Lucy M. in the snow!

Lucy Morales on the pontoon in Dartmouth with a sprinkling of snow- not quite as much as Hannah and Dan had  in Brighton covering Pinafore!
Lucy M. is keeping Phil occupied during a very slow period on the Yacht Taxi, there are always odd jobs to do on a yacht! Now the engine is running he has plans to put her on the wall(when the tide is right) and scrape the weed from her bottom- there is rather a lot of it !

Moving Pinafore!

During half term we headed to Portsmouth, and after depositing Lydia and Julia with friends, Phil and I joined Pinafore and her crew to sail to Brighton. The crew member at the top is the only one who showed no signs of mal-de-mer! Needless to say we were all very glad to tie up on the West Jetty. Facilities at Brighton Marina are great and should make life very convenient for Hannah, Dan and Sophia.

A busy month!

We started October by celebrating our 31st wedding anniversary- Phil and I went out to lunch in Dartmouth.
Phil and Lydia made the very long trip to Norwich to visit UEA, one of Lydia's preferred choices of university.
Then we all piled into the van and began our country-wide tour. First to Canterbury to visit the university (eliminated from the list!) then to see Phil, Syanne and Bobby!  From there we drove Lydia to the John Osborne Arvon Centre for her Starting to write course. Once she was safely deposited there we drove on to Durham to stay with Phil's Mum. Then back to collect Lydia and home to Dartmouth! Phew!
But now another trip looms to help Hannah, Dan and Sophia move Pinafore to her new home in Brighton Marina. Might even manage some photos next time!!

Visit to Sophia

I escaped from Dartmouth as Regatta was drawing to a close in order to visit Hannah, Dan and Sophia.
They have just bought a Prout Quest 31 to live on in Brighton Marina.As well as a chance to spend time with them I was also tasked to help them clear out unwanted 'stuff'. It was a very worthwhile exercise judging by the amount of stuff either free-cycled or taken to charity shops!

Oh, and we also had some fun!!

Lynton with Phil!

I'm afraid I bottled out of camping onboard Jireh in dodgy weather so...we headed for North Devon.The scenery was fantastic and the tea-shops very welcome!

Summer weather!

Julia has gone to CYC and Lydia is waiting for a friend to come and stay, and Phil and I are supposed to be going away for a few days. As expected the sun is not shining and the washing is staying wet on the line!
Hopefully things will improve  and we can enjoy a break from home!

Sophia's Camping Trip

Sophia slept in this tent on Great-Grandma's birthday gathering!

It is a rather old Force 10 tent that Phil and I have owned and camped in for nearly as long as we have been married!

Hannah's Birthday!

We have had another visit from Hannah and Sophia this week, it was Hannah's birthday on tuesday. This week is also half-term/study leave for the girls.The weather has been great!
Hannah, Sophia, Lydia and I had a girls day out in Exeter on wednesday and on thursday we all went to the beach at Mattiscombe!
Lydia has done two of her AS exams and has two more to go! Roll on next friday! There is a higher education information evening for parents at school next week which I will go to, Lydia is looking at English Literature and Creative Writing degrees at Warwick, UEA,Kent and Aberwystwth(?)- either that or join the RM Band Sevice!! We shall see!

Christian HE group

I belong to two groups( Dart Valley HE group and Devon Christian HE). Because Julia is out every thursday participating in the Arts Awards group( bronze award moderation is looming!) we don't go to evey meeting. Actually there are three groups! (Teignbridge and Torbay).

Anyway, if we wnt to everything we would never be at home(except maybe on tuesday!) and we would also be a lot poorer because of how much diesel costs! We pick and chose what suits us and this week we went on a visit to Compton Castle(near Paignton), weather wasn't great but was to good to catch up with folks and meet new faces.

Sew Mama Sew giveaway day

One of the things that is great about the internet is all the creative stuff going on- to inspire and encourage, and provide great materials and patterns.
Each year( or maybe more often) Sew Mama Sew coordinate a huge number of give-aways from various crafty bloggers.This is my second year(time?) of commenting on various blogs in the hope of winning some crafting goodies.One that I would particularly like to win this year is from SewTakeAHike!! she has a gift voucher to a great store SuperBuzzy, which has lots of Japanese stuff( who would have guessed that they like sewing so much!).
Any way here is my post, it is my third chance in the draw! I really hope I win!

http://sewtakeahike.typepad.com/sewtakeahike/2010/05/superbuzzy-new-sponsor-partay.html#tp

Here is the link to the sewtakeahike blog ( not very good with all this technical stuff!)

A busy week!

The week started with a phone call from Daniel and a trip to Totnes to collect him from the station.Monday took us to one of our favourite places- Little Dartmouth and its rocks, caves and little bays.

                                                                                                                                                                       

Daniel rigged up his ropes from the balcony and had everyone (except me and Sophia!) going up and down!Tuesday saw Phil and Daniel out in the kayaks.Then on wednesday I collected Hannah and Sophia from the station.           

We had a lovely time all together,Lydia insisted on a Watson children picture!

Daniel went back to Portsmouth on the Thursday and on Friday Hannah and Sophia joined Phil, Julia and myself on a home-ed group trip to Greenway House, a beautiful place to visit on the lovely River Dart.

Easter in the Lakes

We returned yesterday from a fantastic week in the Lakes- glorious weather and lovely company, really refreshing and restful.

Sophia enjoyed lots of attention from her aunties and grandparents!

Dan was the first to go for a paddle with Phil on Sunday after Church and lunch.

Auntie Lydia having a cuddle while Mummy and Grandma took it in turns to go for a paddle with Grandad.

Tuesday found us making an ascent of the Old Man of Coniston.Quite an achievement for us all.

Even Sophia enjoyed her first experience of the Lakes!

Julia is 13!!

                                                    Can't believe my baby is 13!!!

Having a birthday at easter is not always easy when you have to fit in your celebration plans with Easter services etc, but Julia enjoyed friends,pizza and a sleepover on 4th April, her 13th birthday.

WIP

Just another little something for Sophia! Just needs the band around the bottom to complete it! the pattern is called 'Modern Baby Bonnet'.

Sophia's dress.

Completed!
Next time yoy see it Sophia will be wearing it(if it fits? Here's hoping!).

Happy Birthday Lydia!

How did she get to be 17!! Can't believe she is so grown up!! University choices loom, and 'A' level work takes up a lot of her time.Really glad she had a good day with her Kingsbridge pals.

Arts Award

Wednesday found Julia catching the bus to Plymouth with the Arts Award group to take part in a workshop day- a professional theatre production followed by a choice of workshops. She had a great day, and met new friends. She will be going to a weekly session in Buckfastleigh to work towards her first Arts Award.

Busyness!

Last week Julia and I spent time on tuesday and friday with Joelle, Marie and Francois, the french family that we met last October half-term. The idea was that we helped them with their english(which is very good) and they helped us with our french(which is not that good!). We had great fun!

Half term

We spent a lovely few days with Hannah,Dan and Sophia. Lydia's plans were upset when the singer she was going to see cancelled with a sore throat! But I think she enjoyed getting together with Molly and co.
The rest of us spent time with the Durdins and also caught up with Daniel and Sarah( check out Phil's blog for climbing pictures!)
While in Porstmouth we bought a new wireless printer, so I can finally print from the net-book and Phil can print Sibelius without plugging in to the downstairs printer! I have printed off some more knitting patterns so that when I have finished Sophia's dress I can make her some more stuff! Also bought fabric to make her some summer clothes!

Julia's work blog

In my efforts to be more organised I am trying an idea that others have mentioned- namely a private blog where I set work for Julia to do each week/day. She can also write on the blog, so she can tell me what she has completed each day/week. Phil can also write posts, he does Astronomy with Julez once a week and it also means that he can satisfy himself that she is actually doing something every day!!

New Kayak

Those regular blog readers will know that last August I had my yellow Easky 15 stolen from the top of the van in Tesco's car park in Poole.So in the interests of simplification we have sold two of our three kayaks and bought a Dagger Charleston 15 for me to go paddling with Phil. It is also small enough for Lydia and Julia to paddle. We plan to join the local canoe club for Julia and Lydia to get paddling some more, and they can use club boats.
The Charleston was bought on Ebay,and rather ironically, Phil drove to Poole today to collect it! Thank you darling!

Dress for Sophia

In planning for Sophia's thanksgiving/dedication service, hannah decided that a new dress was in order! So this is my latest knitting project, and very sweet it is too! I've got until the end of March!

Snow!!

Maybe not as much as some people, but enough for Julia to get excited about and enough to close Lydia's school- although she didn't find out until nearly there! Still- she caught a bus back and will enjoy a day at home.