Joined the gym!

Well we did it at last! 2 weeks ago we joined a wonderful gym. For me it's been about 3 years since I went to one on a regular basis, for Phil & the boys it was a new experience.
Everyone is enjoying it a lot with the exception of Kai. Unfortunately he doesn't like going into the creche so we are trying to ease him in gently at the moment.

Yesterday Brian (aka Nunu) arrived from the UK for his 2 month stay. He seems very happy to be here, and we are very happy to have him over.

Well, that's all for tonight. Short and sweet as I'm going to drag the guys off the computers and get them in the hot tub!

Back soon!!

This is my promise to myself that I will be back blogging on the next few days!
It seems that we've been so busy, but that's no excuse because all it means is more to write about.
Sooooo, watch this space - I'll be back very soon!

Building a trampoline....

On July 17th we bought a trampoline for the boys. We didn't think it would be such a challenging task to build it.....Heidi & I estimated we'd have it done within an hour. We started at 3pm.

Hmmmmm, 12 ft is quite large when it's a trampoline in your back yard!

Looks as though it's going to be a tight fit!

With the help of Howard we managed to get the springs connected.

Taking shape now.........

Albeit the wrong shape!

Just checking those joints!

Yep! All secure!

Can I bounce bounce please?

Kai got the wrong idea about the safety mesh

Kai finally gets his bounce at 10pm!

Kai & Phil

Howard, Greg & Kai test out the trampoline.

Zack is still recovering so he can't go on just yet.

July 15th 2008 - Zack & Nanna Janice have their ops

On July 15th Zack & Nanna Janice went to the California Ear Institute for their ops.

Zack in the waiting room

Nanna in the waiting room

The staff at the hospital were amazing! They looked after myself, Heidi & Kai while we waited for the patients. We were a little hungry as we hadn't planned very well and took nothing with us so they made us a lovely chicken meal. Kai was treated like a little VIP with his very own 60" TV to watch and pillows, blankets and refreshments whenever he needed them!

This is Zack in recovery after his op.

We tried to get some pictures of Janice but the nurses wouldn't let us. You could just tell they thought Heidi was a total nutcase for even asking!

Both operations went well. Nanna had an immediate improvement in her hearing. It will take a few months to find out wether Zack's operation was a success.

Zack gets straight back into what's important the day after his operation!

Weekend catch up..

Just a quick catch up from the weekend as I was having too much fun to post at the time!

We have had so many hot days - the only way to cool down is by playing with water! We got a water slide for the garden and the boys had so much fun with it.

Heid, Mum & I went wine tasting at Wente http://www.wentevineyards.com/default2.asp and Tamas http://www.tamasestates.com/ on Saturday. We had a great time and both Heidi & Mum were very impressed with the local offerings. Heidi disliked wine prior to Saturday (but that was because she'd only ever had nasty stuff before!!)

Kai learned he had some Rock Band talent........

......and we had Alvin, Rita & the girls over for a BBQ and a bounce!

Maggie Simpson

I just had to post this picture of Maggie Simpson standing guard whilst Kai slept. It was taken a couple of weeks ago during our Florida visit.
Maggie is the Birchall family doggy (our friends in Florida) She is so sweet and protective to the kids that Claire said she should have been named Nana!

Hospitals & hosepipes.........

Zack & Janice went for their Pre-ops at the California Ear Institute. Next Tuesday (July 15th) they are each having an operation to improve their hearing.
For Zack the operation simply put will be to have his middle ear rebuilt with a prosthesis to replace a bone which was damaged years ago when he had a Cholesteatoma http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cholesteatoma. Although he had this same operation back in the UK and it was unsuccessful we have high hopes for success this time as techniques have advanced substantially over the last few years.
Janice (mum) has Ostosclerosis and is having a Stapedectomy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stapedectomy which will hopefully restore some of her conductive hearing loss. Katrina Stidham will be doing both of their operations in succession.

Today was a hot day with highs of 112F. We decided to go swimming and had great fun splashing around and cooling down! Phil, Zack & Greg made a people tower and managed to scare almost everyone else to the edges of the pool. Kai wanted to make a tower too - but we decided that it was probably safer if he just sat on my shoulders!

We came back home and had great fun as Kai has learned to use a hosepipe. He soaked us all and got quite soaked himself in the process.

Kai went to bed really well - we have hopes of a good night's sleep tonight!!!!

Where did the last 2 weeks go???!!!!

When I started this blog it was my intention to post weekly - if not daily updates. Ha!!!
So here's a really brief overview of the last 2 weeks...
We arrived at our villa in Florida to find things....shall we say "not quite right!"
We have basically spent the last 2 weeks in Home Depot buying stuff, taking it home, returning it and then buying more stuff to start the whole cycle again.
I managed to get one whole day of doing almost no DIY the day before we left. It was lovely! I just swam and read all day until we went out for dinner in the evening.
Having said all of that I'm really not complaining. I enjoyed looking after our holiday home and getting it ready for our next 5 months of guests.
We landed in San Jose last night at around 10pm. (Unfortunately I had booked the flight forgetting that our car was parked in San Francisco airport!)
Anyone who knows San Jose airport will know that you land with your final descent coming through the downtown area. Yesterday was July 4th so as we landed we had the most amazing pyrotechnic displays at the tips of our wings! It was as though they had decided that our plane would get a special July 4th welcome!! All in all the flight mess up was a very worthwhile mistake as we saw some of the best fireworks ever - and the cab ride to SFO was not that bad or scary really!!!
Today I called my mum to make sure she was ready for her flight over tomorrow.
Disaster! She had lost her passport somewhere between Gatwick and Heathrow. After mobilising most of the UK we found her passport on a National Express coach (extra special thanks to the Amazing Tim on the emergency line)
Managed to unpack about half of our bags today - a major achievement given the amount of time spent on the phone looking for the wandering passport!
Looking forward to picking Mum & Heidi up from the airport tomorrow - but for now sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!

Orlando - June 2008

Landed in Orlando yesterday evening and headed straight for Claire & Keith's house (picking up Smokey Bones enroute!!)
We had a lovely evening eating ribs, drinking beer and just having a good old chinwag!
Managed to stay up until almost 1am - the latest we've managed since arriving back from our UK trip 3 days ago.
After a great night's sleep Claire introduced me to her blog. I have been meaning to start doing this long before now but have never managed to get it started.
So here's hoping that this is a useful source for all of our family and friends who we miss very much but don't get to see very often.
Watch this space.......................................