Kuk Sool Won Blue Belt Promotion Ceremony

After a lot of hard lessons and practice, Sam was awarded his kuk sool won blue belt!

Grandad's Steam Engine

A few weeks ago we dug out Grandad's steam engine, and tried it out to see if it still worked. It did! Sam was very happy, and just a little bit awestruck, to be able to steam up a real, working steam engine.

Above is the lamp containing burning meths, under the boiler. The picture's blurry because it was pretty damn warm down there!

Here Sam is filling the boiler.

We took the engine into the hallway of the flats where the flooring is much more conducive to "cool runnings". It certainly gets a move on when it's in full steam, and Sam really loved steaming up and down, peeping the whistle, and having a go at the "dangerous" stuff. A passing eastern European family even took photos of our little engine to send to their family back home!

Santa's Little Helper? Or Kirky? Kirky? Or Santa's Little Helper?

Sam loves taking Kirky for the morning walk.


He loves it all the more as Kirk's a spitting image of one of the character's from one of Sam's favourite shows, The Simpsons!

They are pretty similar!

Humbrol Painting

As rites of passage go, they don't come much more important than the first dabble with the Humbrol paints, and the re-branding of some of your toy cars. We're fans of the banger racing at the Norfolk Arena, so Sam decided that he'd like some of his cars re=painted as banger cars. A base coat of white is the first step, because it allows the colourful top coat to look brighter.

There's ritual involved - opening the tins with a penny, stirring the oily, lumpy contents until it is transformed magically into rich, colourful paint, cleaning the brushes....I remember it all well from my childhood MANY years ago, I hope Sam will too.

After quite a few cars (and two aeroplanes) were painted, Sam tried one of his Italian infantry soldiers, The colour looks right, but he missed a bit....

First Trip To Lowestoft

Sam made his first visit to Nikki's place at Lowestoft in January, and he loves it. Mind you, which seven-year-old wouldn't? On the way home after the weekend he said that walking the dog was his favourite part. We think said dog is a spitting image for Santa's Little Helper, from The Simpsons, don't you?

Feeding the chickens each morning and collecting the eggs was also hugely popular.

And, well, the pool table is rather splendid. Sam did knock a wobbly tooth out with his cue though!

And as you can see, it didn't take him long to pick up some fancy ways on the table!