Post holiday blues

Ok, all good things must come to an end, and so they did at 4.30 am Thursday morning when we arrived back at home. How do people manage to sleep upright on planes? I never can, especially not with Sam's head on one knee and Kate's on the other, LOL! I see the weather here has been, erm, spring-like at best. My garden looks good though, I have some ripe tomatoes and huge lettuces!

I devoured 4 novels while we were away: Time for a change (Erica James), the Abortionist's Daughter, the finca owner lent this one to me and it was a brill read, a murder investigation, not my normal choice of book, but I'll be looking at reading more murder investigations I think), a 'chicklit' whose title escapes me and which I left out there, and Charlotte Bingham's In Distant Fields (a bit slow, not as good as other Bingham books I have read, not so much about WW1 as I had expected). I'm on my fifth, Jodi Picoult's Plain Truth, it's about the murder investigation of a newborn baby found in a barn in Amish Pennsylvania. This is the second book of hers that I have bought and I reckon I'll be buying more. I like her style. Best go update All Consuming with this lot!

The last week of our holiday was a good, if not better, than the first week.

On Sunday night Sam, Katie, mum and I sat out at 11.45pm on the sun loungers gazing at the most beautifully clear sky, filled with stars, and were treated to seeing what must have been more than 30 shooting stars from the Perseid meteor shower in just over an hour(I lost count after 8 in my excitement!).At least I think they were part of the meteor shower, some may not have been, as they did not all come from the same direction. They were so bright, some bigger than others, one looked like a ball of fire it was so large. There were a couple of other moving objects with no fiery tails (not planes either!), perhaps they were satellites. It was one of the most amazing and exciting things I have ever seen. More exciting than the two nights when we saw the space station fly over (although that was an experience in itself). I would have stayed awake longer, wanting to see 'just one more', but everyone was exhausted and we toddled off to bed at 1am.

Monday was Sam's 14th birthday.

















We went for a buffet chinese and bowling....















"do I really have to pose for another photo mum?"


"if I pray, will I get a Strike?"




































Seeing as our flight wasn't until 1.05 am and we had to leave the finca at mid afternoon, on Wednesday we drove down to Benalmadena for something to eat,
































and then on to Tivoli World amusement park until late evening when we had to set off for the airport...




























Nanny and Grandad had to experience the wet ride with Sam and Katie!
































While the bravest I got was a ride on the Big Wheel! I was braver than last time and managed to take some photos from way up there!












































I much preferred the dodgems!

Sam and Katie, on the other hand, showed no fear...




















Sorry the photos aren't up to scratch! I think I need to enrol on the OU's Digital Photography course!

Which brings me to a dilemma...how am I going to fill the winter months at home? Now that I'm not working I can't justify any big OU courses, although I do have a couple of Tesco vouchers and an OU gift voucher I can put towards a short course, maybe the Digital Photography or Volcanoes, Tsunamis and Earthquake course. What I want is a nice little job for 2 mornings a week, but most jobs in schools are for more hours than this. Tutoring is out of the question with hub's shift pattern. I have some ebaying to do. There's my Spanish and exercising, but I can't help but feel a bit uninspired by these because they are what I have been concentrating on since April. I get such itchy feet and am always after something new to do! Maybe I'll hear about scriptmarking for 2008.

Best go load the washing machine again...

Meal

Lee and I got dressed up and went to a lovely little restaurant in the old town of Alhaurin El Grande, Santiago's, with our friends, leaving mum and dad to babysit. We had a super 3 course meal...a very fancy prawn cocktail with avocado, Roast Duck with Dauphinoise potatoes and watercress, and Baileys cheesecake on an After Eight base. Divine!
We ate outside in a courtyard under lime trees, with low lighting and candles at the tables and the sound of running water from a fountain. Wonderful setting.
There was supposed to be a meteor shower here at about midnight (and again tonight), but I didn't see anything. Last week we watched the spacestation fly over the clear night sky, let's hope I can catch sight of a shooting star tonight, apparently they are seen easily here since there is so little light pollution.

Yesterday we ventured out in the extreme heat to Mijas to show mum and dad the lovely whitewashed houses and the smelly donkeys. This time it was far too hot, and after a quick look at the views to the coast and diving into the relatively cool tourist shops we came away exhausted and in need of a dip in the pool.


Today we are chilling out here at the finca while mum and dad visit Gibraltar. The temperature was into the 40s this morning, hence me sitting here inside blogging to escape the midday sun.

Holiday snaps

Us, watching the sunset with a Martini or two...

The sunset...


Bombing!


Happy Feet!


A brill invention...the fly gun! It really works and keeps the kids happy for days!

Sus vacaciones de Espana

Hola desde Coin en Espana! Nadamos cada dia porque el tiempo es caliente. He leido tres libros y no deseo venir a casa! Sam y Katie tienen gusto de jugar con el perro de Jackie y Martin. Su nombre es Peaches. Lee gusto de hablar con Martin. Mis padres llegan el viernes por seis noches.
Ese es todo para ahora.

Sam's SATs results

A while ago I posted about how well Katie is doing at school. Since then Sam has had his end of year report and achieved level 6s in maths and Science. English results will be out in September. He had a good report, is 'maturing' and less 'chatty' in class and making good progress in all subjects. A letter dropped on the mat yesterday from the Assistant Head letting me know how pleased they were with Sam's Science and progress. According to the figures released with his report only 3 students achieved a level 7 in science! A good start to his GCSE years!

Meanwhile Katie has been given 5 practice 11+ maths papers to complete over the holidays under test conditions. So far so good, she has done two papers so far and achieved 82% and 93%, but boy does she get herself into a state while doing them. I guess she's a perfectionist like her mother! There was nothing on the papers she didn't know how to tackle, the loss of marks came from mistakes in her calculations and a lack of time to be able to check her work. Fortunately, even though the 11+ test date has shifted from January to November she still has plenty of time to get used to timed conditions.

So once, again, I'm a proud mum.

Back to the packing!

Cotswolds

We've just returned from a lovely weekend visiting friends in another beautiful place, Bourton on Water, AKA Venice of the Cotswolds. Luckily it wasn't affected too badly from the flooding although there was evidence that things weren't as dry as they normally are (see photos). We got lucky, the sun came out although it was quite chilly for this time of year (no surprises there then)!


The river Windrush, gushing!

our lovely Kate.



These were some quaint cottages at Stow on the Wold. You can just see a stream at the left hand edge of the photo, it obviously casued some concern, see next photo:





The river had burst its banks at the edge of the Trout farm at Stow.




Sam, enjoying the added water attractions at Bourton!



Us! Not a bad piccie considering I just held the camera at arm's length and clicked!



Watching the fast flowing water at Stow.

The river, breeching the entrance to the trout farm at Stow.

Let's hope there's more sun and less flooding at Coin, Spain next week!

Sad Eyes(Guy Roche Remix)-Enrique Iglesias (EnriqueFeatAsif)

Sad eyes.

One of my fave songs by Enrique, I've been listening to it today and hadn't realised that another of my faves, Bruce Springsteen has sung it too.
Which do I prefer? I think Enrique's. Simply because his voice is far sexier :)

You decide...

Bruce's


or
Enrique's


Not so keen on Enrique's Ping Pong song on the other hand:

Perhaps it will grow on me.

Busy with photos

I had 8 months worth of unorganized digital photos! They're sorted and baked up now. Took a while, but it was good to look back on the last 8 months. We've had some fun. Here's a quick look at some of the best...









Even the stuffed animals got out and about for some sightseeing from the car window... but Charlie the Chimp got travelsick, just look at his face!



In April we decided to decorate the study, this meant moving everything into the conservatory....


Since then, all it has done is....

Veggies, flowers and digging.

I have a great sense of satisfaction this morning after a hard day's work yesterday. We needed a path to our shed, stepping stones just weren't good enough when it rains (I keep my tumble dryer in the shed). It took me two hours to remove dirt from turf (redistribute dirt into new flower bed and lug turf up to brown recycling bin in the garage)and dig down almost 3 inches ready for Lee to lay the new path (my choice, I like to be outside!). You can imagine how my muscles ache this morning, no need to do any exercise today that's for sure! Once the path laying was underway I had to carry the bricks/stones from the top of the stairs by our garage down into the garden, that was the hardest bit!




Once the path was laid I thought it was about time I put up some photos of how busy I've been these last few months. Here you go... enjoy!








My babies (spinach, lettuce, carrots and spring onions):


My real babies!

(a friend on the left, Katie on the right)


Oh yes, and my final joy, I've now lost 4 pounds since the beginning of May...slow but sure, perhaps that way it will stay off!

The countdown begins!

Less than a month til we set off to Spain, which hopefully will have alot more sun and alot less rain than here!

My cases are out and half packed (yes, I'm that sad!) with all sorts of loverly new summer clothes and shoes.
I'm a measly 3 pounds lighter than I was when I started seriously trying to lose some weight back at the beginning of May, but I've got a nice hourglass figure now and probably got alot more muscle in my legs, and I'm a whole lot fitter (I can run at 10km/h, the max speed on my treadmill whereas in February 6.5km/h was seriously hard work!). I've done quite a few 5ks on the treadmill and outside and am now training for a half marathon in October! Come and join me and a whole bunch of other joggers/runners.
My home grown spinach,lettuce, carrots and spring onions are deeelicious, but my tomato plants are looking a bit weedy. They're no replacement for the odd treat though... Walls Feast vs homegrown veg...no contest!

Happy Bunny

Hi Bloggers,
Nothing much to say. Still exercising, gardening and learning Spanish. Feeling alot more healthy and relaxed since I packed up work. Perhaps that's why I'm not posting as much, I don't need the therapy :)
Just off into the garden now to separate some tomato plants, lots of dark clouds looming though, probably won't be out there long! Perhaps I'll take some photos of the progress I've made with my planting.

About all the things that are important to me.

Healthy eating and exercise have become my main priority, what with the summer coming :)

Sparkpeople has been a great motivation. It's taken me a while to get used to reducing my calorie intake (I was shocked at how many I had been consuming). Exercise has become a big part of my life now, and I feel alot better for it. I've branched out from treadmilling, to weights, aerobics, and the odd bit of cycling (but it has to be warm outside for that otherwise I get earache!)

I haven't lost weight since the beginning of the year, but something should start happening soon what with the reduced calorie intake and the amount of exercise I am doing.

And because Sparkpeople has become part of my daily life I am abandoning my jogtilyoudrop blog. I log all my food and exercise, as well as my health-related blogging here. I can't be doing with keeping track of it all in more than once place!

Spanish is still important to me too. It was coming along nicely. I was starting to look at the preterite, future and conditional...and then our evening classes came to a halt last week as our tutor returned to Spain to start a Phd. So I need to look for another class, I really need the listening practice. Mum and I try to get together once a week now for a jog then some Spanish. We are also trying to set each other some homework for those times when the kids are off school and we can't get a word in edgeways!

Sam and Katie are enjoying a break from school after working hard at their SATs. Katie did really well achieving level 5s, a level above average for her year group. Proud mum! She deserves it, she is very motivated and diligent. Sam's results won't be with us til July and although he hates homework he knuckles down in class and should have done fine too.

I didn't get a position as an Edexcel script marker this year, but I have reapplied for 2008. In the meantime I'm continuing to test KE308 and KE312. I don't want alot of work, not now that things are running smoothly at home, just something to bring in a few extra pennies so I will keep my eyes open for any opportunities.

Right, I have a pile of ironing to tackle while my herberts are busy (Katie is at a friend's after a sleepover, and Sam has the nieghbours in to play Runescape), I'm off to find me a good DVD :)