A day at the Races!

We had a fantastic day today at the Newbury Racecourse!
We were lucky with the weather and it was a stunning day, though on the chilly side.

Cris, Val, Gabs, Tryfs, G-Buck, Rio, Nia and Rhods "tail-gating" English style

We met up with Auntie Nia, Uncle Cris and cousins Gabs and Valentin because Newbury happens to be halfway between our house and theirs. It took us each just under a couple of hours to get here, but well worth the journey. As it turned out, we also were able to meet up with Phil, Libby, Ruby, Molly and the family that they had been visiting in Oxford during our intermission of the holiday period. So it was a grand reunion on a gorgeous day and it was SO FUN!

The gates opened at 11 and the first race was at 12:15.

The way the racecourse is laid out, there is a lot of different places to sit or stand and watch the action. There were 7 races this day, and by race 3 or 4, we had sussed out the best places to go to watch the horses and jockeys.

Pretty soon the herd of cousins was running from the spot on the side of the homestretch to the warm-up arena where another batch of horses were getting ready to run. Rhiannon decided she wanted to get the autograph of one of the jockeys, and soon all 4 of the cousins were lined up along the walkway between the weigh-in room and the warm-up arena asking for autographs.

Proud display of autograph, with the warm-up arena behind

Gabs, Rio, T-bone and Val

We also had a spell of standing in the bleachers, which does provide a better view of the racecourse than down on the grass below.

Our gang of 18 dispersed through the crowd

There were a few small bets made, and we came out marginally ahead which was good news. But the main reason it was a great day was because it was so different and beautiful and full of energy. It was fantastic to see Nia, Cris and the cousins but the day was over all too quickly. Hopefully we'll see them again soon.

Parting ways for a couple of days

Yesterday morning, Grandma Bucky and I got into Lil Jimmy the Green car and headed north to Barton-upon-Humber to see Grandma's long lost friend Ursula while Phil, Libby, Ruby and Molly ventured up to Oxford to see their friend Lena. Rhodri and the kids stayed here at the house and regrouped. This little interlude actually worked really well for all parties!

Bucky and Ursula

The Humber Bridge in all her glory when i was out on a morning walk

It was a decent drive, but rather enjoyable because how often do I get to go on a road trip with my Grandma Bucky?!!! I should have been wearing the STOKED hat. So we drove up to Ursula's house, hung out with her and her friends Dave and Rebecca, and then had dinner in the evening. Ursula wasn't feeling 100% but I think she was genuinely happy to see Grandma Bucky and talk about mutual friends and stories.

This morning I went on a walk to the water's edge (of the Humber river, that is) and then bought some groceries on the walk back which proved useful for breakfast foods.

Around midday I headed over the bridge to Hull and managed to have a quick lunch with our old friend Hiatt.

 She recently started a mobile burrito business in Hull! It was great to see her, though a bit too short of a visit. Better than nothing, though!

We were on the road around 2:30pm and got back to Chalfonts just before 7pm, so it was pretty good going. Fun to have a little change of scene and be on the road with my fav G-Buck!

Boxing Day outing to the beach

It was a lovely day today and we ventured out to Cuckmere Haven to go for a walk along the estuary out to the sea and then along the base of the cliffs. Once we got to the water's edge, G-Buck parked herself on a crate and sat enjoying the sunshine in Wheeler's "STOKED" hat that Phil brought on the trip, while the rest of us headed to the white cliffs to look at them up close.

It was a stunning day with gorgeous slanting light and a receding tide.

Once we were all thoroughly windswept and interesting, we walked back to the cars and then convoyed to the Griffin Inn pub in Fletching for a post-outing bevvie. A very satisfying day.

Christmas Day 2015

We had a lovely Christmas Day!
Kids up early and excited about their stockings, adults up later, house smelling of freshly brewed coffee, a very animated present-opening period, then a late breakfast. The day itself was fairly uninspiring weather wise - mild, windy, and rainy. We had a cozy fire going in the fireplace and it was wonderful to have a good sized crowd in the house.

Rhiannon, Molly and Ruby

Nerf shooters Tryfan, Rhiannon and Molly

 The main part of the day was spent preparing food for dinner, various people going for walks and runs at different times, and then the Queen's speech at 3pm. Tryfs, Rhiannon and Molly expended quite a bit of energy chasing each other round the house shooting Nerf pellets at each other (Thanks Eric and Kristin!) and it was generally a jolly, festive household!

Watching the Queen's speech

 The Queen said some carefully worded and warm things about Christ Jesus and his message of sharing love and gratitude... Here is a little excerpt from her speech (I found the full transcript and video of at this link):
"Despite being displaced and persecuted throughout his short life, Christ's unchanging message was not one of revenge or violence but simply that we should love one another.  Although it is not an easy message to follow, we shouldn't be discouraged; rather, it inspires us to try harder: to be thankful for the people who bring love and happiness into our own lives, and to look for ways of spreading that love to others, whenever and wherever we can."

We had several calls and text messages with the Welsh contingent who were all together up in North Wales, In the late afternoon and evening we had FaceTime calls with Judy, Joe, Annie, Jody and their respective broods in Montana, then also with Will, Eric and Mom in Seattle, and finally with Egan and Wheeler (oh wait, i think that was last night on Christmas Eve...). Didn't manage to connect with Heidi today but we will tomorrow hopefully. Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas Eve

We are all gearing up for the big day tomorrow, and we made a few little trips to the grocery store to stock up on ingredients for our various menu items. And of course all the runners needed to run. I think I went out on a run this day also, which was nice.

At 4:45pm we headed over to Tablehurst Farm for the annual "Caroling to the Cows" that started at 5pm. This is the 2nd year in a row we've gone, and I think actually it might be our last; the novelty has worn off. And as the Farmer himself announced at the start of the evening, the carols are not for our benefit but for the animals. So the carols he had selected aren't necessarily the most enjoyable or wonderful to sing, (e.g. Anyone know the carol called "In the bleak mid-winter"? Thought not.)

At the 3rd and final stop on the Farm caroling tour

 The 3rd and final stop was in the sheep barn. The sheep at least showed genuine interest and possibly appreciation for the singing, so that was nice. The Farmer told a story about how animals came to Earth from Heaven and how mankind should appreciate their generosity, and then some volunteers served free mince pies and warm drinks (Result!), and then we headed home.

Rhiannon, Molly and Tryfan ready to sing

 When we got home, we had a lovely Mexican feast prepared by Phil and Libby, then the kids got the plate of treats ready for Santa and his elves and reindeer.

Then we read The Night Before Christmas and eventually everyone went to sleep.

Pooh walks

Grandma Bucky, being a long time fan of the Winnie-the-Pooh stories, was keen to go see all the sights here in the neighborhood which are part of the stories. (We also got a fabulous book from Aunt Heidi & Uncle John for Christmas which provided a "Natural History of Winnie-the-Pooh and the Ashdown Forest", but I'm getting a bit ahead of myself here...)
We had a lovely day today and took a walk from Gill's Lap to see some of the highlights while the rest of our visitors were spending a full day in London.

After several days of blustery winds and heavy rains, it was Very Nice to see the sun!
G-Buck has a "fit bit" which is set to buzz when she reaches the targeted amount of movement for the day. She has been really great about making sure to get a good walk in until her bracelet buzzes.

The Gaggle of Ganses arrive!

Well, at long last our dear relations from Santa Barbara arrived. Collectively they are known as the gaggle of Ganses and we are so glad that they decided to come all this way to see us and spend the Christmas season with us! They arrived on Sunday night (20 Dec) after a few delays at Heathrow. Rhiannon and I met Grandma Bucky (aka G-Buck), Uncle Phil, Aunt Libby, and cousins Ruby and Molly at Gatwick airport where they rented a car and followed us back to Chalfonts.

We spent yesterday going for walks and runs (the Gaggle minus G-Buck is really into running), and taking short trips in the car just around the local area. It was actually a horrendous day weather-wise, with very blustery winds and beating rain, but the Gaggle didn't seem to mind! We took them to the Cat Center and then called in for drinks and crisps at the Red Lion.

Today we went to Hever Castle and then to a pantomime in East Grinstead.

It was a big job to get everyone out of the house with daylight enough to fit everything in, but we got there in the end!

Turns out that Uncle Phil and I have something else in common - our legs turn to concrete when we go into museums. Even though Hever Castle (childhood home of Anne Bolyn) was interesting, the pace of the rest of our party was just way too slow. I ended up hanging with Molly, Rhiannon and Tryfan and we pretty much raced through the inside part of the castle and then raced around the Maze outside and toured the other parts of the beautiful grounds.
Then we went to see Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in pantomime style. It was pretty entertaining, although it was a bit more polished than we were expecting / hoping for.

Grand finale of the panto

To end the day out, we called in at Den's Fish Bar in Forest Row for some fish and chips, which we took home and enjoyed in the comfort of Chalfonts!

Sparkly sticks

I saw some beautiful wintery sparkly festive branches for sale at the garden center, and of course thought to myself that I'm not going to pay good money for a bunch of sticks! Instead I bought some silver spray paint and then Rhiannon and I went for an expedition to find some suitable branches for painting.

 

Getting ready for Christmas!

After horse riding, this afternoon we headed over to Broadstone Warren to get a tree, then we started decorating this evening!

We've been looking so forward to Christmas season and it is an absolute joy to finally be able to have the Christmas music blasting and the decorations up. Our family visitors arrive next weekend! 

A riding lesson

Today Rhodri was away for the morning doing a big bike ride and Rhiannon has been begging for a horse riding lesson, so we decided to give it a go at Tremaine's riding stables.

Rhiannon is on the first horse, and Tryfan is 2 horses behind

Tryfan's horse breaking into a trot

They both came away really stoked.

Birthday Party and Tree Lighting

Today was Rhiannon's birthday and we had 12 girls over after school for a couple of hours of birthday partying.

Making Christmas baubles: Jemima, Savannah, Agnes, Sophie, Iris, Oriel, Sophie, Neve, Willow, Holly and Rhiannon

We laid out food to eat and gingerbread cookies to decorate on the breakfast bar and counter, and just let the girls potter around as they wanted while Rhodri and I kept a low profile in the background. Then we turned the music up and the lights down and had a dance party for a bit.

Then we turned the lights up and gathered round the table to sing Happy Birthday and cut up the pavlova cake. It was a tasty meringue and cream and fresh fruit cake that everyone was quite pleased with. We didn't even try to fit seats around the table so just let the girls sit wherever they wanted to for their cake eating.

After that, we mobilized shoes and coats and torches (flashlights), and all headed down the road for the Christmas tree lighting event at the village hall. Everyone was really pumped by then so were happily singing carols at the tops of their voices.

So then the Tree Lighting was an epic event in its own right! This was our 5th year going to it, and each year is so charming with warm heartfilled corny funniness and the strange and wonderful feeling one gets when large groups of people are all singing together. The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear!

Warren was the MC (as usual), and a spokes person from a local charity gave a little talk about how they (the Children's Peanut Ward in East Grinstead hospital) had used the money raised from our Tree lighting event last year to buy an iPad for the kids to use to help keep their minds occupied during the unpleasant parts of their hospital stays. So sweet. Then the school sang a few songs and the Danehill Hand Bell Ringers performed a few songs while the audience hummed or sang along. The final performers were "John the Fish and his assistant Charlie Chuckles" who are local teenage boys with a comedic musical act. Charlie played the keyboard, sang and also played some alto sax while the Fish told festive jokes and sang. They also led the audience in the final carols and got everyone really pumped up on Christmas spirit. Charlie Chuckles playing keyboard and singing "Hallelujah" while the whole audience sang along with the chorus of hallelujah brought tears to my eyes with the intimacy and warmth of the room.

When the show was over and the lights came up, free mince pies and cider was served to everyone but I had to race off to a local Ladies Christmas dinner up at the Red Lion. Anyway, it was a great evening.

Rhiannon turns 10

Our precious girl reached double digits today. She had a good day with presents to open upon awakening first thing this morning, then a normal school day, then we went out for dinner to the Red Lion in the village.

At a full 10 years of age, Rhiannon...
- is incredibly observant and thoughtful
- loves being with and caring for young children
- has sparkly smiling eyes and beautiful golden hair
- is really good at writing and doing artwork
- is also really good at troubleshooting gadget problems and getting things working properly
- likes to wind up her brother
- knows how to work hard on something that she cares about
- is a great dancer and has a lovely singing voice
- loves riding horses
- is amazingly good at preparing for anything when we go somewhere, always bringing a water bottle, snacks, surprises, things to do, etc
- is genuinely sweet and absolutely wonderful

We are lucky to have her in our family!
When we went for dinner, we had a really chilled out relaxing meal by the fireplace down the stairs. It was all peaceful and well behaved, and then they started photo bombing and getting rowdy.

The Big Sing

Tonight was the annual East Sussex Big Sing, which is an event for a bunch of primary schools in East Sussex county. Only the older kids get to participate, so this was Rhiannon's first year singing along with 10 other schools. She and Sophie were the ones from their school who stood in the front, and Rhiannon is the one wearing white knee socks and a white shirt with grey skirt on the left side of the photo. It was such a cool experience for the kids to be able to perform in a massive theatre that seats several hundred people.

 After the Big Sing, we went out to dinner at Smith & Western in Tunbridge Wells. We loved it - country music and good burgers and ribs.

Ivan the Mole

We've had a mole problem in our back garden for the past few months, and so we have had to call in a professional to set traps for these guys who've been digging up our lawn. These traps were lain before I went to Iceland, and I'd been thinking about moles as I was learning new skills last month.

Fortunately today I met "the Mole Guy" just after he had retrieved the most beautiful mole from one of the traps. He handed the mole over to me and I named him Ivan.

He has the most amazing hands (palms facing outward, mid-dig, in the attached photo!) and when I applied my new skills I found that he had incredible back and arm muscles. I'll spare you the photos I took, but they were wonderful. Its too bad that moles live underground and the rest of us above ground never get to really know them until their digging days are over.