Week Six

19.12.16

The hotel has an extensive collection of artwork for everyone to enjoy.  Here's a couple of the pieces that apparently are worth a FORTUNE.

 

  

The children especially enjoy the 'lights'.  This is where we send them to play so that they are out of the way from the breakfast area and away from the other guests.  Patrick loves making patterns with the lights, hence the Pokemon Go design.

  

The three of us are off on an adventure today, up to Dockyard on the ferry to then get the bus back down to Elbow Beach.  It's a beautiful day, the sun is shining and it's time to explore one of the many gorgeous beaches on the island.

Time for a play in the park whilst we wait for the bus ....

After a 40 minute bus ride back through the South Shore beaches we reached Elbow Beach - we had heard so much about it and how beautiful if is.  Oh my, people weren't wrong it is absolutely stunning ....

           

Patrick and Eleanor had a wonderful time jumping the waves

               

 Love these little Minions .....

  

Time to go home on the bus - most of the bus stops look like this - a little stone hut.  On one side you have a pink pole and on the opposite a blue pole - can never remember which way round the colours are.  Some bus stops don't even have a layby/hut, it is literally a pole on the roadside and the bus will screech to a hault!

21.12.16

Today was all about another bus trip out and getting up to St George's to catch the Dunking of the Wench and also to buy the Christmas Tree Decorations that we saw when we went with Daddy (he said 'No' to them!).  I promised if Patrick and Eleanor were good then I would get them.  Beautiful 'Gibbs Lighthouses' with wind chimes and they will be a great reminder when they come out each year at Christmas of their time in Bermuda.

The bus journey was hilarious - we had a little old lady who proceeded to tell her life story. She was very popular, everyone that got on the bus said hello and had a chat with her.  She still came back to where she left off each time with what she was telling us about her family and that today she was off to an old people's home where she was going to sing at their Christmas party.  She had so much heart and soul it was lovely just listening to her.  Eleanor on the other hand didn't think so - the poor lady was holding on to the bar to stop herself flying off her seat cause the bus driver was on a mission to get to St George's and it meant she was stretched all the way across her.

St George's as per normal is gorgeous - I love it.  It's quaint, old, currently very quiet as it's out of season and such a lovely atmosphere.  We caught up with the friendly Town Cryer and watched the Dunking of the Wench again.  We also had a nose in the Town Hall where it was decorated with lots of Christmas decorations.

  

 

 My gossiping Wench!

   So the best thing to do was to put them both in the stocks!

 

So after our shopping spree it was time to head back to Hamilton.  

Around the whole of Bermuda are lots of statues and back in Hamilton we took five minutes to read the information for the Statue below.  There's so much history and they are very proud of it.

 

Back at the hotel and time to get ready for going out - Eleanor was very excited and she insisted I straightened her hair, she was allowed some make up and wore her best dress (care of her cousin Holly).  

  

 

The ladies were invited for 'last minute Christmas shopping' in the hotel boutiques and drinks and nibbles were laid on.  The Owner of the boutique very generously allowed the children to help themselves to some chocolate and snacks. So not sure if this was a mistake giving a group of children free reign of all the treats but this is what two children look like when they haven't had chocolate for a month!

After being completely stuffed full of sugar it was time to pretend to be mannequin's!

  

Eleanor, my little young lady does not take after her Mother .... in fact I blame both of her Grandmothers - Helen Wood & Lynda Ridout who both have a love of shoes.  These beautiful gold shoes that Eleanor tried on and strutted in front of everyone are $275 .... why can she walk so much better in heels that me? 

 

 22.12.16

Yeah, Neil is now off for just over a week and we can have some day trips out to explore the island all together.  Today we are off to Dockyard to combine collecting some things from The Base, me having to make a call back to the UK to cancel my car insurance and then with the Lashley Family (minus Karen bless her as she has a hangover from last night!) we decided to go to the Maritime Museum.  Well not before having a bite to eat at The Frog & Onion.

 

    

Lunch with Kevin and Jorja 

 The Governors House

    

 

 Inside the Governors House is this stunning mural

   

 Views from the Governors House

 

  

Jorja playing hide and seek & Patrick enjoying the views

  

          

On the ferry home the sunset was amazing .... not that my photos do it any justice or show how amazing it is.  Need a better camera :-(

 

    

23.12.16

So I receive a blue slip from hotel reception to go and collect a parcel from the Post Office. I know it's from Susan Jones but have no idea what she's sent.  But off we went to collect said parcel, along with some postcards that we've manage to write to both Granny's.  Well being 2 days before Christmas you can imagine what the queue was like!

 

So in Bermuda, everything that comes in to the country has to be checked by the Post Office. They open every (and I mean every) single parcel to check what's in it.  If it's over $30 the recipient has to pay duty on that package.  They check the receipt/invoice against the contents and if they don't match well, you're in trouble!!  So as you can imagine it took a little while to wait to get to the front of the queue.  It was fine ... I just chatted with everyone, as you can imagine we were all in a Christmassy mood.  But .... said package was collected safely and the children were very excited to receive a parcel from the UK.

Christingle Service at the Catherdral of the Most Holy Trinity.  The children got to make their Christingle oranges which they do every year back at home (we are secretly missing being at St Paul's with Isabel & John and their children which we have shared every year since the children have been babies).  The service was lovely - there were all the nativity characters, lots of carols and even the Vicar with a Donkey!

  

      

 

   

It's beginning to look a bit like Christmas ... We have a tiny tree and presents have started arriving. Even the hotel delivered a present to every child that are staying over the Christmas period.

Josef the Elf has delivered some presents ready for Christmas Eve

 Patrick and Eleanor's Christmas Decorations that they made

Sleeping babies

24.12.16

Christmas Eve - Aquarium & Zoo day.  The sun is shining and we are spending another day with the Lashley Family.  We even bumped in to the Stirrup Family as well so had a nice picnic all together - Happy days.

First stop the Aquarium .... and there are some weird looking fishes!

The Lion Fish is a big problem here in Bermuda - it has no predators and is taking over, eating lots of other fishes and is destroying a lot of the Coral.

And then there are some beautiful fishes - The Parrot Fish is may FAV :-)

  

Next stop The Zoo - it still makes me smile seeing the Lemurs and Flamingo's

Tortoises were trying to push each other out of the way to get up on to the rock - not sure who was actually photo-bombing, think it was the kids!

 Bit of sunbathing?

 A loving couple .... having a cuddle

 These Monkey's are just super cute - so inquisitive

After the Aquarium it was back to the hotel for the all important Christmas Eve Family BBQ. Party games were organised and the children had a brilliant time.

One of the clues for the treasure hunt fell down a hole in the tree - Wendy & Tamsin tried to retrieve it but Rob came to the rescue

25.12.16

Christmas Day - In true Wise tradition the children come running into our room at 'Stupid-o-Clock' to wake us up with their stockings.  I've always loved how excited they get with the stockings and still love that they want to come and sit at the end of our bed.

 

A very kind Taxi driver had these gifts delivered to our room - he was so kind and lovely. When I thanked him he just said that he loved the children cause they chatted with him and were always very polite - Proud Mummy

So ..... Father Christmas got a double order of PANTS and he got rather confused as to how many Patrick and Eleanor needed.  Fortunately though, there are some pants that are for their growth ;-)

 Main presents ....

 All finished .... just the paper to clear up

Father Christmas arrives before lunch for all of the  BAR children

You'd think that Patrick was too old to sit on Father Christmas' lap ....

 Nope .... he did one better than that .... he asked him if he wanted a Selfie .... it was so funny the whole room roared with laughter - he's a bit of a Legend

Here's the said Selfie ;-)

 The Wise Old Owls

The Children decided that the Barman was not allowed to take away the drinks trolley

What an amazing end to 2016.  The last six weeks have been incredible fun (although Neil has been working very hard!) and we have thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and I can honestly say this has been the best decision we could have made in joining this very exciting journey.

Here's to 2017 where we will have a very exciting year and #BringTheCupHome