And so we start a new chapter

We entered new territory on 23rd November 2016, with the birth of our daughter, Olive. Welcome!!

Babymoon

With only a few weeks to go until our little bundle of joy arrives, we headed for a last minute holiday to Tenerife, our last holiday as a twosome! We stayed in the quieter North West corner, in a lovely hotel up in the hills:

We spent most of the time chilling, starting each day with a lazy brunch in the hotel restaurant, grazing on their selection of bakery and deli foods. Normally I find European breakfasts can be hit and miss, but not here!

We did have a few day trips as there was a good bus network. We went to the neighbouring town and took a dip in a natural swimming pool (no photos!). Another day we went up further into the mountains and enjoyed the spectacular views and rock formations:

We also spent time just relaxing in the local town, eating some tasty food and having afternoon cuppas in the local square.

All set now for holidays with three....

Outdoor jobs

We've been doing some outside jobs, first the front lawn:

Then Pete painted the stone circle:

Then we re-felted the summerhouse roof and painted it inside and out:

And repainted the fence:

Orange!

Ghana/LA

Selina used some of her extra leave to visit family friends in Ghana....

As soon as Selina booked flights to Ghana, my friend from Uni, Gav invited us to his wedding to Jen in LA. So after Selina had a couple of nights back home, we both headed to California for wedding celebrations. Many congrats Gave & Jen:

We enjoyed wandering around the different areas of LA, Venice Beach was lovely, we particularly liked the nearby canal:

My favourite day trip was Universal Studios. I've always wanted to go:

Looking round the different themed areas was fun (Simpsons, Shrek, Jurassic Park - although ride was shut! Boo! Transformers, Minions), but my favourite bit was the tour, going round film sets and then special effects bits (Psycho, Jaws, King Kong). The live action Waterworld was also good:

We were in town for the Oscars. We had a fun night in a bar a few doors down from the famous TCL Cinema where the event was actually happening. The streets were all locked down, so no celebs spotted!

Another real highlight was going to an LA Clippers basketball game. The bits in timeouts were mental, freebies being fired into the crowd and people trying to win jeeps! You can just about make out Beyoncé and J-Zee in the front row:

Gav also took us on a road trip to San Diego for a couple of days, going round some Microbreweries and getting up close and personal with some seals:

Thanks Gav and Jen for looking after us so nicely!