Koala Joe

Couldn't resist putting this one on. Another one from our walk by the Eye. This is Joe doing his koala impression inside my fleece!

Rock Hopping along the River Eye

On Sunday we went for a walk along the River Eye and bumped into our friend, Kevin (last seen as Buster Gutts the strongman) and his three boys. We found this rocky area just past Rhubarb Island (yes it is covered in wild rhubarb!) which kept everyone entertained for some time. The rocks formed a sort of weir and had replaced some old locks - both Kevin and Elaine remembered them from their youth! Luke and Joe are playing on the remnants of the lock gates in the photo.

Murder Mystery!

Last night Elaine organised a murder mystery evening for us and some friends in the characters of (from left to right): Sven Garlic (and Bennie), the ventriloquist; Buster Gutts, the strongman; Anna Conda, the bearded lady (and snake-charmer); Raisa Legova, the Russian gypsy fortune-teller; Roger the ringmaster; and Wanda Lust, the escape-artists assistant.

As you can see, our friends certainly got into the spirit of things, particularly Kevin (Buster) who no doubt provided the entertainment to our neighbours when he arrived. Raisa (Shirley) was the only one to deduce correctly who the murderer was (herself). I thought I had done it! It was lots of fun and we had lots of good food and wine which made it even better.

Luke's Achievements

Here's Luke (and Mum) in his St John's uniform rattling a tin under the noses of unsuspecting shoppers at Tesco. Luke joined the cadets after he left cubs and is thoroughly enjoying it so far - it helps that they seem to do an awful lot of sweet eating when they meet!

Luke has made some major achievements this week: first he was made a prefect at school - he is now authorised to boss people around! He also learned this morning that he achieved a Distinction in his Piano Grade I Theory exam - 96%! We haven't yet heard how he did in his practical exam but we are hopeful of a good mark there as well.

Joe's Award

Joe was very embarrassed yesterday to be given an award in front of the whole school for Most Improved Lunchtime Behaviour! As you can see he was thrilled, and so were his Mum and Dad. He was even more thrilled today when he managed to get hold of the latest copy of Toxic - his comic of choice.

Another few from France

Mike pointed out that my photos were too big - that's why they wouldn't load. So here are some more: lunch time in Flaine. The boys have doughnuts and I've got an eclair. I think Elaine just had fruit - very restrained! Not a great photo of Joe skiing with Ski School but better than any we managed to get of Luke unfortuately. Wish I could connect the video to the PC, as we have got some fairly decent clips. I'll have to go and be patronised by some little boy in Dixons to see if I can sort it out.

Any suggestions as to how do you get the photos to appear in a 2 x 2 format?

Snow and Sun

Here's a snap from our skiing holiday in Flaine in the French Alps (I can't get any more to upload at the moment). The boys were delighted to be given poles for the first time - which was just as well as they were doing parallel turns by the end of the week and following Mum and Dad down red pistes from day two! We were very lucky with the conditions - lots of snow and a fair bit of sun, although there were a couple of snowy/foggy mornings.