Today was lots of little trips for everyone.
In the morning, Joy, Irene (neighbor whose house Joy & Brian are sleeping at while we are here), and I went to the craft shop in Wickford. Lots of lovely neat things that aren’t sold in America. Many of them came home in my bag with me!
Arrived back home to Brian fixing a nice roast dinner and children happy. After lunch I played in Joy’s craft room and demonstrated using Opalite ink pads, fluid chalk, and Perfect Pearls on card and Stampbord.
Then we decided it was a shame not to go to the craft store at Barleylands, so we called Irene back over and took off. By this time Dale and Sam were about to head off to London to attend a Twenty20 cricket match, so Brian was in charge of the children. As we went out the door, I heard Kayleigh asking for an iced bun (Jonathan had eaten the last one at lunch) and Brian responding that fulfilling that request would require a trip up to town (which means a walk up the High Street to the grocery store).
We had another fun time at Pinnacle, and when we came home, we found Brian and Kayleigh in the kitchen having just finished making cupcakes together! Apparently both she and Jonathan saw some cupcake mixes on the shelves and talked their Grandad into getting them. Jonathan hasn’t made his yet, but Kayleigh had helped mix up the batter, spoon everything into the cupcake pan (while asking Brian if she could do it without his hand on hers, please), and help get them in the oven. They were baking on our return, and shortly afterwards he called her back into the kitchen to help make the icing and apply it and the decorations to the cupcakes. They were works of art.
About an hour after that, the kids and I went down to the train station for our first train ride of the trip. It wasn’t very long—just one stop to Shenfield where we changed platforms and caught a train to Chelmsford. Ben was waiting for us at the station, and we walked to his flat to see where he lives and to meet his kitty cat Lennie. It was nice to see his place and his kitty, who is very sweet and good-natured. Kayleigh, of course, was thrilled beyond words and showered the cat with more attention than he’d ever dreamed was possible.
Brian & Joy met us there with a plate of food for Ben, so we stayed for a little while to chat and then around 9 p.m. we drove home. Dale got back a little past ten and was still high from the cricket match, which was apparently one of the best ever. Finally it feels we are settling in!
Posted by elizabeth at July 8, 2008 07:12 PM