going on. On the way there, there was a robot performing. S got a lift on Grandad's shoulders to see what was happening and I lifted G onto mine - it' had been a long time since I'd done that and I'm not keen to try it again any time soon (well she is nine!). The robot was doing some singing and dancing and the kids seemed to enjoy it, however there was quite a crowd around, so it was difficult for me to see exactly what was going on.

I'd heard about the Museum of Liverpool before, but this was the first time I'd been inside and it was quite busy. We were a little early for the craft activity, so we had a little explore. One of the nearest exhibits to the room we were going to be in was about the Liverpool Overhead Railway. Unfortunately, one of those parts of history now consigned to the past with the only reminder it was ever there being in the museum itself. As the museum was over three floors, it's definitely going to be somewhere I'd like to go back there again.

I was a little disappointed with the craft activities that were put on as it was mainly colouring sea scenes - still it wasn't there for my benefit and it was an opportunity for the kids to do something different for a bit and for Grandma and Grandad to have some time off. Unfortunately, S got bored incredibly quickly and although he did get distracted when his three cousins unexpectedly showed up, soon Sarah needed to explore some more of the museum with him.

G&S colouring with their cousins G&E

After a while, it was time to move on and we headed up to Chevasse Park to see what was happening there. As it happened, the advertised event was a 'Proms in the Park' and we found a space on the grass for a little more picnic and to see what music was on offer. To be honest, it would have been a lovely spot to have enjoyed a nice cold beer, but apparently that wasn't allowed. The next band up was a jazz band from Liverpool University. They weren't bad with a decent set that had my foot tapping. S certainly thought so as he was dancing around - so much so that a photographer asked us if he could take S's picture for Liverpool One publicity. Don't suppose it will get used, but we didn't have a problem with that.

As it came time to think about going, S sat down for a drink - at which point we noticed his shoes. He was wearing his school shoes, which was fine as they were pretty durable, however the sole had started to wear significantly to the extent that the insole was visible. On the way back to the station, we had to take a diversion via Clarks for a new pair.

Arriving back in Waterloo, it was time for tea. We went to Nicola's on South Road, which lets the kids make their own pizza. Our two had eyes bigger than their stomachs and so needed to take what was left of their dinner home!

After a shower to freshen up it was clear that I'd caught the sun - still it had been a lovely day.

Happy, contented, but a little sun burnt!

Monday 27 May 2013

On the Monday, the day started with another cooked breakfast - which was delicious even if was going to take some work in the gym to get rid of again. The weather for today wasn't great so we took the kids down to the marina on their scooters where they could play on the swings. After making Grandad be the troll under the bridge, they went to the waterside. Near the Lakeside Adventure Centre, there's an outdoor gym. Sarah took full opportunity of the facilities on offer...

It also gave Grandad the opportunity...

to nick the kids scooters and go for a quick tour of the park! Not that the kids were fussed - they were just as happy on the outdoor gym as Sarah!

After a while, the promised rain started to appear, so we headed back home for a lunchtime snack. G had been badgering us all weekend to play some games as a family and so out they came. S wasn't fussed, he snuggled up with Grandad on the sofa.

First was an Angry Birds game that Jodie had gone G for Christmas. It was a pleasant enough game... up until the point you have to flick the die to try and knock over the king pig - that can hurt, especially if you need multiple shots to knock it over!

After that, we introduced G to Cluedo. It looked like she had the hang of it, which is more than can be said for her Grandma, who made an accusation based on three cards she held in her hand! In typical competitive Dad style, I managed make a correct accusation first, although to be fair, we think G had actually reached the correct answer but continued to eliminate everything else rather than make the accusation.

My triumph, however, was short-lived as Blind Ignorance was brought out - a game that I am terrible at. It's known under various names, but essentially if boils down to you having a name on a card attached to your forehead and having to guess who you are by asking questions that can only be answered with a yes or a no. G, Sarah and Grandma took great pleasure in watching me struggle to identify myself as Kermit The Frog.

Am I Kung Fu Fighting?

After a roast dinner for tea, it was time to go. As ever there were tears from G who didn't want to go, but as Sarah and I had to work the next day there was no choice. Still, it was an excellent weekend!