Mothering Sunday

Today was a lovely, wonderful day.
We had a bit of an early start because Rhiannon had a riding lesson at 10 am but the clocks went forward this morning so it felt really early. The fam brought me some wonderful presents in bed which included a hand-made fairy light flower bouquet on a stump, some chocolate and real flowers. Perfect!

The boys had kindly cancelled their involvement with rugby today so that we could spend the day as a family. So we all piled into the car and took Rhiannon to her riding lesson that Rhodri got to watch while Tryfs and I took Winnie for a scamper in the forest next to the stables.

While we were walking with Winnie, we found a perfect picnic spot for later in the day. So we went home and relaxed for a bit, then packed up and headed back out to the forest near Nutley.

It was a bit overcast and chilly as we set up camp, but soon the sun came out and it was warm with a fresh breeze.  We were also nicely sheltered by some bright gorse bushes and had a lovely view looking down to the south coast (a bit cloudy in this photo but it brightened up as the day went on).

 We feasted on delicious picnic food that they had bought especially for the occasion and we simply just enjoyed each other's company and then all took a nap.

Before we packed up, we set the camera timer for a family photo in our perfect little spot sheltered from the wind by a nice big bright gorse bush.

Slow times at the Cafe

When the weather is nice, people are not as eager to buy tea and coffee from the Forest Row Cafe these girls are working at on a Saturday morning!

Dance performance

Today Tryfan's class of Year 5 & 6 children performed some dances that they had created. As we walked in, Tryfan was performing a haka that some of the other rugby boys learned at a rugby camp last summer.

The school has been fortunate to have a dance teacher called Naomi who has somehow been able to draw out of them tangible expression and interpretation of the poem Beowolf and of the monster Grendal. They did lines of each of the poems and then put that to dance somehow. It sounded very abstract to me when she explained it, but I was absolutely blown away by the performance.
More videos to come..

Rugby festival

Tryfan was due to play in a rugby festival today up in Dorking, about an hour's drive away.
Normally Rhodri is there of course as one of the coaches, but since he is still in Norway that meant I would have to take him. I was really looking forward to it, actually, since I never get to see him play. It was a gorgeous Sunday morning, too, and the drive from our house to Dorking along country lanes was fun since there was some weird WW2 motorcycle rally along part of the route (going opposite direction) and we saw some really cool bikes and outfits.

However, Tryfan wasn't feeling very well at all this whole morning and definitely was not keen on playing. So in the end, he played half of one short game and we left early. Kind of a big bummer, but I had a lot of discussion with the coaches and with other parents about it, and at this level of play, if the player is not willing or able to give 100%, he shouldn't play. It is such a physical game with full tackles and so forth, and it is more dangerous if one is not going to give 100%.  Hopefully I'll get to see him play another time. The team itself did really well, though, and came from behind to win a few of the games that we did see.

The Rescuers

We are so grateful that Nain and Taid could come the our rescue and help us out this week while both Rhodri and I were away.  The kids had a great time, and hopefully Nain and Taid did too.  I love this photo of them all.

Double booked

This week both Rhodri and I had to travel for our respective work. In fact, on Monday we drove ourselves to Gatwick so he could fly to Norway and I could take the train to Paris.  It seemed to take all day to get there, but eventually I got to my hotel near the Eiffel Tower.

I met up with my colleague Suha (who was staying at the same hotel) and we went for a lovely walk by the Eiffel Tower and the river. Then I met up with dear long lost friend Florence!  It was so wonderful to see her again after about a year.

Then from Tuesday through Friday evening, I was fully consumed with work. Fortunately I had 4 good outfits to wear that Rhiannon had picked out for me.

 It was a beautiful week with the full moon and clear skies, several late nights out to dinner and then catching up on work until the early hours.

I went straight to the train station and was able to get the 7pm train instead of my pre-booked 8pm train.  I was surprised to find the carriage I was assigned to was completely empty. Nice!

I hope that Rhodri will share photos of his week in Norway/ Sweden so that I can update this space.

A week away

This week I was away for work in France. I left on Monday morning nice and early, and came back home on Friday night. It was a full week, but its always tough when I'm away. I was so happy to come home, and we had a really nice weekend.
This morning I took Rhiannon to her riding lesson. It was such a gorgeous day, and I took Winnie for a little run in the forest before catching the final few minutes of the class. Fortunately I got to see her jumping over 3 jumps in a row.

Winnie the flying dog

We have been enjoying having Winnie in the family. She is a funny little dog.
I especially love running with her. I wish I could take a photo during the moments that she is running and leaping full speed - her ears fly up over her head and she looks so funny.

Course in London

Yesterday and today I commuted to Paddington station in London so that I could attend a training course. I was surprised to get off the train and see that I was by a canal with boats. It was a windy, rainy day. Very British. I enjoyed being out in the wide world on my own.

Schools etc

Tryfan didn't get a place at the secondary school that Rhiannon goes to.
This was a big shock to us, especially since the family down the road who are in nearly the same situation did get a place for their child. Now we don't know what to do, but we will start by visiting some private schools. Anyway, watch this space!

The end of our holiday

We had some pretty crappy weather yesterday and today. Temperatures above freezing and rain! That is the worst for skiing, but what can you do? We had really poor visibility and a lot of the lifts were closed actually, but we still had fun.

 In the moments that the clouds cleared, we had a lovely view out over the valley.

 We quit the slopes before we got too tired and well before they closed for the day. This felt weird to do, but conditions were so crappy and quite a lot of the mountain was either too steep for us or else too icy and unfun, so we left before any of us got injured.
We relaxed in our room before going to another place for dinner. We chatted with Henrik, the entrepreneurial waiter who was starting a clothing business in the Philippines.

And so now we are off to make our journey back to London. We will have several hours in Stockholm, but that is fine since we like that airport now after our layover on the way here. Then we will be straight back into school and work starting tomorrow. Its been a pretty fun holiday, though.
Goodbye cozy fjallsenter place...

 Goodbye Hemavan airport... you are so small, modern and comfortable. We liked sitting in you.

Downhill adventure in Hemavan

We checked into the Hemavan Fjallsenter and were very pleased to find a modern bedroom with places for all 4 of us to sleep and our own bathroom! Luxury after the cabin on the lake. The main dining area was very cozy with soft lighting and furnishings. Their great breakfast buffet set us up for a full day ahead! One highlight for us all this morning was seeing a super cute little wild animal outside from this very window. We found out later it was an ermine. This photo is off the internet but it looked exactly like this! Sooooo cute.

It was a bit of a nightmare renting skis, boots and poles from the base shop which is probably inevitable and just part of the whole downhill ski experience! Oh well. Eventually we got underway and spent a few hours going up and down the hill.

 When we were done for the day, the kids and I went swimming in the pool onsite. They made friends with some other kids and played tag on the obstacle course while I relaxed in the jacuzzi and then sauna. Rhodri took a little nap!

For dinner we ate in the Fjallsenter restaurant, which served incredibly delicious food and wine.

Last few hours in Slussfors area

Later in the day we moved out of the cabin, did some cross-country skiing on groomed tracks, saw another moose!, and then went to the clinic for dinner before driving an hour to Hemavan.

Dave and Rhodri are quite similar in many ways. Not only do they have matching hats and base layers, and it turns out that they also both have permanently dislocated collarbones. I'm so glad they found each other!

Now we are moving to Hemavan to stay 3 nights and then catch our flight back to London via Stockholm on Sunday. 

Dave's cabin

We spent a bit of time in Dave's cabin this afternoon. Dave and Rhodri talked about kit for several hours while the kids and I half listened and half did other stuff. For awhile they focused mainly on sleeping bags and mushing bags, which was sort of interesting.

 Dave has interesting artifacts on the walls and in the corners of the main room.

Another day in the snow

Today we did a bit of laying low in the cabin, packing up, playing outside skiing around and then went up to visit the farm above the cabin.

 

Even more mushing and skiing

Another stunning day today, and we did a slight variation of the theme by first driving to Dave's cabin, then Rhodri and skied back to our cabin while Dave and the kids took 12 dogs on a mushing trip.  We also sadly said goodbye to Graham and Simon. They were good fun to be with this week and we were so glad to get to know them better.

 

 Meanwhile the sled team waited about half way back for us to catch up and then towed us behind them. This was one of the highlights of the whole trip for me!

Here we are getting towed behind the sled. Rhodri was holding on alongside and I was holding a tow rope directly behind. We had a few dicey maneuvers but otherwise it was brilliant.