Camping no 3!

So this is camping trip number 3 (a 3 nighter too!) - who would have thought it! We are now getting quite experienced and hardly forget any of the main things!Here is the camp site, we were joined by my sister for her first camping trip. We thought we would start with a proper experience by tempting the national; stereotypes and camping in Wales!!

Sleeping arrangements were a bit chaotic!

The view was stunning (3 cliffs in the Gower Peninsula), and the beach had everything (rock pools, sand and even caves - well worth the treacherous goat style path to get there.


This is the view from when you got down the hill (and were catching your breath!)

Tristan's footprints - I'vve been waiting so long for him to walk on the right kind of sand to take this shot!!

Going through the marshy bit to get to the beach ("now do I wear shoes or not, or do I just get someone else to carry me" - Tristan)

We had 2 days of sun 1 day and 2 nights of rain. By the end of It we all felt slightly as if the damp had entered everything we owned, but those are the memory (and pneumonia) making moments!

And a close up shot of a castle that was next to the beach .

It went well, we were even talking about a repeat experience (although next year when clothes and memories have had time to recover!)

and the hall...

Our entrance hall...

This was woodchip heaven, after much scrapping (thanks Manu's parents!) and re-plastering we now have a hall (not I only mention hall, the landing is still a shrine to small bits of tree!) that looks pretty ok - we haven't touched the floor though - that will be the last job to be done. We wanted a sunny colour, hence the lemon we still need to get used to it...(damn my lack of using tester pots!)!

Here's a picture of the garden to show you how established (/overgrown) everything is getting - we have had tonnes of courgettes and are now entering tomato season. We have now have a pear and plum tree in the garden to augment out self-sufficientcy (well blueberries and fig tree!)

The first changes of the old kitchen...

This is a quick 'before' picture

... after much wallpaper stripping and Manu plastering (his technique involves adding and sanding many times hoping that each go gets it closer to flat) this is the result...

Still lots to do (or get done) as we had originally planned for this to be a family bathroom so blithely said no to heating (it would be under the tiles) and electrics! Now we have changed our minds we are having to go back on these decisions...

Manu turns 35

(aka half way to 70!).

Is this saying he is now as old as a dinosaur or perhaps that he may just as well become part of the food chain (hark at her, one year older!)

We went to Blackpool zoo and had a special birthday lunch (cake and all) with all the in-laws! Somehow Manu avoided his birthday lunch picture though!
...it was Grandmas birthday the day before so the cake was a shared one

Le cerf-volant

"Cyclope" est notre cerf-volant bleu de chez Decathlon (qui fait son apparition en Angleterre).

Il fait bien peur avec son oeil unique et ses tentacules, mais il est tres facile a assembler, et a utiliser.

Tristan est capable de le tenir , mais s'ennuie tres vite de lui, parce qu'il n'est pas vraiment possible de le diriger...

Baby shower

My friend Jo at 8 1/2 months pregnant at her baby shower (in my house)! Note the balloons covering all options (Although it did turn out to be a boy!)...

It was 'princess-themed' although we all gave up on our tiaras quite quickly (possibly because they were raided from 2 year old fancy dress boxes!!)

The calm before the storm - lots of pink (and blue!) and various games just waiting to be played e.g., pin the tail on the donkey - no, sorry put the nappy on the baby, bursting condom balloons (the 'my waters have broken' game) - yep we had fun researching all the classy baby shower games!

This is the nappy pinning game (blindfold is, of course, a baby sleep suit - clean!)

No I was not the creative genius for the cake but it was soo good I thought it deserved to be 'immortalised'!