Bye Bye

The Ozzies flew home today. We really enjoyed our time spent with them and T loved getting to know his cousins from down under. Despite the best efforts of the weather we also have some fabulous outdoor memories too. And I'm happy to report the English contingent faired pretty well in beach cricket ...

Camping

Back from a great camping trip at Eweleze Farm. It was T and F's first taste of camping and thankfully they loved it, with perfect weather helping. The campsite is in an amazing location. It has very simple facilities, but is very uncrowded and perfect for families.

Sports Day

The big sporting event of the summer (for T and F anyway) took place yesterday. Freya did well in her sprint, but was hampered by being the youngest in her class and she has only been walking a few weeks, so her running is not quite there yet.

Thurston did well in his relays, but his team mates let him down. A poor start and the other athletes cutting him up did for him in the solo sprint, but there's always next year.

One consolation is that I won the Tug of War after making sure I was on the same side as all the fat dads.

New Forest

Had a really great time down in Bournemouth. Forest on Saturday, beach on Sunday.

Legoland

Off to Legoland yesterday. Good time was had by all. In our testing of family destinations this week, we did Wisley, London twice, Legoland and Mercedes Benz World.

Wisley is a nice place to take kids if they are under 5. Mercedes Benz world is great for boys over 5 and Legoland is great for kids between 3-8 (but not a cheap day out!)

First Steps

As any parent will tell you, when the little ones start walking it's a pretty exciting occasion.
Freya finally decided that crawling wasn't much fun anymore and started walking yesterday. Maybe she had been waiting for the house to be full as she had quite a big crowd for it. Much clapping all round and Freya feeling very pleased with herself.

A New (Aussie) Vocabulary 2

Barrack verb. Laura barracks for Freo Dockers and I barrack for Saints. Apparently.

Wisley Whingers

On Sunday we went to Wisley and went to the new multi-million pound greenhouse. We got told off by some old battleaxe for taking this photo and there were quite a few of the old RHS blue rinse brigade there.

I actually prefer the old greenhouse, which was hot, sweaty and full of plants. Maybe the new one will get more character once things start to grow, but it all appears a bit clinical at the moment.

A New (Aussie) Vocabulary

A rashie apparently is a type of swimwear. My family from down under were very surprised at my ignorance. I made it clear that rashies weren't compulsory at Woking's Pool in the Park, but it seems they won't go swimming without them.

Doubling The Numbers

Welcome to Pacuare People, our new blog of happenings at Pacuare. The idea is to let friends and family know what we're up to and have a place where you can leave your comments.

We thought now would be a good time to start as my sister arrives tomorrow from Australia. I'm off to pick her up at 5am tomorrow and much as I am looking forward to seeing her and the kids, the thought of doubling the numbers in Pacuare for a week is filling me with a certain amount of dread......