Wait, wait, there's still some more!

(Read the two below first!)  As if that wasn't enough, on Friday on the way home we stopped off at another holiday destination from my childhood - Ironbridge, which has a world famous, er, well, iron bridge! Cool, eh?

View from Ironbridge.

And then, to cap it all off, we dropped in on Paul and Emma Bennett in Maidenhead on the way home. It was nice to catch up with you two, even if it was brief.  But hopefully we'll see you properly soon enough.

A great week had by all.  I wonder what the next few weeks will hold?

Wait, there's more!

(Read the one below first - it'll make more sense!) Then on the Thursday we went out on a very miserable and wet morning to Chirk Castle.  Nice spot!  After that we visited Chester and that brought back childhood memories for me as we used to park the caravan at the racecourse on our way down through England all those years ago.



"Black Knight?  Not likely!"



"And this, Chris, is the Roman Ampitheatre."  "Hmm, very interesting, Caitlin."



Half term shenanigans

Normally the autumn half-term is a non-event but this one has been exceptionally busy.  We flung open the door on Monday and welcomed the wonderful Roddy's of Up North.  We had a lovely afternoon and evening eating, catching up and drinking tea.  Thanks for gracing us with your presence guys.
Then on Tuesday we headed to Quinta in Weston Rhyn to stay with Al & Sarah Nurden for a few days.  What a gorgeous part of the world - we'll be back!  Thanks for having us guys and feeding us in the evenings.  As for the bowling, revenge will be mine! 
We managed to fit a lot in while we were there.  On Wednesday morning we walked around the Quinta site and played on the low-ropes....

....then in the afternoon we headed over the Trevor Basin to walk across the magnificent aqueduct - and, no, I wasn't blindfolded and lead across - no-one offered!  It's an incredible construction that requires low blood pressure and steady nerves if you happen to be crossing it on a barge!

"Please step to the right not the left - it's a long way down!"

Then to end the afternoon we had a cream tea at the famous Ponderosa cafe on the Horseshoe Pass before a brisk walk around Llangollen - spot the longest shop name in the world in the photo below.  Try saying that after a few sherries.

Double figures!

Chris celebrated the big '10' on the 23rd October with a trip to the cinema the previous day with his mates, loads of sweets & popcorn floowed by lunch at Frankie & Benny's....

...then on his actual birthday the next day he had a real treat and chose Sunday lunch - tinned meatballs and spaghetti - mmm, yum!  Grandpa & Grandma joined us and provided the cheesecake.



Perks of the job

One great aspect of my job is to take residents out on day trips.  So far, since I started seven months ago, I've been to Chartwell, Dunkirk, and a couple of weeks ago I headed off to the beautiful city of Bruges for the day.  The lingering smell of chocolate and waffles was enough to make me consider moving there permanently! 

Go Ape, young man!

 Swing time, baby!

So it took me 6 mths to get the courage to do it, but do it I did - with no.1 son for company though.  It was, how shall I put it, FLIPPIN' PAINFUL!  My legs felt like they were full of lead for the following three days because I was putting so much pressure on them every time I stood on the flimsy, narrow ledges or transferred my safety lines.  It was, however, a morning to remember, and there were some fun times, especially when Joel did the tarzan swing and raised his voice by an octave in the process.

Would I do it again?  Hmm, not sure about that.  I think I'd do another skydive, even though its thousands of feet higher and I'm not attached to anything, but at least you get plenty of time to pass out on the way down and the view is to die for!  (Perhaps that's not the best thing to say)

Thanks go to the Grews and the Philpotts for the opportunity to Go Ape!

"How do those monkeys do it?  If I believed in evolution, I'd be grateful!"