Long time...

...no speak. Again. And no real reason apart from me being lazy!
We had a fantastic, relaxing family holiday in Nerja in Spain. We rented a car and I drove on the right-hand side for the first time in many years, but it's amazing how much comes back to you! Apart from that it was very chilled, lots of pool time, sand castles at the beach, trips to mountain villages and the famous Nerja Caves.
During the time we were away Sweden held its General Election and whereas I'm pleased that there has been a change in the ruling party but sad and angry that the racist party the Swedish Democrats got an astonishing 12 % of the votes and with that a lot of political representation and power. History repeating itself, tougher economic climates and the extreme right wing parties gather momentum. The same is happening here in Britain with UKIP and BNP. Sad to say the least.
Scotland also held its referendum vote on Independence and it was so close, I really thought it was going to be an "aye" so disappointed on behalf of my many friends who voted Yes. On a much more positive note, Earth has seen the arrival of two more gorgeous babies! Fiona and Dan welcomed their son Leo and a day after Ana and Mark welcomed their Nathaniel to the world! Happy news and can't wait to meet them both and get some cuddles!

The weekend we arrived back from Spain Joe and Barry came to visit from Edinburgh! It was so great to see them and we spent Saturday in the Botanics and Ecclessall Road and Sunday in Castleton. They were even subjected to sit through Frozen to which Vera now knows most of the words and all the songs...

Joe and Barry brought a gorgeous soft toy for Vera, a giraffe that she's named Gerald (after the character in "Giraffes can't dance). He's now a steady companion and even came along to Ballet yesterday morning!

Last weekend we went down to London to see Terese and drove down after work. We got there at 9pm and Vera went to bed after a little catch up with Terese. On Saturday morning, the weather was miserable so we did some errands with Terese and then Vera let off some steam at a play centre called Clowntown. As it was a Saturday and raining it was mobbed!  In the afternoon we met Cathy, Martyn and Chris in a lovely family friendly pub called the Ranelagh in Bounds Green for a catch up! Great to see them all again!

On Sunday we rushed back for Vera's friend Rosa's birthday party! Rosa's parents had rented a Frozen themed bouncy castle and it was optional fancy dress.Luckily the weather was great so there were a bunch of very happy girls bouncing around in Princess dresses.

The weeks are ticking on, Mark's doing a  a bit of DIY, Vera's enjoying nursery and a few new friends there. She's also enjoying her dancing on Saturday mornings and has decided that she wants to continue. I didn't want to put pressure on her and "force" her to do activities that she doesn't enjoy, but she seems to really enjoy her dance school and moving around to music. It's also a nice 45 minutes for me in the hotel next door where I can drink a coffee and read a book :-)

Overall, I and and we are feeling very settled here, just over a year since we moved up here. I've met some lovely friends and last night Ulrica drove us to Bradwell where we had dinner at the lovely Samuel Fox Inn. Gorgeous food and stunning setting. Quite amazing, a 20 minute drive and we're in the middle of a quaint village in a National Park.

Anyhow, hopefully it won't be such a long time until my next update!