Absence makes the heart grow fonder

So I'm currently in a hotel room in Dallas on a business trip, whilst Mum and Dad are at home looking after Maddy. I thought I'd be going bonkers with worry, but actually *says quietly* it's quite nice to have a teensy bit of peace and quiet. I'm drinking a cup of coffee with NO interruptions. And now, I'm going to have a shower. All on my own. And for as long as I like.

Poseur, moi?

I guess you had to be there...

But there is something quite infectious about watching little people crease themselves with laughter:

(Particularly when that little person's face somehow keeps an oddly fixed xpression...)

NEWS FLASH: Girl eats fruit the size of her head

Wheeeeee!

Here's Maddie showing how high she can go on the swings in Queen's park. I couldn't get them in the photo, but her friends Ludo, Jack and Kitty are on the other three.

Addendum: Behind the scenes

This lovely family pic has just came through from Richard:

I've been wondering if I could pass that off as a yawn, but sadly Kate and my 'we're having a good time, honest' smiles give us away.

Going to the chapel

My brother got married to Laura today, which was lovely. No pictures of the happy couple yet, (they're all a bit blurred on our crappy camera), but here's one of me and Maddie all dressed up in our best togs. She had curlers in ALL morning to make those ringlets.

Raw fish?

'Get that the hell away from my mouth'.

Maddie's first trip to a sushi restaurant was an otherwise resounding success.

Just because you've been baptised a Catholic...

... it doesn't mean you can't pull off the Hasidic Jewish look:

Check out those ringlets. Oy vey!

Maddie's doppelganger

My mother, her grandmother, approximately 60 years ago: