Happy New Year

It's already 2008 in some places, so time to wish everybody out there a Very Happy New Year. We're getting ready for a relatively quiet night in with Vikki's folks, the TV in one corner and the laptop showing the Fireballs WebCam in another corner. And some beer. And wine. And port. And whisky. Hope you all have a good time, whatever you're doing.

A soiree chez Keir

After my run in the morning yesterday, I felt I could do with a drink in the afternoon, so it was good to have a wee get together at our friends Bill and Lesley's place. It was a bit of a gathering of guys I used to play football with, including Steve and Martin who I hadn't seen for over 11 years, so it was good to catch up, drink wine, and eat haggis neeps and tatties which were all affie fine. We took some pictures which can be seen by clicking the one below.

2007-12-30 Party at the Keirs

Last Run of the Year

This is me crossing the finishing line of the Stonehaven Splash 'n' Dash 5K Fun Run - an annual event that takes place between Christmas and Hogmanay - with a time of 22:15 which I was very pleased with. The race is run as a handicap and I'd put down my expected time as 25:31, so I was quite a bit quicker than I thought I'd be (possibly partly because the route was a bit shorter than 5K). It was good fun - the handicap format meant that everyone started at different times and got closer together as the race went on and the route doubled back on itself so there were plenty of chances to say hello to people and for spectators to get some photos. Vikki took a couple and Dave (who didn't run because of a bug) took quite a few which are on flickr. The boys came down to watch but got bored and had to go and play at the park, but not before Vikki got this shot of Calum...

So, that's the last race of 2007 out of the way and it seems like a good time to look forward to 2008. For next year, I've set myself a couple of targets:

• set new PBs at each distance I enter races for (1/2 marathon, 10K, and 5K probably)
• run under 1hr in all 10K races I go in for
• run a 10K in under 50minutes (and thereby beat Vikki's 10K PB)
• run a hill race (if I can persuade Vikki I'm not going to break my ankle)
  
• keep enjoying it

The 50 minute one is the toughest, but I think it's possible, especially after yesterday's run so we'll see how it goes. I've already signed up for a couple of races with plans to do a few others. Look out for posts on the following:

• Lumphanan Detox 10K - 2nd January (entered)
• Balmoral 10K - 26th April (entered - the boys are both doing the 1.5K as well)
• Ythan Challenge Multi-Terrain Adventure Race - 29 June
  
• Stonehaven 1/2 Marathon - July
• probably others depending on how I'm feeling

Best wishes to all in 2008.

Blobby Christmas to all Our Readers

What do you mean it's a bit late? Some of us have better things to do than sit in front of a computer blogging all the time. Of course, some of us also spend too much time doing other equally pointless activities but that's not the point.

Hope you all had a good Christmas and got lots of exciting presents from your loved ones. We had a good time here in Stonehaven - quick visit to my dad's for mulled wine in the morning, then Vikki's folks came over to ours for a full day of drinking, interrupted by bouts of opening presents, cooking, and eating.

There were lots of great presents (see photos) including Singstar for the PS2 which we all had a shot of (against better judgement in my case - my ranking ranged from Tone Deaf to Amateur, thus confirming what we all knew). Vikki managed to get me a couple of surprise pressies - a Life Is Good t-shirt and a Spongebob Squarepants ukulele (which goes rather well with my Hawaiian shirt which my dad picked up in Hawaii but which I am completely unable to play what with having the musical talent of a tone deaf Brussel Sprout) - whereas I managed to get her a small box of chocolates. Which I forgot about. Until Boxing Day. The boys were very pleased with all their stuff and spent much of the day playing Nintendo DS games. Another big favourite was a big RC camper van that doubles as a speaker system for an MP3 player. Thanks, Uncle Peter, for another great - but noisy - present.

Click on the pic below for more

2007-12-25 Christmas 2007

Building the Cooliseum

The kids have been having fun, making things. We try to discourage that sort of thing, of course, but it just doesn't work.

For starters, Calum built "Mr StickyOutTongue" with lego a couple of days ago...

Then, after a couple of games of Jenga (one of a few games that everybody in the family can play and enjoy), he decided to build with the Jenga. First he built the "Cooliseum"...

...and a cinema....

Of course, Lachlan had to get in on the act with a theatre...

...before Calum finished off with a 10 pin bowling lane....

Have an Innocent Christmas

 

Two years ago those fine people at Innocent sent me a Christmas tree. Last year it was a sprig of real mistletoe (only Vikki kissed me under it unfortunately). This year it was another tree, not as nice as the real one but not too shabby, I suppose. I particularly like the gingerbread man.

Xmas tree fun with some TV watching

Last weekend we went to get our Xmas tree (and one for my folks) from the Forestry Commission at Tyrebagger north of Aberdeen. It turned out that the boys didn't want to go so Iain and I had a nice drive ourselves. We met our friend Alex and had a nice long chat about the v quick arrival of his baby son (got me a bit worried!) and Iain continued stalking Dan who also works for the Forestry Commission. On the way back we were a bit squished in the car - it's lucky we are both so short or we wouldn't have managed it. The boys did enjoy dressing the tree and it is always nice to look at the handmade decorations they bring home from school. It got past bedtime though as we had to wait for Iain to saw the bolt thing out of the stump of last year's tree before we could put this year's one up. That is a job that is getting done in January this time! So we finally finished it the next day. Then I adjusted it when the boys were at school. Here are some photos: