This last fortnight we have had our three Grandchildren from the South coast to visit us, joining our usual two local Grandkids and their two cousins, making seven altogether to sleep and feed.

Fortunately for our survival prospects, Daughter Sara and Niece Tracey shared the load so we managed OK  and a good time has been had by all.

Pics below show a game of Bulldog , and fun around the treehouse. The video shows the kids on the slide and the rope swings around the treehouse.

Having been practising together for the last week or two in our converted brick garage, Luc, Sam, Pete and Elliott did their first public gig since grandson Sam joined the band as their drummer. 

Playing in a group is a complete change from Sam’s usual stints playing drums and timpany in school brass bands, youth orchestras and swing bands.

The gig was at a local pub’s concert room, and the group did a mix of cover numbers along with some of their own compositions. 

The following video shows them performing one of their numbers:

 Just returned from our “Taste of the Tyrol” railway trip to Austria organized by  York-based Great Rail Journeys.  This involved an early morning rail journey to London Kings Cross, connecting with the Eurostar train at St. Pancras station.

From there, it was through the Channel Tunnel and to Brussels at around 180mph, and then through to Cologne where we stayed overnight at the Eurogarden Hotel.

Next morning it was on to Jenbach in the heart of the Austrian Tyrol, from which base we took trips on steam trains, funicular railways and cable cars in various towns and villages in the Tyrol for the next six days before taking the return journey home.

The journeys were all very enjoyable, and the scenery always spectacular. Pics below show the Hotel Jenbacherhof where we stayed, our Suite from the balcony door, a view of  Kufstein, (where do they get all those flowers from on the chalet balconies ?) the lakeside road at Achensee, one of the pleasure boats on Achensee, and a view from the cable car at Mayrhofen.

My little Grandchildren are growing up before my eyes ! The eldest, Sam, plays the drums and is now in a group with cousin Lucas and two schoolfriends of Lucas. Looking for a practice studio, I suggested my brick garage, which is isolated from the house, so then followed several trips to the local council tip to get rid of old tellys and computer monitors etc., accumulated over the years, and which nobody wanted, to create the necessary space.

There’s still a lot to do, but they could just squeeze in as you will see in the following video:

Daughter Sara and family invited us over to theirs for a barbecue last Sunday, along with son John and family. The forecast for the day was not good, predicting showers in the afternoon, but in the event it stayed dry and fairly warm, and there were even  sunny intervals.

Meanwhile back home, only six or seven miles away, it poured down in the afternoon. Better born lucky than rich !

The food was good and the kids all had fun in the garden and in the nearby play area.

Pics below show us enjoying the meal and John’s little girl Amy having outdoor fun. A good time was had by all ! 

Well, it’s been that time of year again, time for our first of two annual top-ups of sun at the Red Sea.

This year we have been a few weeks later than usual for our Spring visit, leaving it to the middle of April, so it has been warmer than usual, but in any case the climate in that region has been warmer than usual for the time of year, so we spent more time in the water and under the sunshades than last year.

On our last Autumn visit on October last, we took the whole Ramsden clan of fifteen; ourselves, three offspring and wives, and seven Grandchildren, which was terrific, but we were ready this time for a relaxing break just by our little selves ! Since it was our ninth visit to this venue, we expected our usual welcome, but this time it exceeded our expectations; every single one of the staff we encountered gave us a warm welcome back and asked about the family. It really has been once again a real “home from home”.

Pics 1 & 2 below show Madge and I relaxing on loungers by the pool; the third shows a local resident on the beach.

This week we had our Grandkids from the South Coast visiting us, in the persons of Jake, 11, and twins Lauren (Lolly) and Dan (8). We did manage to get out to the local park once, but on the whole the weather has been too wet to play out much, so most of the time has been spent indoors.

Continuing the family tradition of making things, Jake was keen to work in Sam’s workshop and his enthusiasm carried Lauren and Dan along, so that all three spent hours in there doing various projects using wood, glue, nails and Sam’s frame and mitre saw and his safe electric detail sander.

There was a small swivel-lid box in there which Jake did a very good copy of from bits of wood that he found. So that the younger two could take home something similar, I cut out some wood strips and plywood panels and I set up a production run to make three pencil boxes.

They each glued together their own sides and ends using a heated glue stick gun, and glued and nailed on the tops and bottoms. Ends and sides were sanded smooth, and the only help I gave was in drilling the hole for the lid and cutting the diagonal closing cut in the lid.

First pic below shows Jake’s first box along with Lolly’s “L” trophy and two rulers, and second pic shows the three finished ”mass production” pencil boxes. Great fun was had by all, including Grandad !

Recently added to our weekend Grandkids tally of four with their Cousin Amy from the East Coast. Amy was recovering from an illness so we were looking after her for a few days until she was well enough

We were lucky with the weather and had lots of outdoor activities as well as fun indoors. Amy is quite a character, and the older boys are fascinated by her when she visits. They make quite a fuss of here and include them in their games when they can, which makes our life a lot easier !

All our grandkids seem to possess the family keenness for making things; they are never happier than when they are involved in some construction project or other.

First pic below shows Amy in construction mode with the building blocks, second one shows Nanan taking her on the traditional family walk on a nearby low wall, and the third pic shows Sam and Lucas on the Tandem Skateboard that they made over the weekend from a stray plank when their ancient skateboard finally snapped in two.

Been a bit pushed lately with Grandkid duties and general family stuff, so a bit of catching up to do.

The end of January saw Madge and I on our usual Winter Warmer break, this time at Warners’ Bodelwyddan Castle in North Wales. It was a 5-day break with free booze, so a good time was certain. The castle has a state-of-the art indoor bowling rink, swimming pool and gym and evening entertainment centre with dancing to a live band and excellent visiting acts. Part of the castle is also the National Museum of Wales, with lots to see. Of particular interest to me were the Victorian machanical toys and puzzles on the top floor; fascinating.

Pics below show two shots of the outside of the castle and a shot of me in action in the bowling rink. As you can see, our foursome had the rink to ourselves at this point.

All in all, a nice warm-up break to get us in the mood for our Red Sea break in April. Can’t wait !