A day at home ...

We have had a very long day today. The girls and I went shopping this morning to get the supplies. This afternoon we have set up camp, started a fire, searched for logs and generally had a good time. Well, some of us had a few moments but all is well tonight!!! The boys also spent the morning raking grass from the ponies field.

The children have started to think about things very seriously today. They have decided that to test the wind direction you have to throw some glass in the air. When 'cramping' you have to set up the 'sex man' tent in the 'porn' field and when Peter gets wet he is 'trenched'!!!!!!! I will let you decide who said what!!!!! The children have had a real good home cooked meal this evening on the camp fire, including the traditional snails!!! Hollie sort of liked them, Harry thought they were ok and Adam decided that it was a definite no!!! Kirsty ate them so that they didnt get wasted, Peter ate tons and Josh did not even let them near his plate!!!!

Anyway a few photos for those not here ......

Pointe du Hoc and Omaha Beach

Today we went to Pointe du Hoc . This is where most of the allied ships landed and went to find the germans , but i feel sorry for the germans because the bunkers were small and cramped. They all have to sit in the bunker and do nothing until the allied ships land and begin to make their trek to where it was safe. We climbed into all of the bunkers and craters which were made while the english and american air forces were bombing. We went in the gun turrets and the anti - aircraft turrets. After we had lunch we spent the afternoon on Omaha Beach. On Omaha Beach we found lots of hermit crabs. All of us had a brilliant time.

by the most brilliant adam.

Day Something, Maybe Two and All is Well

The zoo was terrorised by six children and three adults today!!!!!!!! Great fun was had by all.

So far the children are having a brilliant time doing everything that they shouldn't!!!! The washing is piling up by the hour!!! Apparently your clothes always get wet when you

go in the stream!!

Happy Birthday Grandand!!

Happy Birthday Grandand. We have done lots of work today!!!!! We have sorted the rocks in the stream and ......... Oh well, maybe we have not done that much, but we have ridden ponies, played in the stream, got very wet, ridden our bikes, played with the animals, played softball, sung lots of songs, visited the neighbours............

We send all of our love and hope that you are having a great birthday Grandand. Be prepared for the 11th when the fun really starts!!!!!!!!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was a bad day .......

For those of you who have not yet laughed at my bad luck here is the saga of yesterday .....

Whilst finishing a lovely breakfast of real eggs on toast we heard a lot of noise coming from the chicken pen. The two puppies were found under a hedge checking out a chicken that had been badly attacked. After removing them and finding a box to put it in temporarily I had to put the poor bird out of its misery. I will never look at the axe in the same way again. Needless to say I was a tad upset. Meanwhile I took a phonecall from M Le Baron to say that Sasha had visited him in the church, played with Reuky and then chased his chickens. He had not seen the chickens since and we did not know if they were alive or dead. After apologising profusely and telling him that I would get new ones if there was a problem I sped back home!!!!

As if that was not enough, after taking Irene back to the ferry port, I thought I would have five minutes peace and let the puppies have a run. They decided to head straight to the chicken pen where they had spotted that two chickens were out again. Zorro came back when I called him but Saphira decided to chase them and managed to kill another one. I think it died of fright rather than a wound though!!!!! It was twice the size of her!!!!

The good news is, we still had six eggs today so at least we still have some layers!!!!!

Andrew arrives back on Saturday with my babies!!!! I am so excited. We have also got Keith, Sue and Emma coming for the weekend so it is going to be busy, busy. I cant wait!!!

Loads of love and hugs xxx

My Beautiful Boys!!!!

What a Week!!

Well, what can I say, Grandma Irene has just had her nipple pierced. Not in the conventional way though, Zorro kindly helped!!! She now has the mark of Zorro!!! I should say that he was only playing and it is not terminal. I will probably be in huge trouble for telling everyone as well!!!

We had a lovely coffee morning yesterday at Terry and Sues. Sue introduced us to white port, I dont think we have been the same since. I am pleased to say that we have found it in the local supermarket so we will be able to sleep well tonight!!!! We also found some Creme de Mure so there is no hope of any more work for the rest of the week.

Yesterday afternoon we decided to remove the ivy on the first gite!! Irene was not very kind to me though, she found it highly amusing when after pulling rather hard on a large section, I flew backwards across the field, landing in a pile and narrowly missing Sasha!!! The worse thing was I only ended up with a three inch piece of ivy in my hand!!

We also saw our second snake on our walk to Terry and Sues. Kirsty only flattened it a little when she rode her bike over it!! Josh informed us that it was probably a grass snake and it was perfectly safe!! I am glad we have a Gerald Durrell in the family!!

For those of you who dont know we also had some very sad news this week. One of the female puppies, Sharna, who only left a week ago died last weekend. Although she had been vaccinated already the vet told them that she had parvo virus. I am still at a loss as to how or where she got it from. One of those things I am sure but very sad.

I have also been SPANCing while Andrew has been away. We have now completed all of the paperwork for the new septic tank, hooray!!!! Now all we have to do is wait for the go ahead!!

Kirsty has also been bird watching!! She was most upset though when the bird that she was watching pooed on her bed!!!!!

Love to all and speak soon. xxx

Your Wish Is My Command!!!

After a two week holiday with Grandma Nett and Tom and the arrival of two new goats we now have Grandma Irene for a whole week. Our first day has been spent visiting a shopping centre in Caen!!! The satnav took us the long way but we saw some wonderful scenery!!! We are going to have a coffee morning tomorrow and then we may consider starting some hard work in the afternoon!!! Well, maybe!!!

Love to all xxxx

Just for Grandand!!!!

I am very sorry that I forgot to put a picture of Kirsty on the other day, how remiss!!!!! Thought you might like one of Peter too at lunch today.

Puppies All Gone!!

The day has come, we finally have two puppies left. Now the real work starts making sure they are fully house trained. Thankfully they sleep most of the day, a trip around the boundary wears them out!!

My mum and Tom have now been here a week. They have cleaned, weeded, cleaned and weeded some more. We visited the Mediaeval Festival last Sunday at Bayeux. Kirsty thoroughly enjoyed all of the costumes and the parades. Josh decided that as he had been last year he had seen it all already, so he stayed at home to work!! For anyone that has not been to the Festival before the whole of Bayeux town is transformed and there are hundreds of old market sellers. You can watch them work in wood and stone as well.

We have come to the conclusion that we must be fairly lucky. The rain only started this week after we had put all of the hay into the hay loft (Kayes new house!!) The weather is typically Normand at the moment, according to our neighbours. Monsieur and Madame Le Baron spent at least an hour with us this afternoon and told us that we had made them very welcome. It was lovely to see them. Monsieur Le Baron brought us a hob that they do not use at the moment as he gathered from our conversation this morning that the only cooking we do is on the woodburner. He decided that as the log man is not coming until September it would be useful. He is very generous. We gave him some eggs in return, a small donation but very welcome. They have invited us for dinner one evening in winter. Apparently he makes some very good crepes with a little bit of alcohol!!!

Real Farmers!!!

It is official, we have made our first money on the farm!!! After a hard two weeks without Andrew here he returned to our first farm project. A local farmer had already been and cut the fields and turned the hay twice!! On Monday he visited Andrew to find out what size bales we would like. Andrews French is definitely improving as he handled the conversation so well that we have got the small bales that we needed!!! By Monday evening we had 250 bales of hay and our new friends, the Vautiers, had 60 large round ones for themselves. After stacking the bales in the evening they returned on Tuesday morning to help collect them up and load them into the hay loft (or Kayes house!!!) The kids have thoroughly enjoyed the whole event, they were able to help Thierry in the tractor when he was baling. Andrew was most unimpressed that he did not get a go too!!!

The children have nearly finished school for this year. Their last day is Thursday. It has also been confirmed that next year there is no school on Saturdays!! They are so pleased. Their school reports have been excellent again, their French is improving every day as well. It wont be long until they put us all to shame with their language skills. Even Peter knows more French than most!!

Anyway, take care and enjoy the new photos.

xxx