Rob and Maree's wedding

On 8 June 2012, Rob and Maree were married on a surprisingly warm and dry day in Aberdeen, with a reception at the Pitodrie House Hotel.

The ceremony and reception were both great fun, reflecting the families and their Scottish and Australian backgrounds (complete with Aunty Leslie's "medley of Scottish and Australian tunes" as the bride and groom left the church).  The hotel and grounds were beautiful (as was the bride, obviously), and I have to give special mention to the haggis canapes. Divine!

It was a shame that Jo and Euan couldn't come along, but it turned out to be a real blessing, as my Thursday night flight was diverted to Glasgow due to thick fog, resulting in a 3 hour wait in the airport and a 3 hour coach journey across Scotland, arriving at the hotel at 3.15 am (to be woken by the next-door school at 8am!).  I didn't really get a chance to enjoy the hotel's facilities (i.e. bar, whisky room, etc.), although I did have a sneaky session in the gym in preparation for our holiday (undone, I suspect, by the aforementioned haggis canapes and a full Scottish breakfast on the Saturday morning).  

Congratulations to Rob and Maree, and best wishes for married life.



Photos here

Snow days and sunny days - January 2012

Trying to wrap up all our January pictures in one album, you'll find amongst these photos some unseasonably sunny weather, Euan's first proper haggis supper, and the first of 2012's snow (and our first trip to Kinsbourne Green common in the snow).

New Year Get-Together (Millard clan)

Here are just a few photos from the get-together we had in January at The Cross-in-Hand in Heathfield (Russell's pub) together with everyone (and that's a lot of people) from the Millard side of the family.  There were a few left-over Christmas presents and all the children played together both indoors and outdoors.  As usual, Tim over-ate at the sumptious buffet!

Late May Sunshine With Granny and Grandpa

 You'll have realised before now that we find it difficult for some reason to upload our photos within 5 months of taking them!  In an effort to rectify, or at least improve on that, we've decided to intersperse the oldest uploads with the most recent.  With any luck, we'll meet in the middle, sometime round April.

With that in mind, here are the photos from our great weekend in the glorious Cotswold sunshine with Granny and Grandpa (and a host of visiting morris dancers).  Combine the sunshine and nice food with a trip on a train, and you won't see a broader smile on Euan's face!

Jubilee Weekend

Three quarters of the way through the Jubilee Weekend, we're pausing for breath and - at 8.30pm - the sun is in the sky!  

We started the weekend at the Herts County Show with George, Harriet and Beatrix, Arada, Matt and Benji.  The children were captivated by the 'Devil's Horsemen' stunt riders and the tractor display in equal measure.  We saw prize chickens, sheep, goats, alpacas, horses and (huge) heffers; enjoyed pies, donuts, a picnic, black pudding sausage and veggie tagine; and were entertained by Suffolk Punch horses, alpacas, dancing sheep, mounted games and a pack of beagles.  We finished the day in the glorious sunshine.

As the rain really set in on Sunday, we all found shelter in town for a lovely Bank Holiday lunch, heading home afterwards to watch the river pageant unfold from the comfort of the sofa.  We watched the excellent Super 8, which I'd recommend to anyone who wishes they still made films like E.T.

Today, Toby, Rachel, Archie and baby Harry came to visit.  We ducked the rain showers and had a lovely day, managing to spend a little time in the garden and in the park (between yet more delicious meals).  Tomorrow, we're off to see Eug, Tim and Adella, who have sensibly decided to cancel the barbeque and book a table in a nearby pub!

New Year 2011-12 in South Creake

Click above for the photos

We didn't really have any plans for New Year, so it was lovely to have a last-minute invitation to Norfolk from Toby, Rach and Archie (pre-Harry). (It turns out I forgot to mention this in the January blogs!).  We returned to the beach at Wells, with the two boys in the rucksacks, and fed the ducks in the pond between big, hearty, winter meals, sharing a glass of bubbly whilst watching Jools Holland ring in the New Year.  As always, Archie and Euan had a great time playing together.  Click here for the photos.

April showers, May showers...

We've had a lovely couple of weekends with our friends from Durham. 

Echoing last summer's road trip, we had a visit from Jez, Debbie and Tallulah two weeks ago.  Tallulah has grown a lot since we last saw her, and has taken to moving round the floor on her knees - getting up to quite a pace.  We had a few trips to the park and to the Discovery Centre for lunch and to sit on the big blue tractor, finishing Saturday with a grown-up, home-made meal for 4 and a few bottles of wine.  With Sunday brunch at Okka, we were well fed for the weekend!

Last weekend, we took a trip to Shropshire to see Sarah, Rob and Lucy and (for Tim) to meet Lottie for the first time (even though she's already 7 months old!).  We took a stroll through the wet and muddy woods, and Euan and Lucy played hide and seek behind the trees. 

Tim, Eugenie and (still Euan's favourite) Adella joined us for the rest of the weekend, and we had a surprise visit from James, Catherine, Katelyn and a 3-month-old Toby.  Tim got a little practice in, holding a sleepy, snoring Toby while the girls made cupcakes.  Thanks to Sarah and the family for putting up with all of us, and preparing some amazing food.

Christmas 2011

It has taken the usual 4 months to get round to posting our Christmas photos.

We blogged in January about all our visitors and trips over the Christmas period, so if you'd like a reminder to go with the pictures, click here.

Christmas no.1 was with Granny and Grandpa Reid: gingerbread men, a crib service, champagne, Torta di Risotto and Christmas morning itself. Click on any of these photos for the full album.

  After a lovely Christmas Dinner of spinach, mushroom and chestnut filo pie with tomato and ginger coulis, we settled in for Christmas no.2 with the Howards and Grandma and Granddad Concannon.  Photos are below. I've taken some liberties here, including in the above album a late November shot from the Harpenden carnival and the picture below, from Euan's Christmas Party at Thomas's house.

Our final Christmas Party after a quick trip to the zoo and before heading to Norfolk was with the Callingtons and Aunty Paula and Uncle Dave.

And here are the zoo pictures.  It was too nippy to hang around, and there will be plenty more photos from the rest of the year as we enjoy the annual membership.  These fellas had just finished a long night shift but were happy to sign autographs and eat carrots.

Roof work - December 2011

Euan, November 2011

 

Bonfire Night (2011)

Remember (remember) 5th November 2011? To celebrate Bonfire Night, we invited all our local friends to come over for hot dogs (gorgeous sausages courtesy of Jelley's Meats) and potato wedges, before driving in convoy to watch the fireworks display at Crabtree School.  The children enjoyed playing in the wendy house that Jo's mum and dad had recently cleaned up and shipped over to Harpenden.  Euan was particularly fascinated by the huge bonfire!  Click on either photo to see the album.

October colours

Spriiiing

(Not our photo - no snow here!)

Busy times for us, as we start to fill our diaries for Spring and Summer.  Looking forward to a few visits to the zoo as the weather improves, starting (hopefully) on Good Friday.  On Easter Saturday Euan and Benji will be jumping into the rucksacks for a pub walk with Matt and Arada, and on Monday we'll be celebrating Easter with the Howards and Concannons.

At some point, we're going to have to assemble Euan's new climbing frame from Wickens Toys, and we must thank you all for your generous birthday contributions that allowed us to buy that for him.  We can't wait to see Euan playing with his own park in the garden.

Plenty of other things to do, including the arrival of the plumber to fit a new shower and tiles in the bathroom, pottering around the garden and generally tarting up the house where we can.  Tim's off to York in mid-April for a weekend with the KES boys, and Jo and Euan will be hosting all the girls on the same weekend.

Looking forward to seeing you all soon.

x

Happy Easter!

Visiting Megan

Still in October 2011 (I think), here are a few photos from our trip to see baby Megan in Histon, together with Lucy, Tim, Poppy and Peter.  We even managed to get out to the park!

Something new

Just trying out a new look for the site.

Every one of our posts should be down the left hand side of the screen, or if you're looking for something in particular, you can search for a topic or word using the search box at the top right of the screen.  Let us know how you find it.

Halloween 2011!

 Those of you who are easily scared might want to avoid clicking on the link below, featuring some very scary looking toddlers!

Hannah & Andrew are wed

In September 2011 we were invited to Hannah and Andrew's wedding up in rural Derbyshire.  Euan stayed at home with Grandma and Granddad and we stayed in a local B&B along with Jan and Paul, Eug and Tim and Catherine and James.

Aside from the obvious lowlight (Scotland were embarking, during the World Cup, on what has turned out to be a long spell without a win, losing to Argentina in New Zealand on the Sunday morning after the wedding) the weekend was great fun.

The bride looked stunning, as did the church and the marquee that had been set up in the garden of Hannah's parents' house.  Being a creative type, Hannah had prepared plenty of small details for the day, including bunting and hand-painted pebbles as name cards on the tables.  From a champagne reception on the lawn, we were treated to a full Indian complete with Cobra beers, all finished off with an impressive wedding cheese cake and dancing.

In one of the outhouses, Hannah's dad was hiding conspiratorially with the gents, sharing generously from the kegs of ale he had been preparing for the big day.  This allowed the girls plenty of time for girl chat before some drunken late night dancing to the band.  

Click below or on the photo above for a small sample of photos.

 

 

Harpenden Highland Gathering 2012

Tempted to join us on Sunday 15 July 2012?

Harpenden Highland Gathering 2011 from matt smith on Vimeo.

Reid, Bird, Callington, Milton, Scudder Thing

Aunt Gillian, Uncle Mike, Rachel, Rory and Malcolm came over on Sunday with Tim's mum and dad, Paula, Dave, Lucy, Tim, Poppy, Peter and Megan.  Everyone brought food and drink, and all we had to do was move our furniture to one side to allow the children to run around.  Euan, Poppy and Peter were so excited that Mum and Dad to had to take them to the park to let off some steam, before we tucked into the food and (some of us) settled down in front of the rugby.  It was lovely to have the family together other than at a wedding, and we hope it'll become a regular thing.

Scotland are definitely making some progress, but worse teams have come away with more victories and it's turning out to be another difficult year for players and fans!  As one optimistic friend noted: perhaps they're saving themselves for 2013 when (all being well) we will be on tour again, watching Scotland in Paris.

September on the farm

Time once again to step back a few months; this time to look at some of our holiday snaps from Gladwins Farm in September.  The holiday was so good that we've had to separate the photos into six albums, each one of which you can access by clicking on the pictures below. Bear with us as we take you through the holiday (or come back and view the photos one album at a time)!

The farm was absolutely perfect for our little family, and for Euan in particular.  As well as being able to feed the pigs, sheep, goats and chickens (and collect eggs for breakfast), and take walks through the woods, he could play in the wooden wendy house, on the tractors or on the swings.  For rainy days (we only had one) a stable had been converted into a playroom and there was an indoor swimming pool.  Here we are, feeding the animals on our first morning on the farm.

  The following day, we put Euan in the rucksack and took a walk from Dedham to Flatford Mill, across the Suffolk countryside of "Constable Country". Our reward at Flatford Mill was a National Trust museum dedicated to the artist, on the site where he painted The Hay Wain.  We took the obligatory photo to match the painting (see whether you can tell the difference in the album below) and enjoyed a lovely National Trust cuppa and a stroll through the wildlife garden.  We returned to Dedham for lunch by the river, watching cows climb into canoes, and serenaded by a Barry-White-A-Like (better than it sounds) who fascinated Euan! 

The next part of the holiday saw Grandma and Granddad take the (relatively) short trip up to visit us at the farm.  There was a little rain in the air, so we had a chance to try out the play area and build up our appetites with a few competitive games of table tennis before a pub lunch at The Anchor in Nayland.  We took a walk through the woods, fed the sheep and played all afternoon on the swings.

Next up was a particular highlight for us all: Colchester Zoo! We weren't sure how long Euan would last, but we all had a nice long day at a brilliant zoo.  As you can see from the photos below, we saw monkeys, cheetahs, elephants, penguins and seals (the list goes on), and brave Euan even fed the giraffes!  He was eventually undone by a bee sting in the rabbit enclosure, and we made a sharp exit past the wolves and back to the farm for tea.



In all the excitement, we haven't shown you much of the Farm itself, so here are some pretty pictures.  We can't recommend the place enough. Great location, friendly owners and animals, plenty to do nearby and even the chance to head to the seaside for tea and cake with the grannies amongst the beach huts of Frinton - the resort that time forgot.  We're tempted to go back, get a bigger cottage (or two) and enjoy the private hot tubs!

Last album now, and this one is from Jimmy's Farm.  Bored of animals? Not us!  Jimmy's Farm has a menagerie of small and furry animals, including free-ranging goats, ducks, llamas, guinea pigs, ferrets and rare breed sheep, but specialises in rare breed pigs (and sausages) :( .  Jimmy Doherty is something of a TV celebrity, being a friend of  Jamie Oliver and the star of a couple of his own shows.  Euan, not shy when it comes to celebrities, made friends with Jimmy's daughter whilst chasing ducks.  As you can see, we really enjoyed the woodland walks too!

Jimmy also runs his own family-friendly music and comedy festival, "Harvest".  Some of Tim's favourite acts performed in 2011 (Fat Freddy's Drop, The Feeling, Gilles Peterson, Mr Scruff...).  Anyone fancy going in September 2012? 

Enough?  Phew.  Sorry. It was just such a great holiday!

Family

It is often said that Christmas is a time for family.

There are, of course, another 364 days in the year, during which we can enjoy the company of our family and - when that isn't possible - just be grateful for them.  Fortunately, I have plenty of daily reminders of how lucky I am, starting every morning with Euan pretending to be asleep when I walk into his room (even when he's been calling my name for 5 minutes) or bouncing off the bed with a mouth full of Shredded Wheat Bitesize.

This Christmas has proven to be a rare chance to catch up with a large part of our close and extended family.  We had plenty of visitors during Christmas week before enjoying a restful New Year in South Creake.  It was there that we heard the very sad news that Tim's Granny had passed away.  The news, although not unexpected, was difficult to take.

I travelled up to Aberdeen for the funeral, which was a mixture of present sadness and happy memories.  It was a special time for catching up with our cousins and with Linda, Robert and Leslie, and we had a lot of stories to tell.  We said goodbye to Granny in a beautiful and peaceful place.  It was when, during the service, Dad and the pastor recalled how proud Granny had been of her children and all her grandchildren (and great-grandchildren) that I really struggled to hold it together.  I have a wonderful family at home, around the country and back in Aberdeen and we are all lucky to have each other for the time we have together.  Granny will be missed, but is with us in the family she leaves behind. x

New Year's Resolution (2012)

Just for the record (you can test us from time to time), Tim's New Year Resolution is to cook something new every week.  Nothing fancy, mind you.  Just something new.  Cooked a lovely, simple bean stew on Sunday. A lovely, warming, fragrant winter supper with a base of mustard and cumin seeds.

Christmas 2011

Christmas was so busy we don't really know where to begin.  Once Tim had finished work, and enjoyed a night of a thousand beers at the Euston Tap, we set about decorating the house and preparing it for our Christmas visitors. 

We had a lovely, quiet Christmas Eve with Tim's mum and dad, visiting the Crib Service at St Mary's before tucking a slightly excited Euan into bed, sipping a few cheeky champagnes, and sitting down for a delicious pre-Christmas dinner (for those who are interested: Celia Brooks-Brown's Torta di Risotto followed by baked apples stuffed with mincemeat).

Christmas morning was perfect, with Euan unwrapping the first of a host of presents from our very generous family, together with Granny and Grandpa.  The first was a toy police car, however, and it was quite difficult to persuade him to put it down and unwrap any other presents (including his new table and chairs and brio zoo train set)!

I honestly can't remember what we did for the rest of the day (and Boxing Day) once Granny and Grandpa had left for Paula and Dave's house, but I seem to remember it involved more presents, lots of relaxation (relatively speaking) and then a special Christmas dinner (again for those keeping a record: Celia's spinach, mushroom and chestnut filo pie with tomato and ginger coulis followed by Christmas pud). Yum.

On the 27th we played host to the Concannons and Howards, and on the 29th we had a visit from the Callingtons and Scudders.  We experienced the kind of whirlwind that only happens when you combine a host of small children with wrapping paper and sausage rolls, and it really did feel very Christmasy.  It was lovely to be able to spend a part of Christmas with the entire family.

In between those two parties, we managed to sneak in a trip to Whipsnade Zoo with Euan.  It was pretty chilly, so we couldn't stay for long, but we managed to visit the farm, meet the reindeer (resting after a busy Christmas Eve), see the tigers and sealions, and visit the 3-month old elephant calf ("Scott") and rhino before jumping into the car to visit the rest of the zoo with the windows up and the heating on!