| Nick Tan & Caroline Baker at a
practice barbeque... |
| On the 30th May,
we had a little barbeque with Caroline and Nick in order to
get back into practice after the winter. |
|
Nick, Vanessa & Caroline. |
| Vanessa made some very delicious Thai lamb
burgers and once the BBQ had finally cooled to substellar temperatures
we were able to cook them! Foil-wrapped bananas with melted
chocolate and marshmallow followed, and Caroline was quite surprised
to find herself a bit sloshed until Dan pointed out that she
had drunk a whole bottle of red wine! |
| Eddy Greene's Birthday Barbeque |
|
Vanessa and Gail get a little peckish on Sunday afternoon... |
| We've had a run of barbeques lately! The
day after our big event, we went to Eddy's in Sutton for his
barbeque to celebrate his birthday later in the week. The weather
didn't exactly co-operate and it rained all day, but everyone
had an excellent time anyway! |
|
Eddy played his banjo for a singalong once we'd all had
enough to drink... |
| Later, once everyone had had enough booze,
Eddy played his banjo to entertain his guests. He'd just opened
his present from Vanessa, Tara and Gail - a flying lesson
in a single-engine plane out of Goodwood. |
|
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|
Nick Tan and Caroline Baker, on the 30th May at our first
barbeque of the summer. The first of many, no doubt... |
| Big Barbeque on the 9th June - A storming
success! |
| Despite somewhat changeable weather on the
day, our barbeque was great fun. Filipa & Max arrived first
(showing off their new, racing green, MX-5 which Dan got to
take for a spin). Izzy, Nick Tan, Ben & Kirsteen arrived
shortly afterwards and we all got stuck into the wine as we
waited to begin the barbeque itself. Vanessa had started cooking
at about 7am that morning, and produced a huge array of food:
potato & avocado salad, Greek salad, cous-cous, Thai lamb
burgers, marinated chicken things, and a large pavlova chunk
& strawberry dessert. With the food and wine that everyone
else brought with them, we had an enormous feast. |
|
At the Big Barbeque... Nathan Holt, Charlotte Holt, Izzy
Israel, Dave Butler, Ben Hunter and Kirsteen Hynd. |
| Ruth & Nathan, Zanna & Dave arrived
later, and the party got into full swing. It rained for Britain
while Dan was cooking the food, but settled down later in the
evening. By 2am we were playing cards on the patio by candlelight,
and the party carried on until at least four in the morning.
Those of us who remained over night (Ben, Kirsteen & Izzy)
were in a slightly sorry state the next morning - but Vanessa
and I had to go and do it all over again at Eddy's birthday
barbeque in Sutton! |
|
Ruth and Melissa Holt with Filipa Maia, at the barbeque.
Filipa is getting is some baby-holding practice before her
own wedding in September (although she denies this, of course!) |
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| Baby update: |
| B-day is nearly upon us; less than a week
to go until the wee sprog is due, on 19th June. Having
said that, it could arrive at any time over the next couple
of weeks, so life is in an odd sort of limbo at the moment!
It's an odd combination of mild nervousness with total excitement
as we look forward to the day. Vanessa can't wait, and keeps
trying to convince herself that she's going into labour. |
|
Vanessa at 38 weeks in summery frock... |
| So for now, we wait! Dan will have
two weeks paternity leave, starting as soon as Vanessa goes
into labour. The bag is packed and ready, and the baby's
room is all set up with cot, moses basket, pictures and toys.
The funniest thing is that whenever we phone anyone now, they
all get very excited assuming that today is the day! |
|
Ben Hunter with Vanessa at 39 weeks... |
| Vanessa has written me a list of people
to ring when the baby is born - so news will travel fast. I
also have a list of things to bring to the labour ward for afterwards:
a large bottle of Veuve Cliquot and a straw is at the top! |
| Dad sends pictures from Ghana... |
|
The hospital that Dad is working on in Ghana... |
| Dad sends word from Ghana, and has been
very busy lately getting the hospital buildings ready for handing
over to the health authority over there. Still, it's quieter
now and he's found time to relax and take a few pictures...
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