Elliot's First Year

I can't believe a year has passed since Elliot arrived, looking back to early videos of him it's amazing to see how much he has changed and grown. His personality has really started to emerge in the last few weeks, as well as an obsession for cars and an eagerness to throw himself head-first into dangerous situations (he'll make a great snowboarder).

Here is a compilation of a few of the videos we took over his first year.



Happy birthday!

Esbjörn Svensson Trio Live

Last week Clare and I went to Warwick Arts Centre to watch E.S.T. play live. The Swedish three piece played an awesome jazz set, I particularly like the way they mixed traditional grand piano, double bass and drums with modern effects units, such as delay, overdrive and phaser, to achieve some brilliant 'soundscapes' (for want of a less poncy word).

Anyway, the video above is from another concert, but if you get the chance to see them live, I recommend it.

http://www.myspace.com/esbjornsvenssontrio

Holidays

Clare and I had a two-stage holiday this year, starting with 5 days by Lake Garda in northern Italy.



View the Lake Garda album


We then spent a week by the Coast in Wales, with Heather, Joe, Steve and Kim. The holiday involved the usual rounds of 'Ring of Fire', with a vocal accompaniment on the Sing-Star (my singing skills, whilst very entertaining, do not seem to score many points - I need to have a word with Sony about their customer acceptance testing). We also did some walking, went into a dragon infested cave and sat on the beach. Awesome.



View the Wales album


Whilst in Wales, Heather and Joe treated Clare and I to an afternoon of mountain boarding, as part of a 30th birthday present. It was excellent, and surprisingly easy to pick up. Sadly confidence got the better of me and it didn't take me long to sprain an ankle. It didn't stop me though - can't wait to have another go. Here's a video montage of our boarding skills:

Castle run video

Josh shot some video while I was doing the castle run, and compiled it into this excellent movie.

There are also some photos here.

Thanks Josh.

Suits you sir...

I don't think the large number of gadgets do him any favours, but you can't knock the originality.