Slowboat Party 2013

 The annual keep fit party was once again a great success. Thankyou to the SLOWBOAT for looking after us so well. The food was lovely. I think everyone must have eaten plenty because after the Heads and Tails and Ode, the dancefloor was full. All night. You could be mistaken for thinking it was a posh workout (well you know what we're like) because there was an awful lot of dancing.....and the next day we all had the feet  to prove it. We should have taken our trainers. Karen sensibly wore her flatties so she could dance all night.

Anyway, I gave my official photographers the night off so they could enjoy themselves...I'm sure there are loads more photos out there somewhere...

Secondborn with his Mum

Lastborn and Firstborn

Nem, Nic and Ian

Ange

Cheryl

NannaJulie and PartyOrganiser

Ange, Kay, Cheryl, Nicky

KayLollipop,  Littl'Jane,  EvertonSue/TallSue/SueK

Shani, Sherrie, Suzie

Audra and Chrissie-with-child (doesn't pregnancy suit her?!)

What a great turnout!  Petra rearranged her flight back home to Germany to join us, Karen brought 7 friends, Becky had a table of spinners, there were several from the gym. "Well done!!"s went to Gill for running the World's highest marathon in Switzerland, Sian for climbing the Great Wall of China and raising over £12,000 for Clatterbridge, and Clare for finishing her book. Cheers went out to Kay 60th and Sherrie 50th and Julie for recently becoming a Granny- a glamorous one at that, and a woopwoop to Chrissie and her developing baby. It was a great night and I had a lot of lovely messages to say how much people had enjoyed it.  Thanks for yet another year everyone... long live our knees.... =)

Kay's 60th (Carvery and Afternoon Tea at the Grosvenor)

 Not only was it Liddy's 60th in November, it was also Kay's ...so I got busy with the wood burner again and burned her a star board because she is addicted to keep fit and nothing will ever stop her coming (??!)
                                                                    (Ali's little joke)

Then a selected few of us went for a carvery to celebrate. 

There is never a dull moment when Cheryl's around...

she was on great form as usual.

l-r  aliholli, Claire, Dale, KayStar, KayLollipop, Cheryl, StevetheBus, Littl'Jane

Of course there was a CANDLE... it just wasn't on a cake (She ordered the SUNDAE!!! EEEK! WHAAAT?!)

(Kay NEVER orders sundae, she ALWAYS orders the bottomless jug of custard)

Then last week, just before Christmas, the celebrations continued in the form of a very splendid 

Afternoon Tea

 at Chester's 5 star hotel

THE CHESTER GROSVENOR

and oh my word we ate in style.

It was all Christmassy. :)

As you can see, Kay had already been Christmas shopping but I was yet to start mine, as, for the last few weeks I had been one of Santa's Elves in my cold attic sewing Christmas stockings for everyone else's children and new babies. Anyway I was hungry.

Strawberries and cream? Champagne? What was going on??

We weren't expecting this!!

Apparently a mystery "somebody" knew we were going for tea that afternoon and had sent us these extras...

Aaawwwww it was the lovely Magda!

so she joined us for 20 mins.

And then it arrived!

No wonder it is called Gentleman's Tea. 

All this with chunky chips. 

Not your delicate-crusts-cut-off-ladylike-finger sandwiches then? (yippee)

The waiter seemed to think we would have trouble eating all this but he had no idea that we were keep fit fanatics (remember-Kay is addicted) with big appetites and we had no problem WHATSOEVER polishing it off...the ham was delicious, the beef melted in our mouths and I assume the cheese was delicious - but I had swapped it for the salmon which surely was the better option, have you SEEN how much salmon was on each slice.... wooo.

It was very civilised, extremely relaxing, and a real treat.

LOVELY.

Baked Potato Party 2013

Best Baked Potato Party EVER! Every aqua class should have one. 

Antlers on heads, Santa hats getting wet, sparkly, twinkly earrings that fall off and mistletoe going soggy.... 

and then all into the cafe for a baked potato. Wonderful fun.

39 potatoes in all. So I took the last one home for tea. 

Malcolm did the whole class with these on his head and miraculously managed to keep them dry. No excuse not to put them back on again after his shower then. This was before the sparkly bow tie.

How could I not notice, Barbara! Wait till I have one of my own.

I've never seen anyone have so much fun trying to take a photo with an iPhone. Betty somehow took 12 of Malcolm and I with just one click. It was just a very long click.

I had to make a MALE cracker- Malcolm's was a flashing bowtie. Fetching, don't you agree?

This is a fabulous photo. Tall Margaret... with Charlotte who fetched us all some milk, thus redeeming herself from talking all through class. And the lovely lovely Frances. (The others are lovely too!)

Oh and these are lovely lovely ladies too.

Sheila became a granny just the day before but still managed to join us, Val filled a carrier bag with loose change for me to treat myself with (THANKYOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!) Jude, Frannniiieeeee and Val just never stop smiling. Fun, happy, wonderful ladies.

Norma provided the coin for me to toss in our HEADS and TAILS game and then promptly WON BOTH GAMES! As you can imagine there were chants of "FIX!"  "FIX!" Wotahoot.

AAAaaaahhh Pat and Anne.

Janet made some melt-in-my-mouth-mince-pies.

A jug of hot custard would have made them even more perfect!

Super fun.

A big thankyou to everyone at Northgate who fed us, but also to the ladies/men who make Tuesdays so much fun, week in week out, whether the water is cold or just freezing, whether the CD jumps or does its own thing and whether there is or there isn't enough water to go round. 

BEST BAKED POTATO PARTY EVER!

The Millpool, Coventry, for LiddyMoo's 60th :)

These family reunions are always great occasions. We have a good catch up with each other and exchange Christmas presents. (And sometimes if we are organised enough - presents for birthdays in January and February) But I was busy making stockings and pictures for the new additions to our family.

For baby Freya's first Christmas.

For Nat's Felix's bedroom wall.

If Mataio keeps this up he can colour name pictures when he  is older.

He is SO Ivor. He is even left-handed.

Artist at work

Aah Diddy.

 (He was very kind. He picked up the Cubba from Coventry station) (Thankyou)

Nem with her Auntie Linda.

We talked traffic lights and hamburger roundabouts with Beka's Lee.

(He wasn't responsible for either)

Lani let me play with her dollies (She is a mini-JoyceyGeoff!)

Matt is looking surprisingly happy, having just told me his son wants a Chelsea shirt.

(OUTRAGE!!!!! Not Coventry City???? Poor parenting!!!!)

My new great-neice (?) is the most beautiful, placid, happy baby EVER. 

Freya, now 3 months old, didn't make a sound and was passed around so everyone could have a cuddle. 

Well done Ross and Hayley! Good baby-making.

My favourite son and my favourite neice

...and my favourite daughters...

...with their favourite Bet with cheeks-like-clouds.

More cloud-like than ever. She is adorable.

Unfortunately I ate her dinner. But she ate mine.

Something was obviously very hilarious.

...oh...maybe not...

Freya was perfectly happy in Uncle Ed's arms.

And then Benski surprised us all by being a complete NATURAL when it comes to handling babies.

They even checked the football scores. 

"Look, Freya, Man City are winning 6-1"

Anyway it was soon  time for CAKE!

MOOOOOO CAKE.

...and the ode.

Last night Pixen and I were very kind and sat up in the freezing cold attic sewing a LiddyMoo apron ...

It was a perfect fit! Yippeeeee!

TEAM SMITHYBEAR

TEAM JOLLY HOLLY

My favourite sister and my favourite brother.

COUSINS!

What a brilliant afternoon.

A big thankyou to The Millpool for having us.