We had a blast! A bonkers trip but it was awesome to catch up with family, friends see a little London and go to a top, top wedding. It was cold and a little wet but apart from that perfect. Thank you to you all for putting us up and making our first trip back in 2 years full of memories. Hopefully it won't be another two years and that we'll get to see more of you next time!

Noah was ill before we left and hadn't slept for two nights, by 3am on the eve of the flight we did wonder if we should actually go. We boarded the plane anyway, he fell asleep and Hector ate and watched ice trucks on the in-flight TV for several hours. Noah woke up and played with his toy aeroplane and shouted crash a lot and Hector ate more food. Both boys have now discovered Kit-kats courtesy of Qatar Air! We had a 4 hour run around in Doha and then left for Heathrow...more TV, food and sleeping so the twins were as good as gold. Nick also managed to catch up on a lot of films he's been meaning to watch for months.

We landed and had a posse waiting! Nicks parents and Jonathan and Kate were there which was a lovely surprise, a glass of wine and an OK magazine and everyone was happy! We went to see Thomas the Tank Engine the next day which the boys enjoyed although Noah was grumpy that someone wouldn't turn the air con off. For days he was cold and wanted Thai weather! Thomas was great and the following day we went and saw Jonathan and Kate's new place down in Woking for a huge family Easter party, lots of sparkling wine, chocolate, newspaper games, hunting eggs, betting and more sugar. It was noisy fun, a lovely party and such lovely chocolate! Thank you to Max and Kate the boys were kitted out for the weather, recognise the coats Val?! We then fed ducks with grandparents went to Wickstead park for train rides and to meet old friends from school, Nick played golf and we went to a farm...with toy tractors, cows, ostriches and crocodiles. We even went to an owl sanctuary and saw eagles eating mice (Hector liked that). Hector and Noah played with their cousins, Max, Lucas and Benedict and loved their company.

We did make it down to London and took the boys to see the dinosaurs, Noah had a melt down at lunchtime so we left and bizarrely they fell asleep outside Harvey Nichols, it was our wedding anniversary, so we dashed upto the fifth floor gobbled some champagne and they slept through. Perfect. We also enjoyed a night out too and Granny and Grandad kindly babysat AND managed to bath the boys. We then left the boys in their capable hands and went to Matt and Gemma's wedding.

WOW! In a real castle, Kenilworth and it was beautiful, a romantic ceremony (Nick did a reading) and both looked so so happy, Gemma's dress was gorgeous and Harry was a delight too. They picked the guests up in a vintage bus and the reception was perfect too. A lot of cocktails, bubbly and rubbish dancing, it was brilliant. We even all had breakfast the next day at the venue and it didn't look anything like how I remembered. The DJ played 'Rock DJ'. I love weddings and this was certainly worth 14 hrs on a plane.

We then went to Faye, Steve, Ember and Coean's for the second half of the holiday. Of course Granny and Grandad Ashby were there too, superb. Tears, and lots of young children playing nicely and Faye's house was soon a bundle of noise except at bedtime when the four of them attempted to sleep in the one bed! We celebrated Coean's birthday with a double decker bus filled with softplay action and a lovely driver, we all enjoyed cake (the most fantastic Bob the builder cake, made by Faye), singing and the boys had a lot more sugar, ensuring more chaos. We went to Pets Corner and had the place to ourselves... we walked in and bought 5 pairs of gloves. It was cold, but no rain and we went on the tractor ride a good 15 times. We went on the train at least 5 times and we were thrown out at closing time. Nick met up with his brother one day (and didn't get quite as drunk as last time and actually made it back home). We went to Granny and Grandad's for an egg hunt extraordinaire: Hector and Noah really believe the garden is full of real rabbits and chocolate. AND we did actually manage to fit it in the suitcase and bring it home AND WE EVEN HAVE SOME LEFT. We rolled our (decorated real) eggs (Ashby tradition) and smiled under dad's flagpole, the Thai flag was flying as we were in residence. Faye and I went shopping and sadly 2 weeks had flown by.

Hector enjoyed more ice trucks and food on the flight home and we were straight back to work after 2 hours sleep. It was worth it.

So we have now recovered, the boys are in school three days a week and swimming and loving it, but Lisa is leaving next week so we are off to Ampawa this weekend to all stay in a hotel and see the fireflies and the floating market, Nung has bought a new dress and Lisa is in for a treat, we will all miss her, very very much.

It is 43 degrees and Noah would like the air con on outside now.


http://www.patana.ac.th/BPSnet/blog/index.asp?id=381  boys blog at school, leave a comment!

http://www.patana.ac.th/BPSnet/blog/index.asp?id=220  My class blog

Thank you to you all and I am sorry Helen we never met up, it was a hectic 2 weeks.
The boys are still talking about their cousins, Thomas, eggs and buses. We had a wonderful time, congratulations Great Grandma and Mr and Mrs Hobbs. Thank you
x