Mr. Happy

Just in case you are following this..or not..I thought I'd add this photo of one of the inquisitive fish we encountered when we were on holiday. The channels are created to let snorkellers get out over the reef without damaging the coral, they are quite barren and have a base of sand and coral often just deep enough to drag ourselves along (thanks Col for making us wear gloves!)

Zac headed off first , followed by Jordan and me, (Col and Kate still trying to adjust her snorkel / mask / gloves / fins..whatever!) and when you get to the opening it's like arriving in the Secret Garden, deep, sunny, a blanket of corals and fish everywhere like you are swimming in a sweet shop. One particular day Jordan mentioned she had been met by this huge fish as we each reached the end of the channel...and Zac said 'Oh, so you met Mr Happy'. He later said that he gave us a really obnoxious look..good one Zac.

Later the same day we found ourselves snorkelling through an area with 9 or 10 sharks, I'm sure they were circling us (!), but I guess if they were hungry they'd have not be so relaxed looking! Maybe we were in their kitchen? I have video to prove it and will see if I can attch that later but in the meantime........................>>>

Preserve the Quote!

...today's quote which has popped up, I liked it and didn't want it to be lost tomorrow ..

The art of mothering is to teach the art of living to children.

Elain Heffner

.. and how nice to post a picture I hadn't seen before, and of the three youngest all having fun together.. at no-ones expense for once! Kids eh!

Polish wedding.

Last August Colin and I and some of our friends were lucky enough to travel to Poland for the wedding of our friend Pawel and his wife Agnes. It was a wonderful weekend (barring the RyanAir landings, both of which seemed to happen very suddenly and with an element of hand-brake turn!) and the best (and longest) wedding we can remember.

Pawel and Agnes had been together for ten years and were the last of their friends to tie the knot, so they were sure of a good send-off...one of our resounding memories is of both fathers revisiting the tables many many times to replenish the vodka stock... and not only the English were victims! Food was in great abundance and the hospitality enormous, and despite our lack of Polish words we managed to have huge laughs and feel genuinely part to the celebrations.

The next day we got up late and at lunchtime did the same again.. lucky for us that Colin and I perfected the art of drinking sparkling vodka...the hard stuff laced with mineral water...whilst Simon kept the English end up and did us all proud with toasts to Dubrovnik.. or was it Vladivostock!?, but we all stopped short of the requested rendition of Yellow Submarine, which incidentally was thought to be the most English song the Polish could think of...what would be our English song then??

Some things about weddings seem to be the same the world over and the cutting of the cake was just the same in Poland as at home....the hair on these little girls was so pretty and this picture was so perfect when later in the year I was composing a 'Through the Window' layout. Trying to get organised for next weekend I felt the page deserved to be finished and here it is...

Irresistable!

On a lovely spring Sunday afternoon, what better way to spend some time with my 3 girlies and baby Lilly than take an hour out for a little walk and a wander around the sales.. albeit quite disappointing as sales go!

Looking for a summer hat for Lilly was the perfect opportunity for some photos...and with Saturday being my next Just Scrapbooking session I am hoping to get organised and even scrap these little gems before then...only need to get the title words right now...

Feel the heat!

Having a little trouble finding the words to express the sensations and feelings you get whilst on holiday on Kuramathi..... we had two glorious weeks, even at the end I still peeked out in the morning to be surprised to see 'another sunny day in Paradise!'
It's hard now to start back to consider the weather / what to wear / what to do today now we are back in the UK with all its weather combinations!

Highlights of the trip included snorkelling trips most days, one of which we found ourselves surrounded by about 9 sharks...black tipped reef variety, and up to about 9 feet, but you know how water magnifies..?..well I thought they looked 20 feet.. and I'm sticking to it..(well all my family were fishermen.. how long did you say????)

The food was great, we all had our favourites : Col and Zac ate fish twice a day every day, sometimes more...Jordan loved the dhal curies and Kate always liked to try everything!... as for me, I fell in love with passion fruit...says it all .. hahahah!

Oh and the cocktails at the Fung Bar... the Long Island Ice Tea was my downfall one night, but Chamin's special bacardi & orange iced blend was to die for! We met such nice people, and the guys at the bar would make everyone's holiday special!

All I have to do now is get scrapping!.. watch this space for stories of Mr Happy the big fish with the Obnoxious grin (just how does a fish look at you obnoxiously Zac?), Kate's forever changing fashion page and Jordan's photo shoot at the sunset sand bar!