With a bang.

I am four loads of laundry down, one to go. We are a well stocked household with fruit and veg and salad and fresh fish so its health kick all the way. I have stepped on the scales but I am sure they must be wrong …… there is work to be done! Everything has been put away and R and I are getting ourselves organised to get some bits and pieces done on the house and get it valued so we can decide about putting it on the market asap! Big year, big plans so we have started as we mean to go on with shared Google docs for planning and our usual somewhat military approach to organising everything.

T slept through last night – first night back – which was great and he went to bed without too much bother tonight too so I am hopeful.. ever the optimist, that we are not going to have to painful a transition back to work, nursery, sleeping routine, etc. He knows he is off to nursery tomorrow and I am hoping it will be ok, although I know I will feel wretched when I drop him off. I am thinking about having breakfast at home with him every morning – especially now he is waking up later. Partly for some extra time together, partly so I can give him eggs, or sausages, or smoked salmon or cheese to boost his protein intake while he persists with his veggie stage (sausages and ham are not meat as far as he is concerned) and partly so I don’t go to the garage for coffee and a sandwich which is not going to help my diet whereas at home I can have skinny coffee and muesli and fruit. It may mean I have to work some Fridays to compensate but it would be worth it.

Have not yet done December accounts, coming on the back of our Cape Town hols Nov and Dec were bankbusters and frugality is the order of the day for Jan through April. That being said we have some biggish house jobs to be done ahead of any sale – not least replacing the lock on the back door – T put key in recycling we think – although I might wait until we have packed everything up before getting that done. Who knows he may not have thrown away my wedding present necklace and that might show up too! Oh and there goes a flying pig. I have at least sorted receipts so will get down to the serious business of balancing the books tomorrow night.

So early night for me now – 930 and I am tired and ready for bed. Looks like its back to reality….

PS – couple of new Tedisms

Hotel = hoetail
Skiing = Skiboard
Sword = Sorder
Snooker = Golf
Golf = Nooker

Today the pirate ship ransacked the expedition ship to the cry of ‘go harties’

We left the UK on Christmas Eve on Eurotunnel after early start and uneventful drive round the M’s (3, 25 and 20). The trian was only delayed a little and the crossing over very quickly. GPS kicked in and we were on our way south to St Vaast. The snow had obviously fallen heavily and it was white everywhere with big banks of snow along the side of the roads. The GPS seemed to be takng us a somewhat scenic route, often since buying the car we have wondered on its alleged fastest route selection, and on this journey, a year after we bought the car we finally read the manual and discovered that we had various road restrictions on – including toll roads – which had a considerable impact on the jouney time in France. We changed the setting and immediately the journey became an hour shorter! Unfortunately we had already lost an hour but lesson learned.

Arrived in St Vaast early evening, Ted was very excited to see Granny and Grandpa and was quickly off to explore the house. After a wonderful supper it was time to find a mince pie and drop of wine for Santa and then Ted went to bed.

Christmas Day dawned and Ted woke at 7ish and was not immediately remembering that Santa might have been – until he saw the sack of presents by his bedroom door. Into bed with Mummy and Daddy to open the gifts he was very excited. Granny got up and we went downstairs to find Santa had also left some of the larger presents under the tree so he opened them slowly, savouring each one. Probably the last year that will happen! We had a wonderful breakfast and then got round to opening the other preents under the tree, from people not Santa – which took some explaining but I think he got it. Then it was time for lunch. GW had come up trumps on the lunch front and we had a wonderful roast duck, cheese platter and general indulgence. No walks – it was too windy and we were too lazy. We spent the rest of the day relaxing before settling Ted and having a first look at The Wire – Mum bought Dad the boxset so thats TV viewing sorted for the next 3 weeks!!

Boxing Day and all the days since have been broadly the same – good food, good company, some walks, some visitors, alternate day lie ins, little bit of treadmill, although not enough to stem the tide of pounds gained. The cantihistamines I have been taking this time seem to have been very effective in keeping the cat factor at bay – although not being able to slump on the couch is a small limiting factor at Christmas – but its a small price to pay!

Ted is now hooked on Ice Age – 1 and 2 as his new favourite DVD – even ahead of Madagascar and has been playing with all his new Lego, Playmobil and Thomas Train Set so Christmas gifts a winner all round. He has also been taking pictures with his camera – with mixed levels of sucess – I will be posting his pictures on a blog once I get organised so his output can be shared … we will see whether he continues to take pictures on a regular basis or whether it is something less frequent – at the moment the issue is he points it then points it down to press the button – we have alot of pictures of the floor!

Here is a selection of our pictures from Christmas …

We did the whole wine tasting thing and I have to say being a very light drinker and designated driver I was not sure it was going to be my thing but it was alot of fun and we chose a great vineyard to visit. Several of the bottles we shipped home came out to France for Christmas and we especially enjoyed the Pinotage with our cheese on Christmas Day.

The final day we spent hanging out at the pool in the garden, swimming and reading and getting last minute sun. Lovely

With leftover food from the brai we had all the ingredients of a great picnic and spent a lovely day at the beach, pics speak for themselves.

perfect day, perfect beach

Finally have some time in France to post last pics from CT – even though we got home two weeks ago, and should at least be able to do Xmas post while we are here as well.

Ted got his camera for christmas so you can expect to see his picture blog at some point in the new year, currently considering what to call it!!

All well and having lovely time in France, very relaxing and great food and company.

This was a sightseeing day where we went up Table Mountain in the morning and then went out on a boat to Robben Island in the afternoon. It was a hectic day and the coach trip around Robben Island was something of a challenge for Ted – it was hot and long and I had neither bribes nor diversions (I know = total fail), but it was a wonderful day. Most memorable thing – Ry will take the piss mercilessly – lunch – we went to a belgian place which did a kind of meat loaf spam hybrid burger in a pretzel bun with pickles, cheese and mustard – it was awesome!!

here goes a job lot of pics – its the only way I am going to get them up (although havent even finished editing yet) roll on france as hoping I will be able to crack it then!

So this is Eriday at Camps Bay, Saturday and Sunday hanging out with G&GP, and then MOndays trip round Chapmans Peak to Boulders to revisit the penguins and have some beach time with G&GP

I am officially too busy to blog

I am only halfway through the pics from Cape Town, although have some ready to go so might get a job lot up for your viewing pleasure tomorrow night (if Santa gets enough wrapping done)

Have been swirling through a range of activities – last night, accounts, correspondance, shopping online for rys big surprise; tonight – wrapping sunday gifts to date, christmas cards for work, to do list for work tomorrow given its a half day in the office and i am still behind on holiday e-mail, tomorrow night – more wrapping of gifts which i need to collect from post office, company account for december, ideas for ryan of the sort of style I am looking for for christmas

Have taken a brief break to come and let you know Ted is fully recovered and much better and R and I seem to be through this one without catching the bug, now – about that to do list …..

Had a lovely lunch with Paul and Sue and meeting little Georgia. Ted had a mammoth playground session in a playground with one hell of a view, and then it was a late dinner which meant ‘more games’ on daddys ipod. Looking at Daddy and Teddy together in these pics the resemblance is quite something …

Breakfast on the balcony, picnic at the beach, home for a swim, sundowners on the balcony …….

I love this place, I love it more than just about anywhere, it rates up there with Porthcurno, the Maldives or Anna Maria Island in the great beach stakes