4 Years today....

Today was our 4th Wedding anniversary, our first spent in the UK which was nice... This evening we went out for a great curry with Laura's sister Lucy and her husband Al - we had the banquet deal which was 4 courses for a tenner - bargain!!! Was actually very nice too... Go the English curry!

4 Years on... Still happy and in love :-)

The 4 of us at 'Spice Club'

Lucy & Al

A lot of fun in the bath!!!

A spot of DIY...

There has been much DIY going on in the Powell house, and Gracie has been doing her bit to help!

Gracie & Grandma redoing the table mosaic ...

Andy pulling up the bridge to make way for a new deck

A cool picture... I thought!

Taken by Ed at Leigh Abbey...

Fun for Gracie & Lois

Since coming home, Gracie has had the chance to get to know Lois, who is Tom & Esther's little girl. Laura and Esther are a week apart in age and have known each other since the very beginning so it's really lovely to see Gracie and Lois having fun together also. On Monday we took them to a fantastic indoor play area in Bridgwater, and the girls LOVED it... come to think of it, so did I!

Laura and Esther at the indoor play area

Gracie showing Lois she loves her!

I think they look like trouble!

Ah, the old rugby tackle; learn it young!

Updated Grand Canyon Video

There was some problems with the earlier video from the Grand Canyon... I've uploaded it again here!

A trip to Croxley Green

This week we've been up in Croxley Green staying with my parents, visiting London, and catching up with the K-S/M-F side of the family. On route to Croxley, we stopped off in Aldbourne, Wiltshire for Laura to see where I spent some of my former years (We moved away from there to Chorleywood when I was 11).

On Thursday we braved London with Gracie for the day, and in the evening to watch mum perform Rachmaninov's Liturgy of St John Chrysostom at St Paul's Knightsbridge; She sings with the BBC Singers, and this was an absolutely beautiful concert recorded for BBC radio 3, although not sure when it's being played. It was a real privilege to hear her singing so wonderfully.

The weekend was taken over by family gatherings, Big Brother, Croxley Revels (apparently it's over 200 years old)and sport (in no order) and we had fun the whole way! We met Matt(Amy's boy friend) for the first time, and James (Julia's boy friend, who we haven't seen since our wedding!). We also saw all the aunts and uncles which was great fun... Enough babble though, here are some photos.

Aldbourne... A trip down memory lane!

Gracie and 'Angel'

Laura on the underground

Laura, Gracie, Matt & Amy at 'Croxley Revels'

And me...

Amy and Gracie on the tea cups

Gracie in a fire engine

A family gathering

Laura, Steffi & Gracie in Clapham

Lunch out in London

A spot of charity shopping... lovely dress!

Gracie's new wellies!

Laura's Birthday

On Friday it was Laura's 28th birthday... yes she is older than me by a month! We had a small bbq for her at Laura's parents house which was really lovely... Laura is now mrs domestic, as she got a dustbug and a sewing machine! All we need now is a house to use them in!!! Gracie got given a gorgeous fairy costume and a bubble machine which has been a total hit!

Steffi, Laura & Lucy

Me and GracieGracie the fairy godmotherLaura's birthday cake

Gracie and her bubbles

Laura's parents back garden

We're back... The conclusive update!

Well the travels are over; we've left New Zealand, had several weeks in USA and are now living back in the UK. For the moment, we are living with Laura's parents in Somerset while I look for a new job... I'm officially 'Job Seeking' for the benefit of HMRC which is fun in a strange way!

At present, there seem to be a number of Worship Pastor posts opening up around the UK, and we're pushing doors, making contacts, and seeing which ones will open. On the whole, we're feeling really positive about being in the UK - we had initially left NZ thinking that we might end up in Oklahoma, but that hasn't materialized and we're good with that...

Our furniture and all our possessions arrive from New Zealand in the second week in July, so we're rather hoping that by then we'll have an idea of where we'll be living and working so that it can all be delivered to us there... We're really looking forward to making home again as we've been without all our stuff for quite some time now.

Over the next couple of weeks we're heading around the country catching up with people and 'Job Seeking'... we hope to see you on our travels :-)

Family Holiday in Devon

We returned on Thursday from a couple of days away with Laura's family. We had a great time staying at the beach chalet at Lee Abbey - it was wonderfully relaxing and the sea views were just bliss... it really did remind us of New Zealand, although the sea was a LOT colder!

The family around the dinner table (minus Steffi & Laura)

Laura, Gracie, Drew & Grandma

Our accommodation

Uncle Ted (or Ed)

Uncle Tom

Uncle Tom jumping the fire (was a lot more dramatic in real life)

Pure 100% cheese!

Grandma watching the sun go down

Arty bonfire shot!!!

The grandchildren enjoying ice creams in Lynmouth

A fun timelapse video of us watching the sun set on the beach! The video includes sport, fire, food, nudity and violence... can you spot it all?

Bristol & Cheltenham

Once we'd got over our jetlag, we decided to take a trip up to Cheltenham to stay with Ed, and to see Rosie, Pete, Matilda, Harry & Annabel and; On the way we spent the day with Rich, Kath & Amélie in Bristol... They were over in the UK for some weddings but now they're back in NZ ;-(

Gracie on the look out for R,K&A

Gracie & Amelie in an adorable children's shop

Laura, Gracie & Amélie at Clifton Suspension Bridge

Gracie & Amelie on the swings

Matilda doing some drawing

Gracie and her newest cousin Annabel

Paul and Annabel

Gracie and Harry up to mischief together

Gracie in her makeshift ball pool at uncle Ted's house!

Back in Bridgwater...

Well we arrived back to the UK to absolutely miserable weather... we came down to Bridgwater where Laura's parents live, and the weather has improved which is great. Here are a couple of photos from our first week in the UK...

Gracie sat in a field of Bluebells in the Quantocks

Laura and our nephew Drew

Our nephew and niece Daniel & Kate

Gracie eating her first ever Penguin bar... yes she enjoyed it!

Gracie dressed up for her friend Lois's 1st birthday party