Tuesday at The O2 Arena

Fortunately, Tuesday dawned bright and sunny - no snow, no grey sky but, unfortunately, no warmer either ;o)  The Sat Nav set and it was time to go and pick up Emily's friend, Emily and head up to London to The O2 Arena for the girls to see One Direction.

 My Emily is definitely more sensibly dressed in this photo - she takes after her mother and doesn't like the cold!  We stopped for a quick photo with the Dome in the background and then headed inside to get some lunch before the doors opened.

We ended up in TGI Fridays because we know we'll enjoy the food and each time we've been we've been lucky enough to get seated straight away. Unfortunately, this time we were seated outside and it was still really cold because although you're in the dome, it's not much warmer than outside - you just don't have the wind chill to contend with.

We finished our meal around the time that the doors were due to open so, after a trip to the Ladies, we headed to the doors where they were to go in. I saw them into the queue and then left them too it.  This was their queue waiting to go in (and it did stretch a bit further back too). 

 I decided I'd take a walk outside and had seen the signs pointing down to the river.  We had been going to walk down to the river once before but by the time we'd eaten it was dark outside so we had to abort that idea. This time I just followed the signs and was there in no time.  I'm not sure what this sculpture is meant to be but it was quite interesting to look at.

 The cable cars come over the river to the other side but that's not something I'd be bothered about doing (I don't like heights!).  I don't know what I'd expected but there certainly wasn't much to see at the river so I just had a little walk and then turned round to head back again.

 One of the buildings next to The O2.

 A few boats moored off shore.

 The covered walkway down to the river cruise.

 The Dome to the left and walkway to the right.

 As you can see, these reeds were being blown quite strongly. I think I was out there for about 3/4 of an hour but was so cold I was more than ready to get inside again.

There were a lot of Mums who had dropped their daughters off and the coffee shops were doing a roaring trade.  I went in to Starbucks and as I got served a table became free and I was able to get a seat. Another Mum came over and asked if she could join me - we chatted for a little while and then both settled down to read our books.  We were able to spend a few hours in the warmth of Starbucks before going out to wait for the girls to come out of the concert.

I took this photo as I waited where I'd said I would. the people in front of me were all waiting for children to come out. It was interesting listening to the languages being spoken, there must have been people from all across Europe. I certainly heard French, Italian and Spanish as well as other languages I didn't recognise.

The girls had had a fantastic time and thoroughly enjoyed the concert. We hit rush hour traffic as we headed home and it was about 7pm by the time we got back. Watching/listening to the videos Emily had taken was quite amusing - there was a lot of screaming going on as well as some singing along. I'm glad they had such a good time!

xx

Easter Sunday (photo heavy)

Easter Sunday dawned with the clocks having gone forward an hour during the night. It threw me a little bit but we were soon all up and ready for Claire and the girls to come over.  Alice had had an Easter Egg Hunt at home before coming to us so knew what to expect.  She walked in the door and started spotting eggs straight away - no time for Grandma to be there with her camera first, no time to take off coat and shoes, just straight in and find the eggs ;)  It was so sweet to watch her get excited about hunting them out.

 Her little Easter bunny bag to collect the eggs in.

 Aunty Em was happy to be included in the hunting 

 and at times was even allowed to help with getting the eggs.

 Alice would run backwards and forwards putting the eggs in her little bag

 Mini eggs are certainly a favourite :)

 But so were the duck chocolate lollies she got

 Finding some more

 There were a few presents to open too :)

 Showing Mummy her chocolate lolly 

 And the final little Lindt bunny 

 goes into the bag :)

 Once the Easter Egg Hunt was finished, Alice helped to open Megan's presents too. After opening each one she would say "Here's your present Megan!"  and pop it on top of the car seat (where Megan was blissfully unaware of all the madness and mayhem going on around her as she slept through it all).

 A little later, having woken and had a feed, Megan was quite happy to lie on the quilt and get to know her new dolly :)

 She's showing much more interest in everything around her now and we're getting some lovely smiles

 Lots of talking

 And even a few chuckles.

Imagine how different next year will be with two little girls running around collecting eggs :)  I can't wait!! 

xx

HELLO Monday

I've not played along with this one before but have seen so many people doing it on their blogs and enjoyed them that I thought I'd try and play along today too.

HELLO to two weeks of school holidays.

HELLO to not having to get up at 6am each morning.

HELLO to adjusting to the clocks having gone forward.

HELLO to trying to be more conscious of taking photos this week.

HELLO to trying to start eating more healthily and to doing some exercise.

HELLO to a trip to The O2 tomorrow (Tuesday), taking Emily and her friend to see One Direction.

HELLO to a return visit to the Dr on Wednesday to get the rest of my blood test results.

HELLO to spending time with Claire and the girls on Wednesday.

HELLO to a quieter day on Thursday (?)

HELLO to catching up with a good friend over coffee on Friday.

HELLO to (hopefully) making a start on decorating what will be Norma's room over the weekend, ready for her arrival in three weeks time :)

xx

Deb and Carrie come for lunch

On Friday Deb and Carrie (who were here from Arizona) came down to East Grinstead to visit us and have lunch. Claire and Carrie have got to "know" each other through blogs and Facebook and I know Claire was really excited to get to meet both Carrie and Deb in person. Emily knows them through their blogs and also from hearing us talk about them. So, great excitement when Friday finally arrived!

Deb and me

Deb had mentioned before that she liked the look of our town so after Emily and I picked them up from the station we headed into town for a quick sight seeing trip. Our town isn't that big ;) and with the weather as cold as it was, we weren't going to be out for long.

 We walked through St Swithun's church yard where they were able to see the old graveyard and the tomb stones for the East Grinstead martyrs who were burnt at the stake in the market place.

 The High Street in East Grinstead is made up of Tudor properties (some of which can be seen in this photo) which are full of history. If I remember correctly, East Grinstead was the stopping point (about half way) for people travelling from London to the coast in times past.

Our little tour over and we headed to Claire's house and then back here for lunch.

 Our girls 

(Emily, Megan, Claire and Carrie)

 Alice took a shine to Carrie and came to be in the photo too

 Carrie, me and Deb

And one last one to finish (love that wink!)

The afternoon went way too quickly but was great fun. It felt like good friends coming over for lunch and not only the second time we'd met. What a pity we live so far apart but I certainly hope we'll meet again in person one day. 

xx