A walk in the country...

(I didn't take my camera this time....)

On Monday, Tim took a rare day off work.

After Euan and Jo returned from Tiny Tots Tunes, a snooze (him) and a sandwich (us), we headed off in search of the Ashridge Estate, just South of Whipsnade.

We'd been promised rain showers but had spent the weekend either entertaining (Seb, Rach and Jacob) or trawling the streets of Harpenden for houses we'd like to live in, so decided to take a risk and get out of town.

We had a lovely afternoon's walk through the trees with the trusty Howard buggy just about staying on all its wheels! The afternoon was topped off (as with any trip to a National Trust property) with a big slab of coffee and walnut cake.

Remind us to take you there. Tim wants to go back once the late bluebells emerge in the meadows. It's just 20 minutes from us (past the zoo - where you can see the wild bison roaming next to the road), so we can take you there in Spring, Summer or Autumn. There's no playground for the kids, but loads of space to explore and fallen trees to clamber on.

Comic book hero...

For some reason, Tim is more excited about the new Iron Man 2 movie

than he has been about any new film in a long time!

Maybe it's because the film looks really good (click on the highlighted words to see the latest trailer), or just because he won't be able to get to the cinema in the next month, or maybe because he wasn't so impressed with the DVD of "Twilight - Full Moon". A bad superhero film can be very bad (Hulk / Superman Returns), but a good superhero film can be great!

Looking forward to it...

Mum and Dad's photos

Tim's mum and dad have just returned from what looks like an amazing trip to the Far East - Vietnam and Laos.

Here are their beautiful photos...

Thoughts for the weekend

1. How young is too young for your first proper festival?
   

   (www.campbestival.net/)


2. Seeing we all enjoy daffodils in April, why do we the British public not plant May, June, July and August-blooming bulbs in all our grass verges and gardens to the same effect?


3. Is it called cat "litter" because she leaves it lying around everywhere she goes?
   

Seeing in our last new year as a family of two...

Something of a distant memory, but here are a few photos we took at New Year.

We celebrated the arrival of 2010 in Chipping Campden in relatively sober fashion.

Rach and Tobes joined us, but only 2 of the 4 were able to have a proper drink (as you'll see from the picture of Toby and Rachel toasting the New Year with a glass of champagne and a sensible cup of decaf).

The weather was great, so we took a walk across the Manse, and then caught up with Jan, Paul and Isaac in Broadway for a bit of lunch on 1 January. Lovely.

Click on the photo for the full album.

Toot toot! Yum yum...

A cause for disproportionate excitement today, as Sainsburys delivered our groceries to the door for the first time. Oh, how times have changed...

The jury is out as to whether online shopping leads to more impulse buying, or less.

Useful tip: Don't log onto your Sainsburys account at someone else's house and forget to log off, unless you want to find unpleasant surprises in your next shop and on your next bill, such as flat-screen TVs and embarrassing ointments ...

So many photos...

Holy mackerel!

Just going through a few recent photo albums, looking for a new Skype profile picture...

Just realised that we have loads of photos from New Year (Cotswolds, Jan & Paul, Oxford, baby Oliver), and the families' first visits to see Euan (Christmas presents for the Callingtons, birthday cake for Verity). Must rectify that soon.

Euan moving house

Hi all

Well, we're online at last!

Here are some photos from Euan as he moved house with us, from Twickenham to Harpenden. As you can see, he's settling in nicely, and getting big!

Click on the photo below for the album. More to follow shortly...

Absent any new Euan photos...

We're still offline at home until next week, but having a lovely time as a family.

In lieu of the photos (which will be uploaded next week), please do visit my favourite site:

http://www.dogjudo.com/

Thanks!

Our first week in Harpenden

Today is our fifth day in Harpenden, and we have almost finished unpacking the boxes

(other than those which are filling the 3rd bedroom - they are a job for another day!)

The house is taking shape, and it has been nice this time to be able to fill the place with our own furniture, making it very homely already.

Kate and Barry have visited a couple of times since Tim returned to work on Wednesday. The health visitor is already on her way and we are busy subscribing to various baby groups in the area. Suburbia here we come!

Euan has been inundated with presents from all our friends. We're staggered by everyone's generosity. He has grown a lot in the last couple of weeks. He is already beginning to fill the oversized babygrows that we had enjoyed using to hide his wee fists (and nails) while he feeds!

We still have no internet connection, so will struggle to upload more photos in the coming weeks, unless Tim starts using valuable client time to download pictures at work. Bear with us! For now, we're looking for ways to spend our first weekend - brunches, lunches and long walks?