More DoE excitement

This weekend Tryfan went on his Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award adventure.  He went with 5 of his buddies up to the Peak District.  I don't know all the shenanigans they got up to over the course of the weekend, but they emerged intact and without injury, so we will take that!

Girls weekend in Cali

 Meanwhile, our girl looks like she is having a pretty good time in the sunshine in California!

Saturday walks

On Saturday mornings, Rhodri has been filling a backpack with heavy weights and going on a 3 hour hike with Annie.  He is doing this to get fit for the summer backpacking trip to the Dolomites, but also its just a good idea!  Normally I'm swimming at the beach with my mermadam friends on Saturday mornings, but today I got home before Rhods so I took this photo.

Shackleton event

This evening I met Rhodri in London and we had dinner together, then went to an event at the Shackleton store on Regents Street.  Rhodri is the "Head of Equipment" on the Shackleton "Foundations" team, so he has 1-on-1 clothing consultation sessions with any person who is going on a Shackleton expedition.

After the event we went to a nearby pub with Lou, Amelia and the Omani guide that they had visit.  It was a really fun night, so unusual for just Rhods and I to get out on the town.

Start of summer

 Finally the school year is over and Tryfan can finally ease into summertime.  He had some friends over tonight and they sat outside being fairly well behaved.

Tryfs will be working at Wowo campground again this summer as a Maintenance Man, which he seems to really enjoy.  

Special weekend visitors!

We are so happy that Sioned, JJ and Gwydion came to visit us this weekend. We had some lovely moments chilling out in the house, and then today we all went to Paradise Park in Newhaven (which I know very well due to my Saturday morning sea swim outings where we often call by this place to buy birthday cards and/or plants from the garden center). 

Meanwhile, back in SB

 .. our girl Rhiannon seems to be having a good time with friends and sunshine in Santa Barbara

Passport renewal (excuse to detour)

Today I had booked for Tryfan to get his US passport renewed, so we skipped our school and work obligations and had a bit of fun detouring around London instead!  We went to Camden Market and then took a river cruise to Little Venice, then walked to Paddington Station and made our way back home. it was a really fun day, and so lovely to have time with just Tryfs

Gold DoE expedition

 Tryfs and his crew did their Gold Duke of Edinburgh (DoE) expedition in the Peak District this weekend. Looked like they had a great time!

Roger's Party at last

 For the past several years I've been hearing about this "Roger's Party", which is more of a festival without the festival pricing, at my friend Sarah's house.  This is the 20 year anniversary of the event, which started when her friend Roger finished construction of some renovation on their property.  Hence the party.  Anyway, its never worked out to actually go so I was glad when Emma B invited me to join her on this lovely Sunday afternoon.

Partay

 Tryfs went to a Hawaiian theme party in Brighton last night (rather than greeting the Norwegian visitors) and it looks like they had a lot of fun.  Here are Tryfan, Andy, Loki and John. 

Norwegian Neighbors Reunited!!

Our former neighbors at Slyngveien in Asker came over to England for a holiday starting today, and they stayed with us just tonight as they start their big adventure tomorrow.  It was great to catch up with Monica, Helge, Kristoffer and Joakim.

Lewes and 5 Rhythms

Today we went into Lewes for a walk around during the day, and then had the 5 Rhythms event this evening to look forward to. It was a bit more variable of a day weather-wise, but mostly fine.  Actually it did drizzle a bit when we were up on the cliff overlooking the town.  But then we came down, walked up to the castle, and did some charity-shopping and then had some food at the White Hart Inn which has a lovely terrace out back. 

 

 

The 5 rhythms thing was something new to me and all of us! Hellie my trusted friend and yoga teacher mentioned that she was planning to go, so I figured it might be fun for us to try something different.  Rhodri dropped us off and we were crapping ourselves before going inside!  

 

As it turns out, the 2 hours of dancing was .... its hard to condense into a single word or phrase... it was a lot of things. We couldn't make eye contact with each other during the event, that's for sure! The two rules were: no talking, no mocking.  It was a very liberating and physical evening of free form movement, and I think we all came away having loved it!  There were so many stories to tell from the evening though.  I took this sneaky photo through the window which doesn't do it justice at all, but is also somehow representative.

4th of July

Today was another fun day, though a bit lower key than previous days.  I worked from home during business hours, then Deanna's friend Amber arrived in the afternoon.  We had some celebratory welcome drinks at home and then walked down to the Coach for dinner.  It was a gorgeous afternoon - evening and we saw friends along the way, which is always fun.

Worshipful Company of the Fuellers

Many months ago, I applied to join the Worshipful Company of the Fuellers, which is one of the Very Olde Guilds of the City of London.  Today is the day that I was officially welcomed as a new member, as a "Freeman".  The whole ceremony was a bit bizarre, but I was glad that Deanna was there to attend with me.

After the ceremony was finished, we scampered off rather than staying for a formal sit-down lunch.  I was excited to have been able to easily book this great place called The Nest.  We had drinks and some food, and enjoyed the stunning view around London from this rooftop restaurant.

After all this excitement, we eventually headed back home to the village.  But it was a very interesting day!

London and Guildford

Today Deanna and I went into London so that I could work there for the day while she toured around herself, then we met up and travelled to Guildford to participate in a Geology Walking Tour!  A very full day to be honest, but it was beautiful and fun.