Birthday!!!

Isabel made it to Arthur's first birthday!!! She was delighted to open some presents quietly with him in the morning and then rest up a bit - with her brother Owen - until party time at 3pm. She was able to stay for the whole party and loved meeting everyone though we were all a bit tired by the end of the day. Arthur looked immense in his new outfit - love the bow tie - and got soooo many lovely presents, (and amazingly no repeats!).

More pictures HERE

Italy

Over half term, Isabel and I went to my parents' house in Italy, near Cortona, for 4 days. We had a lovely, relaxing time - although a certain little man managed to catch a cold which meant we didn't sleep so well! On the first night, we were really treated to some home-made pizzas, fired in the pizza oven built into the centre of the house. My 3-cloves-of-garlic beast was my favourite, although some spectacular combinations were created! On the Monday, we went to Montepulciano - a place Isabel had been to before - to visit the presentation of the new Nobile wines. This was basically a show where all the vineyards in the region could offer their new nobile for tasting. An ingenious invention is a pouch to wear around one's neck to carry a wineglass, enabling one to make notes on each wine. However, I was driving so I could only sample one Nobile! We then had lunch in Cafe Poliziano just down the main street - delicious pasta and pate! Tuesday was a gorgeous day, where we spent the morning in the sun on the patio - beer at 12 - and then the afternoon, in my case, sleeping off the drunkenness!!! Fortunately, Arthur was content sleeping and watching Mary Poppins - so I wasn't disturbed too much! On Wednesday, we went to Assisi to have lunch and look around the church. Unfortunately, this is when Isabel started to feel sick and so we didn't appreciate the amazing Basilica as we maybe should. Driving back was difficult, given first of all the thick fog in the mountains, and then the relentless rain all the way up the A1!!! However, we made it - I can't say I was too happy to say goodbye to our nice Alpha Romeo upgraded car - but it was good to get home again. All slept well on Thursday night!!!! Pictures are HERE!!