Halloween

As you can see, Halloween was its usual quiet event! It was brilliant to see these boys and girls throw themselves into the games with gusto. We had a blindfolded obstacle race in the back garden and a wrap the Mummy contest, Michael was the judge, he gave it to his brother! And of course apple bobbing and eyeballs in flour, Dan's face was a picture.


Phil and I dressed up as usual. The looks on the children's faces when we answered the door was something. I think my two Dracula's were particularly handsome. Young Dracula was very cute. Stephen did give in and put on a costume briefly, he made a good Death. Michael had a ball and has declared the party has to last for longer next year.


We made chocolate apples which they took home with them, and everyone was kind to Michael when he was holding court. A good time was had by all.


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Summer 08

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This Summer was, according to anyone you ask, wet and miserable. I must have been in a different country as I remember it as dry and sunny! Maybe it is all in your state of mind. The only wet day out we had was the canal boat ride, but we still had a great time.


Shirley, Mark and Eric came over for three weeks. We spent the time as tourists here in and around Chester, well it is a tourist destination after all! We did venture as far afield as Blackpool and had a long weekend in London.


Blackpool was fun. The kids loved the arcade games of course, and we had fun watching Mark put up a deckchair, which he managed extremely well. Sitting on the beach we could pretend we were in the south of France, except for the donkeys! But we were all surprised by how fast the tide came in.

There was an unexpected bonus when Caro and her family came to stay. Caro was Shirley's exchange partner when we were kids. She spent a couple of summers with us and I can honestly say she hasn't changed at all. It was wonderful to see her and meet her children. The last time we met was at Shirley's wedding. I had arranged a tour with a Roman soldier which the kids loved, and we all learnt something as well.

London was fabulous, except for Michael who declared this "the worst holiday EVER" , there is no pleasing some people. We did the sights, and getting around was much easier than I expected. London has changed since I lived down that way. It is much cleaner and even the people are friendlier than I remember. Michael did find Eric's head-on-a-stick hilarious, so it wasn't a complete loss. And we got to see the Changing of the Guard.

Michael's 11Th birthday was spent at the Blue Planet Aquarium. The sight of two divers singing Happy Birthday inside the shark tank was really something.

We also managed to squeeze in a trip to Legoland before Shirley arrived, so all in all I think it was a great Summer.

Mike on his Bike

Well here he is, a boy and his bike. It has become a part of the morning entertainement, Michael cycling ahead with me running along behind pushing his chair shouting, "Mind the cars!"

Michael abseiling

Easter Hols 2008

Well the Easter hols went off swimmingly. We had a fantastic time at Center Parcs in Sherwood Forest. I was a bit concerned before we went that we might be bored, not being the most outdoorsy family. But I needn't have worried. Michael was really looking forward to abseiling. I have cut out my soto voice comments at the beginning of the video as they are rather on the blue side. But he did it. By the end of the session Phil and Stephen were coming down like the S.A.S. My feet stayed firmly on the ground the whole trip. Stephen and Phil however couldn't get enough of heights. They went on something called the High Ropes which seemed to involve a lot of walking on very high wires, and leaping into space. I couldn't watch.

Michael had a great time. We went swimming, bowling, he made a teddy ( Stephen Gerrard ) and designed a picture for a mug. Stephen went climbing and laser clay shooting. And we all did the family Laser Shoot which was paint balling without the paint. My treat was a wonderful massage at the Spa. We would definitely go again!

Well here is Basil for all to see! A pirate on the deep blue sea!

Basil Brush

Well the day finally arrived and off we went to Rhyll again to see Basil Brush. Michael has been so looking forward to this!. We even got to meet the great man, er fox , before the show. Michael was over the moon. Phil and i were excited too, the only one not overly impressed was Stephen! He will be one day, he will be able to tell his kids, he met Basil Brush.

The show was great, thin on plot but loads of bad jokes. There were 4 fantastic acrobats on the show with loats of tumbling and balancing. We had a great time and Michael can't wait for next years show. The best bit for us was the next day when he couldn't stop laughing at the dinner table thinkling about the show the day before!

Half term came early this year. Having said that the boys were ready for it. We were really lucky with the weather, it was cold but gloriously sunny. We had planned to go away, but in the end it was nice just to chill out at home. Stephen had fun with the lads down the road and Phil got to work on his allotment. We had a lovely day on Mon in Chester. The Groves are really beautiful, sometimes I think we forget what a lovely place Chester is. We had lunch in the Blue Moon cafe down by the river and then wandered into town.

Stephen and Phil got some golf in on Tues. I think Stephen gave his dad a good match and I believe he won! We had boys over to play on Wed and the Wii caused a lot of hilarity. On Fri we went up to Manchester and visited the Manchester Museum. It is rather old fashioned, a bit like a miniture Natural History Museum. It had a good egyptian gallery which I enjoyed. We took the lads from down the street and they loved the stuffed birds and animals. The stuffed cow was a bit wierd! They also got to make bird boxes, for free. Phil has put ours up although no sign of any interrest from aour feathered friends yet.

The week flew by and I think a good time was had by all.

Mum's Birthday

Thurs 31st was Mum's 70th birthday and what a great one it was. Evelyn, Jim, Mary, Yolanda and Louise came over from Ireland for the day. I kept the boys home from school. Phil took a half day and we all went out to lunch at the local bistro. We had a lovely lunch, and a good long chat.

Michael made a lemon cake on wed as a birthday cake for mum. She loved it. It was brilliant to see everyone and Mum really enjoyed herself.

Day One

Well today was a bit odd. We spent the morning at the hospital sorting out Mike's first dose. Most of the time was spent sitting around and then of course everything happens at once. The nurse put in a little catheter thing to inject the drug into. I suspect it will not be the best solution as the drug stings as it goes in , so 3 a day into the same site may not be the best. Anyway I have yet to give Mike his night dose, that in half an hour.

Meanwhile,I was supposed to be hosting a pot luck lunch for NTC. Mum was playing golf of course so was only free for half an hour. So Tammi kindly agreed to host it for me here. It was too complicated to get in touch with everyone last night. I think everything went well. Mum came over for a bit and as far as I know everything was fine. Certainly the ladies were in good form when Mike and I got back. They were just finishing clearing up and have lest enough puddings to make me seriously fat!

So lets see what tonight brings.

Where do I begin?

Blogging , I always thought was something for teenagers, but you don't know what you are missing until you try, so here goes!

Five years ago we were an ordinary family living an ordinary life with its usual ups and downs, then our youngest son Michael was diagnosed with a Medulloblastoma, a brain tumour. In one day, Nov 8Th 2002, everything changed. Now I would give everything we have to get that 'boring' ordinary life back. But that will not happen so this is our evolveshun ( Michael could not say evolution ) as a family living with cancer.

We are Phil, Debra, Stephen and Michael. Stephen is a fantastic 13 year old, a brown belt in Karate, a mean golfer and addicted to his Xbox. Michael is 10, looking forward to High School. He has a wicked sense of humour, loves his teddy Liverpool, plays Yu Gi Oh and has just discovered the Simpson's! Phil works hard and is Michael's favourite toy! I am the stay at home mom.

Tomorrow we start Michael's last chance therapy. His cancer has relapsed for the second time. We are trying a drug not normally used for this particular cancer, but it has shown some promise in a few trials. To be honest we have nothing to lose, so here is hoping for a miracle.