Congratulations James & Kelly

Following on from my last blog, we all headed over to England for the wedding of my brother James and his fiancée Kelly.


The bride and groom

 It was a fantastic day that everyone seemed to really enjoy. The ceremony at Sopwell House in St. Albans was both beautiful and humorous, and even the reading I did ("Blessing for a marriage") went off without a hitch.

The aperitif after the ceremony was great, with delicious amuse bouches and champagne (or Pimms for the more traditional English-types). It was interesting to go from the ceremony room to the conservatory and veranda where the aperitif was held as the corridor between the two is lined with signed football shirts in frames.

It turns out the Sopwell House has been used to host various international football teams over the years (including a number of England squads), with the players relaxing in the luxury rooms and making full use of the spa treatments.

Fortunately, the weather held out for the whole day, as it was cloudy with some sunny patches but absolutely no rain (amazingly for an English wedding!). It meant the happy couple were able to take the wedding photos outside in the lovely gardens of the house.

Growing up too fast?



Lydia playing with Bugs

It's been a whole month since my last post. Lydia is now three months old and seems to change a little bit with each passing day. Time has simply flown by, and I am beginning to understand why people always say you should enjoy every moment with your child because they will be grown up before you know it.

Ok, so Lydia is still a baby. It's not like she has suddenly started walking, dressing herself, taking whatever she wants out of the fridge, and so on and so forth. She still needs us to do everything for her, and as such is still as helpless as the day she was born.

However, she is growing up fast. Over the last few weeks since my last blog entry Lydia has started to get much stronger. We can see her trying to sit up a bit whenever we have her laying down in our arms. She is also getting closer to being able to roll over. We lay her down on her back, she kicks her legs up in the air and rolls onto her side. At the time of writing, she hasn't quite managed to roll all the way onto her front yet, but I think that will come in the next few days.

An Anniversary Treat

April 6th is a special day for Christelle and me, as it was the day we first got together all those years ago on Fraser Island in Australia. It may have been an alcohol-fuelled beginning to our relationship, but even then there was something much deeper that has kept us together ever since.

Chris enjoying our dinner

This year marked our 6th year as a couple. When I look back over our time together, it is remarkable to see just how big an impact Chris has had on my life; if it weren't for her I would not be in Switzerland now, for example, nor would I be impatiently awaiting the birth of my first child.


Cheers!

It has been an exciting journey full of ups and downs (mostly ups, fortunately), but I have the feeling that the real journey will begin when the little one comes out to meet us in the very near future.

 

We decided to treat ourselves to a meal in a nice restaurant for our anniversary, which would also be the last restaurant meal as a mere "couple" before the baby arrives (after which the romance might be somewhat disturbed by the presence of a screaming child flinging food everywhere).

We chose to book a table at Les Chevreuils, a restaurant we know well - it was where we held the reception after our wedding in 2009.