Sandringham Craft Fair

Those magnificent men on their pogo machines, they go up-tiddly-up-up.....

...they go down-tiddly-own-down. Sam found a bargain at a car boot sale on the way to the Sandringham Craft Fair. Any idea what kind of car that is in the background?

The Craft Fair was a jolly affair as always, although we didn't rub shoulders with Her Maj.

We'd recommend a visit if you have never been. Where else could you see a man carving a canoe with a chainsaw?

It was also nice to pop into the stalls of some of our friends from Rate My Sausage, all of whom were doing a roaring trade. Above you can see David and Julie hard at work - by the end of the Fair they had completely sold out.

And you could hardly see the Jimmy's Farm crew, who were also seeing stock flying out!

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!

Christmas 2010

Last Christmas was a whole lot of fun for Sam & Dad. Our Christmas tree went up as soon as November passed.

We both dislike the terrible, kitsch light fitting in the living room, but it's quite Christmassy in its own way. Sam scaled the step ladder to fasten streamers in the middle of the room.

We made our own gift tags, the first time Sam had done it. We even made them into "proper" packs of tags, for Sam to distribute around the family.

And we cooked a ham. THE Great Ham Of 2010. Sam had a hand in the whole process, including poking holes for the cloves to slide into before cooking.



He very much enjoyed painting the glaze onto the ham as a finishing touch.

And we both thought it tasted bloody lovely. Didn't look too nasty either!