Monday, March 7, 2016

Empty house

We had a wonderful last weekend with John and Rae and Warren joined us from NZ too.  The weather was amazing and we spent lots of time out and about enjoying the kids various activities and the Australian Open of Surfing which is being held in Manly.  

A final dinner at Hugos - a firm favourite of John and Rae!

 You can't tell from this photo but Tess is now taller than Rae! 



John and Rae spent 6 weeks with us and did a ridiculous amount of work on the house and garden including the wonderful cupboard under the stairs, painting the garden retaining walls, building a whole new retaining wall, putting together Tess' new bedroom furniture and re-turfing the garden - it makes me exhausted thinking about it!  It doesn't matter how long they stay it never seems long enough.  We're hoping we might persuade them to spend the English winter months with us on a regular basis but perhaps without such a heavy workload!  

 Tom at the Skate Bowl on Manly beach
 Jules and Tom relaxing on the beach waiting to see Julia and Angus Stone on the big stage
Julia and Angus Stone - what an amazing venue for a concert

We finished another fantastic weekend with dinner at the Skiff Club with the Rivers.  


Isn't that sky stunning!

In other rather exciting news Robert and Caroline got engaged last week whilst on holiday skiing in Japan.  Caroline truely proved herself as a Gidney during our table tennis tournaments over the Christmas holiday and showed herself very capable of keeping Robert on his toes!  We are all delighted.  
Robert and Caroline on holiday in New Zealand over Christmas

No comments: