101 - 104

The girlies stocked up on a few English type sweeties on holiday - just not got the selection here :(

It was getting late and my photo not taken.  Got Charlotte to hold an angle poise lamp directed at Natties face and job done :)

Lovely day here today, so we decided we ought to start to get the pool ready for summer.  This winter I decided to turn the water and pump off and just leave it.  You'll be pleased to know that with the huge dose of chlorine that was chucked in today I have managed to eliminate 1,000's of would be mosquitos ;)

I had two willing helpers as you can see and I think I might just have problems with one of them this summer.

And yes, Maxi (the white one) did manage to fall in later :D

Sunday brought another sunny day and we continued with our pool cleaning - this is a very bad picture, but just as I started to get lined up, it started raining - those huge great drops - so it was a quick snap and back into the house.  But, the pool is getting there.

Day 97 - Day 100

After not very much sleep, we flew back to Spain, where it was gloriously warm :)  A quick trip to the supermarket to buy supplies for eating a quick lunch

Luckily the girls were also off school on the Monday - we had some serious sleeping to catch up on.  Worked in the evening, and was lucky enough to catch the Recogida de las Reinas, for the last day of Fiestas in La Murada

I stepped out of the front door this evening and found this under one of the bushes in the garden!!!

So cute and so tiny - I'm trying everyone I know to see if I can find a home for her, but for the minute it looks like she's still here.  Still not got a name - so she's not a permenant fixture yet.

On to Wednesday and that's 100 days of taking a photo everyday completed.  I ws hoping for a splendid sunset - never got one so had to boost it artificially in photoshop!!!

Easter in the UK Day 96 - Woburn Abbey

So, Saturday brought our last whole day in the UK - the sun came out and we went to Woburn Abbey Safari Park.  Somehow we missed the entrance to The Big Cats and ended up driving through the monkey enclosure.

There were big monkeys 

Baby monkeys

And naughty monkeys!!!

I also spotted a black squirrel - which I've never seen before

We stopped for lunch and went down to the walky round bit, where we saw Wallabies with babies in their pouches - although this one looks like it should be being charged dig money, it's so big!!

Into the Squirrel Monkey enclosure - seriously cute, if somewhat smelly.

And now she has her iPhone back and is not freezing cold, a smiley Charlotte!!

Freerange marmosets - again seriously cute, but smelly and probably bitey too.  Nattie was enamoured and is pleading her case for having one.

A couple of elephants

And back into the car for the dangerous animals again.  

A number of lumbering Rhino, who did actually break into a bit of a gallop once we had passed them

A black bear - had to be taken with the window up as the rangers were very close.  Doing what bears do best in the sunshine - just about nothing.

There were lots of other animals too, giraffes, zebras, sea lions, rhea, tigers, lions, otters, tortoise, lemur and more.  A very nice way to pass our last day in the UK.

Easter in the UK - Days 94 and 95

So, on Thursday somebody had to go to Whipsnade again to collect the handed in iPhone.  The girlies voluntered to go to the pictures and do some more shopping!!

On the way back we passed through Stoney Stratford where I took this shot of The Old George and had coffee and cakes in Costas.

Friday was still fairly overcast although the sun did come out now and again.  And we spent the afternoon at Bletchley Park.  The house and gardens were quite splendid, although I'm sure it will all be a lot prettier come the summer.

It was very interesting to learn all about The Enigma machine that decoded the Germans messages through the war.  I could totally understand how the Germans coded the messages in the first place - but how the machine worked to decode them was very difficult to get my head around.  It would appear that a lot of it was down to good luck and chance.

Hot Chocolate and cakes was also consumed - they just don't do cake in Spain like they do in the UK.

The girlies were delighted to find a proper re telephone box for posing purposes too.

Easter in the UK day 93 - We hit London

**Post very heavy on Pictures**

You have been warned

On the Wednesday we caught the train up to London for the day.  According to the weather reports it should have been a sunny and warm today - it was bloody freezing.  First stop was Buckingham Palace to see Changing the Guard.

Then we walked down through St James Park towards the Embankment.  There was a brief stop to change my nice warm Ugg boots for Charlotte's Converse's - but at least it helped prevent some of the whinging.

Past Horse Guards Parade - no beach volley ball today ;)

A very brief stop in Trafalgar Square and straight into a McDonalds for a very welcome Hot cup of coffee and a Burger - it would appear that many other people had this idea too, fortunately we found a table though.

Suitably warmed up, we continued our march down towards Westminster and Big Ben - girls were really excited and wanted their photo taken many times with this.

We crossed over Westminster Bridge, as you can see not only was it cold, it was also blowing a bit of a hooley!!!

Once on the other side, I actually had my photo taken.

Then we went to get our tickets for the London Dungeeons and the Eye.  There was a short 4d film to  watch before hand, which was actually rather good.

Then we joined the queue for the dungeons.  Still freezing cold and oh my god, about an hour and a half's wait to get inside.  We amused ourselves taking photos.  

I tried to take a few photos inside the dungeon, but with flash not allowed, they weren't particularly successful.  From here we went on to the eye, fortunately the queue for this had died down a bit and we were soon aboard our capsule.

The view was superb, however it was soon evident just how murky it was outside and this is definitely something to try again on a clearer day.  I also found the reflections in the viewing glass quite tricky to shoot around too.

 Upon dismounting the Eye, we proceeded to cross the Thames again on the Waterloo bridge, I think it would've made a better photo if we'd used the bridge in between though.  As you can see, still blowing a gale and freezing cold.

We walked up to Convent Garden, where there was a lot of street theatre going on and had a very welcome if expensive mug of Hot Chocolate.

From here, we jumped onto the Tube.

And travelled to Picadilly Circus.

Which really wasn't quite as "lighty" as I remembered it, but as I had no tripod, it didn't really matter.

And that was it, tube back to Euston and end of day in London.  A very tiring day.

Easter in the UK - Day 92 - Whipsnade

On the Tuesday we ventured up to Whipsnade Zoo where luckily the sun came out, so did the bears to my delight as, having never seen them before, I was beginning to disbelieve in their very existence.  And very playful they were too.

Managed to catch the talk and feeding time with the chimps, there's always one who's not paying attention!

I was very surprised at how much the cheatah cubs had grown, they're almost as tall as their mum now, but still have their baby fluff.  I was very pleased to catch 5 or them with mum and all of their eyes open.  The other was outside the cage coughing up hair balls - not so cute.

There's a new tiger on display at Whipsnade too - very handsome and obliging.  He was up at the very top of his cage chowing down on a chicken - so no need to shoot through fences.

The girlies of course had to do this...

The Red Panda - as cute as usual, but not a very good shot - not sure what happened here?!

Charlotte now feeling the cold and grumpy as the wind whipped across the Chiltern's and she mourned the loss of her iphone.

Inside for a warm up in the Discovery Centre and the beautiful colour of this snake - not a clue what sort - just quite pretty!!

So, a very pleasant day was had by all, compounded by the fact that on our return somebody had found Charlotte's iphone and handed it in for collection.  Nice to know there are some decent people around.