Another update from England

Here in England now, it is Saturday afternoon about 2:15pm and I thought I would quickly update here so you can read about how good our trip is going. It has been such a wonderful visit and I am so thankful to God for allowing us to visit everyone. Seeing as I didn't blog yesterday, I will start with that.

I am not going to post any pictures of yesterday, but if you want to see, Bob has added a lot more to his Facebook page. :-)

Yesterday was Friday, and Uncle Pat took the day off work. In the morning after breakfast we headed over to Portsmouth and went to the Spinnaker Tower. It was really neat, the tower itself is 170m tall. (557 ft) Then at the one floor they have part of the floor is glass and so it looks like you are walking on air! I was the only one of the four of us that did it. I found the website, if you want to look, click here. You will see on the website that there is an elevator that goes on the outside of the tower, I was disapointed as it wasn't running when we were there. I would have gone it for sure! After, we went and looked at all the shops around there and had lunch at the old customs building. Then we headed back to the house, as Uncle Derrick was to pick Bob and I up around 2ish.

We got back to the house and got ready and as it turned out, Uncle Derrick didn't arrive til 3:45! It was really good to see him though, he brought Becky with him. She's my cousin and yet, I've never met her. She has a huge smile and so beautiful, she is 15 years old. After they picked us up, we headed off to see Aunty Ruth. (who is in Bournemouth) Aunty is now in a home for retired nurses, as she fell about a year ago now (Uncle Derrick said that was the first time she fell) and can't get around much without help. When we got there it was just about 5pm and Aunty was just about to have supper. She wasn't sure what to do as she normally eats in the cafeteria with all her friends. Uncle Derrick "pulled some strings" and she was able to eat a visiting room, so we were all able to be there and could visit while she ate. The visit started off great when Aunty told me that (and I quote) "in a million years, I never would have reconized you!" I didn't think I had changed that much in 5 years, but she didn't really seem to remember much Mum's and my visit 5 years ago, so maybe that is why! She apologized as she was eating and we weren't, and then she looked at Bob and then back to me and said, "oh, well - from the looks of the two of you, you don't really look like you need to eat anyway!" hahaha!! We had a good laugh to ourselves over that one and I remembered how Aunty has always been blunt and tells it like it is! It didn't bother me at all, that's how she is and I know that! It was funny though and did open the air for conversation! It was a good visit, we ended up staying about an hour, which was long enough for her. Bob took some pictures and has posted them on Facebook. I will try to post some on here later.

When we were done visiting Aunty, Uncle Derrick and Becky drove us back to Southampton. After we arrived at home Uncle Pat and Aunty Mary took us out to supper. As it was Uncle's birthday, we decided to go out and celebrate. I asked Uncle while we drove there if I could make a big fuss and get them to sing "Happy Birthday" to him, apparently it's not done over here....he said I was not to tell them!! hehe We had a very nice supper, it was like a buffet and had very good food! For dessert Bob had a "Knickerbocker Glory" and it was huge! It was a whole lot of ice cream and fruits, he couldn't even finish it all. After supper we came home and just visited it for a while and then off to bed!

This morning Bob and I slept in and didn't get up until after 9:00!! After breakfast we went for a drive and went to see Uncle John's house. (Uncle John isn't home now, so we just got to see the outside, but the house has been in the family for years!) Then we headed over to Aunty Joyce's house. Her son Ken, (Mum's cousin) comes in on Saturdays and takes her shopping and helps her make meals for the week. When we first got there, they weren't home yet from their shoppping and so we just hung around. They arrived about 5 minutes later, and so we went into the house and visited. It was so good to see Aunty Joyce, she reminds me so much of what I think Grandma would have been like if she had lived longer. I love just watching her talk and laugh, oh she loves to laugh! We only stayed for about an hour, but it was a good visit. I managed to take get some pictures of her, and Bob took some of her and I. Then my camera went dead, (I need to charge the battery) and so Aunty Mary took some picture of all of us. I will try and post some tonight!

After we were done visiting we headed for home, as Uncle needed to eat. We got home, had lunch and that brings us up to now. Uncle Pat has choir practice tonight and while he is there, we are having company over. Should be fun!