Well, we can't believe it's already mid December...where has this year gone? After 2 quieter years, this year seems to have been pretty full on!
January was fairly quiet, although Fee joined a newly formed choir in Biggleswade called 'Somewhere 2 Sing', which she is thoroughly enjoying.
February saw our canoe club's 40th anniversary dinner and dance, which Fee had been busy organising since Christmas. It was a great evening, with nearly 80 members and ex club members attending. Adam and his friends also managed a trip to Wembley to see rapper KSI. Unfortunately, as they were under 16, they had to be accompanied by an adult so Adam had nominated Brian to take them (who was secretly quite chuffed that he'd been considered the only dad cool enough to go!)
In March, Lucy passed her driving test and both kids were busy with drama performances: the first was a new play called 'Chatback' which they performed at the Royal and Derngate theatre in Northampton for the National Youth Theatre festival. Their second was a fantastic performance of Blood Brothers. Brian spent 4 days in North Wales for a Swift Water Rescue course, to help with his Search and Rescue work. He is still enjoying volunteering with Mid Shires Search and Rescue and it certainly keeps him busy! In between all that, Bri, Fee and Lucy all caught Covid (Adam escaped this time, having had it last year) but fortunately we weren't hit too badly with it.
In April we finally got to go on our cancelled ski trip from 2 years ago. It was an amazing holiday and so much fun, made even better by lots of free activities at the top of each mountain such as trampolining, face painting, graffiti walls, ice mazes and skim boarding!
In May, Adam completed his Bronze Duke of Edinburgh expedition and we all spent a hilarious day in London, taking part in a 'Faulty Towers' dining experience for Brian's birthday. The actors were amazing and we didn't stop laughing from the moment we arrived until the end. Basil insulted several guests, Sybil sang a special birthday song to Brian, but Manuel was the funniest - 'serving' us nibbles with a tennis racket, spoon feeding Adam his vegetables and combing Fee's hair with a fork!
In June we celebrated the Queen's Platinum Jubilee by watching the Beacon lighting in town and having drinks with the neighbours in the street.
In July, Adam took part in his school show: 'A night at the musicals', which was fantastic. Fee also got a chance to perform as her choir put on 2 concerts in a local concert hall. The culmination of Adam's cricket season this year involved a nail-biting match in which Adam's team were 1 run behind with 1 ball left to be bowled. Luckily, they scored 4 runs off the last ball to win! July also marked the start of university open days for Lucy, with visits to Warwick and Lincoln (the latter scoring highly in Lucy's ratings) to look at their Psychology courses.
August was lots of fun: we had a lovely relaxing holiday in France - on a campsite about an hour south of Bordeaux, on the Atlantic Coast. After a busy end of term, we did very little apart from reading, swimming, having fun on the waterslides, BBQing, eating, drinking and sleeping!
We also spent a day in Paris on the way home. Adam then went off to Explorer Camp in Oxford, Lucy went to stay with Grandma, and Fee and Bri went white water canoeing in North Wales for a weekend. Fee's still not sure about white water paddling (having not done it for 20 years) but the scenery was beautiful and it was a fun weekend with good friends from the canoe club.
In September, Adam started in year 11 and Lucy went into her final year of sixth form (GCSES and A levels for them next summer). No sooner than we had settled back into term again, Lucy turned 18. We celebrated as a family with a trip to see 'Dear Evan Hansen' in the West End, and Lucy had a night out in Cambridge with her friends, eating, drinking and singing karaoke!
We also attended more Uni open days, including Portsmouth, Nottingham, Chichester and Worcester. As well as being keen to find out about the courses on offer and what the accommodation was like, we became curious to find out which places provided the best coffee. Free tea and coffee seemed to be a trend, but Chichester Uni went above and beyond, offering all visitors free waffles as well!
In October, Fee and Bri spent a lovely weekend with some of Fee's University friends in York, to celebrate 30 years since they had started there in 1992! We then had a visit from Fee's brother and family and spent a fascinating day at Bletchley Park, learning all about the code breaking that went on there during the war. We also went pumpkin picking, and who knew that a simple wheelbarrow could provide so much entertainment for the boys!
November was a reasonably quiet month, although we had a visit from Fee's mum, who took us out for a delicious Sunday lunch as an early birthday celebration for Fee's upcoming 'big' birthday. We also visited UEA in Norwich, which Lucy loved. She has now submitted her UCAS form and has applied to study Psychology starting in September 2024, as she is planning on having a gap year to do some working and travelling.
And here we are in December. The first 10 days of this month have been incredibly busy, starting with the kids' murder mystery play (in which Lucy's character turned out to be the murderer, stabbing someone with a Christmas candy cane!) The following day, Fee had the amazing opportunity of singing in a Christmas concert in St Alban's cathedral with her choir. It was truly magical and something she'll never forget. The weekend ended with a house full of Fee's friends, celebrating her 50th birthday with an afternoon tea party. Unfortunately she had to work on her actual birthday but Bri and
the kids spoilt her in the evening with birthday cake and a lovely dinner. Brian has been away this weekend, canoeing and walking in Devon. Despite temperatures below freezing, he seems to have had a great time!
Earlier this week, we were treated to some amazing singing, dancing and acting in Adam's school pantomime. Adam played the part of the dame's cat and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Fortunately, things are a little calmer between now and Christmas so we have a bit of time to finish Christmas shopping and get ready for the big day. Both Fee and Bri's mums are joining us for Christmas day and we're hoping to meet up with the rest of both sides of the family after Christmas.
We hope you all have a lovely festive season and hope to catch up with more of you next year :)
Lots of love from
Fee, Bri, Lucy and Adam. xxx
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