The girls had been planning a weekend away for us for over a year to celebrate our 60th birthdays and in November they took us to a National Trust cottage in the Cotswolds. It was lovely. They cooked and took us out for a meal. and generally spoilt us. Poor Sarah had to hobble about as she'd broken her leg a few days before in Montreal.

Melvyn went into hospital in September to have stents put into his arteries. The blockage had been discovered during a routine check up and he'd had no symptons. Everything went well and he was soon well enough to get back to all the jobs Eileen had lined up for him.

August seemed to be spent working on one of the student houses. Katy helped Melvyn fit a new kitchen. A highlight was seeing the Rolling Stones once more at Twickenham. Marvellous!

Katy and Melvyn joined Eileen in Florida and on July 4th we saw the Shuttle launch at Cape Kennedy. Sarah went to Australia to a conference and Katy and Eileen flew back to UK leaving Melvyn soaking up the sun for another two weeks.

Having spent nearly two months marking KS2 SATs, in June Eileen needed another break, so she went to Florida while Melvyn stayed at home to earn some money! That's fair!

Had great fun using my free pass to Busch Gardens.

At the beginning of May we celebrated Melvyn's birthday "English style" with friends at The Crown at Playhatch.

Melvyn had his 60th birthday in April, while we were in Florida. The girls flew out to celebrate with us and then my sister and family joined us for Easter.

By March the need to do the transatlantic trip was back, so we flew to Philadelphia to stay with our friends, Gus and Barbara. We had a lovely time discovering their beautiful city and then rented a car and drove down through the eastern states, via the Blue Ridge Mountains, stopping at Washington, Charlotte, Charleston and Savannah.

In February we decided to try and get fitter, so we started the Thames Walk. It will take a lot of days to finish it! At the end of February we went to the Isle of Wight for a few days with Bob, Hilary, Sheila and Paul.

January was spent getting over Christmas. Katy and Eileen went to Dublin for a few days.