Summer Shenanigans - part 2

I started talking about my summer here, and realised that it was too much for one post. Here is July and August! June is all set and ready, but I'm waiting on a few photos from friends, so I'm posting this anachronistically - apologies.

One of the best parts about moving to England has been getting to see family, and this summer has truly illustrated that. I have been able to see lots of the Frosts and the Nashes since moving here, and am excited for trips to come. Also, I've been able to see Mum and Dad quite a bit too! My mum was over in England for a long time, and I saw her twice before my dad came out to join her, and I was able to hang out with them on a couple of different occasions.

We spent the weekend at Paul and Ann's - a couple with three boys around the same age as Sarah, Claire and myself - who have been friends with my parents since they met on holiday many years ago. We have done so many family vacations with the Inwoods, and now our parents continue that, meeting up with Paul and Ann multiple times throughout the year to continue vying for top position in their games tournament. Which, in case you don't know them, is super serious stuff - they have two traveling trophies, a set system of games, a notebook to log all of the scores, and, as they developed this summer, a contingency plan in case one of the four adults is unable to make the tournament - David would have first dibs on an Inwood opening, and I have first dibs on a Frost opening. It was a fun weekend and a nice chance to see all three of the Inwood boys!

One of the bays near Canary Wharf

The next weekend after that I was back in London for a night with my cousins Issy and Harry before heading off to the Four Seasons Canary Wharf. I had a lovely time chatting with Issy and playing games with Harry and Issy. Then, they took me to a delicious little cafe around the corner for a terrific, and cheap, breakfast! It's nice being able to get to know my cousins without years going by in between visits.

Mum and Nanny in the tunnel

Canary Wharf was a great time as I had never really explored that area before. Nanny came up to stay as well, and we had good food, walked around Canary Wharf, Greenwich and Stratford. We walked through an underground pedestrian tunnel under the Thames, which I didn't even know existed. We saw the Cutty Sark - a famous British clipper, walked through a cool market, and explored the Greenwich Visitors Centre. We also walked up to the Royal Observatory and saw the Greenwich Mean Time line - and we happened to be there at 1pm GMT in Daylight Savings, so noon in olden times!

Me by the GMT line

That was cool. It was also cool to visit Stratford and see the Olympic Park - it wasn't open to the public, but it was still cool to see the various stadiums. We also watched Andy Murray win Wimbledon in a pub there - it was so cool to see so many people get so invested into the game. There was a pair of Italians watching who did not initially want Murray to win, but by the end they were cheering for him too (hopefully not just from peer pressure).

The Velodrome and The Orbit at the Olympic Park

The last day there, we visited the Maritime Museum - which might be one of the best museums I've ever visited. It was really well laid out, very informational, and interactive. We spent 2.5 hours there and I could have easily stayed for hours more. There was a funny moment when we were just finishing watching a video when a siren started. It almost sounded like it could have been part of the video, but I quickly realised that it was actually a fire alarm (too much practice living in Residence Halls). Because of the timing, no one else realised, and so I was trying to convince people to evacuate until a docent came up to take over! You never really leave Student Affairs!

After that, Mum and Dad came back to Colchester with me for a lovely little visit that primarily involved getting things set up in my house - Thank You!! It was sad to see them go, but I knew I was going to see them in the beginning of August, so that wasn't so bad. Egypt was a fantastic trip that will get a post of its own. Link here!

One of the other great parts of the summer was that I was able to attend two weddings of two very lovely cousins! My cousin Amber got married to Darren at the end of June, on one of the first truly beautiful days of the year, a perfect setting for a lovely, fun day. And at the beginning of August, my cousin Sophie married Brandon in a gorgeous and love filled day. I will also post a weddings blog soon.

After coming back from Egypt, I was so happy to be able to meet up with my friend Dave, who has just embarked upon Semester at Sea as a staff member. Dave came out to England a little early, and we hung out in Colchester for a bit, and then made our way to London where we saw Spamalot (hilarious), explored Hyde Park, met up with his friend Kevin who is in acting school, and did lots of walking around. It was a really lovely, fun visit, although a bit too short.  I'm super jealous of all of his travels, if you don't know Semester at Sea, check out where they're headed!

Dave and me in front of Tower Bridge

And, finally, this past weekend was a bank holiday, so I went up to London to visit my aunt and uncle on my dad's side. They have two boys, aged 9 and 11, and we all went to Thorpe Park on the Saturday to hit the roller coasters! I absolutely love rides, and it was a good mix, as Helen, their mum, absolutely does not. It rained fairly steadily all morning, but didn't actually downpour until mid-afternoon. By that point we had gone on all of the main roller coasters and were content to head home (with a slight detour for a silent disco that the boys participated in - I'm not cool enough for that!) We spent the rest of the weekend hanging out, my Nanny came up for one night too. I brought my laptop which has Roller Coaster Tycoon on it, and that pretty much made me the boys' favourite person! George asked me if I would leave him the game and my laptop in my will, and Henry asked if I would just give it to them now! We also went to see the second installment of the Percy Jackson series, which was a fun movie.

And while that almost completely wraps up my summer, I am SUPER looking forward to a visit next month from Miles! There will most likely be a blog post specifically about that!