New Year 2010

Samantha, a friend of mine from school days, was coming to Barcelona for New Year. It was great to see her again. The three of us went to a few bars in Barcelona, and then were walking around Rambla, drinking bad bubbly, the only thing for sale! Silly us, we really should have bought some before. Spent 12.00 on Placa Catalunya with some american basketball players that were picking Sam up. 

After they left, we went off in search of food! At about 2am, after getting Sam safetly on a night bus back to her hotel, we took a train back home to Sant Cugat! We woke up late and rested most of the day. 

Next day we met up with sam again, went to an ice bar! Very fing cold! But fun, especially the blue cocktails!

Needless to say, we didn't spend too much time inside the freezing cold bar, but rather went back out to the warmth of the bar! The best part, since the 2nd of January, no more smoking in any of the bars, so we didn't end up smelling like smoke after that night!

We went out again on Monday with Sam, and a friend of hers, Terri. Went for a few drinks and then dinner. was really nice to spend some time with Sam, and Sean and I are already looking at flight to Geneva!

UK Christmas 2010

Once we got back from Camprodon, it was 4 days of work for Sean, and then off the the UK to stay with a very pregnant Roz, and the family for Christmas. We flew on the 23rd, after watching the weather and airports all week to make sure that we would be able to fly, and landed in Stansted with Kevin picking us up. On the way back to Sam & Roz's, we were informed that Roz was in hospital, booked to have here baby in the morning, Sam was with her, and Karin was looking after the other kids! Amy Penny decided she didn't want to wait till 8 am, and arrived at 2am on the 24th of December, healthy and happy and 5 days earlier than planned. Roz was home that afternoon, getting everything ready for Christmas lunch the next day!

We had a lovely relaxed Christmas lunch. Kevin's mother, Barbara joined us, which was fantastic, and the rest of us weren't driving anywhere, so the wine did not stop flowing! Lisa was having such fun opening her presents! And Amy's presents! And Lukes! And anyone else's if they would let her! What a gorgeous kid.

Sunday morning, Lisa comes into our room and lies down on the bed with me playing one of her new games from Christmas. And then come the board games. She loves the board games. It was really special spending the mornings with her!

Karin, Kevin, Sam, Sean, Lisa, Luke and myself  went for a walk in the forest around the corner late morning. Really beautiful there, and also nice to get out in the fresh air. Get rid of some of the kids energy too!

Later on Sunday, Sean, Roz and Karin's cousin Louise came to visit. More wine was opened, and did not stop flowing. Another big lunch was eaten, and Louise and Andrew stayed over. Lisa was having such fun playing with their kid, whose the same age. Beautiful little girls.

Monday Sean and I got up and went into London. First we stopped off and had a few drinks with Eloise, making her late for her lunch. But it was worth it! Our next stop, we met up with Michelline, Ian and Smiley. Haven't seen them in so long.

The rest of the week was spent relaxing, reading and not doing much. It was great spending time with the family over Christmas. We left on Thursday, just in time for New Year in Barcelona!

Camprodon December 2010

On the weekend of the 17 - 19 December, we joined Sean's colleague, Steve, and his family on a skiing trip to Vallter 2000. We stayed in the village of Camprodon, about a half hour drive from the ski resort. Really nice sef-catering place. There were 8 of us in total that went up, and only Steve's brother-in-law had really skiied before. The rest of us were beginners. Had a lesson first thing, which was great, because they showed us how to put on our ski's!

As you can see, by this stage we had invested in ski clothes, so at least we were warm. we'd even splashed out and bought ski boots for each other for Christmas! The pics above are from the first day on the baby slope. On Sunday afternoon, we ventured to a steeper slope!!

Quite nervewrecking when you can barely see over the edge, but we managed to do it! We left on Sunday at about 3, so that we could have a shower and pack up before we drove home. After skiing for 5 hours on Saturday, and another 5 on Sunday, we were ready to go home! We loved our first ski weekend, and were very much looking forward to the next one!

Andorra

I got back from SA, and we pack a bag again! Off to Andorra for the weekend. Got up early on the Saturday and drove through. Got there just before lunch on Saturday, and walked around the town of La Vella. Had lunch at a busy little restaurant, stopped in at the duty free to buy some Glenlivet whisky for Sean as the price was awesome, and then headed to the smaller town of Arinsal for the night. Well, that's where we ended up after stopping at a few small bars along the way looking for the best place to stay, and of course sampling the wine and beer!

It doesn't take long to drive around Andorra, what we thought would take a half hour, took us 5 minutes, so we were in Arinsal before we knew it. Booked into the first hotel we saw, and at 35 Euros for the night, including cold buffet breakfast, we couldn't really go wrong! Put our things in the room, and headed off to yet another pub for some more wine and beer, and ended up joining a Saffa and a Pommie for dinner at a restaurant! Fun night.

Boat travels!

Back from Egypt, into the routine of working husband and housewife! I'd been studying a lot, and Sean was working hard, when one Monday, Justin pops up on my Skype, saying he's in Barcelona Port Vell! Fantastic surprise! Well, obviously, i went down there to see him! And Sean joined us after work. Had many drinks and talked lots of crap with Justin and Riaan, and a couple of the other crew that we met! Such fun! The next day, Justin asks if we are going to join him in taking the boat to San Remo? Not too much of thought before we gave him an answer! Sean took Thursday and Friday off work, Monday and Tuesday were a holiday anyway, packed our bags and stayed on the boat Wednesday night, ready for departure on Thursday morning! Not quite the same as a sailboat, as it only took us 17 hours to get there! Was great to be on the water again.

Friday we spent walking around the town of San Remo. Lovely place. Saturday, Justin drove us into Monaco to visit Lance, we had a few drinks and walked around a bit, then had some more drinks! So good to see Lance again, it's been a while!

 Justin, luckily for us, stayed sober to drive us all back to Italy along the winding roads!
Sunday, we went into the mountains into a town called Limone Piemonte, which is a ski town in the winter. In the beginning of October though, there was no snow, it was just cold! Beautiful quaint village. We had a lovely lunch before heading back to the boat!

We got back to the boat, and after a great meal and lots of wine, Sean and I packed our bags as we were heading back to Barcelona on the Monday. Just in time for me to wash some clothes for my trip to SA to write exams. I left on the Tuesday morning, 12 October. It was all worth it though! I had a great time in SA. Missed Sean a lot, but saw a lot of friends and family in between writing exams. Got home a month later.