June - half year eve

Crikey... We're almost halfway through July and June seems a distant memory...

June marked the start of summer. School restarted after the mid term break and it has been an action packed half term for the girls.  A and H headed to the beach on a school trip to Weston Super Mare for a day and had a blast - ice-creams, sandcastles, donkey rides, bouncy castles... They had a gorgeous day for it and so much fun. Later in the month L also had a Kindy trip to a farm - after the big girls' school trip she was counting down the sleeps. She came home with an egg collected from a chicken, beaming from ear to ear. In other school activities, H started football coaching which she relished and L also had her first induction visit at school in the final days of the month.

A managed to give herself a huge black eye early on in the month and then went on to loose two more teeth (after the one lost late in May). She was quite the sight for a few weeks. She has also been reading like crazy and her two sisters are also loving books. H celebrated her 6th birthday and we had a wonderful weekend away at the time. The two of us also enjoyed spending an afternoon shopping for a birthday outfit - as gifted by a family friend. No surprise that the minute we came across a Zebra top the search was over.

On the home front we tried to leave for school one Monday morning only to find the car battery had died completely. Thanks to our wonderful neighbours we had the car turned around and jump-started within a few minutes and at school barely a minute or two later than we would usually be. Which is still well on time :) The next day one of the tyres was practically flat... So two visits in two days to the mechanic and we had a new battery and a new tyre to replace the broken flat one. The landlord also arranged to have the patio replaced and we now have a lovely outdoor space for summer evenings.

This month I pulled out the sewing machine to test a pattern for my clever friend Juliet. First time in 5 months. It was so good and just what was needed. The in-flight quilt was also finally bound and is now in use...just need to find a place to photograph it properly before writing about it. There wasn't very much progress on the crochet project but it did see the light of day at a catch-up with a lovely new friend, where we enjoyed getting to know each other more over a cuppa or two, some knitting and crochet :)

Speaking of friends we also received a few surprise and lovely parcels from NZ, along with great Skype and Facetime calls. We made some new friends and acquaintances with the people in our cul-de-sac by doing a cookie drop to them all. Another fun and encouraging exercise that has been so rewarding already.

Our one trip away was arranged to catch up with dear friends who were visiting England briefly. We made a weekend of it, starting with a dinner with old friends from NZ (who also live here now) on the Friday evening, an awesome and super fun day at Legoland on the Saturday, and on Sunday a drive through Oxford followed by a visit to the Cotswold Wildlife Park and Gardens, topped off with a special few hours with our visiting friends. Back home late that night but full of joy from a fantastic weekend.

It was a good month.
L xx