Catch-Up

We seem to have had a busy couple of weeks involving Legoland, a 21st birthday and a trip to Cornwall.

Legoland was fantastic......even for us adults. It was priceless to see the looks of sheer excitement on the faces of L and S as they literaly ran from one thing to another. The work that had gone into the building of some of the models was incredible. We found out that there are 6 full-time model makers and another 2 part-timers! I want that job!!! There was a life-size Darth Vader and an enormous Pharaoh amongst other things and of course Sams favourite ride was the one that involved getting very wet.

3 years ago when I was last here I was able to help Nikki celebrate her 18th and last week it was her 21st! How time flies! Her coach, CP, is enjoying the UK so much they are staying an extra week before heading to Belgium. N and fellow athlete, Erin are making the most of the endless footpaths and bridleways that allow them to stay off the roads. Graham was invited to do their long run with them and didn't do too badly.....reckons they covered 25km in 1hr 40, with a few stops to read the map! N very kindly came with her Mum and I on our run, but she did ride her bike and threatened to ride into the back of us if we slowed down too much!

We had a lovely long weekend just inside Cornwall, near Tavistock with Colin, Pam and the athletes.
The athletes had a track session in Plymouth on the Saturday, so the rest of us went too and some helped with time keeping while the sensible ones went and found a coffee (still not up tp NZ standards but 100 times better than Chilean)! Later we headed to The Hoe, where Sir Francis Drake was playing bowls as he spotted the Spanish Armada. Supposedly he finished his game and then headed off to sink most of the Spanish ships. Interestingly, seen as a hero by the English, while we were in Chile he was described as the biggest pirate to sail the seas!
We found a fabulous cheese shop in Tavistock and were able to sample before we made any decisions. We couldn't resist the one called Stinky Bishop and of course had to have some proper Stilton.

Being as far west as we were we decided to continue on to Falmouth to stay with some old friends who moved down there 3 or 4 years ago. We had a great time and had a look at St Michael Mount. We managed to get across to it via the causeway, but then the tide came in so we had to get the boat back!
We also managed to fit in the Eden Project which we all enjoyed. We spotted all sorts of NZ natives and loved the tropical biosphere (and not just because it was warm).

Back in Dorset now and Saturday involved 3 generations of Hamblin girls on a shopping trip! Need I say more except that one of my neices has incredible shopping stamina and that Grandma coped very well! Afterwards we met up with all the men (and boys), and took over the local Italian restaurant.

Today we hit the beach and the temperature hit 26 degrees. It must have been warm because even I swam and realised that the last time I swam in the sea was on Easter Island and it seemed such a long time ago. The boys did comment on the number of other people on the beach and my reply was, just wait till its school holidays!