Once we returned to G&G's we decided to take a shopping trip to Marks and Spencer's mainly to just get the kids out of the house. We bought me a swimsuit so I could actually do laps in the rugby club pool once we returned to Al Ain. Stuart got some socks and we got some boxers for Jack. It dawned on me that he wouldn't have enough for our France trip and we weren't sure if we would be able to wash at all.
We bought some groceries as well. I love the sweeties in the UK and they are a must have. I also bought some pate and some salami for Jack, which he and Millie devoured waiting for Grandma to pay for her groceries.
Once we got home the preparation for a Sunday roast went into high gear. Everyone pitched in. I actually helped by staying out of the kitchen and bringing in the washing. We ate lunch around 2 pm which consisted of every vegetable possible, pork roast, roasted potatoes and parsnips. Yum!
After lunch Stuart and I left for Eastbourne to meet up with our friends, Nathan and Craig. Nathan was my friend, when I lived in the UK, who would go anywhere with me. I adore him so. He and Craig came to our wedding and are friends to treasure forever.
We stopped in at their house first and had a drink and some pickies. Then we decided to head to the Beach Bar on the seafront.
We went back to their place and had a cup of tea, a little more of a chat, and a farewell just before 11 pm.
We got up Monday morning and headed to Portsmouth to see Stuart's paternal grandmother, Mimi. Sadly, Mimi is not as sharp as she used to be and is forgetting events and time frames in her life. She doesn't really know me because I met her after her memory started to fail her. Karen takes very good care of her when she is able to get to Portsmouth, but it's a 2 hour journey so it's not as often as it would be if Mimi lived in Bexhill, which I think will be the case in a short while.
We took her to lunch at a little bistro around the corner from her flat. . Stuart's Uncle Simon was there as well. He had never met Millie and had only seen Jack once when he came to Arizona in the spring of 2010, I think. He now lives in Thailand for part of the year and England the rest. He's a wanderer for sure.
Here is Uncle Simon with Stuart and the kids.
We left there around 4 pm because the kids were getting restless and it was a two hour journey home from Portsmouth. Unfortunately both kids fell asleep on the way back. I knew that would mean a late bed time.
Once we got home, Jack started learning to play happy birthday on the piano. He was thrilled, but gets so obsessed about things that sometimes, especially with sports, he doesn't want to fail. That coupled with his tiredness could have been disastrous. Fortunately, he learned the song quickly and we convinced him to end on a good note, no pun intended.
Once the kids had eaten a bite of supper and were bathed, I set them up in the den to watch a movie. I knew because they had slept virtually the entire trip home, they would not be going to bed anytime soon.
While they watched Shrek 2, we ate a curry meal we had purchased at Marks & Spencer the previous day. We have been on a bit of a food world tour. It will be nice to get home and stop the eating frenzie. But in the meantime I suppose we will just need to enjoy it.
Everyone was in bed by 10:30 pm and up on Tuesday morning by about 8 am. We left to go for a visit with Granny, in Eastbourne. We had told the kids we would be meeting Grandma and Grandpa at The Lamb, a pub, later in the day. On our way to Eastbourne, Millie said, 'I'm so excited to eat lamb today.' Stuart and I both started laughing and then told her we were actually eating at a pub called The Lamb, but if she wanted to eat lamb that would be okay as well. I will say that Millie has been a little more adventurous in her food selections this trip. She has eaten most vegetables and even pulled pork, which we called 'chicken' thinking she might be more likely to eat it.
Once we picked up Granny we headed to Berling Gap and Beachy Head. This is the cliff side of Eastbourne that is falling into the sea more and more each year. There was a visitor center that showed how much of the cliff falls over a ten year span. This particular area was used as a landing field during the war. It is amazing how the earth is eroding each year. The visitor center will not be there in the year 2035 because the earth will have fallen into the sea. Yikes!
We had a cup of tea and sat for a bit. We left for our pub lunch at the Lamb. We had wood fired pizza and a good, final chat with Granny. After lunch we ran her back to Eastbourne and then headed back to G&G's for the rest of the day.
The kids were bathed and ready for bed by 5 pm. Millie wanted Grandma and Grandpa to play in her band. She was a tyrant of a conductor, but they complied.
The kids were put down by about 7 pm and we just had left over bits for our dinner. It was great because we had a bit of many different things. We were in bed by about 11 pm and were up the next morning by 7 am to head to Mairsfield, where Granddad and Grandma Lyn live.
When we arrived we had coffee and then headed to Sheffiled Park, which is a National Trust site with trees all over the place. The kids climbed and hid in all parts of the park. It was the first time either of the kids had climbed a tree. As you can guess we had to rescue them a few times.
Tree climbing at its finest.
We sat and had a cream tea at the tea room there. After swatting away the wasps for a bit, we finished and left for Derry Bank, the name of Grandma and Grandad's homestead.
Once the kids were fed and in bed, we had curry that could burn a hole in a child's stomach. It was so hot yet so delicious. I'm not a fan of super spicy food but there is something a little euphoric about the spice that keeps you eating it. That was definitely the case with this particular meal. We retired around 11 pm.
Thursday was Millie's birthday. She came into our room just about 8 am and Stuart was just leaving with Jack and Grandad to go to Tesco, a local supermarket. When she found out they were going, she decided she wanted to go and then she started crying. Well, happy birthday! No one should cry on their birthday. So Stuart waited until I dressed her and brushed her hair, then she went with them as well.
Once they were back and everyone had eaten breakfast, we went to a place called Blackberry Farm. It was a play area with a lot of animals and a petting zoo. You could feed the animals as well as maneuver an obstacle course. The kids had a blast. 
The weather was a little spotty with rain and then burning with sunshine. That's English weather for you.
The bunny was also a highlight.
Guess who wants a bunny now?
Both kids loved the zip line.
Once we left Blackberry Farm we headed back to Derry Bank where Auntie Anna and her kids (Bella, Sophia, and Eliza) came over to help celebrate Millie's birthday.
There were many games played and the kids had a lot of fun. Jack loved Bella, and Millie and Sophia were cut from the same cloth, could care what anyone thinks of them. Ha! Here is a picture of the entire crew.
While the kids were eating their burgers and sauages, military choppers came SUPER close over Grandma and Grandad's house. We told Millie it was a special treat for her birthday. It was loud!
After cake and a few more games we decided to get all the kids clean so that Anna could just drive home and throw her three into bed. Unfortunately, trying to get jammies and everything else together that you need to get three girls sorted out for baths, Anna locked her keys in her car. Poor Anna!
Stuart ended up taking her back to her house, which was about a 35 minute journey, and bringing Barnes (his step brother) back to fetch the car. In the end I think Stuart was thrilled because then he got to spend a little bit more time with Barnes.
We had a late dinner because of the car dibacle, but it was fine. We didn't make it to bed until about 1 am, because as we often do, we started talking about really deep topics like assisted living. Don't ask!
Friday morning we got up, had breakfast, and headed to Hever Castle where Anne Bolen lived as a child. She was Henry VIII second wife who he beheaded. The castle was great. This was the first time that I really thought Jack learned from a cultural experience. Although he did have to ask a lot of questions. He kept asking the same one over again, 'What does 'divorced' mean?' Since Henry VIII had 6 wives, the word 'divorced' came up a few times.
Jack was able to practice his archery skills, which wasn't that bad, and both kids went through the water maze. The object of the maze was to be able to successfully walk through it without getting wet. Clearly we came with the anticipation of getting wet, as is seem from our selection of outfits.
It was a toasty day, which is saying a lot coming from me. After the water maze we grabbed a bite to eat at the cafeteria on the grounds. The crankiness went right away after that. And then we stopped at a lay by and had an ice cream for dessert.
Once the ice cream had dripped down both kids successfully, Huggies wipes came to the rescue and we were on our way back to Derry Bank. We arrived around half past four. Millie played with her dolls and Jack played a game on his phone, which is actually one of our old phones.
Around 5:30 pm the kids got the stink washed off of them, came downstairs for spaghetti, had a fun size chocolate bar, and then they were off to read books and turn in for the night. Millie was asleep before we finished Jack's book, which was just before 6:30 pm. She was a wiped out 4 year old. Jack then got to play Stuart's iPad for 10 minutes. He feels so grown up knowing he doesn't have to go to bed as early as Millie does.
I packed up all the things the kids had received as gifts from Grandad and Grandma, as well as Auntie Anna, and sat them by the door for Stuart to take back to his mum's. Since we were leaving from his dad's house to go to France, we had only brought the things that we needed for France and left our other bags at Highwoods, the name of Stuart's mum's house. Everyone in the UK seems to name their house. So since Stuart had to return our rental car on Saturday and the car place is close to his mum's, he was going to drop by the things we wouldn't need for France, like the gifts.
We had a lovely meat sauce with pasta and went to bed just after 10 pm, mainly because the night before had been such a late one. All of us were wiped out!
Stuart and his dad were up and out of the house by 8 am to take the rental car back to Bexhill. The kids and I lazed around for about 45 minutes after they left. I finally got ready just before 9 am and we all went downstairs. Grandma was having coffee and the kids had a bowl of cereal, or two if you are Jack.
The men returned just after 10 am and Lyn fixed us all eggs, sausages, black pudding, which I politely declined (google it and you will understand), toast, and baked beans. Of course the kids ate again, and as it was almost 11 am, we knew they could hold on until supper time with maybe an ice cream in between.
After brunch we went out into the garden to enjoy another cup of coffee. Stuart put up a little tent for the kids to play in while he and Andrew sorted and cleaned the BBQ grill. Stuart then took the kids to the front of the house to find Pooh sticks so we could go exploring in the hundred acre woods where Christopher Robin played.
We were then off to find Pooh Bridge and play Pooh sticks. The object of the game is to drop your sticks, at the same time, on one side of the bridge. Then you run to the other side of the bridge and anxiously await the sticks to come through in order to determine the winner. Apparently, Pooh and his friends played this game all the time in the hundred acre woods.
They are anxiously awaiting the sticks they tossed on the other side. Who will win? It was even for the number of times they played. Thank goodness!
We traveled on past the bridge to find a note from Pooh on his house it was very sweet and very Pooh-like.
This was the 'Town Hall' where Owl held court.
After our hundred acre exploration we headed to a pub for a beverage and some crisps. An English summer afternoon and a pint of cider is just what was needed after our Winnie the Pooh search.
Once we were refreshed we headed on the the Ashdown Forest information centre. There we saw some displays that told us about the wild life of the forest. The kids saw all kinds of skeletons of animals that once resided in this area.
We stopped off at the edge of the forest and had another ice cream. There is never enough ice cream to have. After a good wipe off we headed back to the house. On our way we happened on to a Cricket match, so we had to stop. We sat under a huge tree on a park bench. It was quintessentially English.
We didn't stay long, but got a brief lesson in cricket. Jack really enjoyed it and watched every part of it for the time we were there. Millie, however, just found a stick and tried to kill everyone with it.
Once we were back at the house, Lyn and I headed to Tesco for a few bits for dinner and for our travels to France on Sunday.
When I got back to the house the kids were crazy. They were so excited to go to France, or at least I told myself that was the reason for their manic behavior. About 30 minutes after we got home and the kids had played in the tent for a bit, I rallied them upstairs for a bath and shower.
Once they were clean they went back out to the tent and had their dinner. They were so excited to eat in the tent. They are all of their dinner and Jack are a donut and strawberries that followed. Millie are really well too. But Jack's appetite has increased this last week and we can't seem to feed him enough. Hello growth spurt!
Millie refused to look at me when I was taking the picture. She's not super cooperative these days when it comes to taking photos.
After their dinner they were off to bed. We had an early start the following morning so we needed them rested.
The evening for us was dinner as usual, passing pictures from phones to iPads and back again, and teaching some iPad/iPhone tricks to the grandparents. Then we were off to bed ourselves.
The holiday is going too quickly, but there is still the France trip which begins on Sunday. Stay tuned for more adventures.
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