So, the Bunts holiday in north Devon never quite happened.  After a rainy week in England, 24 hours before departure, an executive decision was made to abandon plans and head to Lanzarote for some winter sun.  A lovely week, exhausting and relaxing all at the same time as we soon discovered the joys and pleasures of going on holiday with an 18 month old!

Christian and Chloe chilling by the pool

 Venturing out for an evening (well 6pm, thats as late as Chloe would allow!) meal, we soon discovered Chloe had the patience for one course, not two.

Admiring my favourite people

I love this picture, she looks simply stunning

The one and only shot of the three of us, taken by the waiter on our last night out

It’s not as easy as you might think to try and get Evie to hold up a Happy Birthday sign…

And it’s only a matter of time before she decides to eat the birthday wishes…

Rob and I completely forgot to take any photos at Joey’s surprise 40th birthday party, but I managed to snap a few pics on my phone at brunch the next day at our old haunt, Life Cafe…

Halfway through our brunch we suddenly realized that we’d become those people…the kind we used to curse who’d bring noisy kids into Life Cafe while we were nursing our hangovers.

It was impossible to choose which photos to include from Becky’s Dirty Dancing-themed hen weekend (and not just because some of them were inappropriate for a family website!). So here is just a brief taste of what went on in the New Forest. For one thing, let’s just say that there was a LOT of pink. Pink champagne and a pink veil made by Muz…

A pink cocktail fountain prepared, slightly wistfully, by a pregnant Hannah…

Pink accessories (Tor brought an entire suitcase of hats and boas for the gang)…

An entire table and gaggle of hens decorated in pink!

And, of course, there was dancing. We brushed up on our skills with a dance class, where we learned the salsa and the chachacha…

Later that night, Bex and Emily decided to invade each other’s dance space…

And then there were the games. Like Blockbusters (I’ll have a P please Bob)…

And karaoke…

And “I Carried a Watermelon” (Emma and Emily unfortunately couldn’t even hold the watermelon long enough for a photo to be snapped)

Also the After Eights game, which, looking back, we really should have banned cameras from…

There was much drinking throughout the weekend, of course…

And even more “woo-hoo-ing”…

Not to mention more than a few hangovers. Which is why we couldn’t have been more excited to discover that the Sunday night stragglers got one couch EACH to lie back and enjoy Strictly Come Dancing, while reminiscing about all the fabulous moves we’d picked up in our dance class…

Cheers, Bexta! Just over 4 weeks to go!!

Evie shows off her fancy new Christmas-in-October outfit from Bex and James…

Upsy Daisy is hilarious, apparently…

But nothing beats Grandma Muz’s plastic spoon!

Dianne and Angela’s big night out at Wembley Arena for Cliff Richard’s 50th anniversary concert. Setting out in their matching “Living Doll” T-shirts …. bless!! The seats weren’t exactly front row, so needed maximum zoom on the camera!.. but Dianne assures me the fuzzy little guy really is Cliff! I gather they had a super girlie time and both thought 68 year old Cliff was great! ……………….. PS I may have posted these pictures but want to make it absolutely clear I did not attend this concert!!

All the Waylors at Bushey for “Christmas in October” 2008.   Preparing the tent for “Christmas Day” with the full Turkey meal. Note the Costco Christmas tree in the background, and Nan-nan determined not to miss out!   Dr John carving the big bird! Then the speeches after the meal .. welcome to the youngest and newest Waylors (Evie and Tim) from the host!Tim “encouraged” to respond!…and of course our Bex just had to get on her feet!!Christian looking worried - maybe thinking about having to do the Haka later on with Henry! not that Henry seems at all worried!The next day was “Boxing Day” with Miles & Dawn, Harry & George, and Ruthie & Tony joining us .. (sadly Rachel and John were not well enough to attend). It was too wet and windy to use the tent so everyone into the lounge for the grab-bag game.Jo seems to have something else on his mind!Lucie looking after Chloe ..Tony’s retro light was popular!… meanwhile Evie just chilled out …and then slept in Nan-nan’s arms …Sunday morning the golfers teed off at Bushey for the annual Waylor trophy with Tim making his debut. Very exciting finish with Suzanne, John and James Martinelli all equal, but Dr John winning the trophy on countbackJames Martinelli was a very close secondJohn won longest drive (by a mile) but James Wood was easily nearest the pin (sad to say, the only one on the green!!).. the winner posing for the worlds press after the presentation!Thanks to Suzanne & John for another super weekend!!

Lots of “clucking” in the Taylor household with two gorgeous little girls to look after!  Little Miss Helpful Evie …  taking a fancy to Nannan’s scarf! Chloe up the garden with Grandad .. through the washing!.. getting ready to go!…. with just an occasional of sharing of toys!

Oxford’s prettiest “trick or treater”.. of course “the posse” had o come along as well! 

Brian & Sylvia and Mark & Nicki Stevens, and Bob & Pauline Fisher came to Oxford for our annual Autumn Golf Classic.  2 Rounds of golf at Frilford for those fit enough!  and of course lots of wining and fine dining courtesy of Dianne at Quince Orchard and down at the local Chinese ..Thanks to Bob for the photos!