Soulsavers and Depeche Mode European Tour 2009

Soulsavers Manchester MEN. Chris on drums! Last night of an amazing tour.

Half of the Soulsavers . .

The Soulsavers with Dave Gahan . . even Mark Lanegan attempts a smile!


Martin Gore and 1 of his ace guitars!


Using the backstage pass for side of the stage photos! Woo . . although a security nearly threw me out until Chris intervened!

Woah . . . check out the crowd! Dublin!


Freddie Mercury . . .I mean Dave Gahan ..



Appreciative crowd!

Barcelona!

Our Barcelona apartment - it was really nice, great location, everything you need. Cas and I travelled there and spent 4 days visiting Chris on his Depeche Mode tour with Soulsavers.


The Barcelona venue were Chris played.

Christina Applegate! Former girlfriend of the bassist with Soulsavers . . now Cas's girl!

We went to the Barcelona aquarium - it was cool and Cas enjoyed deep sea diving!

Bathing Baby

Here is my beautiful boy having a wash!

Halloween

This year for Halloween, Cas and I and mum went to our West Bridgford babies Halloween party. Everyone looked great especially Cas in his pumpkin outfit . . although he was less than impressed at wearing it! I made a great cake! Eat your heart out Jane Asher! There were other great party food creations - including a melon brain!

Chris's Birthday

Another cake triumph . . photo does not do it justice . . !!! Just waiting for the pressie to arrive now . .sorry Chris!! xx

Naughty Step

Getting used to the naughty step!

Viva Malaga

We spent a great week with Chris's mum and dad at their place in Malaga in September. The weather was lovely and warm and made up for the terrible summer.

We spent lots of time swimming in the pool . .

We also went to a great exhibition at the Cac Malaga which is fantastic free galary. We have seen lots of good exhibitions there over the years, including the Chapman Brothers, Tracey Emin and now Robert Mapplethorpe the photographer. We all really enjoyed the pictures, I especially liked the portraits of celebrities like Patti Smith. Cas liked crawling all over the floor and getting filthy and also shouting loudly as it echoed in the galary space.

There were some other artists exhibiting, and Cas enjoyed bashing some of the pictures when the galary police weren't watching!

Eating out at a great little restaurant . . we always eat amazing food in Malaga, really good, really garlicy fish!

Cas in the Cac Malaga galery enjoying an installation . . I took this picture and Chris is using it on the cover of the next Spotlight Kid record . .fame for Cas at last!

'Walking' along the beach front with Daddy and Granny.

Bye Bye Beetle

The time had come to say bye bye to the Beetle . .after many years good service . . there is not enough room in our lives or budget for 2 road beasts . . .

Edinburgh Festival

We went to Edinburgh to visit the festival and have a holiday. Unfortunately despite it looking ok on this photograph the weather was cold and largely wet so we ending up coming home early. On this picture we are on the Royal Brittania - it was a really good day out actually. Cas protested about being in his pushchair so Chris ended up carrying him all the way around!

It was so cold that we had to take Cas to get some warm footwear. Here he is being measured for his first proper pair of shoes!

The bongo and the new awning , which was a god send!

Having tea with Mum and Dad next to their van. We have decided after this holiday that in future we are only going south in the van!

Naming Cermony

On the 16th August we had a Naming Ceremony for Cas at the West Bridgford Registry Office. It was an excellent day. Only family, Will, Claire, Tee and Kat came so it was a small affair but nevertheless we really enjoyed ourselves. Cas was on very good form so he was a joy all day. He had a crawling race in during the ceremony with Kitty which was very funny. He also really enjoyed getting his photo taken afterwards. Once we left the registry office, we went for food at the Larwood and Voce. We had a delicious Sunday Lunch.

Cas really enjoyed his first bottle of wine.

Cornwall

Cas and I went to Cornwall to Trebetheric for a week in August with the Dymonds. We had a lovely time although Cas was ill with a virus for the first part of the week and he was difficult to look after. He was very tearful and sensitive and I was getting really cross dealing with him! Fortunately he got better as the week wore on and I was able to relax some and enjoy the break. The beach was lovely and on the days when the weather was good it was like the med!

Cas really enjoyed sitting in the warm pools of water . .although he ate a lot of seaweed.

Tee's mum and dad babysat one night so I could go out for a meal with everyone. It was lovely! I had the nicest steak I think I had ever had!

On the days when the weather was not so good, we went to a softplay place and to Newquay to go to the aquarium.

First Birthday BBQ!

My home made bunting made the garden look ace for our BBQ to celebrate Cas's first birthday!



I went a bit cake mad

Cas's first birthday cake. Chris said it looked like Cas had made it . . well at least I tried!

Brighton

This week we went to Brighton to see Will and Claire. We had an excellent time. The weather was lovely and we spent a day shopping in the Lanes and eating fantastic veggie food. It was a couple of days of firsts for Cas. Here is a picture of him with his first pair of shoes. They are not walking shoes (because he is not walking) but they protect his feet whilst crawling and essentially look cool - which is the most important thing!!

Cas enjoying his first Mr Whippy! Well he ate some of mine. We spent a couple of hours on the beach as it was so hot. Cas went for a paddle in the sea - another first! We had to stop him eating all the stones from the pebble beach.

Cas ordered his first meal from a kiddies menu - spinach cheese and potato rosti. It was huge - I ate most of it - delicious!

One of the reason we were in Brighton was so that Chris could play drums for Will in a gig that Will's band Tandy Hard had. The gig went well, so we might go down to Devon in the Bongo so that Chris can play with them again. However our journey back from Brighton was such a nightmare (3 hours stuck on the M25) that I have decided never to go anywhere ever again.