Had a lovely Christmas Day at daughter Sara’s house this year.  Son John and family  also came for our first Christmas family get-together this year, so there were six of us plus kids Sam, Tom, Katie and Amy.

 Sara cooked a splendiferous dinner and we all enjoyed opening our presents around the Christmas tree. Below is a Smilebox thank-you slideshow for Sara and Adam. Looking forward to son Paul and family joining us from down south at the weekend.

Next job for me is organizing the Kiddies’ Party this weekend, once I’ve come round and worked off that lovely Christmas dinner at Sara’s !

Make a slideshow – it’s easy!

Last week we embarked on our five-day midweek break to Nidd Hall in the Yorkshire Dales, just under an hour’s drive away from where we live.

The holiday break was a “Turkey & Tinsel” adults-only break, in which the first evening simulates Christmas Eve, the following day Christmas Day, followed by Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.

We occupied ourselves by eating, reading the newspapers, playing table tennis, dancing, walking the grounds, being entertained in the evening and generally chilling out before the real Christmas rush.

Pics below show views of the grounds, the house, the lake, a quite tame robin we came across on one of our walks, and the quite superb welcome pack we found in our room on arrival. Needless to say, in spite of the walking, dancing and table tennis, we weighed a bit more when we got back home !

At last, our Family Holiday of a Lifetime at the Red Sea materialized during October. We feel so lucky that the logistics of getting ourselves, our three grown up children, and their wives and children, fifteen of us in all, worked out without a hitch.

We did have one panic when the minibus we hired at the beginning of the holiday suddenly cut to 25 miles per hour for the last ten miles on the motorway to the airport. Turned out it was running on Biofuel which clogs the fuel filter from time to time. If I ever was green, I ain’t green any longer !

For daughter Sara and family, it was the first time to the Red Sea, so we really enjoyed seeing their reactions to surroundings which by now were familiar to the rest of us, and for all of us to be together in that wonderful climate was just magic.

Pics below show the view from Sara’s apartment balcony, cooling off in the shade by one of the seven pools, gymnastics on the lawn,  some of the Grandkids in the apartment, a bit of peacock sculpture with the bathroom towels by our talented Egyptian housekeeper, Madge with Sara and family at the pool, and a shot of Madge heading for the Sculptured pool under the shadow of the mountains. Memories to treasure for ever !

Just got back from our mid-week break at Thoresby Hall, near Nottingham. We had lots to keep us busy, with table tennis, putting, afternoon and evening dancing, music and entertainment and long walks in the grounds.

Pics below show a view of the Hall from the grounds, the interior of the Great Hall, and Madge and I down at the lake in the grounds.  The last time we were here a few years ago, there was a solitary swan on the lake, but this time there were literally scores of them all over the lake, an impressive though distant sight.

Next week, we go on our bi-annual trip to the Red Sea, and this time all our Children and Grandchildren will be with us – 15 of us altogether.

The two pics below show myself and Madge relaxing by one of the pools on our visit last year.  Can’t wait to get back there again !

Day two after completion of the Treehouse (minus roof) and the gang have wasted no time in making and adding their own little tweaks, like a Tarzan swing and a rope ladder. They’ve used so much energy in the last few days that they must be sleeping like logs !

Pic below shows Tom climbing their new rope ladder, Luc (nearly) and Jackson actually in  the Treehouse, and Sam on the Tarzan swing.  Wish I had their energy !

Penultimate update on Treehouse.

Sam, Tom, Lucas and Jackson all worked hard on Friday to help me screw together the parts to form the four upright frameworks, then Sam and Lucas coated them with wood preservative. The design of the whole project has evolved “on the hoof” as new ideas have cropped up. For instance, we found we needed less intermediate uprights, and decided to make the whole thing more open by making the “walls” slatted rather than close boarded, which had the added bonus of  reducing wind resistance.

Yesterday I prepared the wood for the vertical slats to form the four low “walls” and the rear entry gate, and today we screwed them all in place, and amid great excitement actually managed to erect the whole structure on the support platform without additional adult help. All that remains now, apart from having fun,  is to make the roof and fix it in place. I’ve just realized that it was only a week ago that I started welding the support frames together…never expected to get up and running this quickly. Great stuff !

Pics below show first me and then Lucas  posing in the Treehouse just after the last screws were driven home, followed by a view down to the ground:-

At last, Summer has arrived here in the UK ! After months of cold, rainy weather and floods, the sun has finally arrived- and right on cue, as we are entertaining our three Grandchildren Jake, Lauren and Dan from the South Coast for a fortnight, in addition to the usual local team of Sam, Tom, Lucas and Jackson who are now on holiday from school. Also in the team at the weekend have been our Grandkids from the East coast, Katie and Amy.

We started off with a family meal down at one of the local pub restaurants, visits to the local parks, and last weekend a trip to the East Coast to visit Katie and Amy and have a full day at the local beach in glorious sunshine.

According to online forecasts, it looks like the weather is going to be mostly warm and sunny for the rest of the fortnight;  better born lucky than rich !

Pics below show the family enjoying the pub meal, a game of Cluedo, the Gang having a beach picnic, Dan and Jake inspecting small crabs on the beach, Sam bringing in his Dragon Kite on the beach, and Nanan and Lauren enjoying the rollercoaster at the beach fairground.