Oh, crap. I've just realized I didn't send Andrea a birthday card or even a message on facebook... How does she do it? She travels all the time and always at least emails me on my birthday. I even got a "Happy Anniversary" message from her this week on facebook. I am a rotten friend.
Today Andy and Teresa got a lot of wedding preparations out of the way. She and I went out first thing this morning to run errands, and then when we came home, the boys took the cake up to the hotel. Andy carried the cake downstairs (he looked petrified he would trip) and Jonathan balanced it on his lap while Teresa and I followed with the children in her car.
We drove up to the hotel, Charlotte House, and Teresa went inside before me and then by the time I got to the door, Jonathan met me coming out. He had a nervous look on his face.
"OhmyGoddddd the cake..." I think I said, but he quickly told me the cake was fine, but Teresa was crying. I am sure it was just all of the stress of the wedding catching up with her. I have been so amazed by how cool and collected she has been all week. So Jonathan and I took Gabriella on a walk with us, to get all three of us out of the way for a while so the bride and groom could sort out all of the last minute details with the hotel.
Gabriella looked adorable! She had on purple Mary Jane shoes and the huge white sunglasses Jonathan and I gave her. She and Jonathan walked around inside the cathedral while I went into the giftshop to buy a jar of gooseberry and elderflower jam for Susan. She and Shelton told us not to buy them anything but-- hello -- they are watching the children for us for almost two weeks so we wanted to bring them something, even if it is small. We had already bought some clotted cream fudge for Shelton in a shop in Lincoln. It says "World's Greatest Grandad" on the box.
I caught up with Jonathan and Gabriella and we made our way outside. We walked around Bailgate in the sunshine and it was so funny because we bumped into Andy and Teresa's friend, Chris, the archaeologist! We thanked him for recommending the museum to us and told him how much we enjoyed it. It was just so funny that we know like 7 people in England and managed to bump into one of them!
Anyway. We walked around with Gabriella for a bit. She was looking for "ladybirds and antses" on the ground and then she spied an ice cream shop.
"That shop we passed sells ice cream," she announced.
"Oh?" I said, looking at Jonathan.
"It sells strawberry ice cream," she clarified.
"Well, then, we must get some," Jonathan said and like that we were inside the shop buying Gabriella a strawberry ice cream cone!
We found a little clearing nearby, former site of The Church of St. John Something-or-other, and I took about a million pictures of Gabriella eating her ice cream.
After we all met up again, Teresa and I came back home with Edward while the boys took Gabriella and ran some more wedding errands. Teresa tidied the house a bit and talked on the phone a lot about the wedding while I tried to keep Edward occupied. She made us all a delicious tikka masala for dinner and we had trifle for dessert.
Andy and Jonathan drove to the train station tonight to pick up Dustin's parents, Ron and Shelley. They came here and we all talked and caught up for a while until the yawning got out of control! It is so nice, though, when you like your friend's parents for them selves and not just because they are so-and-so's parents!
I am looking forward to seeing Teresa's family again tomorrow - her parents and Linsey and Ed. I feel so comfortable around them all now and I just like them so much.
Tomorrow will be busy. I need to get to sleep already! Teresa and I are running more errands in the morning and then I need to somehow get J + I all packed so Teresa can clean this room. Jonathan and I are sleeping at Ed and Linsey's tomorrow night and then at the hotel after the wedding so tonight is my last night in this house.
I cannot wait to see Blue and Lion. I will probably never stop kissing their faces when I see them.
3 more days...
3 comments:
Erin - I'm really enjoying your trip. Sherwood Forest - wow! Interesting how the traditions are different - the rehearsal was so far in advance - is there a rehearsal dinner? Teresa sounds like wonder woman, handling a wedding, a birthday and Easter (plus house guests) all in one week. And she keeps turning out great meals to boot! So very cool that you ran into someone you knew. The picture of Gabriella eating ice cream got me wondering. English cream is so famous but you never hear about the ice cream. Glad Dustin's parents made it, hope Dustin did too. Can't wait to hear all about the wedding!
Mom
I did have some ice cream on my last trip when we were at the horse races. It was Jersey Cream flavor and it is my favorite ice cream now. Cold Stone Creamery sells a cream flavored ice cream that is similar. Tastes like cream puff filling. So good.
They don't do rehearsal dinners there. And the rehearsal as a result was much more casual than ours. Everyone wore jeans. Which was nice since that was about all I brought!
And, yes, Teresa was amazing. She likes her house spotless so the poor girl was also cleaning the entire time we were there. I have no idea how she managed!
OK, I'm way behind, but that photo of Jonathan and the little girl with the ice cream is precious. He was born to be a father...
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