US and Them!!!

Geocaching a new habit

2011-07-24T08:31:00.000-07:00

Geocaching..... seems to have been a big thing in our family since March this year, we are hooked, both daughters and their families have all joined in on the fun, our eldest grandson who is nearly 3 can`t wait to go out on a weekend, "Treasure Hunting" he has his own little box of treasure complete with pen and log book, all ready to find and swap something. They are enjoying it so much even their holiday in France over the next 2 weeks is involving Geocaching... Not sure if any of my blog readers join in on the fun, but if you have kids, its great fun.. :) and a great way to get the kids away from their gameboys and tv..

Not only have we found 140 geocaches since March, we have also placed and set 25 in and around the area we live, the tree to the left is one of our favourite hiding places, so perfect well hidden and crawling with ants. We call him the "Old man"

So for a weekend whether it is wet or dry, get out with the kids and do some treasure hunting :) Enjoy I have attached the web page... www.geocaching.com

Oh my goodness

2010-09-06T12:31:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness, its been nearly 1 year since my last blog, all because of a lost password and email address.
I do get so fed up with all these passwords, email addresses and pin codes, we have to use, to live on a day to day basis, how different our lives are from those carefree days of childhood. Well that's me showing my age!!! .
My days as a child were filled with climbing trees, running through the woods from 8am until dusk, not a worry in the world, eating lunch and dinner when we had time too, making dens and having a great time, I remember when a friend and I were playing on a building site, something we should never of been doing, so dangerous, we made a makeshift bridge over a very big hole, which was full of muddy water, and running across this little wooden bridge, oh dear it didnt last long, we ran across it maybe 4 times and then, a big crack appeared and we fell in, soaking wet and fithly, no brokens bones and with big grins on our faces, we went home, opps mum`s not happy, but hey what fun!!! We didn't have a TV until I was 9 years old, so outside entertainment was a must, How different though for our children and grandchildren, every electrical gadget possible, from mobile phones to the lateset game console game, we are terrified in letting them stay out and play, in the fear that something dreadful will happen to them. Instead they sit in front of 50" screen TV`s playing dreadful video games and eating too much.... :( Which I feel we should all be worried about.
Our daughters take their children to the swingpark in the afternoons, letting them run around, play, get dirty and have loads of fun, something we all should be doing once in awhile. "Having fun" sadly our lives are all too busy and we all rush around as though we are on a fast running train. Occasionally we need to jump off and enjoy our lives, we are only here once on this beautiful earth.
So this weekend go to the highest hill and enjoy a brisk walk without your mobile phone, blackberry or any other electrical gagdet you carry on a daily basis and remember the yesterday years we all miss so much......

UP, UP and away

2009-10-08T23:15:00.000-07:00

Back Early September we went to a balloon festival with our Daughter (Lucie) and Steven her partner (at the time, now her hubby). Steven is into balloons in a big way, they went to Metz in France around July time, spending 2 weeks chasing, flying and talking balloons with all their friends.

Our balloon day turned out to be a very enjoyable day, I must say the nearest to a balloon I have ever been is spotting them in the sky. I really don't like heights and standing in a wicker basket, held up with some string and a linen bag full of air, really terrifies the life out of me. My hubby on the other hand a bit of a dare devil, has always liked the idea of a balloon flight, so our Son-in-law organised a flight for Ian.

First of all he went up in the Churchill balloon, still tethered to the ground, yes OK, maybe after watching a few more, I might consider touching the basket and having a look inside, but still not ready to take that big step. Its the noise as well that gets me, that horrible sound of whooshing flames that zoom into the balloon. Even though my 10 month grandson has been in a balloon.

Then, the time for Ian`s big moment, a couple of friends of Steven and Lucie`s offered Ian a flight, OMG wow, he`s finally going to do it, that's another thing off his list of "I must do`s before I die".

So out of little trailers and vans came, wicker baskets and all the things you need for a flight, balloons everywhere being checked and laying on the ground, slowly rising with hot air, what an amazing sight, I think there was over 50 balloons that day. All different colours and sizes, lovely!

within minutes, he was in the basket, camera in hand and gone, not even a kiss, hug, a goodbye, or even a see you soon, that could of been the last time I ever saw him, this man I have spent my last 24 years with man, who was like a kid with a new toy :0) not a worry in the world. Smile on his face nearly as big as the balloon it self.

The Owen family celebrate

2009-10-08T12:20:00.000-07:00

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO THAT DARK HAIRED BABE
WHO`S NOW A BLUSHING BRIDE

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE YEARS BETWEEN I ASK,

AS I LOOK WITH PRIDE.

TOO SOON SHE MET THE MAN OF HER DREAMS
AND FLED THE NEST, TIME TO GO
BUT ALL TOO SOON, SHE WAS BACK AGAIN
THIS TIME WITH STEVE IN TOW.

SHE SAID `WE’D LIKE TO STAY AWHILE
TO SORT THINGS OUT, “AS YOU DO”
BUT I THINK IT`S FAIR TO WARN YOU
THAT I MIGHT BE EATING FOR TWO

I PICKED TANYA UP FROM THE KITCHEN FLOOR
AND POURED HER A GLASS OF WINE
AND WHEN SHOCK TURNED TO ELATION
WE BOTH SAID “OK”, THATS FINE
OH HAPPY FAMILIES, FUN GALORE
THERE`S CATS AND DOGS AND SO MUCH MORE

AND NOW WE HAVE A GRANDSON
HE`S THE HANDSOMEST LAD BY FAR
AND WE ALL LOVE HIM DEARLY
I`M SO PROUD TO BE HIS GRANDPA

SO NOW MY DAUGHTER`S SETTLED
WITH A HOUSE FULL OF HAPPINESS
SO FROM, TANYA, MYSELF, THE MENANGERIE,

GOOD LUCK, GOOD HEALTH, - GODBLESS!!

A sad farewll to Ruby 17/04/1996 to 08/07/2009

2009-07-10T13:53:00.000-07:00

Just a quick and short blog for this week... Dont really have that blogging feeling..

Sadly this week our 13 year old westie "Ruby Doos" passed away, she had been struggling for a few months to keep up on her walks, run around with our other 2 dogs and enjoy life. But old age creapt up upon her, before we realised it. She had a few horrible lumps and bumps and especially 1 big one around her right hip, this nasty lump had also spread into her stomach and then onto a few other organs.

So a big farewell to Ruby. Enjoy Rainbow Bridge run free of pain and play with Mr Jiggys (our other Westie we lost him last year) your soul mate for 12 years..

17/04/1996 to 08/07/2009

Went we to the Zoo

2009-07-04T09:00:00.000-07:00

Well we went to Woburn yesterday, not really a Zoo, its a beautiful Safari Park situated in the Bedford countryside. Woburn Abbey has been home to the Russell family for over 300 years.

We took our 7 month old grandson, "Jack" and he enjoyed himself so much, that we didn't get him off to sleep until past 10pm last night. :( OMG how tired were we!! Well he had fun and that's what its all about. :) Not sure his mum and dad would agree.

Check out my brill photo of the day, yes I did take this one of the 3 girls together watching a landrover and what a fab photo, I am so pleased with this one I just had to include it in my blog.

There is a large variety of wildlife at the park from Lions to the Russian Horse (Przewalski`s wild horse), you get so close to the Lions and wild bears its unbelievable a well worth visit for all ages, our grandson enjoyed helping his Grandpa drive our car around the park.

After driving through the Road Safari you are then given the chance to enter the foot safari and wow you then enter the Rainbow landings, monkey business, Australian walkabout, Land of the Lemurs (No prams or buggies allowed in this area) Animal encounters and fun and games. So much for the over 3`s. Check out the tigers when you enter the safari, you have to look hard to find them, we only saw 1, but there are 2 there. Good luck and have fun.!! We did :)

OH my havent you grown!!!!

2009-06-25T10:59:00.000-07:00

Well, our grandson Jack is 7 months old already, where has the last 7 months gone?

From that 8lb+ little bundle, who couldn't sit, smile and was totally dependendant on everyone around him, to this little boy who now chuckles, smiles, sits, talks away to himself in his own language and who is also learning to stand before he can crawl. "Oh my havent you grown"

He is the apple of our eye, we adore him so much. Spolit" no we dont spoil, him..... much

In this photo is my youngest daughter Kirsten, she adores her nephew Jack
Little JD is a absolute joy to have around and i cant wait for my day in the week to look after him.

Early morning walks

2009-06-23T23:08:00.001-07:00

I love my early morning walks in the forest with the dogs, especially in the early summer when the sun is just rising in the sky and there is a little mist around.

We are very lucky to have such a lovely forest near our home, full of wildlife and super walks.

These few photos were taken on my mobile this morning.
And every morning, we see our wooden pig, you cant see it so much at the moment as the grass has grown a bit high, but we know its there, my dogs love to jump all over the pig, when we first saw it, our eldest dog wouldnt walk pass it, scared her I think.... :)

Paxton Pits

2009-06-17T23:18:00.000-07:00

http://www.huntsdc.gov.uk/Leisure+and+Culture/Parks+and+Countryside/Paxton+Pits+Nature+Reserve

What a lovely place to visit if your a dog walker, bird spotter or just out for a walk with the family.

We first visited Paxton Pits about 6 or 7 years ago, my sister introduced us to the fields and lakes that are situated there. The marked out walks are lovely and well marker posted so you wont get lost, we always use to walk the Kingfisher, but last weekend decided we wanted a change and chose the Heron walk, it was a lovely walk, the weather was beautiful and the dogs loved it.
My only concern is there is'nt enough poo bins and you do need to scoop your dogs poop, also really no where for the dogs to have a drink. Some of the lakes are too deep for the dogs to swim in and at the moment all the lakes are covered in a green summer weed. Also on the Heron walk, you walk through the chalk pit yard, so on a busy work day you will be battling the lorries and workman.
8 of 10 for Paxton Pits..

Off to the beach

2009-06-16T23:14:00.000-07:00

With the British weather being the way it is, when the sun does show us its face we all run off to the beach for the day and sun ourselves to our hearts delight. Splashing on the sun lotion as the bottle says, with the men all making the largest sandcastles ever, trying to beat the beach neighbour, then paddling in the freezing cold sea. The kids running free not a worry in the world.

But we do have to be sensible at the seaside, the sea has some awful under currents which we should all be aware off., Especially the Norfolk coast, where we tend to visit, really we should go more than twice a year.

So last Sunday Morning we were awake at 5, the sun was out and bursting with life, so we made a hasty decision, packed up the car with all the doggy things we would need, put the 3 dogs in the car and started off on our 1 and half hour journey towards the Norfolk coast.

Realising, on the way there we had forgotten to bring a ball for our youngest member of the gang, but there on the side of the road was a football, "STOP the car" I shouted to my hubby, go back, there`s a ball we could have that for the beach... With not a soul on the road, he turned the car around, I picked the ball up and off we went on our journey.

When we got to the beach it was empty, just how we like it.. With all the dogs in tow, we ventured on to the open wide empty beach, Dixie our 18 month old English Bull Terrier, remembered immediately, where she was and dragged me towards the sea, just like an excitable 4 year old. Otis the baby wasn't so sure, he hid behind my legs just peering with his big eyes starring at the sea. Ruby the old Westie just plodded on towards the sea and then paddled and paddled drinking as she went. Not that she could possibly of been thirsty, they all had a large drink of fresh water when we arrived.

We walked for hours, playing with the ball, the dogs where having a whale of a time. The ball was a great find,.

We did keep our eyes on the drifting sea all the time, we did notice that tide was coming in and we could get cut off at any time, so thought it was good to bring our beach trip to a end.

Our journey home was even more eventful, what with Ruby being sick, must of been all that sea water she drank.. :(

Our New Dog.. Otis

2009-06-08T23:28:00.001-07:00

Oh my goodness, such a long time since I last blogged, so here goes....

We have a new addition to the family, yes we have another dog, this one is a male, to keep the girls in tow. So peace, harmony and tranquility has returned back to our house hold. hahahahaha.

We collected Otis on 15th March, he is a seaside baby, came all the way from Weymouth he has settled in very well to our daily routine and loves our other English Bull Terrier very much, they get on like a house on fire, sadly though our Westie "Ruby" who is 13 can`t stand him. She never gets on with puppies, to bouncy, bouncy bouncy for her. The photo`s above show the first meet in the garden, awwww he is so tiny. Within moments Dixie was kissing him and he was kissing her. Great 1st meet. I dont need to worry about them. And the one on the right, was taken last weekend, as you can see they are inseperable.

Sadly though our garden has been destroyed in the process of owning 3 dogs, what with all the running around in circles and chasing each other, we seem to have lost our grass. maybe its packed it bags and gone elsewhere, hopefully it will return soon.!!

Christmas 2008

2008-12-28T08:07:00.000-08:00

Well Christmas this year has been the best ever, We did`nt cook, wow it was great, somebody else did all the hard work, and of course all the washing up. It was a great treat to go out to a resturant with all the family, shame my sister and her hubby could`nt come too, maybe next year....

And the other reason for it being the best Christmas is we are now Grandparents to a wonderful baby boy, "Jack" Our eldest daughter, Lucie gave birth to Jack 15mins after our plane took off to the States. We didnt get to see him for 15 days and when we did I was like a bottle pop ready to explode. :)

I do hope all you bloggers had a great Christmas and I would like to wish you all a lovely New Year.

My trip to Barcelona

2008-09-13T00:38:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday I flew to Barcelona, ready to start a couple of days work, "Training". I flew EasyJet, Hmmm, maybe not again. We arrived on time and then I waited for my work mate to arrive, 2 hours later, after sanding around in Barcelona airport feeling hot and tired, he arrived. Thank goodness, I was beginning to wilt.!!

When I left England it was cold and rainy, arriving in Barcelona wow!! Sunny, Humid and very hot, 26 degrees. So thats where our summer weather went!!.

I had never been to Spain, let alone Barcelona, I would recommend everyone to go there, the people are so friendly, the food is fanstatic and the architecture, WOW!!! what can I say.

We arrived in the office nice and early Monday morning, ready for 2 days training. Sadly things did`nt work as smoothly as planned, a few hiccups here and there but hey, things got better. Especially when we saw the sights from the office window. From the office window at home, all I see is the A14, but here it was just fanstatic.!!

The food was also great, if you like fish its paradise. All fresh and caught the same day, some still alive for you to choose, "Lobsters". And you must try the Paella.

Please note this was`nt a vacation, even though we did do alot of sightseeing. Go to the Rambles, what a exciting street to walk dow, very busy and hustly bustly. We walked everywhere, Taxi`s werent needed.

We had to move hotels on the Tuesday morning, as we had decided an extra day of training was needed. We booked ourselves into the Grand Marina, in the World Trade Centre, a hotel all must visit, 5stars + and it was only a 2 minute walk from the office. That meant we didnt have to jump out of the way of the bikes and scooters on the last morning, they dont seem to have the same road rules as we do.!!! Whether the lights are red or green the scooters and bikes just keep coming.

Oh dear, Wednesday afternoon came and home we went, so sad, a quick farewell to all the our new friends and then back to the airport and then a the flight home.

Our Grandchild

2008-09-03T23:07:00.000-07:00

Well our daughter Lucie, is nearly 30 weeks pregnant with our first ever grandchild, she went for a big scan yesterday, Mother doing well and Baby growing very fast. This pregnancy has been full of its ups and downs, at 23 weeks the baby decided he was going to try and arrive a little early!!!!, maybe a bit to early. She had a fair bit of bleeding so of to hospital we went, she stayed in for nearly week, on bed rest and being checked on regulary.

So now we are all waiting for the big day, it is possible that my husband and I will be away in Florida when the baby arrives.

The scan photo I have attached is of his foot and tiny toes.:)
Hopefully next month Lucie and her partner will be going to have a 4d scan done, that sounds very exciting. :) Didnt have them around in my day!!!

Isleham Pottery

2008-08-28T10:42:00.000-07:00

What a laugh my sister and I have been having over the last few months, we were both given a piece of china as a gift, by our Grt Aunt, she said it would be worth something in the future, not enough to pay off our mortages though!!!!. These pieces of china are always travelling whether they are living at my sister`s house or mine. Without us really knowing where they are.!!!

On our last visit to the IOW my husband and I hid both pieces at my sisters house, she has found 1, but yet to find the other.! Come on surely you do your housework on a weekly basis and should really be able to find the china ming twin. The missing one was the easiest one to find. LOL It looks so pretty amongst all of Paiges painted stones!......

My passion "the colour Pink"

2008-08-27T23:30:00.000-07:00

As you`ve most probably already guessed, I like the colour Pink. Not that I`m a fluffy person, I can change a car tyre, put petrol in my car, change a plug, I just like PINK!!!!. Especially pink handbags, In all shapes and sizes, my holiday luggage just bought recently is, Yes you`ve guessed it, "Pink".

We went to the IOW in May and I just had to have that bag in the sailing shop. Yes it was Pink

My husband hates me shopping, if I go missing he knows where to find me, in the handbag shop.

On our last shopping spree in Norwich, I actually bought 2 hand luggage bags, both in a soft pink, why I bought 2, I will never know, you can only use 1 at a time. But hey they were pink.

My daily handbag was a very expensive purchase in Florida, its a Dooney and Bourke bag, soft leather. I cant wait to go again maybe I will purchase another one.!!!! LOL

What a great weekend

2008-08-27T11:39:00.000-07:00

We had a few friends over on Sunday for a walk, they bought their dogs as well, in total we had 3 Ebt`s a Westie and a Staffy, fun was had by all. Dp was in her element, showing off all day. Missy Moo and Rocko, are Ebts, the other dog was a Staffy called Bodie. We walked for a good 2 hours and Ruby our 12 year old westie and our heavily pregnant Daughter Lucie, kept up with us. Wow, Lucie seemed to find some energy she thought she had lost months ago.
We enjoyed a lovely walk through our forests, all the dogs got on so well together playing most of the way around the walk. I`m sure they must off walked double the amount of steps that we did.!!
When we arrived home we had beer and burgers, sat and watched the dogs playing, Dixie and Bodie (the Staffy) played until 6pm and I`m sure they would of played right through until Midnight if we had let them. LOL Dixie and Bodie still playing after a very long walk

2008-08-26T05:09:00.001-07:00

Well this is my first ever blog, so I better tell you all about us and them!!!

Us, being myself and my family, consisting of Me, my husband and 2 grown children, both girls. - Lucie (soon to be a Mum herself) and Kirsten she is our baby of the family. Well she is 19.!!

Them being our family pets. - We have always had animals and Jack was our first ever West Highland Terrier, sadly we lost him in April this year, at the grand old age of 14 years and 20 days, a sad loss and we miss him so much. Ruby was our next dog she is now 12 years old, so an old lady, her and Jack were always together, she misses him too. Now to the newest member of the family, "Dixie-Pearl", we fancied a changed, staying with the Terrier breed, but this time we went bigger, EBT bigger, for all those people out there that arent sure what an EBT is, ""English Bull Terrier"". Yes she is a handful, but loads of fun and only being 9 months she is learning very quickly. We also have, yes 3 cats and they do get on very well with the dogs. Dogs dont chase cats in our house, Cats chase Dogs!! HAHAHA.

We all live in a fairly tiny 3 bedroom house in Suffolk, with a garden which resembles a ploughed field, after the mole has had fun, Dixie-Pearl then joins in, digging as if she were on her way to Australia, so I have no plants, as Dixie uses them as perfume to roll in, we are very lucky as we live in the countryside, we can walk for miles without seeing a soul and no traffic which is an added bonus. We love to go to the beach, but we generally go to the IOW and visit my sister and her gang, 5 cockers spaniels, who all get on so well with my gang. They are to blame for Dp`s (Dixie-Pearls pet name) passion for the water. She is like a duck in water, loves it. Now a nightmare to get her out.