Update
Posted by Janet.
Last Saturday we went to Lucy’s wedding reception. It started with a drinks reception at 3.30pm and then a buffet dinner from about 6pm. Lucy is a friend from school so Adrian was able to meet all the people I talk about and finally put faces to names. The weather was absolutely perfect, so the outside venue for the drinks reception worked really well. I was able to wear a nice summery dress and standing in the sun I actually got quite hot, believe it or not! The evening went well with nice food, and a bit of dancing.
On the Sunday we decided to do something physical, so we drove to The Lookout at Bracknell which is basically a forest where they’ve put in walking and cycling tracks, as well as ropes courses and a huge kids playground. We hired some bikes and went riding around for a couple of hours. Luckily ‘getting back on a bike’ is like they say and quite problem free. It took me a while to sort out my gears, but then I was ok. The main thing I noticed was how unfit I am 
At church that night we were talking to some people about baking and what were our favourites. We have an unwritten rule at homegroup that no one bakes, you just buy biscuits to share. When Laura and Phill were new to the group Laura brought some baking with her when it was her turn to do biscuits Since then we have been joking about it, so Adrian and I decided we would bake our favourite – mars bar slice. The recipe from Aunty Maria said to melt dark cooking chocolate for the topping, but I think next time we will just use normal cooking chocolate. Everyone liked them though, and like at Leeton, they were very addictive 
That of course got us onto the topic of family gatherings, which lead to Christmas, which lead to apricot balls. On Friday afternoon we made some apricot balls and took them and the leftover mars bar slice to Hilary and Andy’s place. The weather had been so nice all week that we decided to have a BBQ at their place. Unfortunately the weather turned bad again on Friday so we still had a BBQ, but just ate inside. Hilary was very impressed with our baking, and we had a great night with them. When we first got there Hilary said she would have to go and collect Oli from swimming training. I said I would go for a drive and she said I could, but he was at Sandhurst Royal Military Academy and they don’t let you in without a security pass, so I’d have to just stand at the gatehouse. For those of you who don’t know, Sandhurst is where Winston Churchill and more recently Prince William trained. In the end we decided to all go for a drive. At the gate, they checked the badge on the car, checked Hilary and Andy’s badges, asked if they had dogs (not sure why) and then let us through – so no, they didn’t have dogs, just 2 Aussies in the back!! Sandhurst is like a mini town basically, and we thought it was quite cool that we got to go in.
On Saturday we went into Notting Hill to have lunch with Andrew (CEO of Adrian’s company), his wife Melinda, and Kristen from the Australian office. Again, because of the nice weather during the week Andrew suggested we meet in Kensington Gardens and go for a wander. It did stop raining so we walked through part of the gardens, then down through the portobello markets and found a nice cafe for lunch. They do all sorts of wraps, sandwiches, crepes, cakes etc. Adrian and I both had a jacket potato coz we wanted something hot, and a caramel hot chocolate which was awesome. On the walk back to the tube station I walked past Mona from The Apprentice, which some of you will find interesting and others of you won’t care, lol.
We took advantage of the crappy weather and had a snooze in the afternoon, and then went to one of the pubs on the A4 that we’ve been to a couple of times now, but we know it’s good. Today is just a lazy day – washing, phone calls home, groceries, church, The Apprentice final and then bed …. that’s the plan anyway.
Hope you are all well. We haven’t heard from some of you for ages, so feel free to send us an e-mail updating us on your news. Lots of love xoxo
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