Home

It is lovely to be back in our own home. The weather here has been better than that we experienced in Australia - that will teach us to leave! The garden has grown into a wild meadow in our absence and so William and Sophie has spent the bank holiday weekend helping us mow and weed. I chopped a few branches off one of the lilac trees and brought them inside. I love being able to pick flowers from my own garden. ☺ Now I just need to visit the garden centre and buy some new plants - what fun.


We found out today that William has been accepted at our first choice of primary school, St Andrews, which is a short walk from our house. He starts on Monday 5th September – what a big boy! I already excited and nervous for him....what on Earth will I be like on the day? He seems pretty calm about the idea though.


My step-Grandmother, (also called) Jo, came and stayed with us for a night last weekend on her way to Heathrow at the end of a holiday. It was lovely for her to meet Sophie and we all enjoyed being tourists in Oxford together for a day. As she has extensive experience minding her seven grandchildren, she was great with the kids.


On the Monday bank holiday we went to Blenheim Palace to watch the falconry and jousting - lots of fun! We enjoyed a picnic lunch there with friends (Rae, Maeve and Edward) as well as a train ride and the kids and I enjoyed doing the hedge maze.

Home in Oxford

We all survived the flight home. The first thing that William said after we landed back in London (as we walked up the gangway to Heathrow airport) was "We'll need to get a dog to hoover up the floor under Sophie when she eats".

:)

The best thing about this holiday......

....has been spending time with family.



(you were right Ali, the best photo we took of the two of us is the one where we are sticking our necks out, a bit like ET)

Easter at Inverloch

The beaches at Inverloch are lovely! Most days while staying here, we’ve been walking, sand-castle-building and generally playing on the beach. Sophie says that the sand tastes just as good at British sand does. There were a few rainy days at the beginning of the week, so William and Sophie don't look dressed very differently than they were on Cornish beaches in February.




The main Inverloch surf beach was 100 yards from the house we were staying in. It was patrolled, so we swam between the flags (you can see the life guards dressed in red and yellow). The water was lovely, and Andrew would like me to point out that the temperature was the same as that in Bournemouth in the Summer.



The local primary school had a school fete on Saturday, where William had fun on a bouncy castle, feeding and folding some animals (which he held ever so carefully) and exploring the cabin of a fire engine, all while Sophie slept. Jo enjoyed some shopping at the local market (great success shopping for clothes!), and we had had a nice walk along the coast in the afternoon, during which we picked up some dropping shea oak cones, watched crabs being caught from a bridge and climbed a great tree.

Playing on the beach

The kids absolutely LOVED playing on the beach, including some exciting moments as the waves came in.....

A new milestone for William!

William has just drawn his first face tonight. Andrew and I gave such an enthusiastic response that he has now drawn 8 faces! We love them. It is so exciting. I want to wallpaper the house with William’s faces. We think they are amazing. William says “This is brilliant”. He was given some fluorescent pens and special paper by friends we visited last weekend, which are such fun he has been inspired to take a new step and do something he hasn't done before. The first one had just eyes, nose and mouth, the second also had a head and now they have eyebrows! Then one had just one hair on his head.

Williams first ever face (with a very big smile):

Second and third:
(There are two faces here. The bit to the right of the open mouth is, apparaently, a place to park your car. $%^!?!!?!)


I’m loving overhearing the conversation as Andrew and William draw faces together. William: Dot, dot, dot, dot (as he draws eyes).
Andrew: Does this face have hairs in his beard?
Andrew: Where are his eyebrows?
William: He doesn’t have eyebrows. He only has one hair on his head.

According to William, this is Rumplestiltskin:

This one is a whole family of heads (the Daddy head has a beard!):

This one is a head inside a head:

Sunny Days

Today we’re enjoying more of a lazy day by ourselves, not meeting up with anyone, just going to the swimming pool, doing some chores, visiting the library, and taking Toby for a walk. Tomorrow we are off to Inverloch for Easter, with Alice, Ian, Patrick and other friends of theirs who have kids a similar ages to our two. We’re hoping to see Wilson’s Prom while we’re down there. The only bridge to the Prom was washed away in recent floods, but we hope will be rebuilt in time for us! Dinosaur bones were also found on a nearby beach, so we might be able to do some fossil fossicking.



On Monday my Uncle Ian (mum’s brother) and his wife Kathy came over to see us. It was great to catch up on their news – they spend half the year living in San Antonio, Texas, where Kathy is from.



We visit the local park to play (and climb trees) regularly. I think we could all get used to living on permanent holiday quite easily. Going back to work in May will be tough. Being on holiday allows us lots more time to take pics of the kids, which is great. We are also loving having so much time to play together. William has been having a ball with some of the lego that Alice and I used to play with. He keeps requesting to 'play with train tracks'. He also reminds us regularly, that 'me, Grandpa and Toby are best friends'.