My Biggest Achievement...My Family
My proudest achievement in this life is my family in the early seventies I found and fell instantly in love with Glenys, my childhood sweetheart. We started our family in November 1973 when we were blessed with the arrival of our oldest daughter Glenys Michelle, followed soon after in December 1974 by the arrival of our second daughter Coral. We then got married on the 8th February, 1975 a small but perfect wedding in Merthyr Tydfil registery office. A few years later our family continued to grow with the arrival of our son John in October 1978 and we concluded our immediate family in November 1979 with the arrival of Ann our youngest daughter.
We shared years of cherished family memories, bringing up a large family was always lots of fun and never a dull moment.
We have been fortunate to be blessed again from 2001 with the arrival of our grandchildren, each one holding a special bond and place in our hearts. The first to arrive in June, 2001 was Courtney followed 21weeks later by Abbie in November 2001, we then had a wait as the girls kept us on our feet and young, Mason followed in September 2006 and Dylan in March, 2009 (that evened the sides) then came Katie (our most determined ) in May 2011. We cherish every moment with them and are fortunate to be a huge part of their eveyday lives sharing many family days, days out and holidays together, many a happy memory made with us all.
Memories from the family
We remember the family holidays when we were young every September we would go to Porthcawl, which was always the windiest, wettest week of the year, our caravan then seemed top range a far cry from today's caravans, but this never stopped dad showing us all how to have fun, he would take us rock pooling, walks along the beach(wind swept I think it's called), fish and chips on the front, always meeting up with other members of the family and generally loads of fun and always ending the week on the shows.
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We also remember the fantastic Christmas times we have spent together, Dad loved this time of year, although he never got round to decorating the house until Christmas eve, as dad was dad and always in his time it came to December and he would decided the house needed an update, we are not just talking a lick of paint, he would move the stairs or change the doorways but he also made the decorating into a family tradition, we decorated together the whole family. Dad ensured the belief was always there and the fun Christmas morning, pretending to sleep not to go downstairs as the excitement rose with four children, when the hype of Christmas morning was over he always had special gifts hidden from Santa which kept the excitement going all day, Christmas day was family day and dad never changed this and no matter what, his traditions then always carried through until New Year's Eve where this again was family time and always a party for all of us to celebrate, his family was always top priority and we have many, many memories to cherish.
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Family Holidays, dad was always ready for any trip with mam, the children, grandchildren and also Lillian and was never happier than when we were all building memories together. He ensured that all the fairy tales came to life and childhood dreams became reality for us all, one of our fondest memories was in Disney when the grandchildren were looking for that special costume for their parties and could not decide which princess they would be, he stood in the shop trying dresses on over his head to show the girls what they would look like, he had all of us in stitches and the girls remember this day always. When it came to rides and keeping the magic alive with the rest he would take them all into Cinderella's dungeon and make them all believe the dragon was guarding the princess and to this day the younger children think the dragon is real. He loved going on any rides with the children showing his fear and giving a funny commentary to all, he certainly made all our childhoods special with too many memories to list.
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Another fond memory of ours is when we took Courtney and Abbie to Lapland in search for Santa, this was something dad always wanted to do and especially as mam the christmas kid would experience this too. We went with a group and had booked all the outdoor activities and clothing, upon arrival to Lapland it was magnificent , adults and children could not believe they had found Santa. After dinner in Mrs Claus's kitchen we were ready for some fun in the snow and meeting the reindeers and husky dogs, we went through to be fitted for our thermal suits etc, when we got there we could not believe the amount of clothing being given to us to go out eventually we all sat there all dressed for the occassion and all looking like the mitchelin man, we couldn't move from laughing at each other, eventually stopping and ready to go outdoors we turned the corner to walk out and faced a hill to climb up to get to the door. Now was it we were unfit, the weight and size of the clothing, or the fact we couldn't stop laughing at each other that it took us ages to get to that door (check out the photo of mam, dad and the girls) when we eventually got outside dad was the biggest kid and completed every activity, by the time we were going home he had convinced the children that he was Santa's brother!
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