Party Day.... BYE BYE BIKE!!!!!

29th July 2006..... Party Day.

The party was due to start at 1800. As usual I had last minute issues to sort first.

I had the man who bought the smart car coming at 1700 to pick the car up. At the same time my motorcycle was due to be picked up from the shop where it was being repaired! While all this was happening the person who bought my bike had to come at 1700 aswell!

I was running around looking for the log books and paperwork sweating and trying to keep calm. As my bike left with proud new owner straddled on it, the door bell had rang and buyer number 2 was standing there wanting the keys to the smart car!! Sheeeesh that was close.

All done. I am now the owner of nothing but a plane ticket to Canada and that feels kinda good.

Alberta bound

not long now....and then we'll have all this on our doorstep (kinda)

Barbie at the Ridgeway....

Steak Anyone! Zoolander pose




mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmm mmmmmmmmm!


Dan doing his Stevo from Jack ass impression! pretty good eh?





Zena, Sophie,Kate and Nigel being blinded by the flash.



OH YEAH.

eeerrrrr...is this really happening?

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. Haven't really felt like blogging. We're trying to accept that next week we'll be living on another continent. Nope....can't quite get my head around that yet! We're having a party on Saturday and are completely disorganised. We should've booked a band or DJ about six weeks ago rather than trying to find someone (ANYONE!)three days before the event. I am totally putting it down to the state of denial that I currently find myself in, I don't believe I'm going anywhere yet so why would I need to organise a party and get a band? On a more pleasant note we've had some really nice get-togethers with everyone over the last couple of weeks.Today we somehow managed to get taken out for lunch and dinner! Lovely! We have also experienced a bit of trauma concerning the fixtures and fittings in our new house. I thought it was all going amazingly well so wasn't too surprised when we heard that a few of the things we'd picked were looking unlikey or would be arriving late....the kitchen cabinets, the taps, the light fixtures, the mouldings.... but, thanks to Jo all seems to be back on track and going to plan. I can't believe we'll be there next week, sheesh!

Bye Bye Smarty Pants

Sophies Smart is all ready to go to its new home, It has served us well! BYE BYE SMARTY! We will miss you.

AUDI TT

Finally my Parents have gone and got a new shinny 225 BHP car. Thank god its 4 wheel drive eh?

Not long now.....

Well, our boxes have been packed up and sent on their way so everything we have left will have to be fitted into our suitcases (somehow!). We're trying to organise a party but so far it's proving difficult to arrange, can't find a day when all the people we want to come will be able to make it at the same time. The house is very nearly finished now and looks really good. Every day I feel different....some days I'm excited and can't wait to go, then other days I feel so sad to be leaving and I get a bit of a tight, nervous feeling in my chest, sheesh.... who ever thought it'd feel like this? All part of the adventure though eh?


Here's a photo of the house across the street from ours, can't believe how quickly they go up!



And here's the latest view of our house....

Garage Doors.....

Latest house pics....

We have a deck out the back of the house now.....



And bannister rails on the staircase.

Today Douglas got his passport...

We picked it up from the vets today and sure enough it actually looks like a passport! It even had a space for a photo so we dressed Doog up all smart and took his picture against a white background. It only took a couple of Bonio to keep him still. The trouble is he doesn't much like the photo, mind you nobody likes their passport photo....

HAVE A LOOK AT THE LINKS TO THE RIGHT

There is a list of links on the right hand side you may find interesting.
Have a look at our new neighborhood, make sure you have sound on before you click it though.

Canada Day Stroll...

Yesterday was Canada Day and it is only right that we should celebrate the birthday of our (soon to be) new home country. I took a Canadian flag to work and stuck it on the front desk expecting to be asked all day why it was there. In fact I only received a couple of quizical looks, mostly from people telling me off for not flying the St Georges cross on the day of an England world cup match (England lost and we are out but I will not be held responsible!). So my maple leaf flag sailed unnoticed, on the way home I held it out the car window to flap in the wind amoungst the sea of St Georges stuck to what seems to be every other car window and then I stuck it into a plant pot in my mums garden where it still flies now, O Canada! Happy Birthday!

Other than my bit of flag-waving the day would have passed without further a-do. That is if it weren't for Doogie.....who had apparently been harbouring a rather unfriendly parasite under his front leg for some time. We found it and had great fun trying to pin Doog down and remove the icky tick with a pair of tweezers. To try and cheer him up after the trauma we took him down to the beach for a stroll. It was a realy nice warm evening so I grabed the camera to take few photos. We were having a great time until Doog decided to have a little sprint through the mud and ended up covered in thick Medway tar. When we got home we remembered that the garden hose doesn't work and Neil had the bright idea of trying to get the dirty dog all the way up to the third floor bathroom....needless to say it took us a long time to clean up. Thank goodness my Mum wasn't home at he time.

Picnic at the castle

On Friday we took Neil's mum for a surprise picnic lunch at Leeds castle. It was an absolutely scorching day and we found a nice cool spot in the shade of a beautiful old cedar tree. We tucked into our lunch as a peacock perched above us and black swans drifted about elegantly on the pond just down the lawn.
The peacocks came to eat our blueberries and it wasn't long before the entire bird population of the castle grounds realised there were snacks to had and decided to join us.