...and so its time to say Good bye....

Paul has bot himself a little VW...now he can drive to Holly's! Holly in the kitchen....
Jeff at the barbie....
mucking up....
Sal and Lach....heading off on a road trip around Europe....intending to come home in September. They are finishing up in London. Their 2 years are up!

Spring time in London.

Lachlan took us for a bike ride to Hampton Court Palace on the Thames river. I have ridden that far before, but didnt go in to see the gardens. They are awesome....SO worth going to see. We loved them. We must go again, when we have more time to spend. Spring flowers are gorgeous and the scent of hyacinth....heavenly! I had white hyacinth in my hair for my wedding...good memories!

Paris!!

Don't you just love Paris in the springtime? Paris is charming anytime really! The Eiffel Tower is such an icon in the day time and in the night it twinkles on the hour!
Holly and Jeff joined us in Paris. The kids were so happy to see their parents again. We had been gone for 10 days.
Yes, it rained....but rain makes for good reflections!
Mr O found an earring and had fun wearing it for a day...then fell apart. I think his front tooth has grown in more since we have been with them!
Paul and Sharon joined us for the weekend in Paris. Good memories of a fun family dinner here ~good food, good wine.

Pete and I at the Sacre Couer on Montmartre. It was fun to just hang out there for a while, after shopping the flea markets! The gorgeous Sharon...she looks like a model here! and she has this fabulous felted jacket!

Happy hugging Stitch! The Fountains of Versailles only flow on Sundays. Pete and I have been there before, but it was so awesome to see the fountains functioning this time. Versaille is quite the place.
Pete likes structured gardens...also at Versailles.
then it was back to London....

Fun with the Grandkids!!

Euro Disney was a great adventure for the boys. 2 whole days of exciting rides... rides that pull your face out of shape!! Space mountain was one too many for me! Pete and Sam went off and did some more adventurous things. Oscar was keen to see Stitch!
Blast from the past.....Candy~yes, apples ~ maybe with a bit of persuasion! but not Candy Apples!! I ended up eating the boys apples! I like Chicken Little....'the sky is falling, the sky is falling'!
The person in here couldn't be any bigger than Oscar! I probably liked seeing the Disney characters more than the kids did...kids are not so into Disney, there are so many other characters around now days.
me and Mike!

Sam plucking a hot air balloon out of the air!

In Switzerland the boys had a 2 hr snowboard lesson. They got the hang of it by the end of the day. a bit of a challenge!! This is Sam trying the jump. Oscar going up the lift.

Scott has this cute little GoKart and the kids got to try it out at the local army base. They had a blast on it.
Oscar got to drive for the first time and did really well.
Doing a bit of train travel was fun. Its such an easy way to get around.

Budapest!

Good Old Budapest....its starting to feel quite comfortable going there...things are becoming familiar...its my 4th time there. The picture is Margaret Island in the Danube. We stayed at a spa hotel right at this end. It was fun to soak in the hot water and have a massage. Ann and Rachel....

Rach has been there 2 years now, is getting a handle on the language and can still muster a genuine smile!! Its always good to catch up.

More of Italy...such a fun place.

Finally I have access to my own photos. 10 days in Italy was awesome. Such an interesting, comfortable place to be. People were so friendly and helpful. I was watching the boys run around, while Pete was shopping!! and I saw myself in this mirror...I thot it would be fun to snap it!! Cool leather cap hey! Mr High Energy...just hanging around! He was always bouncing off the wall one way or another.
I had heard of Cortona...maybe from an old movie? Seeing it on the map made me think it would be a good place to go. It s half way up a hill, while most cities are right on top of the hills, AND it was snowing there! Going into these small villages, one has to park outside and walk in and usually UP. We were always looking for a place for a coffee and to warm up!

We flew in and out of Pisa, so HAD to go find the 'leaning tower'...did you know that its the bell tower for a church, and it started leaning while being built? It has been stabilized now, and you can go up it...in small numbers. We didnt have time to wait. Nice blue sky day!
'David' from a different angle and the light of the morning sun. The real David is in a museum well protected...Quite an awesome sight. Florence has a few copies of David around the place.

Sam getting a cartoon picture of himself done. Oscar sat for one too. They were pretty funny pictures.
Me me!
My favorite picture of the boys...being friends and chatting about what is down below.

As I said....Peter went shopping. He loves bronze statues...so this is his latest aquizition! a Faun...a mythical creature.

Cotswold weekend

On the Promenade in Cheltenham!!

on the roof top...

with Paul and Sharon!

Pisa

We all had a go at pushing the tower over or up right!!