James' cousins come to visit

Today was one of those days that was better than you could have hoped for. It was forecast to rain all day but as it turned out was full of sunshine, warmth, and fun.

We started the day with a cooked breakfast at Carluccio's. I had a wonderful array of mushrooms, eggs, ciabatta, tomatoes, and some parma ham. Merrilyn and James enjoyed some toast, criossant, and fig jam. We enjoyed sitting outside and watching James favorite cranes at work. He was lucky enough to see a driver descend from the cab via the stacked ladders.

After this feast we saw Laura in the downstairs delicatessen and stocked up on pasta, smallgoods, pesto, and bread.

My cousin Andrew and his family Suzanne, Kayley, and Ryan came to visit from Luton and arrived about 3pm. They have been in-country for a over a month but this is the first opportunity we had to catch up. James was thrilled to have some more friends to play with. Whilst the kids set about playing we sat back and enjoyed a beer and a chat.

The kids played well together. I think Kayley and Ryan had fun with some new toys. And James and Kayley plotted to set the Giraffe into orbit. [This is James' stuffed toy that sits on a spring at the end of his bed]. I walked in to find James at the opposite side of the room clutching his giraffe with a spring that had seen better days. Oh well - they were having a lot of fun.

We all set of for a walk to enjoy the sunshine. Out to the Long Walk and up to the Castle gates. Immediately Kayley and James set of running. Kayley climbed the gates and James did not hesitate. Whilst he'd climbed up to the lowest bar before he somehow gained the courage to follow his cousin up to the second rung.

From there we all head up to the Castle Hill to see the boom gates and bollards. Today there was quite a tourist throng so we battled through and down to the Thames for some yummy ice creams.

The kids enjoyed seeing the swans. Walking down the Thames we came across some food pellets on the path. Andrew and Kayley scooped them up and fed them to the swans. James stuck his finger out and - well - you can guess the result. No need for surgery though!

We ambled back towards a favorite pub - the King & Castle. Its an ideal place to kick back in the sun, enjoy a few beer and let the kids run wild. There was another family there and the had fun running off and exploring.

At about 6pm we made a move to the Don Beni - a gem of an Italian restaurant. We enjoyed some very tasty pasta and pizza. By about 7pm the kids had had enough so we made our way back to home. Kayley found James' rubber "sea anemone ". Andrew made everyone laugh by blowing the thing up to ridiculous proportions and trying to put it on the kid's heads. A fun day. James is looking forward to seeing his cousins again.

See the photos here.