Happy New Year for 2007

We hope you have a good one - wherever you are!!

Christmas, Shane Warne, India and family!!

You might be wondering just what the hell is going on here. To ease your interest I have taken the liberty of using my time ,while on holiday, to put together a real rant! Whilst I type England are busy making some sort of a fight on day 2 of the fourth test. Warnie will return later in this blog.

Christmas was a huge surprise for Tayla. She had mistakenly left out a plate of tasty biscuits and one beer (only one!!) below the chimney for Father Christmas and duly found it all consumed. She knew something was afoot but could not quite work it out..

She sure found out when she heard a knock on the front door and opened it to find her present (see pic below). It is slightly too big for her and at this stage too intimidating so she enjoys pushing it and playing with the bell.
We followed the present opening session with an "expat" tradition on the island. Champers and salmon sandwiches on Elbow beach. We were probably to the first to arrive thanks to our daughter and this proved to be a good thing. By 11 o'clock there were about 1000 people on the beach. If the government ever wanted to get rid of the foreigners this would be the place to do it. It was fantastically festive with people dressing up and enjoying the hot weather.

Tayla did her usual......took her clothes off and headed for the sea. She must have learnt this from her mother or possibly some other dangerous Rhodent.
After the session of bubbly on the beach we headed for Christmas lunch at the Southampton Princess Hotel. We decided that without help from Thandi or Nellie....cleaning up was not an option; so a stylish eat-as-much-as-you-can (if this can be stylish) feast was a brainwave....not mine, but Nicki's. Yes, you might reflect on this being slightly unusual but it was the chocolate fountain that sold it for her. Needless to say Tayla enjoyed it....

The day ended with an uncharacteristic afternoon sleep...I cannot remember one since Tayla was born, but then again I am never prone to exaggeration.

I did manage to get some focus after the lengthy day to watch the first day of the Fourth Ashes test and if I digress slightly to say goodbye to one Shane Warne then so be it - as a South African supporter he has probably tormented me more often than I care to remember. I can still feel Daryll Cullinan's pain as though it was yesterday - and for him it probably is. I will be glad to see his back shortly, but not before he dishes out further psychological damage on the Poms.

Today we spent much of the time with Carol containing an overexcited daughter. A trip to St George ended with a heavy thunderstorm and a brief stop at the Fort.

Tayla did get a chance to drive our car and then fell fast asleep on the way home - much to our relief!

Carol is with us until the 2nd January and with the odd game of golf booked it is pretty much down to getting things ready for the new year.

Onto cricket.... Bren was telling me that Kingers (Greg King) is smarting after the Indians performence in the first test - and rightfully so. After watching part the first day at Kingsmead and using this blog as the Carr family does, I am going to enter the prediction stakes with a punt at a 1-1 drawn series. I am not able to see us take 40 wickets in the two remaining tests to ensure the series win. Unless, of course, Bobby Skinstad has signed for the Proteas and not the Sharks (I would like to get both Hewletts take on this?). With this in mind, I did for a moment imagine Cavers captaining Border in the 2007 Currie Cup, Ryan Hewlett putting his flag up to ensure a Selborne win next year, Brendan Horan opening the bowling for the Gauteng Lions/Cubs....just pinched myself....still can't believe that comebacks like this are possible. Surely Adam Huckle still has a chance? Time will tell!

Talking about time. I am going to have mine cut out next year. Bath University must have made some sort of administrative error in accepting me for a Masters in Education Management. The bonus of this course is that there are no exams, so I fancy myself in taking the shortest route possible. However, it does feel quite refreshing to have a student number again and get an invite to freshers week. How many of you can say that....

I see Symonds is getting things going for the Aussies...till next time.

Merry Christmas to all our friends!!

We hope you have a blessed and relaxing day.

With all our love.

Christmas with the Fossils

Last Friday we were invited to attend Tayla's Christmas concert at school. I took the day off work and Dave got off school. Some of the older Moms said that we should not sit in the front row and the kids get upset, so we sat in the 2nd row.

Tayla was led in by the teachers and sat down. She promptly put both her fingers in both her nostrils. After sitting like that for 2 minutes, she spotted us and then burst into floods of tears. She recovered towards the end and managed to sit for the Happy Birthday to Jesus bit. We were told it will get better next year. The photo is next to her best friends, Matthew and Edward (twins) who she loves.

We have had a great time in the last week with Di flying in on Saturday and Mom on Sunday after a very long flight around the world - this place is a hard to get to from SA. Fossil Snr managed to get a coach from Heathrow to Gatwick all on her own, which is very good! Monday and Tuesday were beautiful days so we headed down to the beach - just the girls. Miss T is loving all the attention, and gets quite excited about it all. It is much more exciting having people other than Mom and Dad around.

Dave broke up from school on Tuesday too after a fiercely fought football game against the boys (which they wone 3-2). He is still stiff! We've been around town and to see the dolphins and just generally seeing Bermuda. I have been at work the last 2 days, and I think we have a half day today, so I'll be heading home soon.

Tayla now completely understands the concept of presents and Christmas, and sings Happy Birthday to Jesus all the time which is lovely to watch. She has been quite feisty of late, but I am putting it down to a molar coming out and all the Christmas excitement. It does take it out of you.

Pete and Jean had a little girl, Michelle, yesterday in the UK. She was a tiny thing at 4.11kgs - ha ha! We wish them all the best.

Dave scores a hat trick

Dave is making his presence felt on the hockey front!

http://www.theroyalgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061213/SPORT/112130226

Bermuda Boat Parade

Christmas is not a small thing in Bermuda. You can definitely feel the North American influence here and the houses are being decorated and people are pulling out all the stops. Part of the Bermuda celebrations are the Christmas Parade down the main streets, and then the Boat Parade. There are various categories that people can compete in and they do a circuit around the main areas. As you can imagine, Miss Tayla loved it, and she waved at all the Father Christmas's as they went past (I am not too sure how to explain that one!).

It is downhill to Christmas now and most of my shopping is done (it helps when there are only 4 of us for Xmas!). I hosted a lunch for all the Finance folk at work here today. Dave had a hockey game and scored 3 goals (and also got sent off!), so they won their game 3-2.

Tayla has had a bit of a cold and I seem to have caught it, but I am hoping that we have nipped it in the bud early enough.

Not much news other than that, Xmas parties have happened, and I managed to win a travel voucher for $750 - what a bonus.