Last Week in the UK

Cornwall Our next house!!

We're still having a great time in the UK. The last few days have been incredibly hot and lovely up round 27-28 degrees - pure bliss.

Since I last blogged - we had a week in Cornwall with Jo, Pat, Maia and Janet & John came up for a couple of days too. We had a lovely week - taking the kids out for lots of fun entertainment including swimming pools, water slides, the sea-side and very large indoor playgrounds with somewhat scary slides! Cornwall was great - we stayed in Fowey which was a very quaint & posh town. The photo above that looks like a castle - is in fact a private house - amazing huh - we tried our best to get in for a tour!!

Eva, Louisa, Martha, Emma & Me Skegness

Don't worry Grandad I can drive!!

Then we had a few more days in London - including a great BBQ to catch up with family friends. We then headed to Lincoln for the week to spend time with Rob's Dad and wife Deborah. Which was great as well - we had one day in Skegness a typical English seaside place which was interesting to say the least! I won't go into great detail - but I'm thankful that our beaches at home are left as just beaches with maybe a park or too! We also spent a day in Harrogate catching up with some of Rob's Uni friends and meeting new babies.

Emma in Ely with Nan Goodbyes to Jo, Pat & Maia today..

We also caught up with Nan a couple more times on the way and on the way back from Lincoln. We're now at the horrible part of the trip that we have to say goodbyes or see you soon to people which is always very hard... If only we could be torn in two or encourage everyone to move to NZ!!...

10 Things I am Loving about this Holiday!

*1* Well of course first is seeing Rob's family. It's wonderful seeing everyone and catching up and having quality time with them. Time over here is limited so it makes it even more precious the time we spend together. Also feeling very grateful for family - thankful that Rob's Dad contributed on the plane fares to get here, thankful for Janet & John for letting us use there car etc etc...

*2* London - after living here for 14 months there's something wonderful and familiar about returning here. Yesterday Rob and I went into central London (while Grandma Janet babysat - you don't want to take a pushchair into central London if you don't have to!!) And it was great the complete craziness, squashed sardine kinda feeling you get when your in London. It's just so huge and busy that it makes you feel tiny and for some strange reason it's a feeling I like sometimes!

*3* Seeing Maia and Emma together - priceless! They're great little friends. On Saturday we head to Cornwall with Jo, Pat & Maia so it will be great to see Emma and Maia play together for a whole week. It is of course great for us to meet our little gorgeous neice Maia too.

*4* Summer - there's been some gorgeous days and some hideous but this is my grateful list so I'll mention the good days! We've had some great days outside at places and Parks I never knew London had. On Tuesday Janet took us to Willows Farm - where you could feed the animals, go on rides as well as play on a big indoor playground. Emma went on her first ever ride and she couldn't stop smiling!

*5* Shopping! - It's got to be said! Even just to look - the shops are huge - and when I go in them I just want to inhale and absorb the whole experience! That may sound sick - but I know what I mean! I love going back to old favourites too - like NEXT, Monsoon, Ikea and the department stores over here are amazing. Marks & Spencers for example I am amazed looking round there food department - everything looks perfect - pricey but perfect! Yesterday we stood behind an obviously weathly lady as she easily spent 126 pounds (close to 300 NZ) on very little food!

*6* Playtime! I love standing back and just watching others play with Emma. Grandma Janet & John are loving playing with Emma - taking her to the park at every opportunity, Grandad also was great fun to play with in the Wendy House in Lincoln at the weekend. It melts my heart everytime I see Rob play with her too - just to see what a great & fun Dad he is.

*7* Seeing Nan especially! Rob's Nan wasn't very well round Christmas so we were a little worried before seeing her that she may appear older and frail - but I'm thankful to say that wasn't the case at all - she looks fantastic! After having a rough time with a bad leg - you wouldn't even know now!

*8* Catching up with friends! We still have more to see... But last night Rob saw some friends that he hasn't seen since he was 18! Courtesy of Facebook where they've all managed to make contact again - it was fun watching them all reconnecting and remembering the good old days!

*9* Meeting new babies! We still have more to meet. But tonight we meet Matteo now 11 months. Lovely to see so many families growing!

*10* Time together for us too! Rob especially has had a full on last 6 months - with directing a uni paper, doing 2 uni papers and working his usual 40+ hours a week!! It's nice being here together and not having to think about any of that. Or for me not having to be tired from jolly night shifts!

UK!!!

We made it!! And we're loving our holiday in England so far. Emma was fantastic on the plane - she wanted to sleep on me which made me uncomfortable but things could've been a lot worse. Our stop over in Singapore was a dream - swimming, sleeping and showering without leaving the airport - courtesy of an airport hotel.

We were greeted at the airport by Grandma Janet & John so first stop London. Janet has gone all out for Emma finding lots of cool retro toys up in the loft that Daddy use to play with as well as buying some other treasures like a tea-set and a dollies pushchair etc. Our first couple of days in London the weather was gorgeous so we enjoyed it by visiting parks, swimming, picnics etc. Aunty Jo and cousin Maia came to visit from Portsmouth on Monday - it was great finally meeting Maia. There's only 6 months between Maia and Emma and they've become great pals - copying each other and playing beautifully.

This last weekend we headed to Lincoln and caught up with Grandad and Aunty Deborah and Jo, Pat and Maia came too - so it was a great family time. Tim & Deborah live in the country and have a huge garden with a wendy house so the girls had a blast.

On the way to Lincoln we also called into Ely to visit Rob's Nan. We're always greeted there with a cup of tea, sandwiches and cakes. Emma loved meeting her Great Nan and they became friends very easily. We also visited Nan's sister Norma and son Rodney and crazy licky Suzy the dog.

So we're having a grand time - the weathers taken a turn for the worse but the thing I love about the rain is that it's just an excuse to go shopping!!! (Enough said... )