Last Sunday, the 16th, we all packed into cars and went to Ingatestone, where Lee & Alison now live with their children. There was a Horticultural Fair on for most of the afternoon, so we got to see a marching band, dog shows (not competitions, more like demonstrations of skills), kids races (Jonathan competed in the boys 6-7 years and was in the top third of finishers), etc. Kayleigh got to have an ice cream, which she just loves, and I managed to give my right foot a really good scrape on an old metal tent peg holding up the main tent. My feet would not qualify for any modeling jobs right now, that's for sure.
Upon leaving the fair, we all descended upon Ashcroft, the house that Lee & Alison purchased and are nearly completely redoing; they still have six months left to go of construction work. While it will be beautiful and spacious when complete, I have to admit it would get on my nerves after a while, having the work take so long. It is also jaw-dropping to me (and to a lot of other people) how expensive the housing is getting here in England. A couple of days ago I read in The Daily Telegraph that after the last rise in house prices (six thousand pounds last month), the average house price in England is now ten times that of the average annual salary. TEN TIMES! Which explains why so many people are still living with their parents--no one can afford to buy a house. Parents are having to loan their kids money, banks are offering 40, 50, and even 60-year mortgages--it's crazy.
Monday we headed up to London again, perhaps a little misguidedly as Jonathan was pretty tired just by the time we arrived there. Also it was hot. The average temperature for July is about 70, and the last few days it's been more than twenty degrees above that. With no air conditioning in buildings or the trains, it can get pretty uncomfortable. Luckily there is still a cool breeze, and at night it's lovely, and of course it's much better in the countryside than in the big city, but it's still hot. I was very pleased on Sunday to find that the last car Joy & Brian bought actually has air conditioning in it--yippee!
Anyway, in London we arrived outside Westminster Station just in time to hear Big Ben chime 11 a.m., always a beautiful sound. It was nice to see the Houses of Parliament; I think it's one of the most beautiful buildings I've ever seen. We went across Westminster Bridge and headed into the London Aquarium, where Kayleigh was delighted with all the fish and so was Jonathan. (Our friend Keaton caught up with us halfway through it and spent the rest of the afternoon with us.)
We walked by Westminster Abbey on our way to lunch but didn't go in since we were all tired, and neither Dale nor I thought Jonathan would be up to walking around the whole thing. Another trip for that, I guess. After lunch we went back to the Westminster Pier and Keaton treated us to a river cruise down to Tower Bridge. We didn't visit it or anything as we were running into the rush hour on the trains to get home, so we just headed on home.
Tuesday was spent just hanging around the house, although Dale & Jonathan did go over to Lake Meadows to kick the ball around in the evening. We all needed a rest day. Kayleigh spent lots of time helping Grandad water the flowers and cooing admirably at the bees in the hives in the side garden. I went up to town w/Kayleigh in the stroller and took a leisurely trip through the grocery store. I don't like this trend of finding the same brands in other countries that I have at home--I don't want to see Nivea and L'Oreal in the chemist's, I want to see local things that I can't get at home. Call me old-fashioned.
Today the four of us went to see where Glen's new job is, and we were most impressed. He now runs the snooker club in Madison Heights, the Leisure Center in Maldon. Normally you have to be a member to get in, but he had arranged for us to come in and for Jonathan and Kayleigh to play in the Monkey Puzzle for a while. That was hands down the coolest thing I have seen for kids to play on! It was hard to pull Jonathan off of it. Dale did have to get rescue Kayleigh from the biggest slide--she'd dived into it before I could say "boo" and then got stuck in one of the turns. I could hear her wailing echoing through the slide; Jonathan stayed with her until Dale got there. I was waiting for them at the bottom of the slide, and she was clamped onto Dale's chest like a little burr, and she didn't let go of it for about ten minutes. Interesting to see something get the measure of Kayleigh for a change!
We also walked about five minutes down the road to Promenade Park on the seaside. It didn't look like much since it was low tide and about all we could see was deep mud, but I thought it was beautiful. There were lots of boats, some old Thames river barges over 100 years old. Lots of seagulls and a flock of swans. The breeze coming off the ocean was cool, and the whole atmosphere was great. I miss the beach.
Tomorrow is Jonathan's birthday. Seven years old, my goodness. Hopefully he'll have a nice day.
The first full couple of days here have been spent settling in and getting a regular sleep rhythm (the first night Kayleigh was up until 2 a.m. doing handstands on the settee while Dale and I watched the clock tick by in disbelief). We've seen either Ben or Sam every day and Glen a couple of times too.
The first evening Ben & Sam came by together, and Kayleigh didn't think much of them then, but the next day Sam came over in the early afternoon and we all went down to Lake Meadows park together. He played ball with Kayleigh and cracked her armor by making her laugh, and by the end of the park outing she insisted on her "Nam" carrying her everywhere. It was cute to see her on his shoulders going around the park.
Dale has introduced Ben & Sam to the game of Pirates, and they have played it every time they've been together so far. The two of them are coming again this evening, and I'll be shocked if they don't play again :-).
Got to see Lee yesterday with his girls Eleanor and Annabelle (Christopher was still at school)--Kayleigh was completely enamored of her female cousins and they of her. It was really cute to see her in Eleanor's arms and on her hip (Eleanor's nine, and Annabelle is eight months younger than Jonathan). There was lots of giggling and running around.
Yesterday was also, of course, Dale's birthday. It was a pretty quiet day until the evening when Glen arrived with Ben and Sophie (Ben's girlfriend; they have a house together). We had a wonderful Indian takeaway and then a Cadbury Buttons cake for dessert. I hadn't met Sophie before. She is a very lovely girl and is studying to be a teacher. Ben's a lucky boy.
Today we had our first day trip--took the train up to Stratford and then got on the Docklands Light Railway out to Greenwich. Kayleigh was delighted with her first train rides, and Jonathan was very pleased to be back on them. The Docklands train is neat because you can ride right up at the front and pretend you are driving it.
When we got into Greenwich, we went right to the Cutty Sark, which was our reason for going there. It was a neat ship to be on and had a great collection of figureheads displayed. Then we went to the Spanish Galleon pub for lunch--I had a cod and leek fish cake that was delicious, and we also each had a pint of Spitfire.
After that we decided that while Jonathan might not find it all that fascinating, Dale and I couldn't live with going to Greenwich and not visiting the Prime Meridian. So we trucked off to the Royal Naval Observatory and were mightily impressed with what we found. The tour of the observatory was free, so we did that too. Very nicely done, with some great interactive exhibits that Jonathan enjoyed. The camera obscura was really, really cool. It's also where Edmond Halley, for whom Halley's Comet is named, is buried.
Then we made our way home, Kayleigh falling asleep on Dale for a while on the way. Since we've been home, Kayleigh has let herself out the back door to check on Grandad who was looking after his bees and scattered sand from Miami Beach that Joy had brought back from Florida all over the end bedroom. They couldn't say they weren't warned!
Well, we made our first transatlantic trip with all four of us, and I would have to describe it as successful.
The journey really began with our arrival at Rita's on Sunday afternoon. She and Grama fixed a lovely meal of roast beef and mashed potatoes (I'm sure she has a secret ingredient she puts in the potatoes--she says she just adds butter, milk, and salt, but that's what I do and mine don't taste like that), and then we had a nice evening having a chat. Dale watched the World Cup final that Rita had kindly recorded onto her DVR for him . . . unfortunately none of us thought to record the following program on the channel, and sure enough when the game went into overtime, the recording stopped and that was that. Dale bore it like a man, though.
Kayleigh was delighted to see her GG upon our arrival and even insisted on Grama feeding her the pasta I'd fixed for her. I explained that it was more likely to end up in her ear but she would have none of it, so when Grama said she was willing I capitulated and she crawled up onto Grama's lap. Between the two of them, they did a pretty good job!
Once Rita came home, though, she became the favored person. The last few weeks Kayleigh has been increasing the number of words she says, and one of her cutest that I had not heard before Sunday evening was "Rita".
While I'm not sure the night's sleep was exactly the peaceful rest Dale had envisioned (he was cold, Rita & I talked until late, Grama was making late-night trips to the bathroom, Kayleigh woke up crying and wouldn't settle down until Dale cuddled her, then Kathleen called at six-something on Monday morning, and another phone call not too long after that), it was still a huge weight off our minds not to be messing around with making a connection and changing terminals with both kids at DFW. Thank you, Rita & Leah, for volunteering to get us to the airport and picking us up when we return--and thanks to the lovely uncle who took us yesterday. (Kayleigh did not like the sight of him, though, no matter how much I explained that he was Aunt Jenny's Daddy and Magda's Boppa, she cried and said "bye bye" in hopes that he would go away. She was very tired.) Our plan had been to park in the remotest remote lot for $6 a day; it would have been horrifying had Uncle B. not taken us, since as we drove in to the airport there was a sign flashing "remote lots full" at us. Disaster narrowly averted.
Anyway, the flight was on time, and there were no major meltdowns on it. Kayleigh did try to climb over the back of her seat to get to the person behind her, who was playing peekaboo with her, but she could only make it halfway up the seat with her feet before Dale or I would pull her back down. She wouldn't settle for a long time, though, and drove Jonathan up the wall, as all he wanted to do was quietly look out his window (he was terribly excited about getting to England to see his Nanny and Grandad) without being bothered. Finally Curious George came on the TV screen, and she watched a good portion of that while sitting in my lap. Dale had been struck by a great inspiration and acquired a portable DVD player along with the two-hour DVD of Tom & Jerry, and both Jonathan & Kayleigh were thrilled and giggled away at it. When she did go to sleep, she slept on me for a little while and then I was able to lay her down on the seat next to me without disturbing her sleep. Oh joy! She slept there about four hours. Jonathan got only about two hours, poor lad, and again refused to go to sleep in the car on the way to Billericay b/c he was so looking forward to his arrival here.
Dale and I had speculated on how Kayleigh would behave upon seeing Nanny & Grandad in the flesh (she sees them frequently on the webcam but not in person since March of last year), but neither of us figured on what she actually did. I lifted her out of her car seat and set her on the sidewalk, and she looked up at Joy at the top of the steps by the front door, and without any hesitation she marched right up those steps all by herself, leaving Dale & me on the sidewalk, and went straight into Joy's outstretched arms and up on her hip. Apparently I was the only one who got teary :-).
It didn't take long at all before she was outside giving Brian work to do keeping her stones out of their drain and then playing with the honeypots in the foyer--she would pour him a cup of tea, he'd drink it and give it back, then they'd do it all over again. Firmly wrapped around her little finger! So Dale and I left her playing with Brian and Jonathan cuddled up with Joy and went up to the Coach & Horses for a lovely pub lunch (actually they were still serving a pub breakfast at 11:15 a.m., but that was just fine) and a pint. We ate out in the beer garden--the weather is just glorious here, all the windows and doors are open, and the sun is warm but there's coolness in the breeze (lows in the fifties, highs in the seventies).
After lunch, Dale and I went up in the High Street to stock upon toiletries that we'd decided to get here instead of carrying with us, and lo and behold upon coming out of the chemist's we heard a familiar voice--turned around and there were Jonathan & Joy, with Kayleigh fast asleep in the stroller (they'd come up to get things for the kids' lunch and a magazine for Jonathan). So we all went back home together, where Dale & I promptly went to sleep for a couple of hours and Joy sent Jonathan to sleep by telling him a story and stroking his face back on the bed.
So suffice it to say that the trip went as well as or better than could be expected, and it's just wonderful to be here. It doesn't feel at all like it's been more than six years since I was here. Ben should be here to see us in about 45 minutes, which will be great--last time I saw him, he was only 15 and now he's 21 and living with his girlfriend. Dale is asleep on a garden swing out by the roses, and Jonathan is giggling away at Tom & Jerry again. Kayleigh has been busy redistributing the money Brian keeps by the front door to make change when people buy honey, so I should probably go hunt that up.