We drove from Scotland to Wiltshire just ahead of the bad weather so our journey was no trouble at all (well, except for our DVD player was busticated so we had to play guessing games for 11 hours straight) and the kids even got to enjoy some deep snow when we stopped for a break at the services at Westmoreland.  Here’s a photo of the landscape looking all white and pretty:

We spent the next day sludging around Jim and Heather’s house - but I still took photos.  These are of Orin and Evan vegging out watching telly:

Aidan, meanwhile, played on the computer:

The boys spent a lot of time playing with the contents of the dressing-up box and Orin turned himself into Frodo carrying the ring by putting a pirate’s earring onto a necklace:

These next few were all taken on Christmas Eve.  Evan dressed up as a snake:

Heather (my mother-in-law) has lots of nutcrackers to decorate the house with at Christmas and Evan loved them so we took this photo of some of them together:

Arlo with his First Christmas snowman:

Jim and Chris took the oldest three boys to a Nativity event in Salisbury Cathedral.  Aidan studying the art installation that formed part of the nativity show:

It appears to have been a tad freaky, with some creepy-looking gothic angels dangling from the ceiling:

A scene from the nativity performance:

Ant, Ali, Jon and Jess came over for dinner on Christmas Eve:

Evan was pretending that this small football was Saraman’s palantir (the eye of Sauron in a glass sphere).  Oh my wee Lord of the Rings wingnut!

Christmas itself will be in a separate blog entry so these next photos are from Boxing Day.  This is Chris wearing the A Team t-shirt I bought him:

Evan playing with the Littlest Pet Shop toys that Santa brought him:

Orin playing with his new gormiti on the piano:

Aidan chillaxin’:

Chris, Evan and Aidan building up Orin’s new castle.  Note that Orin left his minions to do all the setting up for him:

We went for a walk through the fields to the village church to burn off some of our Christmas calories.  Arlo wore his new snowsuit.  It makes him look like a multicoloured marshmallow, which seems appropriate given that his brothers give him the nickname MarshmArlo:

Here’s the head that goes with the body from the previous photo:

Trotting through the mud:

Goodness knows what Aidan is up to in this photo:

Evan jumping on a molehill:

Looking at horseshoe tracks:

We stopped to feed the horses in a nearby field:

Jim (my father-in-law):

Aidan splashing in a puddle:

Heather and Evan:

Aidan with some ice from a puddle:

Chris and Evan:

The Church of St Lawrence:

The house in the village where Pitt the Elder once lived:

The church ground contain a topiary in the shape of the church:

Aidan went to church with Jim and Heather the following day and was taken on a tour that included going up this tower:

Aidan using the boot scraper:

Orin exploring in the churchyard:

The churchyard contained a section full of war graves which interested me as a family historian and as someone who likes rooting around in cemeteries:

Evan “reading” an inscription:

Orin:

Chris:

Heather:

Arlo and I beside the war memorial:

Evan and Chris looking at the gargoyle-like bosses inside the church:

Aidan loved this lectern:

Jim and Orin:

Chris and Evan:

Since Arlo cannot eat a mince pie, he decided to have a crack at its case instead:

Playing with Orin’s new marble run:

Orin playing with his castle:

Evan with the nutcrackers.  (He had drawn on his face with a biro):

Playing the new Lego Magikus game:

And playing the Lego Minotaurus game that Aidan got from Santa:

Aidan took this photo of me with the Minotaur:

Evan and Orin watching “Ice Age 3″ in Jim and Heather’s room:

Arlo:

Monday 28 December was the day of Evan’s horse ride.  Here he is getting his helmet on:

He was on a Shetland pony named Dougal:

He was so excited, I thought he might just explode with glee:

He got really confident at it and was placing his feet back in the stirrups, correcting his own balance on the saddle and even holding the reins with one hand:

Orin wearing a helmet (because he was in the same field as the ponies):

Aidan grooming Charlie.  Charlie had accompanied Evan and Dougal on their trot because apparently the ponies are inseperable:

Evan grooming Dougal, an element of horse ownership he was less keen on:

Leaving the riding centre:

After that, we headed to the Historic Dock at Portsmouth where there was loads to do.  We chose to focus on a tour of the Victory and an interactive place for the kids.

This is Aidan trying to balance the goods on board a ship:

Orin sailing a virtual yacht:

Arlo and me:

Chris, who enjoyed the simulators as much as his sons did:

All the boys (big and small) had a go at flying a helicopter simulator:

Should I be worried that my two year old knows how to squeeze his fingers on the trigger of a gun?

Aidan and a pirate:

The Victory:

Aidan, Orin and Admiral Nelson:

Arlo and me:

The tour of the Victory was really interesting.  It was fascinating to see the living conditions and see how the captain’s living quarters were converted in times of combat, learn about day to day life and see an actual section of deck from the Napoleonic wars so that we were literally treading in Nelson’s footsteps.  The boys, of course, loved the more gruesome elements like the cat o’ nine tails, the surgeons instruments and the places on the ship where people, including Nelson, had died.

We were, however, frozen to our marrows at the tour’s conclusion so we headed off to a mess hall to warm our cockles with some hot chocolate.  Can you tell that Aidan needed thawing out?

Evan showing he has “pirattitude”:

Bellowing at Orin to come and see something:

Aidan had a go at a climbing wall.  He was a little disappointed not to reach the top as he had high expectations and goals but he did really well scaling the wall and using the rope to come down again:

A statue of George III in Roman Emperor garb:

A statue of Robert Falcon Scott:

Aidan and Henry VIII:

Clapped in the stocks:

Orin being wacky as always:

Orin and Evan with an anchor:

The following day, the others all went to splash around in the swimming pool in Salisbury so Arlo and I had a wee photoshoot session:

You can see his first tooth in this one:

This is how Arlo gets about these days.  He propels himself backwards using his heels.  It’s like a reverse crawl or like backstroke on the carpet:

We took a walk up Old Sarum in the rain.  Why?  Because Aidan and Evan wanted to have chainmail armour like Orin had received for his Christmas.  So we hiked up to the shop at Old Sarum to buy them some armour and Orin a Knight fingerpuppet (which is what he chose since he already had armour):

You can see Orin is actually wearing his chainmail under his jacket:

Evan found a pet worm.  It was dead but it was still his pet and he decided to take it with him for the walk:

He even found it a snail shell to keep it cosy and dry:

Aidan at Old Sarum:

As well as buying their armour, the lady in the shop allowed each of the boys (well, not Arlo) to hold an expensive and heavy replica sword.  They were chuffed to bits.  Here they are wearing their armour.  Orin is the King and Aidan and Evan are his Knights: