A couple of weeks

It's been a couple of weeks since we updated the blog so there's a bit to let you know about but really we've had a quiet couple of weeks.

Annalie acquired some free tickets to a PGA Golf Tournament taking place locally. She didn't have chance to go because she was travelling, but Ian took advantage and headed down there with some guys from work. Despite having tickets with additional hospitality, the others didn't so he didn't manage to take full advantage of the benefits.

The tickets provided great access to the golf, coming within close range of the players. He's not sure if he's picked up any tips though! There were plenty of freebies on offer but Ian, being his usual cheeky self, managed to come away with more than he should have! T-shirts, ball markers and free food vouchers, he came back with pockets loaded, much to the disgust of the others!

Annalie headed off to Berlin again for some meetings. On her way through, she stopped off in the UK for a day and a night to see some of the old footy girls. She arrived at Heathrow at silly o'clock in the morning so took advantage of the BA arrivals lounge and had a shower, some proper breakfast (not airline rubbish!) and a nice foot massage She still got to Somerset's before 7am though!

Som is blooming with about three months to go until motherhood beckons. Rach and Sarah's boys are growing up fast and didn't manage to put Som off that much - although it's a bit late now! Despite having no sleep on the flight over, Annalie managed to stay up all day, even through the most boring match of the Euros when Spain and Italy met in the semis. How she didn't fall asleep half way through she still doesn't know!

Upon arrival in Berlin, Annalie decided to head out on a mission to find Wii Fit. We've looked for it all over in the UK and it's sold out everywhere. We couldn't really buy it in the US as it's the wrong format for our Wii, so she took advantage of being in Europe to find one in the right format. Lo and behold, in the first store she visited there was a mountain of the things! So she swiftly nabbed one and then proceeded to struggle to fit all her packing around it!

Ian has started his PADI diving qualification at a local dive school. So far he's only done the first of three weeks, where he spends Monday nights in the classroom and Wednesday nights in the pool. There are four open water dives to do as well, but he's not quite sure when they will happen. There's plenty of time over the summer at least.

He's also been making the most of his house husband status by getting out and helping some of the other Rolls-Royce wives with jobs that their worker hubbies don't have the time (or motivation!) to do. He's helped out with a tip run for a family moving out. He's also been pricing up a big DIY job for someone else. They've asked if he wants to plasterboard their basement, a job that he'd like to do but is a bit daunting as the basement isn't small! When he went back to them with a quote for the materials and how long he thought it would take him, the job started to get bigger as he discussed it with Marc. There are new walls to build and possibly a suspended ceiling, so what started out as a potential 2 week job has now drifted out to maybe 4-6 weeks. It would keep him occupied though!

Despite all this, Ian is now legally allowed to work as his work permit arrived about a month earlier than we expected. Having said that, we're travelling back to the UK for 11 days in July, then Annalie's parents are over for two weeks, then Ian's parents are over for another two weeks, so there's not much point in him starting work until the middle of September. But if Ian gets the DIY job from Marc and Mandy, he can always employ the dads for help

When Annalie got home, we hooked up the Wii Fit to try it out. It doesn't replace the gym exactly but it certainly is a useful tool. It seemed to weigh us a little on the light side, but who's complaining! Ian's first attempts at yoga somehow nominated him as a yoga master but Annalie anihilated him on balance which is bizarre seeing as she's constantly tripping over her own feet!

Think that's all for now. Tonight we're heading out to a Glastonbury town event where loads of local restaurants are putting up stalls in the street and there will be live music and a cash-less casino, so it should be a fun night. Marc and Mandy are going and no doubt several of the other IAE folks will be around. Main Street gets shut off and there's a real party atmosphere. The temperature is in the high 80s so it should be a lovely evening, providing the threatened thunderstorms stay away.

We've been trying to upload some more pictures from around the area but they're too big and won't post unless we find some software to compress the size a little anyway.