Dreaming of a White Christmas?

Well, no need for dreaming this year, cause we've well and truly got a White Christmas. Though it might not actually snow on the 25th, we've got enough of the white stuff lying around to get the idea.

So Merry Christmas to all our family, friends and fellow bloggers, who still take the time to read our ever more slowly updated posts. Hope you enjoy these pics of us playing about in the recent snow...


Snow!!!


Making the snowman... some more productive than others.


Proud snowman makers. We were going to call him Frosty (which is the tradition at our place), but once we added the "See Yoo Jemmy" hat from Scotland, we changed our minds and called him Jimmy.


Jimmy's starting to lose his hair in the cold.


Lucy wasn't exactly thrilled with her makeshift sledge.


Luckily the girls down the street lent us theirs, and it was smiles all round.


Freezee Keezee


Chilly ducks on the canal


The canal is a good place for photos when its snowing - not so good for long boats, though.


See what we mean?



Our designated snow driver on the school run.


And here's Lucy all done up for her Nativity play - her class represented Spain.

And for your listening pleasure... Caiti's class song from the school Nativity play...


And finally, a quick Merry Christmas from Class 3B.

Algarve Boating

As promised, we've got lots more scenic photos from Portugal to share with you - here's some from our trip out on the boat to the grotto caves off the coast of the Algarve, which is the classic postcard scene of the area. The old guys driving the boats were unbelievable - they went right into the tiny caves and out again without touching the sides. A lot better than certain boat captains we know, who shall remain nameless.


Getting ready to board our boat for the three-hour cruise.... the three-hour cruise...


... The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed. If not for the courage of the fearless crew.....


This is the very lovely Praia Dona Ana. We also had a swim there (see below).


I used to complain about all the steps down to Bronte...


We went through that hole in the boat


Happy sailors


Pop kept asking the skipper for boating tips, but unfortunately couldn't understand his accent too well.


Flying the flag


A nicely painted boat


Back on land - ah


Jo enjoyed the boat, but was still happy to make it back to land. The Marina is called Marina de Lagos in Portuguese, but now having learned a bit of the language, we know this translates to Lagos Marina in English - just in case you were wondering.


So this is Praia Dona Ana from the land-side


Caiti likes collecting rocks and shells at the beach, but this was ridiculous

Out and About with a Few Visitors

Before we download all our recent pics from the camera - and there's lots, so here's hoping Keezee gets the motivation to post them all - we have some more from Nana's camera that we hadn't shared yet. So here goes...

By the way, we get asked quite a bit what the weather's like where we are, so we posted a little widget on the right of the page so you can see for yourselves - Woking is just down the road. But please don't brag!



Here's Chriso and Alainya making their first blog appearance on Guildford High Street with Nana & co.


Lucy and Nana went to see The Lion King while Nana was visiting. This was their second visit to the West End - you may remember The Sound of Music. The other Keezee's haven't been to a proper London show yet (school nativities, aside) and are starting to get a bit jealous!


Before the show. If Caiti was jealous, she didn't show it.


Butter wouldn't melt in her mouth..... Caiti posing outside everyone's favourite pub, The Anchor


Keezee, & Nana, enjoying the nice late summer weather (and a drink), outside The Anchor


Atmosphere shot


Atmosphere shot, in the other direction. All of those long boats were full of punters visiting the pub.


The obligatory family shot, but worth posting to show you how happy the staff were that day - what's going on there?


Caiti getting ready for her modest (but surprisingly noisy) birthday celebrations, back in August.


The girls on their slip n slide in the garden. This is a nice photo to look at, if only because there's snow settled on the lawn as I look out the window today - oh how the seasons change so quickly!

Scotland - The Highlands

More Scotland photos.....

The weather stayed (relatively) warm in the Highlands and even though there was still lots of snow on the hills, it looked to be melting fast. That didn't stop the skiers at the Nevis Range ski resort when we visited though - despite the patchy conditions they were still hurtling down the hill shouting "see yoo Jimmy" as they whizzed past. This was the girls first trip to a ski resort of any kind, and Keezee's first visit to one that served 32 different types of whisky.

Whilst up north we popped up to Loch Ness to see Nessie, and then headed on to Inverness to see the shops. Despite looking keenly for any sign of Nessie, we didn't spot her until we stopped by the tourist shops. We did however spot more locks and long boats which sort of made up for it.


Patchy snow at Scotland's premier ski resort, Nevis Range.


We do believe that is Daniel Boone behind us to the left


It's a resort with activities for everyone... you can go skiing, go hiking or go to the playground


That's the view down to Loch Linnhe and Loch Eil, where we stayed, in the background


What's a ski resort without a gondola?


On the gondola


Here we are enjoying the Riverside Walk to the Ben Nevis Path, just past the Visitor Centre


Lucy with the lower slopes of Ben Nevis behind


Nessie hunting


Found her!


The River Ness flows quickly at Inverness


Castle Urquhart on Loch Ness


A red, red robin at Castle Urquhart


Here we are admiring the engineering brilliance of Thomas Telford at Fort Augustus. Tommy (as we'll call him) designed and built the "locks" which connect to Caledonian Canal above to Loch Ness below.


Some more engineering-like brilliance by an artist who built a likeness of Nessie from steel wire. Some nice looking pubs in the background, for those interested in such things.


Here's a pic of some boats at a matching set of locks at the western end of the canal (also built by Tommy) known as the "Steps of Neptune". This is at Fort William, so thanks to Tommy, you can navigate your boat from Inverness on the east coast straight down the middle of the Great Glen, through the Highlands to the west coast, without having to set foot on dry land to face the filthy, barbarous locals roaming around in their kilts. Otherwise you could drive. BTW, that's Ben Nevis covered in clouds in the background.


Here's Lucy exploring the wilderness at Loch Gary


We're not sure if Loch Gary has its own monster, but if it did, it would be called Gazza