It's been so great to have a bit of warmer weather... even though the wind has been blowing. It's so lovely taking the kids out doors, and not having to put layers and layers of clothing on them!
Gabriel is almost 5 months now, and he is making us laugh all the time! He puts everything in his mouth, and we see the start of his 1st tooth creeping out the bottom. So that will mean LOADS of drool from here onwards. He has this one partiular elephant that makes sounds, and he gets so frustrated with this thing. He is very chatty, and smiley and just a happy little soul.
Hayden is loving his little doggy friend, whom he has named Twinkle. The other day Twinkle was licking Gabriel, and Hayden scolded the dog saying - "No Twinkle, that's my brother!"
We took the kids to the airforce museum yesterday and Hayden loved it so much! It was great fun for the whole family.
So yesterday on the show we were chatting about the strange and interesting events happening world wide - here are a few of them:
World Mountain Bog Triathalon
When: 25 Aug 2012 (annual) , 10.30am
Just outside Llanwrtyd Wells a group of people with questionable sanity swim through Waen Rhydd Bog as part of the world's weirdest triathlon. Join them or just watch, the event is spectacular... and dirty.
The event - the most unusual in the Triathlon calendar, starts with a 7.5 mile (6 miles for juniors) run followed by 2 lengths of the 60 yard peat bog trench and then a 19 mile (12 miles for juniors) mountain cycle. The event is open to individuals and relay teams of three.
HayArt Festival
When: 26 Aug 2012 (annual) , From 9am
Where:
Celebrating the end of harvest, the village of Annaberg hosts the world's biggest Hay Parade, the highlight of the HayArt Festival. Larger-than-life hay figures are paraded through the village on decorated floats pulled by Norican horses and vintage tractors.
La Tomatina
When: 29 Aug 2012 (annual)
Where:
Thousands of fruit-flingers invade the tiny village of Bunyol in the Comunidad Valenciana for an almighty tomato fight. La Tomatina is the opportunity of a lifetime - let battle commence!
The population of the village quadruples overnight and by 11am the 40,000-strong army has been prepared for action by copious soakings. Five bulbous, tomato-packed rockets are sent whistling into the sky and the masses launch into a frenzy of flinging, slinging and lobbing - it's every man and woman for themselves.
There are very few rules in La Tomatina - it is compulsory to squish your tomato before sending it into the red blur of the crowd before you, and other projectiles are not allowed. Don't worry about running out of ammunition because there's a monumental 125,000 kilo arsenal of ripe fruit brought in by trucks. Participants have two hours in which to hurl them at what will be, for that brief time, thousands of enemies.
The aftermath of La Tomatina puts any blood-injected, horror-film set to shame. Don't count on recognising your mates, or them recognising you for that matter. Within hours, though, the town is transformed back to its former self. Shopkeepers take down their tarpaulins and everyone mucks in to hose down the town and return it to its former "tomato-less" glory.
So how on earth did this gastronomically obscure tradition start? There is no patron saint of tomatoes or miraculous explanation of a tomato ritual, whereby locals beseech the gods for good weather and fortune for next year's harvest. It so happens the tradition was born way back in 1945 when some locals got carried away in a restaurant food fight. It must be the sheer fun of it that led to the "small-time" altercation taking on such epic proportions. The original disruptive diners must be very proud.
Below a picture of some hay art :) Have a good week! Cheers Briony
