Bowen's Blog

Photogenic Birds

2012-02-28T09:19:00.000Z

I guess this post has to come with a warning: "Loads of Photos!"

I went for a walk with my camera in Ryde, there is a small lake there and loads of swans, mallard ducks and of course seagulls. The swans are so photogenic, I just love their necks. I got some lovely ones of them bathing, they seem to like to spread their wings and flap about after a bath, then they settle down.

What beauty surrounds us on all sides! Open your eyes today and look for at least 5 amazingly beautiful things.

Indefinite Leave to Remain

2012-02-27T21:00:00.000Z

Hello All! We are now entitled to live in the UK for as long as we like, visa free!!!!!!!!!! We are all very excited about that, it has been stressful sometimes to think of having to go back to SA and start again. But now we don't have to think about that! I am soooooooooo happy.

Angela invited us round for a celebration meal, it was lovely to visit and chat and to know that I can stay here in the UK and visit my sisters as often as I like.

Sorry Vincent, I'm not sure why I didn't get a picture of you (I did get your elbow!), but we still love you loads!

Cheryn's Valentine's Day

2012-02-19T20:24:00.000Z

We were sitting in the lounge on the evening of the 14th when suddenly there was a loud knock at the door. Cheryn got up to see who was at the door and when she opened up there was no one there! Then she looked down and gasped! There on the door step was a gorgeous bouquet of roses with a card.

The card read: Dear Cheryn, Happy Valentine's Day, love from ?

She was so excited, I'm surprised she managed to fall asleep!

We now know who the ? is, but I'll be keeping that a secret from the blogging world :)

Forest walk with Rachel

2012-02-16T21:29:00.000Z

Yesterday Rachel asked me if I could take her to the forest for a 'photo shoot'. So she took her camera, I took mine and we had a great time taking pictures of each other and the forest.

I seriously need new boots, I will be getting myself a new pair when I know if we will be living in a cold country where I need boots.

Leaf buds, I love Spring! Even although it is still officially Winter, the weather has been so confused that the plants think it is Spring already.

This horse wanted to walk next to Rachel, and it didn't matter what the rider tried to make it do, it was walking next to Rachel! Eventually the woman gave up and just let him walk by her. He did this for about 1/2 a mile and then the novelty wore off and they cantered off.

I love hands and all the things that they can accomplish, there is great power in all of us and often that power is shown through our hands. I look forward to seeing what Rachel's hands do...

These two trees make me smile... they just seem like they grew there for a special purpose.

We had a lovely time just walking, talking and taking photos. I am so thankful for nature, cameras, feet, hands, trees and my children.

Beautiful Sunset

2012-02-16T07:47:00.000Z

Fire in the sky...

Samuel and the Box

2012-02-15T15:38:00.000Z

Enjoy!

Remember this Mom?

2012-02-15T15:31:00.000Z

Eggs, Peas and Chips...

I really enjoyed eating this and remembering when you used to make it for us.

Happy Birthday Dianne

2012-01-14T09:18:00.023Z

We caught the train back to Dianne's house on the Monday morning. When we arrived she had a full house! Chirs, Desree, and their two children, Richard, Bronwyn, and their four children, Dianne, Hilmar and Phillipa, Pete, Gillian and our four children. Phew, that's 19 (and just to round it off, you could also count number 20, Bronwyn's 5th which is due in a few months) Oh and by the way, they live in a two bedroom flat!

We had bought a small cake for Dianne and we all sang to her.

Far too many people to feed lunch to, so it was off to a local carvery for lunch. We walked in and asked for a table for 19. The lady actually shouted 19??!! It was so funny! We put the kids at one table with Cheryn and Zeek in charge.

And the adults at the next table. It was a really lovely lunch and great to be with like minded South Africans again. I really enjoyed this time catching up with old friends and it made me realise how much I have missed this kind of thing. Hanging out with people you have history with is great!

Imax, Imperial War Museum and Natrual History Museum

2012-01-13T14:35:00.067Z

Cheryn kindly offered to stay with Rachel and Corbin at the hotel while Pete, Zeek and I went to watch Mission Impossible at the Imax theatre. It was amazing to watch it on such a big screen, felt like I was there in some of the scenes. No pictures of my own though.

The next day everyone but Cheryn (she was tired and wanted to stay at the hotel) went to the Imperial War Museum. I spent most of the time either crying or fighting off tears. I don't like war. I felt exactly like this girl who for the first time finds out what humans are capable of (she is an alien by the way).

On the way there

Needless to say I was glad to get out of there. Here is the building with some massive cannons.

You can see Rachel at the base, they really were massive!

This is a piece of the Berlin Wall. I felt very fortunate to be able to walk all the way around it and not be caged in by it.

Sleeping on the tube platform during the blitz. I think I would have been frightened of being trapped down there.

This is the Natural History Museum building, I thought it was beautiful. The high ceilings inside were amazing too, not sure why I didn't get a picture of them. Only Rachel and I went there, everyone else was tired after the war museum.

When you go to the earth display - everything to do with the planet, core, plats, rocks, water etc. - you go up the escalator through this 'earth'. There is so much attention to detail here.

They have an earthquake simulator. You go into this 'grocery store' and and earthquake happens, it is only 4 on the Richter Scale, but if that was the solid ground underneath my feet and not just a large metal plate I would be terrified! It really does rock from side to side, something a boat does not the ground!

This sign says: "Pele's hair - these remarkable fibres, made of volcanic glass, are named after a Hawaiian goddess. They form as lava thrown up by a volcano, is drawn out by the wind like honey." It really does look like golden hair.

That was our last day in London. We really enjoyed it, thanks Pete for being such a diligent worker, you made this holiday possible for us.

Dr Who Experience!!!!!

2012-01-12T10:38:00.000Z

For those of you who are not Dr Who fans, you should be! Ok, maybe it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I really love this show! I said we were going to the Dr Who Experience for the kids, but I think I actually had more fun. I felt like a child going into the Tardis, I was so excited I could hardly contain myself! It really is bigger on the inside! You are not allowed to take any photos or video footage inside the experience, so these are pictures of the exhibits before and after we went in.

Corbin likes the Cyber Men, and what is so exciting about this museum and it's exhibits, they are the actual costumes/models/props used in the TV show.

Dalek like to do this to people, they are not very nice.

This is the current Dr. (Matt Smith), well actually it's a wax model, but I'm sure you realised that.

This episode was titled: 'Family of Blood' and was quite scary. The scarecrows were not very nice either.

The silence are sleeping...

Why do I have a tally on my hand? Can't remember, oh well, can't be anything important... (if you are lost and confused, you probably will stay that way until you watch the show, sorry)

Inside the Tardis

Rachel and I did the green screen photo shoot,

We had a fabulous time. I'll definitely go back next time we are in the neighbourhood.

Camden Markets

2012-01-11T20:06:00.000Z

After our boat cruise we went back to the hotel and dropped the kids off, then Pete and I headed down the road to the Camden Markets. He had read about it and it had been recommended to me by James and Elaine. It was amazing, everything you could think of was for sale there. And the food! Think of a country and they had a food stall.

The marked consists of an old Horse Hospital, formerly used to care for horses injured pulling canal barges, and the stalls used to house the horses used for the barges. So the whole of the stables section has bronze horse statues, they are quite beautiful. I also liked the lady pillars.

London Eye

2012-01-10T19:41:00.000Z

We came out the tube station right next to Big Ben. I love the Houses of Parliament, the building is so beautiful!

When you go into your pod on the London Eye, they don't stop, so you have to board while it's moving, a very unnerving experience for some of the people there, and very amusing for others!

This is the queue we waited in! If you look on the left by the ice rink, behind those circular buildings,that is where the queue begins, then there is that gap in between and then the second half of the queue. It didn't feel too long though because they put about 20 in each pod, so it moves fast enough.

After the London Eye we went on a Thames River Boat Cruise, it was quite different travelling on the water through London.

London Bus Tour

2012-01-09T19:33:00.000Z

Before we got onto the bus Zeek saw M&M world and got very excited! We went in and he had a look around, bought a T-shirt and chilled with this big blue guy.

Far too cold for me, I took this photo and then went and sat inside the bus, I was soon joined by the rest of them, they trickled down one by one.

This is the clock showing the count down to the 2012 Olympics.

Piccadilly Circus,

hungry sea gulls all trying to peck bread out of a man's hand.

Apparently this bus tour was too boring for some...

There are a lot of strange shaped glass fronted buildings in London, and here comes another one.

Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum

2012-01-08T19:30:00.000Z

I used to watch this show as a teenager, I loved the weird and wonderful things. So here goes, believe it or not!

This couple are actually wax models, but when you walk into range the man's 'camera' flashes, so you politely stand back and wait, only to realise that you have been fooled! The lady just out of the picture is doing just that!

Eva I took this one for you, this mini is completely covered in Swarovski Crystals. It's a bit too big to fit into your lounge though, but what a piece to add to your collection!

This man was born with double pupils, gross.

Who has the biggest butt?

Gum balls anyone?

close up.

This one I'm not sure if I do believe, it's a hairy fish!!?? Do you believe it?

James I took this one for you, it's great, great, great, great Grandpa Bowen!

Never complain of having a big nose again.

I'm convinced that these monsters still roam the deep, Megalodon Sharks, happy swimming!

Rachel, don't worry about being short, you are huge compared to this poor guy.

Ok, I spoke too soon, you are short after all, we all are!

The world's ugliest woman, talk about Botox lips!

There is this UV tunnel at the end that rotates while you walk along the bridge, everyone walks skew, it's really funny to watch!

We went on a London Bus tour after the museum...

Travelling into London

2012-01-07T17:25:00.000Z

We left our car at Dianne's and walked down the road to the train station. The kids looked like ducks in a row, so cute!

Corbin particularly enjoyed travelling on the train, it was his second time.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that our hotel rooms had an inter leading door. This is the room Pete, Cheryn and I shared,

Then me standing in our bathroom, the door frame of the inter leading door, then Rachel standing in their bathroom. We felt totally spoiled having two bathrooms, it's been far too long!

The room Zeek, Rachel and Corbin shared.

Everyone was excited to get on the tube trains again, so we went for a ride and to get a snack.

So that was day one of our London holiday, more to follow...

Wii Dance Marathon

2012-01-06T21:44:00.000Z

(filmed on my ipad)

Christmas at Uncle Hilmar and Aunty Di's house

2012-01-05T16:39:00.000Z

We were woken up early by a very excited Phillipa! She came into the lounge with Rachel and shone torches into our faces to wake us up!

This was the last we saw of Hilmar for a while, for some strange reason he always seems to miss Santa...

Phillipa was the Christmas elf

Hilmar and Dianne gave us T-shirts, Pete's says I (heart) Gillian and mine says Mrs Pig (explanation)

Pete surrounded by his girls

Pete cooked the whole dinner, thanks Pete, it was delicious!!!

That afternoon (yes it was dark already) we went to the temple to see the lights and the nativity.

This was a particularly special thing to see, the night before Pete and I got married we went to the temple together. It was misty and the lights were shining on the spires and making these shadows in the mist. We were treated to the same spectacle here. Pete fondly remembered making shelters in the temple grounds as a boy, although he did think the pond was bigger.

Piggy back up to bed

2012-01-04T19:19:00.000Z

Rach and Corb like to be carried up to bed from time to time.

Spinnaker Tower

2012-01-04T13:41:00.000Z

The first part of our holiday this December was sending Zeek and Rachel off to visit Aunty Di. They boarded a train with Vincent and they were off. Since Corbin and I were that side of the water we decided to do something together. We went to the Spinnaker Tower.

One lady there asked me why I wasn't scared to walk on the glass floor, my response: "This is the land of health and safety, if they put a glass floor here, I can have full confidence that it is totally safe." Oh, was her reply, then she went and stood on the floor herself.

Moments...

2012-01-04T12:40:00.000Z

Early Christmas with the Elders

2011-12-21T20:55:00.000Z

As we will be at Dianne's house for Christmas we decided to have the Elders over for an early Christmas. We had a lovely time eating good food and enjoying entertaining conversations. We gave the Elders a tin of Milo each.

They kindly agreed to take a family photo for us, this was leading up to it...

Smile everyone,

And one of the kids.

Happy Birthday Gillian

2011-12-05T08:33:00.000Z

Before and After

2011-11-23T08:47:00.000Z

This is a photo from about 6 months ago, but it shows her hair at is't longest.

Then she asked for a trim and this is how she had it for about two days...

Then she wanted a concave bob, so here it is...

She loves it!

Samuel in his Winter hat

2011-11-08T12:21:00.000Z

Halloween continued

2011-11-08T10:49:00.000Z

Rachel was at Angela's house, that is why she wasn't in the other pictures, this is how she dressed up for the youth Halloween activity, she has the perfect hair for that sort of thing.

And this is her on the actual night of Halloween with Roxanne and Chloe.

Unfortunately this is so dark it is hard to see, but Angela had a bobbing for apples competition, which Zeek won hands down! We did have a torch for Zeek's go, I don't know why we didn't have it on for all of them, oh well, enjoy anyway.

Halloween

2011-11-08T10:11:00.000Z

Pen-y-Fan

2011-11-07T07:53:00.000Z

Judi had a goal to climb Pen-y-Fan this year and had given it up because she thought that the time had run away from her.
Pete had a goal to climb Pen-y-Fan while we were in Wales this time.
Gill didn't have any such goals but was happy to go along.

We went on the easy route, and it was easy, I feel like I can't say we climbed a mountain, more like we walked up a mountain. But still we did it and it was beautiful!

This is the beginning of the trail, and the photos show our journey up...

See this is what the path was like all the way up, hence the easy route.

Phew we made it! When I said it was easy, I meant that the path was easy to climb, it is still a good walk up that mountain, and my thighs were a little shaky by the time we got to the bottom again.

It's all down hill from here...

In two places at once!

2011-11-05T12:04:00.000Z

Greg and Judi live on the Border between England and Wales, the small river at the bottom of their garden marks the border. Cheryn and Rachel wanted to be in two places at once, so here they are doing exactly that.

Cheryn is in Wales, Rachel is in England.

Rachel is now in Wales, Cheryn is in England.

Stone Circle again

2011-11-05T11:57:00.000Z

I'm sitting on a dustbin bag because the ground is all soggy.

this is walking up to the stone circle, you can just see it on the right hand side of this picture.

The airforce practices flying their jets over this piece of hillside, it is amazingly loud! They are so fast too!

In the distance you can see Pen-y-fan, the highest peak in Southern Wales, and in fact the highest peak in the South of Britain. I'll post more on that later.

Autumn in Wales

2011-11-05T11:50:00.000Z

Unfortunately we missed the full glory of Autumn, and only got the tale end of it, but there were still some beautiful leaves and flowers around.

Holiday in Wales

2011-11-05T11:46:00.000Z

We were able to go on another visit to our friends Greg and Judi in Wales. It was so great to be able to see them again, we always seem to pick up just where we left off. I will do a few posts about our visit, because I took so many pictures!

We went to this place near to their house called The Stone Circle. It is a circular wall built by the national trust which has been built around the top of one of the hills. There is no purpose to it really, it is just a place to go and pick nick and be. It is lovely though and the views are glorious.

The boys and Rachel spent most of their holiday making bows and arrows and this was the perfect place to test them.

Horsy Horsy

2011-10-03T14:52:00.000+01:00

Another glorious day and Samuel and I were playing in the garden. He loves Rachel's old hobby horse.

I didn't know this song until I started taking Samuel to the library's rhyme time. It is so cute, and has become one of my favourite to sing to him.

Indian Summer

2011-10-02T13:22:00.000+01:00

27 degrees on the 1st October! We are loving this Summer in the South!

We went to Compton Bay in the afternoon, after sunburn time, and had a fabulous time. I was playing with the new lense that Pete bought for me and had great fun.

Pete and Zeek had great fun body surfing together

Cheryn having a great time on the body board

Surfer Chick Shot:

Pete says he had a smile stuck to his face the whole time!

Zeek did some amazing body surfs, he really got the hang of it quickly

Like I said, I can't believe this is October, amazing!

Dew on the grass

2011-10-01T09:36:00.000+01:00

The rising sun comes into view,

Glistens upon the fresh morning dew.

Damp on the lawn droplets of love,

Sent from the heavens high up above.

Sensing the day now is to start,

Fresh morning dew soon to depart.

Jack Ivey

Forest Riding After the Rain

2011-09-21T15:47:00.000+01:00

I love riding my bike downhill, it's even more fun in the forest, but not so much after the rain!

It went up my nose, in my mouth and in my eyes too, honestly the things we do for exercise! I'm thinking a mud guard might be in order...

Happy Birthday Zeek 14

2011-09-21T15:43:00.000+01:00

Zeek had a great day, he got the present he was really hoping for, he got the cake he loves and he got some money too.

Mr. Pig

2011-09-15T12:36:00.000+01:00

Ever since the Lion King Pete has referred to himself as Mr. Pig. ~~Don't ask me why I do not know!~~ Pete just told me - see the clip below. But anyway all the kids who know Pete know him as Mr. Pig. In fact once in Northern Ireland we had a new friend visiting our house (someone the kids knew from school) and I had just make some cookies, this is what she said: "Mrs. Pig, can I please have a cookie?" I guess she just assumed that was our surname.

Anyway Samuel knows Pete only as Pig, it is so funny to see, I was showing him photos on the computer of various family members, listen to what he says about Pete...

He knows that if you go through the stair gate you will see Mr. Pig, so he often stands a the bottom of the stairs and calls: "Pig, Pig, Pig."

We love you Mr. Pig!

Happy Birthday Pete

2011-09-12T11:39:00.000+01:00

Pete turned 18 again on the the 8th of September! He says that his knees don't think they are 18 anymore, but he still is.

All in the bed singing and giving presents,

birthday and candles,

Pete also has a tradition that he gives presents to all of us on his birthday, it is such a lovely idea from such a lovely man.

I love you Pete, and hope to share many more with you.

Sunday Walk on White Cliff Beach

2011-09-11T20:16:00.000+01:00

You have to park at the top of the cliff and then walk down to the bottom. There would be no beach at high tide, but at low tide it is quite lovely.

On the way down,

At the beach, we had a lovely walk along and the kids also found this sandy cliff face with a cave to play on.

I found this in the sand as I was walking along.

Can you see Corbin?

Age order,

Height order,

this is the house that I took a photo of from the beach.

Lovely to have the whole family together on this walk.

Back to school

2011-09-08T08:09:00.000+01:00

Corbin went back on Tuesday, Rachel and Zeek went on Wednesday and Cheryn went back today, so I got a photo of them today. If you would like a copy of this photo with the school badges visible then let me know.

I love my kiddies so much!

My Mimosa Pudica Plant

2011-09-04T19:22:00.000+01:00

Otherwise known as a sensitive plant, I bought it at the Eden Project, and it was tiny. It has now been moved into a bigger pot and it is loving the space. I noticed these cone type growths sprouting out the top and wondered what they were, and today I discovered that they are actually flower buds!

I love this plant, it is like a low maintenance pet, it even goes to sleep at night - all the leaves fold up and the stalks bend down. I had one as a child and I loved that one too, unfortunately it didn't live very long and I was really sad when it died. So far this one is quite happy and growing well, I hope it stays that way.

Same boat different sails

2011-09-04T18:54:00.000+01:00

Well you know what our boat looks like by now, I love the purple sails because they are different. We have two sets of sails, and we have finally put up the big ones to give them a try. The boat is so much more stable with these ones, and much faster! I think it is still beautiful, we will just have to get used to the different look. Pete won his sailing race again today (he won last week too!) so congratulations Pete, all your hard work and strategising has paid off.

Missionarie's birthdays

2011-08-30T08:07:00.000+01:00

Walking at St. Helens

2011-08-29T11:25:00.000+01:00

We will definitely be coming here again, and this one was free. Next time we will come at high tide and see what it looks like then.

Zeek decided to see how big a bite he could take out of an apple. This is quite a large apple and when I tried to match his bite radius I didn't come close. It was so funny because once he had sunk his teeth in, he couldn't bite and he was stuck for a while :)

come along next time your'e on our island.

Rachel and Corbin's forest shelter

2011-08-29T10:28:00.000+01:00

Rachel and Corbin have been spending time in the local forest building a shelter, they had finished as much as they were going to, so I took some photos of the finished product;

They have had a great time foraging for building material.

Shanklin Chine

2011-08-29T10:23:00.000+01:00

Have you ever gone somewhere and spent money, then afterwards thought: "What a complete rip off!" ? Well, lovely as the Shanklin Chine was, it was definitely not worth the money spent to get in there. At least I know that it is not somewhere I will be going again. So enjoy every photo of this overpriced place...

Aunty Jane getting a photo of Michael, Jodi and Daniel

the view of the beach before you go in

the entrance from the beach side

some giant leaves that Corbin liked

Zeek wanted this photo because he says my shirt is so patriotic!

All the kids that went that day; Adam, Corbin, Roxanne, Rachel, Vincent, Cheryn, Chloe-Ann.

There were ladybirds everywhere.

the view of the beach heading the other way

Another Family Photo

2011-08-29T10:05:00.000+01:00

Rachel and Samuel

2011-08-29T09:44:00.001+01:00

Rachel's first temple trip

2011-08-21T21:44:00.000+01:00

Rachel says: "I was so excited! When I went into the temple I felt amazing, I felt like I had a million smiles inside of me. We did 327 baptisms as a group, and there were only 7 who did the baptisms, to that is really good. The water came up to my collar bone, so I had to do a little swim to get out of the font. I had a really good time and I felt the Spirit strongly. I am glad that we live so close to the temple and I can feel close to my Heavenly Father."

Corbin's eye

2011-08-16T16:07:00.000+01:00

I'll do you a small DIY favour...

2011-08-16T15:57:00.000+01:00

You know those DIY projects that you think won't take that long... And then you know Murphy and his stupid law...

Dianne very kindly said she would re-paint my bathroom for me (I know it's a rented house, but I had sprayed mould and mildew remover on the walls and it had left bleached lines in the pink paint!)

So it's simple, we will just remove the loose flakey patches of paint and then prime and paint over right...

It all started coming off in great big sheets of paint!

So most of it had to come off.

The first coat of paint.

Hilmar, Cheryn and Chloe-Ann all joined, thanks guys!

Dianne even cut out the old silicone and put new in around the shower and bath.

There was a whole big bin bag of this stuff.

This is the finished product, I went and bought new towel rails, toothbrush holders, toilet roll holder and a mirror too, it looks so nice now.

Thanks Dianne, every time I come into this clean fresh bathroom I think of how wonderful you are!!!

It's holidays, where should we sleep tonight?

2011-08-16T15:01:00.000+01:00

Some photos from July

2011-08-16T14:52:00.000+01:00

I heard squeals and laughing from the garden, and this is what I discovered,

These are some of the flowers that are blooming in my front garden.

The Eden Project

2011-08-16T14:44:00.000+01:00

This was the reason for the whole holiday! I have wanted to go to the Eden Project for almost 4 years now. When we got there I was literally jumping up and down with excitement! It was amazing!

When you arrive you come onto a viewing deck and this is what you see, I kept saying: "I can't believe I'm finally here!"

The gardens were a work or art, beautiful to look at from afar, then beautiful to look at close up in detail. They thought of everything.

Zeek thought this Industrial Plant was hilarious, he laughed for about 5 minutes!

Zeek on his throne being worshipped by his minion...

Then inside the dome, it was so hot, like Durban in the middle of February! It made me very glad that I don't live there anymore. But it was so lovely to see all the plants we miss.

And some we have never seen before, this is the largest flower in the world, unfortunately I didn't get the name of it.

The structure is incredible, if you don't like plants that much then come just because of this.

It is huge, this is still inside, the dome roof is 40m up!

Rachel's red face because she was so hot.

This is the roof of the Core, it is like a museum for the whole place, exploring the concepts behind conservation, plant life and how we humans can use them to the best of our advantage while not destroying the planet. And an amazing movie about how the whole park was built, Pete and I had goose bumps watching it.

They also have an expo area, with displays for the month, carnivorous (stinky) plants, games and things to do.

What a great experience, one I cherish and was so blessed to be able to experience with my family too.

Cheddar Gorge

2011-08-05T10:50:00.000+01:00

Aunty Jane needed to go back to work, so we decided to go and visit Cheddar Gorge. It was a gorgeous day, the sun was shining, it was hot, we were together, I really enjoyed it. The caves were beautiful, and blessedly cool (I said it was hot, well it really was!)

When you get inside the caves you are given a hand set, you type the number in and it tells you information about the thing you are looking at.

There were loads of reflection pools.

They still store the cheddar cheese in the caves, so lovely and cool down there.

Then back outside again, we went on an open top bus for a tour of the gorge. It was really interesting to hear all the stories about the different rocks.

Caught on camera...

We decided to brave Jacob's Ladder, it has 274 steps, and at the top there is a tower - more steps! I got to the top fine, and thought I was doing well, but when I started to climb down my legs started shaking! (Not so fit after all, must work harder in Aerobics)

The SeaQuarium

2011-08-02T22:05:00.000+01:00

We went to the SeaQuarium in Weston-Super-Mare about a 45min drive from her house. The building is built on a pier on the beach, it was really lovely. Michael and Jodi met us there too.

They have a ray tank in the one section, you have to clean your hands and then you can touch them! They are slimy on the bottom and bumpy/rough on the top. They seem to love being touched and keep coming back for more stroking. And in perfect keeping with Murphy's Law, I didn't get any footage of us actually touching them...

Afterwards we walked into the town to get some McDonalds for lunch.

Our Holiday in May/June

2011-08-02T21:18:00.000+01:00

My Aunty Jane lives in Bridgewater, near Bristol. We decided that we wanted to go and visit her for a holiday. She was kind enough to make room for the 6 of us, thank you Aunty Jane!

We went for a walk along the canal near her house.

It is a lovely walk and it is quite near to her house, she is lucky to have something so beautiful nearby.

Corbin's stop motion project

2011-07-19T18:08:00.000+01:00

Our tiny front garden

2011-07-19T10:22:00.000+01:00

Our front garden finally rose up the list into the priority zone. So Rachel and I got stuck in and transformed it.

Trampoline fun

2011-07-19T10:16:00.000+01:00

If you listen carefully you can hear my intake of breath as Zeek lands!

The Garlic Farm

2011-07-19T10:00:00.000+01:00

I have wanted to go to the Garlic Farm in ages. So a few Saturday's ago Pete took Zeek and I (no one else wanted to go) off to the Garlic Farm for lunch. We saw red squirrels in the garden, playing up and down the poles and lawn, and we ate food that was really garlicky. (I love Garlic, so it was great)

They gave all sorts of garlic products, including some that you would find very strange. I bought some garlic fudge and some garlic, pear and rhubarb ice-cream.....

Cheryn's birthday 15!

2011-07-17T09:59:00.000+01:00

Her Birthday was on the 18th May, but I forgot to blog about it! Sorry Grandparents!

Happy Birthday Corbin 10!!!

2011-07-04T08:53:00.000+01:00

The usual presents in bed routine...

We gave Corbin 10 presents, he had a lot of fun opening them all.

I can't believe my baby is 10! He had a good day, I love you Corbin!

Roxanne's Prom

2011-06-25T20:58:00.000+01:00

Last night Roxanne had her Prom! After much anticipation the day had finally arrived. Her dress was made by a member of our ward (thanks Tracey, you are amazing) Her hair was done by me (Gillian by the way!) Makeup by Roxanne herself... And without further ado;

The arrival car had Roxanne's favourite colour ribbon.

You may be wondering why the boys are in the back seat and why they are all dressed up,

Roxanne was wondering too, until she arrived and saw her knights forming an arch of cooking utensils.

Sir's Steven, Peter, Corbin, Patrick, Samuel, Graham and Jannie.

She had a lovely time.

PS: Special thanks to all the knight's for giving up their time to welcome this princess to her prom, and to everyone who made this night a great one for Roxanne.

Needles boat trip

2011-06-21T14:29:00.000+01:00

When my mom and dad were here we took them on a boat trip around the Needles as their birthday and anniversary present. It was a great experience, especially when we went through two of the Needles, I wasn't expecting that!

This is the boat we went on, I took this while waiting in the queue to have our go.

Waiting on the pier,

It was a beautiful day, spent with beautiful people.

Vincent's photo

2011-05-21T21:07:00.000+01:00

Today we were at the London Temple, Vincent was walking around with his phone taking photos. I really liked this one, I have played with some of the colours and contrast, I like it.

Cousins

2011-05-20T11:30:00.000+01:00

Rachel will only be 12 on the 2nd of August, but my mom wanted a photo of her teenage grand children, so Rachel was included as she is nearly there, so here are the teenagers...

Together for Easter

2011-05-20T11:26:00.000+01:00

Angela and I live on the Isle of Wight, Dianne lives in Croydon and my Dad and Mom were visiting over the Easter period. So it was the three sisters and their families, with dad and mom, we were missing Douglas (still living in SA) and his family. We had a lovely time and the cousins all get along so well. Thanks to everyone who made all of this possible. We took a few photos, because you know how there is always someone pulling a funny face...

This one was taken by accident, I thought I had put the timer on, so I pushed the button and it took one straight away, interesting though.

Samuel was on Patrick's lap and so he isn't in the first few.

For Elder Bronson's Family

2011-04-07T11:30:00.000+01:00

We went to our favourite local curry restaurant. We ordered six different dishes, one of which was a Vindaloo (really really HOT!) We all had a good time...

Happy Easter (in advance)

2011-04-07T08:58:00.000+01:00

I have made a blog entry on my other blog, enjoy.

For Elder Collins' family

2011-04-02T17:44:00.000+01:00

I think he had a good time...