“PAPAHOOD”

Carrie sent a picture of Tilly this morning wearing denims with a pink elephant on them and it was a  real déjà moment for me. "I’ve seen that elephant before", I thought to myself, yes, Gracie’s wore those almost three years ago, I even posted it on the blog [see page].

They look just as good on Tilly as they did on Gracie. Yesterday I had Tilly and Gracie over and Tilly was sick on me for the first time, I think some real bonding went on there.

As promised her are a few pictures of Gracie taken over the summer. I’ve also posted one of Jordan and Hope taken on the day they started back at school, and one more of Gracie just oozing cuteness.

Tilly is doing fine, she’s put on about a pound since she was born, more pictures of her coming soon.

Carrie came over with Gracie and Tilly the other day, she gave me a few pictures of Tilly for the blog.

Doesn’t she look great? Not too sure about the hat though. We got a couple with Gracie, Tilly and auntie Hope.

Gracie even demonstrated how she sings Tilly to sleep.

I’ve got a load of picture of Gracie to put on the blog just as soon as I get a bit of time. The schools go back next week so I might get back into some kind of routine again hopefully.

Gracie has really taken to her baby sister Tilly. Carrie told me that yesterday she was over by her crib singing to her in a whisper, Carrie never had time to film it but she is going to be watching for it happening again, so if she gets it, you’ll all get it. Here are some pictures of Gracie and Tilly and assorted family members.

Gran Joyce

Great Gran & Great Papa

Steven and my three princesses

Gran Gillian

And of course PapaPete had to get his face in there. Lots more pictures of Gracie and Tilly to come over the next few days so keep dropping in. Let me say to you all that God has been so incredibly good to me blessing me with such a lovely family, I’m so grateful.

Carrie couldn’t wait to be induced so last night she went into labour of her own accord. I got a phone call at 11:30 pm to say that she was on her way to hospital. Well from then on I tossed and turned but couldn’t sleep so at 2:00 am I headed for the hospital. I didn’t have to wait long before Steven came out and told me that at 4:00 am Carrie gave birth to a baby girl. Tilly, [a variant of Matilda, and the meaning of Tilly is "mighty in battle"] she weighed 7 lb 13 oz. Here are a few pictures taken at the hospital.

Carrie and Tilly were back home at 1:00 pm this afternoon, tired but fit and well. Here are some pictures of the family, Carrie managed to avoid the camera as usual. I’m so blessed to have another princess in the family.

Carrie was at the maternity clinic this morning and was told that if nothing happens before then, she will be admitted to the Maternity Unit tomorrow to have her labour induced. So grandchild number two will arrive either Saturday 31st July, or Sunday 1st August. Yesterday Gracie shouted at Carrie’s bump, "Baby, come out and see papa". Won’t be long now,  I’m sooooo excited.

A friend  wore this T-shirt a few weeks ago before she had her baby. This was her first baby and she did love her bump and enjoyed her pregnancy. Carrie, however, does not love her bump she may love what’s causing the bump but carrying the bump about she does not like, she just wants that baby out of there. Gracie was staring at the bump yesterday shouting “Come out baby”, it was so funny. Carrie is now a week past her due date and really fed up with no sign of anything happening. Let’s hope and pray that the grandchild makes an appearance soon.

We went to see "Toy Story 3D" with Gillian, Jordan and Hope. Here’s Jordon with the cut-out characters at the cinema. Great movie and 3D made it even better. Kid’s loved it too. If you are slightly emotional then take a hanky, you may need it. That’s all I’m going to say about it but here’s the trailer for you to look at.

Still no sign of grandchild number two appearing yet, Carrie is getting fed up. Watch this space.

Yesterday was our wedding anniversary, 9 years married (it only seems like 9 weeks) so last night we went out for a meal. We drove out to the Devon countryside to a place called “Turtley Corn Mill” where we had a fabulous meal. If you want to look at the menu just to make your mouth water then [click here]. The apricot and walnut sponge with butterscotch sauce and clotted cream was the nicest dessert I’ve tasted.

Today we’ve had 18 hole of crazy golf and a look at the helium balloon. I was going to be brave and go up in it this time but the wind was a bit to strong so it was grounded, Awww.

Had a wander round Torquay Museum. It has a great Agatha Christie exhibit, Gillian is a fan of Hercule Poirot. The kids preferred the Lion skin in the African exhibit.

Just back from ‘Dinosaur World‘ where we seen bones, fossils, and lots of dinosaurs.

I had to sniff the fossilised dinosaur poo to see if it was safe.

Jordan and Hope nearly lost their heads at the Tyrannosaurus rex skull.

What better way to finish it all of than an amaretti ice cream cone at Torquay harbour. This is the life.

Yesterday we all drove to Plymouth to the National Aquarium. Kids loved it, plenty to do there and lots to see. A guy with a camera caught us as we came in the door and took a  family picture and here’s  a couple I took. Today we are off to see dinosaurs then later on Gillian and me  are going out for a meal to celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary.

Busy day today, started off at Babbacombe with a visit to the cliff railway, a scary descent from the top of a cliff down a steep track. At the bottom I got a chance to calm my nerves with a Devon cream tea.

Then we set off for Teignmouth and had some fun on the pier doing all the seaside stuff. Weather has been great but the forecast isn’t that good for tomorrow. Plymouth Aquarium tomorrow so who care’s if it rains.

Arrived safely at around 16:00 after a stop start drive. This is our third year down here and when we got to the caravan it was just like coming home. Gillian got to work preparing the evening meal.

Now Gillian has taken Jordon and Hope to the "Sammy Seahorse" show, leaving me to type this and watch the football (Germany 1 Uruguay 1 at the moment).

Hope was playing in the back garden on Thursday evening and tripped over our neighbour’s new puppy. I heard her cry and immediately knew what it meant – a trip to A & E. Sure enough, a fracture of the right tibia. But wait! this fracture was in the process of healing, it was about two weeks old. Might this be from the time we took her to have her leg x-rayed (coincidently, two weeks ago) and they said there was nothing wrong with her. I was starting to lose count of her breaks so I checked her records, ten confirmed fractures so far, and two or three possible fractures. Hope takes it all in her stride, Me and Gillian are not quite as relaxed about it.

Jordan and Hope love the film "Mary Poppins", and from the first time Jordan watched it and heard the song "Lets go fly a kite", he has wanted a kite. Last week Gillian got him a kite and took him to the park to fly it. He quickly got the hang of it and now Hope wants one so as soon as I get pictures of her flying a kite I’ll post them. For those who’ve never seen "Mary Poppins" it’s a great movie for the kids, and big kids like me, here is a short clip.

Carrie was nagging me to put some more photos on the blog, I was sent some the other day but I just haven’t had the time to post them. Here they are now with Gracie doing lots of posing, especially when she’s wearing the cool shades.

Well I hope this is the start of summer because it’s been a long, cold, cold winter. At the moment the temperature is around 19°C – 66°F. That’s hot enough for me, three months of this would be nice.

"Oh let the sun shine bright on my happy summer home"

Gracie had on the first of her summer collection this morning, she really suits red, what do you think?

Now and then when Gracie sleeps she snores, Gillian says she gets the snoring from her papa. Today she burned herself out and crashed out on the floor, immediately she started snoring. She looked and sounded so cute I thought I would share it with the rest of the world. I added some background music, it’s Brahms Lullaby, musical box style. Gillian says tonight she’s going to film me snoring, I probably won’t upload that one.

Yesterday was Jordan’s eighth birthday. A phrase I repeat more and more these days (must be my age) is, "it seems like yesterday". But it does seem like yesterday that he was born. Here’s what he looked like back then.

And here he is blowing out the eight candles on his cake. He wanted New Super Mario Bros for his DS and so we thought the cake was appropriate.

Gracie has grown fond of a three-and-a-half years old furry red monster called Elmo. She loves Sesame Street but her favourite is Elmo. I got her the DVD “Elmo in Grouchland” and she plays it over and over again. "Elmo gain papa!" She’ll yell at me. Here’s a short clip.

Her mum loved Sesame Street too and her favourite was Cookie Monster. Carrie is doing fine, pregnancy is going as expected. she’s busy moving house at the moment; slightly bigger house with an extra bedroom for when the new baby arrives. I’ll keep you updated. I took a few picture of Gracie and Elmo the other day.

Hope has spent the last 3 days in hospital receiving treatment that may strengthen her bones. On Monday morning we took her to Royal Hospital for Sick Children (Yorkhill)  in Glasgow to begin her treatment. After showing her around the ward she was given her first ‘Pamidronate’ infusion; this meant she was on a drip for about 5 hours. She was still on the drip when I went home (Gillian stayed with her) and she looked fine but when I returned the next morning poor Hope looked dreadful, she was shaking and sweating and vomiting. We had been warned of possible side effects but never expected to see any. Her Doctor came round and said she would be fine in an hour, and sure enough, she was. She was eating and laughing and playing. Later that day she had her second course of treatment but this time the side effects were not quite so bad, just a slightly high temperature. Yesterday she received her third and last course of treatment and then we waited to see if they would let her back home. Finally at around 8:30pm the said we could take her home. Hope was so brave and the only thing she complained about was that there was no tomato sauce for her chips. Hope will have to go though all this again in another 4 months and for a couple of years they say but it’s all over for now. One good thing about our time at Yorkhill was the amazing views we had of Glasgow from the hospital windows.

I have managed to get Gracie enrolled at nursery school, she will be at the same one Jordan and Hope went to and will start in January 2011. Round about that time, my house will be turned into a nursery. Yes, you’ve guessed it, Carrie is pregnant. Here she is hiding her face just like she hid her bump. She did keep it well hidden, we only found out last week but she went for a scan today and they said she is 24 weeks pregnant and due on 19th July, that’s the day after we return from our holiday so I hope she holds on. I have to admit that I was looking forward to a rest and planning what I was going to do with my free time but I’m getting excited about my second grandchild, a brother or sister for Gracie. God has been so good to me giving me three great kids and very soon I’ll have two grandchildren.

Here are the picture from today’s scan. I don’t know what is what with them but I can see a spine in one of the pictures.

Correction – On Yer Trike. We had been looking for a tricycle suitable for Hope for ages; because of Hope’s medical condition (Click here for more info) a fall from a bicycle would probably result in broken bones. My wee sisters were scouring the net for me and managed to find me one on eBay. It was perfect and as new, not a mark on it. It’s a "Mission Musketeer" available from Mission Cycles, Hope loves it. Gracie has been given Hope’s old Fifi bike but I haven’t any pictures yet. Here is a clip of Hope taking the trike on a test run.You can see Jordan too, he decided to try a bike without stabilisers.

I know I’m a bit late but as this is my first blog post this year I must say "Happy New Year" for 2010. Mine didn’t get off to a great start.  I fell outside and broke a few ribs (the x-ray is not of me) and was unable to move for a couple of weeks. When I say unable to move, I could move but it was torture, so I chose not to. The pain has eased a bit now but the ribs still let me know what happened to them. I had to have a three week sick leave from my papahood duties. Carrie took a week off work and we managed to arrange childminders for the other two weeks. I’m back in action now though and enjoying having Gracie round again. Gracie is doing fine, taking, potty training, it’s all happening. I took a short clip this afternoon as she was waiting for her gran to pick her up. So until next time, and I promise I wont keep you waiting too long for the next post.

Well that’s it over for another year, and what a hectic Christmas day we had. We got up and the kids opened a couple of presents before we headed off to church. After we arrived home I drove over to Carrie’s mum’s house (Carrie and Gracie had stayed there Christmas eve) to collect Carrie and Gracie. Then Gracie got to work on her second lot of presents while I busied myself with flinging a turkey into the oven. Two blue wheelie Bins full of paper and cardboard, presents that took hours to wrap, opened in seconds, yet it was all worth it to see the excitement on the kids faces. Hope didn’t even look at her presents, as soon as she got the paper off one she was straight on to the next. Gracie was the same, kids just love ripping paper.  Here’s a few pictures that were taken of Gracie and below that is a fun clip I made on “ElfYourself“.

In the words of ‘Shaky’ "Snow is falling all around us. Children playing, having fun". Yes, it looks like we’re going to have a white Christmas this year. School was cancelled this morning because of the weather and Gillian got sent home from work while the roads were still drivable. So what else could you do but throw snow balls and build a snow man.

Well it’s that time of year when people tend to go OTT on just about everything, presents, food alcohol, and LIGHTS. Out-door lights were something that you never seen much at Christmas except in the town centres or outside shops but the trend has came in from the US and now people are trying to out do each other. Even in my own home town people are competing with each other to see who can get the biggest electricity bill as they cram as many bulbs onto there houses as possible. Here’s one I would award 1st prize to.

Here’s a few pictures Carrie sent me of Gracie galloping ’round the house on her hobby horse.

PapaPete had a birthday yesterday, I’m fast approaching my half-century but I’m getting more like a kid every year. I was so excited about my birthday this year. Carrie got me a new Bible, it’s a CWR Devotional Bible (Holman Christian Standard translation), for those of you who know that not all Bibles are the same.  This version, so the publishers say, "makes use of the most recent scholarship and strikes a new balance between ‘word-for-word’ and ‘thought-for-thought’ translation to convey a sense of the original texts with clarity and accuracy." I’m looking forward to reading it.

I also got the new Star Trek DVD, I had intended to see it at the cinema but never got round to it so I’m going to enjoy watching it tonight.

Gillian took me to see Disney’s "A Christmas Carol" 3-D. It was amazing, it was the first time I had ever seen a 3-D movie and what an experience, I honestly thought the snowflakes were going to land on my nose, and I had to bite my tongue to stop me shouting "WOW!" every few minutes.  Here’s the trailer just to tempt you all. It has a PG rating but it’s quite scary in places, I wouldn’t take take Jordan (7) or Hope (5) to see it.

I know, “You haven’t blogged for ages.” Well Here I am. Things have been quite lately, Gracie’s dad is out of work at the moment so he has Gracie on Monday and Tuesday, so I’m a part-timer just now. Carrie was off work all last week with some bug, so I haven’t seen much of Gracie and not many pictures have been taken. I did, however, get this off Carrie and it’s the most recent one.

It was school picture time just after Hope broke her collar bone and I’ve just got the pictures back, so here is Jordan and Hope and sling.

While having a browse in ‘ASDA‘ the other day, I we came across this Dalmatian puppy dressing gown, with hood and wee puppy ears. Well we new right away that this was Gracie’s and doesn’t she look cute in it?

Just to keep you up dated, Gracie is doing fine she is talking quite well now, her words are sounding clearer every day. She still has a nap from around 12-1 which I’m so glad about, that’s the time when I get things done like typing up blog posts and occasionally I manage a nap too. I read something yesterday about getting older and the guy said something like, “A nap in the afternoon used to be a luxury, but now its a necessity”. I know what he means Anyway, I’m off now, I’ve just got enough time for a 5 minute…zzzzzzzzz!

Old MacDonald again, but this time it’s not the farmer, it’s the restaurateur (I use the term loosely). Carrie had the day off work today so we went early morning shopping with Gracie and started out with breakfast at MacDonald’s. Gracie had a go at the syrup pancakes but she was really more interested in all the balloons that were there.

Wow! big letters! After two years of blogging I’ve finally discovered how to adjust the size of font. You learn something new every day.

What a busy day we’ve had today, what with our new suite being delivered and our old one taken away, and yet my incredible wife Gillian still found time to let Gracie try out her computing skills. Between the two of them they managed to surf their way to the ‘cbeebies‘ website and found the ‘Something Special’ page.

The cbeebies site is great for  kids it keeps them amused for ages. Here’s Gracie singing that old favourite, "Old MacDonald’s Farm". The backing vocals are performed by our two budgies, ‘Coochie’ and ‘Coco’.

I got sent a couple of pictures (about time too) of my Great Nephew Zak so here they are and what a handsome guy he is.

No, I’m not talking about that fear of the dreaded jacket with the hood, that’s “anoraknophobia”. No I mean fear of spiders, not that I’m frightened of spiders but my house is like the one in the movie of the same name. And no, I don’t have a big house in the country, like the one in the movie but I think mine has an equivalent number of spiders residing in it. Most mornings we find some humungous house spider trying to get out of the bath and I do what any Papa would do, I send my 7 year old son to catch it and throw it outside.

A few nights ago I had just went to bed (Gillian wasn’t in bed yet) and I moved Gillian’s pillow and this mutant spider ran out from underneath it. Well I let out a MANLY scream, not because I was frightened but because the spiders sudden appearance startled me. Gillian came to my resc…, I mean Gillian got to the spider first and threw it out side. But why does my house have more spiders than the average street? Last night I went for a bath and there were four huge spiders at various locations on the walls and ceiling, I kept expecting to hear a splash as one of them ended up in beside me. Later on I had toyed with the idea of watching the movie “Arachnophobia” because of all the spiders I’d seen lately – I watched something else instead, but while watching, another huge spider ran out from under my chair (I’m glad I wasn’t watching Arachnophobia) and scurried across the carpet and under the couch. Then five minutes later another one appeared from the opposite side of the room and headed for the door. I think I need to listen to The WHO and use their solution to the problem of spiders (see clip below).

As the title of this post says, "I haven’t forgotten" about the blog, I realise some people, especial family, check out the blog every day expecting to see something new but lately they’ve been disappointed. So here is the latest pictures I have of Gracie getting ready to feed her fish. She loves her wee goldfish and when I go to pick her up in the morning she has to say goodbye to them before she leaves the house – how cute is that?

Had a stressful start to the day. Hope came into the bedroom to wake Gillian up and fell backwards out of the bed. When she hit the floor we knew right away that something was wrong and after an early morning visit to A & E where they took x-rays, the Doctor said that she had fractured her collar bone. She was doing so good for a while, no breaks and then…. There is not much they can do for this one other than a sling and pain relief. Hope is so brave and still has a smile in spite of everything. Here she is, she just couldn’t resist the urge to stick out her tongue, I don’t know whether it’s you lot or me she’s sticking it out at.

Carrie took  Gracie to  buy her first pet on Monday, well two pets actually. And here they are Bill and Ben, but they are not flowerpot men, no, they are goldfish.

Don’t ask me which one is which. When I was a  wee boy, I had two goldfish called Bonnie and Clyde. I even remember the time when Clyde died, I was heart-broken, and my mum put it in a matchbox and we had a funeral for it in the Murray Park where we dropped it off a bridge into the burn. When Carrie was growing up we always had fish. I had a four feet long fish tank which had goldfish and tropical fish. Goldfish are without a doubt the best pet’s in the world to keep, quiet, clean, easy to look after, and you don’t have to take them for a walk. Keeping Gracie’s hands out of the goldfish bowl might be a challenge.

Gracie, not quite sleeping, in her new birthday ‘Dalmatian’ pyjamas.

I should have posted this yesterday but tiredness got the better of me. As you will see from the clip, Gracie had three birthdays (doing better than the Queen), one on Sunday with Granny and Granddad, one yesterday morning with mummy, and then over to Papa’s for another one.

The lion toy you see her with was not a birthday present, it’s an old toy from one of Jordan’s board games. It sings the song, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", I think that’s what the game is called too. Gracie loves it. So much for all that money spent on new toys. Ah well, she had fun unwrapping them and I really think she enjoyed her birthday, all of them

[Magic!  Adj. Excellent. Often heard as an exclamation of satisfaction. {Informal}.]

Well today’s the day, It’s Gracie’s 2nd birthday and my 2nd papaversary. Carrie will be bringing Gracie round later for presents and cake and I will upload some birthday stuff later but for now I’ve put together a collection of pictures taken this past year. I know last year I spoiled you all by singing the background music. But I’m afraid you’ll have to put up with some real singers this year. And if you want to know what I think about my first two years of ‘Papahood’, I can only say, it’s great, fabulous, fantastic, fandabidozi, it’s…

Oh, ho, ho
It’s magic, you know
Never believe it’s not so
It’s magic, you know
Never believe it’s not so

While I was making some lunch for me and Gracie, I thought to myself, "It’s quiet, too quiet." So I popped through to see what Gracie was up to and caught her red handed, literally. Her hands were post-box red and so was everything that she had touched including her face and clothes. Me and Gillian run a children’s club called "HizKidz" and each week we stamp the kid’s cards using a stamp and red ink pad. Well I thought that this was not only out of sight but out of reach too. WRONG! Somehow Gracie had managed to get it, take it out the box, open it up and then cover herself and everything else in red ink. I was seeing red, in more ways than one.

Half a packet of baby wipes later I’ve managed to get it off everything but her hands. I’ve scrubbed and scrubbed but her hands are still red as you can see in the picture. I Don’t know what Carrie will say when she sees her. AH! the joys of ‘papahood’ 

As well as being a husband, a dad, and  a papa, I’m also a brother, a big brother. At my sister’s 40th the other night  a picture was taken of the family so here we are. There are three other brothers who sadly are missing from the picture, Patrick (who was the oldest) and Iain (Pipkin) both of whom died in their 30′s, and Michael (the youngest) who would have been 33 but only lived for a few days. But here are the “Five Alive!” At the back is the youngest brother, Frank. Then in the front (Left to right) are Paul, Isy, Rosey, and “Big Brother!” Papa Pete.

Speaking of birthdays, Papahood.com is 2 years old today. I wasn’t sure if I could keep it going but here I am today, still blogging. Its not the most popular blog in the blogosphere but I’m averaging about 12 hits a day and anyway, I only started doing this for my benefit really but I’ve been glad too share all my stuff with you all and will keep doing so, ‘God willing’. The picture below is of September 2007 and September 2008 posts.

It was my baby sister’s 40th birthday last week and a surprise party was organised for her on Saturday, and boy was she surprised. She cried for about an hour, tears of joy I hope, but had great time with family and friends. I was saying to people how I remember watching out the living room window as my mum carried her new baby (Rosemary) in after arriving back from the hospital. I even remember my mum sitting her on my knee and letting me have a go at feeding her. Wow! that surely wasn’t 40 years ago was it?  Sometimes I really do feel old.

Gracie keeps me young though. Here’s a picture that Carrie gave me this morning.

My sister Isy was talking to me on the phone earlier and mentioned that her friends Kirsty and David are getting married soon and that reminded me of a video someone showed me last week of a couple called Jill and Kevin and their entrance into church for their wedding. If you’ve five minutes to spare then it’s well worth watching and if anyone out there is thinking of tying the knot then may this inspire you to do something original for your wedding.

Shopping at Tesco this morning and before we went in Gracie wanted a go on the Barney train so here she is. Gracie has discovered a new game, she reaches into the shopping trolley, grabs something, throws it on the floor and then says, "Oh! sorry".

Isy sent me some pictures of my great-nephew Zac with Hope and Jordan Zac doesn’t seem too happy with them.

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Yesterday the Scottish Government decided to release the man convicted of involvement in the "Lockerbie Bombing", Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahid on compassionate grounds. I rememember too well the night of 21 December 1988 when the news flash came on the TV screen that a plane had crashed into the village of Lockerbie. The picture in the paper of the cockpit of Pan Am Flight 103 will forever be etched in my mind. Gracie’s mum was only 9 months old at the time, and as I read the news paper and looked at the map that showed the route the flight was taking I realised that the flight path would have taken it over my home town. If the bomb had exploded a few minutes later then I might have been a victim. The thought really shook me.

I, and many other’s, including some of the victim’s families am not entirely convinced of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahid’s guilt but whether you think he was guilty or not I think It was right to show mercy and compassion to someone who has spent nine years in prison and who is now dying. The  Bible does not say, "Do to others what they’ve done to you" that’s not justice, that’s vengence. It says, "Do to others what you would want them to do to you.". Jesus said "Blessed are the merciful for they will receive mercy"

Many people think he should not have been released, that he didn’t deserve mercy but then nobody deserves mercy. Mercy is not getting what you  deserve, it’s getting what you don’t deserve. That’s why it’s mercy.

I will leave you with the words of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahid, these words are from a man who has been released and will soon be dead, what reason has he to lie. These do not sound to me like the words of someone who’s just got away with murder.

 "Many people, including the relatives of those who died in and over Lockerbie are, I know, upset that my appeal has come to an end; that nothing more can be done about the circumstances surrounding the Lockerbie bombing.

"I share their frustration. I had most to gain and nothing to lose about the whole truth coming out – until my diagnosis of cancer.

"To those victims’ relatives who can bear to hear me say this: they continue to have my sincere sympathy for the unimaginable loss that they have suffered.

"To those who bear me ill will, I do not return that to you."

Megrahi had served almost eight years of a 27-year sentence for the bombing.

His statement continued: "I cannot find words in my language or yours that give proper expression to the desolation I have felt.

"This horrible ordeal is not ended by my return to Libya.

"It may never end for me until I die. Perhaps the only liberation for me will be death.

"And I say in the clearest possible terms, which I hope every person in every land will hear: all of this I have had to endure for something that I did not do.

"The remaining days of my life are being lived under the shadow of the wrongness of my conviction. I have been faced with an appalling choice: to risk dying in prison in the hope that my name is cleared posthumously or to return home still carrying the weight of the guilty verdict, which will never now be lifted.

"The choice which I made is a matter of sorrow, disappointment and anger, which I fear I will never overcome. I say goodbye to Scotland and shall not return. My time here has been very unhappy and I do not leave a piece of myself.

"But to the country’s people I offer my gratitude and best wishes."

Carrie was visiting a friend at the weekend and Gracie had an encounter with a rabbit and a cat and can I say that both the rabbit and the cat remain unharmed. As I was typing this, a song kept going through my head from the Disney film, "Alice in Wonderland". Carrie loved this film and must have watched it 5 times a day when she was younger. Disney are bringing out a new 3D version (March 2010) staring Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, should be interesting. The cartoon is hard to beat though – I know, my head’s full of crayons plasticine and cartoons but I’ll show you a clip anyway, and here are the lyrics so you can sing along with me. After three – one, two …

Cats and rabbits
Would reside in fancy little houses
And be dressed in shoes
And hats and trousers
In a world of my own

All the flowers
Would have very
Extra special powers
They would sit
And talk to me for hours
When I’m lonely
In a world of my own

There’d be new birds
Lots of nice and friendly
How-do’ya do birds
Everyone would have
A dozen blue birds
Within that world of my own

I could listen to a babbling brook
And hear a song that I could understand
I keep wishing it could be that way
Because my world would be a wonderland

We’ve been home from our holidays for almost a week now and it seems as if we were never away. It was great to see Gracie again, here’s a short clip taken this week at the park. 

The background music is the chorus from a Paul Simon song which was in the charts in 1977 – wow! was it really 32 years ago, sometimes PapaPete really does feel like a Papa. 

Weather was good yesterday and the kids went to Brixham with gran and papa  while Gillian and me went to Teignmouth. Here’s a couple of pictures taken on Teignmouth Pier. Weather looks good again today but I’m not sure what we’re up to. Tomorrow we start the long drive home to see Gracie. Here’s another couple of pictures that Carrie sent me.

Yesterday was monsoon weather here. We drove to Plymouth and had lunch with some of Gillian’s relatives. Later, me and Gillian went to the cinema to see "The taking of Pelham 123" with John Travolta and Denzel Washington. Film was very good, language was very bad. When we came out of the cinema it was dark and for the first time we saw Paignton at night. Gillian took a short clip of the fun fair as we drove back to the caravan.

Gillian doesn’t cook very often and holidays are no exception. Here’s a couple of pictures of when it was her turn to make dinner.

Yesterday was Zoo day, the kids have talked about Paignton Zoo since we were there last year so we had to go again. The weather was nice again and everyone had a great time. Here are Jordan and Hope with faces painted. Why is it that no matter where you go, whether its a birthday party, a gala day or the zoo, there’s always face painting? The kids love getting it done but it ends up everywhere and they hate getting it washed off.

Isy (my wee sis) sent me pictures of Zak and hasn’t he grown in two weeks. Congratulations to his dad William who passed his driving test. Now he will be able to drive down for a visit so I will see more of my great-nephew.