The Happiest Place on Earth (or at least Europe)

The girls have been telling everyone they've spoken to about how much fun they had at Disneyland in Paris. So we thought we better post some pictures just to prove it.

We decided to visit Disney to celebrate Lucy's 6th birthday - lucky girl that she is! Even though it's a bit cold in Paris in December, the queues are smaller and you get all the fun of Christmas as well. All you need to do is rug up a bit (a lot, actually - as you might notice). Plus December is Lucy's actual birthday, so it would be a bit cruel to leave her waiting around for six months until the weather got warmer. Anyway, we think she liked her birthday present, judging by the look on her face most of the day... check it out.




A few shots taken from out the front, before we went through the gates. You can see the excitement written on the girls faces (all three of them) - although Keezee was his usual cool self [cough, cough].


Inside the gates revealed a huge Christmas tree.


Here's the birthday girl getting ready for the morning parade to pass by...


...It consisted of a train...


... with all sorts of dancing animals and French people aboard....


...led up the rear by our old friends Tigger and Rabbit.
If you click on the above pics to supersize them, you will notice it was snowing during the parade... quite magical, but somehow we don't think this was by chance (although it was definitely cold enough for snow - and it did snow for real the following night).


Lucy got Tigger's autograph, and he was kind enough to pose for a pic with us.


This family shot was taken by a nice New Zealander... come to think of it, the last time we got a family shot, it was by a Kiwi... don't know what's going on there??


Winnie the Pooh Bear is a very busy and popular bear, and has lots of personal security staff to match his stature.... this was a close as we could get.


Getting ready to enter Cinderella's Castle. It is a huge castle... Cinderella married well.


Inside Lucy bumped into Lord and Lady Percival, who were also visiting that day. She got both their autographs, and they also kindly posed for a pic.
Actually, we weren't actually sure who they were until we examined the autographs, but they looked famous, don't you agree?


From memory, this is one of the lovely stained glass windows in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.... hang on a second.


And here's Keezee trying to draw the sword from the stone and thus fulfil his destiny to become King of the Realm!
Unfortunately he was also trying to carry two children at the same time, which limited his sword drawing ability, and we sadly report he is still turning up to his old work as usual.


We voted "It's a Small World" as Best Family Ride. It was almost beaten by Peter Pan, except that Caiti and Jo got a bit scared of the dark on that one.


Lucy and her two new friends.


More autograph hunting.


This is Prince John... the cheekiest Prince we know (even worse than Andrew). He tried to make off with Lucy's pen, but luckily her new monkey friend stepped in.


As a family, we've really taken to tea drinking since we've been in England, so we thought we'd take a ride on the teacups to celebrate.
This photo was taken before the ride started, and Caiti is looking a little nervous.


After the ride Caiti was just a little more relaxed.


Somewhere in Alice's (of Wonderland fame) Curious Adventure Maze.


Somewhere else in Alice's Curious Adventure Maze.


Outside the Queen of Heart's residence, in Alice's (of Wonderland fame) Curious Adventure Maze.


The Queen of Hearts has a nice view of Fantasyland from her tower.


Here are Santa's Elves making some toys... it wasn't the North Pole, but it may as well have been if the wind chill factor was anything to go by.


Pirates of the Carribean was voted Best Adventure Seekers Ride (aka. best ride that Caiti and Jo were too scared to go on).
Thunder Mountain (a high speed rollercoaster) almost won this award, as it was rather more adventuresome, but unfortunately Lucy had here eyes closed through most of it.


OK, back on Main St waiting for the big parade to start...


... the excitment builds...


...and here they come...


We got this close to Mickey and Minnie Mouse and then.... our camera ran out of batteries .

We kicked on after dark until rather late (it must have been at least 6.30pm) and all up it was a huge day for all four of us. We missed a few good photo opportunities of the light show on Cinderella's Castle - it really was very spectacular. However, we're pretty sure there were a few other punters who managed to capture this on film, so we doubt that this wonderful sight was lost forever. Word on the street is the light parade happens every now and then (like every night), so maybe next time.

By the way, this is one of our more up-to-date blog posting in recent times... these shots were only taken a week ago. We're trying to play catchup with all our other photos and blog them as well, so keep an eye out for more - including a full report of our Paris trip: dramas included.

Welsh Castles

Well, the memory card on the camera is finally full up, so we will be downloading very soon. In the meantime, here's some shots taken on Nana Julie's camera when we visited Wales in September.

We had a lovely time in Wales. Our main memories are the friendly people, the fish n chips, the nice pubs, the rain (the weather was below average) and the castles. It seemed as if there was a castle around every second corner.

By far the best castle to visit was Pembroke Castle which is in the pretty town of Pembroke (funnily enough) - not to be confused with the less picturesque town of Pembroke Dock - from where you can get a ferry to Ireland. The Castle is in very good nick, considering it's been around since 1093, and it's huge. The best part about it though is the way you can roam anywhere you like. There's no barriers, saying "don't go here" or "keep out" - you can basically wander wherever you like. To hell with health & safety they say, you can bump your head on low doorways, and fall down uneven stone stairs to your heart's content - it's fantastic.

We've had some feedback that more pictures/info on pubs would be nice. Unfortunately, we didn't get many pictures of the pubs in Pembroke, but I thought I'd mention them nonetheless. Enjoy the pics.


Here's Pembroke Castle from the High St. About 5 yards behind where the photographer is standing is a nice, but allegedly haunted, pub where we had lunch.


Pembroke Castle from the rear - there's another pub about 5 yards behind the photographer here as well.


Pembroke Castle from a bit further along the river - nearest pub is out of shot, off to the left


More of Pembroke Castle


We all got lost exploring the maze of steps and passages in the castle, but Keezee bumped into Jo and Lucy along one of the battlements. We joined forces to find a way out, but somehow got lost again in the next tower.


Caiti & Keezee somehow made it to the top of Henry VII tower - that's us waving.


Lucy taking a break during her adventures. That's the Royal George pub down on the right.


We could see Nana and Caiti waiting on the parade ground in the keep, but couldn't work out how to get down to them. Caiti had somehow escaped earlier!


Nana was happy to find Lucy & Jo when they eventually emerged from one of the doorways into the keep.
Note to parents - Lucy is getting a bit too big for the pram.


Caiti picked a couple of flowers (from where we don't know) and enjoyed running on the grass.


This is Carew Castle, which is a couple of miles up the road from Pembroke. We didn't go in - castle exploring is hard work, and you shouldn't do more than one a day unless your very experienced!


Just to prove we were really there.... by the way, there's a pub in the village just over the road.


And here's the castle at Haverfordwest, which sits on a hill overlooking the town. We didn't visit, as there were way too many shops to divert our attention. Closest pub is out of shot to the right across the river - called the Fishguard Arms from memory.

A Study of Oxford

We came across some photos from the day we went to Oxford, and thought we better post them for your enjoyment. Unfortunately, we were unable to find an original blog title, so we stole the one from Cambridge - maybe we should combine the two together and call it "A Study of Oxbridge".

These pics were taken a few months back, so the significance of some of the locations has been forgotten. Mostly we are standing in from of one historical college or another - there were lots, and by the way, don't ask us how to pronounce Magdalen College.

The one thing that we do recall is how many bikes there were chained up or lying about - many of which look to have been forgotten by their owners, who had either graduated, or had one too many at the local and forgot how they got there. It's a bike thieves paradise. Conveniently for us - we drove by car, and so weren't tempted to make off with a stray.


The gates to the Oxford Botanical Gardens, I seem to recall.


A tower belonging to a college - quite possibly Magdalen.


I believe the building featured here (behind our model) is Oxford Castle - now partly a trendy hotel.


The visitor centre at the castle one of these chain up the prisoner thingies... always a fun photo opportunity.


The castle tower (and Lucy)


A street in Oxford - the name of which escapes me right now


A gate in Oxford - the significance of which escapes me right now

Lucy posing in front of the Radcliffe Camera. Obviously it's a building rather than the type of camera used to take photos.


More posing in front of the "Camera"




Like Cambridge, you can also punt in Oxford


Lewis Carroll used to live near us in Guildford, but obviously he spent some time in Oxford as well, judging by the number of Alice in Wonderland shops.


No prizes for guessing the name of this pub - very popular on a Sunday


And here's a shot of the High Street - good shopping in Oxford too, in case you were wondering.

Caiti's Sports Day

Caiti had a sports day at her nursery (a.k.a pre-school or kindergarten) a while back. It was action packed with all the usual races such as the 15m sprint, but also had a few lesser known events such as the Doll Push and the Shoe Gather (definitely an event designed for females). She looks like a sprinter in the making - winning two of her events, although she might need to put in a bit more work on the Shoe Gather, where she tried to make off with the shoes rather than win the race! Enjoy the pics.


Here she is getting ready for the first race of the day - the 15m sprint.


She got off to a good start. The start is crucial in this event.


Some last minute instructions before the shoe race.


First shoe up.


Second shoe up, shoes in box, now let's nick off with them.


Runners ready.... Dollies ready... On your mark...


Edging ahead at the half-way point


Winner!