Sunday 29 October

This morning we got up and had a full English breakfast... yum.. Thanks Aunty Jean... Then we went out to the Peterborough Salvation Army Corps to attend the Sunday morning meeting. It was really great and nice to meet a brand new crowd of people. Really nice corps.

Following a hearty roast lunch and watching a few episodes of Hallelujah (a comedy on the Salvation Army - starring the late Thora Hird which I have now on DVD thanks to Uncle Graham and Aunty Jean) we said goodbye and took the 2 and a half hour drive back to Cheshire... A really nice drive.

Thanks for a great weekend uncle Graham and Aunty Jean. They head off in a couple ofweeks to visit mum and dad in Perth, then they are off to Adelaide to house sit for a few months. Say hi to everyone, especially Amaya, who we haven't seen yet.

Click the link below to order your own copy of the hallelujah DVD series!
http://www.ddhe.co.uk/p2_D09939_Hallelujah%20%20Series%201%20%20andamp%20%20Series%202.htm

Saturday 28 October

Today Di and I went down to Peterborough to visit Uncle Graham and Aunty Jean. We have only seen them once since we've been here so it was nice to go and visit again and stay for the weekend. We went into Peterborough for lunch, and while we were there we visited the Peterborough Cathedral - have a look at http://www.peterborough-cathedral.org.uk/ . We also had to get our neice and Cath and Mark some goodies.

In the evening Sharon, Lindsay and their two boys Joshua and Gregory came over to visit, of course we had to have a group photo.


Here's another nice photo of Sharon, Lindsay, Josh and Gregory.

We had a great night of chatting, playing Uno (which involved a lot of cheating), eating and having a great time. Here's a clip of us from the night!

Sunday 22 October

This morning while Di slept from her night shift at Leighton Hospital Robyn, Cheryl and I went for a 2 hour walk along the start of the Sandstone trail which began at Frodsham near Chester.. Check out what we saw on our walk.




Here's me walking down Jaobs ladder a really steep cliff face path with groves etched into the rock because of thousands of years of people walking on this path...



Here's Robyn and Cheryl on the 2100 Year old wall...










Here's us fighting our way through cows and bullocks...

We had a really nice walk, then we went home and picked up Di and went out for Dinner at a local pub... hmmm Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding....

Saturday 21 October

Today Robyn, Cheryl, Di and I went for a long drive to Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire. Yes this is the home of Robin Hood, and as a new BBC series has just come out here in England on Robin Hood we decided to go to Sherwood Forest ourselves to see what it was really like. Check out this preview of the BBC's Robin Hood series




Here's Di and I at the front entrance. As soon as you enter you can walk through a display which tells you a lot of the history of Robin Hood.








Here's Di in the stocks for being a naughty Girl!




Here's Peter being pardoned by the king!!




Here's Robyn being Robin.








While we were there we got to see Robyn Hood in action!!

Check out Part 2!

Sunday 14 October

Today Amaya was being shown off to family friends Gordon and Marie Collins.













As you can see Mark and Catherine have got some great flowers as a reward for producing such a georgeous little girl!!
















Here's the grandparents once again showing off their new addition to the Family... AMAYA!!!

Saturday 14 October

This morning while Diane was sleeping, due to her night shift, I decided to go for a circular walk around Beeston Castle.

As you can see the map on the left doesn't look like much of a walk, but how long do you think it took to walk?1 hour, 2 hours maybe 3? No it took 4 hours. Perhaps one of the longest walks I've ever been on. my poor little legs were tuckered out when I got back to the car. But the walk was beautiful.

I know I'm biased being an Englishman, but I must say England has some of the best scenery in the world. I'm loving getting to explore all these great places, plus the history to go with it is amazing. This castle was built in the 1200's, although it's pretty much a ruin today it's still hard to comprehend people used to live in it, and there were little farming communities surrounding it. I got to walk through this history today and it was awesome.

Just look at look at how peaceful and beautiful it was at Beeston..

Sunday 8 October

This weekend Uncle Paul, Aunty Chris, Di and I went to visit Aunty Chris's cousin Janet and her husband Colin who live in Halesowen in Birmingham. We spent Sunday afternoon at the Black Country Museum. The Black Country is the name of a coal mining area near Birmingham which got it's name from all the smog and soot that was the result of mining.


So there was a lot of old trams





a fun fair including a Helter Skelter.
There was loads of old buildings like Bakery's and Pubs...
barges, schools, you name it... And it taught you all about life in te Black Country over the past 200 years... The Barges actually went under ground through a complex tunnel system built over 150 years ago!! Amazing

Amaya's Puzzle

Try and put this picture of Amaya back together!!

New Grandparents

Check out the new Grandparents

Monday 2 October - The Arrival of Amaya Grace Grant

Congratulations Mark and Catherine!!!



This morning we learnt that Catherine and Mark had their first child...YAY!!!! Whoo Hoo!!! We're Uncle and Aunty!!! Congratulations Mark and Catherine!!!













For those who voted (7 voted a Girl and 5 voted a Boy),they had a GIRL, and her name is Amaya Grace Grant!!! 4 Pounds in weight with brown curly hair... what a sweet name ... cute.. Look how cute she is!!! The whole world needs to see their beautiful child!!










We sent them a little present as we saw it at a baby show in Sydney before we left.
It's really cute.. The Kinderkot.. Check it out.. she'll look cute in it!!

http://www.kinderkot.com.au

Sunday 1 October

This morning we woke to learn that Peter's twin sister Catherine was going to be induced today to give birth to her first baby. Although we were all very excited in anticipation of the babies arrival Catherine was hoping that it wouldn't come today as having three birthdays on the same day in the same family would be very much a mixed blessing. So she was ordered by Mark to keep her legs together.

So at the end of the phone call we all went on to enjoy our days hoping that we'd get great news soon of the arrival of their child and our niece or nephew. After a quick walk we all got ready to go out for lunch at a local restaurant not far from Middlewich.

It's a great little non-smoking pub that has the best food... no not the Salt Cellar.. they have great toad in the hole... this place has the best 3 course sunday roasts!!!

Pete was in heaven for his lunch, Soup - Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding and Apple Strudel... mmmm... and I too had soup, but the salmon and shared a chocolate dessert with Aunty Chris.


After a terrific lunch we headed on home and Aunty June and Uncle Tony left to go back home to Reddich... sniff..





We had a really great time and it was sad to say goodbye. Although they only live an hour and a half way. We had a really great weekend. Then after an afternoon nap Pete and I went to see the new 9/11 movie at Crewe cinemas, just 10 minutes away from us. It was really a great movie and the story line is quite moving and nothing like what we expected.


After a great day we came home and crashed...

Saturday 30 September

Today was a great day as we got to go to Llandudno in Wales for the day with Aunty June and Uncle Tony. We had a really great time and just look at how nice this town is, right on the beach... well stones...


it was a really nice place and we had a picnic on the promo.

Perfect weather or what??

The weather while we've been in England has been terrific, even when it rains it's refreshing. Everywhere is so green and lush, we love it.

We spent time checking in and around the area of Llandudno then headed off back home.

After a long day we headed home and the 6 of us enjoyed a great game of Uno... Aunty Chris won again.... she's hard to beat.