Alphabet Dates - D is for Don't go out!

What a miserable day sunday was! Yucky rain but a perfect excuse to make our 4th alphabet date 'don't go out!" Although we actually did because we decided we should buy a couple of 2 player games, and an extra console for Chris's X-box, which he got for his birthday recently. We braved the dismal (I know, clutching at straws) weather to go into town and visit Game, but rushed back quickly so that we could play.

After much deliberation in the shop we settled on 2 rather different games.  Resident Evil, because we like zombies and we like the films, and the Simpsons Game, for a more lighthearted option!

We also decided to treat ourselves to a healthy Boots meal deal for consumption during the games. (I'm really upset that none of this begins with the letter D)

We started off with The Simpsons which was pretty entertaining, but actually quite difficult for what it is. 

I think we both preferred The Resident Evil game, although it took a while for me to stop cowering behind Chris's character when I heard zombie noises. It turns out that there is a button you can press which makes you just follow the other character, which was useful for me since I was having trouble walking and looking in the right direction at the same time! It was alright until Chris stopped walking, then my character just ran round him in circles which apparently he found to be quite distracting! 

Anyway, I'm getting quite good at killing zombies now, and it has put me properly in the mood for the new series of Walking dead. Woohoo! 

Next time it will be letter E, now that is a tricky one. Any thoughts?

 Laura xXx

Read More

Alphabet Dates - C is for Camping, Crazy Bears and Cocktails!

So, it was meant to be my turn to think of a date idea for the letter C, but it was kind of a group effort. Chris suggested that we go to the Crazy Bear in Stadhampton, and I suggested that we go Camping for a couple of days before! This was our first trip out since Pip had been spruced up, and it's all SO much easier now that everything has it's place.

I've actually made us little wash kits up that we can just leave in the van, so we can get going at a moments notice! And they live in our new 'his n hers' cubby holes!

Since we run our own business we couldn't really stop working for the days that we went away, but as we had electric hook up we were able to work on the laptop and ipad between adventures, it was great!

Anyway, we stayed at Fir Tree Falconry in Banbury. It was gorgeous! Behind our van was a fishing lake (where you can probably catch carp, or cod), and in front was a beautiful view of the countryside. Can you spot Pip in the picture below?  There were other vans, but they were at the top of the hill, so it really felt like we were on our own. On the campsite was also a falconry, and we managed to get a sneaky peak of the birds. One of which was the biggest owl I have ever seen, they were amazing.

The day after we arrived we discovered that the campsite was right next door to the National Herb Centre. I never knew there were so many varieties of each herb! It was really interesting.

After the herb centre our main aim was a day out in Stratford-upon-avon.  So we hopped back in the van, and stuck behind this bus to make us a bit more aerodynamic.

We had a lovely lunch then wandered around the shops. This is the house Shakespeare was born in!

It got cold and we had to put our silly winter hats on.

Then we came across some lovely Shakesperian sculptures, here's Chris hanging out with Lady Macbeth.

And here's good old Shakey himself.

The following day we went to Oxford, as it was en-route to The Crazy Bear. I found a Deli online before we got there which served wheat free bread for Chris!

The Crazy Bear sure lived up to it's name. It was Crazy! The reception was a double decker bus! We had a bath in our bedroom, and the sink in the toilet was made of glass. The carpet in the dinig room was leopard print, and the walls were covered in Ostrich leather!

As part of our deal we got a free afternoon tea, which included a cocktail that came in a glass teapot, and a glass teacup! It was raspberry flavour, and you got a jug of cream to pour in to make it raspberry ripple!

It was a great trip! Next time we are on the letter D, I wonder where that will take us!

Laura xXx

Read More

Alphabet Dates - B is for Burley, buying stuff and bugs bunny!

This week it was Chris's turn to choose a theme for the letter B for our alphabet date.

The day we had planned it for suddenly go very busy, and we couldn't go out for very long, so I decided to hijack it and implement a day of buying stuff for our new house.  We were given some vouchers for M&S and John Lewis for our engagement by our lovely friends and family, and we had squirrelled it away so that we could use it when the time came to move out. Here is what we bought...

I'd just like to point out that we bought bath mats, a bowl and a bin!

So, the next day we had a little more time, and Chris announced that we would be going to Burley in the New Forest. It was quite good fun just nosing around the local shops and enjoying the sunshine.

This horse was really enjoying learning about Burley.

I tried to steal a lick of this Bull's ice cream, but he was having none of it! (how sexist of you assuming that it was a cow! Bulls can advertise ice cream too don't you know! In fact, the cows are far too busy producing milk, so logically it would have to be the Bulls that go out selling them!)

Chris sat on the Bottrell family Bench.

We spied Bugs Bunny waving to us from a window!

We had a Beer. Ok, it may have been a ginger beer, but that still counts right?

 And here is an interesting Big stone we found.

We have also started making use of my polaroid camera, so we snapped a photo while we were in the forest. Have you alphabet dated yet? Also, any ideas for the letter C next week would be very helpful!

Laura xXx

Read More

Alphabet Dates - A for Animals (and Nautical things)

Today Chris and I decided we needed a bit of a break. We both work from home, and Chris often gigs at weddings during the weekend. Last weekend he played Friday, Saturday and Sunday, which pretty much writes off the weekend.  I will usually work some of the weekend too, with the idea that we will go out on a weekday instead, but that very rarely happens!

It is very difficult when you work from home to split your 'work' time and your 'play' time up. Anyway, the other day we had an idea that we would start 'alphabet dating'. The idea is that each week one of us comes up with a date that is based on a letter of the alphabet, and the next week the other one does the following letter, etc. So I kicked it off with the letter A. Well, the day out went well, but I didn't really stick to the rules very well.  I thought maybe I could base the day on Animals, but somehow we ended up at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. Then I thought we could go to the cinema and watch Alpha Papa, but we actually ended up watching Kick Ass (which is awesome by the way!).

We did go to Las Iguanas for lunch though (an iguana is an animal!!!) and we also went into a mini fossil museum/shop, which featured various creatures and critters.

Here are some of the pictures I took...

Has anyone else tried alphabet dating? I thought we have invented it, but whilst searcing the internet for inspiration I discovered it was already a 'thing'.

So in a fortnight Chris will be basing a date on the letter B. Hmm, I wonder what he will come up with! Hopefully he will be more successful than I was!

Now we are off to eat an apple, an almond and an aardvark for dinner, see ya!

Laura xXx

Read More