Wednesday August 8th
I didn't sleep much the night before because I was so excited!! Grant's flight got in at 8:05am so I left the house at 6 to arrive and waited until just after 9 for him to show up! I way overplanned for his visit and had three backup plans typed out that he printed out in case anything went wrong in the airport with his flights or if we missed each other (perhaps I was paranoid from my trip over...) but everything went well and he came walking up after easily passing through customs and baggage! After a massive hug and kiss we found my car (I am rubbish at remembering where I park) and then started driving home! It was funny to drive Grant on the wrong side of the car and road because I am completely used to it now but it was strange for him. I didn't get lost at all, and an hour later we were at my house! The boys were in summer camp again last week so it was just us and the worker men working on the lodge when we got to the house which was nice because Grant was tired and the boys are very full-on. I gave Grant the tour and he laughed at the size of the boys' beds and was OBSESSED with the kitchen, which really is one of the most amazing ones! Grant took a bit of a nap while I cleaned the house, did some laundry (still have to work!) and then woke him up after just under 2 hours. He took a shower and then we went into Farnham so I could show him around. We walked around for a bit and then went up to the castle and went on an 'official' tour of the grounds with a cute elderly man who told us everything we ever wanted to know about England's history and the castle. It was fun and as soon as it was over it was time to go pick up the boys from summer camp! Grant waited in the car while I collected them so they didn't get overexcited. The boys were immediately obsessed with Grant and we went home and showed him around the garden! We took a walk to our tree hut and the super bouncy tree. We climbed trees and then all had a bounce on the tree before we went back to the house for some supper. I had promised the boys pizza and it is usually just us so we were all planned for supper when both Andrew and Pernille came home just in time to eat so we threw together a very random supper and talked. The boys had some dancing and then went to bed at the normal time. Grant was exhausted so he went straight to bed and I watched a movie before going to bed.
Thursday August 9th
Pernille took the boys to camp because she was meeting with some of the parents so Grant and I both slept in. When he finally woke up I made some lunch and then we went into Guildford and walked around the castle there and did a lot of window shopping, especially looking at every single watch. We didn't buy anything but it was fun to see the difference in the clothing! We stayed there for a few hours and then left and drove home for a bit before deciding to drive into Shere, one of the towns where the movie 'The Holiday' was filmed. It wasn't far away and we drove through the town for a bit but didn't leave enough time to explore because it was time to collect the boys from camp! We did some reading with the boys and played for a bit and then Grant and I made supper together while rotating playing with the boys. We were practically out of food at the house and the shopping wasn't arriving until 7:30pm that night so we ate a very random collection of food! Andrew got home for the end of dinner and we watched a movie before going to bed.
Friday August 10th
Oxford day! I woke up early and took the boys to summer camp while Grant slept in (big surprise) and then came home and cleaned the house while Grant got ready. We left the house with our map to Oxford and started our road trip! It took just over an hour to get there but was confusing once we got there on where to go/park so that took awhile for us to figure out! Once we did figure it out we were starvinggg so we decided to eat! We went to the pub called 'The Eagle and Child' which was the pub where J.R.R. Tolkin and C.S. Lewis used to get together and eat, drink and talk. Grant was SUPER excited about going here and I think he felt smarter :) It was really a nice English pub and the food was good! After eating we walked around and tried to figure Oxford out. There are so many colleges, we didn't know where to start! We walked around and found some shops and did a bit of tourist shopping before deciding to find Trinity College. It was easy to find and we decided to do a tour. The grounds were gorgeous and we decided that this was probably our favorite thing we had seen! There are only 230 undergrads and 80 graduate students but the buildings were all old and the gardens were extensive and beautiful! We then walked to Christ's Church but we did not go inside, we just kept walking all around Oxford. After staying for several hours, we decided to head back home. On the way home we went to Godalming, which is a town just past Guildford. It is the other place the movie 'The Holiday' was filmed when Cameron Diaz was in the town. When we got there, it was around 6:30pm and the town looked like a ghost town! There weren't people anywhere! It was so strange!! We took some pictures of the town and of the church that can be seen from the cottage and then went to a pub in town for dinner. After eating we headed back to the house and then Grant and I took a walk down to the village of Seale which is practically in the back garden! The path was marked with a hot pink sign warning us of foot and mouth disease and we should not be walking on the paths because we were inside the 'danger' area. It was fine though so we kept walking! The village is not very big and we took lots of pictures of ourselves at the church and had a good time walking around the buildings. The sun was setting so we headed back to the house and watched a movie before we went to bed.
Saturday August 11th
Today we went to London! We got up early and got ready and our stuff together and then left the house at 9am to catch our train from Guildford to London Waterloo. Our day was really full on and we saw a lot of things! We started off taking the tube to Westminster and got off straight in front of Big Ben and then walked over to the Houses of Parliament and then across the street to Westminster Abbey. We went inside Westminster with all of the other tourists and did a tour which was really amazing! Westminster Abbey was our favorite place in London. We then walked down to James Park and to Buckingham Palace. We saw the changing of the guards and took pictures in front of the palace before walking down the road to Trafalgar Square. While walking we saw a lot of damaged cars on the side of the road and because Grant is obsessed with cars, he started freaking out and taking pictures. There were four of five range rovers and several of the new Mercedes that hasn't come out yet all destroyed with the windows knocked out and bullet holes and such. There was a van called 'Movie Makers' nearby so we are trying to figure out what movie is being filmed that can afford a chase scene like that! Trafalgar Square was nice and there was an Indian Festival going on with music and dancing that Grant got into! There was also a strange statue of a naked pregnant lady with no arms that was HUGE which we found hilarious. We took some pictures and then went inside the National Gallery Museum and saw some of the big name paintings but then left because we wanted lunch. We went to Picadilly Circus and then pushed our way through the crowds on Regent Street to go to Cheers for lunch! Cheers was fun and there was a soccer game playing and it was really nice to rest our feet and plan out the rest of the day! After eating we took the tube to Notting Hill so we could get some pictures for Grant's mom who loves the movie!! We also stopped by Portabello Market and looked at antiques and all the old spoons and of course took more pictures. After that we took the tube to St. Paul's and then walked across Millenium Bridge to the other side and went to Shakespeare's Globe to try to get tickets to the show but it was all sold out so we walked next door to the Tate Modern and went inside to look at the art. There was a really fascinating display about cities around the world and comparing them with facts and photos and we looked at that for a long time. We then looked at some of the modern art and realized that we don't really get it. There were some really odd things like urinals and plain grey paintings and a bubble fountain. It was fun to look at it all with Grant but I am not sure we are really the 'modern art' kind of people. By this time it was just after 6:30pm and we decided to walk along the Thames River to the London Bridge and Tower Bridge to see the London Tower. The London Bridge was a big letdown for Grant because it was the most plain, boring bridge on the entire river! haha We then walked by the HMS Belfast and finally made it to the Tower Bridge with our aching feet and hobbled across to take some pictures of the London Tower. Thank goodness the tube stop was right next to it and we finally got to sit down while we traveled over to Oxford/Regent Streets to find a place to eat. As we walked down Regent Street we saw Brooks Brothers!! Grant's favorite store!!! We took some pictures and then ended up near Picadilly and found a nice looking restaurant to eat at! We were so happy to sit down and eat and had a fun time talking and eating and then ended up with some great special treats! haha. After eating we went back to Westminster and took some pictures of Big Ben and Westminster Abbey at night before taking the tube back to Waterloo to catch our train back to Guildford. We were so tired when we got home and our feet were throbbing, it felt amazing to go to sleep!!
Sunday August 12th
Today we slept in a bit and then headed to the station to get on a train down to Portsmouth Harbor, and then a ferry to the Isle of Wight. We were going to drive, but with the gas, parking and ferry tickets, it was a better deal to just take a train! I have to say, it was nice to ride the train! We packed light, in just one suitcase, so it was easy to travel! The train ride was nice and peaceful and it was fun to sit and talk and look at the countryside. When we arrived at Portsmouth Harbor, we got onto our ferry called the 'Fast Cat' which got us over to the island in just under 15 minutes!! We then waited at the end of the dock which was half a mile long for the train to take us into the town. We did not realize that our stop was literally a half a mile down the tracks and felt silly getting off after a good 30 second ride! It was confusing why the dock was so far out until we arrived on the shore and saw that there was no water anywhere!! For most of that half a mile all of the water was gone and the only thing you could see was the bottom of the sea! Even the boats in the harbor by the shore were literally sitting in the mud. We took pictures (big surprise) and seriously did not understand what was going on. We were hungry though so we walked up the giant hill about a mile to our bed and breakfast and checked in to the cutest room with seriously the cutest beds and the biggest bathroom! haha it was really nice and owned by the sweetest family who was very nice and happy :) After dropping our bag off, we were starving so we walked back down the High Street (like the main street of a town) to explore and find food. By this time it was around 4pm so the timing of eating was really awkward since it was kind of our lunch. We read in a book that there was a good place to eat called Appley Manor and tried to find it, but after walking around for 20minutes and not seeing anything we decided to go back to the town center and eat there. We got our food and a small glass of Pimms and also water. Pimms is an English drink that everyone here has told Grant he had to try so we split one so he could try it with our meal. It was ok but he will probably never have it again because it is something you have to get used to and not Grant's style. But its good he tried it! After we ate we walked all around the town of Ryde and then walked out really far on the sand where the water should have been and tried to figure it out. We sat on a bench for a few hours and talked and watched the sunset as well as the tide come back in and the water return to normal. Around 10 we decided to have dinner so we went to a cute little Italian place and got a pizza. The nice thing about European places is that they wait for you to ask for the bill and let you stay as late as you want so we stayed until midnight and then headed up to our place and went to bed.
Monday August 13th
The next morning we got up at 8am for breakfast and then got ready for the day and figured out our plans. We checked out and headed to the car rental because Grant was itching to drive a car. There were no problems and we were able to hire a brandnew Volkswagon Polo for the day! It was a manual which Grant loved and we headed off to Cowes, the town just a few miles away that is famous for sailing and had just had a massive sailing competition the weekend before! Grant drove really really well and we had no problems except for my navigation trying to find parking... Once we did we walked all around and were in complete awe of this town and all of the sailing things going on around us! There were private clubs everywhere and pubs and shops and we could not get enough. We walked around for a long while then found a nice cafe/pub to eat in and then walked around some more and looked at all the boats and people on the docks fishing. Grant was really good at self pics and threw my camera on the ground but luckily it did not break and was fine! We stayed at Cowes for the entire morning and afternoon but drove back to Ryde around 5 and drove to try to find the Appley Manor that we were determined to eat at. It was the most confusing thing EVER. But after finally calling them, asking around and then a 10 minute hike up a hill after ditching the car we found it. The food was good and it was a nice place and we were happy that we finally found it. After eating we walked around and sat in a park for a bit before turning in the car and heading out to the dock to catch our ferry back to Portsmouth Harbor for our train. We got on the train just after 8 and watched some of 'Casino Royale' before arriving at Guildford just over an hour later. We were exhausted from all our travelling and finished the movie before we went to bed.
Tuesday August 14th
Happy birthday Shana! Today I got up early because the boys were not in summer camp so I had them all day. Grant slept in, and so did Theo who was awake for a lot of the night with bad dreams. When the boys woke up and joined Henry and me we played some games, played some video games, cards and watched some movies. It was horrible weather outside so that was not an option. Theo attached himself to Grant the whole day and would not stop cuddling him and hugging him. It was a fun time and the day went by quickly with the boys acting the best I have ever seen them since I arrived in May. I made supper for us and the four of us ate. Andrew came home and one of his old friends Karen came by with her two children who played with my boys for a bit. After they left it was time for Henry and Theo to go to bed so they gave Grant big hugs and kisses and said good bye and then Grant and I left to go to an English pub for our last night together. We found the cutest place called 'The Jolly Farmer' right down the street from me and sat for a while with all the locals, who averaged around 60 years old. It was fun and we didn't stay very long because we had to get back to pack up Grant and go to bed early because we had to be up at 5 to leave at 6am for the airport. We had fun packing and talking and laughing and went to bed late.
Wednesday August 15th (today, happy birthday Heather!)
We set a million alarms to wake up and we both did and got ready. We left at 6am and go to the airport in just under an hour. I parked and went in with him and helped him check in and everything which was very fast and then had to say see ya later since I am staying here. Definitely not fun at all, but I am very glad that he came and I got to hang out with him!! I got back to the house just after 8:30 and then I have been with the boys all day but they have been playing outside like crazy and really miss Grant as well.
Well that was basically my last week! Amazing time, loads of pictures, lots of memories and a whole lot of fun :)
I hope everyone had a wonderful week and I am so jealous of all my pledge sisters moving into the house next week!! Adrianne don't get blown away by the storm and Danny congrats on the big win on your first game!
XX
