Fathers Day

We had a really fun and surprising Fathers Day today!  I kept it a surprise until we got there, but we had an afternoon of axe-throwing and outdoor laser tag.  The axe throwing was just us 4 with an Instructor, which was fun but probably wouldn't do it again. The outdoor laser tag, on the other hand, was super fun.  This place is a bit crazy - there were many groups here and some people were really into it. Can you spot the moving tree in the photo below?

Getting axe-throwing instruction

The laser tag was hilarious, because there was a group of 9 that were already signed up, but we didn't realise that it was an 8 year old birthday party! Rhodri was reallly winding them up beforehand because we thought we would be against them, but in reality everyone was randomly distributed.  As a surprise, Anne Marie and I coordinated and so the Denslow family was here too!

We had a brilliant time, and although it was only 2 games of 20 minutes each, we were all exhausted afterwards due to all the running in the woods!  We debriefed afterwards with some cocktails at the Hop Yard in Forest Row. A brilliant day!

Last shift at the Red Lion

 With all the upcoming events in the next few weeks, Rhiannon realised that tonight is really the last Friday that she will be available to work at the Red Lion.  We decided to call in and mark the occasion with her.

This job has been great for her, in that her confidence in speaking with people has gone right up. And she has had a great time!

Skiving

 Today Rhiannon and I snuck off down to the beach for a few hours in the afternoon. What a treat it was to be with her on our mini road trip down to Newhaven! I treasured this day.  We had to race back so she could go to work at the Red Lion.

Revising / Preparing

Our girl has been working so hard to revise / prepare for her 26 GCSE exams. They started on May 10th and finish June 23rd. She has been really organised and disciplined in her approach, and she has notes pasted all over the house! Here are some of her biology notes in the bathroom

Sunday in Sussex

We had a leisurely breakfast this morning out on the deck, and then peeled off in various directions.  Us girls took a trip down to Brighton to walk around and have lunch, etc. 

Meanwhile, Tryfan and Michel went climbing at a gym near us and Rhodri had the afternoon to himself

And then all too soon our friends had to leave and our grand weekend with these wonderful people came to an end!

Dinner party

Denise and Ava returned from their travels this afternoon and so we had a great dinner party with them and Michel. Everyone pitched in to contribute to the meal, and it was just a really great evening.

Michel the Man

When I flew back from Madrid to Gatwick, our friend Michel was there waiting for me in the airport!  This was all planned ahead of time, but it was nice that it actually worked out and even nicer to reunite with him. We collected the car and headed home for the weekend together.  We went to the Red Lion for a weekend kick off bev.

On Saturday morning, Michel joined me and my swimming homies for a lovely dip

And then later in the day he pitched in by very helpfully mowing the lawn! .

Michel is a man of many talents, and I haven't even started to mention his cooking skills!

Football tourny

 While Michel was out swimming with me, Tryfan and Rhodri had a football tournament in Worthing which lasted all day. But they came away with 2nd place trophy and were pretty happy about how they played.

Madrid adventure

Everything is an adventure these days! I've had a few kind of magic days here in Madrid attending the EAGE conference.  First, I met the musician who would be performing at the conference in line to get a taxi at the Madrid airport - that was funny!  Then I saw my old long lost friend Leendert at the Icebreaker event, and then during the course of the conference I saw several other old buddies plus made some new friends as well.  The highlight though was traveling with my new boss Ann - she is so fun and friendly to everyone she meets. She was chatting away in broken Spanish to random people on the sardine-like metro as we traveled from the hotel to the conference in the morning, and she befriended the security guard. I think I used to be more like this but over the years have kind of fallen out of the habit of being this amount of friendly. I hope this exposure rubs off on me because it is so fun and funny to have these little exchanges with people in the wide world.

Ann is also a legend and an inspiration in her professional life. She was on this panel alongside big names at BP, Total, and Repsol, and she said things out loud that made my eyes widen (like, did she really just say that?!). She is so passionate about geothermal energy, and renewable energy in general, and she is so knowledgeable about all aspects of the topic. I love how she can say brave things in a friendly way.  I feel so lucky to have her as my boss!

Another highlight was seeing my old colleague Jorge, who lives in Madrid and just showed up to see familiar faces. I got to ride on the back of his motorcycle from the conference to my hotel (rather than taking the sardine-squished metro!). 

Here is me and Anantza the security guard, who I got to become friends with too. She is hilarious. I've never met such a smiley, friendly security guard!

One night we had this big event at a large property with 3 bands, some flamenco dancers, and loads of food. 

And then when it finished on Thursday, I went up and spent the evening with dear Laura. Finally I got to meet her daughter and husband after all these years of hearing about them.

She kindly took me to the airport this morning and I flew back to Gatwick, where Michel was waiting for me to arrive so we could enjoy the weekend together!

Special visitors from SB

June has gotten off to a crazy start!  I left early on June 1st to travel to Offenburg, Germany for a 2 day conference on geothermal.  It was an adventure traveling there in the first place, and then actually attending the conference and exhibition was really great too.  I got to see some familiar faces and meet new ones, and I learned a lot during this days as well.  I would have ideally stayed the weekend on the continent and migrated myself to the 2nd conference of the season, this 2nd one being in Madrid, Spain. But instead I traveled home early on Sat June 4th and met my long lost friend Denise and her daughter Ava at Heathrow as they landed from California.  What a treat to have one of my best friends in the world travel all this way to be with me.  

They landed just in time to join the Queen's Platinum Jubilee Celebrations, as Queen Elizabeth has now been on the throne for 60 years.  We especially appreciated having two public holidays to commemorate the occasion!  The weather wasn't especially perfect - it was blustery and cold but not uncomfortable.  So after we arrived to the house and got them settled in, we headed down to the Danehill Rec for the festivities. 

So we had a brilliant weekend together, and now today we are all heading off - I'm going to Madrid and they are heading into London and then up to Edinburgh, and we will reunite again next weekend!

Not Stoked

 We made the annual batch of Elderflower Fizz today and the troops were Not Stoked to be helping with it. But they did anyway!  These are some good kids :-)

Brunch in Lewes

 Rhiannon and I met up with Aggie and Leigh for brunch at Bill's in Lewes. Such a treat!

We always have a good laugh when the four of us are together, and this time was no different. A nice way to close out the month of May!

Long lost friends in Bristol

The other day Rhods suggested that the two of us go over to Bristol for the weekend and visit Gaz and Huw. What a novelty to get out of the postcode and leave the kids to their own devices! To be fair, Tryfan was on a Youth Club camping weekend and Rhiannon needed to work at the pub both Friday and Saturday nights, plus she is still revising for the GCSE exams next week. 

So we left on Saturday morning and got to Gaz and Rachel's house around 1:45 pm.  We had a lovely lunch and beverages outside on their back patio, and then I went for a swim with Fran for a couple of hours at a gorgeous spot called the Henleaze Swimming Club, which is inside a former quarry. It was a gorgeous day and a lovely atmosphere.  Turns out that we have matching hats in different colors.

We met up with the boys and the little kids at a pub and had a lovely dinner with beverages. Super! 

The next day Huw, Gaz and Rhods went for a long bike ride while Fran, Rachel and the little boys and I went to Clevedon to swim in the seawater-filled pool at the beach. I've always wanted to go here, so it was cool to actually be here. The water was a bit nasty, but we swam in it anyway.

We drove back Sunday late afternoon and it was all good.  A new era of Rhods and I being able to do our own thing!

London with Dave

Today I worked in the London office (after being a bit freaked out at my discomfort with being around colleagues in person) and I met up with Dave for dinner afterwards.  It was so cool to see him.

Today was also my Mom's birthday, so it was special in that way too.