On our own again...

Well you may have noticed that I haven't been keeping my blog updated very well lately. No excuses, but the fact is we've had houseguests for the past 4 weeks and haven't had a lot of time to spend on the computer. I am trying to catch up on uploading photos to get caught up again.

The PetParents just left today after 11 days here in London. It was a great visit, and I think they got a nice mix of sightseeing and visiting. See their blog for their side of things! PetDad posted descriptions of everything they did while they were here along with photos. It was great having them here and I have been a bit worried about whether I would get depressed once they left - but I think I will be ok because we're planning lots of trips through the fall and also the Singer and Serdic are coming in 2 weeks! And we're spending one of those weeks in Ireland! So still lots to look forward to. But it was hard to hang back and watch them walk away through security at Heathrow today...

While Noise and I had to work while they were here, we did manage to get some outings in. Most notably we spent a 3-day weekend in Cornwall. Although the weather was not fantastic (it could have been worse and rained the whole time...) we still had a great time and will have many good memories from this trip. We saw some beautiful scenery and some interesting places. We rented a car for the trip and a lot of the fun came from the driving. Some of the roads we were on were barely wide enough for our car, let alone the traffic coming the other way! But with only a few screams and just once when PetMom had to hide her eyes, we made our destinations. The PetParents brought their GPS and we loaded the European version of Streets and Trips onto our laptop so getting lost was never an option! I have uploaded the Cornwall photos here. We spent the first night in Penzance (the only pirates we saw seemed to be drunk, so we steered clear...), then the second night in a fantastic little village called Boscastle. This was near Tintagel where we visited the castle purported to be the birthplace of King Arthur. It was gorgeous there, but a lot of work to climb all the steps! We also visited St Ives, where we also had to climb down a mountain and back up again to our car. On the last day we stopped in Devon to visit Clovelly, an amazing little town built onto the side of a cliff. No cars are allowed in the town and it is a steep hike down a slippery cobbled lane to the town. It was raining while we walked down (and also while we walked back up!) but while we were down at the harbour the clouds cleared and the sun came out. Clovelly was one of my grandmother's favourite places, so we particularly wanted to visit there in her memory.

This weekend we made a day trip down to Bognor Regis on the southern coast. Close friends of our family (my grandparents' very good friends) live in the village of Felpham. We spent the afternoon there with J and his daughters and had a lovely lunch, then a walk down to the seaside. J has an amazing garden which hasn't changed much from when we last visited in 1995. In fact the whole house felt exactly the same. It was lovely to see them. I have posted some photos here.

Yesterday Noise had to work, but the PetParents and I went down to Trafalgar Square to watch the Olympic Closing Ceremonies on the big screen there. Of course the Olympic Flag was handed over to London to host the next Summer Games in 2012, so it was a bit of a party! It was a really neat experience to be part of the London crowd celebrating the beginning of their turn as hosts. We were glad we decided to go!

And now we're on our own again. The PetParents should be arriving home in just under 2 hours and then their trip will be complete. We are flying to Dublin a week today,and then a few days after we come back The Singer and Serdic will arrive! So much to look forward to! But for now I really must go finish the laundry! Until later!