Our 3 Year Anniversary

Can't believe we've been married 3 years already - time sure flies when you're having fun! Here are some pictures of our big day in Penne d'Agenais on the 25th August 2007.

Laura and Florian wedding 13 August 2010

Laura and Florian got married at st James in Guernsey. They had drinks at Candie Gardens and then had the reception back in St James, it was a lovely day they were really lucky with the weather. Here are just a few pictures of their special day.

Around Penne

We spent a few weeks with Mum and Dad and Sam and Sheila. We visited the nearly towns of Monflanquin, San Sylvestre and Pujol. It was really relaxing but the temperature was exactly the same as Ecuador so Tommy wasn't happy!

Jazz music in Penne d'Agenais

We went up to Penne d'Agenais with some friends of Mum and Dad's called Elaine and Owen. We had a meal at one of the restaurants, the Bombecul in the village and listened to a musician called Phyll, who played at our wedding. She plays the cello and sings. Harper also came to the restaurant - you can't imagine it in England, but they even bring out a special bowl with water for the doggy!

Domaine de France

Penne d'Agenais is the small village in France, near Agen in the Lot et Garonne region of France where Mum and Dad live. They moved here 7 years ago after retiring from teaching. They now run some gites and Chambre d'Hotes from their house, Domaine de France, which is just outside the village. We got married here 3 years ago.



Harper is going to be living here from now on so we have been introducing him to the local area.

Leaving on a jet plane..... with lots of luggage and a labrador!

We arrived at my Mum and Dad's house in France after 31 hours travelling! We flew from Quito to Madrid and then on to Barcelona. Mum and Dad then picked us up and drove us to their place in the South of France. We arrived at 3 in the morning and have been catching up with sleep ever since.

Bye Bye Ecuador

We will miss lots about Ecuador....the amazing views, the volcanoes, the abundance of fruit, the hummingbirds everywhere not to mention the hundreds of stray dogs, men peeing everywhere, bumpy roads, people selling everything you can imagine on the streets, the 3 course meals for $2.50, the football commentators shouting GGGOOOOOOOAAAALLLL for over 30 seconds, the crazy, impatient drivers but most of all we will remember the people.

It was sad saying goodbye to all the good friends we made in Ecuador over the two years we were there. Time has just flown by and we can't believe the two years is up.

We have accumulated lots after our time in Ecuador and ended up having to ship 20 boxes back to the UK! Tom did mention that the only thing that he had bought since being in Ecuador is one shirt but hey! Below is a picture of Harper helping with the packing!


We said some teary goodbyes to the children in our class. We took the children to see Toy Story 3 in 3D as a treat at the end of the year. It was great and we all enjoyed it. It was in Spanish but we understood the whole thing, showing that we have picked up lots over the 2 years.


We had a meal with the lovely family who looked after our property: Luis, Beatrice, Andrés and Bridget. I took some pictures of the family as a gift. They were lovely and we will miss them lots. After the meal, Mark, Evelyn, Tom and I headed to 'La Cancha' to see what was happening. It is the hub of the area and is always heaving. Football matches are being played at midnight at weekends. When we are coming home after a night out, teams are still playing, they are mad!





We ended our time with a lovely bbq with our good friends, Mark, Ewan and Miranda. It typically ended with drinks, pool and music. Good times...... We will miss them lots.....

Memories of Years 3 & 4 at BSQ

We compiled lots of photographs of things that we did with our class over the last 2 years. Click on the link below to have a look at what we got up to. Having taught the same children for over 2 years, we got to know them really well and will miss them lots!

Digital slideshow generated with Smilebox

Pati, Hugo and Victoria come to visit

My assistant, Pati, her husband Hugo and baby Victoria came to see us at our house. I took some pictures of them.....Victoria is adorable.

Climbing Cotopaxi

Sinead, Briana and I went on a trip to Cotopaxi at the weekend. It is the highest active volcano in the world (5897m) and we attempted to climb it! We set off early on Saturday morning and headed to a tour company in Quito to try all the gear on. We then headed to the national park, which is only about 55km from Quito. It took about 2 hours to get to the car park, but the views on the way were amazing. We were extremely lucky because the weather was fine and you could see for miles. Previous weeks have been cloudy...





We then changed into our hiking gear and trekked up to the refuge, only 300m from the car park. Due to the altitude and cold conditions, this took us an hour!


We arrived at the refuge and had a rest before setting out to practise using crampons on the glacier, just above the refuge. It was great fun, we had to practise using the cranpons and ice pick. It was lots of fun crawling up the mountain and falling down using the ice pick to prevent you falling.



The next morning we woke up at midnight and had breakfast before setting off at 1am to attempt the climb. I only made it to just over 5000m before feeling really sick and faint and having to turn back! I did not get to walk on the snow and ice with crampons as I turned back just below the higher glacier. I was really gutted, but it was definitely the right decision. One of the guides, Kristian came all the way back with me and caught me as I fainted when I reached the refuge! I proceeded to sleep until the girls got back after their 7 hour hike up and 3 hour descent! It was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I wish I could have attempted it feeling 100% but I'll never know! The pictures below are of the girls at the summit.