Summer in England with family part 1

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We have been in England for just over 2 weeks now and have really been making the most of our visit. So far, we have caught up with pretty much all our friends and family at least once, and are even being able to fit a second visit with some people!

We spent a lovely few days with Kerry and Mark and their boys (and bump!) as soon as we returned and then ventured off on British Rail (or whatever it's called these days!) to see Peter, Natalie and Daniel's house where Nanny awaited us. All this time, the sun shone and the cousins had lots of fun in the garden. After this, Ian and I spent a quiet week with Nanny in Boston spending a fortune. We have been able to ship a few more boxes to Shanghai and so had to buy lots of lovely things to put in them. A quick trip to Scunthorpe included a cuppa with our new great-nephew(!) Tyreece who was very cute.

Last Saturday we had the most amazing day where all the Thurston's rolled up at the Thatched Cottage in Sutterton to celebrate Nanny's 70th birthday. It was just wonderful to have everyone together and see how all the cousins are growing up. We stayed at the pub for a good 7 hours and they really looked after us, we would very much recommend it as a family friendly pub with great food. Nanny had a funky new pink camera and took loads of photos. She is currently being tutored by Ian into how to use a flash drive to take her photos into Boots to be developed. It is amazing that her expletives are not having her thrown off the park!!! To be honest, she is doing very well, I know she is hating every minute of it, but I also know she feels great when she has done it and when we have the pictures developed she will have some lovely memories of a fantastic summer.

This week we have had more lovely weather, and even had a quick BBQ reunion with the volcano chicks on Sunday, and been playing in the garden while Ian has been doing some planting and moving for Nanny. Last night we all set off for a long evening at Tolethorpe, the outdoor Shakespeare theatre at Stamford to see 'Much Ado about Nothing'. I have fond memories of visiting Tolethorpe with mum and dad years ago and really wanted the children to share the experience. We had been fearful of rain but had the most glorious summer's evening for our picnic. The performance started at 8pm and didn't finish until 11pm but the children were determined not to miss any of it. The play was fantastic and the actors were just brilliant, we all had a very enjoyable evening. They finally fell asleep half way home, still wrapped in their blankets.

Today we are relaxing and recovering from a busy few days. I have caught up with many of my friends and it makes me realise how lucky I am to have good friends. How lovely it is to create new friendships between our children now and to see those friendships grow....even if they are long distance ones! Ian is off to sample Uncle Sam's curry tomorrow and we await the arrival of Joseph this weekend so we can head over to North Lincolnshire for a few days to spend time with the Barnes part of the family. More fun and photos to follow...

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