Glow Wild.

 A little while ago we went to Wakehurst Place. It's managed by the National Trust on behalf of Kew Gardens. It is huge, parkland, woods and formal gardens. They have something there called The Millenium Seed Bank. Their aim is to store the seed of most plants and trees in the world. We had the whole place to ourselves and got a guided tour by a very bored but incredibly knowledgeable Kew scientist. We could see the scientists testing the seeds for viability and got a good understanding of the need to store seeds for the future. 

As we left we saw some notices for something called Glow Wild to be run every weekend until Christmas. We had no idea what to expect but decided to give it a go. 

It was absolutely magical.

Massive tree.

This looked lovely but the photo is really blurry

  

The gardens we ablaze with colour. All the lights  were made from paper. It would have been a disaster if it rained. 

Paper moon.

They gave everyone a lantern. They were a bit like the ones the 7 dwarves had. Again difficult to take photos but it looked lovely as people walked along the dark paths.

The paths were illuminated with these orange lights.

These lights were strung over a lake. It looked brilliant.

Emma!!

These flowers changed colour quite quickly so we had to be quick to get a bright colour that would show up 

Wakehurst is a favoured breeding place for a particular strain of dragonfly. Again, a naff photo but they'd obviously taken a lot of effort to represent the ecological side of the event.

The house all lit up.

Waiting for Santa.

As well as all the paper lights which covered about a mile, there were hundreds of flares in amongst the forest.

I took these photos with my phone but next year will take my proper camera and see if the photos are any better

Creams Oct 2016

     

I've only been to creams once but Jo has never been so when she came down during half term it was a perfect excuse to visit the infamous ice-cream parlour.. Jo and I both had the same thing. Ice cream with chocolate,chocolate sauce, whipped cream and a portion of ice-cream on the side just in case we didn't have enough in the  massive jar it came in. , 

Another small one for Malcolm.

I think William had a crepe. Difficult to see  what it is under all that white chocolate and whipped cream.

A small waffle for Phoebe

Madelyn was delighted with this monstrosity. William was amazed that she managed to eat most of it

                    

Abigail sensibly had a milk shake.

Here we all are before the coronary inducing ice creams arrived. 

Now, this is one of my favourite photos. I absolutely love that these girls get along so well. Madelyn just adores her big cousins. One of Emma's friends said that sometimes a photo captures the adult a child will become. I think this is one of those photos. Abigail and Phoebe already making their mark in the world and little Madelyn about to begin making hers. Gorgeous, gorgeous girls.

William's family party

This fabulous little boy is now 9. Where did the time go? We were invited to James and Aimee's for a family get together. Me, Christine, Trevor and William all have our birthdays in the beginning of November so it was a celebration for us all really but Wills was the main man. 

Poor little Henry was petrified of the plasma ball. He got so upset he had to leave the room. 

Clearly going to be a favourite t-shirt.

His smiley face says it all really. He was so pleased with his presents and seemed genuinely surprised that he got the presents he asked for. Don't think he's made the link between telling Emma what he would like and her then telling us! 

 A rousing chorus of " Happy Birthday" not really sure why his candles are 7&2. Oh, ok just twigged. 7+2=9 Derrrr!

          

   Not too sure about this but he loved it 

Managed to get a few shots of pre super moon. It is supposed to be tomorrow but the forecast is grim, so I'm glad we got to see it tonight

Sunset 

Lovely end to a lovely afternoon. Thanks to James and Aimee for their hospitality. We had a great time xx

Tommy's first birthday October 30 2016.

So our little Tommy is a year old. I'm sure Vic posted these photos to the family group but some of them are just too gorgeous not to be seen again. Of course, we would have loved to have been there with Tom but, well you all know about the but!!

Just too gorgeous xx

While I was in Oz we went to Ikea and Tom played in the tunnel and tent combo. So that's what I bought him for his birthday. He looks quite happy with it, but that might be because he likes the ball more!

     Mummy made a cake

I wonder what's in here?

Not sure about this.

Me and my mum and dad. Look pretty good don't we ??

Great South Run October 2016

The morning after Lorna and Ray's do we were up at the crack of dawn to drive to Portsmouth to support Emma as she took part in the GSR. We had already decided where we were going to stand and dad had his "flag" at the ready. 

Here she comes

A wave

and a bigger wave.

They look fabulous. 

We were easy to spot apparently thanks to the makeshift flag. It was a bright red shopping bag sellotaped on  to a 6 foot bamboo garden cane. Not the easiest thing to carry around but it did the trick. I think he only annoyed one person 🙄

After this point we went to the finish line but it was stupidly crowded so I didn't get any more photos. Needless to say, really proud of this lovely lady giving it her all to raise money to help others. 

Well done Emma 

Lorna and Ray 50th Anniversary October 2016

Lorna and Ray have been married for 50 years.  An event that needed celebrating! 

We know Ray isn't one for showy things so we thought a small dinner party with the rest of the "gang" would be a good idea. But where? 

Val and I had coffee in a teashop In a village called Downe. We didn't know it but it turns out it is one of Lorna's favourite places. Attached to the teashop was a small room that was available hire. We thought it was just the sort of place that Lorne would love. The owner agreed to do an evening menu for us and we could decorate the room in any way we wanted. She was really lovely and did the evening exactly as we wanted.

We started the evening in style with a stretch limo. Probably the most uncomfortable car I've ever been in! No photos ,too busy trying to maintain my dignity on the very low, squashy seats.

All set. 

Charlotte printed a lot of photos from our years together and made a lovely display on the walls.

Lorna and Ray were delighted with our efforts.

With their gifts☺️

They were amazed that we remembered some of the finer details of their relationship. The first drink Ray bought for Lorna was a milkshake. The day before the wedding the ring went missing. It made the local radio news apparently.Ray had hired a car while his was fixed and unknown to him the ring had fallen out of his pocket. Luckily the hire place had the radio on and did a speedy search and found the ring stuck behind the seat. Only Ray!! Val gave him a souvenir ring, that's what he's got round his neck. He  also kept a box of broken biscuits on the back seat of the car, so Val got him some of those too.

There were quite a few tears that night, but we all really enjoyed it. A special night for special friends.