Saturday, 16 July 2011

Ickworth House


Last week we drove out to Suffolk to spend 3 days holiday at a rather knockout stately home Ickworth House. To say it was amazing does not do it justice it was majestic and otherworldly.




Ickworth house was originally the home of the 1st Earl of Bristol,
the main building 'the Rotunda' pictured here was commissioned by the 4th Earl inspired by his travels through Italy and Rome. Building begun in 1795 and completed after his death in 1803.



The hotel accommodates the East wing of the property renovated and converted to a grand luxury style family hotel. Here is the entrance....



The view from our bathroom window with a panorama of the estate parkland beyond...



This view shows the conservatory (left side) where we would eat our meals -not bad eh!



A striking old Cedar tree.

As one can imagine we all had a brilliant time, living like aristocrats but the best thing was how great a time Olive had. The facilities were superb with loads of stuff to do from swimming, riding bikes around the estate and 2 playgrounds -and that was just for the dad's!



Olive got involved....clambering through tunnels...



...Driving lessons!



Cheeky little thing!

Although the biggest hit for Olive without a doubt was the trampoline. Olive got stuck right-in with the bouncing and could not get enough of it! A brilliant piece of apparatus inducing euphoric screams of excitement, great exercise and get's them good and worn out for bed time! The Smalls got herself some air and impressed us greatly with her natural bouncing skills!






Tried to post a nice video of my monkey bouncing about but it would not upload -argh! However, I did manage to upload a little video of Olive signing her ABC's and a nice rendition of Bah, Bah, Black Sheep (need to turn up the volume a bit):







The fun continuous with Mummy and Smols workin' the "death slide"!


Short and sweet, all-in-all we really had a great family holiday.







(had to get that macro bee shot in there!)

Saturday, 9 July 2011

No.2


A momentous day just passed! We had our 20 week sonogram to see how our little No.2 is getting on. All is well. He or She is 15.2 cm (if we have it right) from head to bum and the head is 18 cm in circumference. The heart and lungs are all working as they should, the brain the right size and apparently the Femur is just the right length! By the end of Nov. we will get to meet our second. It is still hard to grasp but all very exciting! Nov. is going to come around very quick I am sure!




From Mummy: It is also hard to remember but this little one seems a bit lazier than it's big sister. I remember being pummeled to death when Olive was inside but this one gives a few lazy kicks each evening around 10:00pm but not much else. I hope this means it'll be a good sleeper!!!

Pick your own!


A well-spent Saturday morning. We took our Smols and the Pilgrim seniors down to Garson's farm in Esher for a wholesome pick-your-own fruit n' veg session! And what kid -or grown-up -doesn't love to go picking Strawberries and Raspberries?



Olive of course made sure to eat as many berries as possible before putting any in her punnet!



Pops looking very pleased with a handful of Raspberries!



...go get some Spinach off Granny and go hide in the Strawberry bushes


Olive as always very pleased with herself and having a wonderful time!


Saturday, 4 June 2011

Trooping the Colour


It is not often or appropriate for an Englishman to be overtly patriotic. We don't celebrate our patron saint St. George's day as a national holiday in fact there is no dedicated day we rejoice in being English...


...that is until one of the Royal Family get married!



And so in honor of the recent Royal wedding on April 29th of Prince William and Catherine Middleton we waved the ole Union Jack for once and celebrated in proper British style with a Cockney 'knees-up' band and a few drinks down the Prince of Wales (that's Prince William's father) pub in Esher -right nice!







Tuesday, 26 April 2011

Crawfish Boil!




An extension to our Easter festivities David decided we were going to celebrate Easter Sunday (or Saturday for us) with a true Louisiana tradition, a Crawfish Boil!

Step 1: Pick-up a case of Louisiana Abita beer and throw in a bucket full of ice.

Step 2: Drink a beer.

Step 3: Get yourself a large bag of fresh live Louisiana Crawfish (spring months only). Time to enjoy another beer. Bring a very large pot of water to a boil. Have another beer.


Step 4: Time to drink another beer. Chuck in some red potatoes, corn-cobs and plenty of Cajun spices. Have another beer! In go the crustaceans for a few minutes. Kill the boil. Enjoy another beer and then...


...Serve!



Be Happy! Eat Crawfish!

An absolutely splendid experience!
(Beer optional)