A bit of catch up

We drove back from Wales to Chalfonts on Sunday and it wasn't a bad drive at all, though it was sad as always to say goodbye to Nain, Taid, Nia, Cris, Gabi and Val. We ended up not even being able to see Llinos and Trystan because of one thing or another, though all the kids did have that one afternoon to play together.

Then on Monday I flew to Oslo and spent the whole of the week working here before flying back home yesterday (Friday). This week was hard but good, and I got to spend time with interesting people like Michel, Monica, Heidi, and Beate. I felt lucky to be able to see these good people and get some meaningful stuff done for work as well. You just can't beat sitting with someone in person to really be able to talk things through! I didn't take many photos at all this week, but that's how it is sometimes. Anyway, for all the interesting talks and productive work this trip has brought, I'm very glad to be home with my family.

Ferrari !!

Today we visited Rhodri's cousin Richard who runs a business in town selling cars.

He had a Ferrari for sale out front and the kids got to sit inside of it AND also go for a little test drive (with Richard driving, of course)!
They have been really into cars lately so this was majorly exciting for them!

All the cousins!

Gabs, Tryfan, Brython, Rhiannon, Val, Leusa and Rhyddid

Rhodri and I came home from the walk and were surprised to see Nain and Taid looking after all 7 of their grandchildren! 

Pen Llithrig y Wrach

Bentley with Tryfan the mountain in the background

Today Rhodri, Bentley and I squeezed in another walk in Snowdonia and it was another great one! We went up Pen Llithrig y Wrach, which translates to "Slippery Head of the Witch" and has got to be the coolest name for a mountain in the world!

I've always liked this mountain because she is visible from the Conwy/ Llandudno area and she is kind of an indicator for what sort of weather conditions the mountains of Snowdonia are having at any given time. So it was nice to finally meet her, and even better that Rhodri had never been up either!

Walking down the slippery head of the witch

It was a bit swampy getting going, but once we were on the ridge it was fine. Actually the weather was kind of chilly but the clouds were kind to us and didn't rain - only passed by overhead looking dramatic. We were across the valley from Tryfan the mountain, and it was nice to be able to admire him all day from different angles.

Walking down "y Braich" on the way back to the car.

These wild ponies pretty much ignored us and went on with their grazing

So, another super walk made possible by Nain and Taid who agreed to look after the kids for us!

Climbing wall fun

We went to a [relatively] new climbing gym in Caernarfon and ended up spending about 4 hours there.  All 4 of us ended up climbing, and it was sooooo fun but also hard work.

The kids did really well and they both made a lot of progress individually. Rhiannon made about 10 attempts of this one - she is wearing pink about halfway up the blue wall - and with each attempt she got a little higher until she finally made it all the way to the top!

A couple of the routes had auto-belay devices which enable the climber to climb the normal way but without a 2nd person down below holding onto the rope. So when you get to the top and want to come down, you just lean back and fall off the wall and the auto-belay device catches you! The only thing is that the mechanism takes a fraction of a second to activate, and meanwhile one's heart is up in one's throat! We all had a go on these devices and it was really fun but scary.

Cousin time

It has been so great for the kids to be together with their cousins Gabriel and Valentin. Tryfan and Gabi are two peas in a pod, and Rhiannon likes looking after Val, so everyone wins!

Trying not to laugh too much at dinner

There were quite a few occasions where these 3 (sometimes 4) were giggling so much that they got in a bit of trouble. But Rhodri and I agreed that this is exactly what is supposed to happen when you get to see your cousins! Both he and I remember getting in trouble when we were young for giggling and making mischief with our cousins. 

Word Search amigos

 We went shopping this afternoon in town and who did we see but one of our favorite people, Auntie Eirlys! It was such a happy reunion on the high street of Llandudno! Later she came around to visit us at the house.

Auntie Eirlys, Rhiannon and Nain Beryl

The four cousins had a lot of free rein during this stay, including being allowed to sit too close to the telly. There are worse things to have happen, and these occasions are quite rare anyway.

Destination: Moel Eilio

We drove up to North Wales yesterday for a week in Llandudno with Rhodri's family. It was a happy reunion with them and we settled right in. This morning Rhodri and I left the troops with Nain and Taid and took Bentley for a walk up Moel Eilio in Llanberis. Surprisingly, Rhodri has never walked this path so it was new for both of us, which is unusual in his stomping grounds of Snowdonia.

Start of the walk with Bentley, Snowdon in the distance under cloud.

 It was a leisurely sloping walk up to the top of Moel Eilio,

It was an absolutely gorgeous walk and we had all the right kit on (of course!). On the way back, we stopped for tea and cake at the famous Pete's Eats. Rhodri recognised some young hotshot climber who was in the middle of writing an article for a magazine. After getting cleaned up back at the house and reuniting with Nia, Cris, Gabi and Val, we went for dinner with Geri and Bleddyn to a nice restaurant. Such a treat! It was a fantastic day and we are so glad to be up here.

AMPS

Today I went as an Assistant to the Sales force of Nordic Life as we set up shop at the annual general meeting for the Association of Motion Picture Sound engineers (AMPS).

The event was at the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire so it was about a 2 hr drive each way for us. We had an interesting day with lots of conversations with sound engineers of all descriptions!

Chalfonts still coming along

We are still working on getting Chalfonts back to working order. Lately we've been painting the lounge while we are waiting for the floorboards to finish drying out.

Newly painted red wall with Rhiannon at the breakfast bar

Just started painting the other walls an optimistic grey color

Slowly slowly, but its nice to enjoy the little changes and have these things happen incrementally.

Light dusting of snow

We woke up this morning to a light dusting of snow - probably a perfect start to a Saturday morning!

Of course the kids were straight outside as soon as they had some breakfast and got geared up. Sadly, the snow melted after a few hours but not before they had assembled 12 big snowballs and stashed into our freezer! We were hoping for a nice big dump of snow so that we could go sledding in the forest, but this was better than nothing!
In the meantime, Rhods and I were busy sanding and painting in the living room. Rhods was sanding the plaster work on the ceiling (that is a really awful job) and I was painting the ceiling after him.

The DIY crew - Sander and Painter

Since we have nowhere to sit right now, we have been dining picnic-style in the foyer. The slate floor has underfloor heating, so it is really nice to sit on actually!

 It was a really satisfying day and a great way to finish off the month!

London interlude

Last night I met my long lost friend Dave in London where he was staying overnight for a conference. He upgraded his room so that he had more of a suite with a sofa and lounge section, and I brought my sleeping bag liner and stayed the night! We met in the middle of Westminster Bridge and had a lovely dinner at a nearby restaurant, then stayed up late talking. The next morning, we walked together back across the bridge and parted ways so that he could go to his conference and I caught the train back to Gatwick to go to work. It was such a beautiful, glossy, misty fresh morning (ok, some would call it drizzly grey...) and I felt so grateful to have been able to start the day with this iconic view of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament with my long lost friend.

Mumbucks

Rhiannon mentioned some weeks ago that she wanted to start earning Mumbucks. I didn't know what she was talking about, and she kept bringing this up at inopportune moments when I was busy doing something else. Finally last weekend she explained what Mumbucks are: a currency that can be earned and used (and lost) for doing useful things around the house. Yes! She had read about this in a book somewhere. So the kids spent a couple of hours each designing their own face of this new currency, and then I printed out loads of them in 2 denominations: Mumbucks and Mini-Mumbucks.

Now we have had a frenzy of activity related to finding Useful Things to Do Around the House - taking the compost out, hoovering, emptying the bins (trashcans), and of course keeping their rooms tidy. We've thought of plenty of other things too, and also the conditions under which they have to pay us their Mumbucks (e.g. leaving their belongings around the house, not doing what what we ask straightaway). So this whole Mumbuck era has really gotten off to a good start!

Concrete experiments

Rhiannon and I have continued to experiment with concrete art projects.
This week we had more failures than successes, but we think we know why and so we are eager to do some more experimenting!

Visions

I hosted a Vision Board evening again this past week, as I've done for the past several years. It was a small gathering with lots and lots of magazines! Not a particularly social eve, but it felt good to get into an art project and sort of zone out in the company of others who are close friends.  Then today we had Sophie and Agnes come over for a "Daughters Day" of vision board creating.

It was lovely to spend the morning with these girls and also with Aggie's mum Leigh. 

the Vachery

The Conservators of the Ashdown Forest have been busy cleaning up parts of the forest near us, and the most remarkable section is in the Chelwood Vachery. These waterfalls and pools had been all overgrown and clogged up, and now the rocks are beautifully exposed.

We can't wait for summer when we can go and really play and splash here!

Chelwood Vachery has a series of terraces descending to a water garden and surrounding arboretum with rhododendron walks. Further water features comprising a spring-fed gorge with waterfalls and a chain of lakes were constructed in the woodland from 1925 by the landscaper Gavin Jones.

Here is a link to a leaflet describing the area...

Incremental changes

Renovations continue slowly here at Chalfonts, and we are enjoying the incremental changes!

The breakfast bar has made a big difference in our lives!

Bad knee, good times

Rhods twisted his knee playing soccer at the Jubilee Green by the village hall just hours before the New Year's Eve toga party. He made it through the night thanks to some liquid anesthetic in the form of beer, but the first week of this year has been not too happy for him. Fortunately, very fortunately, Nain and Taid came down to visit us for nearly a week and this made life soooo much nicer for all of us.

Waiting for food to arrive at The Griffin in Fletching

The week went by too fast and the kids were back at school, I was back in the office at work, and Rhodri was working hard for Nordic Life. But we were ever so grateful that they made it down here in the first place!

Smashing

All kids coming to our house have been looking longingly at our gingerbread scene

Finally we turned the kids loose to smash it to bits!

Happy New Years!

Today was verrrry grey and soggy - perfect excuse to curl up inside and sleep or relax.
We did, however, take the troops out to the Swing for the first giant swings of 2015.

Rhiannon and Valentin always swung together and they had such a good time 

It has been super fun to have Nia, Cris, Gabs and Val visiting us these past few days!

Toga party!

We went to the Toga Party at the village hall for New Years Eve last night and it was hilarious! What a fun way to kick off the year!

 

Cristian had kindly made me some cardboard shoes which I wore to the hall, but with the road being wet and all... they didn't last too long! They flew off in a dramatic fashion as I was dancing.

Pre-party at our house

 

The kids all peaked around 10pm, which made the final 2 hours interesting. Several kids, including Valentin, were asleep on the red chairs the lined the periphery of the dance floor. The facial expressions on Tryfan and Toby (neighbor sitting next to Val) kind of say it all...

Rather tired and grumpy kids around 11pm

It was a really fun night, though!