Tuesday 29 August

DI's First Day at WORK!!!! After 8 weeks off work waiting for her UK Criminal Check to come through she finally has had the clearance to work!!! How hot is she in her uniform??? Whoa... minxy... I am so glad i married a hot nurse...
Congratulations minx on your first shift at Manchester Royal Infirmary Hospital in down town Manchester.

Monday 28 August

Today we had our final Fry Up breakfast then the four of us went on the walk of the long weekend, around the Malham Cove. It was once again amazing scenery and breath taking views. Look at this cove and stream.... couldn't you just sit next to this all day??? Heaven??

While we were on our walk it rained quite heavily and although you can't see in this lying down shot it is raining quite hard. We walked about 4 miles.. might not sound much but it was all up and down hills. A truly great work out.

Sunday 27 August

This morning began with another English Breakfast Fry Up... mmmm.... then a little rest to recover from breakfast. Then after that we headed off to .... to go for a walk around the ..... falls. As you can see from the photos it was an amazing walk and truly georgeous.
It took about 2 hours, and while we were on this walk Uncle Paul and Aunty Chris went shopping to get some hiking boots...
We had a really great walk and the falls were amazing.

Following this great walk we went to some caves that were nearby, which are the longest and deepest in Britain!! Here's uncle Paul and Aunty Chris getting ready to take the trip.

And here is Di on the trek underground. Doesn't she look cute??? Yes indeed.

Following this tiresome trek we headed back to Malham and had a short rest before we headed back to Skipton for the most amazing meal of the weekend at a Grill/Steak/seafood amazing restaurant!!

Saturday 26 August

Today after our traditional B&B fry up breakfast the four of us went to visit the Malham Show which was about 400 metres down the road from he B&B or country fete as it's called in England. We got to see show jumping, cow and bull presentations including our favourite Bull from Scotland, the Highland Bull. It was a great atmosphere and we only imagined what it would be like if this was our local community!!! It would be so great to get together with your own community and share in a great day of fun and excitement.

After lunch Uncle Paul, Aunty Chris and I went on a walk while Di had a nap... she wasn't feeling very well... sniff... poor Di.. We went for a circuit walk around Malham, walking through paddocks full of sheep, horses and cows... it was so much fun!

After that we had dinner at the local pub then played Uno all night long!!!

Friday 25 August

Today was the first day of a four day weekend. Uncle Paul, Aunty Chris, Di and I took the Friday off and went away to Yorkshire for the Bank Holiday weekend.

We were heading for Malham which is not far from Skipton in the Yorkshire Dales... On the way to Malham we stopped off for a picnic in one of the most amazing picnic stops ever on top of the Yorkshire Dales... Where we were surrounded by the flower Heather and had more than enough food... and Jammy Dodgers!! the best biscuits in the world!!

From here we headed onto Skipton where we visted the Skipton Castle and took a look around some of their street flea markets.

Then from here it was off to Malham to stay at our Bed & Breakfast.

Monday 21 August

Today was Peters first day of work, after a lot of prayer, thought and consideration he decided to go with the job at Newcorp Computer Services. It's completely different to what he has been used to at Salvosmedia in Sydney but he believes the skills and techniques used in sales will be a vital asset for him as a future Salvation Army officer.
Another great thing about his job is where he will be working... it's on a converted farmhouse in a small little town known as smallwood (not smallville - although he wishes he was superman). he gets to chat with the ducks and kingfishers every morning... Hopefully I will be working soon!!

Sunday 20 August

We rose this morning to go to the meeting at The Salvation Army in Milton Keynes.

It was here where Peter was enrolled as a Junior Soldier when he was 7 or 8 years old.

While we were there we met up with some people that new Peter when he was little.

Saturday 19 August

After a great family reunion last night we thought we'd make it an extra special family weekend by heading over to Peterborough to visit Uncle Graham and Aunty Jean. Aunty Tina drove us over so we all five of us got to spend the afternoon together.

Aunty Jean and Uncle Graham made us a delicious lunch and showed us around their new Bungalow... why is it called a Bungalow? because in the old days at one time builders ran out of money so the foremen used to say don't worry about it just "Bung a low roof on it..." Ha Get it??? It's a joke... Ha...

We had a really nice time and then Aunty Tina drove us back to Milton Keynes, where Uncle Pete joined us and we went to Woburn Sands to have more Curry!!! Yum... As you can tell Di and I love Curry.

Friday 18 August

Today Di and I left early on the Friday morning to head down to Milton keynes to visit my Dad's side of the family.
We spent the weekend at Uncle Pete and Aunty Tina's house which was really great.

Today we had a special surprise as my cousin Phillip and his wife Tina and their two boys also came over t visit Di and I, Plus my cousin Linda and her husband David came as well. I had never met Tina or David before so it was nice to meet them. Di had met some of the family members before on her last visit so she was like and old hand at the family get togethers. It was really great.

Tuesday 8 August

This week Diane's sister Robyn and her partner Cheryl moved up to Manchester to be closer to us. It's quite funny because now Di and Robyn are closer to each other in distance than what they were in Australia. Just a 20 minute drive away.

Today we went out to an Indian Restaurant in Northwich to catch up and feast on some Curry and Naan Bread... yummm.. our favourite.

Monday 7 August

Today was great, Peter had 5 people ring him about jobs today.

1 is with Astrazeneca a Pharmaceutical company, 2 is with Newcorp an IT company, 3 was with a Car Valeting company and 4 and 5 were with recruitment agencies. So he was very excited... he had an interview with the Car Valeting company this morning, then Astrazeneca tomorrow, then Newcorps on Wednesday..Yay!!

£££££... here we come.

Sunday 6 August

Today we rose early to help Aunty Chris sell all her unwanted goodies at a local Car Boot Sale (which is like a garage sale accept 100 times bigger). We helped set up the stall for Aunty Chris and one her friends Monica.

It was a morning of fun, laughs, and trading... Di and Chris were experts at upselling by the end of the day (1pm) and they were so funny to watch.

It was so much fun and we made £160 pounds in the end!!!

From there we headed back home.

Monday 31 July

Today we spent our last day in Scotland at the Edinburgh Castle, where they were getting set up for the Tattoo. There's so much history and character to this Castle and the town.

We spent a few hours looking around the Castle.

Then we headed off to the Queens Retired Royal Yacht Brittania, which is now a Museum in Scotland. Here we got to see the rooms where the Royal family slept in and the honeymoon suite for Charles and Dianna. An amazing tour if ever you get to do it, well worth the visit.

The Engine room and the living areas are amazing.

Then sadly from here we headed back to England for Middlewich... where Uncle paul and Aunty Chris serveD us a huge roast dinner, which sure beat the baked beans we'd been eatingthe last week.

Overall an amazing trip... if you haven't done it, next time you come to Scotland do it... it's so worthwhile.

Sunday 30 July

This morning we left our campsite hear at Foyers and headed North East towards Craggie, then down the A9 towards Aviemore (a beautiful skiing town, looks a lot like Switzerland).

From here we headed further south past Pitlochry (another amazing town). Then down past Perth, then down to Dunblane. Dunblane is where the shooting massacre was at a primary school. Very sad...

From here we headed to Doune Castle, which is where they filmed Monty Python and the Holy Grail...

Then finally down to Stirling where we visited the castle and found a portrait of Ken Sanz great grandfather... Just down the road is William Wallis monument as this is where he had his final battle, the battle of Stirling.. From here we headed to Edinburgh where we camped in a caravan park for the night..