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!