Two Days in Dorset

 We've just had a lovely two days away from home. On Tuesday we drove to Lyme Regis, not too far away from us but somewhere I've never been, as far as I know. It's a pretty little village with narrow twisting roads and lots lovely touristy/arty shops. The weather was fantastic for February. We had pasties and chips sat on the beach and enjoyed the sunshine.

Then we went for a walk out to the end of the harbour wall and took lots of photos of the sea. On the way back we sat by the sandy beach and had ice creams. Willow was unimpressed by the fact that she was not allowed off her lead to run around on the beach. 

A short drive down the coast took us to Charmouth, where our B&B was. We parked up and walked down to that beach where Willow could run around as much as she liked, although she wasn't too fond of all the pebbles. We didn't have any hammers or other such devices but we had a good go and cracking open some pebbles. We didn't find any fossils.

 On Wednesday another short drive took us to West Bay - where they film Broadchurch. The weather wasn't so nice and it wasn't as packed as I was expecting it to be, but there were still plenty of people around. We walked all the way along from one end of the cliffs to the other then back again before heading off for hot chocolate in the nearest café. We also managed to spot the house that is David Tennant's home in the series. It's another pretty little village, but probably nicer in the summer.

 Willow had fun on this beach too, she spent a lot of time trying to get us to play ball with the pebbles, woofing at them and pushing them along with her paws. I tried hard to pretend she wasn't with me!

Lambing

I've just spent the last two mornings on a local farm watching the lambing. It was all very exciting. We weren't guaranteed any lambing for the hour we were there, of course, but in the end we saw lots. Our very first lamb was one that was coming out head first instead of head and feet first, so the farmer had to push it back in and rearrange it. Then we saw births that were more straight forwards. All the lambs were very cute and look - I even got one to smile for the camera!

Christmas Preparations

 Our tree was decorated last Thursday. This year it was Ellie's turn to put the fairy on the top. I finished present shopping at the weekend and the food shopping on Sunday.

So today all that was left to do was a quick clean of the house, and then out on our traditional Christmas Eve walk. This year we walked around the countryside surrounding Combe Martin. Here are the girls on the downhill part of the walk, still with great views of the village in the background. We all looked less happy on the uphill bit which was a very long way! My legs are still aching. After we'd worked up an appetite we went to Pizza Hut for tea. It meant I had no cooking and washing up to do - ideal.

Tapathon in aid of Children In Need

Hidden behind all the pretty young things at the front you may spot me - doing my tap dancing thing this weekend in aid of Children In Need. I took part in the Tapathon world record attempt for getting the most amount of tap dancers dancing at the same time. People all over the UK were doing the same routine at exactly the same time. We danced to 'Happy' by Pharrell Williams - twice! Seven whole minutes of tap dancing. It was very exhausting. And it will be several weeks before we know if we've got the world record. Fingers crossed. Although the money raised for charity is obviously the important thing.

And in other news...

 Ellie celebrated her 14th birthday this month. We had chocolate cake (of course) and she went to Pizza Hut with her friends. Then she had Kia over for a sleepover and they spent hours and hours watching 'Supernatural'.

 She got her certificate for the Grade 2 Guitar Exam she did in the summer: a Distinction, with 97 marks out of 100.

And she played in a concert with the Vida Quartet. We couldn't really see her from where we were sitting so I nicked this photo from the NDGE website. Ellie's the one with the blonde ponytail in the bottom left!

Iceland

 We've just come back from our quick visit to Iceland. Had a great time. We did the typical touristy things. On Sunday morning we wandered around Reykjavik in and out of the shops and up to the Hallgrimskirkja church. Then in the afternoon caught the coach to The Blue Lagoon. It was lovely in the water. It was lovely floating around in the geothermal waters. The temperature was bath-like, although salty. I put some of the silica mud on my face, so did Ellie and Carl, but Caitlin decided she didn't want to! I could have stayed in there forever, but my fingers were getting a bit wrinkly.

Then in the evening we got back on a coach which took us out into the middle of nowhere to watch for the Northern Lights. We waited for hours in the cold and the dark but didn't really see anything. Fortunately they left the coach open so we could get out of the cold a bit. There was a brief lightening around a cloud which our guide said was the Lights, but not really visible to the human eye. Carl's camera picked it up. 

 Then when we'd given up and were driving back again the Lights appeared and were fantastic - a proper green ribbon of lights all wiggling around. We got off the coach when it could stop and watched for a bit before they disappeared again. Then just as we hit Reykjavik they appeared for a third time and we all got out to marvel. These are Carl's photos. He's not very happy with them cos they are a bit blurry, but its hard to get good photos of the Northern Lights.

 On Monday we hired a car and went out to explore the Golden Circle. There are three main sites to see, the geyser at Geysir which explodes hot water into the air every five-ish minutes, the waterfall at Gullfoss, quite spectacular and very pretty. And Pingvellir.

Pingvellir is where the American and Eurasian tectonic plates meet, hence the big wall of rock behind us. We had lovely weather for most of the time we were there and a few flakes of snow falling on Monday afternoon, which was also lovely. I like a nice bit of snow.

Las Vegas

 Our last stop of the holiday was Las Vegas. We did one night here in the RV before heading out to Arizona and Utah, and the two nights before we flew home. Vegas is mad - its a bit like Ilfracombe on speed. The whole place is geared for making money. On our first night we visited the Strip and saw the volcano at The Mirage and the fountains at The Bellagio. We wandered around the inside of the Venetian for what seemed like hours. I asked if anyone wanted a ride on a gondola but no one did.

Then we had two more days. We found the sign almost by accident when we were taking our rental car back to the airport.



 Carl had his birthday present. Shooting three different types of guns. He decided he liked the machine gun best. Caitlin and Ellie had a go. Their arms ached afterwards.

 Carlie's Angels!

 We stayed in the Luxor. I liked that. The rooms were nice and the rest of the hotel too. It's weird cos its hollow inside and from the 13th floor you can look all the way down to the bottom. And the lifts go diagonally. We did a show on the last night - The Blue Man Group - that was fun, and Caitlin's NUS card got us in for half price.

And the first night we went to Dick's Last Resort for dinner. It is hilarious. The staff are rude and sarcastic, in a funny non-threatening sort of way, and they sneak up on you and put silly hats on you which say rude things. There's one in Orlando. We might have to go there too.

So that's my month in America done. I want to do it again!!!