Adam's 6th Birthday

Adam has just turned six and had a party at one of those funzone places with a dozen of his friends last week. On the day after the party father and son went to the bowling alley, but luckily there is no photgraphic evidence of him beating me by two pins.

Delft

Yup a picture of a bicycle - we must be in The Netherlands. I came for one night to do some teaching on a course at Technical Universitat Delft. The flight from EasyJet was on time, and as I did not check any luggage, I was straight on an intercity train to Delft (via Den Haag), getting to Delft about an hour after touchdown (and for just €8!). A short walk to my hotel situated on a canal by the Leeuwenbroog or Lion Bridge (below).

The hotel recommended an excellent restuarant called Vlaanderen in the Beestmarkt (sp?). The recommendation was well justified.
One wall of the resturant had a mural of strange faces (below). The walk back to the hotel benefitted from Christmas style lights over the canals.In the morning I walked around the main square but my shots of the churches and the square were poor and made worse by poor light and drab clouds.

Disneyland Paris

We all went on a trip to celebrate Meris' birthday to Disneyland Paris. It was very cold but dry and we dressed up in skiwear for the most part. I played about with film speed, exposure, and different photo settings with varying degrees of success.





We stayed at the Newport Bay Club which still had their Christmas Decorations up which made the whole stay seem special (even after 12th Night).Our best evening out was a tie between a meal was at Van Ludwig's Castle (perhaps improved by the 100 cl beers!), and a 50's experience at Annettes Diner (less said about Meris and I dancing to "Respect" soonest mended).

The day we spent at the Studio was very good with both Kirsten and Hannah learning how to draw Donald Duck and Winnie the Pooh. And Adam did an animation of Mickey Mouse and a wriggly worm. Our best rides were Star Tours, Rock and Rollercoaster and Pirates of the Carribbean.









Here are the obligatory photos of the family posing with Disney charaters.

Hair cuts

Meris and Adam both went for quite different looks on recent trips to the hairdressers. Adam's correctable red-eye is offset by his spaghetti sauce mouth

Christmas visits and visitors

Mum and Dad came for Christmas Day and stayed for Boxing Day. The turkey could've been less dry but otherwise the meal was great.
James and Liz and their kids; William, Edward and Alice came for a lovely day just after Christmas. It was the first time we'd seen them in a couple of years (still can't believe that), but it was like we'd only saw them the previous week. The kids had loud games of hide and seek and Boxing Robots championships.


We are happy in the knowledge that our mean streets are kept safe by DS Smith and his ilk!








A couple of days later and with ignored stories of snow drift and impossible driving conditions we set out for Great Missenden where we had a lovely lunch with Jonathan and Caroline and Evie and new born Gabriel. Luckily we avoided most of the snow and the shovel in the boot was not needed. As Caroline just "knocked up" fanastic home-made pizza, pasta and salad with the assistance of Kirsten and Hannah, Meris sent Gabriel into a deep sleep for the next three hours. Jon and I got to talk cars and houses whilst Adam was romanced by Evie under our noses. Later in the day Caroline's sister Lynne, Lynne's b/f Elliot and mum Helga all came along unfortunately my batteries had died so no shots.

New Year 2006

Happy New Year to anyone who might be looking in. New Years always lead to a short period of reflection and resolution. Last year wasn't great. Meris lost her dad which has led to some deep and lasting pain. Our band split up which took away an outlet for creative juices (that in part is why I started this site) but did mean we got to spend more time with the kids and has brought us, six or seven months later, to a greater focus on what is important to us as a family. Kirsten will be entering high school this coming year and we are thinking whether her preferred choice will be best for her development. Meris and I both turn the dreaded 4-0 over the next few of months and all these things seem to be bringing us to a change in direction or circumstance. We seem to be entering a new phase of life. 2006 will be better than 2005 and will be the first of this new phase. Some of the change that I talked about in my first post back in the summer has already happened and I expect lots more this coming year.

On New Year's Eve Meris and I stayed in. At midnight there was a great fireworks display just across the road from us. We watch Jools Holland's Hootenanny which was particularly great with KT Tunstall and the Kaiser Chiefs on great form. We danced (there may have been alcohol involved). Next day we went to our local woods to clear the cobwebs.

Happy New Year.
Keith.

Christmas Tree 2005

Our Christmas Treee went up early this year as we were expecting early Christmas visitors Steven and (unfortunately Joe couldn't make it). With Meris' mum coming in early December it feels like Christmas lasted a long time. But I think we all enjoyed the rest.















The kids were lucky enough to see Santa in Cambridge the weekend before Christmas.