Seasons Greetings

Well what a great week its been. I broke up on Wednesday 17th December and dont start back until Monday 5th January so that gives me a good two and bit weeks off to spend some quality with the family. Nikki was working on the Thursday and Friday and thats one of the reasons I took the holidays so I could after the kidlets.

I had been in touch with an old work colleague on facebook Claire, who had left the business about a year ago and I havent seen for some time. She interviewed me for my first job and I worked for her for about 3 and a half years. We met at the designer outlet for a coffee and good catch up. The girls were really good and we enjoyed a good session on the activity area for the kids as well.

In the afternoon we headed out for a walk doen to the canal to feed the ducks. Nyah is so cute, whenever I give her bread to the feed the ducks she always eats it instead of throwing it to the birds!

Friday, me and the girls visited my G&G. My grandad had fallen off his bike a couple of days ago in the ice and at the ripe old age of 82, as you can imagine this shook him up a bit and caused a some danage to his knee. I was surprised when I saw him that he was in really good form and his knee was making a really a good recovery. Saying that, I wouldnt expect anything else from my Grandad! My Grandma was on really good form as well and looked well. They love seeing the girls. It must be one of the most amazing feelings when you are young, having a family and watching that family grow to become bigger with a son in law, then to see it grow further with grandchildren and to see it grow even further with great grandchildren must be an amazing sense of achivement, satisfaction and been very proud of your family. Its great to see them both looking so well and I love visiting them whenever we can.

Sunday saw a very special day in the christening of our latest arrival. We had Nyah's christening at Brayton church then at Monk Fryston. As much as Monk Fryston is like a second home to us, we were inviting quite a few kids and we thought it would be too formal so we had the christening at Brayton church followed by food and a wetting the babies head at the community centre. We had a great day and it was great to see everyone, the Tarriers, Weltons, Mckenzies, Wilsons, Inmans and inparticular my best buddy and the girls god parents Ben and Noush. Ben had done a night shift the previous night, finished at 09:30am, drove from Coventry tothe christening then headed back to start another night shift at 08:30! Amazing Guy!

Monday I had arranged to meet up with some old school friends who I hadnt seen for quite a few years. Mikey P has moved down to London now with his partner and has been there for a year or so. Wwe also met Helen and and Louise V who again I havent seen for years now. We all met at the big coffee in Anlaby and it was great to catch up and find out what everyone was up to. We spent a good couple of hours drinking tea and reminising about the good old days, Our boyband, Boys R Us!, teachers, holidays etc. Its really was good and we are planning to do it again at some point in the new year.

By this time, five days had flown by and we were getting closer and closer to santa visiting!

Tuesday Nikki had finished work and we headed out with the girls at 9am and walked into town. We didnt really stop walking all day and having been shopping, eating at Frankie and Bennys and having a few cocktails we eventually got home at about 4pm. The girls were worn out but we had had a great day and Nyah had loved walking all day!

It was great spending time with them over the last 5 days. They really are great. Nyah is just coming on so much and little Ciara has changed so much since she was born. The girls really are my world.

With the hectic past few days I started to come down with a bit of man flu on the eve of xmas, not great timing. Xmas eve soon came round and my mum, dad and sister came round about 3 and we started on the xmas spirit. Dash and Nat came round about 7 for an hour so it was great to see them. Nikki had done a lovely meal of Salmon and veg and that was washed down by a few glasses of wine and beer. I retired early (about 10:30) on xmas eve as the cold had really kicked in and I felt my bed was calling me. When I wake up, will santa have been????

Some snaps from Xmas Day 2008

Xmas was great! My mum and dad and sister had stayed xmas eve and were there to see the girls wake and open their presents, and boy did that take a long time! They were both really spoilt from everyone and it seemed to take forever to open the presents then all we did was play with them all day. The girls loved it and so did I! Mummy did an amazing xmas dinner which we all promptly eat far to much off then finished off by eating xmas pudding.Aanother good thing that came out of xmas day it was my motivation for getting back in the gym had increased massively. By the end of the day, I was already thinking of my goals and action plan for getting back in the gym. I will come onto those in the next update.

Boxing Day saw us head over to Leeds to see the wifes family. Our first stop was to see great grandad who has recently moved into a home. Although his memory is not what it used to be he still has his wit and sence of humour. He enjoyed seeing the girls and even helped them with Nyahs drawings!

We then headed onto the mother and father in laws for brunch with Mel, V and Al. It was good to catch up with them all and again Ciara and Nyah had been spoilt with lots of presents, in particular Dora. We even had time to have a competiton between the boys on the rowing machine which was fun. We then left there and last minute decided to stop off at Monk Fryston for tea. Me and Nikki love it there and we are made to feel like its our second home when we go. We sat in the bar area by ourselves and had tea while me and Nyah played hide and seek behind the curtains.

On Sunday we headed up to Filey for the day. we met my mum, dad and sister up. We went to a lovely little modern coffee shop for tea and teacakes then a lovely long walk down to the beach. As we were walking down to the beach we could hear a helicopter but couldnt see it. Then between the trees I saw it hovering over the sea. As quick as I could I got my camera and ran to get a view of the helicopter. Just when I got the chopper in view it tilted forward and flew away. 10 minutes earlier and I would have had a great picture of the helicopter hovering over the lifeboat which had just come back to shore. I still managed to get quite a few of the lifeboat and their crew bringing their vessell back into the yard.

Visiting the coast wouldnt be the same if you didnt have fish and chips so we went to Browns and had the best britain has to offer, wonderful.

What a fantastic xmas i have had spending it with my girls and family. Its how xmas should be. Only 363 days left til santa visits again................