Dear Friends,
I hope this email finds you and your family well. We are all doing fine and ready for Christmas and the end of year celebrations. 2008 has not treated us too badly. The children are all happy in school and making good progress. Micaela is now in year 8 – her 2nd year of high school. She is now a seasoned high-schooler who understand well what is and isn’t cool – a new mobile phone which can double up as a mirror when not in use is cool; helping out in the house or being seen with your parents in public are definitely not!. She does produce good school reports – some work must get done in all those hours spent in front of the computer screen watching videos in Youtube.
Luke gives us none of that. He is now in Year 3 – a Junior, no less! He is enjoying school in a big way, and showing real enthusiasm for piano and guitar. He continues to play football for a local kids team – Unsworth FC (Under 8s – Monday training, Saturday games). Plus Beavers (now Cubs) on Wednesdays, swimming on Fridays. He has good friends locally, his reading has really taken off this year and his teacher describes him as ‘a lovely boy’. Which he is… most of the time. He does have a bit of a temper and, being the middle child, has on occasion to battle on two fronts – big sister and little sister.
Monica, who was a little shy when she started school last year, has really got into it this year – she joined Rainbows a couple of months ago (and guess what: it’s on Weds nights!) and does swimming once a week (on Weds afternoon). She is still what you’d expect of a five year old, and brightens the house with her world of play and imagination (or put in another way, the house is full of her toys which we never quite get to tidy out completely).
When we are not ferrying children to their activities or seeing to their every need, Cheryl and I are still working for the same employers – Manchester City Libraries and the British Council, respectively. In February we took the kids to London – just for the day, to do the London Eye, visit the (disappointing) Tutankhamun exhibition and take Luke to Pudding Lane as he was doing the Great Fire of London at school at the time.
In May I did the Coast to Coast bike ride with a friend. Three days, 140 miles and many, many hours of cycling pleasure. We liked it so much we are doing it again next year – but this time with a larger group. I did pester some of you to sponsor me in support of a charity (Supporting Kids in Peru – SKIP). Thank you for your contribution – I’m afraid I may be coming back for more.
That same month we fulfilled one of Cheryl’s long held ambitions: to go camping in a tipi! We went to Cledan Valley (http://www.cledanvalleytipi.co.uk/) – deep in the heart of Wales. If you ever want a holiday that mixes the close-to-nature experience of camping with the comforts of… a youth hostel, then Cledan Valley Tipis is for you. You arrive to a ready tent, fully furnished and equipped. They give you logs for fire (essential!), gas for the cooker, ice for the ice box, etc. It was a magical experience, star-lit nights deep in a remote valley, filled with the sweet bleating of thousands of sheep and the tapping of rain drops against the tipi canvas. One tip: the fire in the middle of the tipi must be a roaring one if you want the smoke to be carried up to the ‘chimney’. A timid fire will instead fill the whole tipi with smoke.
In June we went to Edinburgh to meet up with my sister Cecilia. Long story: she, who lives in Northern Sweden, was attending a workshop in Elgin (North Scotland). It would have taken her too long to trek down to Manchester (9 hours by train) so we decided we’d meet up in Edinburgh – we stayed in an excellent Youth Hostel, and enjoyed the sights of this beautiful city. One tip: book your Castle tour online, in advance.
July saw us board a plane to Barcelona – or, more precisely, to the town of Montgat where my sister Carla lives. We stayed with them for two hot and sunny weeks, a beach 10’ walk away. We are forever grateful for my sister’s patient hospitality as we took over their lives for the duration. We avoided theme parks and big attractions this time – instead, went for beach towns other than Montgat (used pepecar.com and rented a Vauxhall Astra for the first week), the Montserrat Sanctuary and Diagonal Mar – Barcelona’s shopper’s paradise.
The rest of the year has just flown by – very busy but with nothing remarkable to comment. We don’t yet have any defined plans for next year (except for my bike ride) but we do have every intention of seeing friends and getting around a bit. I hope this will mean our paths will cross. In the meantime, happy Christmas to you and your family, and our best wishes for 2009.
Cheryl, Jorge, Micaela, Luke & Monica
I hope this email finds you and your family well. We are all doing fine and ready for Christmas and the end of year celebrations. 2008 has not treated us too badly. The children are all happy in school and making good progress. Micaela is now in year 8 – her 2nd year of high school. She is now a seasoned high-schooler who understand well what is and isn’t cool – a new mobile phone which can double up as a mirror when not in use is cool; helping out in the house or being seen with your parents in public are definitely not!. She does produce good school reports – some work must get done in all those hours spent in front of the computer screen watching videos in Youtube.
Luke gives us none of that. He is now in Year 3 – a Junior, no less! He is enjoying school in a big way, and showing real enthusiasm for piano and guitar. He continues to play football for a local kids team – Unsworth FC (Under 8s – Monday training, Saturday games). Plus Beavers (now Cubs) on Wednesdays, swimming on Fridays. He has good friends locally, his reading has really taken off this year and his teacher describes him as ‘a lovely boy’. Which he is… most of the time. He does have a bit of a temper and, being the middle child, has on occasion to battle on two fronts – big sister and little sister.
Monica, who was a little shy when she started school last year, has really got into it this year – she joined Rainbows a couple of months ago (and guess what: it’s on Weds nights!) and does swimming once a week (on Weds afternoon). She is still what you’d expect of a five year old, and brightens the house with her world of play and imagination (or put in another way, the house is full of her toys which we never quite get to tidy out completely).
When we are not ferrying children to their activities or seeing to their every need, Cheryl and I are still working for the same employers – Manchester City Libraries and the British Council, respectively. In February we took the kids to London – just for the day, to do the London Eye, visit the (disappointing) Tutankhamun exhibition and take Luke to Pudding Lane as he was doing the Great Fire of London at school at the time.
In May I did the Coast to Coast bike ride with a friend. Three days, 140 miles and many, many hours of cycling pleasure. We liked it so much we are doing it again next year – but this time with a larger group. I did pester some of you to sponsor me in support of a charity (Supporting Kids in Peru – SKIP). Thank you for your contribution – I’m afraid I may be coming back for more.
That same month we fulfilled one of Cheryl’s long held ambitions: to go camping in a tipi! We went to Cledan Valley (http://www.cledanvalleytipi.co.uk/) – deep in the heart of Wales. If you ever want a holiday that mixes the close-to-nature experience of camping with the comforts of… a youth hostel, then Cledan Valley Tipis is for you. You arrive to a ready tent, fully furnished and equipped. They give you logs for fire (essential!), gas for the cooker, ice for the ice box, etc. It was a magical experience, star-lit nights deep in a remote valley, filled with the sweet bleating of thousands of sheep and the tapping of rain drops against the tipi canvas. One tip: the fire in the middle of the tipi must be a roaring one if you want the smoke to be carried up to the ‘chimney’. A timid fire will instead fill the whole tipi with smoke.
In June we went to Edinburgh to meet up with my sister Cecilia. Long story: she, who lives in Northern Sweden, was attending a workshop in Elgin (North Scotland). It would have taken her too long to trek down to Manchester (9 hours by train) so we decided we’d meet up in Edinburgh – we stayed in an excellent Youth Hostel, and enjoyed the sights of this beautiful city. One tip: book your Castle tour online, in advance.
July saw us board a plane to Barcelona – or, more precisely, to the town of Montgat where my sister Carla lives. We stayed with them for two hot and sunny weeks, a beach 10’ walk away. We are forever grateful for my sister’s patient hospitality as we took over their lives for the duration. We avoided theme parks and big attractions this time – instead, went for beach towns other than Montgat (used pepecar.com and rented a Vauxhall Astra for the first week), the Montserrat Sanctuary and Diagonal Mar – Barcelona’s shopper’s paradise.
The rest of the year has just flown by – very busy but with nothing remarkable to comment. We don’t yet have any defined plans for next year (except for my bike ride) but we do have every intention of seeing friends and getting around a bit. I hope this will mean our paths will cross. In the meantime, happy Christmas to you and your family, and our best wishes for 2009.
Cheryl, Jorge, Micaela, Luke & Monica
PS. As always, plenty of photos of us in http://www.flickr.com/photos/cocosolis/
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