Girls weekend in London

We have been planning for this weekend for awhile, and finally its here!
Rhodri and Tryfan are off to the big rugby tour weekend in Devon so Rhiannon and I are free to do whatever. We threw around a few ideas and settled on the notion of going into London to stay the night. We took the train on Saturday late morning and came back on Sunday afternoon. Perfect!

 Once we checked into our lodging near Kensington Park around noon, we went to the Kyoto Gardens inside Holland Park which was slightly east of our place. It was a gorgeous and hot day - so rare!

 Then we took the bus over to Oxford Street and did some shopping until we were too tired and hungry, and then Google maps helped us find a little sushi restaurant with conveyor belt sushi. It was so delicious and wonderful.

 Then we walked to through Piccadilly Circus to Covent Garden, and by that time we were really tired so we jumped on a bus (didn't care which direction it was going!) and had such fantastic seats at the front and top of the bus that we just enjoyed the ride. Eventually we discovered that it was going approximately the right direction back to our lodging, so we stayed on and then walked across Kensington Park from south to north just as it was closing at dusk (9pm).

We relaxed in our room and watched telly, then slept and awoke very early due to all the light in our room (no black out curtains).

The good news about that was we were able to beat the rush to the nearby bakery and get the most delicious almond croissants and coffee to have a breakfast picnic in the park.

We got back to our lodging, checked out, and made our way to the Thames Clipper pier at Millbank so we could take the boat down the Thames river to the Bankside pier provides the best access to the Globe theatre.

We had so much fun on this boat ride even though it was a mere 20 minutes. We were pretty much the only people on board, and with the best of London sights en route (London Eye, Big Ben, Houses of Parliament), it was really spectacular.

 Since we were 'a bit' early (like 3 hours early!), we explored around this part of town and actually headed to Borough Market since we were getting peckish and ready for lunch before our 1pm show time. Turns out Borough Market is closed on Sunday, so we called in at Bill's for some brunch and had choice seats outside on the patio.

 Finally it was time for the play to start, and so we joined the fun at Shakespeare's Globe for a matinee performance of "As You Like It".

When it was finished we headed for the tube to take us back to Victoria Station to catch the train which would then turn to bus to get us back to East Grinstead and then finally home. But what a trip! It was fabulous and very special.
This morning we had a leisurely breakfast out on the deck and enjoyed the colors of the spring flowers in our garden. Absolute bliss

IKEA!

Since the kids are switching rooms, we actually need to go get a few items to help the furnishing, and so we decided to go to... IKEA! It has been years since I've been and that has been fine with me because it can be a bit overwhelming. But its a fun place to go and be inspired, ideally without any time constraint. Today was the opportunity and Rhiannon and I made a day of it.

 We got there at 10:45am and were allowed in to browse although they didn't formally open until 11, then we took a very civilized lunch break at a prime table by the window before completing our experience to get home before 4pm.

We were pretty shattered by the end, but we got some good stuff: a shelving/ storage solution for Tryfan and his Lego, a bedside table for Rhiannon, a bedside light and desk light for Rhiannon, some little handy shelvy things for our mug cupboard, and of course some tea lights.

Ollie's party

Tryfan was the only Year 5 boy to be invited to Ollie DF's birthday party and he was soooo excited about this. The party involved: going to see "Avengers: Infinity Wars" at Uckfield cinema, having dinner at Pizza Express and then all sleeping over at Ollie's house. Bliss!

Here is Tryfan with Fin, Harry, Rory, Oliver and Ollie.

Rugby festival

Rhiannon and I decided to go watch Tryfan play rugby today for the first time this season.
We got a lift with Anne Marie, Gordon's dad and William. It was another gorgeous day and actually we both really enjoyed watching the Haywards Heath team play rugby. I especially loved watching Tryfan's tackling - he is so fierce and consistent. Pretty much nobody can get past him and he does really clean tackles, then pops up and runs to a new spot to await the next attack.

 Here is one of Tryfan's tackles in action:

He came away from this one a bit sore but quickly recovered after about 30 seconds on the sideline. He is a tough little guy!

Casper reunion

This weekend Casper and his family returned to the neighborhood for a visit after moving back to Denmark at Christmas time. Casper was back at school on Friday afternoon with his old classmates and this was by all accounts SUCH a happy reunion! Today we all had a bit of a reunion event over at the Denslow's house. A big herd of boys played football and more football, and then splashed around in the jacuzzi. As it was such a sunny day, there was much concern about getting sunburnt, but I think everyone survived intact.

Boys pictured are: Sam, Joe, Nathan, Carter, Ellis, Oscar, Tryfan and Casper.

Switching rooms

We've been gearing up for the kids to switch rooms. It's a good opportunity to sort out the plaster patchwork on the ceiling and paint, and paint and repaint...

We were trying to get it done before the nice weather appeared, but alas, today is Saturday and it is SUCH a gorgeous day and we are inside painting. At least when we finish the job, we can go outside and enjoy.

Trendy gal

Sub Woofer Joe

Poor Joe.  We ended up having such a laugh at his expense this afternoon.

You see, our sub-woofer died a few weeks ago and Rhodri went to a shop in Royal Tunbridge Wells to replace it. The enthusiastic sales agent sold him a sub woofer which received glowing reports and apparently was everyone's new 'favorite' sub woofer! However, when Rhodri got home and plugged it in, it didn't make much of a woof so he called the shop and did some troubleshooting over the phone and concluded that he had bought a dud woofer. So Rhodri carefully put it back into the box with the original packaging and set it to the side to return.
Today was the day we returned it, and Joe was the unlucky sod who was assigned to help us. It started out well as we carried not only the apparently dud woofer but also our own receiver and cables brought from home up the stairs of the shop to the 'demo room'. The Commonwealth Games are on this week and the demo room was showing it on TV with a nice comfy leather sofa for me and the kids to sit on. So far so good!

It started to go wrong when Joe realized that none of the equipment in the demo room had inputs for sub woofers (in a stereo shop!), so he trotted off to find a receiver to plug the sub woofer into. It went downhill from there..  The long and the short of it was that Joe was not adequately prepared to demo sub-woofers and kept trying to convince us that nothing was wrong with the one we had bought (though clearly it didn't make much of a woof even when the dial was turned all the way up).  The clincher came when Rhodri announced that we would need to return it and get a full refund, and Joe awkwardly said that in order to do that we would need to pay 15% of the value of the item just for the privilege of returning it - even though it was hardly touched and the original packaging was intact. That's when I unleashed my meanest scowl right into Joe's eyes and didn't back down, saying how ridiculous this was, how we would never buy anything from this shop again, how upset that I had taken a day off work in order to waste time here, etc. The kids were so embarrassed by me, and then we marched out of the shop and left Rhodri to deal with the fallout. He ended up paying only 10% and returning it, and now we still need to get another sub woofer! But on our way back from Tunbridge Wells, we were laughing so much in the car about poor Joe, how red he got when I was giving him the evils, making up stories about how we thought his life was (didn't have a car, still lived with his Mum, etc). Anyway, it was one of those family moments that we will look back on and laugh about, ol' Sub Woofer Joe!

Dog sitting Winnie

We returned home Wednesday night and Sioned arrived soon after with her gorgeous dog Winnie! Since she was going into London for the weekend, we offered to babysit little Winnie. We sure loved being with her, and with Sioned too! We went for a beautiful walk on Thursday eve and picked up Cat along the way, then called in at the Coach & Horses pub for a round of drinks and some snacks.

 Rhiannon and Sions made an Easter cake for Sunday dinner this eve, and Tryfan has been dressing up as "Captain Obvious" wearing these 3D glasses and a single fingerless glove to complete the outfit.

 We busted out the puzzle that Auntie Sions had given us for Christmas and these 3 sat on the floor working hard at it to the background of funky music while Winnie slept on the couch in the background.

Sions and Winnie are leaving tomorrow, but it sure has been great to have them here.

Friday afternoon walk

As we have been taking Winnie for long walks everyday, we invited the Painter family along with us one muddy afternoon at the start of the weekend.

We called in at the Red Lion pub on the way home.

19 years

Today was our 19 year anniversary and we celebrated by going on a hike in Snowdonia again, this time we did a nice big loop. It was raining as we set out but eventually cleared as we crested the ridgeline. However, it was really, really windy!

Here is a panorama view across the valley from the top of the ridge.

We called in at the pub in Conwy marina on our way back, then after cleaning up we went out to a lovely dinner with Rhodri's parents and the kids

It was a great day and I'm glad that we made an event out of it. These 19 years have been hard won.

Flossing

The kids have been doing a lot of 'flossing' lately. In fact, all kids in our neck of the woods seem to be doing a lot of flossing. Here are a couple of flossing examples:

A snowy Easter day in the mountains

Today we went on a family walk up in Snowdonia, up to Cwm Eigiau and had lunch at Llyn Melynllyn, then walked over to Llyn Dulyn . Since it was actually Easter day, I brought some chocolate eggs and hid them along the way in a few different sections of the trail. 

It was a longish day but felt really great to be out in the hills.

Easter weekend in Wales

We drove up to Llandudno straight after the Easter church service with the school yesterday. It took us 8 hours but we go there eventually. This morning the kids got to spend some time playing with their cousins Leusa, Rhyddid and Brython. They are a little wild...

Meanwhile, Rhodri and I went into town and did a little bit of random wandering around, and then later we all went for a family walk before dinner

It is so beautiful in this part of the world and I'm really glad to be here.

LOL

Every month we get the Parish magazine delivered to our house which features adverts, announcements, and little stories from around the Parish. This month there was an interview with some of the bellringers of the village, and reading it out loud at the dinner table made Rhodri and I laugh so much. We were especially thinking of my Dad, who would have found this article hysterical and who probably would have been laughing so hard as he read it out loud that he would not have been able to breathe!

It is so nice to stumble upon little morsels of daily life that remind me of dear old Dad and bring back the vivid sound of his laughter to my memory.

The Beast from the East

... that is the name of the storm that came through a few weeks ago which left snow in its wake and closed the schools while I was in Houston. But now this storm came through and was called the "Mini-beast from the East". It still left snow in its wake but this time we were all at home. In fact, it was a big day for rugby with 3 matches on over the course of the afternoon. In the morning we had the first village market of the season, but the snow put people off so it wasn't a huge success. Rhiannon and I still went down, though, and we bought a few items in order to show support for the poor vendors who were standing in the cold shivering and trying to sell their stuff!
Later in the afternoon, Grace came over to hang out with Rhiannon while I pottered around the house. The rest of the day was quite enjoyable, though, since we got to just cuddle together in our cozy house and watch the conclusion of the Six Nations rugby tournament on telly. Ireland won, and Wales came in 2nd place and England played terribly which is always cause for a secret celebration in our house!

Mothers Day

Today was British 'Mothering Sunday' and the boys were at a rugby festival a couple of hours drive away all day. We still had a bit of a celebration in the morning before they left. And although Rhi and I were still tending to our injuries and thus keeping a low profile, we did manage to go for an outing with Anne Marie and Will since her other boys were also at the rugby festival.  Here is the sweet card that Rhiannon made for me...

 Here we are at the Ditchling Garden Center having lunch...

 The kids and Rhodri made a nice dinner so I didn't have to cook, and they also made me a cake. I have a very thoughtful family :-)

Injured ladies

It's been a tough couple of days. I woke up on Thursday morning with a pain in my neck, and as the day wore on it felt worse rather than better. When I woke up yesterday morning, I couldn't move! It was awful and painful, and I couldn't do anything but fortunately Rhodri took care of me. 

I went to the local GP and they established that it was something muscular rather than a trapped nerve, so prescribed some muscle relaxants. Then we paid a visit to Graham at the osteo clinic and he did some massage. I felt better after this but really was confined to reclining positions most of the day yesterday and today. Between my neck and Rhiannon's hand, we were not much help around the house but Rhodri and Tryfan did an excellent job of tending to our needs and wishes.

Great homecoming

My flight landed at 7:00 am and I was home around 9:30, which is pretty good considering I landed at Heathrow. Everyone was still in their jammies and getting ready for breakfast when I arrived. There was still some snow on the ground in places and Tryfan was talking about going sledding by the Cat Centre, when I received a text from my colleague Chris who happened to be planning a trip to the Cat Centre today also! I've been wanting to meet his wife and to have him meet Rhodri, and it ended up being this perfect afternoon of being together outside in the fresh air, going to the pub for lunch, then coming home and hanging out altogether for a couple of hours.

I just wish they lived a bit closer because it was really fun to hang out with them.

Houston trip

Meanwhile, I've been in Houston this week! It has been a good trip from a work standpoint. Its always good to be able to meet people in person that I normally ever speak to by phone. We went out for dinner one night and all piled into my [economy] rental car.

Lisa, Sara and Anastasia

 The next day while I was waiting at an intersection, I saw one of those sign-twirlers!

Now it is Friday afternoon and I'm at the airport waiting to fly back to London. Soooo glad this week is over and I can go home and see my family at last.