Garden of England

Our arrival in Kent was timed perfectly to coincide with Kaytie's birthday which we have managed to celebrate with her for the last three years.  During the day the extended family gathered to enjoy a very civilised lunch in the garden.  After putting the children all to bed the Hawkridge siblings gathered, with other halves, me, Richie, John and Lottie, for a night of cocktails and James Bond style raids round the garden with supersoakers!  Needless to say there were lots of aching muscles the next day!!  Especially from the older four!

After a slow recovery the next morning we took William and Oliver to Zoe, John and Chloe's new house to see it and meet their new housemates.

That evening William and Oliver and Charlie experienced camping for the first time with all of us and Alice.  All four children loved it and were delighted by the bbq breakfast the next morning.

The Hawkridge bandwagon then rolled on to John and Jo's at Bucket Nut.  From there we visited Pooh Bridge and, of course, played Pooh sticks. 

William even found Pooh's house.

We were also keen for the boys to see some wildlife, as they don't see much other than on the table in China, so we spent a day at the British Wildlife Centre.  The five cousins had lots of fun together spotting different animals and having a picnic.  We also had the chance to swim in the neighbours pool.  Unfortunatly it wasn't 30 degrees in the water and 35 degrees out of it so we suffered a bit and felt like we were swimming in the Arctic!!

Of course a visit to Bucket Nut wouldn't be complete without a huge curry!

Back in Blighty!

We were very excited to be heading back to the UK in time to see the second week of the Olympics.  The flight went smoothly with ice creams for the boys

and the only disruption was a man who played one note continuously on a wooden flute until he was asked to stop!!

The first weekend was spent in Guildford with the Smiths, Smiths, a Jarman and soon to be Jarman!  We had a fab night watching the Golds roll in for Team GB.   Sam then headed to Essex to work.  I made the most of live in babysitters and headed up to meet Sam, the Emmisons, the Jardines and the Browns for some cocktails etc. 

Beth and the mini Magees came to spend the day with us. We had lunch all together and took the children on a tour of our old haunts on the downs.










It was lovely to spend time outside with out being too hot or bitten to death.  William and Oliver loved playing in the garden and eating supper outside and Mum and I loved sipping G and Ts on the terrace looking at the sunsets over Guildford!

It was a perfect week to recover from the journey, catch up with some local friends and prepare for Anna's Hen weekend!

Anna's hen night and Antony's stag do took place on the first full weekend we were home. It was on the platform at Guildford station that I had my first China moment. The train pulled in and instead of waiting for people to disembark I barged on to the train with my suitcase! After a quick apology we settled ourselves in to the carridge and opened some champers!

Five of us spent the friday night in Reading warming up for the main event on the Saturday with a practice night out!

 Luckily Ellie had brought the crisps and coke and the hotel breakfast was good so we were able to recover the next day. The day was spent in a spa having various treatments and a long lunch. We then went out for a meal and hit the local nightspots, where everyone seeemed underage!

After returning to Guildford on the Sunday, Anna had an afternoon tea party for the hens who preferred not to be in a nightclub in Reading!

Ant's stag do was boating on the Norfolk broads and exploring the nightlife on offer in Great Yarmouth and Norwich.  A good time was had by all and they all made it home in one piece!

The following week Sam and I made another trip in to London to catch up with Louise and Dan (visiting from San Francisco) whom we hadn't seen for over two years.  It was just like old times with copious amounts of wine being drunk.  The night ended with promises to meet in Hawaii!

Oliver, William and I then headed over to Essex.   We caught up with the NCT lot and had a great day at the farm with all of the original babies plus a few more.  William and Oliver enjoyed teaching their friends how to pose for pictures 'Chinese style'!

After a couple of days staying with Ellie and Dan we moved on to Anna and Ant's where we also caught up with Tim and Sian followed by a night with the Magees before heading to Kent on our road trip of the South East!