The Man returned today, although minus his luggage, so it's a GOOD THING his wedding outfit is already here and not in his suitcase! They promise to bring it this evening, so fingers crossed.

I phoned to reconfirm we can take the wedding cake as cabin baggage. The nice young Dutch lady said we definitely can and revealed we are also confirmed to bring it back again - but guessed we wouldn't need that service!

It was my penultimate day in Nursery and we had two excellent Teddy Bears' Picnics. We told the children there was a bear loose in the garden and because they are SO BRAVE, we were going on a bear hunt to find it. We took them through the long grass; the splishy splashy river; the oozy mud; the dark forest and the swirling snowstorm to the dark cave, where sure enough we found the bear. We then collected our own favourite teddies and enjoyed picnics in the sunshine on the (long) grass together. Then we did it all again for the afternoon children. They loved it and had a great time and were so well behaved that we all were relaxed and had a great time too.

Then my naughty colleagues presented me with a giant pen so I don't need to steal theirs; some dollars to spend in the US; a WH Smith's voucher to buy a book for the journey, and some chocolate body paint - something to do with getting the Man home today.........

I've been busy imprisoning my fellow creatures recently. On Saturday morning Sid kept asking to go outside and promised faithfully to stay on the deck - but after her recent escape next door, when I found her hopping up the road like an errant rabbit, I firmly refused all pleas.

The reason being that it was her travelling day to go to Lissa's for her holidays. So instead of letting her out, I put her in her box to drive the 4 hours North. She was very good for a 10 year old - she didn't ask "Are we nearly there yet?" more than you would expect from a person of her age on a longish journey. Although there was an indignant "Oy! What about me?" when I got out for a leg stretch and drink en route.

I swapped the cat for a set of Aged Parents, who are staying with me until we all go to Michigan for the Wedding of the Century on Thursday. I had to leave them on their own today, as I have 3 more days of work to complete before we set off. And I inadvertently left Dad a house prisoner, as the catch on the new doors slipped again, making them impossible to open without plying a screwdriver, and for some reason neither parent could turn the back door key to open it.
I've oiled it and shown them how I do it (without any difficulty at all) but there is obviously an ingrained knack which I have and they don't, as they still can't do it. So Dad stared longingly at the back garden and deck, and couldn't get to it!
Never mind. Ed is home tomorrow, so he will be able to look after them....

The Nursery staff celebrated the end of the year, and sadly the break-up of our lovely team, with a night out. Here we all are, posing for the waitress at the end of our meal.

Liz and I are the two leavers, and we were presented with our own versions of "What I've learned in the Nursery" - which we did with the children to put with their reports.

The cheeky things seem to have noticed that I am a pen thief (I opened my small handbag to show they were spot on, and without any deliberate action or premeditation, I had 12 pens in there!) and that I occasionally also walk off with (and once memorably went home with, on the evening before my day off) the toy cupboard key.

They also noticed that Liz can never remember where she's put her glasses...

We had a good laugh and just about didn't cry.

Nothing will be the same again.

Sid is still lame. I took her to see her friend the vet last week, who was disappointed to see she is still limping intermittently. It now seems she will need an operation followed by two weeks cage rest.

I explained we were all going on our holidays shortly, so immediate hospitalisation would be impossible. The vet opined that a delay would not matter - it would give us time to complete the course of medicine and give it every chance of working and the operation can wait until we return in August.

Sid has not yet been told this. But then, she doesn't know she is going on holiday either. So she is hopping about fairly happily, luckily not too concerned about going outside while this rain persists.

Meanwhile, I'm counting down the days - 2 days to hair rejuvenation; 3 days to deposition of vacationing cat; 4 days to collection of Aged Parents; 6 days to return of errant husband; 7 days to cessation of work; 8 days to departure to USA and reunion with errant son &co!!!

I'm exhausted by a weekend of sport - luckily not having to "bust a gut" in the intermittant rain, just watching others from the comfort of my sofa!

Brilliant men's final at Wimbledon today, following an extremely satisfying win for Lewis Hamilton at Silverstone - hooray! Back on track.

I was rooting for Roger Federer in the tennis, but it was only a matter of time before Rafael Nadal beat him, and Nadal played some super shots and held his nerve to the end!

Happily watched Venus beat Serena yesterday, too, with the added filip of our little girl winning the junior competition.

And to top a nice weekend of being a lounge Lizard, what about the finale of Dr Who? How gripping was that?
And "Last Choir Standing" is shaping up to be a good watch too...