Keeping Up With The Culveys - 2023

January

And here we go again, another new year, another new blog!! Our twenty second year of documenting our lives! It’s pretty much a book! Not likely to be a best seller, but for us it is amazing to go back and recall so much of what we have done, and without this, there is no way we could recall it all!

So we landed in January after a quiet new year’s eve at home. Which meant that we weren’t suffering on new years day. Having said that, it was still a pretty lazy day! We did venture out on the 2nd, but only to the playground in our street to get some fresh air and have a swing.

Before we knew it though, normal routines were kicking in, we dropped Indi back up to Loughborough for her to continue her studies, Logan worked tirelessly to build all of his incredible Lego sets, and by the time he went back to school he had built them all, finishing with his favourite, the World Map, which is now hanging on the wall in his bedroom!

Not long after they were all back in school, Logan was off to Birmingham with his school choir to take part in Young Voices. It was at the NEC and included hundreds of schools and thousands of kids! We had front row tickets, but still took about half an hour to find Logan in the crowd! Alongside the great singing from all the kids, there was also some other guest entertainers. A fantastic beatbox group, and most exciting of all, Heather Small who used to sing with M People! She sang wonderfully well, and Logan can now claim to have been a backing singer for Heather Small, pretty cool I’d say!! A pretty great evening all round!

On a Friday night in January, Kai came home from school and told us that his former classmates from Brighton College in Bangkok that were now in the 6th form there, were on their trip to Brighton College in the UK. They were arriving that night, and he was hoping that maybe we wouldn’t mind driving down to Brighton at the weekend so he could hang out with them! Now, when you think they must have been planning this trip for months it is pretty shocking that they only start discussing it between themselves the weekend they are actually arriving! Bloody teenagers!!

Anyway, luck was on Kai’s side as we didn’t have anything on that Sunday, so we got up early, jumped in the car and drove the 3 hour trip down to Brighton so he could meet up with his old Thai mates in sunny, but rather chilly Brighton!

It was a great day actually, Lyra, Logan, and I hung out on the pier, and played on the beach while Kai headed off for lunch and teenager antics with his friends. On the pier, Logan got to experience the traditional British seaside fun, we went into the arcade, played on some of the traditional games like rolling the 2pence pieces into the sliders that slowly push the other coins of the ledge, he loved that and got pretty addicted! Then we had a few goes on one of the old racing games where you throw balls into holes to get your dolphin (normally a race horse) to move across to the finish line! As you can imagine, one go on this was also not enough!

Whilst it was lovely and sunny, it was pretty cold, so we stopped for a hot chocolate to warm our cold bodies! Then we took a walk along the beach and threw some pebbles into the sea and then took a look at a few of the seafront art galleries. Of course Logan wanted to buy everything, but we managed to resist!

As the sun went down, we headed back to the pier to meet back up with Kai, While we waited for him we watched the starlings muster in the sky which was a amazing, Lyra had a quick session with a clairvoyant, and then it was time to grab some fish & chips, get in the car and start the long journey back to Stratford!

January of course is traditionally pantomime season, and at Logan’s school the teachers, and a few parents, had been rehearsing Treasure Island. For two days only, we had the opportunity to experience those that we entrust in Logan’s education, show off their thespian skills! Indi was back for the weekend so joined us too, Kai found a reason not too!! We had Logan’s best Bud, Andrew with us and we settled down for this unique experience!

Credit must go to the commitment of the team as they put on a fabulous show, absolutely hilarious!! Lyra loved it some much that she went back the following day to help, just so she could watch it again!!

To finish off January, Logan took part in a cross country run around the park in Stratford, Indi went along with Lyra to cheer him on and he did a great job to complete the course along with his school friends.

February

Of course February always begins with an India emphasis! A lot has changed for Indi over the last year, she has left school, moved back to England, left home and joined University!!

It was lovely to have her home at the beginning of the month and Lyra and I took her to see The Tempest at the RSC for a birthday treat! Jane was with us as well and we had amazing seats on the first balcony, front row! Before that though, Lyra and India had a morning in town, getting haircuts, and indulging in two of Indi’s favourite things, hot chocolate, and cats! This was achieved by visiting Stratford’s cat cafe, Shakespaw!!

However, back to RSC… it was an incredibly dramatic performance, and despite not really being able to follow the dialogue (Shakespearian english is quite something) I thoroughly enjoyed it, as did everyone else. Notably, after India had given me the broad story during the intermission, and explained a few things to me, it helped a lot, but we all agreed that it was beautifully done.

That weekend, we invited a few people over to celebrate Indi’s birthday, so Chris, Gemma, and the girls came, along with a first visit for Auntie Irene to our home in Stratford. Then later in the day, Abi, Kiera, and Cam arrived too.

As you can imagine it was a full on day, the girls entertained us in the afternoon with their general cuteness, and a little bit of cheekiness too, then the entertainment changed in the evening to a few hilarious, but certainly inappropriate games of Fibbage, quiplash, and drawful!! I think Logan learnt a few things that evening, that he could have remained blissfully ignorant of for a few more years at least!! Very, very funny evening though!!

We had a quieter day on Sunday, just us, and we celebrated Indi’s birthday, as she was going to be in Loughborough for her actual birthday. She enjoyed a few gifts, laughed at a few cards (I think Logan’s card traumatised her actually!), had a nice lunch with a few games of exploding kittens, and then it was time to head back North to Loughborough!

At school the following week Logan and his Yr 5er’s put on a show about the myth of Beowulf. Logan was a soldier, and had a few lines in it too. it was great fun and it was so nice to be in the school watching the kids. Logan really enjoyed and I think next time he will be pushing for an even bigger role.

Since we we got back the Harlands have been down to visit a few times so we thought it was about time that we made the trip to them. So we did! Where we got to meet their new addition Kasey, the fluffy little shitsu thingy!!

It was so nice to see their home, they had talked about it for years, so it was lovely to finally be there. After chatting over a few snacks, we took the kids out for a walk at a local nature park called Shugborough. Logan, Katie, and Luke had a great runaround, and even built a den out of branches. After a good walk, it was time to hit the pub for a well earned refreshment!

Kasey was a ball of fun and kept us all amused and only continued to convince Logan that he wants a dog too!!

The joy of being self employed means you can take a day off whenever I want (within reason), so on Valentines day, Ly and I went for lunch at a new Japanese. We had just sat down when the fire alarm went off!! No worries we thought it would be off in a minute or two… but it didn’t! So we decided to look for somewhere else to eat. We stopped for a drink just down the road and watched the fire brigade arrive at the Japanese. Thankfully there was no fire, the tenants in the apartment above the restaurant had set the alarm by smoking! Anyway, once they left we were able to head back and have a really nice lunch!

Alex (Kai’s girlfriend) came over for dinner and enjoyed the madness of our Exploding kittens cat fest dinner time, a unique experience for sure!

As half term started Logan, Lyra, and I, took a road trip. First we went to visit Nanny & Grumpy. We had a nice afternoon together, then Sue and Simon came over for dinner. It was great fun to see them and catch up.

The following day we said goodbye to Mum & Dad at lunchtime and continued South to Devon. Our hotel was in Exeter so we checked in and got ready to head over to Sidmouth to meet with the Sidmouth Posse… Sharon. Lauren, Julia, Paul, their kiddos, Hilary, & Brian! We were meeting at Dukes, but we were a bit early so we had a bit of a walk along the beach, it was a bit chilly but Logan loved it, especially the pebble beach.

Dukes was a great evening! Fabulous fish & chips, and great company! It had been many, many years since Lyra, Sharon, and Julia had sat together, and it was a wonderful moment to savour…

The following day we met up again on the sea front for a walk on the beach. Laurent brought her dog, Jonas, a rather cute Cavapoo (Cavalier king charles spaniel crossed with a poodle). Another driver for Logan’s desire for a dog!!

Shaun made it today as he was feeling a bit better (he was too sick for dinner last night). We had a coffee, and wandered all along the sea front, which was absolutely lovely in the sunshine (although to was pretty chilly!)

Sadly though by lunchtime it was time to head home, so we grabbed some fish and chips and hit the road!

Half term week also included a long promised trip to Lego land… well the Lego Discovery Centre in Birmingham to be completely accurate. We had a fun afternoon going around all the zones, there was plenty to see, we took a VR rollercoaster ride, and an actual Harry Potter ride! This was all topped off with a cool 3D lego movie! Once we had completed the tour, Logan guided us to the Lego store next door… there was a world of sets that he fancied, but after some time we managed to negotiate him down to a Harry Potter Headwig (The Owl) lego set.

As a final day of fun we hit the cinema and watched Antman Quantumania! Indi was with us, but Kai stayed home. As usual it was fun and we all enjoyed the table service to deliver our drinks and snacks, it’s just so civilised!

February had turned into a busy month, especially for such a short month, but we weren’t done as the last weekend of the month was Aunty Irene’s birthday so we all headed down to Northampton for a lunch with the other Packs, Chris, Gemma, Faith, Thea, Tanya, Steve, Kyra, and Isaac. Lunch was good, and Auntie seemed to have a great time with the kids keeping her laughing right the way through until the cake was brought out for Aunty to blow her candles out!

March

World Book Day kicked of March for us, and Logan was happy to join in the fun by heading to school dressed in his new favourite, Harry Potter! He has been reading the books since Christmas and has become completely obsessed with Harry and his wizarding world! H really looked the part too.

Once in to March we had started to think that we had survived winter, and we could start enjoying spring… Well the UK weather wanted to make sure we didn’t get too excited as we had a few days of wintery snow to keep us wrapped up and longing for the warmer weather. Since returning from Thailand, there is no doubt it has been the biggest challenge for us to contend with… being constantly cold!!

It was my birthday of course, and fortunately it fell on the weekend so everyone was at home to celebrate with me. I was treated to some lovely gifts, and we headed out to the Barn Antiques for a coffee and brunch. Later in the afternoon we headed over to Leamington to Janes for dinner and a goodbye for Devon and Hamish as they were heading off for a few months of travel in Japan, Fiji, and New Zealand…. not jealous at all!

Logan’s fun with choir continued too, they headed off to Birmingham again to sing at a multi school event, called xxxxxxx. It wasn’t a competition, so there weren’t winners but they sang brilliantly according to Lyra who went along to help out.

Kai is working towards his Duke of Edinburgh’s Award this year, and one of his challenges is to learn a new skill. Kai has chosen to learn how to cook, so he has started to cook for us once a week. He kicked off with a pasta carbonara cooked from scratch (well he didn’t make the pasta), which was very nice and demolished by us all!!

We also celebrated Mothers day, and we had a lot to make up for after last years was a bit of a damp squid! The boys had got themselves prepared, kai had even managed to go out and get a gift himself (one of the benefits if having a girlfriend I think!), I had arranged with Logan to get something and he had made his Mum a nice card. Indi was away, but she sent me a hand made card to print, and asked me to pick up some flowers for her. Sadly I left that part a bit late, so she had to settle for a bottle of Champagne instead!

In the morning, Kai and Logan, assisted me in making Mum some sticking rice with mango (a Thai favourite), what seemed pretty simple, didn’t go perfectly, but we got an edible dish, with a hot cross bun to her, and she said it was nice (I think she was being nice… the rice was pretty hard, and not that sticky!).

We also headed over to the Four Alls for lunch together which was really nice, not nice enough to sit outside though (which is what we booked) but luckily we managed to get a table in the bar.

Just before the end of the month, it was Grandad Peck’s 80th birthday! We all headed to Northampton for the occasion, even Les, Casey, and Tristan were up. They had caught a coach to Birmingham and I picked them up from there. After a night at ours, we all headed over to the Mandarin Chinese Buffet for an eatathon, and celebration of Grandad’s mighty achievement! It was the first time in a long time that all the Peck’s were together. As you can imagine it was a noisy affair, but Grandad had a great time, everyone ate too much, and celebrated the day in style!

We had all clubbed together to buy him a digital photo frame that you can send photos too over the internet. Pretty cool gadget, and very easy to use (considering Mike’s immense tech skills. I had spent the week prior getting it all set up and arranging for the rest of the family to download the app, connect to the frame and send some photos! It took some doing, but it was worth it and Mike seemed to really like it. Hurrah!

April

So April is spring if I’m not mistaken?? Well we kicked off the month with a bit of sun which got our hopes up…still not exactly warm, but it did begin to feel like maybe winter was over!! We even ventured out the ‘The Rec’ in Strateford for Logan to have some time on the playground. From there we decided to go and have a ride on ‘The Stratford Eye’ which actually was really nice, and a great view over the town.

It was the Easter hols at the beginning of April, and Logan invited his Bud Andrew over for a play date. They are both big fans of Bey Blades, so there were battles a plenty! Indi was also home for the break so it was lovely to have everyone together. For Indi though it is always an adjustment to our more noisy, chaotic environment!

And then it was Kai’s birthday, 17 years old! His plan was to stay in bed for as long as possible (such a typical teenage!). We did eventually prize him out with the promise of gifts and goodies! Again the weather was kind and showing us that spring had arrived, we were even able to have the fold back doors open which is always lovely.

Alongside our gifts, he had a few from his friends too, one of which from Ben was a Man Utd mug! As a Liverpool supporter, he was less than impressed! In fact he insisted on recording a video of him smashing it in the garden to send back to Ben as a token of his appreciation!

As the sun was shining we headed over to the Kings Arms in Mickleton for a drink in the afternoon and Kai was met by his friend Beth (who works there) too.

We finished the day off with a birthday cake and a hearty rendition of happy birthday, just to ensure Kai was full of family joy!!!

The following day was Easter Sunday and Logan was over the moon to see that the Easter bunny had got the message that we had moved, and delivered a few eggs for him to seek out in the garden. Later that day, it seemed the Easter bunny came again especially for Faith and Thea who had come over for the day. Jane also came over, and we had a really nice afternoon together watching Logan and the girls get high on chocolate!

Mid month saw Lyra transformed into a version of her not seen since about 1985! With curly hair, pink leg warmers and a ‘Choose Life’ T shirt she was ready to party 80’s style!! Ly met up with Louise and her friends in Broadway for a night of flashbacks, and flashdancing!! She looked amazing!

The following weekend it was an all boys affair at home as Ly and Indi headed down to Exeter for conference on Psychedelic medicine. 3 days of speakers outlining the history and opportunity that these medicines can offer as an alternative to modern pharmaceutical practices. Interesting and inspiring stuff, although Indi found it hard to keep up with Lyra’s thirst for knowledge!

Meanwhile, back in Stratford, it was Shakespeare’s 459th birthday, and Logan was taking part in a March through the town, and a service at Holy Trinity Church (where Willie is buried). He looked very smart, and laid some flowers in remembrance of the Bard. His treat for doing such a good thing was a lolly from school, and McDonalds in the park!

As we entered the final stretch of what is always a big month in the Culvey household, it was, of course, Lyra’s birthday!! Running up to this key event in our calendar, is always a big stress… what do we buy her?? What do we do for her birthday??? We never get any clues from our favourite lady so we just have to go for it! In the main we did ok, Ly had a lovely day, some nice gifts (although, a pretty high % were returned), some birthday cake (which I made a very poor judgement call on), and even a few games of Rummikub!!

At the weekend, the festivities continued with Jane coming over Saturday afternoon for a few drinks and some nibbles, with some enlightening conversation thrown in for good measure, and then the Harlands visited on the Sunday! This gave us lots of time to let Ly know how special she is, as well as eat and drink far too much!

May

Ahh the warmth of May! Now we were really feeling Spring in the air!! The sun was out most of the time, and rain seemed to be a rare occurrence (at last!).

It had been a while since we had seen the Harlands so we headed up to Stafford to see them! After a spot of lunch and a game of darts we headed over to Cannock Chase for a walk in the sunshine. It was fabulous, their dog Cassie was loving the run around, and especially chasing the heards of deer we found! It is these kind of days that you realise just how lovely England can be.

After school one Friday, Logan was joined by Andrew for some dinner in town before heading back to ours for a sleep over. They had a fun evening, and a late night chatting. Then the following morning they were out in the garden enjoying the morning sunshine.

Later that day Logan and Indi joined Ly and I to head to the Alcester food festival! As the weather was so good, it was absolutely packed! We stopped by the Thai food stall just after midday and they had already sold out of Pad Thai (much to my disappointment!), There was some great food and drink on display, but it was diffiuclt to get to see too much as there were so many people. It was a shame it was on for only one day, with the weather as it was, they could have filled two days without difficulty and spread the crowds out a little. Anyway, we did eventually buy a few bits, and then chilled in the grounds of the church for a pulled pork sandwich!

Abi, Nick, and Cam came up to see us for the day, and again the sun shone so we could hang out in the garden. We were really starting to get acquainted to this lovely climate!

Logan had Greek day at school and went in dressed in a toga, with a sword and shield! He was excited, and couldn’t wait to get into school for a day of fun!

Before the month ended Logan enjoyed something that he had been waiting to do for a long time! Since December last year when he first picked up a Harry Potter book, he has become obsessed with all things Potter and has been desperate to visit Harry Potter World ever since. That day came late in May on a Friday afternoon (he had an inset day!).

We drove down to Watford in good time and had a look around the foyer area. You have a specific time when you can enter so we had some time to kill. As it was an evening appointment, we thought, let’s eat, and then go in after our alloted time, that would work… So I ordered some food for us all, and then Lyra read that we had to be ready to enter at the time allotted! Which was in a bout 3 mins time! I quickly managed to cancel our order and we headed into the tour!! Things are built up nicely, but after a few intro chats we stood outside of the doors to the great hall… it was time to enter!! Logan was beside himself, Harry Potter World is the actual studio’s where the films were created, so this really was the great hall, and everything you see is genuine! It was an amaxing experience, from seeing the Hogwarts rooms, to all the props, and the explanation of how they achieved all the special effects it was an incredible experience. One of the great moments was when we turned a corner and the actual Hogwarts Express was there at the station!! Brilliant!! Logan also got to ride a broom around the roofs of Hogwarts, well at least he got to experience how they do the special effects and bring home some photos and a video of his antics!

We found an outside area that had the triple decker bus, and Harry’s house at Privet Drive! It was at this point that we realised we had been there about 2.5hrs and we were only half way around. The place shut in about an hour! So the second half of the place we had to do a little quicker (and no doubt means we will need to go again!) we still managed to see the dragon attack Gringotts, which was pretty amazing! We ended up in Diagon Alley with all the magic stuff shops… very cool.

At the end of te tour there is of course the gift shop! Logan had his eye on a wand, but which one? There must of been a hundred different types!! He eventually settled on a dark arts wand! Beyond that, there was thousands of things that Logan would have loved to have taken home but he settled on some chocolate frogs! It was a tough decision for him and probably the most stressful part of the whole visit!

We all really enjoyed Harry Potter World, and can thoroughly recommend it to everyone!

May was almost done, but before we flipped into June, Logan had one more place to go, the fair was in town and really wanted to go an experience it! So Lyra took him down and he had a great time and came home with a rather large Among Us soft toy!!

At the end of last year, I was in the running for a really interesting role with a fast growing Customs Service Provider. I had got down to the last two, but they sadly chose the other candidate, it seemed that it had been a really close run thing, but the other guy had been a Managing Director before so he just pipped my in the end.

Out of the blue, late in May though, I got a call from the recruitment agent asking if I was still interested. Their first choice had decided to move on and they were really interested in whether I would still like to be considered? I was definitely interested and headed down to their key UK office in Felixstowe to meet a few of the team and get a sense of the business. All went well and they made me an offer there and then. I took it home and talked it through with Ly, suggested they sweetened the deal a bit further and then happily signed up!

June

The weather continued to be great as we entered June so Logan was enjoying playing out in the street. He had become quite good friends with the girls at no. 10, There were 3 of them and they always enjoyed hanging out around the houses. One affternoon we got home to a lovely little note left on our doorstep, surrounded by flowers saying to Logan, thank you for being our friend! So sweet!!

The Harland’s came down for a weekend in the sun! We all headed into Stratford, the kids had a play in one of the very busy play areas, and eventually convinced us it was time for an ice cream.

The light evenings were a joy of course and it meant that Logan could enjoy some time with his school friends. In particular, Andrew, who he had fun with around Andrew’s house which was close to the school. The only challenge was getting him to come home!!

In the middle of the month, we convinced Indi to come back for a weekend and we all headed over to Daylesford for their Summer festival. We were planning on meeting up with Anita and Alan, as well as Jane. That is if we could get into the place! The traffic was awful, at one point we were less than a mile away and the sat nav was still saying more than 20 mins! In the end, Ly and thekids jumped out and walked to the entrance while I waited to be able to park. However, the queue to walk in was also long and slow so they were still waiting when I finally got somewhere to park!

Still once we were in we were able to pick up our hamper that we booked previously, find a nice spot and chill out in the sun and enjoy some organic snacks! Kai and Logan enjoyed climbing all over the big ‘LOVE’ sign while the rest of us soaked up the sun and looked out for Anita and Jane.

Pleasingly for Logan (especially) Devon also came along with Jane, so he had a grerat time playing around. Whilst it was a great place, and beautiful weather, it was mobbed and getting to any of the stalls was a real effort, we gave up trying to get anything further to eat, but did manage to get a round of drinks despite the queues.

Despite the weather, June was touched with great sadness, our wonderful old friend, Brien, succumbed to the cancer that had been diagnosed a few years before. He had made so many changes to his life, which I am sure helped him to keep going much longer. We travelled up to Middlewich for his funeral and met up with so many people that we had shared time with during our travels. Brien and Suzanne, with their lovely kids, John Patrick and Siobhan, had been a big part of our lives in both Prague and Turkey. Their support when Indi was born will always stay with us, and we were so sad to have to say goodbye to Brien.

Towards the end of the month, and the school term was running out of weeks, the events kicked in. The first was Logan’s sports day, it was a beautifully warm and sunny day and Logan was a keen participant in all the events for his Emerald house! They really put everything into it and despite not winning for the last 8 years they were triumphant this year!! It was so great to see the surprise and joy on their faces when it was announced. Brilliant!!

Of course as it is with these things there was a Dad’s race! Looking across at my competition, I was feeling pretty old! this could be a bit embrassing! As the gun went I gave it my all but was definitely being left behind… I did not want to be last, and thankfully a few of the guys slacked off in the last 10 metres or so, and I pounced, saving my blushes!! There was a Mum’s race too, but sadly Lyra was having issues with her calf muscles so despite being desperate to join in she managed to do the sensible thing and watch!

A few onths back, we had gone to the Lego Discovery Centre in Birmingham,. As part of that ticket you also go entry into their Sea Life Centre, so we headed back over to have a look around. It was a great place and Logan loved the penguins, the turtles, and anywhere you could climb or crawl into to make you feel like you are right in the action! Once we were done, we chilled in the square with an ice cream and enjoyed the sun shine.

As June came to a close, it was time for Kai to head off for a preparation hike for his DofE and Himalayan trip. A few days of long hikes and camping overnight were install to build up his strength and skills ready for the big trip.

July

We kicked off July with a trip down to see Nanny and Grampy in Trowbridge. We travelled down on the Saturday afternoon, without Kai, but with Indi! We headed out on Saturday evening for dinner in a nice pub, called The Westbrook very popular that’s for sure. Logan enjoyed the garden and with the light evenings. The next morning was a bit of a chill, and generally hanging out with Nanny and Grampy before a nice Sunday lunch, but then it was time to head off as we needed to get young Indi back up to Loughborough.

The following week it was the next big event at Logan’s school, the summer fete! Again they scored with the weather, it was a steaming hot and sunny afternoon. Lyra had agreed to help out and was on the door taking the entrance fees. Problem was there was so many people trying to get it the queues were enormous! Eventually they had to give up and just let people in, which was a bit harsh on all those that had got there early and paid to get in, but what can you do!

We didn’t really see much of Logan as he was off having a ball with his buddies, playing games and winning sweets galore!

While the sun was still shining we took the opportunity to head over to Heyford to firstly see Tan’s new abode, they had moved over from Kettering, and to spend the afternoon at Chris’s. Tan’s new place was really lovely, they seemed to be very happy to be back in the Heyfords.

The afternoon at Chris’s was full of craziness of course, Faith and Thea just love playing with Logan and they kept him busy all afternoon, especially on the trampoline! This was nice as it meant the rest of us could catch up and enjoy the sun. Auntie was over too so it was lovely to catch up with her too.

Logan had been going to a new drama club for this last term, as as the school year came to an end they put on a small performance to show the parents what they had been up to. It was great to see Logan confidently take on roles. We were looking forward to him being able to take part in real shows soon, but that would have to wait.

The middle of July saw a distinct change in the weather, the sun left us and the rain came… Just in time for us to collect Indi back from Uni. She had completed her first year!! The end of the year was not without it’s stresses though. Asshe was in the final stages of completing her final coursework, she suffered some IT issues which meant a large part of her work disappeared! With only ten days to go, she was distraught. THe IT dept were no help, she applied for an extension and got told no, so there was nothing left to do than get her head down and get it done. Credit to her, she stepped up and got the whole thing done and in on time! To say she was happy to reach the end of that process was an understatement! She took some time to relax and chill in her place at the end of the term, but all too soon it was time to pick up all her stuff and bring her home for the summer!

I made the drive up and we squeezed all of her stuff into the car (just!) and that was that, year 1 done!

For Logan though, the year wasn’t done yet. At school he had been part of their drama group that had been preparing to take part in performing a Shakespeare play, and would perform it on stage with a bunch of other schools at the famous RSC in Stratford!

It was a fabulous set of performances and they all did a great job. Logan loved being on stage and was keen to do more. He definitely had the acting bug!!

We celebrated his great performance at Cafe Rouge in Stratford where he treated himself to a very nice steak!!

Lyra took the chance to head off for a few days to fulfil a desire that she had had for many years, to attend one of Tony Robbins inspirational seminars, Unleash The Power Within. It was quite an experience, full on for sure, 12 hour long days! An unforgettable experience for sure, I think at times tinged with disappointment as some sessions were via video rather than live (thanks COVID) but she came back energised and had met some great people along the way.

While Ly was away, Logan, Indi and I headed into Stratford and had a game of crazy golf and Logan enjoyed the climbing frame that had been set up on the Rec. So much so, he went on twice!! The weather wasn’t kind, while Logan was high up on the climbing frame we all got a good soaking (with nowhere to run!

In the last few days before term finished, the school choir put on a recital. Logan had been part of the choir all year and took part for all the parents. they did a great job which also included a number they performed with the Stratford School for Girls.

Then that was it, the summer holidays had arrived!!

A few days after the end of term, we packed up the car, all squeezed in and headed for Dover. We were off for a few days in France at the Marriott Vacation Club just outside Paris. It’s quite a drive down to Dover so we set off early and had a great run all the way down. We only got held up around 3 miles outside of Dover. Travelling this last 3 miles and onto the ferry, took another 3 hours!! Despite arriving in the area more than 2 hours before our ferry was scheduled to leave, we missed it and had to take a later one!! It was a long wait for sure, but we were so pleased to get on and be able to hang out for a while, the rest of the journey down to Paris was a breeze!

The next day, chose to have a slap up Marriott buffet breakfast…except it was a bit rubbish, certainly not a JW in Phuket brekkie!! We also took advantage of a bit of sunshine and chilled around the resort at the pool. The pool itself was pretty blooming freezing to be honest, but we braved it and took the plunge (apart from Lyra!). Again, we couldn’t help think…this isn’t Phuket!! We had a fun day anyway!

Sadly from then on the weather took a turn for the worse and we saw alot of grey cloud, and a fair bit of rain!

We decided to take a road trip out to a medieval town called Provins. It was surrounded by castle walls with a great tower, church, and medieval town within. Such a lovely place, we took a good stroll round, climbed up to the top of the tower and enjoyed the amazing views! Once back on the ground, Indi twisted her ankle and had to limp around for the rest of the day. We still managed to have a look around the church and then hobble back to the medieval show which was kind of a low budget Games of Thrones type affair with jousting, and basically a tale of good triumphing evil!

On the way back, we had booked dinner at a restaurant by the river in Lagny Sur Marne. We got there early and had a wander along the river in the pouring rain, but to be honest, we had had enough and ended up heading back to Bailly Romainvilliers which is close to the resort and had a nice pizza followed by big desserts!

August

After our busy day out in Provins the day before, we gave the big kids a day off, so Lyra and I headed off with Logan to Disneyland Paris! Ready to face the crowds, we headed off first thing, it was going to be a busy day!

The main attractions for Logan was of course Marvel, he is not so into the Disney Princesses and alike! So it was straight over to the the Spiderman / Miles Morales 3D ride! With this of course came the queueing! This on was 45 mins! The ride was fun though (all 3 mins of it), we sat in a moving vehicle and had to shoot everything that moved!! Needless to say, Logan was the champ…. I don’t recall who came second!!

We had a bite to eat and headed off around the park to find more adventure. We had some fun in the Toy Story section, and even got on a little ride there too. As we wandered around there was the inevitable parade with soem pretty amazing floats. We especially liked a very cool mechanical dragon one! No idea what Disney show it was from but we agreed, Indi would love it!!

As the afternoon went on, Logan decided that he wanted to try a rollercoaster. It had been on his mind for a bit, but he now decided that he wanted to be brave and give one a whirl! We chose a Finding Nemo one that looked pretty cool, it was in the adjacent park, but we booked a fast pass for me and Logan. Lyra decided to have a bit of chill time while we hit the ride, so we left her wandering up main street with a plan to meet back up in an hour.

Logan and I headed off but quickly realised that the fast pass tickets were on Lyra’s phone not mine. Trouble was, we had no idea where Lyra was! We searched around but it was truly like finding a needle in a haystack! So we had to wait for Lyra to come back and meet us at the agreed spot. If she came on time we would have about 10 mins to get across to the other park and into the ride before our (very expensive) fast pass tickets expired!! We waited at the spot, and 5 mins past the time went, no Lyra! We were starting to lose hope when, there she was, wandering slowly thought the crowd… We ran to her, quickly explained, grabbed her phone, said we’d meet back in another half an hour, then ran like hell to get to the ride!! We made it with seconds to spare!!

The ride itself was great fun, Logan enjoyed it, maybe not the parts where we were spinning around as we were whizzing around the circuit in the dark, but the rest of it he loved!! Logan was no longer a roller coaster virgin!!!

We wanted to watch the fireworks, but of course being summer, it didn’t get dark until nearly 10:00! so we went wandering once again. I think we were in Frontierland when Logan found a play ground that he fancied having a run around and climb, so we found somewhere to sit down, and Logan went off to play!

The sun was starting to set, so we decided to head over to main street so we could get a good place to watch the end of day show. We got ourselves a drink, and some snacks and sat around to wait…

Soon enough it was show time! It started with a pretty cool drone show all around the Disney castle, with the castle itself being used as a giant screen to show clips of classic Disney moments. It was the 30th Anniversary of Disneyland Paris so the show was themed around this. Finally, it was time for the fireworks!! It must have been about 10:30 by this time! THe show was great, but bizzarrely the fireworks made no noise! It was a silent show! Really wierd! We guessed it was becoause there are a fair few residential areas close to the park and maybe they aren’t allowed to make that much noise so late..? Impressive fireworks, but really odd without the usual bangs.

Once the show was over we made a dash for the exit, along with about 10,00 other people! It was a mad squash to get out, but we were soon in our car and slowly making our way back to the resort. Thankfully we were pretty close so we were home by about midnight!

On our last full day i nFrance, we had a bit of a chill. The last couple of days had been buy ones, so we stayed on the resort, had a wander around, and played some football and basketball with a bunch of other kids, and families, which has ot be said, got a bit too competative! And not because of Lyra!!

Before we knew it though it was time to pack the car up and start the long drive back home! We had been promising Kai crepes all week, so on our way back we found a creperie and pigged out! They were huge, and extremely sweet & creamy! But they hit the spot and prepared everyone for the long drive back to the ferry, and home.

Back home in Stratford, the summer holidays were in full swing! That means tourists everywhere! So to head in to town, you needed a good reason. Well Logan had one! He had signed up to be involved in a theatre club that was bringing a group together to put together a Shakespeare play in 5 days!!

It was hard work for him, but on the 5th day, we all headed into town to watch Logan in A Midsummer Nights Dream! It was an open air stage in the park right next to Holy Trinity Church (where Shakespeare is buried). They put on a brilliant show and got a rousing reception from the crowd when they finished! Logan had done himself proud!

Next up for Logan (as Indi and Kai hibernated at home) was a day with his drama buddy Hal at Tag Active. This a huge indoor climbing arena where you do challenges to earn points and beat your friends!! They had a blast as usual and came out tired and sweaty, but very happy and ready to get a drink down by the river in the sunshine!

It was also time for me to start a new job! Yes, after less than a year of consulting, I decided to go back to being employed. I had enjoyed the consulting, but was offered a really great opportunity to be Managing Director of a fast growing customs broker called Customs Support. I was really excited to get into this new role, it was quite different from what I have done before so I was really intrigued to see how I would do. Thankfully, I had a great team and I really enjoyed it, right from day one! It’s a small business compared to my previous roles, but they are owned by a private equity busienss, so it’s a really interesting role to grow the business, and as it is made up of a number of acquired busiensses I was focused on creating an integrated company from these different parts. Great fun!

Kai needed to make a field trip during the holidays to complete a geography project, so we decided to head down to Swanage and Studland beach so Kai could do some assessment of the sand dunes in the area, with the help of his able assistants (Logan and Me). We found a nice little B&B in Swanage, dropped our stuff there and headed out to the beach. Now, Studland is a lovely beach, but it was a but chilly (typical English summers day!) When the sun came out it was pretty nice, but when it wasn’t, it was a little chilly (or bloody freezing if you are Lyra!!).

Logan & I helped Kai on the first set of measurements, but by the time we headed off to do the second lot, Logan decided he would rather hit the sea and play in the sand, so I wnet with Kai to be his able assistant! We headed further up the beach where it is much quieter and started our measurements, it wasn’t long before we realised why this end of the beach was much quiter… we were in the nudist area!! As we were some way back fro mthe bech itself we didn’t realise until a hiker came past dressed only in his hiking boots and backpack!! Oh my!!

Still we go the job done and headed back to find Logan and Lyra. We found Lyra, but Logan was nowhere to be seen… We were just asking Ly where he was when she screamed at us to stop! Logan had asked Lyra to buring him up to his nexk in the sand, and they had then put a towel over his head. As we asked where he was I was about to plant the measuring rod (with a very sharp point into the sand, right where Logan was buried!! Thankfully I didn’t, and Logan was revealed from under the tower! Very funny, but a close shave for sure!!

That same day, Kai got his results from his AS level Pyschology. He had been awarded an A so he was really pleased, and we were chuffed for him! He hadn’t really enjoyed studying it, so he did well to deliver an A!! That night Kai decided he fancied a curry to celebrate. So we looked up a curry house and ordered take out. Sadly it wasn’t as lovely as we’d hoped, but we played some cards and then crashed out after our busy day.

Kai and I were up early the following day to go and complete his final assessments. Sadly the weather had taken a turn for the worse and it was blowing a gale, with the odd shower of rain thrown in for fun! Lyra and Logan had chosen the lay-in option (very sensible), so met us later once we were done. We needed to be home by 5pm as Kai was working in the pub that evening, so we headed off by mid morning so we could stop off at Corfe Castle on the way back.

Corfe Castle was awesome! Fantastic ruins, and all sitting atop a huge hill with amazing views all round. We really loved having a good look round. Logan even got to have a go at some archery! We topped it off with some amaxing pasties and sausage rolls in the car and we started the long drive back Home ot Indi and the cats!!

As the new football season started, I got the chance to tick off something from my bucket list, a visit to Anfield to see Liverpool play. Chris had managed to get some hospitality tickets so we were off to see Liverpool v Bournemouth! It was a beatiful sunny day too. What an atmosphere! You cannot really describe the sound of 50,000 people singing You’ll Never Walk Alone, simply spinetingling! Once the game got going, Liverpool were almost immediately 0-1 down! This was not how it was supposed to go!! Thankfully they pulled themselves together and won 3-1 in the end! Brilliant day, big thanks Mr Chris Peck!!

While I was off enjoying the footie, Lyra and Logan headed up to see the Harlands in Stafford. They also had a fun day planned and headed over to Go Ape for some high climbing fun! They had a great day, and Logan overcame a few fears during the experience!!

Logan loves to go to the school summer ‘camps’, they aren’t sleepovers but just fun days playing sports and games! He gets on really well with the organisers so he always has a great time. They even had a hawaiian shirt day!

Abi, Kiera, and Cam came up to see us in the sunshine, Aurora decided Kiera’s hair was fair game, and went on the full attack to try and ‘kill’ it off! Without success I can tell you! Once the sun went down, we had some dinner and settled into a few games of Fibbage and Quiplash, which is always hilarious with these guys, and very inappropriate!! Big laughs though!

We had a night out in Northampton soon after at Vicki and Darren’s for Daniel. their eldests birthday. The plan was for a BBQ, but the weather wasn’t being to helpful, so it was mostly a house party, but we did venture out under the gazebo for a great game of higher or lower with Vicki’s Dad standing in for Brucie!!

And then it was time to get away again, with a few days in sunny Spain before the kids headed back to school!

Indi decided she didn’t need another week with the boys, so offered to stay home and look after the cats. I think it was because we had to get up at about 04:00 to head off to the airport to catch an early flight down to Malaga! The journey all went well and by mid afternoon we were sat by the pool in the sun!

After a lay in, and some work for me, we headed over to Puerto Banus for some late afternoon beach fun. The boys set about digging a hole! This morphed into a hole with a castle! Lyra and I chilled out, had a swim, strolled along the beach, and had a drink. In this time the boys masterpiece was complete!

As the sun began to head for the horizon we wandered along the beach and found a nice restaurant on the beach. It was next to a huge inflatable slide, which of course Logan and Kai had to have a go on!

It was lovely to sit and watch the sun go down over dinner and we got some lovely photos of the full moon over the sea.

The following day, I had to focus on work, so Ly and the boys hung out at the pools and had plenty of fun pn the slides and generally being rowdy!!

On our final day we ventured inland to the amazing hilltop town of Rhonda. It was about an hours drove up through the winding hills. We stopped a few times as the views were just incredible.

Rhonda itself doesn’t disappoint, it has a spectacular bridge connecting the town. We wandered around and ended up at the bottom of the bridge looking back up, which again was pretty spectacular. The walk back up was a good test of our leg strength! It certainly built up an appetite, so we found a nice little restaurant and replenished our energy.

The bridge itself was even more spectacular at night, so on the way back to our hotel we found a route to take us to a great view of the bridge from below. The road we found was a bit narrow, bumpy, and full of holes but it was worth it as the view was brilliant.

So that was that, after 4 days in the sun, it was time to head back home and get ready to get back to school, and for me to really get cracking in my new job! Thankfully the flight wasn’t until late in the day so we had some time to enjoy the pool and play a game of football pool!

September

After a busy August, the focus at the start of September was getting ready to go back to school, new shoes and uniform were all needed so it was time for a few shopping trips.

Logan still managed to find some time for some last minute fun too as he met Andrew at the Leisure centre for a session of TAG active! While all this was going on, India was focused on going through her many boxes that had still not been unloaded since we arrived back!!

Then before we knew it, school was back. Both Kai and Logan headed off to school to start their last years at their schools, so a big year ahead (Indi still had a month at home before Uni started!).

In the same week, I really started to get into my new role. I had been working part time for the month of August but as September kicked in, I went full time into the role. That started with a couple of days in Antwerp for the annual strategic alignment session which was a great couple of days and allowed me to meet the MD’s from the other countries. Antwerp was also a very noice city and we enjoyed a great evening walking through the city and having a nice dinner together.

As Kai was in his final year of school, the discussions regarding University started. Kai is interested in studying Marine Biology or Zoology, so he had been investigating good Uni’s to do those courses. One of those was Sheffield and their was an open day in September, so Kai and I headed off to check out the Uni, and the City. We had an excellent day, took a look at the accommodation, listened to some introduction sessions on the courses, and had a good wander around some of the campus and the city. It was a really nice, vibrant atmosphere in the Uni and the city itself. Kai came away, quite excited at the prospect of studying there. We even managed to check out the local Five Guys for a top quality burger!

Logan, Indi, and Lyra had come across an Archery club in Alcester, so they were invited to take part in a taster session. They all did really well and enjoyed the experience so Ly and Logan signed up for the beginner training as part of the Bowmen club.

In the middle of September, it was time for Logan to put all his hard work from his studies for the 11+ to the test. He, along with many hindreds of other kids across Warwickshire were sitting their 11+ exam to see if they could be selected to attend the local Grammar schools. Logan really wanted to attend Alcester Grammar (where Kai goes). We were very proud of the hard work and commitment he had put into his studies, and he went into the 3 hour exam with a calmness that you could only admire! He said it was pretty hard, but was happy that he had done the best he could. We could not ask for anymore than that, so all we could do now was wait to see if he was selected, the results will be out in March 2024!!

At the same time, Lyra was away as a healing seminar in Bristol. It was on for 3 days and was showcasing many different alternate approaches to healing that are not offered by our delightful NHS…

Logan had a fun day at school where they were allowed to dress up like their favourite rock / pop star for Times-table Rock Stars day. Logan chose to dress up as Marshmellow (I don’t think it’s his favourite, but did allow him to dress up pretty cool with a white mask).

For a long time, Lyra had been trying to arrange a trip to Bulgaria. It had been a good few years since we had been out to see out apartments and there were many things that needed to be looked into. So, off she went for a week of Autumn sun, peace and quiet, and some updates with the local teams from the resorts. She got most of the tasks done, and certainly enjoyed the time to herself to ‘relax’ (if that’s at all possible).

I took a trip over to Ireland to meet my team over there. It was a n interesting journey as there was a pretty serious storm going on when we landed so it was a pretty scary experience as we came down to land (on one wheel!), when we exited the plane you could barely stand up the wind was so strong! The excitement continued as we drove from Cork to Waterford, we had to navigate fallen trees and stormy sees crashing over walls onto the road!! It was quite a relief to get there. It was all worth it though as we had a great time meeting all of the team and learning more about the Irish Customs business.

The travels weren’t done though, as before the end of the month, Lyra and India headed off to Exeter for a 3 day seminar about psychedelic therapy and micro dosing. As many may know, Lyra has a huge capacity for learning and she attended every session she possibly could. Indi did her best to keep up, but she didn’t have Lyra’s stamina so picked and chose the key ones that interested her.

Once all that was done, there was only one key thing left to do in Spetember, and that was get Indi back to Uni for her 2nd year! She was staying in the same Halls as in Year 1 (one of the advantages of being classed as an international student), so all was familiar, but we didn’t know which room she would get until we arrived.

Her things filled both Lyra’s and my car, so we both headed up, with Logan aswell to provide some muscle for moving boxes! Indi went and checked in when we arrived and she was thrilled to hear that she had been given the exact same room as last year!! She had loved living there so was over the moon to have another year there. It was all a bit different from the year before where there had been alot of nerves, this year she was just excited to be back (away from her Brothers) and ready to crack on with the course!

October

We only kick off with one thing in October…. Loggie Fynn’s birthday!!! Yep, our big lad hit 11 this year and he woke to a very Harry Potter themed celebration with Harry Potter’s on broomstick balloons and a Harry Potter themed “Happy Birthday” sign! It was a school day so the celebrations were limited in the morning, but we did manage a little cookie cake to blow out a few candles! Once back from school, and had some dinner it was on to gifts!! Firstly though he got to SEE but not eat his amazing, self designed Loggie Bear cake! Then he opened his presents, building up to the big surprise…the Lego Colosseum!! This was partly funded by the rest of the family through contributions as it was a pretty pricy set! He was over the moon of course and couldn’t wait to start putting the 11,000 pieces together!!

At the weekend we had indi back to celebrate with Loggie, and we all headed off to the Leisure centre for a sweaty hour of TAG active with his best buds from school! Even Felix, who had recently moved to Manchester came down to celebrate! They had a great time, and then moved on to the party room for food, cake, and alot of shouting!! Everyone loved his Loggiebear cake and they celebrated with a pile on!

Later that day we celebrated with Abi, Nick, Tan Steve, Kyra, and Isaac and the decapitated version of the Loggiebear cake!! Much to everyone’s amusement!

The very next day, the construction of the colosseum began…. it was going to be quite a journey!

The following week it was the Stratford MOP. Nobody really seems to know why it’s called that, but it involves closing the centre of town down and there is a big fair for a few days. Logan was of course keen to go on a few rides, so after school they met up with Kai and hit the rides. It was a soaking wet day, but thankfully there was no vomiting from the rides and they even managed to scoff a very large hot dog and chips!

The next weekend was a bit quieter and was spent mainly chilling out…. and building the colosseum!

Now that we are back in the UK, we have been considering investing in some property here, so to help us be better informed about the market and great ways to utilise property better as an investment, Lyra headed off to Peterborough for a couple of nights to attend a Property investment course.

While she was there, Logan and I went off car shopping! Since I had started working with Customs Support I was doing alot more milage and needed a more appropriate car. So we visited Leicester to check out a Cupra Formentor. Well it was safe to say, we loved it! Looked very cool, had a nice sporty feel to it, and lots of gadgets!! Especially the adaptive cruise control! The essential gadget for long distance driving!!

After our exciting test drive, we thought, we are only 40 mins away from Indi, lets pop up and see her for lunch! So we did, and had a very nice lunch at the Beacon, just round the corner from Indi’s place. It was great to see her and Logan managed to eat the biggest sundae you have ever seen!

After a bit of chatting with Lyra on Saturday night, it was agreed, I was going to buy the Cupra! Woohoo! Cool new car for me!!

These days of course, October isn’t exclusively for Logan’s birthday, it is also Faith’s! So just before the end of the month we all piled down to Nether Heyford to celebrate Faith reaching 5!!

Of course the end of the month is halloween and Logan dressed up as a rather sinister looking character all in black, with his scary white mask and a pistol!! Ghosts and goblins just won’t do these days! He terrorised the Bridgetown neighbourhood near school with his best bud Andrew and as usual came home with a rather large stash of sweets!!

November

We started November with a big birthday…. Abi was hitting 50!! We had been talking about what to do to celebrate this occasion for sometime but eventually Abi settled on renting an awesome old mill in Norfolk for a bunch of us to come and celebrate with her!

Lyra went with Abi on the Friday to help get things organised along with Nick, Cam, & Nick’s Sister & Hubby. The rest of us, plus Kiera, Pharrel (Kiera’s fella), Dee, and Nick’s parents joined on the Saturday morning. The weather was pretty awful with heavy rain for most of Saturday, so it was great to have such an amazing house to hang out in. The place could sleep about 20 with the main feature being the old mills windmill tower that had been concerted into 3 bedrooms with the windmill gearing still present through the middle of the rooms and on the ground floor and fantastic dinning room that could sit 20 around one table, just perfect!

Despite the rain, we were keen to utilise the heated pool so we braved the cold, wet weather and hit the pool! It was really nice in there actually, but you really felt it when you put your shoulders above the water! we played a few great games of water volleyball and had some great laughs!

All in all we spent more than two hours in the water!

We dried off and warmed up by the fire, then it was time to work towards getting dinner ready. Thankfully Abi and Nick had worked really hard before arriving, and a few of us had chipped in some dishes too. It was all hands to the deck to get things all ready to sit down.

Dinner in the fab dining room was a wonderful time, lots of laughs, great food, an amazing cake, and Abi had many lovely gifts bestowed upon her!

After dinner, we knew we needed to stay active or everyone would have simply fallen into a food coma! So it was game time!! The previous night the guys had discovered a fab game called fill you pants! Which was basically a one on one challenge where you had to go off around the house finding certain objects, place them in your pants, then return to the start point before your opponent! It was absolutely hilarious!!

By the time we had grown tired of playing fill your pants, everyone was ready to chill out! And one by one people headed off for a good nights sleep!

We woke to beautiful sunshine! Everyone joined in the clean up session and we had a great breakfast together. We had to be out of the place by about midday, so there was lots to do, but we had the numbers so we got everything ship shape and were able to head off and enjoy one of the local national trust places, Oxburgh Hall. A fascinating, almost castle like stately home with a really interesting history of the long time family that awned the place the Bedingfields.

After enjoying the culture, the history, the architecture, and the instriguing exploits of the Bedingfield family, it was time to head to the pub over the road for a drink, and we had booked for Sunday Lunch!

We had a private dinning space which was really lovely, and together we had a fabulous lunch, lots of laughs, and simging happy birthday to the guest of homour!

Once all this was done, all that was left was to head into the garden for some group photos with an odd statue of John Lennon, taken by the very eccentric landlady!! After all this it was time for us to head our seperate ways home. Tired, but happy to have had such a great weekend to celebrate Abi’s big 50!!

The following weekend, Kai treated us to one of his culinary delights, a chicken curry, then on the Sunday it was Remembrance day. Logan and I had chased around town on the Saturday to find a poppy seller (who would have thought it would be so hard!), which eventually we did find so we were all prepared.

On the Sunday, the weather was pretty awful, cold and wet, certainly got you in the mood for remembering the suffering people went through in the World wars that’s for sure. Logan was part of the school group that were marching through the town and attending a service in the memorial garden new the Holy Trinity Church. It is an important thing to do, remembering all those poor sould that got dragged into these desperate wars and the suffering both they and their families endured. It was also bloody freezing so we were glad when it was all done!

Later in November, it was the start of the market season in Stratford, this time it was the Victorian market. We had a good stroll around, but the highlight of the day was meeting this amazing, huge cat that was being pushed around in a pushchair with it’s dog companion! The cat was enormous and a clear attraction as some many people wanted to say hello and take a picture! Logan was smitten and loved having a stroke of the chunky fella!

The rest of the month was focused on me travelling around for work, and Lyra having a weekend away in Peterborough on a 3 day property portfolio seminar. Yes, Ly is widening her entrepreneurial skills and looking at property as an investment.

December

Time to put the decorations up! We got the tree up, a few lights on, but then we got distracted and it took another week to get them all in place!

Just in time for Anita and Alan to visit! We hadn’t seen them in ages so it was great to have an evening together, some nice dinner, and lots of chat!

Over the last few months Logan had been working with his drama group on a performance called The Little Match Girl. It was to be performed outdoors as part of the Christmas Market in the centre of Stratford. Our friends Clare, Ian, and Quinlan made the journey up from Milton Keynes to see us and see Logan perform. The market was nice, but we were there for the show. Being December, it was pretty cold, but Logan and the team did a great job so we forgot how chilly it was!

After the show we headed back home to warm up and celebrate Clare’s birthday with a bit of birthday cake!

As Logan’s school term was reaching it’s end, it was time for the annual carol concert in the Holy Trinity Church in town. As well as singing, Logan had been selected to do a reading. He did a great job, full of confidence as you would expect!

The fact that it was mid December, didn’t stop Harry, Loggie’s mate having an outdoor, football party to celebrate his 11th Birthday! They enjoyed their run around, and then sat down for some well deserved party food, and of course cake!!

We know Christmas is close when our Indi is back home! Almost as soon as she was back this time, we were off again. Down to see Nanny & Grampy for an early Christmas celebration as they were off to sunny Spain with Andy and Ben. It was of course a nice Christmassy day, with turkey, all the trimmings, and even a few gifts to open! Highlight of the kids day though was no doubt the wonderful home made yule log!! Great job Nanny!!

The next Christmas get together was with the Bowmen of Alcester, Lyra and Logan’s archery club! It was the usual night of target practice, but with the added bonus of having lots of seasonal snacks to tuck into as well! Just to be polite, I helped them all to get through all that food!!

Last year we popped down to London for the night for our anniversary to soak up some of the Christmas atmosphere. We enjoyed it so much, we decided to do it again this year! Even Kai came this time! We drove down to the city after picking Logan and Kai up straight from school and without too much delay in the Christmas traffic we made it to St Ermins and settled into our rooms.

As the sun went down, we muffled up and headed out for a walk through Westminster, to Trafalgar Square, and Covent Garden. At Trafalgar, we stopped for a tasty Bratwurst (just like last year, Logan insisted!), then walked on through the crowds to Covent Garden. It was heaving with people, and of course the usual street entertainment. Logan had a close encounter with a T-Rex, we listened to an opera singer for a while, and then we decided to head back to the hotel as it would soon be time for our Christmas dinner!! Not before we could pose for some photo’s with an 8ft polar bear in a Christmas jumper!!

We all put on a smart togs and headed to the restaurant! We had a lovely round table, ordered some drinks, and got ready for our feast! Dinner was truly lovely, a modern take on Christmas dinner which we all loved. Another star of the dinner was the gargling fish water jug! It made a hilarious noise when you poured which amused us all! We have been searching for one ever since!!

After dinner we did some posing in the foyer for Christmas photos (would have been perfect for the calendar but sadly I forgot about them!), these included a full on Santa’s sleigh!

Next morning we headed down for a nice celebratory (our wedding anniversary) cooked breakfast buffet and then went for a chilly but lovely stroll along the Thames. Then it was time to head back home and get the final preparations for Christmas done!

Christmas Eve took us over to the Peck’s household for a pre Christmas get together and to celebrate Tan’s birthday! A good few of the clan were there including Grandad and Auntie Irene! As you would expect, the girls stole the show. No late night partying though as we needed to get home for the big day! Once home Logan put out the reindeer dust and left Santa a snack and headed on up to bed.

In the morning, Logan was up early but he did as he was asked and waited until a reasonable hour before waking us or Kai to share what Santa had brought him. Once we had been convinced to get up, we had a relaxed breakfast before heading into the living room to give out a few presents!!

Everyone was very happy with their gifts and we took some time to enjoy them. In between all of this, Lyra was preparing the Christmas dinner feast… of course I was helping, but that generally meant chopping or washing up.. none of the creative stuff!

Dinner, of course, was a top notch feast! and required some significant chilling / napping to get over!

Boxing day was a little different thisyear as longside eating more, we needed to complete our packing as we were heading to Thailand the following day!!

As you can imagine the flight was long! All went well though and we arrived in Bangkok to be greeted by Khun Wan who was coming down to Pren Buri with us for a week! There was another surpirse though, Khun Ae (our old driver) also came to the airport to say hello! It was wonderful to see him again. The surprises were not over though as our transfer down to Pren Buri didn’t show up until about 2 hours after we landed!

It was a 4 hour drive down to the house was mostly spent sleeping, but we were very happy arrive. We had a little fun trying to find the house, the driver managed to scrape the bus quiet significantly trying to get around the corners! Still we eventually arrived and were very happy to be there!

The house was simply stunning!! Absolutely perfect for us. we all passed out pretty quickly!

With time zones all over the place we were all awake pretty early but it was just lovely to be able to wander outside and watch the sun rise in the lovely warmth… we were where we belong…

We spent the first day relaxing in the lovely garden and pool, it was heaven. When the heat felt a bit too much we could retreat under the shade or into the living room where they had a table football game set up! That table saw alot of action while we were there!!

In the evening we took a walk into the village and found a local bar / restaurant for some great local food! They were lovely people and so accommodating of what we wanted… even if it required them whizzing off on their bike to get ingredients!

Next day we arranged for a hire car to come and we had a drive around the area. We found a lovely beach and managed to do some shopping.

While we were doing all this, Lyra had been scheming in the background with Cece (Logan’s best friend Ayton’s Mum) as they were in Hua Hin (not far away) so they were going to come around to surprise Logan! It was a lovely surprise for Logan, he and Ayton had a great time. So much so that Ayton ended up staying at ours overnight so they could carry on playing together the next day!

The next day was New Years Eve and we spent a lovely day around the pool with Ayton. It was so nice to see Ayton and Logan enjoying each others company so well after nearly a year and half apart, it was like we had never left!

As the evening descended we settled in with some lovely food prepared by Wan, a few drinks, and some fun in the pool! Sadly, Indi had picked up a bug and was feeling really under the weather so spent most of the evening in bed. The rest of us enjoyed the evening in and around the pool as we waited for 2024 to arrive!!