Saturday 27th August

Finally got into bed around 2 am but had to take a sleeping pill when it reached 3am and eventually got some sleep!

A day of washing and putting things away as well as analysing the purchases.

Di, you will be pleased to know that Molly was wearing her new outfit today.
To all the rest of you kind people that we stayed with......guess what we did this afternoon....... We finally saw Harry Potter!!!!
Not as good as I expected.
Think I have waited too long!!
Still can't get my head around cooking so I managed the fried eggs to go with the ham and chips!!

Time for bed I think!!

Friday 26th August.

Up bright and early and Di kindly took us to JFK airport, passing Flushing Meadows and the US Open tennis which starts on Sunday.

We safely managed to get on the right flight at 9-35am which took approx 7 hours but with the time difference we landed close to 10pm?

Paul and Oscar were still up when we arrived home and it was so lovely to see them.

Thursday 25th August

Arrived back from Sarah and Jeremy's late last night on the Amtrak train. Very exciting and only just made it after we left the Harry Potter wand at the house and had to race back!!
Sorry Sarah, that was a bit too much excitement!!

Tried to have a morning on the beach but the thunder and rain finally drove us to the shopping mall (Much to Molly's delight!!) Her final trip to Abercrombie was much more fruitful and she has finally let go of her $$'s.

Decided to chill out this afternoon and watched Gulliver's Travels whilst eating popcorn.
Much more like a proper holiday!!
After a couple of games of air hockey the boys have retreated to play Lego and with Di in the kitchen, Molly and I are trying to squash the extra buys into the cases.
Unfortunately the Nerf guns are taking up rather a lot of space and I would rather not carry them onto the plane!!

Wednesday 24th August

Last day here and the sun is shining.
A breakfast of muffins and sweet sticky pastries was delicious.

We tried to get a photo of the Humming birds who come to feed on the verandah but we need Sarah's camera in action to capture them.
Lots of fun swimming in the pool before needing to retreat indoors for the cool.

As you can see, we need to leave now because we have tired Annie, Nelly and Jeremy out!!

Tuesday 23rd August

A lovely hot morning spent in and around the pool.
We had lunch around 1-30pm oblivious to the fact that an earthquake was occurring beneath our feet. We later discovered that the shock waves had gone as far as Maine and yet we hadn't noticed anything!

We had a more peaceful afternoon whilst Sarah worked although Tom and George did have a nerf gun battle!!

With a smiling Molly, we set off for the Outlet Mall. A number of good and worthwhile shops including Polo and Tommy Hilfiger, but Molly still has her full quota of money so that's not so good!
We forced Sarah to stop at a typical American diner and only one of us managed to finish the huge plates of food. The Long Island Iced Tea was rather delicious though and slipped down easily!

Unfortunately, we were now pretty tired and it was getting late. However, we had promised George a trip to Walmart and he wasn't going to let us forget. Straight to the nerf gun isle and George was happy! Not sure how I am going to transport two huge multiple firing nerf guns through customs though!!!
Home at last, children in bed and a cup of tea in hand. Peace!

Monday 22nd August

This has been one of those unexpected, but absolutely wonderful days.
Sarah took us all down to the Hamburg Yacht club, where the children and I took out the kayaks. George and I were in the double with Molly, Matt and Tom in the singles. The boys led us down part of the river which was very shallow and quite hard work against the wind but great fun.

We returned to the club for lunch where Sarah had managed to get in a few hours work.
We were the only ones in the club house so Tom inspired the others to be creative and he built an amazing little boat out of tin foil and sticks which was decorated by flags made by everyone. They were so busy we could hardly get them back outside again.

Swimming off the dock looked great fun but in my usual style, I stayed dry!

We jumped back in the kayaks for another paddle and had a lovely little adventure through a channel of reeds with beautiful butterflies, a stork, geese, hundreds of dragonflies and the boys saw a Great Grey Heron. We were searching for turtles but didn't manage to see one today.

Sarah took us down into the town of Old Lyme where we had the most delicious ice cream before we whizzed quickly home because Jeremy was about to join us for some extra fun on the river!

So with the car repacked and the water blaster inflated we headed out onto the river and the children had a blast. I think the pictures probably tell their own story. However, I have to add that the Bedfords are the only children to fall off!! Molly did an impression of a sky diver as she went into the water leaving George to then do an impression of whale riding!!

Calm evening boat trip!!