Well, it was a Christmas day to remember. It all started out okay - although Katya and I felt a little bit under the weather.  But this was nothing compared to what was to come…
Tolii got up early, or more like his normal early time, so that he could see if Santa truly had [...]

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Today was the day to watch Tolii’s winning Christmas Card design be turned into an actual Christmas card!
We met up with the other winner, Alice and her family, at Whitchurch’s John Dollin Printing Services Ltd. where we were greeted by John Young, the general manager.  The school’s headteacher, Sarah Peters, also came along to learn [...]

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We bought £50 worth of cut logs today for our fireplace.  Tolii, Tosha, Katya and I formed a line to pass the pieces from the pile where they were dumped to the storage area beside our shed.  Tosha was a real trouper for counting with Tolii well past 100 as each piece went through his [...]

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This afternoon, and again this evening over dinner with Baba and Granny, Tolii demonstrated his newly developed skill: whistling!
He is either really, really talented at minamalism or he only just knows the one note.
Meanwhile, Tosha demonstrated that he was a devout carnivore.

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Tolii went off to school this morning!  It wasn’t really his first time there, since he went for story time in the spring as a way to get familiar with the place.  However, it was the start of his new “career” in education…
Tolii dressed up in his new school uniform - wow he’s a real [...]

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After 4½ years, it was finally time for Tolii to say “good-bye” to his days at the Oak Tree Nursery today.
Tolii is very excited to be leaving: he starts at Whitchurch Primary School tomorrow!

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Granny has a trick for drying off socks.  Our kids love to run around outside, you see.  Often they just dash out and forget (or not bother to think) to put on shoes.  This Sunday, we were over at Grangela’s house and sure enough out they dashed: they took it in turns to hide a [...]

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Today was the official day of Tosha turning three.  Like Tolii last year, he is going to have a couple weeks’ worth of parties to celebrate. A week or so ago was his official party - moved ahead so his best buddy Josh could attend before he went on holiday.
This afternoon, Tosha went over to [...]

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Been there recently? Then please leave a comment below.

About The Place…
First a bit of family history…Granny was born and raised on the island of Jersey in the Channel Islands.
She survived the German occupation of the island during World War II and then emigrated to Canada. She took part in the 50th anniversary celebration [...]

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I’ve lost track of how many Power Picnics we’ve hosted over at the Millennium Meadow.  I think today was the third.  Sorry, yesterday.  I really must start these blogs entries earlier, lest I fall further behind — forgive me…I was listening to music while sprawled on the sofa with my feet and legs twinging from [...]

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Tolii graduated from the Oak Tree nursery this evening. Friends can see all the graduation photos in our gallery (remember to log in there).
Its off to Whitchurch Primary school for him come mid-September.  In the meantime, he can now coast through the rest of his summer at the nursery….
Tolii’s A-Levels (Attending Lunch, eating voraciously, even [...]

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The town’s Church Fête was held today in its usual spot: the lawn of Lord Denning’s estate, opposite the parish church.
You can have a look at the photos that I took - they’re all in our gallery (you can click on a thumbnail of a picture in the gallery to see a medium sized version; [...]

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Both this morning and evening we went to White Hill, near Kingsclere to walk a part of the Wayfarers’ Walk.  It was a spectacular place for taking photos!
Granny came along for the morning hike up the path heading west from the road. It was quite steep!
Afterwards, we headed over to the nearby National Trust [...]

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Granny celebrated her 73rd birthday today. The boys loved the birthday present that mummy had bought for granny: a pig shaped flower basket. The boys named the pig “Boris” for reasons only known unto themselves. The cats spent a good amount of time investigating it!
Granny took us all out for a wonderfully delicious lunch [...]

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Although the weather has cool down to about 16C, its still fine enough for a trip to a garden on the southern edge of the New Forest: Exbury Gardens and Steam Railway. It was about a 50 minute drive, heading south of Whitchurch. The admission was about £7.50 per adult. Kids under 3 [...]

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