Cambridge

Nick's mum and dad arrived mid-August and we thought it was a good opportunity to get out and see England a bit more. Colin wanted to go to a library in Cambridge to do some genealogical research so Nick and I went along for the weekend. The highlight really was punting - we did it on the Sunday before catching the train back to London and we had a really nice day. A couple of near misses and lots of laughs!

Colin & Ruth as we pull away from the pier...


A close encounter with the trees and some problems getting the pole out ;-)


the back-seat driver has a go... it's hard work!


getting the hang of it...


cruising along...

Brendan's 40th

For Brendan's 40th, he organised for a big group of us to go to the Cotswalds for the weekend. We stayed in a place called Kemerton with a manor house and cottages dotted over the property. On Friday night we had a massive whole roast pig (for about 150 people with only about 25 in our group it kept us going the whole weekend!).

Birthday boy...


some of the girls...

some of the boys (don't ask me what Nick's doing)


It was very picturesque. But, as you can imagine, it is the English summer so it pretty much rained all day on Saturday which is when we were going clay pidgeon shooting. Anyway, we had a great time even if we were drenched. These are pics of Nick and I having a go.


Then, on Sunday (when it was fine again!) we celebrated again with birthday cake. I love this picture as you can see Thomas intently blowing out the candles...