Thank you Gran & Opa!

Today, this ace fox T-shirt arrived through the post from Gran & Opa. It is great and Kezia is delighted with it; she wore it all evening. Thanks Gran & Opa!

Ace new spotty coat!

Kezia's orangey-red coat is now more like the size of a bolero on her, so yesterday she & Mummy chose this ace new one from Tesco's - it is brilliant (and very spotty!)

Just for my friend Stuart who wanted more footy photos from my trip, here are 3 taken just before the Levski match that we went to...

...and 3 more taken at CSKA's Army Stadium in the central Borisova Gradina Park

Last weekend was the 10th annual 'Rubbish Footy' foreign jaunt for my friend Steve and me, and this year we went to....

Sofia - warm weather, friendly place, fun football match and plenty of touristy things to see. It was great.

Off to the footy....

We went to watch Levski v Slavia on Saturday evening. Levski won 3-0, but Slavia were a truly terrible side, so I am surprised it wasn't more. It was great fun and it brings us to 10 years of our annual footy trips. Only another 43 UEFA nations to visit and we will have the full set!

Three of our favourite tourist sights; firstly the Banya Bashi Mosque...

We went inside. I thought it was lovely; very cool and quiet compared to the heat and hustle & bustle of the street outside.

...then the St. Nikolai Russian Church

This church was tiny inside, and we could barely fit in because of the squad of little old ladies armed with feather dusters who were cleaning it when we arrived. Great roof!

and thirdly the Aleksandar Nevski Memorial Church

This place dominated the part of town it was in, and the terrific gold domes were visible from all over the city, but it was surprisingly small inside, and very dark and gloomy!

Terrific view of Mount Vitosha from our hotel

Steve and I had read about Mt. Vitosha in the guidebook and both imagined it to be some sort of gentle hill just south of the city. It was MASSIVE, and we had a great view of it from our window.

and finally....

....the Tranmere fans amongst you will know about the current 'Les Aid' fundraising venture (which has this very day helped pay for signing Joss Labadie on loan). I was proud to spread the word to the Bulgarian populace, though it is just possible that they didn't have a clue what my T-shirt meant!

A Grand Day Out

Yesterday, we went down to Bournemouth for a big family day out. It was ace.

Time for lunch

After a first quick visit to the beach, it was time for lunch. James & Kezia both plumped for the sausage & chips! They both really liked it, despite the unsure looks on their faces here!

Wave!

After lunch, the Greens & Peacocks went to the aquarium, but we'd been there twice in the last two years, so we went for a ride on the merry-go-round, which Kezia loved, and then went for a walk along the pier.

On the pier

Kezia was excited to see Iggle Piggle, but we are also going through a slightly exaggerated 'Cheeeeeeeeese!' phase when posing for photos!

Now, where's the sea gone? It was here a minute ago....

Hmm, what can I see from here?

Mummy explained that if you got in a boat and sailed across the sea, you would reach France.

"Can we go now?" enquired Kezia!

Out of season

The helter-skelter at the end of the pier was all shuttered-up, but Kezia & I climbed the steps and got a great view from the top. Thanks to Joe & Dan's blog for the 'pointing' picture. We pinched it because we liked it so much.

My two girls at the end of the pier

Time to get working on some sandcastles

Oi! Don't squash my sandcastle!

Splat!

Bekah seemed to enjoy sitting on her bucket much more than making sandcastles with it!

Joe & Sarah, all smiles at the end of a lovely day

Let's Bounce!

We went for lunch at Sheeplands Garden Centre today (it is on the way to Maidenhead) along with Katie & Diego. They have a great play area. Kezia loves bouncy castles and wasted no time at all in having a go. We all had great fun.

Four last photos from our trip - taken by Opa

Peepo!

Cuddles with Gran.

Gran had got this ace little desk for Kezia to use to do colouring and drawing. Kezia could keep all her colours, paints and paper inside.

The Tour of the North

We just got back from 9 days away visiting family in Yorkshire & County Durham. We had a great time and it was lovely to see everyone. We have a few more photos that Ron took still to add, and we will post them soon, but here are plenty to be going on with.

Play it again Kezia!

Wow - hasn't she grown? We love these two photos - the first was taken in May 2008, when Kezia was 6 months old, and the second one was taken on this visit. Wonderful.

Snowy weather!

For some reason, it just didn't occur to us at all that there might be snow in Yorkshire. We got quite a surprise when we woke up the first morning to find everything had turned white.

Some more snowy scenes

Chilling out with Gran & Opa