Leaving Cornwall

Cornwall is one of those unique gems where you go and love it but can only explain it to someone else who has been there... Here we are leaving Cornwall on a blue sky, sunny day!!! We are walking out to our airplane at the Newquay (pronounced New-Kee) Cornwall airport. From here, we flew up to London in the afternoon where we spent the night at the really comfortable Sofitel hotel at the Gatwick airport. It was the first hotel room where we stayed and all had our own bed... Actually, Curt and I shared (but that's a good thing) a great king size bed while each of the kids got a full bed. It was so cozy and exciting. We spent the night in preparation for our early departure out of Gatwick on July 4th to the US. It was great waking up and walking downstairs to the airport rather than a stressful car journey wondering if you've remembered everything and hoping you won't hit traffic.

Forgive me for my blog posts that are going to take you back and forth in time while I try and catch up on the last 7 weeks of our lives.

Terence Cornwall Photos

After surf camp, Terence wandered off by himself to explore a bit. He likes his alone time to explore and contemplate about life and the world. He found this great spot to watch the waves crash in. The funniest is that he sits like this all the time now. I call him Chinese when he does this as I always see the Chinese in China on the side of the roads squatting in this uncomfortable (for me) position.

Curt went out there and they sat and talked for almost an hour. Unfortunately the photo is a bit blurry as it was on my max zoom and from quite a distance away.

Group Photos

These are the few group photos that were taken during the week in Cornwall. Unfortunately, we never got around to organizing a full group photo with everyone. It was only the first day (Monday, June 30th) that we were ALL together. After that, people started going off in different directions: applying for new passports up in London, golfing adventures, boating trips, girls nights out, early departures, etc.

These are some of the girls. Ali, Mia (sisters of course), Harriett holding Tilly (sisters) and Daisy

Many of the kids after breakfast on Wednesday morning (July 2). I thought it was funny that Terence and Mia both did peace signs.

Another kids shot.

Adults - photo by Terence

Moms

Babysitting Fight

Mia and Ali both adore babies! The strangest thing is that Ali is still pretty much a baby in my eyes, however, when another smaller one is around she turns into such a big girl. Here they are fighting over taking care of (and lifting) baby Leah (1).

Then Terence comes down and scares them all:

Curt is always entertaining the kids. How does he carry one on the shoulder while running and pulling the other? At 40+ years of age? What a stud!

The girls loved this surfing in the watery sand.

Girls in the Waves

I love these 2 photos of the girls giving each other courage to hit the cold water and the big waves.

Daisy (8); Harriet (10); Mia (5)

Their chain is broken.

A Night out at Rick Stein's Seafood

Believe it or not, this night out was planned about 3 months ago.

On Kim's back deck

Drinking our Veuve champagne in Kim's kitchen.

Lobster time at the restaurant!

The Responsible Adults

Curt and me

Harry (Kim's dad); Jock and Jon

Kim after body surfing; Jock offering grub

Tracy and Jenny with their fancy wine cups; Jon on little disposable bbqs

Tracy; Jenny (playing Cricket with the kids)

some of the girls; Charlie dreaming

Kim with her mom, Carole; Curt and Matt

1st Day on Beach in Cornwall

As I mentioned in my previous post, Cornwall is a very special place. I'm going to have to share over a few posts as there were many pictures taken during all the fun in the sun, rain, clouds, wind, etc. The weather is never predictable in Cornwall.

This first set of photos and 1 video is just to show you one of the beaches we spent a day on with our very large group of friends.

Ali posing in front of the beach backdrop. We had to climb up to the cafe to use the toilets. On the way, we took this photo.

On the far end of the beach you can see our big group's beach party.

These last 2 are a few more of our crazy, big, fun group.

A short video during clean up. The sun felt great as it was slowly setting.

We had to clean up, get the kids home to showers and pjs as everyone was heading over to our house later for a house party. It was a great beach house party with pizza and spaghetti bolognese (Nicky's homemade) plus lots of wine and dancing. I love when the kids and adults (usually just the moms) all dance together.

Made it to the US

Today is the 6th day of our travel adventure. We spent Sunday - Thursday in the beautiful Cornwall, England. Our travel journey there wasn't the easiest. Cornwall is very remote and a tricky place to get to - probably the reason why it is such a treasure. We actually flew out of Bratislava airport on Ryan Air as it was cheaper and a bit better timing for us. The drive up was only about 2 hours (we got a lift in the Move One van). We flew to Stansted (one of the London airports) then changed to another Ryan Air flight straight into Newquay (Cornwall airport). Our first flight was about 3 hours and the second was about an hour. We ran into one challenge on the way (a missing passport) but won't get into that now as it's a long story. All was worked out with a one day trip up the US Embassy in London. It was Curt's passport so he went up solo.

At the Newquay airport we rented (or 'hired' as all my British friends say) a car and drove over to Nicky's big rental house where we were staying with her, Jock and their two adorable girls: Hannah (3 1/2) and Leah (1). Our good friends, the Coopers, own a home down there so they stayed there with our other British friends, the Taylors, who were back from their assignment in Panama. Another close family to us were also there as well as Kim's mom and dad (visiting from Glasgow). All together we had a reunion of 6 families - 13 kids all together. It was so fun and the kids loved getting together again and being together on the beach.

We had a big party on the beach two days in a row with wine and a bbq right on the beach. Terence and the rest of the boys took a 1/2 day surf class (with wet suits of course as it is England). Cornwall is famous for their surfing. Also during our stay Curt went out with a business colleague sailing for the day and the 6 girls sans hubbies and kids all went out to Rick Stein's famous Seafood restaurant in the beautiful Padstow.

The beaches in Cornwall are really picturesque. The planning permissions are tough to obtain so there are only a few homes and developments, which add to the charm.

Right now we are at Curt's Uncle Mike and Aunt Sally's home so I haven't yet downloaded any photos. I will do so as soon as I get the right USB cord (I accidentally brought the wrong one with me) and post them soon. We arrived last night after flying up on Thursday to London's Gatwick airport, spending the night at the beautiful Sofitel (attached to Gatwick's terminal so very convenient) hotel and flying from London - Cincinnati - Kansas City. We landed on America's birthday at 5:15pm. However, all 5 of us fell asleep at around 9:30pm before all the fireworks started. The kids were all incredible on the long, long journey and I was very proud of them.

In the meantime, here are the photos of where we just were on holiday.

Map of England. Cornwall is in the southern west tip.

Here's a close up. We were between Newquay and Padstow.

PS Today is Nana's 76th birthday (Curt's mom) so there are 28 of us going out for dinner. It's so great to be reunited with all the family and friends. The kids are in heaven.

PPS First morning of jetlag woke us all up at 5am. It's 9am now and we've already all showered, been for a long walk with Uncle Mike, Uncle Jim and their 2 golden retreivers (Blossom and Molly), had breakfast, played on the playground, watched some TV and now feel like it is lunch time as it's been a long am.