Gabriel's First Camping

OMG a blog post! I know, I know, 4 months behind. Traveling and not having my work laptop has forced me to edit some photos for a change. Stay tuned for the mouses house part 2, great barrier reef part 3 (may have left the photos at home) and the Purdy's leaving brisbane!

Not so great waves this weekend, but we were lucky enough to be visited by Gabriel and Marie.

On the Sunday, I got to try out my birthday present from my Mum&Mal, a huge kite. It was a lot of fun, all I need now is a board I can strap to my feet and I'll be kite surfing!

Seattle

In March, I was lucky enough to go on a work trip to visit Microsoft in Seattle. It was all a bit last minute, but of course I was happy enough putting up with that.

We stayed in Kirkland on the shores of Lake Washington. The lake was beautiful and great for a run in the morning. Sadly part of the run had to be along the road as they had built properties right up to the shore line.

Fortunately there some time in between meetings to catch up with old friends Rob and Brad for a beer in Redmond.

The rest of the week were meetings apart from the last day. Our men at Microsoft, Jim and Frank, gave us a tour of Seattle. First stop Jim's old university and some fantastic Cherry blossom:

It was at this point I really regretted just packing the point and shoot camera :-/

Panoramic views of the city. I was designated driver for the trip and late the night we drove out an hour from the city to the twin peaks hotel and waterfall. It was creepy as all hell out in the country and we wasted a good half hour trying to find a casino in the middle of nowhere. After that we tried to drive into the city. There were a lot of road closures and even with the GPS sat nav, it took us 7 wrong turns before we got there! We milled round the the tower, the needle, and popped into a grunge bar. Sadly the photos didn't really come out :-/

The first ever Starbucks. Honestly in those window panes above the shop it says Starbucks, but the reflection blew it right out.

The Australian guy with us, Don, had never seen snow. So we spend the last afternoon driving out to the nearest Ski resort, we went back and had a look at the waterfall in the day, which turned out to be much more of a diversion than it looked on the map!

The ski resort was closed when we got there, even though there was snow on the slopes. Maybe it's just a weekend thing. Don, Andy and Dan:

There were a couple of people around filming a single snowboarder. A skidoo would take him far enough up to get a run up at the jump. Once he got to the jump there were several people taking pictures and video of him. I was most impressed by the skill of the model helicopter pilot that would also follow him in mid air. I can olny assume they had a camera attached to it as well.

Bottom of the jump and more camera crew dotted about:

Seattle's a really lovely city - shame the annual rainfall probably is more than the UK's!

Project Finished / Obscenely large tv

Breaking a rule here and mentioning work, but it looks like my project has finally wrapped up in it's initial form. Finally! I feel like I have my life back again, like I just dodged a death sentence! Been working some silly hours and I'm not proud, just happy it's over.

I wanted to be on the beach learning to surf, but the weather is terrible. So i went and bought a huge tv instead.

When I got the to the shop the assistant told me "I don't think the tv will fit in your SMALL blue car and neither do the boys in the back"! I was a little taken a back, but quietly confident when i asked how many people I'd prove wrong when it fitted! 3


Tomorrow, who knows. Maybe gym, call of duty or maybe even Gabriel :-) I wont know what to do with myself :-)

Unsworth Family Day

On December 27th Dan drove us up to the Lake District again to go to the Unsworth family day. We had a lovely meal at the Derby Arms Hotel followed by an exchange of presents for the kids. it was lovely to catch up with the family again.

Bar at the Derby Arms

Tom (Dan's cousin) more interested in cousin Clare's blackberry than all the presents he just received (isn't that always the way!). Mal in the background looking on...

Also we were so organised, secret santa for the adults was even drawn for Christmas 2010 !

Christmas Day

Christmas Day was spent in Liverpool in the morning for Dan, where as I spent Christmas eve in the pub with Jac and Graham. Christmas lunch was round my parent's, it was great (especially the pigs in blankets).

Dan's Christmas tree

Dan's living room fire

Christmas with my family, mum, dad, Laura & Gary

Laura and Gary

Swansea

The next leg of our journey took us to Swansea for the night to see Sarah, Al and Connor. Sarah and Al have been back in the UK for over a year now, and it was lovely to see them all settled and set up in their own place. Sarah cooked us a lovely chicken cassorole for dinner and the next day we went down to Swansea's winter wonderland to the fair (complete with big wheel which Connor loved looking at!). We then drove round the bay to the Mumbles and have lunch over looking the water. We only got to catch up for the one night, but Dan and I are definately looking forward to going back in September and having a bit more time together - pencil in going down to the local for a few while the grandparents babysit Connor!

Connor wanting to go closer to the big wheel

Al and Sarah, Amy and Connor (looking slightly worried by Dan the Cameraman!)

30 Years Young

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!