Triathlon

Allen, Jacob and Abi did a try a triathlon last weekend. Everyone had loads of fun. Allen's was a bit more serious. He swam 12 lengths, cycled 10 miles and then ran 2. We watched from the cycling stage. As he is training for the Amsterdam marathon he is in very good condition. He did extremely well and came 4th out of 70. He reckons they made him swim 2 extra lengths so he would have actually been 3rd.

Jacob and Abi had to do 2 lengths, cycle a mile and run 800m. It was just right for them and they loved it. At the end they got a great goodie bag too. After it was all done there was a BBQ and bouncy things for the children to go on. I ended up cooking the BBQ, not sure how that happened!

So now Jacob needs a new bike as Abi is the right size for his one. Luckily Jacob's birthday is coming up, so at least we have an easy present this year!

Rachael.

Back to NL with Grandma.

After my girls weekend in Portsmouth I travelled straight back to The Netherlands as I had to go into school to set up my classroom, so Allen stayed in Scotland and then Marion came back with him on the ferry. Marion then kindly stayed and looked after Jacob and Abi while I was busy with my first week of school. It was great as I didn't have to think about cooking, cleaning or ironing for that first week. While Marion was here we still managed to fit in a few trips out. We visited Monde Verde, there's a photo of them on the water pulley ride, the windmill with a cafe at the bottom - photo of them up the windmill and Gangelt wildlife park. I put in a happy photo of Jacob feeding the deer. After that photo was taken Jacob then went on to try to feed the wild boar. I told him to throw the food through the fence, due to the fact that they bite. Jacob stood a bit too close and the big daddy wild boar bit him on the finger. He was very lucky it didn't take his finger off, as it was, it was a nasty nip with lots of blood. We were there with friends from the Falklands, Sarah, a nurse who was very handy to have. She cleaned it up. I took him to the hospital to check on jabs and to get it bandaged. Sarah had said that it was fine and she was right as they didn't do any more at the hospital. It did bleed alot, I think that's what freaked Jacob out the most. Two weeks on and it's just a scab. If you look in the windmill photo you'll see his bandaged finger. He was funny, as soon as it had happened, he counted to see if he still had all of his fingers! Quite a feat as I was holding his hand above his head to stop it bleeding will dragging him to the bathroom to clean it all up. I bought a season pass on the way in - wonder if I'll ever get him back there??!!

Rachael.

Scotland Summer 2011

After my 40th birthday we had a few days enjoying being out and about around Melrose. We then took a trip to Killin to meet up with the Knight family - friends we made in the Falklands. It was a beautiful drive past quite a few lochs. We stopped at one to have our lunch. Once we got to Killin we easily found our B&B and then went to explore the Falls. The first photo is of Allen, Jacob and Abi standing with the falls in the background. As we were playing we saw the Knights cycling past so they stopped to say hello. They were caravaning in a park in Killin. We then walked to their camp site and spent the afternoon catching up and drinking bubbly. We walked back into Killin to have dinner at our B&B and then went back out to play on the falls once again. I've included a photo of them running around. It was great to catch up and am looking forward seeing them again in England next summer.

Rachael.

My 40th Birthday

You may have guessed that I've started full time work due to the fact that I haven't posted anything for a while! Going back to work has been great, except for the fact that I now have no time to do anything else. So I am finally adding a couple of posts from over the summer holidays. We got the over night ferry from Amsterdam to Newcastle early August. It worked very well with all of us managing to sleep in the bunk beds onboard. We arrived in Melrose on the 4th August in time for my fortieth on the Saturday. My mum came up on the train to celebrate with us. I've included a photo from the morning when Marion made a delicious brunch for all of the family. I share my birthday with Stuart, my brother-in-law, so it made the day even more special. After our brunch Allen and I went off to Stobo Castle near Pebbles for a relaxing night away. I've included a photo from our room. It was extremely luxurious and we had a fab time.

I continued my celebrations with a girlie weekend in Portsmouth with 2 good friends from Uni days - Ruth and Ali. A few more people joined us for the weekend and it was all great fun. I've included a photo from mini golf (which I won), and 2 from our night out. We went to a night club where I felt extremely old. Dresses showing your knickers were the order of the day so my linen trousers definitely did not fit in! I was impressed I stayed until just about 2am. I did enjoy it but will not be rushing back!

Next post is other things we did over the summer.

Rachael.