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Trip to the UK Part 2
12th August - 12th September
2007
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The remainder of our time in the UK was split
between Christine's Dad Joe in Cheshire and the Rees family down in
Wales.
In Cheshire we got the opportunity to keep
our hand in at wall-papering, a skill not often needed aboard a
yacht. We managed to redecorate three rooms at Joe's house,
leaving him free to battle against the menacing stinging nettles in the
garden.
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Joe's transatlantic
cleaning service
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Joe ponders if maybe the
nettles are winning!
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Back down in Wales, it was our turn to get
involved in some gardening, as the garden at Phil's Mum's house in
Crickhowell had become quite a jungle with all the wet weather in the
UK. We spent a couple of days crawling through the
undergrowth trying to get things more under control before nephew James and
family would move in. The move came more quickly than we had
expected and we found ourselves homeless in Wales!
Luckily Phil's sister Rae, kindly allowed us to use her home as our base for
the rest of our visit.
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Battling the Crickhowell
Jungle
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Of course when you spend so much time away from
the grandchildren, you need to make up for lost time and do your share of
baby-sitting! We found ourselves at Tracy and Nathan's
house in charge of James, Polly and Gareth on several
occasions. Responsibility for three small children
in their parents absence, plus dog Bandit was quite a challenge for the
unaccustomed. Just to add to the fun, some kind person had
dropped two tiny kittens over the back fence, which also had to be taken
care of until a new home was found for them. The result was
bedlam!
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Small, big and bigger kids
debate what to do with the two kittens!
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We loved being able to spend so much time in
person with the grandchildren, when normally we are only able to talk to
them with the webcam. It was amazing that they had become
accustomed to seeing us on Skype and had no problems at all recognising us
when we first arrived. The plan devised by James for us all to
visit and try out all the toys in three parks in one day, turned out to be
exhausting for everybody! It was great to be around for Gareth's
first birthday too!
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Polly's first helming
lesson
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Gareth, birthday boy,
wonders what all the fuss is about.
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After our recent spate of bereavements, we had
been hoping that this would be a visit home not fraught with
grief. It was with shock and horror that we learnt of the sudden
death of Rae's son-in-law, Neil, at the age of 41. It was with
great sadness and still in disbelief that we found ourselves at his funeral
in London.
In tribute to her late husband, who had been
promised motorbike lessons for his birthday, Emma somehow managed to find a
motorbike and sidecar hearse for the occasion. Emma and
their three young sons coped very bravely at the well-attended
funeral. Neil was much loved and would be greatly missed
by family and friends.
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Neil
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Back in Wales at our new base at Rae's house, we
decided to get some air by taking a walk up the Sugarloaf Mountain in
Abergavenny. The walk turned out to be somewhat more
challenging than we'd anticipated but we picked a fabulous day on which to
enjoy the stunning views from the top. It only took a few
days to recover!
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Climbing the Sugarloaf
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The 3rd of September had come and gone and we
were becoming nervous as the date of our return flight to Anju was rapidly
approaching, with no sign of the arrival of the new
grandchild. Poor Jo-Ann, at only about five foot tall was
now almost as wide but was keeping in remarkably good
spirits. We visited as often as we could trying to
convince grandbaby it was time to come see his grandpa Dodo but it was not
to be. Iwan stubbornly refused to arrive in the world
until after a Caesarian almost a week after we'd got back to Florida, we
would have to make do with contact via Skype until our next trip
home. Almost 10lb baby Iwan made his Skype debut at only a
few days old!
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Jo-Ann and Iwan before and
after!
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