Surrogate Granny

Ella really misses her two grandmothers. However, she does have a surrogate granny here in England in the shape of Micheal's colleague's wife Chris. Chris is missing her own grandchildren so she likes to share the love.

Yesterday we went out with Chris while the boys were visiting the Tank Museum. We had a lovely day in Weymouth looking at the craft shops in town, having lunch in a cafe and finally strolling along the beach. It was very warm and sunny so we made the most of it.

Welcome To... Simon's Ask Me Anything!!!

Hello its me Simon 'ere and i'm gonna start a never regular blog post where you can as the title suggests ASK ME ANYTHING DUR DUR DURRR! This is the first of a series of blog posts that I am going to do and if you want to ask me a question just put it in the comments section below and I can answer it. YAY! So bring those questions in! 

Sincerely

Simon The Awesome

Views of Weymouth

Weymouth is very proud of its relatively new SeaLife Tower which has been mentioned on this blog before. However, we neglected to put in photos of the view you see from the top of the tower.

The people who own the SeaLife Tower also own an Aquarium down the road which we have visited twice and  will be returning to in the 9 week summer holiday.

At Weymouth SeaLife Aquarium

Salisbury

When David Boyd came to visit in January we went to Salisbury and I forgot to post these photos I took.

Walk with Jude

A few months ago I did a really nice walk with Jude to Moreton close to Lawrence of Arabia's home.

Jude

Why I have put on weight

English Baked Goods

What do I do all day?

Various friends back in Australia have asked me what do I do all day since the kids are at school for a long time (according to them) and I am not working apart from 2 hours a week coaching maths.

I have been studying my Grad Dip Ed. over the internet, going to Yoga, the gym and recently started tennis once a week.

I have tried to get out and see more of the surrounding countryside, including shopping centres, with some of Michael's colleagues wives who are also not working. Here's a picture of us all out for dinner for someone's birthday. Next week we are having lunch and a showing of the Kath and Kim movie for some Australian culture.

The Raytheon Partners

Last week I went with Heather to Dorchester to see the Dorset County Museum where we saw, among other things, the recently discovered newest pliosaur species, named Kevan after the Englishman who discovered it. Of course afterwards we went for some tea and gluten free cake as Heather is a coeliac.

Cute retro croquery in Dorchester Cafe

Friend Heather in retro cafe

Some weeks before, I went walking with Jude to Portland where we got a great view of Chesil Beach and Weymouth.

View of Chesil Beach from Portland

This week I drove to Wimborne Minster with Heather which has a really old church or Minster (circa 1300s) and also has one of the earliest 'chained libraries' where the books were chained so people wouldn't steal them.

Books on chains to stop English people stealing them.

 

Wimborne is where my sister-in-law spent time with her Granny when she was growing up in England and she was actually able to look through the books. Now you can only look.

School Garden and Pet Show

The children's school had their first Garden and Pet Show on Friday. There were several competitions: cutest pet, best animal made out of vegetables, miniature garden made out of whatever, dog obedience, dog agility and dog attractiveness. This is not the sort of thing you could have had at Willoughby Public School where there are circa 800 students.

Ben's Turtle made of vegies

Ella's abstract garden

The playground where the dog show took place

Some of the owners and entrants

 

Simon's scratchy video of the event.

The magazine Sarah reads these days.

Her key job while we are in England is looking after all of us.

 

Tony and Clare Visit Weymouth.

WARNING: This post contains material sponsored by Len Boyd.

Last weekend Sarah's brother Tony and his wife Clare visited us for the weekend. They arrived on Friday night. The children were all very excited and kept on asking Sarah all afternoon "When are Tony and Clare arriving". There was mild panic when they called Sarah to say that they would be an hour late but in the end they arrived at the expected time. After a lovely roast dinner we went for a walk down to the local castle - Sandsfoot.

Ella had turned the house into a hotel for the guests and with Sarah's help they were served breakfast in bed at the specified time on Saturday morning. Tony and Clare had filled in their food requests the night before. We then walked into town, with a stop off to show the where the school is.

That's the school the children go to. Thornlow Prep

Everyone in front of the school

Along the way to add some culture I also pointed out to Tony,  Weymouth's oldest pub The Boot.

Everyone in front of the boot

The town bridge was open to allow the sailing boats in the marina to sail out to the outer harbour and ocean. Bit like the spit bridge but without the traffic.

Tony (the shopaholic) had purchased a collection of pre WWII Punch magazines that were too heavy to travel with, so a trip was made to the post office. The children didn't complain too much because there is an ice cream shop in the post office. Nothing like an ice cream for a healthy morning tea. It was a beautiful sunny day and we then headed over to the Esplanade and beach. For Australians it was sunny but not that warm but for the English it was beach weather. We all lay on the beach - (which has sand not pebbles - the sand was imported)

Sarah took the children on a pedal boat to keep them busy.

We had a nice lunch in a pizza restaurant overlooking the harbour. The lunch was partially sponsored by a generous grant from Len Boyd.

After lunch we walked home for everyone to have a rest and Ella to go to a party. In the evening we went to visit Clare's cousin Andy who lives in Lyme Regis about an hour away. The kids loved it. Andy had a collection of big boy's toys which he showed the kids.

In your dreams Simon!

Andy taking the kids for joy rides around the field

It was quite a late night. We only started dinner around 8PM and it was still light then. At about 9PM Ella lay on the couch next to the dinner table and asked people to be quiet and then promptly fell asleep. In the end we only got home at about 11 after a great evening.

On Sunday morning, the hotel staff were tired and the guests were left to fend for themselves. Sarah then took Tony and Clare to explore Portland (for some Ella-free time).

Walking in Portland

When the explorers returned we headed off to lunch at the Smuggler's Inn at Osmington Mills, which is a little village outside of Weymouth along the coast.

After a lovely lunch once again made possible from the generous grant from our sponsor we went for a walk to look at the beach.

Tony found the fossilised finger from a long gone smuggler.

In the afternoon, the Boyd-Harris family all had a rest and got ready for the next week. Tony and Clare went off for more exploring. Tony found a real English beach - Chesil beach - about 30km of pebbles.

Everyone had a great weekend and the children loved seeing the Aunt and Uncle. We all enjoyed meeting Clare's cousins.

On the Monday, Sarah drove up to Wimborne to see Clare's Granny's old house where Clare had spent several happy holidays. We also visited the lovely old Wimborne Minster which is a church dating from the 1300s. Wimborne is a lovely town and we did a bit of shopping and had a nice morning tea there. Then Clare and Tony drove off to Cambridge en route to visiting more of Clare's relatives.

The ABC Weekend.

The second long weekend of May was spent near London. It was an ABC weekend (Another Bloody Castle). We left on Sunday, first having a rest day on Saturday in Weymouth.
On Sunday morning we drove up early to see Windsor Castle. Liz was not in residence at the time. Ella would have been too loud for her. We got there around 10 in the morning. It was already getting busy and we had to wait about 20 minutes to see Queen Mary's dolls house.

Another place with audio guides. Ella was in heaven

We had a nice lunch in the town of Windsor and then headed to Sunbury,which was where we staying for the night. On the way Sarah spotted a nice park by the river Thames in Runnymede. We stopped for a lovely hour in the sun and snacked on ice cream.

We had chosen the hotel because it was cheap and very convenient. Sunbury was more like Sun Hill so we decided to eat in at the hotel restaurant, which the children always like. We have been staying at the same chain all the time we have been in the UK, so the children have the menu selections down pat.
On Monday morning we had a short drive to our next destination -- Hampton Court Palace.

We met up with our friend Angela Short from Australia.

After lunch we went into the gardens where there were organised activities for the kids. They all took part in numerous races: sack, egg and spoon etc. After each event they received a 'sweeties' which kept them coming back for more races.

The luxury portaloos

This was a palace so even the Portaloos were a better class of loo than the rows of blue boxes you see at those common Australian events.