Celebration

Today is Mark's and my wedding anniversary and also cousin Folke's first birthday!

As we have a spot of summer again, we decided to make a day trip to the beach. We drove to Clacton in Essex, via lots of nice villages. Clacton is a typical British beach resort, quite tacky in places (you feel like you're in an episode of EastEnders), but has a long beach. We first sat down and had a picnic near the pier, where the beach wasnt great, but still nice. Then we walked along the promenade and got to the other end where there was lots of white sand. And a beach rugby competition. Vera had a great time exploring the sand, people watching and snacking.

On our way back we stopped in a place called Halstead and went to Prezzo for dinner. as it was just before 5 the place was very quiet and we had a very nice waiter. Child friendly place, with a kids menu, colouring books and pens. Vera had garlic bread with cheese, pizza and finished off with a bit of vanilla ice cream, all fed by herself. It was a day of celebration after all!

Party

I spent a few days in Belfast last week with work, for a conference. I was pleasently surprised by the place and mainly the hospitality. I would definately go back! After work we visited some great restaurants and pubs, such as the Cloth Ear, the John Hewitt etc. We also got a chance to visit the new Titanic Exhibition:
http://www.titanicbelfast.com/Navigation/The-Titanic-Experience.aspx
which was great!

It was lovely to come home though and see Vera and Mark again! Was greeted by a big smile and Vera has been in a great mood all weekend! Apart from a few sneezes, she seems to be bug free. Hallelujah!

On Saturday afternoon, we met all the NCT crowd at Cheeky Monkeys in Fulbourn to celebrate that they've all turned one. They had a great time playing and it's so cool to see how they develop their own personalities. Philip, QuingQuing and Ken's son, is like a little Houdini and has even managed to climb out of his cot bed!

We swapped presents, which we had done secret santa style, so Vera got a lovely summer dress. Now we just need summer to properly arrive so that she can wear all the lovely dresses she has!

Yesterday was another busy day, returned all the things we'd borrowed from Gabriella in the morning, work, gym, cooking, house work etc for the rest of the day.

Vera had a big mile stone yesterday though, she learnt to stand up and balance on her own! Mark has some great photos, which I'll upload later. She can manage to stand up for 20-30 seconds I love the look on her face when she does it, a mixture of pride, surprise and concentration!

Edinburgh

We've had a wonderful couple of days in Edinburgh with friends and staying in Joe & Barry's amazing flat! Joe and Barry have been so kind to Vera with loads of presents and kind thoughts. When we arrived it was all set up with a high chair and a travel cot!

We drove to Peterborough and got on the train there. Vera has been fighting a bug and/or the after effects of her jabs the previous week, so was quite cranky on the way up. She was in a good mood at times, but also a bit under the weather from time to time.

We had a great time though, all of us, hanging out with Joe and Barry, going for walks, popping into cafes and pubs!

These are Joe & Barry's photos - I will add some more later! I'm off to Belfast for work, back Thursday, so will write more then!

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Joe & Vera

 Out for a walk, looking a tad unimpressed ;-)

 Another strange look, this time in the Swedish cafe Hemma, just down from Mark's and my first joint flat in Edinburgh

 Meeting Susan and giving her a birthday hug

 Pasta & meatballs courtesy of Joe and Barry

 Joe & Vera

 Barry feeding Vera - although she was a bit off her food the whole time

 Vera and Barry

 Great photo by Barry

 Reading her farm animal book with daddy

Bath time!

Aren't these guys the cutest! I bet they won't be too pleased in 15 years or so :) 

Family visit

I haven't written properly about the wonderful visit from Sweden that we had over Vera's birthday and the Jubilee weekend. As you know mormor Gunnel and morfar Jean arrived on Tuesday 29th and spent Vera's birthday with us (see previous post). On the Thursday morning, I worked from home and at lunch time, we took Vera to Terina's and mum & dad to the train station. They were off to London to a Jubilee Concert at Royal Albert Hall, via Covent Garden. They had a great time!

On Friday, Vera spent all day with mormor and morfar, with plenty of walks and trips to the swings! We all had a lovely Indian curry on Friday night, hot enough for morfar Jean to enjoy!

On Saturday, mum & dad moved into a B&B and dad and I drove down to Heathrow to pick up Catrine and Folke. We got stuck in a bit of traffic going there, so parked up and walked into Terminal 3 just as Catrine and Folke arrived! They both looked so great and it was lovely to see them both! Folke is such a great character, a very chilled and cool baby, full of smiles and loves his food!

We all came back here, went for a walk around the village and had a look at the end of the village fair at the Stapleford recreation ground.

On Sunday we went shopping, while mum & dad were baking yummy savoury muffins, with bacon and goats cheese. At 12 noon, Mark, Vera, mum and I went over to the neighbour's indoor street party. It was ouring down with rain, and around 10 degrees. Such a shame. It would have been lovely to have been outdoors like last year. Nevertheless, we had a nice time socialising and Vera charmed most of the neighbours! We also celebrated Vera again with her first birthday cake!

We went for a walk in the rain in the afternoon, and popped into the Rose for an afternoon drink.

On Monday we all went into town on the train, did some shopping and had a nice lunch at Carluccio's. Vera and Folke were enjoying their pasta with pesto!

On Tuesday the weather was slightly improved so we went for a nice walk, although Gog Magog Farm was closed, so we had to make do with coffee and cup cakes at home.

We squeezed in some fish'n'chips in Whittlesford in the afternoon too.

On Wednesday morning, mum and I went down to Great Shelford Medical centre and Vera had her 12+13 months jabs. They have combined them into one now, so it was tough with one jab in one thigh and two in the other. But no side effects so far, although it can take up to 6-10 days...

Mark and I went back to work, so Vera and Folke had a great day playing with mormor, morfar and Catrine!

It was so great having them here and it makes me sad at the same time, as it reminds me of how much we're missing by living away from family. But we're very grateful and lucky to have family who we can visit and who visit us!

Some of the highlights for me were bath time, with Vera and Folke playing and getting some lovely cuddles from Folke

See you all soon in Mallorca!

Folke and Vera playing (Vera is rather aggressive it has to be sad and takes things from kind Folke)

 Vera and Folke checking out mormor and morfars B&B

 Catrine and Folke in the Rose

 Folke and dad

 Folke and Vera in Carluccio's nibbling on their bread starter :)