Our Week in Cornwall

We spent the last week of June in Cornwall to celebrate A's sister's birthday. It felt like a completely different country to me than being in England, but it was filled with pretty beaches, cute villages and lots of good ice cream.

Highlights included: my new obsession with crumpets, St. Ives, too much clotted cream, my other new obsession with cornish ice cream, a fun day foraging, cooking and eating with fat hen, these beach towels, and staying in this farmhouse (which I highly recommend if you are looking to stay in the Falmouth area).

Not so good: the baby licking sand off her hands (on multiple occasions & *I think liking it), double roundabouts, the baby teething for the majority of the trip = super unhappy, clingy, not fun

^^Poor thing, I can report that she is much happier now. 

Weekend Fun

^^This is my favorite family picture of us so far!

Though there were no 4th of July celebrations here, we still had a fun weekend with A's friend Toby visiting and family day at Rolls-Royce. Luckily the sun was out in between a few clouds and we were able to have a couple delicious meals too. 

 ^^ First we checked out the summer garden party in our neighborhood. A and Toby had some fun with the "soak-a-scout" game. Amélie on the other hand was exhausted. 

^^We had some pre-lunch ice cream while the sun was shining. 

 ^^Amélie was very happy to meet Toby. 

 ^^We had lunch at The White Swan, a pub in a small village called Bosham near us, that we have been wanting to try. It was well worth it and we had a really great meal. We shared this starter with homemade bread and chutneys. 

 ^^Next were salt baked prawns. 

^^For the main, I had the duck breast (yay for being able to eat meat less than well done!) while the boys had lamb. All of it was delicious and perfectly cooked. 

^^Back at home, these two had a little dance party to will.i.am and Miley. 

^^Then after dinner, these guys made us dessert - bread and butter pudding! and it was very good! 

^^The next morning, it was off to our favorite spot for breakfast, Wellies. It's so cute inside with chalkboards, jars, burlap and twine everywhere. 

^^The little one napped while we ate. 

^^The Full English is so good here with just the right amount of food. 

^^Friends since they were little. 

^^Next, we were off to Family Day at Rolls-Royce. 

^^It's very different from Ferrari as it's just one huge building with the officers and manufacturing. 

^^The assembly side of the building. 

^^We checked out some cars, but couldn't go on one of the chauffeured rides because of the little one. We'll have to wait until she's little bit older!

^^Then, we checked out the assembly line.

^^And saw lots of finished cars.

^^It was a beach theme, hence the fake beach and sun chairs. There were bbq stations, ice cream, a giant slide, a puppet show. Lots for the kids. 

^^Amélie decided she was too tired for it all, so we headed home. She did like the leather animal souvenir. 

^^Lastly to end the weekend, a chocolate chip ice cream sandwich, yum. 

Amélie has her immunizations tomorrow so hopefully she won't be in too much pain. Then we're off on our first family vacation to Wales later this week. I have so much to pack. I have a feeling I'm going to end up bringing everything since we are going by car! 

Our Virtual Baby Shower

Living in a new country with a baby on the way is hard. Especially when few of your family or friends are nearby. I am so lucky to have a friend like Dianne who coordinated a baby shower for me even being so far away from everyone. Complete with everyone via Google Hangout, decorations, games, presents and cupcakes, it was everything I could have wanted! 

^^Right before the shower, we had our first Sunday lunch since being in England. A's sister and her bf stayed over the weekend and took over the cooking. Plus there's A putting together the decorations.

^^Look at those Yorkshire puddings! So good! 

^^Filling up my plate and loading on the gravy. 

^^Yum

^^Then it was time to set up the computer & TV for the shower!

^^Andrea had fun with Google Effects. 

^^Here's the setup we had, facing the laptop/camera and seeing everyone on the TV. Notice A's cardboard construction to hang up some of the decorations since we have very high ceilings. It worked so that no one could see it except for those of us in the room! 

^^After a quick pregnancy update and baby trivia, it was time for the best part! I bought 5 different kinds of baby food for A to try. He didn't need the blindfold though! 

^^Lol, this may have been the cauliflower & cheese, it smelled so bad. Surprisingly he liked the fisherman's bake which was tuna, corn, tomatoes, etc. gross! I am definitely making my own baby food for Baby Senso! 

^^Next it was time for gifts, and A loved his Baby on Board sign for the car!

^^Checking out some of the gifts, these are the special edition UK Little Princess baby bottles, so cute! 

^^And we took a group screenshot with everyone, though a little blurry! 

^^After our goodbyes, it was time to devour these funfetti cupcakes complete with rainbow chip frosting I've been saving since it has been discontinued. 

^^Goofing around afterwards since A was not willing to pose for any pics. 

Thank you to everyone who joined the shower. 

Baby Senso is already so loved and spoiled and we cannot wait for her arrival!!

If you happen to live far away from a friend and are thinking about how to put together a shower, here is what Dianne included in our virtual baby shower to give you some ideas. It lasted a total of about one hour and included people from 4 time zones from the UK, Italy to Boston & Connecticut & Texas. 

• The best way to be able to see and hear everyone at the same time that is free is via Google Hangout. You can use up to 10 total accounts. We only had a couple of problems with people dropping in and out, but nothing too major. 
• Dianne sent me a box full of goodies including wrapped presents, decorations (the onesie garland & Baby Senso garland), and cards with wishes for the baby and words of encouragement. All with instructions on what to do with it all. 
• Once everyone was in the hangout here was the agenda: 
• Introductions
• Update on the pregnancy & baby 
• Baby Trivia (found here)
• Baby Food Game for Dad
• Opening Gifts
• Goodbyes
• It was the perfect way to get everyone together and even though we weren't in the same room, it was still a great celebration and would not have been possible without all of the coordination of Dianne! Thank you so much DL! :)