For my 30th we had a rather impromptu dinner celebration at Sono at Portside, Hamilton. We ate fabulous japanese food, had some good wine and great company....thanks guys for making it a special birthday celebration!
London and down South!
After the wedding venue visit in Leeds, I caught up with my best friend Jac and Dan went off on his travels down to London. His travels took much longer than he thought (8 hours!!) and he has quite a funny story about that, I'll let him comment on that one!
Dan caught up with his uni mate also called Dan, but we'll always remember him as long haired Dan (LHD) as when he was in uni, he had a fantastic pony tail!. LHD has stepped out into the big world of parenthood since we last were in the UK, and here he is below with his new son, John Issac. Him and his partner El, are also getting married next year in September, so we're seeing if we can make it to four weddings on our 2010 trip!
After catching up with LHD, Dan also visited Kwan in London (should be some tagged pics of Dan on FB for that!), and then Dan drove down to Surrey to see his cheeky little bro Josh and sis Bethany (below), and catch up with Dave, Rachel and not forgetting Henry the dog too!.
I caught the train to London on the Sunday night, by this time the start of the mini-ice age that the UK has been in for most of December and January had started. It was certainly an interesting drive for Dan coming to pick me up from Guildford train station!
Thanks very much to Dave and Rachel for looking after us (and Dave's cooking). I have a real craving for that white stilton and cranberry cheese too, that was delicious :)
Also special thanks to Bethany for lending us her room to stay in. I hope you're still keeping those fishes fed!
Here's a few pics from the next few days we spent catching up with the Treble - Hunts: Good Times.
Winter wonderland - walk round farmers' fields behind Dave and Rachel's place
Dan caught up with his uni mate also called Dan, but we'll always remember him as long haired Dan (LHD) as when he was in uni, he had a fantastic pony tail!. LHD has stepped out into the big world of parenthood since we last were in the UK, and here he is below with his new son, John Issac. Him and his partner El, are also getting married next year in September, so we're seeing if we can make it to four weddings on our 2010 trip!
After catching up with LHD, Dan also visited Kwan in London (should be some tagged pics of Dan on FB for that!), and then Dan drove down to Surrey to see his cheeky little bro Josh and sis Bethany (below), and catch up with Dave, Rachel and not forgetting Henry the dog too!.
I caught the train to London on the Sunday night, by this time the start of the mini-ice age that the UK has been in for most of December and January had started. It was certainly an interesting drive for Dan coming to pick me up from Guildford train station!Thanks very much to Dave and Rachel for looking after us (and Dave's cooking). I have a real craving for that white stilton and cranberry cheese too, that was delicious :)
Also special thanks to Bethany for lending us her room to stay in. I hope you're still keeping those fishes fed!
Here's a few pics from the next few days we spent catching up with the Treble - Hunts: Good Times.
Winter wonderland - walk round farmers' fields behind Dave and Rachel's place
Three generations of Treble men: Dan with Grandad Bill and Dave....at least we can predict that Dan won't be losing his hair!
The wedding venue
Having booked the wedding venue on line, it seemed like a good idea to verify that we had not made a terrible (and expensive) misstake by visiting Oulton Hall near Leeds, and catching up with our wedding co-ordinator at the hotel Helen.
We were blown away by how lovely the venue was and by all the attention to detail from the wedding planner (e.g. wedding planner: 'so when you come into the reception room, how would you like to be announced, Mr and Mrs Treble?' Me: (snigger) Mrs Treble that seems really weird!)
For those coming to the wedding there are other alternatives available for accommodation an Express by Holiday Inn only 5 mins down the road- click here for latest pricing.
We were blown away by how lovely the venue was and by all the attention to detail from the wedding planner (e.g. wedding planner: 'so when you come into the reception room, how would you like to be announced, Mr and Mrs Treble?' Me: (snigger) Mrs Treble that seems really weird!)
For those coming to the wedding there are other alternatives available for accommodation an Express by Holiday Inn only 5 mins down the road- click here for latest pricing.
More from Cumbria
The Lake District is full of market towns and shops like this, very old and quaint and hiding some fabulous treasures inside. We spent a few hours wondering around these shops and enjoying tea in between!
One morning we took a short drive out to one of the largest stone circles in Northern England, Long Meg and her Daughters. The legend is true, all four of us counted the stones and no one agreed on how many there were!
Louise and Mal at Long Meg and her daughters
Dan and I next to Long Meg
High Force falls, County Durham
Before the drive home on the Wednesday, we looked in on Dan's Grandma Unsworth. She's lived in Grange-over-Sands for over 20 years and has a lot of great friends there to keep her company. It was lovely to take her out for lunch at The Cavendish Arms in Cartmel and catch up on the family happenings.
Lovely olde tea shoppe in Kendal.
At the cottage, as well as the brilliant red squirrel we managed to encounter, we were treated to some beautiful British birds (including many types of tits, and even a Woodpecker!) Unfortunately they were all a bit too quick for us to take photos of most of the time...here is a coal tit enjoying some peanuts on bird table.
One morning we took a short drive out to one of the largest stone circles in Northern England, Long Meg and her Daughters. The legend is true, all four of us counted the stones and no one agreed on how many there were!
Louise and Mal at Long Meg and her daughters
Dan and I next to Long Meg
In the afternoon, we drove a little further to see one of the highest waterfalls in the UK, High Force. We also saw a couple of smaller (though no less impressive) falls to complete a fantastic day.
High Force falls, County Durham
Before the drive home on the Wednesday, we looked in on Dan's Grandma Unsworth. She's lived in Grange-over-Sands for over 20 years and has a lot of great friends there to keep her company. It was lovely to take her out for lunch at The Cavendish Arms in Cartmel and catch up on the family happenings.
Australian Open 10
This is our second year of making the trip down to Melbourne for the Australian Open. We had tickets for the Saturday evening and Sunday day (round 4) matches. Megan (federer's #1 fan, she'd happily bump off his missus), was most disappointed that he was playing the Saturday day time, so we agreed to go down on the (really minuscule) off chance that there were some tickets still available for the Saturday day matches. We approached the ticket booth and low and behold, three tickets (must have been refunds just given) were available in some pretty decent seats. here's how happy Megan was to see Fed (and other tennis matches that followed)....
Show us your guns Rafa
Murray
Venus & Federer
We took Steve and Cari to the Saturday night match, expecting some big action as Baghdatis was playing Hewitt (the last match they played on Rod Laver was the 5 hour match, that finished at 4am a couple of years back!). Unfortunately (or perhaps this was because they were just making up for the extra long match last time), it only lasted 35 mins - Baghdatis retiring with injury.
Oh well, we enjoyed some beers and Greek with Steve and Cari to make up for it (lamb souvlakis from Stalactites, mmm).
Show us your guns Rafa
Murray
Venus & Federer
We took Steve and Cari to the Saturday night match, expecting some big action as Baghdatis was playing Hewitt (the last match they played on Rod Laver was the 5 hour match, that finished at 4am a couple of years back!). Unfortunately (or perhaps this was because they were just making up for the extra long match last time), it only lasted 35 mins - Baghdatis retiring with injury.Oh well, we enjoyed some beers and Greek with Steve and Cari to make up for it (lamb souvlakis from Stalactites, mmm).
Dufton
A small update from England, we're travelling like crazy, trying to catch up with everyone this week and next; but we managed to squeeze in a couple of days of relaxation at a lovely cottage in Dufton, Cumbria. It was beautiful, had some great pub lunches, saw some beautiful wildlife (including the rare little red squirrel above!) and we even had a dusting of snow too.
Kickboxing : Blue Singlet Level!
4 months of kickboxing at the end of last year culminated in grading night. After many scrapes and losing lots of skin off my feet it was time to get something for my efforts! Grading was 4 x 2 minute rounds sparing. The first round I was unlucky and got the one of the trainers, he didn't go easy, he made me work for that blue singlet! Fortunately the other rounds went much better.
I wore the singlet to work the next day with a pair of shorts, Scott commented "That's the most unprofessional I've ever seen you dressed Dan"!
Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to get back into it this year, but I will.
I wore the singlet to work the next day with a pair of shorts, Scott commented "That's the most unprofessional I've ever seen you dressed Dan"!
Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to get back into it this year, but I will.
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