Once again the year started in New Quay on a wild stormy night which somewhat put the dampers on the evening fireworks, though not the festivities.
Once again, Sam has been busy on the sports field, making the 1st XV at school. The team had an excellent run in the Vase Competition of the Daily Mail Cup (making them one of the best, worst teams in the country as one of the team pointed out!). The team eventually narrowly lost in the semi-finals to St Columbus College 18-12, having been level with 10 minutes to go, thus depriving them of the opportunity to play in a final at Twickenham.
Having not booked to go skiing, the excellent snow reports prompted us to
make a last minute
booking to a self catering chalet in Tignes. As we had enough
room, Sam's girlfriend Helen came too!
Helen discovers she has to stay a whole week!
Angharad's birthday fell during the week and we had a little party in the apartment for her.
Click picture for more shots
Matilda has been busy training at gymnastics all year and has been making great progress. She trains 6 hours per week plus daily conditioning at home. She also has regular trips to Birmingham University where there are better facilities for the more dangerous elements of the sport!
In February, Nina who had been with us for 9 months left to go back to France. We enjoyed meeting her family again and hopefully will go and visit them in Deauville in September for a film festival.
After a short gap, we have now been joined by Beate who is Austrian. She is a keen artist and the children's output of arts and crafts has notably increased already. She also made a lovely jewelry box plus home made bracelets and a necklace for Matilda's birthday.
As Angharad was on holiday for her birthday, we took her friends out to see Jesus Christ Superstar in Leamington in April. A good time was had by all and we had a noisy un-birthday party in the local Pizza Hut.
Matilda's birthday treat with Grandma and Grandpa
June was marked by Sam taking his GCSEs, which seemed to cause Ali and Nick more stress than Sam! Sam then disappeared off the planet for 2 weeks before re-appearing for the run in to his Australia Tour with the School. Ali, nick Sam and Angharad left for Bangkok on the Saturday, leaving Sam with Beate to be dropped off with the Rapley's prior to departure the following day.
Thailand, Australia and Hong Kong July - August 2004.
Sam was on rugby tour with the school 1st XV after the summer exams. The rest of the family decided to go and follow the tour, together with stop-overs in Thailand and Hong Kong making for an epic trip! Highlights included Tuk Tuk rides in Bangkok, whale watching in Brisbane, climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge, sailing in the Whitsundays and best of all diving on the barrier reef. The rugby tour was a great success - the !st XV won 3 lost 2 (but one to an older side) and performed well in all games.
Back in the UK, its been business as usual with Nick and Ali busy at work. 
Beate
returned home in August after having a holiday with her family before leaving -
her brother Stefan stayed with us for a while in New Quay. Our new au pair is
called Ann and she's French, which is proving to be very helpful with Sam's
studies.
We've been visited by her father, mother and sisters during the autumn which has been great fun but which does stretch our French language skills a bit. Also a bit daunting was Ann's father telling us over the first course a
Evening out in Warwick with Ann, her sister, Helena and Ophilie
On the academic front Sam starred in his GCSE's with 8A* and 2 grade A results. He's now moved up to the Sixth Form and looks very grown up in his new suit. He's now studying French, Spanish, Japanese, Maths and Economics for his AS levels and enjoying it very much!
Another highlight was the news that Lisa, Sam's nanny from London had had her first child with her partner David. Lisa David and Maureen came to visit us in November together with their new Sam. We all had a great evening admiring Sam and reminiscing in general. Another blast from the Hackney past was Nick helping Carey and Guy with a revival of a play called Little Victories. This had previously been staged in 1993, to critical acclaim. The play is about a girl with cancer and is aimed at children. Nick helped Carey with a grant application to the Wellcome Foundation to help promote awareness about cancer related issues in children.