Juddians Rugby Football club annual Ball

We were invited by our friends to go along with them for a night out at the Juddians Ball. Chris is a very active club member and worked hard along with the other members to make the night a brilliant one. The men either wore DJ's or smart suits and the ladies, well, you can imagine looked pretty good as well. The first picture is of Martin with a bowl of veggies in front of him, now this is significant as Martin hates veggies!!!! We had a great night with great friends, good food and the odd glass of wine and great music.

Learning how to Kayake

Shane and Marisa bought Colin a Kayake lesson, Colin likes to try new sports and this was a brilliant one. On the day he was going I knew he was nervous but when he got back two and half hours later he was 'buzzing' and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a lady who took him out and Colin said she was fascinating to listen to as she showed and told him about the wildlife in the area. The pictures show the colour of the water as a deep blue, and believe me, it was. Although the sun was shining, there was a breeze coming off the lake so Marisa, Hayden, Elliot and I had to wear a warm top. I do believe this was a brilliant birthday treat for Colin and one that he will remember forever.

Elliot

Needless to say, we went out to meet our new Grandson, Elliot. Marisa had to take him to work with here as she was feeding him at that time so we do not have as many pictures of him. He is so like Hayden to look at, especially now he is growing bigger. Unlike Hayden, he wasn't as keen to go to other people and only wanted his mummy which was hard on her and the rest of us as we couldn't comfort him. He was quite colicky for a while there but is now a happy baby and growing so fast. I do not have any recent pictures just the ones whilst we were out there which is a shame.

Hat Creek

This is another one of the walks we did on a day we had Hayden. I love the one of Hayden walking along with his hands in his pocket, sunglasses and hat on, actually, he was being stubborn in this picture as he didn't want to carry on walking, hence me and Colin carrying him some of the way.

Mount Shasta

whilst out walking with Hayden I took a picture of Mount Shasta, it looked unreal as were standing in the sunshine, in a field by Hat Creek and there was this enormous snow covered mountain which did not look quite right on a hot day. We have been to Mt Shasta as Colin, Shane and Adam have all skied there, needless to say, Marisa and I did not, well, we had a baby to look after as Hayden was only very tiny then.

American trip

There were so many pictures taken so here are just a few, I know Marisa had posted a few but these are probably some of my favourites. Hayden was great fun to be with, we really felt like 'real' grandparents and not just the two people who speak to him in a square box (skype that is), Colin played english football with him but Hayden got a bit bored with that, he liked it when we would actually play on the childrens toys in the park, well Colin did that most of the time but he loved it really. We had Hayden a few times on our own whilst Marisa went to work and we took him to local places that is just so breath taking, life in Burney is certainly different to life in Tunbridge Wells, the air is cleaner, people talk and smile at you, especially when they hear the British accent and there are so many open areas where you can walk for miles without seeing anyone. Colin and I went for a walk on our own one day and went to an enormous lake, we sat on a log in the sunshine and just watched the world go by, it was so quiet and peaceful - ah to be there again.

American trip

Now I know we have been back over two months, but, we were waiting for Marisa to send a memory stick to us with all the pictures on as I forgot to take an English plug thing to charge my camera battery with, so, we had to rely on M to do this, anyway, she sent it to us sometime ago but I have been working a lot and today is the first chance I have had to blog them. We bought Hayden a sand pit for his birthday and all the sand plus lots of toys to go in it, we thought it was great (well, Colin did he played with Hayden), its a frog sand pit and looked great in their ever developing garden. Hayden seemed to like it and hope in the future Elliot will as well.

Chatham Historic Dockyards

Last weekend we met up with our friends Mike and Joan at the dockyards for a day out. It was very hot and also armed forces day so there were retired servicemen from the three services. Late morning there was a parade by these ex-servicemen from the British Legion with the young cadets (servicemen and women for the future), we also took the opportunity of going onto the old type sailing ship, this is where Colin was imagining he was on the boat 100's of years ago, it is hard to believe that this ship was actually a working ship from years ago. Joan and Mike went onto the submarine but we had already done this with Jamie last year so didn't do it this time. It was a lovely day and always great to catch up with our very dear friends of many years. The first phot is of Colin standing next to one of his all time hero's---Napolien Bonaparte.

Devon

Three weeks ago we went to visit Jamie in Devon, it was Father's day weekend and took Win and George along as well. We rented two little cottages (although it was a barn in its previous life) on a farm which was quiet and very pretty in a little village called Uffcombe. The weather was beautiful on the Saturday and so Colin took his dad to a tiny Quay and watched the world go by while Jamie, Win and I hit the shops, not sure why the men didn't want to come along as well!!! Anyway, in the evening we went out to a pub/restaurant near where Jamie and Adam live then on the Sunday went to another type of pub where the food was yummy. Unfortunately, like all the good thing, the weekend finished and we had to leave Devon and come back home. Still, we had a lovely time and it was great to see Jamie, Adam and his two children.