5th August 2018

Dear Fiona & Chris,

Happy Anniversary!!!

Have a lovely day and a romantic evening! ;-D

Love & Hugs,

Jenny & Simon

XOXOXOX

04 August 2018

It's been ages since I've blogged  ...Sorry!!

It's been full on here with teaching, filming, transplanting, entertaining.  Simon's been non stop and hasn't really had a proper day off since we arrived back.  I on the other hand have had a couple :-D

So you'll be all glad to hear that Fiona, Chris and he girls arrived safely.  They had a great flight but with hardly any sleep.  So without too much of a delay and going through the experience of the new 'check in' process, down at the pier, they got on the Haad Tien shuttle bus and headed off to their resort.   I gave them an hour or two before cycling over to see them :-)   LOL

The resort seems a lot busier, probably due to the summer holidays but it is still one of the prettiest resorts on the island.

    

Sat down for a little nibble

View from the girls room

This time, Fi and the gang have their place under the tree's which is much prettier than being by the pool. you have shade, a breeze, you can hear the waves lapping so the hardest decision to be made is ..Pool or sea?  Sea or pool? 

Iona taking Uni for a swim

We've been out snorkeling but no sign of Terry the turtle. I did see a black tip reef shark which Fi missed as she was clearing her mask ;-D

The BEACH

Their first couple of nights, obviously being so tired from the journey, Fiona, Chris and the girls decided not to venture out so invited Simon and I to join them for dinner which was super!

Chris & Fiona's 23rd Wedding Anniversary tomorrow, so we're taking the girls out while they have a romantic meal together at 'Whitening!  :-D   

13th July 2018

I don't know whether jet lag affects you more as you get older but we both really struggled the first few days we were back on Koh Tao.  We arrived back on the Tuesday afternoon and I took the next day off as I was shattered and also wanted to clean the house from ghekko poo, cobwebs and dust.    Poor ole Simon, was straight back into filming Open Water students as the video team were short on bodies.  I really don't know how he managed as he had hardly any sleep and swollen ankles which were really painful to walk with.   He is such a trooper!!


Since we've been back, most days have been overcast with the wind picking up late afternoon bringing the odd heavy shower.  The UK was hotter LOL

We've had friends visiting from San Francisco, Garth, Alissa and Jamie.  It's been 10 years or so since I last saw Alissa but only a couple of years since Garth & Jamie popped into the farm for a surprise visit.   While they were here, Jamie did his Junior Open Water, Garth & Alissa did a refresher course and came out with Simon and I on a few fun dives and they even joined in with our beach clean up with the DMC's.  After that, everyday they used to walk up to Crystal along the beach from the Regal resort with a handfuls of rubbish.  It was great to see!

All the gear and no idea :-D

Beach Clean up with the gang

Night watching the footy  ..Come on England!!

Jamie's first family fun dive with Garth & Alissa

Today was a sad day as they left the island on the next leg of their journey.  They are now off to Borneo to the Orangutan rehabilitation center which Simon and I visited on our honeymoon.   Arghhh  ..amazing memories :-D

03 July 2018

Spending the majority of June in the UK has been bliss.  We've had gorgeous weather in fact the weather has been better than Thailand.  Since we left, the weather has been really windy and wet :-D

As always it's been fantastic to spend time with the family and friends and to have holidays within a holiday.   Spending a week with 16 family members might sound like a nightmare for some people but we all had an amazing time.

Jans 60th surprise in Tuscany

After arriving back at the farm with Rosie and Charles, it was only a couple of days before we were off again.  This time to visit Simon's family, staying a night at his dads...

Dinner with Kate & Roger

...his mum's for a meal and then on to a 40th Birthday party and then his brothers before driving onto Skipsea Sands holiday park for a little mini break with his mum, Del, Roy, auntie Pat and uncle Ken which was a giggle.

Out with Si's family before a 

The drive to Skipsea. Cuthbert at the wheel

Add caption

Boat trip on the river Ouse, York 

Auntie Pat, Ken & Si's mum chilling in the caravan

Whats at the end of your garden?

Coastal road has been reclaimed

It's lovely coming back to the UK.  Simon and I are especially lucky to be able to stay with Rosie and Charles on the farm.  Coming back and staying elsewhere would just not be the same. We are so fortunate that we have such an amazing family  :-D

7th June 2018

Our trip back to the UK went pretty smoothly.  We arrived back at Rosies 'the farm' around 10.30pm. It felt a little odd as it was still light outside.   We do miss the long English summer evenings.

Our trip back was for my sisters 60th surprise Birthday holiday in Tuscany.    We managed to keep it quiet for just under a year.  Elaine her eldest did all the organisation which was quite a feat as there were 16 of us :-D   

She knew that Rob her husband was taking her away but didn't know where.  Speaking to her a few days before she was excited but was a little down as she'd be missing out on seeing Joel & Aime were over from Turkey and Simon & I were over from Thailand.    Little did she know :-D 

The farmhouse was fantastic.  Within the grounds there was a pool, volley ball & football pitch, gym, table tennis, swings, bbq area  ..you name it, it was there.   

Add caption

Casa La Quiete

The surrounding area was mostly farmland with vineyards dotted around the place and on top of the hill behind us was a gorgeous little town of Civitella in Val Di Chiana 

It was lovely to spend quality time with all the family and to have a good ole laugh.  We had table tennis tournaments, pool volley ball matches, fun and games with Florence (giant inflatable flamingo) gym workouts, so much fun!   We'd venture out, get lost a little on the odd occasion but it's was good to explore the tiny country roads, seeing the odd wild boar on our travels.  The weather couldn't have been better.   Oh to be on holiday with the family :-D

'Check out' picture 

The best birthday surprise ever!!!  :-D

24th May 2018

It's Mums Birthday today!

Happy Birthday!!!

Miss you!

11th May 2018

Simon and I are both well.  

We've both been working and we're still trying to finish off the Junkyard expansion which has taken slightly longer than expected.  The center piece of the expansion which was created by 'The Art Rising' has been a real headache due to the shear size & weight of it.  This group first contacted me back in Feb 2018  where at that time they were building a playground in a Burmese refugee camp which I though was cool and thought it would be great to have them build an underwater structure that we could work in with all of our pyramids.  

We did ask multiple times for a modular structure, something that would be easy to deploy, we talked about what materials would be best to use and that our deployment resources would be limited to lift bags, barrels and a longtail boat  ..and this is what they made :-D   

Small and modular please

It's just growing in size!!!

2 days & lots of attempts to move this mountain

Thats only some of the barrels

It's incredible and once it's down we'll be able to breath again but it's been and still is a complete logistical nightmare  ..I'd say it's got to be one and a quater tons .  Si has been a superstar.  Poles attached to the base for support , it took 90 flotation devices hand tied by Simon and a slightly higher tide to get this monster to float and then when we finally towed her to Junkyard and tried slowly to sink her,  removing barrels 1 at a time, she flipped over and sank onto her chest and now we have to go out again and maneuver her onto her back.  It's been a headache to be honest, especially for Simon.  He's been so patient.  I LOVE SIMON!!

This is just the head