OK, so I know we didn’t post anything while we were over in the UK, so here is a quick summary of the rest of our time over there…

We took a trip to Oxford to do a bit of clothes shopping and I dropped in on the Pru in Reading to have lunch and catch up with some old friends. It was really nice seeing them all again, although Nick, Matt and Colin weren’t there. I wanted to drop by again before we left, but we ran out of time. Sorry guys!

Norman and Shirley took us for a curry one night, it was fantastic and extra good for us because we don’t have many Indian restaurants here in NZ.

I put my IT skills to good use and caught a midnight dogfood thief in the act.

We caught the Central Line with Norman, Shirley, Cindi and Kei and did some sightseeing in London - something that neither Candi or had ever really done, despite living there for several years. Instead of taking the tube everywhere, we all walked. The weather was unseasonably warm and sunny and it was nice to be out and about. Sophie and Kei got on so well together, they played nicely and really seemed to enjoy each others company. I got some good photos of the day too, perhaps Sophie will enjoy looking at them when she is older. I still can’t quite believe how heavily fortified the entrance to Downing Street is (check out the cops with machine guns).

Week 2 was spent in Highcliffe with my parents. Natalie came down for a day too, great to see her. Wales won the rugby against England, so my Dad was happy

We drove down through the New Forest, but were a bit disappointed not to see any New Forest ponies this time, probably the wrong time of year.

We had a Sunday lunch at a pub near Stratford and some of the family from North Wales drove down to meet up with us; Kay, Guy, Liam and my Grandma. We had a great time catching up and they loved seeing Sophie - but it was over far too quickly. No pics online yet, but there may be soon.

My Mum and Dad both had time off work and we all went shopping at Castle Point shopping centre (if you’re not familiar with it, have a read about the car park and wonder about how much it is costing them to put right). Sophie got lots of lovely clothes and books bought for her by her Nanna and Pops.

We got to meet Su and Ceara for the first time, lovely to meet them ‘in the flesh’ and not through Skype. Hopefully they’ll manage to come over to NZ with Jed at some point.

We all went to the Bournemouth Aquarium and Sophie had a wonderful time - in fact we all enjoyed it. The best bit was going through the glass tunnels and seeing rays, turtles and sharks swimming overhead. Again, no pics online, but there may be some video to come.

We drove back to Epping via Basingstoke and dropped in on Auntie Lou (Sophie’s Godmother), who is now also Tigger’s step-mum. We took some pics while we were there - check them out on Flickr.

We spent another couple of days in Epping, then it was off to Heathrow for our journey home. But that’s a story I’m saving for another time - it deserves its own post!

If we didn’t get round to seeing *you* while we were in the UK, we’d like to apologise now. Two weeks really isn’t long and we did our best to share ourselves between families and geographic locations. If we had more time, we would have really liked to have seen more people, but as it was our time in the UK was really hectic. Hopefully we’ll get to meet up with more people next time we are over - or alternatively, you could always book a holiday in New Zealand? You know you would be made welcome over here and you could see for yourself what all the fuss is about!

Please everyone, stay in touch. Remember we are only a Skype call away - it’s FREE and you get video too