Final Days...

A final post about our trip, and oddly Blogger has scrambled all my pics up in the process of uploading them.  We had such a brilliant time in Devon. We were so lucky that the sun shined the entire time, and indeed it was outright hot. We spend our entire time at the beach or park, meeting with old friends and family. On the Thursday I met up with my old BFF Sam and her 4 year old daughter, Masie. We spent the entire time at the very cool park at Teignmouth as the kids ran around having a super, lovely time. We stayed with my sister, Bex, and Raf had a fabulous time with Archie (almost 6). They got on so well. 

That evening all of my sisters and the boys' cousins met in Teignmouth for chips and more playing. I also got to meet up with dear friends who I hadn't seen in 20 years! Crazy! 3 old school friends, Cath and her kids (who actually live in Singapore but they happened to be visiting) and Nikki and Ruth. Really lovely to catch up.

On Saturday we all headed to Coombe Cellars, a pub on the river down the road from where we used to live, and in fact a place where I think all of us have worked (including Rich when we were home for the summer as undergrads).

Here's Freya outside the pub...

The crazy cousins.

After some over-priced lunch, we headed out for a walk into nearby fields. I used to walk these fields with Melissa and our dog Bonnie. It's breath-taking.

And we managed to get everyone together for a final photo.

Friday night park-fun...

Fun Aunt!

And a lovely time at Bex's. The boys had a blast.

The cuties slept together in my sister's room. Bless Bex, she is 36 weeks pregnant!

Cousin fun...

Friend fun...

Cousin fun...

Friend fun...

Beautiful Teignmouth.

We headed back to Cheltenham that evening and then to the airport Sunday morning, very early. The flight back home was interesting - and sort of stressful as we were boarded for 2 hours before the plane even took off. Charlie slept for most of that time, which meant that he basically used his sleep quota before we left. Gah. He fell asleep 20 mins before we landed.... despite me trying to keep him awake. It meant that he was on fire for the bus trip back to Portland and of course was flat out in the car as soon as he was in his car seat.

But so worth it. Almost a month away and we left very tempted to return for good. We will see!