The Parent Trap

I haven't blogged for a couple of weeks, and I guess I should bore you guys a little bit more! ;-)

What have you all been up to then? I have had a very busy couple of weeks.

Mark came round to having weekends off, and we seem to have spent quite alot of it with my family, which makes a nice change! Two weekend's ago now, Tracy and the boys came up for the weekend, which was great (as I don't seem to see much of her these days). I must say that Oscar and Henry are fairly exhausting, so I felt like I wanted another weekend afterwards! We took them over to Mark's cousin's farm (the less said about that the better...), and then went to SoloPark (a reclamation yard) which we had to vacate as soon as Oscar started charging around the room with the £1500 vases balancing everywhere. Mark's Dad joined us all for lunch at The Bridge,  which was rather pleasant. We then took the boys to the local park for a play on the swings etc... very nice!

The highlight of last week was my newly purchased "New York Smoothie Maker". My God - what a revelation. Basically, if it moves, or doesn't move, I blend it! Frozen yoghurt, fruit, linseeds, 'sprouting broccoli seeds', the lot... I think that Mark is hoping that it will be one of my fads, as you do need industrial grade ear protectors when it starts going - very restful in the mornings! ;-)  It is helping my diet though - I only have another two stone to lose before my holiday in May - heh. My gym attendance is still going really well, so at least that is something. I attend between 3 and 5 classes a week - which is amazing for me! I think my friend Lynn may be key to this - heaven forbid she should ever go on holiday!

This last weekend my Parents came to stay, which was also lovely. Friday, Mark actually drove over to fetch them - which was incredibly kind of him. I cooked them a sausagey-beany thing for dinner, and we walked into the village for a couple of drinks.

Saturday morning we went to a garden centre, and then dropped Mum and Dad off at Dad's fave tool/DIY store (lucky old Mum), and left them to go shopping in Cambridge for the afternoon while we performed out various duties at the football ground. Mark took my friend Jo along to do some photography, which she really seemed to enjoy. The mighty Stutes actually managed to beat Droylsdon 2-0, and Mum and Dad joined us at the club afterwards for a couple of drinks (along with Mark's Dad). In the evening I cooked a pasta/salmon thing for us all, and we sat around exchanging crap jokes and drinking wine - a normal Saturday night! ;-)

Sunday we went over to another garden centre (us, obsessed?) and got some nice herbs and shrubs for the garden. Then we went to Ely for lunch, and discovered a rather wonderful antique store. Am looking forward to returning there when we have more time, as there was SO SO much gorgeous stuff there spread over several floors. We dropped Mum and Dad off at the train station, and headed home to spend 2 or 3 hours cleaning up the garden and planting out some of the stuff we had bought. Mark's Dad turned up for a bit - we walked in to the village for a few pints, and then Mark and I had a curry. What a pig! A roast dinner AND a curry in one day! Oooops!

Anyway... busy week ahead. More gym stuff, a visit to London (and dinner in the evening with Nikki, as she is in London on a course). Can I just send out a big hug to Marie. Her Dad is really sick in hospital at the moment - I don't know many of the details, but it appears that he collided with a deer on his motorbike. I really hope he pulls through Marie - we are all thinking of you.

Lots of love
Hayley
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