| For a change we had New Year at home, enjoying an excellent evening with friends from Warwick School parents. The rest of the month was fairly quiet apart from the usual winter rituals of watching the children doing sporting activities. |  |
| High point was once again skiing, this time in
Chamonix. Sam's girlfriend Helen came with us for the second year running.
Chamonix is a somewhat fragmented resort but undoubtedly has some of the most beautiful skiing available anywhere in the Alps. |
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Sam and Nick had an unforgettable day off piste with a guide, marked by Sam
loosing his ski in a powder field culminating in his being lifted off the
mountain by helicopter. This had the makings of a very expensive piece of
lost kit (helicopter rescue costs >£1000) but fortunately this was
covered on the guide's insurance! The local patisserie once again
excelled in the production of Angharad's birthday cake - a teenager
now.
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| Angharad's football club - Stratford Special Needs FC - played their first match against a team from Birmingham.They were heavily beaten but didn't much mind - all thoroughly enjoying the occasion, the first time many of them had participated in competitive sport. |  |
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Nick and Ali had a trip to Amsterdam together
kids free. The weekend coincided with the Welsh Grand Slam and Amsterdam
on Saturday evening seemed to be flooded with celebrating Welsh rugby
fans.
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April saw a number of major events including Tilly taking part in her first gymnastics competition, her grade 6 exam (blurred pics as no flash photographs allowed during the competition).
She came a creditable 23rd in the Region (8th in the County), passing her grade 6 with a distinction. April also saw the arrival of our new puppy named Henson after the Welsh rugby International to mark the long awaited Welsh win in the 6-Nations contest!
The picture on the left is Angharad with the puppy, Matilda is with her friend Katie in our garden in the other picture. We had a great afternoon out with Angharad's friends for her (late) birthday treat. WE took 10 of them to see the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy followed by an Italian meal.
Nick managed to struggle through the Stratford triathlon on 9th May in the rather unimpressive time of 1h 38min for the course (400m swim, 23km cycle, 10km run), though he did waste rather a lot of time in the transitions (that's my excuse anyway!). Next big event is the Windsor Triathlon in June which is full Olympic distance (1500m swim in the Thames, 40km cycle, 10km run) so hard(ish) training is underway. Sam took part in a selection day at Millhill school for the Welsh Exiles, successfully making his way through from the 90 boys (all of whom play county level rugby in England) who turned up to a selection weekend for the best 30 in July for progression to the Welsh U18 Regional Selection trials in the autumn. Fingers crossed! Probably of greater long-term importance is his upcoming AS Level examinations.
We had an action-packed day out at Drayton Manor Park for Tilly's birthday treat - 7 girls for the day which proved a bit of a handful.
Sophie, Katie, Tilly, Emma, Grace and Emma
June was taken up with Sam sitting AS levels. Reasonably well as it turned out - he got 5 grade A's out of 5. Also Nick did the Windsor Olympic distance triathlon (swim 1500m, bike 40km, run 10 km) in just over 3 hours in 30 degree heat. Not a great time but for a first attempt on a hot day he was pleased to finish and not go home in an ambulance for rehydration as many competitors did!
Family holiday in Minorca - great fortnight of sailing and socialising. Click here for web gallery.
Back to school. Big news of the month was Sam being named 1st XV captain - a big honour which he'd worked hard for. He also made the county side for the 4th consecutive season. Tilly decided to give up gymnastics to allow her to spend more time on other sports like hockey, swimming and netball.
Sam had an epic trip to Cuba, including a visit from hurricane Wilma - see his page for pics.
Highlight of the month was a bonfire party held for the 1st XV squad. We ended up with over 60 people for the evening. Everyone had to bring a firework and we ended up with a display lasting over an hour. Rugby trips included a long distance trip to Sedburgh to play probably the best school side in the country. Warwick turned round 6-5 up but eventually lost due to 3 quick tries after half time before staging a last quarter comeback. The match was played in stunning scenery in the Lake district in front of a crowd of around several hundred.
Another highlight was Nick and Angharad's trip to Cardiff to watch Wales play the Australians. Angharad was very impressed by the atmosphere in Cardiff for a big game and of course Wales won!
The usual busy Christmas period. We ended up going to Northwood for Christmas day then John and Debbie for Boxing Day with Ali's family. New Year's Eve was spent with the Rapley's who organised a great curry evening for both adults and children.
