Another lovely Thai holiday is over

We were in Thailand for the third time in the past 12 months during most of June, once more visiting our son Peter and his family in Pattaya. We had a lovely time, as always, staying in a lovely condominium in Jomtien Beach that really felt like a home from home. We miss everyone there very much now that we are back in England. It is nice to be back in our proper home again though.

Retro computer and arcade games

As well as the Sonic and Mario games in my son Peter's FlashyOnlineGames.com site, there are also lots of retro computer and arcade games rendered in Flash so that you can play them online in your web browser.

Here are some classic 1980's computer games from the Commodore C64, Commodore Amiga and Sinclair ZX Spectrum:

  Great Giana Sisters

  Jetpac

  Nebulus

  R-Type

And here are some 1980's arcade games:

  Defender

  Space Invaders

  Centipede

  Missile Command

  Frogger

  Pac-Man

(See also here)

MarioWebGames.com and SonicWebGames.com

If you enjoy playing Super Mario Brothers and/or Sonic the Hedgehog games, take a look at these two blog posts highlighting some of the best free Mario and Sonic Flash games in the MarioWebGames.com and SonicWebGames.com sites:

Mario and Sonic game recommendations part 1

Mario and Sonic game recommendations part 2

Sonic and Mario online games

My son Peter's FlashyOnlineGames.com contains lots of Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario Bros. Flash online games. Here is a sample selection of them:

  New Super Mario Bros. Flash

  Super Mario 63

  Paper Mario World 2

  Super Smash Flash

  Super Mario Crossover

  Tuper Tario Tros

  Ultimate Flash Sonic

  Shadow the Hedgehog

  Sonic Match It

  Sonic Rush Adventure

(See also here)

Our Portugal travels continued

Continuing our diary of our travels to Portugal, it was interesting to see when driving through France the vineyards and fields of sunflowers (not the ones that grow many metres high!) these sunflowers only come waist high. They were dried out and done to a crisp - rather brown and curling at the edges. They were certainly ready for harvesting. Were these destined for bio fuel we wondered?

On to Spain - also fields of sunflowers ready for harvesting and hundreds of olive trees and many vineyards. You could never get blasé about the scenery - mountains as far as you could see - beautiful. Certainly worth the 1,600 miles journey there!

The one thing you notice in Portugal are the orange groves. At any time of year you will see oranges on the trees (we have been in December and were surprised to see oranges still growing). Of course the best time is the springtime when the blossom permeates the air. You can purchase bags of oranges varying in weight up to 10 kgs from the locals.

The beaches are truly stunning, with varied backdrops. You can find beaches that are private coves with enormous cliffs protecting them on the western Algarve, but on the eastern Algarve the beaches are easier to access, some with sand dunes and miles of pure golden sand to walk along.

Car parking is never a problem. Amazingly in the busy summer months you will still find parking spaces at mid-day! In the U.K you would be queueing miles back from the beach on a sunny day.

To be continued.....

Our Portugal travels

Well, we have been on our travels again. We have driven to Portugal on the Algarve, which is about 1,600 miles each way!

We crossed over to France via P&O Ferries to Calais, staying two nights in Le Touquet, then further into France and staying at a Campanile hotel near Bordeaux, and on to Spain, where we stayed at another Campanile hotel (one of only two in Spain) in Alcala de Henares - a suburb of Madrid with a beautiful square full of restaurants - very popular. We love it there and it gives us a respite from the hundreds of miles of driving on motorways.

The continental motorways are really quite good, not so much traffic as in the U.K even though there are usually only two lanes and not three. They are probably not used as much because of the toll charges - no camper vans - hooray! We noticed that the land became more and more arid as we got further into Spain, no wonder they have had those terrible fires. Every where looks as if is crying out for some rain.

We finally arrived in Altura, on the Algarve, right by the beach which is really beautiful, miles of golden sands and sand dunes. Altura is near Villa Real de San Antonia, right next to the Guadiana River which marks the border between Portugal and Spain. We are about 17 miles from Tavira which is always worth a visit, and 35 miles from Faro, the capital of the Algarve.

All of the towns have lovely little squares with cafes and bars where you can enjoy fresh local seafood, fresh orange juice, local beers, wines, etc. In the spring the square in Villa Real D.S.A. is full of the scent of orange blossom - heaven!

More to follow on our travels later.....

The FlashyOnlineGames.com site is live!

My son Peter has just launched his latest Flash online games site: FlashyOnlineGames.com

Back in England, missing Lily

We've been back home from our wonderful Thailand holiday for a week now, and both John and I are really missing our gorgeous granddaughter Lily. We're missing our son Peter, daughter-in-law Su and everyone else there too, but this was the first time we've ever seen Lily (of course, since she was only born in June). We hope to go back there again some time in the early part of next year.

First photos of our granddaughter Lily

Our son Peter posted these three lovely photos of beautiful baby Lily on his blog recently, the first one from the day after she was born and the second two when she went home yesterday:







Ahhh, how sweet! John and I are really looking forward to seeing Lily (and Peter and Su of course) when we go to Thailand in about one and a half weeks.

Our granddaughter Lily was born today!

Fantastic news - Lily Anne Inns, our first grandchild, was born in Thailand today! Mother Su and baby Lily are both fine, although Lily was born one month premature and so has to stay in hospital for a little while. Can't wait to see some photos!

We are going to Thailand to see Peter, Su and his family on July 12th, and we are staying for nearly a month. This was planned a long time ago around Lily's expected due date of late July, so it is really wonderful that she will already be there when we arrive!

We are going to be grandparents!

Happy New Year! And fingers crossed that all goes well - our son's wife Su is expecting a baby in July. This will be our first grandchild. So exciting!

Our son and daughter-in-law are with us in England now

Peter and Su arrived here from Thailand today and are staying over here for a month. It is so good to see them! It's been a year since John and I have seen Peter, and this is Su's first trip to England - the first time we have ever met her in person. She is lovely!

Lot's of fun family outings are planned of course, and Peter and Su are going to stay in London for one week too.

Disney-Pixar's Cars 2 is in UK cinemas now

It was released yesterday, a month after its US release. John and I really enjoy watching Pixar's films, especially last year's Toy Story 3, as well as the other computer animated films such as Shrek 4 from DreamWorks and Ice Age 3 from Blue-Sky. We'll probably wait until it comes out on DVD later in the year as we're not big fans of going to the cinema, although I am sure it will be excellent on a huge screen in 3D.

My son has a free online games website with some Lightning McQueen and Cars games in it, my favourites of which you can play below if you wish:

  Cars: Lightning McQueen's Desert Dash

  Cars: Tractor Tipping

  Cars: Radiator Springs Racing Demo

  Cars: Luigi and Guido's Tire Rush

  Cars: Luigi's Casa Della Tires

  Cars: Doc Hudson's Time Trial

What is Charlie Sheen doing?

I've always loved Charlie Sheen's sitcom "Two and a Half Men", I think it is one of the greatest TV comedy programs of all time. But, like so many fans of the series, I am very sad to see what has happened to Charlie recently. It is terrible to see him go completely off the rails, though of course this isn't the first time he's done that, as this article highlights all too well:

Charlie Sheen's most disgraceful moments

Paper Mario World online games

With the recent release of the latest game in the series, there are now two Paper Mario World games in the MarioSonicGames.com website.

Based on Nintendo's "Super Paper Mario" game mixed with gameplay elements from "Super Mario World", both games are very hard, providing really tough challenges. You can try them for yourself by clicking on these handy links:

  Paper Mario World 1

  Paper Mario World 2

Free online Dan Dare reprints

My son Peter has just posted some great links to classic Dan Dare story reprints that are available online for free:

Complete Dan Dare story reprints online

Free online games and desktop wallpaper

Here are two very useful illustrated lists of really good games and wallpapers that you can enjoy for free:

Free Online Games

Free Wallpaper Backgrounds

Busy, busy, busy

All of us in the Inns family are keeping extremely busy at the moment. After coming back from our holiday in Portugal last month John and I haven't stopped working here in England. And over in Thailand Peter and Su also tell me they're the same - no time to spare for any time off!

I haven't been able to get online much recently, but Peter's been working hard on his entertainment sites and has compiled this fun list of seasonal games:

Christmas online games

Am currently in Portugal

We needed a break so we decided to come to our apartment in the Algarve. The weather here is very nice for this time of year.

Congratulations Anne-Marie on the birth of your baby girl, Ria!

Love and best wishes to you, Ria and Eric. From Anne and John.

My son's online game websites

My son Peter runs some great free fun and games websites, and they are:

MarioSonicGames.com

Dan-Dare.org
(which includes the Disney.Dan-Dare.org
and the DreamWorks.Dan-Dare.org sites)

Dan-Dare.net

DanDare.org.uk

The top films ever in terms of box office receipts

I really like the Box Office Mojo website, it is jam-packed with pages and pages of interesting film information. I think the best section of the site is this:

All Time Worldwide Box Office Grosses

Currently James Cameron's Avatar from December last year (a film I really like) is number 1, with an incredible $2,730,200,000.00 in box office takings so far.

Other films I like which appear in the current top 10 are Pirates of the Caribbean with part 2 at number 4 and part 3 at number 8, Batman: The Dark Knight at number 6, and Harry Potter with part 1 at number 7, part 5 at number 9 and part 6 at number 10.

eBay and me

Like millions of other people I enjoy using eBay to buy and sell things from time to time, just for fun. I have been a member for over 5 years now. Here are my eBay profile pages:

eBay My World: tresham2005

eBay About Me: tresham2005

Toy Story 3 desktop wallpaper collection

Pixar's eagerly awaited latest film Toy Story 3 is released in the US today (though it won't be released here in the UK until July 23rd), and it has already received overwhelmingly positive reviews. It will certainly be very nice to see Woody, Buzz and the rest of the toys back in action 11 years after their previous outing.

Here are 16 Toy Story 3 desktop wallpaper pictures for you to use on your computer if you wish:

1024 x 768 pixels

1280 x 1024 pixels

1600 x 1200 pixels

1024 x 768 pixels

1280 x 1024 pixels

1600 x 1200 pixels

1024 x 768 pixels

1280 x 1024 pixels

1600 x 1200 pixels

1024 x 768 pixels

1280 x 1024 pixels

1600 x 1200 pixels

1024 x 768 pixels

1280 x 1024 pixels

1600 x 1200 pixels

1024 x 768 pixels

1280 x 1024 pixels

1600 x 1200 pixels

1024 x 768 pixels

1280 x 1024 pixels

1600 x 1200 pixels

1024 x 768 pixels

1280 x 1024 pixels

1600 x 1200 pixels

1024 x 768 pixels

1280 x 1024 pixels

1600 x 1200 pixels

1024 x 768 pixels

1280 x 1024 pixels

1600 x 1200 pixels

1024 x 768 pixels

1280 x 1024 pixels

1600 x 1200 pixels

1024 x 768 pixels

1280 x 1024 pixels

1600 x 1200 pixels

1024 x 768 pixels

1280 x 1024 pixels

1600 x 1200 pixels

1024 x 768 pixels

1280 x 1024 pixels

1600 x 1200 pixels

1024 x 768 pixels

1280 x 1024 pixels

1600 x 1200 pixels

1024 x 768 pixels

1280 x 1024 pixels

1600 x 1200 pixels

If you would like even more Toy Story 3 goodies, take a look at my son Peter's blog where you will find 16 free Toy Story 3 related Flash online games to play.

(See also here and here)