The Badge!
The Thinker, my eldest son, was selected for an achievement at school just before the Ayrshire September Weekend Holiday (he also had an adventure over the weekend in the south of England but more on that later). You can see the badge on his shirt above. The Senior Student badge infers a sense of responsibility and extra duties in class only given to the most reliable. Well done lad!
GBS
I was told today upon my return home that my middle son has been moved up an entire level of coursework in one day. The Poet as I call him, was touted as the smartest in his Primary One class last year (when he was 5-6) and now he is a week or so into Primary Two (ages 6-7) he has been advanced again. His class is what is called a ‘composite’ meaning half of the class are P2 and half are older P3. With this move up he is now doing the work of the older children who have a year on him. This is a big step meaning more work but he tells me that he wants the responsibility. Smart and Handsome…good combination.
I am not often given to pride, in fact those who know me know that I am rather self effacing. But in this instance I think a Hurrah is order!
Well done my Son!
GBS
A busy weekend for me, indeed it was. After finishing work on Friday I was occupied with the beginnings of my personal Ion Age project and then come Saturday it was all hands to the pumps to get smartened up and ship shape for a wedding to which myself and my good lady had been invited. So adding the need for clothing and gifts Saturday night was the culmination of a day long build up. Sunday then saw a family visit to Kilmarnock and the Cinema to see the latest Disney animated film Brave. This was my youngest, the Warrior’s, first visit to the cinema. So how did it all go?
Pretty Ladies and Excellent Company too!
Overall is went well but I did find it a long haul. Basically after a week at work I am not really in the mood for a lot of driving and dressing up. I have to say congratulations to the bride and groom, Sara & Gary, on a great event and for putting on a spiffing buffet too (you know where I spent a lot of the evening!). Above you can see a picture of my good lady in her finery along with her brand new hairstyle in a very fetching shade of purple and the bride (for those who do not know my wife is the one on the left). As an extra fact of interest the evening music in the form of a mix deck and DJ was provided by a family friend of Sara’s one of the founding members of 80’s group Black Lace. I kid you not. He was a great DJ and aside from being older looked just as I remembered from the heady days of the 1980’s. Before you ask, no, I did not dance to Agadoo. Video link below for those who have no idea what I am on about…steel yourself.
Once I had recovered on the Sunday morning I decided to take the three lads to see the new Disney film Brave. A children’s animated movie set in a fictional vision of Scotland. I chose this movie for two reasons. Firstly what Scotsman can resist seeing what the Disney leviathan has done for his national stereotype and secondly it was to be my youngest The Warrior’s first visit to the cinema. As you can see below he was not quite sure what was going to happen!
This is gonna be fun, right?
He was not sure at first but when the screen lit up and the lights dropped he was glued to his seat,vastly larger than himself of course! I have put in a video of the film below if you are interested but my own opinion was that Brave was a good movie. It had good pace, lots of gags, a plot that had as couple of moments of real peril and emotional pull as well. While I still think, and most likely will not change this opinion, that the prices of tickets for the cinema is way too high especially for children; I am glad I chose Brave and took the five of us to see it. In fact the whole movie is worth it for then ten minutes of the clans and the highland games in the first half. Billy Connelly is a superb talent in person and in voice.
As always I promise to answer the heap of email that awaited me this morning as fast as I can.
‘Ma celtic blood calls fur freedom, but ma airm hulds the sword o’ the clan tay.’
GBS
Happy Birthday my lad. Happy Birthday my pride and joy. Happy Birthday and thank you for the ten years that made a boy of you and a man of me. My mirror and my conscious, my most precious creation and never broken promise. I stand behind you with a careful hand upon your ever rising shoulder and point the way to take you toward the brilliant light and away from the darkness of failure that is all around. My firstborn…my eldest, my brilliant son. Happy Tenth Birthday.
Who says you don’t ever get ‘deep’ from me ‘eh. Just an expression of a decade of joy and nervous stress at all times. From a baby that sat in my hand to his own hand almost the dimension of mine. It’s a lot to take on, but Birthdays are super cool fun and man did ‘The Thinker’ have a good time today!
We kicked off early with the opening of the pressies. A grand haul was gotten and again I would like to thank everyone on my son’s behalf for their generosity he was more than pleased with everything. After this I had to go out for a while but I brought back the annual traditional helium filled balloon! As you can see he keen on holding it (I remember he used to get hours of fun out of one, but then he was two!).
Got my balloon, its party time!
This afternoon we all headed out in a small convoy of cars to the Activity Barn for the Birthday Party. My good lady was totally correct in her assumption that all the kids would want to do was run about madly and then eat themselves silly. So two hours passed in sweaty mayhem, rebounding footballs and bouncy castle fun.
A small part of the hall taking in the bouncy castle.
Come on people cheer! Huzzah for the Birthday Boy!
He behaved himself well and more kids than I expected turn up. It was just as well that we catered for forty!
This evening will be spent with a video or two and perhaps a pizza. I don’t know about the children…but I need a rest 🙂
Happy Birthday !!!
GBS
Spoils for the Reader!
He is indeed a talent and now even more well read lad. My eldest son ‘The Thinker’ got a package in the mail today from Random House and their Children’s Book department. He has won another competition and this time a small bundle of six adventure books are his to own. Each of the books are a modern re-issue of a classic boys own title from the mid twentieth century and later by now sadly deceased author Willard Price.
This is the second time in four attempts he has won a prize so either he is very lucky or, and I suspect this to be more accurate and quite sad, he is one of a very few entrants and hence has way more chance to win the books.
Enjoy the read son and before you ask..no we can’t have a pet Crocodile…he might eat my miniatures!
GBS
Well done wee man!
Well done to my little warrior who ‘graduated’ from his first, of two, years at Nursery School this afternoon. Nursery (or Kindergarden if you prefer) covers every child in Girvan from the ages of around 3 to 4 with most being just under five when they head off to Primary One at the big Primary School next door. I managed to finish early enough today to get to the Nursery and get a seat in the front row (after being treated to a free drink and Strawberry Tart before the little ceremony started) where I sat as the certificates were given out and then some songs were sung.
I enjoyed it a lot and clapped when prompted and laughed at the antics of the little people as they shot about like a horde of hyperactive Goblins. While I did not see the point of the ceremony and it seemed like a bit more of the ‘celebrate anything’ culture we now live in; it did seem to matter to the children and that is important to them. Rewarding good attendance and good behaviour is I suppose never a waste especially when it is for the very young just starting out. I left more convinced that it was a worthy event and glad I went.
While on the subject of Girvan Nursery school I have to say that my little warrior is now the third of my children to attend it and it is without a doubt one of the finest places for the education of pre-school children I have seen. It was recently inspected and given very high scores, but it is more than that. It is a dedicated nursery, which is increasingly rare now, staffed by a group of ladies who are all brilliant at their jobs who honestly care for each and every child there. These ladies start these kids on the journey to school but also importantly to society. Lessons in shapes and colours rub shoulders with lessons on teeth brushing and eating fruit. Children who attend begin school with a big bonus over those who do not.
Well enough from me. So well done my lad and a big thumbs up to Girvan Nursery too!
GBS
Normally I do not comment on the news but I just learned that Ray Bradbury author of more books than you could carry has died at the age of 91. He had been ill for a long time, that I knew, but in a career that lasted seventy years I came across his work again and again. From the classic Fahrenheit 451 to lesser known works he always impressed me with the skill and touch of his writing not to mention his boundless imagination. My personal favourite has to be the collected tales in The Illustrated Man.
If you have never heard of Mr Bradbury then get out from under the rock where you live and get informed. An excellent author who will be greatly missed.
GBS
This has been a sad week for me. A week of loss and of reflection upon the passing of time. My paternal grandmother has died and with that a permanent and towering fixture in my life has gone.
My grandmother was a quiet woman who held herself with a lot of dignity even in her declining years when she left her city of Glasgow and came here to Girvan to be nearer the family so that we could look after her. That was nearly five years ago and in that time I saw her most days and got to know her far better than I had as a boy. It also meant she got to meet her three great grandchildren and see them regularly as they grew from tiny babies.
Cathy Syme and Gavin Syme in the 1980’s
I will remember her as a strong person who held my hand all those years ago and learned me the manners that helped make me the man I am. From her vantage point of a birth in the year 1919 she had seen the world change almost out of all recognition from when she was a girl in the roaring twenties.
Goodbye Grandmother Syme.
GBS
Ten Good Deeds
Good deeds are their own reward and that is the case for my good lady wife. But I feel the need for more, the need to sing her praises. For you see she cares greatly for not only her own family but for the welfare of others too. This care is shown many ways with her volunteering at the local school and nursery and playgroup whenever help is needed and also raising funds for charity but what impresses me most is her insistence in giving blood.
The Scottish Blood Transfusion Service comes to Girvan every now and again and my good lady is always near the front of the que. This is despite not being able to donate for several years due to being pregnant and being a new mother too three times in the last decade. She donated last night and came home with a little certificate and badge that you can see above. She did not want a fuss to be made but I insisted and here we are.
Love you! 🙂
GBS