Daniel has a school project where (amoungst other things) he has to write about sun dials - we went up to St Michael's in Lilleshall to check out the one there - it has the rail timetable below it on a copper plaque.

Christmas in Somerset was very nice - see the boys unwrapping presents and our Christmas meal - the last few were shot on my new PDA - Dan likes doing the panoramic pictures.

Our Christmas round robin newsletter is here.

Daniel and Sarah have been making a Motte and Bailey castle for a school project. After a false start involving paper mache that quickly started to smell it all turned out well.

More fireworks! at the Lord Mayor's Show - we went with our friends Cathy and Simon (and their little girl Edith) and enjoyed hanging out on the north bank of the Thames.

See our pictures from Mark and Belinda's firework party.

Click here to see our visit to the National Gallery - Sarah was particularly keen to see the Cézanne exhibit. We also saw the folks in the climate change demonstration so the kids not only got to see some our greatest art treasures but also democracy in action!

Visit to Telford and Wroxeter

Sarah and the boys went to visit Phil's folks and then on for a visit to the Roman excavations.

Flaming arrows in Cambridge!
We went to visit Kevin, Lucy and their boys and Kevin had the idea of attaching sparklers to the end of arrows and fire them over the River Cam - the boys enjoyed it and it looked pretty good in the twilight.

Pictures of Phil's Mum and Dad (Rosemary and Brian) in their local paper.

Bob and Brenda on Brenda's birthday.

Here are a couple of pictures taken on our sofa over the last few of days - the first are our three boys - James, Dan and Joe, all playing Super Mario Sunshine! and the second is our church group - Rowan and Sophie (who are off travelling around Canada for the rest of the year, Nina (who is about to move to Wales, Victoria (who is going to work in Tanzania), Sarah, Johanne, Susanne, Angela, and Phil.

We got a piano - and here is a picture of Sarah and I transporting it from Nina's house to ours - those things are heavy!
I've now got to get the guy who tunes them to come in - a hundred yards on a sack-trolley knocks the thing out of tune.

Our Holiday in Cornwall

• 15th August - We arrived and then went to Truro.


• 16th August - BT's Earthstation at Goonhilly.


• 17th August - A visit to the Seal Sanctuary.


• 18th August - Our first visit to Godrevy.


• 19th August - on the beach at Portreath.


• 20th August - The Eden Project


• 21st August - Back to Godrevy with our new dingy!


• 22nd August - a day at Bedruthan and then the National Lobster hatchery in Padstow.


• 23rd August - we climbed St Agnes beacon.


• 24th August - Our final visit to Godrevy.

Dan's photography course

This is a scan of a real, honest-to-goodness analogue photo that Daniel developed today - taken by one of other youngsters on the week-long course he is currently doing.

GNC camp - Sarah and the boys stayed the whole week, but Phil had to return to London for work. Yet another outing for the big tent.

Kim and Ali's wedding was (by all accounts) a lovely affair - Sarah took these pictures and she has caught some really nice ones of the children there - our Daniel is looking smart (unusual!) and with his firends Jordan and Amelia they make a nice group.

R.I.P. Fuji FinePix

This was our first digital camera - it hasn't been the same since it got wet in the River Cam last autumn. It has served us so well - since the end of 2001 we've taken more than five-thousand pictures and although it was only a 2 megapixel it had a great lense. I rarely print pictures, prefering to share them with friends and family on the web and so I down-res everything - anyhow, we've just bought a little Olympus FE100 on eBay and Sarah will be taking pictures of Ali & Kim's wedding with it.

Dan's last day at St John's.
He's been there since he was four - end of year six and he'll be going to secondary school after summer.

Although Dan's birthday isn't 'till next month he finishes primary school this week and so wanted to take his class mates to Quasar for a pre-birthday party. Here are the pics.

Joe and his friends Matthew (aka Vlad the Impaler) and Luke (the terrorist) went to a fancy dress party at his friend's Tiara's house (fourteenth birthday) - Joe is the mad scientist.
Oh - you can see James in our doorway - he put on his army helmet for the occasion!

Joe playing in the East Barnet Festival (he's on the left)



Sarah took these photos of Joe's school jazz group playing - in case you can't tell they are doing their own arrangement of Herbie Hancock's Watermelon man - more like the one off "Head Hunters" rather than "Takin' Off".

Joe got his new glasses - very handsome!

Phil was ill so Sarah stepped in and took the children to our annual summer camp at Carroty Wood.

Our good friend Felicity took some photos at Carotty Wood as well.

It's half term and we're all off! We took the kids and went to visit Hampton Court Palace.
There is lots to see and do with actors inhabiting the various areas and doing a really good job of entertaining the crowds. The jester was very funny and we kept bumping into Sir Thomas Moore offering wisdom on many subjects.

The pictures are here.

Dan's Class Photo

Phil & James - trip to the RAF Museum.
We hooked up with our good friends Mark and Belinda and their boys Sam and Louie.

James's class photo

Work visit to Valencia - Phil had a couple of days in Spain. Valencia seems like a lovely city - clean and bright with wide roads and pavements.

We went to Somerset to see Bob and Brenda (Sarah's folks). We went to their church's passover celebration, cycled a bit, taught them a bit about their new PC and walked on the moors.

A walk on Primrose Hill on Saturday afternoon - very nice (pictures from my PDA - not great quality).

Joe and Dan have been playing with a few others from music school - Joe sings "Louie Louie" with Dan on keys and then Dan sings "Dreaming Of You" (the Coral tune) with Joe on Sax.

You know you're getting on when your boy turns thirteen! Joe's birthday was accompanied by a very nice thing from Phil's Mum - adoption of a couple of barn owls at the World Owl Trust. The two birds below are called Sparky and Tythe.

James's Birthday - as a treat he Sarah took him and some little friends to see Paddington Bear's stage show - they saw Michael Bond in the audience!

Dan was in a photo booth and this is the picture of Joe we sent at people at Christmas - handsome boys!