Surprise Surprise

It was Pam's birthday and Richard had booked the Chateau Du Pont D'Oye for the weekend. We went to Arlon station to meet them unfortunately after we parked the car Malcolm slipped and fell cutting his hand. Pam was very surprised to see us and hadn't guessed we would be there. We soon relaxed over a medicinal drink and a wonderful dinner.

Oli is making good progress

Oli is continuing to make good progress in his recovery. Kati is keeping up his blog see link below, but it is still early days. Lilie has hit the 10lb mark and is thriving. Emilie has had an ear infection this week so has been off school. Amelia has had a virus and been off work. Frankie's playschool had a visit from St Nicholas who gave him a bag of sweets and nuts with which he was most impressed. I have been doing the last of the Christmas wrapping.

Frankie champion of the Wii

Frankie has taken to playing the Wii .The trouble is I cant win any of the games . He knocks me out in the boxing, runs rings round me at Baseball and as for golf forget it. I can occasionally beat him at bowling. Emilie is not impressed either she says he is only 4 how can he do it better than me when I am 7. I say how can he do it better than me when I am 57..................

Meat & Potato Pie

After having potato pie at Avril's Malcolm decided to have a go at making one him self. He was very proud of the pie and insisted I took lots of photos....................

Home

There was a little sprinkle of snow when we arrived home and it was very cold. Monday the children seemed very pleased to see us. I think we might have been missed. Monday night we got a call from Linda to say Oli had at last got THE CALL for a transplant and it was going ahead it was the 5th time he had been called to the hospital over the last two and a half years but this looked like it was the one. All is going as well as can be expected so far, so fingers crossed and prayers said for both Oli and the family of the person who has so generously given Oli a new chance for life.

Last Night

On our last day we had fish and chips for lunch or in Malcolm's case a whale. Followed by a meal in the evening at a Spanish Restaurant with Angela, Paul, June and Phil. Then it was time to pack up the car for the journey back to a snowy Luxembourg.

The frst Emperor

Or the Lost Emperor as I kept saying. We had another day in London for a bit of culture this time. Richard had managed to get 4 tickets for the First Emperor exhibition at the British Museum. Pam unfortunately couldn't come so Aaron was going to join us but realised he had a O.U. meeting. So it was just the three of us. we arrived early so we could have a couple of hours browsing and to keep to the Joseph theme we did the Egyptian gallery's. The First Emperor exhibition was over-whelming we couldn't take our eyes of the exhibits it was fabulous. Then of course we needed to eat and went to a pub for a curry.

Avril & Stu

Poor Avril & Stu first they had the date of our visit wrong they thought we were coming on the previous Tuesday ( my fault, Malcolm says) and had cooked a goose served with a wonderful wine of which we got to sniff the cork & admire the label. We may have missed the goose but we had a wonderful potato pie. I have just noticed this blog is all about food and wine..............and family and friends of course.

Nottingham

From Milton Keynes we drove to Nottingham to visit mum. Her shingles were much improved thank goodness. We did a few jobs around the house and took her shopping. Her sofas we had orderd from Ikea on the net when she was in Luxembourg looked very nice.

Drawers

We arrived in Milton Keynes in time to have dinner with Linda and Keith .

Linda had been having trouble with her drawers and Keith with his family tree so we were happy to be of assistance. Guess who helped who!

Sunday Aaron and Anna arrived for lunch Oli and Kati joined us later a lovely family occasion.

Oxford

Saturday we set off on our travels again. First stop Oxford to see John and Elsie. Laura joined us for lunch so that we could meet little Ruby for the first time. Tara had grown into a lovely little girl quite a chatterbox. Kevin and Warren popped in so that was nice and they are off to Australia next year to visit Mark in Sidney wish we could fit in their suitcase.

High Tide?

Today was supposed to be an exceptional high tide with major flooding predicted. So we popped down to East beach at high tide hoping for some spectacular waves and it was like a mill pond, very disappointing. In the evening we went to Pam and Richards for dinner which was not disappointing in any way we had beef wellington my favorite and real root vegetables.

Lee Mead's Joseph

Much to Emilie's annoyance we got to see Joseph first. We took Aaron and Anna to see the show as a birthday treat. They were both at Focus Youth Theatre with Lee many moons ago. It was wonderful to be in London. First we had dinner opposite the Adelphi at the Coal Hole and delicious it was too. We don't often have pies in Luxembourg. The show was excellent Malcolm cried with laughter all the way through. Just the pick up we needed. I am sure Emilie will be thrilled when she sees the show in February.

Back to the future

Our old friend John often used to pop round for coffee so it was lovely when he called in for a chat having seen our car. In the evening I had a girls night out at the local Indian restaurant, while Malcolm had lessons on how to play the Wii.

Fireworks

Malcolm was very pleased with the new front porch but we had to have a lesson on how to lock the door. Nothing is easy these days. Aaron was proud to show us his new car and take us to Frank and Christine's in the evening for a firework BBQ.

Dreams

We arrived back in England for a two week break and Aaron & Anna wanted to know what we really really missed and there was only one answer bacon sandwiches made with fresh white sliced bread...........wonderful dreams do come true. I also got my rather belated birthday present a beautiful glow in the dark toad.