July 31, 2012

Well, we're home again - we had such a lovely week away.
Before we headed home on Friday morning, we met up with my Uncle Frank and Aunty Joy at my Uncle Geoff and Aunty Sandra's house.
It was great seeing them all, and I kept getting real flashes of my dad as I was talking to my Uncle Geoff, which was strange and lovely.
Dad was the eldest of nine - he had five brothers and three sisters - and most of the brothers look very like my Grandpa - Dad's Dad.
But I've always thought that Geoff - the youngest brother - looked much more like my Grandma's father, and I never really thought of him as looking much like my dad at all.
But there were several times as we were chatting, that I literally gasped at the way he said something or a facial expression that was astonishingly like my dad.
I guess when Dad was here it was easier to notice the differences between them, whereas now he isn't with us any more, I can really see the similarities.
Since we got back, we've been pretty busy - Pete's back at work, I've been piling through all the holiday washing and trying to resurrect my desiccated plants which dried out last week while we were away, and Charlie's at holiday club at the village church this week so he's been out of the house early every day so far.
We managed to get to the park yesterday afternoon - Rosie had another go in a swing and Charlie had a paddle in the splashpad - we hadn't taken any swimming gear with us though so he couldn't get too wet! I promised we'll head back there with a towel and his swimming trunks when we get another hot day. (It's grey and rainy now though, so who knows when we'll get back there!)
Rosie's left front tooth is SOOOO nearly through. It's looked pretty bulgy and sore for a while now, but you can see the white starting to break the surface at last. It'll be nice when she's got teeth top and bottom - she's such a good eater, but it'll be much easier for her to bite off bits of food - I won't have to cut her such tiny bite-sized sandwiches!
We're enjoying watching the Olympics - Charlie's looking forward to the field events and the fencing, and he's stuck up Olympic posters all round his bedroom!
He can't wait to start his swimming lessons - he's got an Olympic towel all ready to take with him. I hope he gets the hang of it quite quickly - I think he's expecting to jump in and start swimming like Michael Phelps...
I can hardly believe we're into August tomorrow - the summer hols are flying by.