Babies!

Early this morning Penny gave birth to three little bundles of joy. So Lisa is a grandmother and she is not even 2 years' old!

a

The Dad belongs to Joe's teacher, Jill Mallender, and came to stay with us for a while a couple of months ago and clearly did his duty well.

Swingers

We did a couple of quick geocaches in the Wreake Valley at the weekend while we had a brief dry spell and came across this rope swing. Lots of fun!

Norfolk Broads

Last weekend we picked up this rather fine boat from Wroxham in Norfolk and headed out into the Broads. We weren't really sure what to expect but were amazed at the scenery and wildlife we encountered as we pottered around. We went from deeply wooded rivers with kingfishers flying past the boat, to wide flat marshland with Marsh Harriers, grebes, herons and egrets, to the estuary around Great Yarmouth, where a seal swam by the boat one evening; and finally, a quiet little creek with amazing waterfront properties clustered here and there with long stretches of river in between where we spotted an otter at one point.

The only time we really left the boat for an extended period was when we spent the day at Great Yarmouth - a cross between Weston and Blackpool! The boys braved the North Sea and had quite a good dip in the ocean - it wasn't the sunniest day either! We had fish and chips for lunch and visited the surprisingly good aquarium.

Here are a few more photos.

Graduation Day

Well the official photo looks a lot better but I don't get it for 3 weeks!

Today was the culmination of two and half years studying for the degree of Master of Laws in Law of Employment Relations, to give it its proper title (LL.M. for short). Elaine and Margaret came as my fan club and did a great job. Strawberries and cake at the School of Law after the ceremony and lunch at a pub on the way home rounded it off nicely.

Here's the moment I waited for (don't blink!):

Woodland Avenue Street Party 2009

We had our second annual street party on Sunday and it was a great success. The three-legged race was particulary enjoyable especially as Luke and Joe came from behind to win it!

We had Woodland Avenue has Got Talent with recorder playing from Chloe, violin playing from Shafan and a magic show from Joe and Alex.



Margaret and Sid joined us for most of the afternoon and Sid brough enough sausages and burgers from his favourite butcher to feed the whole street! I was on BBQ duty again, of course.

High School Musical

It was the annual Juke Box Jive evening at St Francis last week and yet again some of the dads used it as an opportunity to dress up and pretend to be teenagers! Our performance of "We'll all in this together" was a big hit.