Christmas 2011

A little late, I know! We were lucky enough to have 2 Christmases. The first one was the weekend before Christmas. We went back to the UK on a flying visit to my parents. It was our first opportunity to see the new house they have had built. They knocked down the bungalow I grew up in way back in April 2011 and started work on a new 5 bed house. They have sent us regular photos but we did not go and visit during the build as Mum and Dad lived on site in a caravan. So driving up and seeing this huge house was a bit of a shock!

The house is beautiful. Katharine and co moved in early December and it is nearly all complete. The next time we go back I'm sure it will look different again. I've included a photo of us on arrival night by the Christmas tree. We spent the weekend with the family, having Christmas dinner and a brunch the next day. We got to meet Tiami, a new cousin and to also catch up with our other cousins too, plus Annette and Joe. It was great to see everyone and, of course see the house. Also did a little shopping!

We got back here on the Sunday, so it was a quick trip back. We then had to get ready for Christmas for real down in France with Grandma Melrose and the Turners. We drove down on the Thursday, stopping on the German Swiss border. We stayed in a lovely hotel with an excellent restaurant. We arrived at our appartment, just outside La Plagne 1800, Friday afternoon. It was a 3 story wooden house, very modern with a great view. Our Scotish family were out so it gave us time to get unpacked and go and rent skis for the kids. We had a wonderful week, Jacob and Abi loved having Finn and Cameron around 24 7. We enjoyed good food, skiing and great company. Abi really got into rummy, the card game, and has continued playing it back here! We generally had blue skies and excellent snow. I still prefer skiing in America but it was excellent being with the family, just need to all go to America next time! The food was very good, I'll do another post of Allen's birthday - we went out for a meal.

So both Christmases were good fun.

Rachael.

Odd photos from Oct and Sept 2011

Hi

A few random pictures. In October we had a book parade at school. They do it as a way around Halloween so the children can get dressed up but it is meant to be related to a book. This year Abi chose Ella the Rose Fairy - she's into the Rainbow Fairy Books, well now she's into any girlie chapter book. Jacob went, once again, as Harry Potter. He's still trying to persuade us to let him read the whole series. He's in the middle of the 5th (I think they get a little too grown up for a 9 year old). I was Max from Where the Wild things are. My class had a wonderful time and they all took part too, not back for 10 year olds! So there's a photo of each of us. I have also included one from a pig roast we went to to celebrate our friend's, Nadine, 30th birthday.

Rachael.

Luxembourg

Hi

Back in October we took Marion to visit Luxembourg. None of us had been before. It's about a 3 hour drive from our house and is a beautiful place. Luxembourg city is a mix of modern and old. We stayed in the modern part but it's only about a mile to the old city. We did a bus tour - much to Allen's annoyance, however I thought it was worth it! The streets are pretty small and the bus driver did hit a post. The first thing we visited was an amazing play park. It had a pirate ship in the middle and a water feature where the children could damp parts and then release the water. Jacob and Abi had a fabulous time, we ended up going back to the park the next day. There was also a lovely chocolate shop that sold delicious hot chocolates, the ones where you stir the chocolate on a stick into the hot milk. The cakes weren't bad either! We also toured the old underground castle, a maze of tunnels where people actually lived and defended the city. Marion wasn't keen on looking over the egde as it was quite high up! There were beautiful views and great gardens too. There are a variety of walks you can do and I want to return, either with Ruth (she's visiting in Feb) or with the family again. I would have loved to have explored the shops but the only one we went in was a toy shop - surprise, surprise!

Rachael.

Kinderdyke 2011

Hi

Grandma Melrose came and visited back in October. We did a few trips out and about. These photos are from when we visited Kinderdyke. It's an area in The Netherlands near to Amsterdam, so a two hour drive from us. To make the trip a bit easier we stopped at an excellent pancake house that was 30 mins into the trip! A great place and we will definitely go back.

Kinderdyke is an area that contains 18 working windmills all on one flood plain. They have one windmill turning, you can go in and have a look, then another that turns and the other 16 are stationary. They would all work. They were built to drain the area and to keep it free from water. It is an amzing site and kind of gives you the feeling of what it would have been like to live back then. Marion took Jacob and Abi in the one that was working, Allen refused to go in as you had to pay! I kept him company, it didn't take them long to look around. We had all seen inside a windmill that wasn't turning before and Marion said it was pretty similar so I think Allen made the right choice! They then got to watch a film about it all which Marion said was very good. A good day out.

Rachael.

Halloween 2011

Hi

I know the next few posts are completely out of order, as in date not weird! Due to full time teaching I have found it very difficult to keep up with things like housework and my blog. This is all soon to change as I finish full time on Friday and go back to good old supply. I have really enjoyed being back in my own classroom but I am ready for a break! I don't know how people work full time with children and a husband. I don't know who has found it the hardest with me working out of them all!

Anyway here's a photo from Halloween. We had a fun time. On the Friday before we went to Trunk and Treat on the American base. We did this last year too and it works very well. People have candy in their car boots on an easy walking route around the base. They all decorate their cars and there are extra decorations on the route too. They also do a haunted house and an area at the end with Halloween activities for the children.

The photo is before we started, outside our house. Abi went along with Haley(in the photo) and Jacob met up with his friends once we got there. I like it as much as the children! Allen couldn't join us this year as he was returning his mum to the airport - see next post! We also did trick and treating on our British street on actual Halloween - Allen did that one!

Rachael.

Jacob's 9th Birthday

Jacob turned 9 on Thursday. He was up nice and early - 5.30! He stayed in bed though and we went down stairs together at 6am. He wanted to open his presents in bed, so at 6.15 he started! He had great fun and immediately wanted to play the Wii to try out his new Pirates of the Caribbean lego game from Grandma and Grandad. We'd got him a few little bits with his main thing being a bike. It's a bit big for him but he liked it all the same. I'd baked cookies for his class and we decorated them with frosting and smarties (chocolate ones not American Smarties). He wore his new Melrose Rugby Club Hoodie to school and has not taken it off since! Everyone made a fuss of him at school and afterwards we picked up Allen and went to the all you can eat Chinese - Jacob's favourite. I've included a photo of him opening presents and on his bike in the lounge!

Saturday was Jacob's party. We had a friend around for the day and 3 more arrived at 1pm as Jacob had a joint party with his classmate Marcus. Marcus is Norwegian and was in Jacob's class last year and is with him again this year. Between them they had invited about 20 guests for a party at a local indoor play place and amazingly everyone came! It was a hectic 3 hours, especially as I missed the first hour as Abi was at a cheerleading day and I went to see her perform and then bring her to the party. We finished at 5.30 and took 3 extras back with us for a sleepover. The boys were great. They went to sleep at 10pm and 2 got up a 7am and then the other 2 at 8am. After a pancake breakfast we played with the Nerf guns outside until they were picked up. A very successful sleepover and a great end to Jacob's birthday weekend.

The Amsterdam Marathon

Hi

Here's a late post about the Amsterdam marathon. Allen has decided to do a marathon each decade. So, for his 30th he did the London and his 40th was the Amsterdam. My mum came across for the weekend so I could join him there. I drove up on the Friday night and found our small but brilliantly located B&B. Allen flew in from Greece, landing in Amsterdam around 11pm. By this time I'd eaten out at a local bar, enjoying a curry and a pint, so when he arrived I was fast asleep!

Saturday we went to register and pick up his number, all quite exciting. I've included a photo of him outside the Olympic Stadium - where the marathon started and finished. After that bit was out of the way we then went to the diamond museum. I was very impressed with this although I couldn't persuade Allen to visit any of the recommended shops! We did lots of walking around and then ate back at the bar I'd been to the night before. Allen ate loads of pasta.

Sunday morning arrived and we walked to the tram stop that we'd been told would take us to the stadium - no trams. We ended up walking to the start, not the best thing for Allen although we did meet another Scot and Allen ended up running over half of the marathon with him so that was a bonus. The next photo is of Allen before the race started at the Olympic Stadium. I left Allen to get sorted and went to find my bike. I'd left it at the underground car park, lots of walking later I finally found it and cycled to the 15km point. Got a good spot and saw Allen smiling and waving, did get a photo but it was blurred. Cycled to the 25km point, got another waving photo this time not so blurred! Then off to the 35km point and yet again a smiling and waving Allen. I then met him at the finish, he was very normal and I was very pleased and proud to see him. I think he was a bit surprised at my excitement! So all of the training was definitely worth it as a time of 3 hours 44mins was better than 3 hours 56mins in London ten years ago.

We made our way back to the car, stopping for a well deserved Burger King on the way - see photo!

Dropped Mum back at Genk on the Monday, thank you Mum.

Rachael.