Autie Kate's Visit

 

     The summer roles on.  We have been consigned to San Diego for most of the summer because Abigail has summer school, and because Tim doesn't have much time off of work.  We've been trying to make the most of it.  We still try to do our hikes regularly, and we have some hiking buddies:  the awesome Sommers family.  Here we are on a typical hike, with the typical, beautiful scenery around Ramona:  

 

 

     We've also finished our baby quilt, finished reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone as a family, and had a lesson in pie making. There is something about being back in America that has made me rather obsessed with pie making:

 

     We've also finally started gardening! I know, I know, July is rather late to start planting things, but I have been told that California has a longer growing season than other places.  This year will have to be an experiment, I'm afraid: 

Samuel, Georgie, Eleanor and Verity finish planting the vegetable patch





     We had another British visitor recently:  one Arnie Kitsell!  We were so excited to have him. We knew him when we lived in Brampton, near Huntingdon.  He knew him through our church congregation there, and he was assigned to take care of our family when Tim was deployed to Afghanistan for four months in 2010.  Arnie is one of the nicest men I know, very unassuming,  and very funny.  He was in town on business, and he came for dinner.  I served him something I have been dying to make, a hazelnut meringue cake with chocolate and raspberries.  It looks a bit saggy, but it was amazing!

The fab Arnie Kitsell, with Imogen, Abigail, Samuel, Tim, Verity, Eleanor and Georgie Bleakley
 

     A few days later, Auntie Kate arrived for a two week visit!  Kate is Tim's little sister.  She lives in Australia, but goes back to the UK every year.  She stopped in San Diego on her way back to Australia from the UK.



     Tim had a day off of work, so we decided to take advantage of the time off and Go Somewhere.  Going Somewhere in America is not quite the same project as Going Somewhere in the UK.  It's very spread out here, you see, so Going Somewhere usually involves a lot of time in the car.  We did the best we could and took Kate to see one of the wonders of the world, the Grand Canyon, which is a 6 hour drive from here.  Well, Phoenix is a 6 hour drive from here, and we had an invitation to stay with some old friends there.  But Phoenix is another 4 hours from the Grand Canyon.  So it was quite a time investment to go up there, but it was definitely worth it.  The kids loved seeing the canyon, and we had a great time with the Kennedy's, our very gracious hosts.

Samuel, Holly, Verity, Imogen, Eleanor, Abigail, Tim, Georgiana and Kate Bleakley, all perched on top of a very high cliff



Abigail and Imogen with Josh Kennedy

Samuel and Eleanor under a cliff

Imogen, Abigail, Georgiana and Kate with Jemma and Josh Kennedy

Tim was quite taken with the condors of the Grand Canyon

A view of the Colorado river

The Grand Canyon at sunset

      Verity made a new, lifelong friend on the trip:  Emma Kennedy.  These two were absolutely inseparable:

 

 

     They walked around the Grand Canyon like this most of the time:

 



 



 

 

The Tim and Holly Bleakley family, with auntie Kate, enjoying the sunset

 

     We drove back down to Phoenix that evening.  We were presented with a lovely brunch the next morning - eggs, sausage, bacon, pancakes, fruit, orange juice - and then went to church with the Kennedy's.  We were having such a good time that we decided to throw caution to the wind and stay as long as possible in Phoenix.  Samuel and Abigail had to be back in San Diego the next day for summer school and soccor camp, so we decided that if we left at 9pm, that would get us home at 3am, just in time for a few hours sleep.  That gave us time to enjoy the company, have some lovely bacon butties, and roast marshmallows over an open fire in the Kennedy's back yard:

     A lovely end to a surprisingly relaxing weekend.  A change really is as good as a rest!