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Heading towards the end of 2005 already and so much has happed this year for Stephanie (above left) and Charlotte! It is now mid-October and having completed toilet training in a week (thanks to the wonderful help from our child-minder Joanne) they are also sleeping through the night without nappies. The savings made on nappies is quite remarkable.

Whilst Daddy was working around the UK with WNO, there was a chance to enjoy another week at the lovely “Anne’s Cottage” in Shirley, Southampton. The girls immediately recognised where they were as they turned into Clarendon Road even though it was some 4 months since they had been there before. Situated close to lots of things to see and do meant that Good Friday was spend at Marwell Zoo (where they wore their amusing “Thing 1” and “Thing 2” T-shirts (from the Bradleys) – a set which also includes the appropriate Cat in the Hat T-shirt for Mummy too! Steffi found the ostriches rather hungry as they tried to eat her fingers.

A quick drive to the New Forest took us to the lovely children’s Longdown farm http://www.newforest-online.co.uk/longdownfarm/index.htm - a must for young people visiting the area. They had their time of lives here – Charlie loved holding the rabbit (see below) though she nearly strangled the poor little chick that Steffi held so gently. Alongside all the animals which children were encouraged to feed, there was a toy cow milking machine (complete with calf being born!) and lots of tractors to ride, haystacks to climb, enclosed trampolines – each for a different age. In fact, it would be worth travelling there for a holiday alone. Along the same road at the Otters and Owl centre, http://www.ottersandowls.co.uk/newforest.htm there was a chance to get up close and personal with otters – including lots of baby otters needing protection. At the same centre a few very friendly deer wandered around, including one who made Charlotte laugh till she cried because a deer started to eat her pram… 

Each week S&C have their weekly routine of visiting their absolutely favourite playgroup Sticky Fingers – Hebe Ambler who runs the group (not 3 days a week) is a saint and genius with craft activities for little hands. Along with their playmates Kalim and Megan, they love spending the end of the day with Joanne for story time, driving in the car outside Joanne’s  and playing hide and seek.

As they discard clothes to various friends because they are now growing quite tall, S&C find new things to wear which are a mixture of generous gifts from friends and hand downs from relatives and friends. They both could use an American style walk-in closet these days! Here they are in some of their latest outfits:

Our Sundays often include a walk through Greenbank and Sefton parks, we are lucky to be blessed with such lovely parkland in the south of Liverpool. Although the pram is still taken, more often now S&C demand to walk. Most weekends Willy joins us, sometimes it is Peter and Ann Dangerfield too. In May S&C made a birthday cake and card for Ann – and the third picture (taken by Peter) shows Charlotte chatting away to Ann as they walk along (with S&C both wearing their bike safety helmets).

May also saw William Simmons – Uncle Willy to the girls – collect his bus pass. He kept this very quiet at the time so we thought we’d add it to our website for anyone who didn’t know!

The days were counted down to the holiday in France – a great success thanks to a wonderful place (Kokopelli in Foye) to stay with hosts Chelle and family near Saumur. S&C made great friends with Shay and his younger sister Kaya, Steffi especially took a shine to Shay, whilst Charlie decided she liked being able to run around with few or no clothes on and getting terribly dirty. They also experience their first ride on the back of Daddy’s bike (we have since purchased bike seats at home and go for rides to Otterspool for kite-flying when we can). There was a splash pool to cool off, thank goodness as some days the temperature soared up to 44 degrees!

We also had chance to catch up with Tim Redpath and family – Claire gave birth a few weeks later to their 3rd son! S&C liked being able to visit different places – and there is lots to see and do around this area of France with young children. When the day is packed full, snacks were taken in the pram whilst shopping, and one of the highlights was the fantastic Zoo at Doue www.zoodoue.fr , where Charlotte tripped over and immediately blamed the (now famous) Naughty Giraffe who distracted her after she had finished feeding him!

Another must-see is the amazing Futuroscope park near Poitiers www.futuroscope.com where Charlie ran into the fountains to cool off, entertaining the hundred or so diners who ate their evening meal nearby! She clearly enjoyed this foray despite the totally wet clothes and nappy that weighed a ton afterwards.

Just 20 minutes away from the gites was the town of Doue, where there is an amazing underground restaurant Les Cathedrales de la Saulaie on the Rue de Montfort. With just one popular sitting on a Sunday, we just caught lunch in a setting which has to be seen to be believed! The shafts of daylight from the roof space are certainly unusual, and the children’s play area made it easier to keep the children amused while sampling the excellent local wine. Charlotte reappeared in time for dessert – and managed to put away seven cream filled profiteroles fed to her my Mummy!

At the of the holiday, no-one wanted to come home – though the Ryanair flights from Liverpool/Limoges make it very easy when travelling with young ones as you are invited to board first! Willy joined us for a few days in the middle of the holiday and when he took the train to Paris from Angers station, Steffi just cried and cried, saying she wanted her Willy back!

A visit to a concert in Southport at the end of July gave S&C a chance to meet Livvie the duck (the Phil Power concert mascot) live – but the digital camera broke that day so there no photo showing their bewildered faces on this occasion. The girls have also cried because Rachel Besbrode left Liverpool to pursue her dream of working in Guatemala. Before departing she managed to annoy Mummy and Daddy by teaching S&C how to “make tents” and “houses” using various bits of furniture and cushions, and generally creating lots of havoc around the lounge. Thanks Rachel – remind us to return the favour one day! Seen here with S&C on her last night in Liverpool, Charlotte asks most days if Rachel is still on that airport and can find Guatemala on the world map so she knows where Rachel is living.

The rest of the summer passed by quickly, not least of all because of Daddy’s Clarinet Summer School in July! Various people have been to stay with is over the summer, including Claire Jones who was doing some work experience in Liverpool, German friend Mareile Hankeln visiting before returning to work in India, and Claudia Craven also doing work experience in Liverpool. Steffi enjoyed playing cushion fights with Mareile (see picture) and Granddad, Bill Parr, also met up with Mareile (whose name he cannot pronounce and still calls her the German nurse!)

Despite some miserable weather the girls found things to keep them amused. Dressing up (especially hats) is a favourite – Charlie pictured below spooked us with this photo of her looking in the mirror – the thought of there being two Charlotte Annabellas is just too much!

At a school fete Mummy found a video of The Nutcracker for 20p. This was a turning point for Steffi, who insists on watching this (Barbie!) ballet video everyday. As it has the original soundtrack by Tchaikovsky played by the LSO, it can be tolerated but having now seen it hundreds of times everyone in the house know all lines and details of the story. Steffi has become obsessed with dancing and dons her ballet dress, socks, shoes and hair band whenever she wants to watch it.

Another turning point, this time for Charlotte mainly, was a trip to see Bananas in Pyjamas live at Rhyl (also a treat for having completed their toilet training so quickly – bribery works!). Upon arriving in the theatre, Charlie became upset when she noticed that there were no real musicians in the pit! She was not at all happy about the taped music and kept complaining – the Musicians’ Union would be proud of her “keep music live” campaign at 2.5 years old! A further surprise came when “Uncle” Matt (conductor Matthew Coorey) returned from Australia 48 hours later with B1 and B2, real Bananas in Pyjamas soft toys. S&C were so excited and will not go to bed without each night. In sending a picture to thank Matt, Steffi (unprompted) held the sign upside – an appropriate gesture we thought for an Australian!

During the summer S&C seemed to shoot up, learning lots more new words including the skill of mimicking Mummy and Daddy very well (scary stuff!). Steffi showed signs of wanting to become a policewoman, whilst Charlie loves to chat on the phone to anyone who will listen!

At the end of the summer life changed a little for Steffi, Charlie and Megan as they said farewell to Ben and Elliott, who are now both off to big school so don’t require their child minder any more! Charlie was very sad at the thought of not seeing Ben any more!

Another attempt at staying at the Caravan in Deganwy failed as rain dampened the weekend – does it always rain in North Wales? The bouncy castle nearly blew away and Charlie’s beloved Nemo Football was taken by a large gust of wind and is somewhere in Snowdonia now! When cousins Ben and Megan arrived, Steffi took herself off to hide in the Bouncy castle to share some grapes with her cousin before the tiring business of taking photos in preparation for Nana and Grandad Roberts’ Golden Wedding Anniversary in October (pictured here “Happy” Benjamin, “Golden” Stephanie, “Wedding” Charlotte and “Anniversary” Megan).

Finally, Charlotte (left) and Steffi (right, wearing her tutu which Mummy brought back from Prague) are enjoying having Daddy around at home and, although they are still learning not to go into Daddy’s room where the instrument repairs are being done, the still find the chance to climb up on his knee to help him play the bass clarinet!

As Christmas looms ever nearer, it is hard for us to believe that S&C will be three years old in a little under two months.

As they say, “time flies when you are enjoying yourselves”, and we are definitely enjoying every minute of our lives together and you can’t really ask for much more than that!

Please forgive us for not managing to stay in touch or make more frequent updates to the website, but somehow there are just never enough hours in the day.

With love Stephanie, Charlotte, Sandra & Andrew