Olivia liked her new bike so much we had to go out for a ride straight away, despite (or maybe because) it was already dinner and bed time. We went scrambling down overgrown paths until I got a puncture and had to whiz home before it became completely flat. So that was good 
Olivia’s bike is WAY too small and meanwhile Gabe’s old bike would be perfect for her – except that it’s blue and not pink. Gabe’s bike is a good one and being loathe to shell out for a new bike when we have a perfectly good one already, I stripped it down, painted it pink and today managed to put it back together again
It looks pretty good, I hope she likes it. She’s seen it ‘in progress’ but is at the pool and still hasn’t seen the finished product. Fingers crossed.
Thanks to James & Rach for the piccie
Olivia’s school broke up in the middle of June and she doesn’t go back until the middle of September – which is a long time to be entertained!
She spent the first couple of weeks catching up on sleep but got bored towards the end of it. Gabe had been doing a club (which she should have done) but she didn’t want to.
We went to Mallorca for a family holiday last week – Olivia was spoilt rotten by just about everybody there and enjoyed diving into the pool to collect money thrown in. She got given money by her great grandmother (nana shmana) and loved going to the tourist tat shops to buy overprice nick nacks. She had a hole burning in her pocket as far as money was concerned! Before leaving we bought an oversized ensaimda, which is a mallorcan specialty which she loves for breakfast. I thought it disappointing, I’ve had better on mainland Spain, but it went down well with O.
Now we’re back in Vilanova and she’s started a horseriding club (lucky girl!). Of all the clubs on offer she really really wanted to do this one. It sounds really good – on her first day there was just herself and her friend, Ruby, so they got real personal attention. More people have joined the group now. They started out bareback riding and it seems more about getting to know and be comfortable around horses than the prescriptive type of horse riding lesson.
The holidays continue to stretch ahead, with nana Pauline coming out with Ray as the next ‘event’.
Olivia is becoming more creative generally and taking a big interest in writing, reading, drawing etc. Here’s a recent pic.
I don’t remember the blue lines on the original, I think they may be a side effect of crinkled paper being scanned, but either way the effect is a little scary!
It’s a belated post as a result of being locked out of Olivia’s site but we had a nice time staying with Olivia’s cousins Izzy and Frankie. On the day we took Gabe and Olivia out for a horse ride and then to a pizza restaurant. Frankie and Izzy were at school. When they came back we had a birthday party with party food and cake.
We’ve been locked out of Olivia’s site for a while, during which time Olivia turned six so the title ‘Age 5 going 15′ no longer applies – so I’ve renamed it Age ’6 going on 16′. It seems pretty appropriate at the moment but when she’s 16 she might complain at the idea of ‘Age 16 going on 26′! We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.
A picture by Olivia of Roberto, and excellent resemblance I thought, I think maybe it’s the hair that makes it
