Not quite the horse whisperer This heron was more friendly! Into the jungle! Cute!

It's been about four or five years since I last visited the street I grew up on. Our local park My primary school My secondary school

Evacuees in the "Battle of Britain" Mum doing her bit gardening for Britain Inside a Sunderland Aaron helping the bombardier

Church where Shakespeare is buried Inside the church Some interesting carvings on the seats at the top end of the church Shakespeare's birthplace Aaron's not very impressed at subway next to Shakespeare's birthplace! Beautiful poppies!

Gorgeous blue sky... ...but the water's still freezing! Rose made me swim! Aaron whoosed out! Barri Island funfair

 St Fagans is an amazing open air museum in Wales. We added another Welsh castle to our list...although we didn't think this was a very castly castle. As well as exploring the buildings there's a chance to explore nature too.

Be very afraid! Amphitheater Aaron flying at the amphitheater! Aaron won the Roman quiz against me! We also saw some interesting sculptures. Luckily this Welsh dragon doesn't bite!

We want to say a huge thank-you to all our wonderful friends around the world! Whilst in the UK one weekend Aaron and I hopped on a coach to London and I gathered my friends for our annual visit. Thanks so much all of you for traveling into London at such short notice. Cheers to the Cambridge gang (Nicci, Sarah, Alice and Andy) and to Sarah and John who came for a lovely pub lunch and a great afternoon in a sunny park! (Yes Aaron, it is sometimes sunny in the UK! - though I apparently forgot to take any photos.) Thanks to the Bushey Meads crew (Amy, Kevin, Tracy, Alex, Lucy and Eleana) and to Kat and Gareth for joining us for a great pizza, followed by a pub drink (to avoid the drizzle)! We also appreciated Tracy and Andy being such wonderful hosts. Look at my swollen left arm!  Thank you so much everybody! (weep-weep) Now that my Oscar winning speech is over… thought I’d just let you know I got some antibiotics for that bee-sting which had got infected and no amputation

7-June-2011 ‘Tis better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all.’ From Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem In Memoriam:27, 1850 “Is this typical of a Welsh funeral?” Aaron inquired, as we approached the church and saw a crocodile walking up the path.  Just over two weeks ago I was woken from a deep sleep by a strange ringing sound. It took a while to sink in that the noise wasn’t a dream, but was my phone in the next-door room. My heart started pounding…calls in the middle of the night do not usually bode well. It was my mum. My hands shook as I held the phone. We didn’t say much. My throat choked up and it was hard to speak. I couldn’t believe that Nat is gone. It was like an awful nightmare. Even as the sun drew up over the horizon and Aaron and I sat at our laptop booking flights back to the UK, I continued to wonder when I was going to wake-up. While we packed-up our things I wanted to call my mum back and tell her there must be some mistake. It was strange that eve