De Silva Family Blog

Leo has been a very good boy of late, patiently earning stickers for good behaviour such as eating all his dinner, staying dry through the night, etc. He finally made 100 and got to choose his reward - a day out to Legoland! Wahey!!!

Having had such a great time in Jersey last year, we decided to return for more. This time we were joined by Andy, Fiona and their brood. The weather wasn't quite so good this year, but there was enough the keep the children occupied. Despite the high noise levels, having five under-5s was easier than I'd feared! We met Captain Jack Sparrow at the Maritime Museum who taught the children to sword fight. Alex was in his element and although Ollie was nervous at the time, he took the lesson to heart and has been incorrigible ever since, much to Leo's dismay. We had plenty more fun on the beach and at Amazin' Maize (a theme park for kids). We dressed up for a posh meal at the Atlantic Hotel to celebrate Fiona's birthday and I was lucky enough to have a quick landscape photography tutorial from Tricia Kennedy . Check out our web album for more holiday snaps.

We spent the Easter weekend in Wales this year and were blessed with some great weather. The boy's had a wonderful time following Grampa Clive around (partly due to the six Easter eggs they received!), whilst I got some much needed kip. I had fun at my first "point to point", trying to be a sports photographer, whilst the boys tried their hand at skimming stones down by the river. Here's some photos from our trip . Hope you all had a great Easter break.

Hi from Oz! I've been in Sydney with work and given the ridiculously long flight, I've decided to tag a few days of holiday onto the end of the trip. I've walked for miles, had some great food and caught up with my cousin and his family. The highlight of the trip was Taronga Zoo this morning, where I saw boxing kangaroos, a newborn gorilla breastfeeding, a cute baby elephant playing football and many other amazing animals. Check out some of my snaps... Nevertheless, I can't wait to get back to the UK and my own little zoo!

For my first proper holiday, I went to Jersey with Mama, Dada, Leo, Nana and Grampa. We went on a big boat, which was so exciting. There was a ramp up to the shop and I spent most of the trip running up and down it, with Grampa Clive chasing me. We stayed in a big house with a huge flower bed outside for digging in. Every day we went on an adventure or three. We spent a lot of time at the most beautiful beaches. With so much sun, sea and sand - what more could a little person want! Some days we had to do adult stuff, but even that was fun - especially when a seagull stole Grampa Clive's ice cream! Halfway through the holiday Nana and Grampa left and we moved to a lovely new house - it even came with CBeebies, a football pitch and my own king-sized bed. The next day, we visited a castle where my brother Leo the Lionhart, King of Gorey Castle, led the fight against the French invaders. I fired the cannon that sank their ship and even saved Dada from a swordsman. King Leo...

I've been a good boy recently and eaten all my dinners so was finally tall enough to go on the the big boy rides at Legoland. I'd been looking forward to it for ages, so was very excited when Mummy and Daddy said we could go. Things started off well as Ollie met Bob the Builder and managed to get me a job on a building site... Unfortunately, it was only a small job but that did give me time to go on the Sky Train and a balloon ride. After helping Daddy put out a fire, I was famished, so had some grub in Dragon's Castle. . That afternoon things took a turn for the worse as, despite passing my driving test, I was caught on camera for reckless driving... ... and put behind bars! Things went from bad to worse as, after being let out early for good behaviour, I got eaten by a lion! Fortunately I'm a tough little thing and he spat me out, choosing instead to go after my, much juicier, younger brother. We celebrated our lucky escape with a quick pint of...

Went to Boston this week for the CAS Annual Meeting (an actuarial conference). It was a great conference and the US actuaries were very welcoming, so I really enjoyed myself. I even found the time to wander around Boston for a while. I learnt about the start of the US revolution by following the "Freedom Trail", visited Fenway Park (the home of the Red Sox), and even went clothes shopping for the first time in a decade! I then checked out the US version of Cambridge and their top university, Harvard. It doesn't quite match ours! Here's a statue of John Havard, also known as the "Statue of Three Lies", because he wasn't the founder, the founding date is wrong and it isn't even John Harvard!!! The best thing about Cambridge was the cool toy shops I found: Joie de Vivre and Curious George & Friends where I got a little carried away. Luckily it'll be Christmas soon.

Having loved our time in Centre Parcs earlier this summer, we returned for another week. The lodge was a wonderful woodland retreat and I loved spending the entire week with the family. The boys thoroughly enjoyed their time with all the swimming, climbing, running, etc. and Leo became very proficient on his scooter. By the end of the week, however, all the activity had reduced our boys to mere shadows of their former selves. During our last meal there, poor Ollie slumped forward in his highchair, rested his chin on the dinner table and looked at us as if to say, "I can't take it anymore!" He couldn't even summon the strength lift his head again, barely opening his mouth for the odd spoonful of food. And for those of you familiar with Ollie's (a.k.a. the Beast of Mardley Heath) voracious appetite, that's really saying something.

We opted for the "staycation" this year, as we didn't fancy , so found ourselves at Centre Parcs in Elveden Forest. We shared a 4-bed house with friends Andy, Fiona and their three kids. The house was great and even had its own hot tub, sauna and steam room! Trouble kicked off immediately as the two boys wanted to play with each other's toys but neither wanted to share their own (Alex always has the best toys - even I wanted to play with them). However they managed to work it out in the end and even after the holiday Leo has continued to play well with other children. Centre Parcs is amazing for kids with so many activities on your doorstep. I can't wait until the boys are a little older and we get to do some of the more exciting activities (like the high ropes course). However, when that time comes I'm sure I'll be too old/embarassing and will have to spend the holiday lounging in the hot tub. Looks like this will become a regular holiday for us...

To celebrate my last day on paternity leave I decided to have a little male bonding time with my new baby. We had a little skin-on-skin cuddles whilst watching "Enter The Dragon" with Bruce Lee. It clearly had an influence on the little ninja...

In our household, Christmas starts with the decoration of the tree. So a fornight ago, when we told him that Mummy had returned with the tree in the back of the car, he nearly peed his nappy with excitement (I'm sure he probably did). He ran outside, begging to be picked up so that he could see the Christmas Tree inside the car. His reaction was not quite as expected - the poor boy looked despondent. When I asked what the matter was, he merely pointed at the huge Douglas Fir in our front garden, as if to say "That's a proper tree, not that six-foot sapling!" Luckily the rest of Christmas was a little more appreciated. This being his second time round, he was a little more savvy. For example, he knew that the presents were more interesting than the wrapping paper and that most of the presents were for him. He'd even started opening presents when our backs were turned on Christmas Eve! In the lead up to Christmas, he'd been getting chocolates daily fr...

Our little boy must surely be of royal descent as he commands his loyal subjects in a truly imperious manner. He's had his family in thrall since birth, but in a matter of hours the lifeguards on the beach were carrying him aloft in a makeshift sedan chair, calling him the "Little Maharajah". Even the tides obeyed his every whim!

The second half of my holiday was spent at the amazing Sugar Beach Hotel . Unfortunately Mummy and Daddy made me sleep in the bathroom because of my snoring, but the days were much better and there was plenty to do... I learnt how to canoe... went swimming... played football... and went for romantic walks on the beach... Most important of all was Kids Club where there were lots of toys and friendly people to play with. If Mummy and Daddy were being boring, I'd even go there on my own. All in all I had a wonderful holiday in Mauritius and am looking forward to going back next week. Love Leo

The second half of Mum's 60th Birthday celebrations was a holiday to see her family and friends in Mauritius. We thought we'd tag along too! We almost didn't make it past the airport. Leo loves minibuses so he thought he was in heaven whilst standing outside Heathrow's Terminal 2. After two hours of chasing minibuses, we finally convinced him that planes were more interesting and made our way inside. We spent the first half of the holiday with Aunty Arlette. Leo was loving all the attention and frequently toddled off to visit cousins Magali and Patrick nearby. We had parties most nights but ended with a big bash for Mum's actual 60th birthday (above). The entertainment was provided by our very own Patrick on the guitar, Magali and Mary on vocals and Leo with some cool new dance moves. If you'd like to see some photos, please see our online album .

Whilst Mummy and Daddy have been throwing themselves down mountains, I've been having loads of fun with my mates and our nannies. The nannies are lovely and really cuddly, but we've been running rings around them so they decided to put us all on the "naughty sofa" at the same time!

Mary loved her sledging experience so much that she decided to try again - this time on the blood wagon! She took a nasty fall on some slushy snow and smashed her knee on the bindings of her ski. She refused to look at the injury until we reached the restaurant for lunch half an hour later as she was afraid of fainting! It turned out that she'd lacerated her knee and our waitress called the emergency services to carry her down the mountain. Four stitches later and she resembled the Bride of Frankenstein (or at least her knee did)! Luckily it was our last afternoon so all we missed out on was a boozy fondue. Can't wait until next year!

We took Leo sledging yesterday afternoon - though the poor boy was a little bemused by it all. I had plenty of fun though whilst Leo loved watching the other children playing in the snow. Mary on the other hand was smitten and that evening, she rounded up the troops for a late night sledging excursion. Fuelled by a little too much wine she led us down some fun slopes, giggling all the way. In our sledging race, the "Creek Missile" proved to be no match for Mike as he shot past the finish line and continued going all the way to the bar! Considering that there is no steering on these sledges, we saw this as a sign and continued into the bar, where Patrick treated us to a shot of his favourite toffee vodka.

In desperate need for a winter break, we went skiing to La Tania with all of Leo's friends. Staying in a lovely Chalet with three nannies to look after the babies during the day and great food and free wine at night sounded like bliss. In fact it's best described as enjoyable chaos - trying to feed and put six babies to bed at the same time is no mean feat! Not to mention six early morning wake up calls. The babies have loved their time with the nannies, so we've managed to get plenty of skiing in despite most of us being struck down by that pesky Norovirus (I'm sure it's stalking me as I had it on my previous ski trip to Chatel). Skiing with the group has been fun, as we all try to keep up with (Luke) the "Creek Missile". This afternoon, we took Leo up the mountain on a Gondola for lunch. He loved flying above the trees so much, we had to go up and down twice! P.S. If you'd like to see some more pics, have a look at our holiday album .

Today was a hard day - quarantined from my boy due to that pesky Norovirus. Though I sneakily caught a glimpse of him as he left this morning for his grandparents. Luckily the 48 hour quarantine ran out this evening so I had a day sitting in front of the TV with my new Playstation 3! This evening when I picked him up, I was a little nervous having been away for so long. Though when he saw me he was incredibly excited, then angry as he turned away and ignored me for all of ten seconds, then finally he gave me the biggest hug ever. It's the first time he's ever hugged me and it nearly brought a tear to my eye! It turned out that he started hugging whilst I was away. He's also started clapping, saying something resembling "cuddle" but stopped saying "dada". Let's hope he starts again soon.

I've just returned from a lads skiing trip to Chatel. Andy organised a trip to visit one of his mates, Jem, and Noel and I joined him. It was all our first trip away from our young babies, but rather than going mad on the apres ski, we were usually in bed by 10:30pm!!! Perhaps that's the consequence of becoming a new dad! In fact it was, as Andy had caught the Norovirus (vomiting and diarrhoea sickness) from his son Alex. I caught it off of him the following day and, whilst Noel escaped with just a runny tummy, his back ceased to function. All in all, there was considerable pressure on the toilet in our apartment, which quickly broke under the strain! Luckily we did manage to get some skiing in and were rewarded with some of the best powder we've ever had and miles of empty slopes. Jem (Andy's mate) guided our off piste attempts and thankfully there were no serious injuries. All in all a great warm up for our next trip later this month. The journey home was a...