It’s great catching up with old friends. Sometimes it goes far too long between seeing friends. It’s hard enough to co-ordinate good time together with people who live a few miles down the road in these busy days of raising children, let alone people who emigrate to Vancouver. Continue reading “Friends Reunited: Ben Cole visits from Canada”
Easter week in Woolacombe
Lovely time last week in Woolacombe with our old Gloucestershire mates the Greenwoods. So great to go away and have such fun with people who make life so uncomplicated for us with our semi demanding 11 month-old. Continue reading “Easter week in Woolacombe”
First weekend of spring
God what a great feeling that is. Sooooo flipping ace to have a bit more daylight this evening – and twinned with a bit of sunshine it’s made it feel like the first big spring day. Continue reading “First weekend of spring”
Mothers Day (and not bad for fathers too)
Had a nice chilled weekend really. Didn’t do too much. Elsie’s making us restrict our expectations a bit at the moment so relaxed, homey time is good. Mother’s day entailed a big roast, a quiet trip to the shops at Bolton and a play in the field with the dog and the girls.
Saturday was special too in a similarly laid back way. Lily’s been looking after a teddy bear from school for the week, and doing a pretty enthusiastic job of it. When she complete’s Millie’s diary tomorrow, I think she should mention a 5 mile cycle into Ramsbottom and back (Teddy Millie was in Lily’s doll backpack). A lovely way to start a Saturday. I also managed the third enjoyable but shortish Mountain Bike excursion in a week – this time round the back of the windmills on Whittle Pike.
Dileas – an old friend moves on.
Just had the sad but inevitable news that my brother’s dog – Dileas – has had to be put to sleep after a slow decline over the last few months. He was a lovely dog and with a very special nature – he was a companion with me on a few runs – sometimes just him and me in the days before we got Elvis – and particularly gentle with children. Continue reading “Dileas – an old friend moves on.”
A weekend in Ripple and a trip to the Forest of Dean
Had a lovely time this weekend with our old mates Andrew and Denise in Ripple, near Upton on Severn. The catalyst for going down there was an invitation from Andrew to come and run in the Forest of Deal half marathon, so it meant that it was a weekend of fun, leisure, and food, but also one of fitness payback. Continue reading “A weekend in Ripple and a trip to the Forest of Dean”
Our half term hols… Peebles and Edinburgh
We spent ages weighing up the pros and cons of a big holiday with a little baby. It’s a big deal really trying to get things right because we wanted to get on with things and have some fun – for Lily, Katie and I – but to have a bit of sanity / settled, relaxed homeliness for Elsie (now nine months). Continue reading “Our half term hols… Peebles and Edinburgh”
Elsie the quadruped
On the eve of being nine months old, our little girl Elsie has crawled across the floor today. A full three months ahead of Lily, she seems very eager to get moving. Mild panic as we realised we needed to get hold of a stair gate, Now on order. Doors shut in the mean time.
A tooth for a tooth
Lily lost her first top tooth on Sunday and looks like a classic little cheeky girl now – if she didn’t do before. It’s been wobbly for ages. In a strange ironic tooth equity occurence, on the same day, Elsie popped out her first top tooth – on the same side that Lily’s departed.
Lily at the Todmorden Cyclocross
Lily’s second race was another moment of intense pride for me – and for Katie. Again, she took te bull by the horns and rode flat out from start to finish on what was a ideal course for the Under 12s. There was a large field too, and she did herself proud. The Dad running round with her was largely just that this time – holding and pushing her on the dodgy bits of the course was kept to a bare minimum and she pedalled her little heart out. Eventually she finished 18th out of 28 under 10s – quite an achievement for a 6 year old.
I rode the senior race and really enjoyed (and hopefully benefitted from) the outing on a tough but really fun course just one week before the national champs in Bradford.
Elsie managed to kick her legs a lot during the whole thing in a combination of enthusiasm, mimickary and sympathy.
A really ace event organised by Mountainbike Guru Chipps Chippendale and we’ll no doubt be popping over to Todmorden next season for another hammering round the park.
Happy New Year
A lovely couple of days in our house just went by. Friends Rachel and Jon brought their three children to ours for a couple of nights and for the third year running we saw in the New Year with them. In order to try and keep the excitement levels up (and indeed try and stay up until midnight), we had a fancy dress theme of loutish Brits Abroad. (Well – it seemed right once I decided I was going to cook Tapas and Paella).
Photos of their stay here.
Christmas photos 2008 part 2: the other half of the family
We made a pretty spontaneous trip up to Greame and Fiona’s farm on Saturday to catch up with Katie’s branch of the family, meaning that Lily and Elsie had seen all of their six cousins and all their aunties, uncles and grandparents in the space of 24 hours. Great trip to the farm including all the normal animal chaos (no inpromptu lambing this time but some taming of a frisky horse to be done).