Spain

We spent a week in Spain with our friend Trisha over New Year, staying at our former landlady's apartment in Estepona, Costa del Sol. It was a lot warmer than England, but still not exactly tropical (16-22 degrees). That didn't put some people off from having a splash at the beach!

Others of us were slightly less enthusiastic - I didn't put literally much more than a toe in the water.

The Plaza des Flores in Estepona - the main square.

One stormy day we drove up to Marbella. This is Mike and Luke on the breakwater.


In Marbella there is a square there with a dozen or so statues by Salvador Dali. This one is Cosmic Elephant.
There was also this fantastic sand sculpture on the beach.


Andrea and Trisha in Marbella, in a brief sunny moment!
We loved Casares, a hilltop village not far from Estepona.

Casares had a great restaurant - wild boar casserole, yummm. We walked up a LOT of steps to get there - only to find out later that the road out of town goes right past it and there's parking outside!

One day Mike and I left Luke with Trisha and took the ferry across to Tangiers in Africa. We only had a couple of hours there but we both enjoyed it - especially the souk (market) in the medina (old town).

Christmas 2009

Luke was the Angel Gabriel in the school nativity play this year:

Just before Christmas we had some snow:

and Luke made a snow angel:

Luke's 6th birthday

We had Luke's 6th birthday party in our new house in September. There are some advantages to having horrible 1970s carpet: it doesn't matter if a dozen six-year-olds spill crisps all over it!

Luke's hugely into Lego so I made him a birthday cake designed to look like Lego blocks.

Our house

In September we finally bought a house of our own. It's still in Bow Brickhill, just down the road from where we were renting. It's 4 bedrooms, detached, 1970s build and in need of some serious redecoration but otherwise just fine. The garden is a bit small, but the rooms are big, the bathrooms are modern, and the kitchen will be great once we replace the lovely yellow sunburst tiles with something a little more subtle.

For those who haven't been to visit us, here's where we are in England: http://www.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=42A+Station+Road,+MK17+9JW&sll=52.002828,-0.686522&sspn=0.05379,0.15398&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=42A+Station+Rd,+Bow+Brickhill,+Milton+Keynes,+Buckinghamshire+MK17+9JW,+United+Kingdom&ll=52.003018,-0.687549&spn=3.442477,9.854736&t=h&z=7

For those who are familiar with the area, this is where we are now:
http://www.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=42A+Station+Road,+MK17+9JW&sll=52.002828,-0.686522&sspn=0.05379,0.15398&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=42A+Station+Rd,+Bow+Brickhill,+Milton+Keynes,+Buckinghamshire+MK17+9JW,+United+Kingdom&ll=52.003018,-0.687549&spn=0.026895,0.07699&t=h&z=14

Secret Nuclear Bunker

In August we made what has to be one of the highlight trips of the year. We visited the secret nuclear bunker at Kelvedon Hatch in Essex. Love the URL: http://www.secretnuclearbunker.com/


This is the place where they were going to govern Britain if there was a nuclear war. It was built in the 1950s, in a huge bunker underneath a farm in a top top secret location, and not decommissioned until the 1990s. Inside it is a weird mix of very serious life-support systems, broadcast centre, military style dormitories, and what feels like a 1970s office building.


Half of the fun was getting there: following the large 'Secret Nuclear Bunker' roadsigns through Essex!

School Sports Day Summer 2009

OK, so I've been very slack and not posted anything for ages...so now, to catch up on some of the things we did in the second half of 2009!
Luke's school had a sports day, and obviously I'm biased but I think these are pretty cute photos: