Summer holidays are over

Well, actually, there's a wee bit more than that happened since the last post.  But the main event was undoubtedly our summer trip to see Margaret, Tom, Paul and Nick in the biggest and best state of them all - Texas!  (Well, at least that's what they told us.)  As well as Dallas, we toured around Texas, taking in Fort Worth, San Antonio, South Padre Island and the Space Centre at Houston.

Before that, the year ended well for all the kids, with both Calum and Hannah winning school prizes for achievement.  But Texas, wasn't our only jaunt.  At Easter we spent a week in Cyprus and we've also managed to squeeze some camping trips, including a gorgeous weekend at the end of April near Pitlochry.

However, they're all back to school tomorrow, so it's back to normality - including the weekly doses of homework.  Hurray!

Christmas and New Year Epilogue

Well, that'll be that then.  Decorations are down, rubbish has been taken to the dump, we're promising ourselves to go a walk tomorrow, I'm back at work on Wednesday and the kids are back at school on Thursday.  As always, it's been a very busy Christmas and New Year: Christmas Day at Elizabeth's, the pantomime in Glasgow (without Gerard Kelly - mixed emotions about that that); Hogmanay at the Lea Park in Grangemouth (OK - but not brilliant); and New Year's Day dinner at our house.

There were 24 of us for dinner on New Year's Day.  Slightly less than previous years, but the children are getting bigger, so it was still a bit of a squeeze. Also good that everyone got on with each other and that there were no arguments (well, nothing major, anyway).

All we have to do now is count the cost (which I can't believe) and start planning for next year.

Don't you just love building Airfix?

I'd forgotten how wonderful Airfix kits are - until Calum got his first kit from Santa.  (Thank you, Santa!)  It only took us two hours to paint and assemble the pilot in his ejector seat!  Can't wait to get stuck into the rest of the aeroplane.

Holidays, a tent, a wedding and lots of snow

So, what have we been up to since June?  Not updating this blog for starters!

Summer holiday was a very hot two weeks in Crete.  It started in the usual way - disagreement about whether the room we were allocated was what we had booked.  After we left Anne to it, it was sorted out.  As well as the five of us, we had our niece Katie with us.  Katie and Hannah had a room to themselves - and had a ball.

This year was the year of our new tent.  We used it three times - a weekend in Perth with our Edinburgh friends, another weekend near Graham in Eccleston, and a few days during the October week near Bamburgh.  Hannah hasn't been too impressed - she'd prefer a palace on wheels - but everybody else thinks it's great.  One downside was the field that was a bit of a mudbath near Eccleston.

Our niece Louise tied the knot with Andy, to become the new Mr & Mrs Houlis.  Anne made the trip to Cyprus (one of her many holidays this year).  And then we all travelled to Newcastle for the UK reception.

And the year ended with the 2010 Big Freeze throughout almost the whole of December.  Martin spent many happy hours clearing away snow from the drive.  And we're now waiting for the next snowdump in January.

Who needs Lloyd-Webber?!?

Kinnaird Primary excels itself yet again with a superb production of Wizard of Oz!  The whole cast brought the house down and Calum had a leading role as General Growlie.  Pure dead brilliant!

Prague in Spring

Just back from a superb four-and-a-bit days in Prague.  It was wonderful - even without the children.  Did everything you would expect - including an adventure on the local train service to Karlstein (only managed to get on the wrong train once).  Also went to the State Opera (to see an excellent production of Carmen) and an organ/trumpet duet recital in St Nicholas Church (highlight was an improvisation by the organist).  Back to work.  Tired.  Happy!

84th birthday

One day early, we celebrated Grandma's 84th birthday on Sunday.  Went for High Tea to the Elgin Hotel in Charlestown.  Graham phoned part way through and Sheila forgot that it might not be cost-free.  Children behaved themselves reasonably, didn't annoy the other diners too much and didn't eat all the cakes.  Hannah amused herself taking close-up photos of a Hello Kitty figure.  All-in-all, a lovely afternoon.