Thursday 31 August 2006

Gone To Berlin

Almost caught up but I've run out of time. I'm off to Berlin this weekend with a couple of mates - the guys I usually go skiing with. I've still got to tell you about sailing to the Channel Islands and I also went to the Nottinghill Carnival last Monday.


My flight with easyJet leaves at 6:30am which means I'm leaving the house at 3am! Arrgghh.

Wednesday 30 August 2006

Bristol International Balloon Fiesta 2006


Our last little excursion before Jenny took the kids to Malaysia was a drive to see the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta.


I had first heard about this a few years ago and always thought it would be interesting to see. It's Europe's largest simultaneous launch of hot air balloons. Great photo opportunity. Unfortunately, the winds were too strong on the day so the launch was cancelled. And worse, my camera battery died so this is my only balloon picture! There's some more pictures on the fiesta gallery website.


What I didn't realise was that the fiesta is also a massive funfair. The kids went on a few rides and insisted on getting fake tatoo's. There was also a parachuting display and a stunt motorcycle display in the main field. Definitely a good day of entertaintment.


It was only a two hour trip each way with no major traffic queues. Might try again next year and I'll remember to charge my batteries!

Bekonscot Model Village


With R* busy on her watersports week, I took K* over to see the Bekonscot Model Village one afternoon. He's getting a bit old for this kind of stuff but he still seemed to enjoy it. We took R* years ago when she was small and you tend to forget about taking your second child to all the places you took the first one. It blurs together doesn't it?


Bekonscot is the world's very first model village and it still is a superb place to take a young child. I would recommend it for three to six year olds.

Watersports Week


R* has been doing very well with her swimming this year. At the beginning of August, we sent her to a watersports week at a local lake.


She tried out dinghy sailing, wind surfing and kayaking. She enjoyed the sailing and felt she was good at wind surfing.


Of course, you can see my cunning plan here, can't you? Get the family sailing, one at a time.

West Wittering Beach

A few Saturdays ago, we decided to do a day trip to the beach. What should have been only about a 90 minute drive turned into a 3 hour slog to get to West Wittering Beach. Driving anywhere in the UK during the summer can be a nightmare.

It was great once we got there and settled down. Had our picnic and sploshed about in the tidal pool. We had bought some proper beach spades this time so we set about digging as usual. The weather wasn't great and later in the afternoon we lost the sun completely and left to go find a nearby pub before heading home.

Marvellous In The Park 2006


Marvellous In The Park held at Wellington Country Park last July was as good as usual this year. Our only mistake was leaving too late and getting caught in the massive traffic queues to get in.


Nevertheless, we found a good spot not far from the stage and watched the cover bands of Santana, Fleetwood Mac and Queen. The Queen cover band was very good and had the sound and vocals just perfect.


It ended with a decent fireworks display and we hung about afterwards drinking coffee and hot chocolate waiting for the traffic to clear. Always a good day out.

Thursday 17 August 2006

Summer 2006

Sorry for the lack of posts. We've been doing stuff but I haven't got around to blogging about it. I'll have to do a big catch-up later. Right now Jenny is in Malaysia with the kids and tomorrow I'm off to sail around the Channel Islands for a week. Tell you about it when I get back.