Ben= "Master of Natural Sciences and Bachelor of Arts"

It's official!! Ben has graduated! We had a super day yesterday. He knelt in front of the President of his college, Hughes Hall, and she 'admitted' him to his degree, all in latin and the full dress! He looked very smart (and very attractive), and I was very proud of him. There were lots of photos of Ben's parents too, but they are on his Mum's camera and not mine... but they were definitely there, and it was lovely!

... And so ends our Cambridge Adventure.

Us!

Ben, looking wise in front of his college

Oliver, being safe in the punt!

Punting with family afterwards

Oliver, being safe in the punt!

Emily had a go!

The End of a Cambridge-y Era!

On Thursday morning we are moving house and it is a sad business!! I love living in Girton- it is beautiful, and Ben has just been working on the garden and it looks better than it ever has! I have made some lovely friends and they are sad to leave behind... We have had a WONDERFUL time in Cambridge, with tons of fab opportunites (rowing, singing, Mum and baby groups galore, lots of concerts and cultural things, amazing architecture, church friends, punting, working at the Edinburgh Woollen Mill!!) and it will be sad to leave it all behind.

But on Thursday we are hiring a Transit van and moving it all into Mum and Dad's conservatory, and for the next month will be embarking on a series of holidays, trips, a family wedding, a 60th wedding anniversary (not ours quite yet!) and Ben's Graduation. Not too shabby! So at the moment our front room is full of boxes, and the rest of the house looks like an utter tip which is a little bit disconcerting (since it's got to get worse before it gets better?!)

We are getting rather excited about just turning up in a place where no-one knows us, our parents or anyone else, and settling into life far, far away- just the three of us!! Sounds like fun.

In other news, it's my birthday in 1 hour and 37 minutes!! Not that I'm immature and counting, of course...! :)

Today Last Year

Ben is in exam time... again! He is cramming as much as possible until his two weeks of exams start next Tuesday.

My current journal begins with this day last year (Mon 24th May 2010) so it's quite funny to read how nothing much has changed for him... not like my 'Oliver' day job! It talks about how I was 11 weeks pregnant then: "I am accumulating a bit of 'podge'- whether it's baby fat, extra water or too many puddings I'm not exactly sure- but my tummy does feel harder than usual! I am now at 11 weeks. Lovely!!"

I wrote about Ben's intense revision too: "He is being reeeeasonably productive... with breaks only to jump on top of me or to break into his favourite rendition of "Abby Woo, oh, I love you, oh..." (to the tune of Holst's Jupiter!) All he needs is a 2.i. to stay with BP (phew, haha)"

It's funny to read how my life has changed so much, but Ben's is totally the same!

William and Harry came to stay! (NOT the Princes)

Two of my brothers, Billy and Harry, came to stay with us for the long weekend. We had a fab time punting, picnic-ing, museum-ing, having a barbecue and playing LOTS of boyish games (Risk, Settlers and frisbee in a lot of wind!)

 

 

 

Ben shows us how it is done!

I held onto Oliver tight!

Billy had a go, and we went round in circles for a bit, but then he got the hang of it!

Ben and Oliver at our picnic

Looking and minerals and other rock-y things at the museum (of course it was a rock museum!!)

On a Sunday walk (They were super Uncles)

We saw lots of small horses

They played man games at the park...

... so I balanced Oliver precariously on the swings

... and he later conked out from all the fun!

It was a great family bonding weekend.

Last week we finally went to Cambridge's Botanical Gardens. I've been wanting to go for aaaaaages! Look at how amazing Ben is with our little Squeaker. I love to see the two of them together, Ben is such a lovely Daddy.

A Trip to the Museums

Cambridge is full of museums and the last couple of weeks we have enjoyed taking advantage of them. I can highly recommend them for anyone living in or visiting Cambridge.


We went to...

- The Fitwilliam Museum. The building itself is outrageously amazing! It was a bit of a pain with a buggy, but full of amazingly ancient Egyptian artefacts and modern art and marble EVERYWHERE. The staff were also very helpful, and were "only to happy" to clean up the pools of sick Oliver dribbled over my shoulder as we went around the exhibitions.

- The Whipple Museum of Science. We saw this as part of Cambridge's 'Museums and Twilight' event- we got to visit some of the best Museums in semi-dark, lit only by torches!!! It would have been brilliant if we had small children (but bigger than Olly Woo!) but even without them it was still fun. The museum is full of old scientific objects- telescopes, calculators, mathematical models etc... (is Oliver yawning in that picture??!)

- The Scott Polar Research Museum. Very, very interesting- all about the lives of people who live and explore the poles. It also contains the famous last journal entries and letters from Captain Scott before they died while looking for the South Pole. I found it really moving.

- The Sedgwick Museum (of Earth Sciences) is almost definately the best museum in Cambridge. It is stuffed full with fossils, minerals, bits of Darwin's notebooks and findings, casts and bones of dinosaurs... I love it!! We were so desperate to get Oliver interested in rocks that he fell asleep!

We love living in Caaaambridge!

I get the strangest feeling...

... that I'm really going to enjoy Friday afternoons! Ben's rather cushy timetable means that he's home for lunch and is now 'hacking' a bush in the garden, feeling very manly, while I feed and read stories to Olly Woo. Life is good!

I'm also really enjoying keeping up with 'Jailbreak 2011' - a Cambridge University tradition where pairs of students have 36 hours to get as far away from Cambridge without spending any of their own money on travel. It started at 9am and can be tracked online (a bit like Santa tracker!!) It can be found here - http://www.cambridgerag.org.uk/jailbreak-2011-map/ I am sponsoring team 87 because I know Andrew from choir. I've pledged £2 per type of transport they use! :)

Other good news is that Olly Woo slept six hours straight again last night!!! I can hardly believe it! Life really IS good!

Abby :)

Recent happenings!

Hello!

I've never written a blog before (and it's kind of American, really) but I love journal writing and thought that this is one more thing I can do while Oliver is feeding!! If all goes according to plan I'll try to post our recent wonderings, adventures and Olly Woo milestones when I can, and then the miracle of technology will mean that our family and friends will be able to read about it, wherever we are.

At the mo we're not 'on tour' at all... we are still in Girton, Cambridge and loving it. The house is nice but has got major damp problens still... I can't seem to clean quick enough!!!

This week we found a car to replace our lovely Corsa. It's a gorgeous blue Renault Megane but unfortunately it's a bit bigger than I'm used to so I don't think I'll ever be able to get in and out of spaces!! It is very economical and last night we realised it's more flashy than we thought it was, with automatic wipers and a rain-sensing windscreen! Crazy!!

Yesterday one of my friends from choir, Seb, came round to take photos of Olly and a couple of the three of us (he's a brilliant photographer). We tried so hard to catch Olly's new skill- smiling- but they're just a bit too fleeting at the moment. It was still tons of fun and we had little O changing outfits every few minutes. He was dressed in a Tigger suit, some lovely dungarees he got from Nanna Pentreath, and my very favourite green starry plastic pants! He looked gorgeous and I can't wait to see the photos.

Ben is into his second week of term and enjoying lectures. He has a four-day week and he hasn't been set any work yet- both very lovely! :) We are still waiting for news from BP about where he is starting work, and probably won't get any until the Spring which is exciting. Watch this space...!

Last night we made gingerbread men, using a recipe from a children's baking book Ben's Mum and Dad gave me for Christmas. I had to run off to choir so I left Ben to do the last batch in the oven. When I got home the kitchen was REALLY smoky and the last two gingerbread men (and one gingerbread blob) were burnt to a crisp!!! Very funny- and smelly. Ben reckons he left them for over an hour!!

Anyway! That's all for now. A picture of the new car is attached- mmmm!

Love Abby (and Oliver, who is now asleep on my lap!) x