Brief Encounter

It was lovely to see everyone last week!  Sorry it was so fleeting.  We are back to the winter that keeps on giving... minus 24 again yesterday... Photo credits to Finn for the bottom shot (that's the second photo, Pete, not the one of you mooning...)  Lots of love,  Chip & Dara

Flash visit!

Lovely to see you, Chip and Dara.......however briefly (45 minutes!).

Love you

xxx

The Farm 1963-2014

1964: Cheese, Jenny and happy, innocent days...
Thank you Pete for all your hard work and perseverance.
I hope the Farm's new family will be just as content there...

PROUD NEW OWNERS OF BOUGHTON MILL.  THEY WERE LIKE A PUPPY WITH TWO TAILS...WE HAVE BEEN PROMISED TO BE INCLUDED IN ALL THEIR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE.   IF THEY FORM HALF AS MANY HAPPY MEMORIES AS OUR FAMILIES HAVE FROM BEING THERE  THEN THEY CAN COUNT THEMSELVES AS VERY LUCKY FOLKS  AND I AM SURE THEY WILL. GOOD LUCK TO THEM I SUGGESTED THEIR  FIRST TASK SHOULD BE TO BUILD AN ARK    AS THE MEADOWS WERE RAPIDLY FLOODING AS I HANDED OVER THE KEYS..  LOVE TO ALL.    PETE

THE BIG SEVENTIETH BASH ........

LOVELY 70TH BIRTHDAY PARTY

 

 

SURPRISE GUESTS

BIG CAKE

GRAND  FINALE ! !

 



 

AND FINALLY TO BED........

21 AGAIN!

Happy BIG birthday, Paul.

Lots of love. xxxxxxxxxxxxx

8 YEARS LONG...........

........8 years gone. How can that be?

Love you as ever......

Thanks again

Sorry I forgot to thank Bev, chip & Pauline for sorting it all out it couldn't have been better. apparently Gabi, Hyde, and pip or Tim are doing the organising of the next one (good luck with that). Cheers woody

Thanks

Hello all, 

Just a quicky to say thanks from the fivewoods, much fun had by all, already looking forward to the next one in 4 years?(thinking of Bev, if we wait 5 years she'll be over ninety & I'm not changing her nappy). Unless we meet up in the summer of 2015 where we plan to drive from Toronto (forgot to mention this to chip & Dara but pip said it would be ok to stay with you on our night at coco bongos) to Florida (forgot to mention this to Hyde but jamie said on the afternoon of the game of sevens that we could stay for a few weeks and to bring as many people as we wanted, so I thought I'd have my works do at your house) so half the people would be around be good if everyone could make it.

See you all soon cheers woody.

From Owain

Owain has asked me to post this for him:-

 

 

Dear fellow travellers,

 

May I say, straight away, how much I enjoyed and appreciated your company, your banter and your antics. Although this was my first meeting with many of you, your welcome was very generous and always inclusive. It was fascinating to admire the way that the various generations picked up on their friendships, despite years of separation. Let's hope that tradition may long continue. May I also thank all those that helped arrange the whole event and those that organised the various expeditions we undertook. What a memorable holiday!

 

Love from Owain.

It Was Great!

Safe and happy homecomings and we'll see each other in 2018/2019 !

See you soon!

We will be here in less than a week - see you under the palapa on the beach!

✈️Departure Tax

Ok, relax. Because we're all Virgin(s) tax has been included in ticket price......thanks, Chip, for telling me something which even Northampton Thomas Cook didn't know (until they phoned Head Office!)

✈️ ✈️ ✈️ ✈️ ✈️ ✈️ ✈️ ✈️ ✈️ ✈️ ✈️ ✈️ ✈️ ✈️ 

Coco bongos price and date

Hello 

The night I'm suggesting for coco bongos is 27th December

Price which includes free drink is £52 per head plus transport to & from the club

Let me know ASAP and ill book it 

Cheers woody

Don't forget!

Don't forget this, everyone!! CASH ONLY

MexicoDeparture tax of approx. 800 Mexican Pesos – approx. £45, $65 or €48 – payable locally in cash only. Scottish and Irish pounds, travellers' cheques, credit and debit cards are not accepted. This is controlled locally, and may be changed without notice.

Woody's organised trip for Mexico

Hello all......it's woody,

It seems your all organising trips out for the holiday so I thought I'd get in on the act.....having spoken to Kirsty who's in the middle of a midlife and who is now flat out night clubbing again, Gabi and myself have gone out in sympathy and have agreed to join her in a night out at coco bongos in cancune ( I feel Mexico has missed out on my moves for long enough) it's quite popular and I think we will need to book tickets ASAP to ensure we get in. You need to be aged between 21 & 64 (sorry Pete)

Let me know ASAP and get it sorted.

Cheers woody

Anneli's Convocation!

Headed back to my ol'Alma Mater last Thursday for Anneli's convocation. She's now all done with her four year bachelors of Health Science at Western University and is currently doing a one year post-grad program at Humber in Toronto. Looking forward to introducing her to everyone at Christmas!

First day at primary school

Maizie forced into a skirt for her first day at school. Where did she get that sulky face from?

I can fly too...maybe...

To get over being an empty-nester again (Tim returned to Queen's in Kingston at the weekend), I went for a bracing walk this afternoon on and around the roof of the main pod of the CN Tower at 356 m (1,168 ft) above Toronto. EdgeWalk is the world's highest full-circle, hands-free walk (thank you Guinness!). There's a certain Zen-peaceful quality about leaning back over the void and putting your trust in a tether and harness...

Early doors!

Yes, they did get up to see us off .... very noble!

Happy Birthday, Gabi!

Guess who's reached the Big 40! We celebrated a day early with a balloon flight, including champagne for breakfast ( or before breakfast since we had to be up at 5:00 am). Very lucky with the weather, perfect views all along the Nene Valley, landing at Chelveston. 

Still don't think it's possible that my baby can be forty!

 

All Booked for Mexico!

The Canadian Robinsons are now all booked for the Gathering of the Robinson Clan in Mexico this Christmas. So I think we are all 100% again for our 4th Gathering! We are booked for the week Dec 25 to Jan 1 at The Grand Sirenis Mayan Beach Hotel. Looking forward so much to seeing everyone. This pic is Pip at Chichen Itza which is a day trip we might want to think about organizing together. Any other suggestions for trips and experiences? Diving in a cenote anyone? Ziplining in the jungle? Visiting Sian Ka'an, UNESCO World Heritage Site?

OFFICIAL PHOTO'S OF THE CLOSING CEREMONY OF KINGSLEY PARK GARAGE.

PHOTO 1.   A JOB WELL DONE(YOU HAVE BEEN.)

PHOTO 2.  I CAN MAKE JOBS DISAPPEAR JUST LIKE THAT ! !

PHOTO 3.  WHO SAID ENJOY YOUR TRIP ?

PHOTO 4.  AND FINALLY HANDING IN MY GLASS'S GUIDE FOR THE LAST TIME..

 

 

And then there were none!!

The Official retirement picture:-)  KPG is no more and as of Monday Dad can close the book on the KPG chapter of his life:-)  Well done boys on a fantastic 40 ish years in business, you should lock the door for the final time feeling proud of all you accomplished along the way, there will be more than a couple of 'punters' that will miss you ........................... may your retirement be long and healthy and include lots of visits to the USA:-)  Now get down the pub and celebrate and have a pint for us too, miss you all H xx

and there goes middle school!!!

Wow!  how time flies, Tyler's 8th grade dance tonight, graduation next week and then onto High School!  Not sure he isn't more concerned about which pre party and which post party to attend than any kind of school work at this point good job there's only a week left!! and with all those girls that look like they are 18 I wonder how he every concentrates on anything at school anyway!! :-) Those 3 years went crazy fast!!  Looking forward to seeing you all at Xmas, too much time in between visits really but who can afford airfare nowadays ($1,300 per person from here to UK!!).  Love to one and all 7 months will fly by and we'll all be sipping our cocktails on the beach ......... can't wait!!

Nepal was wonderful ~ weather good so we had excellent views of Everest. Extremely tiring (I'm still wiped out!) but well worth it. Lovely, lovely people ~ it's part of the Sherpa culture to respect the elderly so I might emigrate! Lukla flights were a bit hairy, but the helicopter hop was tremendous!
Love to all   xxxxx

The Deep Family Ancestry of the Robinsons

I have received my results from the National Geographic Genographic Project (Xmas present from Dara) which reveals information about our distant ancestors through DNA analysis on the Y-chromosome for paternal lineage and mitochondrial DNA for maternal lineage. It's amazing science! We now know that both our maternal and paternal ancestors migrated out of Africa into Asia 70,000 years ago. From there, the lines moved differently around Asia, the Near East and - at around 40,000 years ago - they moved into Europe. They interacted with the fading Neanderthal population so that 2.6% of our genes are Neanderthal rather than Homo Sapiens! Perhaps this explains why I like banging rocks together... I have a lot more detailed information available, so I'll bring a copy of the results to our Xmas gathering so you can see where our ancestors wandered over the last 70,000 years. If you're interested, here is the website link: https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/

Xmas get together

Hello all

It's woody. I've not put anything or read anything on the blogg before but it all seems to be about jim & Kate and keeping in touch - pretty much what the holiday over Xmas that was started by jim & Kate is all about. To celebrate their anniversary some 15 years ago, and a family that lives all over the world, we should get together on a cruise in the Caribbean and that's how it's meant to be. For me, i couldn't care less where we go and what dates we go and leave to come home and what date I start back to work, its about being together (Iknow thats not as easy for some, but we can all pull sickies, it is only once every 5 years) Because If we don't get it together, the next time we all see each other will be a funeral ... see u at Christmas ?!
Woody

93!

Love you, miss you always. xxxxx

Together Again!

It was lovely to see you last week and looking forward to truly seeing everyone at Christmas!

Where in the World was Dara?

This is a tough one - where was Dara last week? And if you want to have fun, suggest a caption for the photo!

What a Difference a Day Makes!

What a difference a day makes... The bottom photo is our street in the middle of the snow storm that dumped 32cm of the white stuff on Toronto on Friday. The middle photo is the scene on Saturday afternoon, 24 hours later: brilliant sunshine and a very different world! The top pic is Gibson enjoying his romp in the snow in the local park this afternoon. The snow was so deep that he could only move by leaping forward like a kangaroo...but he loved it...must be his Shetland Island heritage!

Re: next Christmas

We all need to post school/college/work holiday dates so that planning can start.
England: Dec.20th - Jan.8th.
You also need to state how long you want to be away; we would want ten days.

Happy Christmas x

Love to all x

Xmas in Mexico

Happy Xmas from a 14,000 foot summit in Mexico!
A Merry Christmas was had by all Canadian Family Robinsons. Pip and Anneli were at Anneli's folks with Gibson, whilst Dara, Chip and Tim were in Mexico as we managed to pre-record the Dec 22 Travel Shows. Tim and Chip clambered up Nevado de Colima, Mexico's 6th highest mountain and neighbour to North America's most active volcano. It was 30C/80F every day...but now back to minus 10C and 15cm of snow in Toronto.
Happy New Year to all the clan, wherever you are!
Love Chip, Dara, Tim, Pip & Anneli

Christmas Deliveries

Attention all parents of Under Age Robinsons....... Christmas presents are on their way by various means. Those in countries serviced by Internet deliveries may receive them ridiculously early. Those in far flung places accessed via snail mail may receive them frustratingly late .... All are on their way to you with love from Dara, Chip, Pip and Tim.

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

The perfect Thanksgiving weekend at the cottage with the boys, Anneli and our traditional Thanksgiving friend Jordan...Perfect weather: cold and bright. Perfect colours ranging from green to yellow to orange to red.  Lots of hiking, boating, laughing (Jordan is an accomplished stand-up comedian), drinking...and of course eating. Poppa Jim and Katie Nanna would be happy to know that their old oak table is still hosting family holiday meals!

A Boy No More...

Tim celebrated his 18th birthday at the cottage this weekend! His first month of university has been great and he's full of self-confidence and...well, grown-upedness! Gibson had missed him hugely and was inseparable from him all weekend. It's wonderful to see him grabbing everything that college life has to offer with both hands - he's going to have an amazing four years!

Happy Birthday, Tim!

Wish you'd stop pretending to be all grown up - how can you possibly be EIGHTEEN?!!!!
Have a great day - love you lots xxxx