National Tour Week #3

To Shropshire!

On Friday evening, we hit the M1 and M6 towards Sarah, Rob and Lucy in Shropshire. We're getting quite good at this weekend travel lark, and we almost got Euan into the cot at Sarah & Rob's house without him waking Lucy. Tim had to dive into a nearby room so that Lucy wouldn't come stumbling out of her bedroom, bleary-eyed, to find a strange man standing in the hallway!

We had another fantastic weekend, especially seeing it had been so long since we'd met up with any of the Court family. A new addition to their family is due in October, and Lucy is growing up fast. She's a really articulate 2-yr-old, and polite, and loves a good story!

We took a trip to Attingham Park, Euan jumped into the rucksack and we walked through the woods and the walled gardens and played on the swings before heading to the courtyard for a packed lunch and a coffee. On Sunday morning, we exhausted Euan and Lucy (and Tim) in the Play Barn before having lunch at a the Battlefield 1403 farm shop and hitting the road for Harpenden.

... So thank goodness for Bank Holiday Mondays! The 3 of us popped off to the Stockwood Discovery Centre, just round the corner, for lunch and a wander round the gardens (it's freeee!) before an afternoon's recuperation and some preparations for the big wedding weekend. A 3 day week, and then it's upon us!

Rain

Of course, this isn't the worst weather we've had this year; just the worst we've had this summer.

Take a look at what the rain did to one of our favourite trees in May. Jo and Barry helped stitch it back together and it seems to be doing well...

May at the farm with Archie

In weather like this, we have to look back to May to remember the days when we thought summer was still ahead of us. Back then, Rach, Tobes and Archie came over to stay (see our May entry in the right-hand menu) and we took a trip to the farm.

As well as a lovely farm shop and cafe it had plenty to keep us all busy, from hamsters and rabbits to sheep shows, dog displays, piglets and a baby llama (just a few days old). Oh, and a turkey.

The boys really enjoyed themselves, as they did in Norfolk a fortnight ago. Photos from that weekend will follow, but in the meantime please click here or on the photo above to see our pictures from the farm.

A few days to go...

A few days now until Paula and Dave get married. We can't wait.

xxx

My crazy little family (April 2011)

My name in lights [Tim]

This won't be very exciting to any of you, but Tim had a 3-page article published in the Estates Gazette this week. It's the biggest publication in the UK property industry, with a huge readership, and it's very difficult to get them to publish your work. Yay!

National Tour: Week #2

Great weekend back in North Norfolk, this time in South Creake with Toby, Rachel and Archie.

Jo has managed to buy a bargain baby rucksack from a local mum, and it went down a storm as we carried Euan across the huge beach at Wells-Next-The-Sea and set up camp behind a sand dune in time for a picnic lunch and a splash in the surf. The sun shone for us all day and everyone was exhausted by the evening. Sunday morning started with a thunder storm, so it was on with the rucksack again for a short walk round South Creake before the journey home.

We enjoyed a barbeque on the Friday night and a pork roast on the Saturday, a couple of ice-creams and some nice ales, so it's back into the running shoes for us both this week!

National tour: Week#1

We all had a great time with Jez, Debbie and baby Tallulah in Knaresborough at the weekend. As it happens, I only took a couple of photos (largely because Tallulah spent a lot of time sleeping, as babies do) but I'll post them in due course.

Good as gold, Euan slept all the way up the M1 and Friday's journey wasn't as daunting as we'd thought. Harrogate and Knaresborough are beautiful towns, and we had a lot of coffees and cakes as well as sampling the delights of Jezza's Pizzeria (TM). We're looking forward to seeing how much Lulu has grown when we head up to Freddie Wagner's christening (halfway between the two families) on 18 September.

Hi, how are you doing?

Enough with the photos! It's about time we said hello.

hello

Now that the computer is up and running, the photos are being uploaded at quite a rate. We hope you'll take a moment to look at them all the same. The last few months have flown by, and tomorrow marks Euan's 18-month "birthday". Where has all the time gone?

We have an awful lot to be grateful for, not least the family and friends around us, most of whom are readers of this blog - so thank you all. Euan is a constant joy to us (5.15 starts, teeth-brushing fiascos and snotty noses notwithstanding), and life is good.

This weekend marks the start of our grand tour of England, which will take in (on consecutive weekends), North Yorkshire, Norfolk, Shropshire, Hampshire, rural Essex, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, with a week off before we head back South for the 3rd of 3 weddings. We're really looking forward to Paula and Dave's big day, and all the plans seem to be coming together nicely (including our own outfits!). There will probably be more photos. Be warned!

In other news, our curtains have arrived and have been hung in the lounge. Habitat's administrators assure us that the sofa will be delivered, but the delivery date keeps slipping. Also slipping are parts of our garage roof, and after a piece fell on Jo's head we decided we really ought to get some quotes in for the work. Home is taking shape nicely.

Lots of love to you all. x

March reflections

March, when Euan really started walking, had only half his present set of teeth, and when the weather was... well, the same as now... seems a long time ago. Click on the photo above for a set of pictures of Euan at 13 months and in a reflective mood.

Peter's christening

Flying through the first half of 2011 now... March also brought Peter's christening

And presents all round!

Remember March

Just found a couple of nice snaps from March. Shame not to share them.

Luckily the weather's improved since then, but I do miss that hat...

Canet Plage

Way back in April, we had a lovely holiday in the South of France. It's taken us a while to get the photos uploaded, but we've sorted out the computer problems and here they are (click on the picture):

It was a brilliant site, with great weather, lovely food and plenty of time to relax. We might even go there again! We hope you enjoy the pictures.