ho hum. it’s been a busy, long week capped off by a hectic but fun weekend with 2 grand-henleys and 3 withers popping up to west lothian to meet up with the henleys. on thursday night the henleys 3 were host to godmum meli and steve so we popped up to the bonsyde for some liquid refreshment and met up with the 3 withers who had driven up from the midlands. ee gads i could not quite believe how much wee samuel had grown and changed since our last meet in the lakes two months ago. the eve was spent comparing bairns, chatting and drinking but before long it was bed time so we headed back home for a nap.
on friday cole took the afternoon off and met up with uncle michel for a long lunch in e-berg, quaffed a shandy and munched on a tasty marlin steak before heading back to lithgay to meet up with the 3 withers. we walked into town through the peel and via the local farm where we got to see some of the horses and some dogs. in linlithgow we tried to find a coffee but with the friday night crowds already descending on every bar in town it was not the time for a relaxing warm beverage. fortunately we found refuge in h2, an odd bar which has the resonance of the sort of youth clubs you encounter on a french-exchange trip at school, featuring surreal neon lighting and a pair of inebriated poles arm-wrestling (?). after our long walk we headed back for some supper.
on saturday we awoke at a fairly leisurely pace and awaited the arrival of uma and oompa who had stopped off with great-gramps ken on the way up. the withers headed into edinburgh for a family day out whilst we pootled before uma and cole headed into the big E to pick up samuel so that leiske and will could get a night our together at the theatre. the original plan was for me and peta to have a night out/off but with gethin still feeling a little under the weather from teething and a cold we decided instead to pop to the bonsyde for some food and beverages. it is odd to think that in the almost-five-months sine gethin was born we have not had a night off together and i don’t think peta has spent more than a couple of hours apart from gethin. still, when he is as super cute as he is then no need!
in edinburgh cole managed to find some biccy pegs which seemed to work a treat on gethin’s gumache, although they come with the fiddliest, smallest piece of string known to humanity! what with the calpol for his cold, and the biccy pegs, gethin made a marked improvement over the weekend. he has started reaching for things (though not quite yet time to start moving things up the walls so they are out of reach). he seems much more communicative and has alreaedy started specifying his moroccan dish of choice by uttering ‘couscous’ on regular occasions.
on sunday we headed over to st andrews, featuring a lovely drive through sunlit fife. as soon as we got there it was feed time for two bairns so we popped in for lunch at a lovely mexican restaurant featuring a magician who did a mean set of card tricks and also managed to make a fiver disappear and reappear in a kiwi. not that’s a way to encourage people to eat more fruit and veg! after a long lunch we strolled in to st andrews and generally mooched about. before we knew it the day was nearly gone so the 3 henleys and oompa headed to the beach for gethin’s first trip to the seaside and a quick game of boule. the 3 withers headed back to get dinners started whilst uma sadly wasn’t feeling at all well so tried to get some sleep in the car.
oompa thoroughly trounced me and peta at this metal ball throwing malarky and soon we headed back home for the end of the weekend, capped off with a lovely meal and some rather upset bairns (both having contracted colds and teething aplenty).
on tuesday the 3 henleys helped godfolks ryan and shelley move some stuff into their lovely new abode and sat down to supp on fish and chips (the staple christening dish of any new abode), using some old 2000ADs as placemats (that takes me back). a thoroughly busy few days by all so apologies for radio silence. we are all off to londinium at the weekend for peta’s cousin’s wedding and then cole is off to aberystwyth for next week so will try to keep you posted as and when and if things happen. hope you like the pics – some lovely ones from oompa i think you will all agree!
This here blog is in honour of the esteemed Gethin William Albert Henley Esq, 5162 days old, who was born on 3rd April 2006 at 18:04 weighing a healthy 9lb 11½oz.
Daddy Cole is enjoying a career as a web developer whilst mummy Peta is juggling working part-time with being an all-round top mum