Visiting M&M

We went to visit our old friends and their two boys.

The boys were extremely excited about meeting our little boys. 

We had fish and chips for lunch before walking to their local park.

There was a basketball ring so we all had a go at shooting a few hoops.

Beach Babes

We met several friends at Mordiallic beach for an early evening swim. 

Some of us hadn't been to the beach for over 2 years which meant that we had to be very careful not to get burnt.

And for one it was their first time.

The older boys went looking for things near the rocks then came and enterained the younger ones.

Everyone went into the water for a swim.

No matter what the age or ability.

Christmas Dinner

In the evening we went to the Mace's where we had a BBQ dinner.

There were lots of little ones this year and a few pregnancy announcements as well.

Christmas Lunch

We had Christmas lunch with the Stringers.

Whilst we were there we opened our presents. 


Jim handed out the gifts.

Mike and Zachary looking expectantly.

Alex desperately going for the wrapping paper.

Sophie and Meagan just starting to open their gifts.

Evil Bollards

For years we have been walking along the river and passing these traffic hazards. 

I have been meaning to show you them as I consider them to be very menacing.

Movember

Mike decided to participate in Movember (http://uk.movember.com/mospace/2529412/) and raise some money for charity.

The first signs of his 70's porn star mostache emerges.

Gaining substance

 Final version

Visiting Alan

We went and stayed at Alan's on the weekend.

Whilst we were there we decided to take the kids to the train park (you can see why we named it that).

It was very cold but clear day and we could see the last of the leaves turning on the trees.

10 Today

It was our 10th Wedding Anniversary (and 21 years in total together) and we celebrated by going to the Blue Elephant thai resturant for dinner.

We also have a tin (that's is the traditional gift for 10 years) photo frame with a picture from our wedding.  Mike got a negative and printed it out so it would fit into the frame.

Lastly, there is a very big bunch of roses.

Autumn On The Common

We went to Wimbledon Common to go for a walk in the woods.


The leaves were changing color and many had already fallen.

We saw some knarly trees.

Due to the cold weather we were all rugged up.

Alex was very comfy in the pram especially so when he had his milk as well.

Zachary tested his new wet weather gear eventhough it wasn't going to rain.  He had fleacy waders (without feet) and a fleacy rain jacket with hood on over his normal clothes.

As you can see, once Zachary found  out he could play in the puddles he really went for the extreme testing. 

Catching Up

We all went to visit our friends Holgar, Annette and little Max (who is 11 months old and just starting to walk) for lunch.  We haven't seen them for almost 3 months and we wanted to introduce Alexander to them.

The little ones waddled around their flat enjoying each others company whilst emptying all the cupboards and causing mischeif. 

After lunch we went for a walk through one of their local parks where we had a coffee and then ended up at the playground.

Zachary absolutely loved the playground and didn't want to go home.  However, we managed to get him in the car where he promptly fell asleep.

Stokesay Castle

Whilst we were in Wroxeter we visited several ruins (mainly old abbeys which were abandoned due to Henry 8th's land grab i.e. any abbey with a net worth under £250 was taken by him - this was 90% of them).

One of the English Heritage restored places was Stokesay Castle (actaully, a fortified house rather than a castle). 









They'd only fixed the building and there wasn't any furnishings.

The gate house was quite a pretty. and was built on the wall which surrounded the inner grass area to the main building.

The main building was again built on the wall and was three storeys high. 



 



Inside it was a mesh of rooms on a variety of split levels over 3 storeys.

Iron Bridge

Iron Bridge is the first bridge of iron to be built and showed that stone was not the only material with the durability required to create a bridge.

It was built in an industrial town which then took its name after the bridge.


The town is quite pretty with many of the old buildings still surviving and situated on the valley so the housing is densely layered.

We had afternoon tea at the local tea shop overlooking the bridge.

Wroxeter Roman Ruins

When we went to the Wroxeter Roman ruins it was extremely windy but dry day for late August.


We walked around the main ruins.  This was amusing as Zachary was wearing his backpack and reins which meant that he couldn't attempt to run everywhere.  However, it did cause a few mini tantrums.


We then started to have a look at the small museum which was an exercise in fruitility as this was extremely boring for Zachary.  Mike conceded defeat and we wondered over to the replica Roman villa.


Before we began exploring the villa we ate lunch.


This villa's construction was filmed as part of a Channel 4 documentary (http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/about/news/wroxeter-has-new-roman-villa/). 

This is the outside.

On the inside they painted inside with a mural of themselves.

The design isn't that far removed from many modern houses.