Christmas, but faster

At Alan's house this Christmas we all decided that the delays usually suffered because of the drawn our present-giving should be overcome by doing thewhole thing alot quicker.



In reverse, we found that the whole thing looks alot more sustainable, what with all the presents being broken down into their constituent parts and eventually returned to the earth, adding to the natural resources and capturing carbon.

The strangest thing ...

And so it was that Jonah & Bebe were sitting in the exact same places as they were three years previously. As soon as I realised I ran for the camera and these are the results ...



The thing with Cara not being in the earlier one is quite odd. Even weirder is the fact that they seem to be eating the same thing.

Cider with Foley

We went down to the Foley's annual cider pressing again this year.

First we all had a go pulping the apples in the crusher:



Then we helped fill up the press:



Lovely day punctuated by pumpkin soup and sausages.

The other pictures are all here

Halloweeny

Jo and Cara went out trick or treating last night and the most we could persuade them to dress up in was a mask and face paint.



and here are the pumpkins from the party before we went out:

Making tracks

So we were making a train track in Cara's room and filmed it in a time-lapsey kind of way. Sadly the batteries dies before the train could get going.

Cara

Just to illustrate the growing up thing, here's a couple of recent images of Cara:





The butterfly face painted image was from when we went to a party. Cara overcame her shyness to have her face painted and I'm sure she'll want to do it again, being as she was, very pleased with the result.-

Jonah's sticker book

Jonah's sticker book
Originally uploaded by Lenny&Meriel

Jonah finished his first year two sticker book, clever boy.

His teacher is leaving at the end of term to have a baby - it's a carbon copy of what happened last year.

Meanwhile Cara is going to pre-school three times a week and sometimes staying for lunch. She's growing up.

Viola

Jonah is now at the age where he is becoming eligible to do all sorts of activities - poor old Cara has just got to wait a little longer and she'll be able to do the same.

The two main stories are that Jonah has joined Beavers (like small scouts/cubs) and loves it very much. The other thing is that he's been accepted to learn the Viola and is very happy about the instrument he's been given to look after:

Catching up with the Summer

I've left the blog for a while so here's a quick catchup in very basic chronological order:

First there were the Gate family. Here's George from the kite:

Then, the Bayfords were over which was great for the kids. Much jumping off rocks, sandcastles and beach stuff in the lovely summer sun:

And the other big event of the summer hols was the trip to England for Gran & Pampa's fiftieth wedding anniversary, which was endowed with lovely weather again:

Rib ride in the fog

I think this may be a really old video, from about three montha ago, but it was a Youtube experiment, so I'm posting it up as a kind of experiment - and a memory of a foggy rib ride. Jonah is loving it in the passenger seat.

Jo & Cara's Birthday Party

Jo & Cara's Party
Originally uploaded by Lenny & Meriel

We had a joint party for the kids and had about 16 guests (plus their parents). The rain held off and it was nice & warm, so everyone had a fabulous time.

At the end of the day we had to put the castle away. But we did sneak a quick go on just before we turned it off:

Herm with the Hurdleys

Jo & Cara on Shell Beach, Herm
Originally uploaded by Lenny & Meriel

Dan & Lucy took us over to Herm with all the kids for Lucy's Birthday. Lovely day, BBQ on the beach and lots of messing around in the water. The kids had a great time, needless to say.
Posted a bit late - it was about two weeks ago.

Petit Port

?
Originally uploaded by Lenny & Meriel

We were down at the nearest beach with Meriel's Mum, Dad, Brother & family last week - amongst other places.

Cara's new doll's house

Cara's new doll's house
Originally uploaded by Lenny & Meriel.

It was Cara's Birthday last Saturday and seeing as we were in Bristol for Tok's and Andy's Wedding, she had to wait 'till we got back to open her present. And my, wasn't she chuffed. Not half.

Bike riding

Now that the weather is improving, the bikes are coming out a little more. Won't be soon before Jonah & Cara will be going to school on theirs (well, actually Cara will be on the back of Mum or Dad's).

Walking with Cara

For anyone who wants to know how sweet Cara looks with the hat we got from cousin Cooks.

Testing testing, do we have video?

Well, do we?