We had SUCH a good time with Paula, Ian, Robert and Claire. They were here for a grand total of 10 or so days, but we could have had them stay forever.... Paula is a fab cook so the food was great, and the kids really had fun together, so we could just sit around and sip on wine while everyone enjoyed themselves. It was priceless.
Here's just a snippet of the good times.
We didn't do a ton of sightseeing, which was nice. We really just hung out and enjoyed each other's company. Ahhhh, to be able to do this every weekend!
Friday, 21 August 2009
Wednesday, 15 July 2009
A boy and a box. What more could you ask for?
Marius had a ball with our hoover box.
Fun times tonight. Simon leaves for a2 week field trip to Cali on Friday... :(
Fun times tonight. Simon leaves for a2 week field trip to Cali on Friday... :(
Wednesday, 17 June 2009
Friday, 12 June 2009
Updated bathroom shots
But I need to take the latest photos after our painting and sealing of the slate. The floor looks a lot better and the painting has made a big difference too. I just haven't uploaded those photos yet.
Sunday, 31 May 2009
New Bathroom and warmth
Well, here's my monthly blog. I know I know I'm rubbish! I completely blame facebook though. I've gotten so used to the instant gratification of that site, that my blog has severely suffered... Anyhow, enough of my Catholic self-flagellation.
The weather here has been downright glorious that past 4 days. Thursday through to today we've seen NO RAIN, and it's been HOT (not, that is not a typo, it's been 25 degrees C, AKA ~ 77 degrees F) and cloudless! I've actually busted out my very dusty sandals and linen trousers (I say trousers instead of pants, as pants are considered underwear here, so I've completely made the transition in words to avoid total ridicule). Friday, we went to the beach, Saturday we went to the safari park, and today we played outside in a friend's backyard. I actually managed to get my shoulders sunburned!!!! Oh happy days! I thought I would need to get off of this island for that to happen, but apparently not. I'm glad I put 50 SPF (they say factor 50 here) on the boy, but part of me was thinking "he's 25% Mexican, this paltry amount of sun can't hurt him." Little did I know. I'm not going to peel or anything, but I will have lovely brown shoulders in two days.... Oh I wish I wore a more low cut top. Oh well, perhaps when Simon gets back from his weekend in Oxford (Yes, he gave a talk there to those smarty pants people) with his mom and if the weather holds for another week, then I can get on my bathing suit and actually get a decent set of tan lines! I haven't had those in about 3 years.
Well, the bathroom is about 90% finished. All that remains is painting the walls, putting up the shower curtain rod, towel rack, and sealing the stone tiles. We've been lazy and have not done that in a week, but now with Simon finished marking papers and his Oxford talk out of the way, perhaps we can finally finish this darn thing. Here ares some picks so you can see the progression. It only took about 2 weeks in total, but I took daily pictures, so here they all are.
Marius was playing with his friend Lauren (that's what he's saying at the beginning of the video) this weekend, and she was having a ball bathing him is sand. In the end I just put him in the kiddy pool to wash him off. I figured I'd just put him to bed when we got home this evening, but he had a massive poo right before heading out, so I had to change him on the grass, take off all of his clothes, and leave with Marius just in a nappy and sandals (I bought a pair today since it's been so warm. Hopefully we'll have nice enough weather to wear them again in the next month or so). And with poop all up his backside, we needed to bath once again at the flat before bed time. Thankfully the time out in the sun tuckered him out, so getting him to bed at a decent hour was manageable.
The weather here has been downright glorious that past 4 days. Thursday through to today we've seen NO RAIN, and it's been HOT (not, that is not a typo, it's been 25 degrees C, AKA ~ 77 degrees F) and cloudless! I've actually busted out my very dusty sandals and linen trousers (I say trousers instead of pants, as pants are considered underwear here, so I've completely made the transition in words to avoid total ridicule). Friday, we went to the beach, Saturday we went to the safari park, and today we played outside in a friend's backyard. I actually managed to get my shoulders sunburned!!!! Oh happy days! I thought I would need to get off of this island for that to happen, but apparently not. I'm glad I put 50 SPF (they say factor 50 here) on the boy, but part of me was thinking "he's 25% Mexican, this paltry amount of sun can't hurt him." Little did I know. I'm not going to peel or anything, but I will have lovely brown shoulders in two days.... Oh I wish I wore a more low cut top. Oh well, perhaps when Simon gets back from his weekend in Oxford (Yes, he gave a talk there to those smarty pants people) with his mom and if the weather holds for another week, then I can get on my bathing suit and actually get a decent set of tan lines! I haven't had those in about 3 years.
Well, the bathroom is about 90% finished. All that remains is painting the walls, putting up the shower curtain rod, towel rack, and sealing the stone tiles. We've been lazy and have not done that in a week, but now with Simon finished marking papers and his Oxford talk out of the way, perhaps we can finally finish this darn thing. Here ares some picks so you can see the progression. It only took about 2 weeks in total, but I took daily pictures, so here they all are.
 |
| bathroom |
Marius was playing with his friend Lauren (that's what he's saying at the beginning of the video) this weekend, and she was having a ball bathing him is sand. In the end I just put him in the kiddy pool to wash him off. I figured I'd just put him to bed when we got home this evening, but he had a massive poo right before heading out, so I had to change him on the grass, take off all of his clothes, and leave with Marius just in a nappy and sandals (I bought a pair today since it's been so warm. Hopefully we'll have nice enough weather to wear them again in the next month or so). And with poop all up his backside, we needed to bath once again at the flat before bed time. Thankfully the time out in the sun tuckered him out, so getting him to bed at a decent hour was manageable.
Saturday, 18 April 2009
Monthly Update
Well, it appears I'm now down to just about one entry a month, so here's my April report.
Easter was fun. You'll see in the video below that we were visited by the Easter Bunny. You won't see in the video below that Simon and I ended up eating 50% of Marius's candy and cookies. I suspect we may have one more year to do this before he starts hiding his basket and keeping excellent records of which ones and when he has eaten them. I remember counting my Milky Ways and Snickers at Halloween time to make sure the "gremlins" (aka Mom and Dad) didn't steal any.
That day we went to the beach to play in the sand. It was a lovely day, by Scottish standards, meaning that it was about 65 degrees and only moderately windy. We were bundled up rather appropriately for southern Californians, but there were tons of natives barefoot and jumping into the water with bathing suits. Marius absolutely loves throwing sand around and making splashes in the water. I think he's gearing up for a career in mechanical engineering, but we'll just have to see about that one I suppose. In the mean time, Simon has started teaching Marius all about navier-stokes equations, which we seems to be absorbing at a phenomenal rate!
And, just because it is too hilarious not to post, here's my son running around the flat with a plastic Lego box on his head. Oh, he makes me so proud!!!!
Easter was fun. You'll see in the video below that we were visited by the Easter Bunny. You won't see in the video below that Simon and I ended up eating 50% of Marius's candy and cookies. I suspect we may have one more year to do this before he starts hiding his basket and keeping excellent records of which ones and when he has eaten them. I remember counting my Milky Ways and Snickers at Halloween time to make sure the "gremlins" (aka Mom and Dad) didn't steal any.
That day we went to the beach to play in the sand. It was a lovely day, by Scottish standards, meaning that it was about 65 degrees and only moderately windy. We were bundled up rather appropriately for southern Californians, but there were tons of natives barefoot and jumping into the water with bathing suits. Marius absolutely loves throwing sand around and making splashes in the water. I think he's gearing up for a career in mechanical engineering, but we'll just have to see about that one I suppose. In the mean time, Simon has started teaching Marius all about navier-stokes equations, which we seems to be absorbing at a phenomenal rate!
And, just because it is too hilarious not to post, here's my son running around the flat with a plastic Lego box on his head. Oh, he makes me so proud!!!!
Friday, 13 March 2009
Updates
We have a fireplace!!!!! Finally, that hole in the wall is filled with a lovely fireplace. The mantle is a fine limestone and the hearth is a lovely "granite," although it's really an aphanitic gabbro, but everyone in the world calls all igneous intrusive rocks granite. It's like calling all tumors cancer, when there are plenty of non-cancerous tumors. But that's just the anal retentive geologist in me I suppose. The fire insert is all cast iron. It's a traditional style, with the rounded design. We can eventually put a real wood (or as is more common here coal) fire in it, but I'm not sure we'll do that until Marius is old enough not to get into it.
Today we went to Dobbies Garden Centre with a friend. It was sensory overload for me, since this place was HUGE!!!! It was like putting a Home Depot and a Super-Wal-Mart together in one place. It made me long for our huge garden in Tallahassee... Hmmm, one day I might actually have a real detached house and garden. One day! But for now, at least I've got some pea plants sprouting in a window sill tray. This month I'll start the pumpkins and tomatoes, although I don't think the tomatoes will really take off here. I should probably stick to root vegetables, but the Californian in me really wants a tomato plant!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
