Top Drawer Family

Enjoying icecream on Thursteson Heath

Wright boets in charge

What a brilliant month we have had with the UK Wrights.  Cal, Kelv, Alex, Livvie and Kian thank you so much!  Meols (pronounced Mells) is beautiful, right on the harbour and if you take a little walk you actually look over the water and see Wales.  The Wirral was founded by Nordic Vikings back in the day who liked the shape of the harbour for viewing any incoming ships.  A study was done not long ago that found that around 50% of Wirralites still have Norse DNA running through their veins.   There is a great pub down the road from Kelv and Cal’s house called The Railway, they have found the remains of a Viking ship under the carpark there and now there is a big debate on whether to try and excavate it.   Inside the pub are lots of Viking tools etc that were found during the building of the pub.  We had some great weather and some typical English summer weather (wet but warm).  Our tour guides did a wonderful job and kept the kids very happy with loads of trips on child friendly adventures. 

Eagle

Leo and Mummy

Lady Spencer inspects her grounds

If you are ever in the Cheshire area you must go and visit the Icecream Farm, it has a petting zoo, a great indoor and outdoor play area, icecreams to die for, go-karts and a great atmosphere.  Nearby is Peckforton Castle and this is also a must.  It was built in the 1800’s as a replica of a medieval castle by a Lord who wanted it for his home and has since been refurbished as a luxury hotel, restaurant, wedding venue etc.  It is the only complete medieval (replica) castle in the UK and very majestic.  It also has the biggest falcons and owls I have ever seen on it’s grounds.  There was a bald headed eagle there that was almost twice the size of Spencer.  Thursteston  Heath is also a goody for the kids, lots of space to run, great views of Wales and of course the obligatory icecream!

Wright Whanau Leo's 3rd birthday

Birthday boy #1

Birthday boy #2

Meat Lovers

Leo celebrated his 3^rd birthday on 16 July, one day after his Uncle Kelvin (who is quick to point out that technically Leo arrived 1.30pm on the 15^th UK time so they in fact share their big days).  We held a wonderful party with a Lightning McQueen theme who is Leo’s latest passion.  We met some of Cal and Kelv’s mates and some of Cal’s family who we hadn’t met yet too.  Everyone was absolutely lovely and Leo was spoilt…somehow word had spread about Leo’s love affair with McQueen and he loved every minute of it.   Highlights for him were the Skype messages from Granny and Grandpa in Sth Africa and from Nana and cousin Charlie in NZ complete with Happy birthday songs, candles an balloons.   When everyone at the party sang Happy Birthday Leo was so excited, he actually couldn’t stop laughing and got quite emotional at the end…..what a treasure.  He had a brilliant day and a huge thanks to Cal for organising a lot of it and of course to Kelv for letting Lightning McQueen hi-jack his birthday BBQ.  Speaking of the BBQ, the price of the meat we bought blew Justin’s mind.  We went to a little boutique butcher on a farm in the middle of nowhere and got pork spare ribs (3kg’s) and 4kg’s of sirloin steak, thickly cut for a grand total of NZD$35.   No one was surprised when the Wright boys served themselves and there were no greens to be seen….bleddy saffie carnivores. 

We would also love to thank Alan and Chris (Cal’s folks) who kindly babysat all our kids so that we could get some adult time out together to celebrate Kelv’s birthday properly.  It was a very civilised affair  at a lovely restaurant in Hoylake called Portrait House especially compared to the last birthday we shared with Kelv which was his 26^th in London some 10 years ago!  Snakebites were replaced with fine dining and expensive wine.

Kian and Leo ready for school

Spencer enjoying time alone with toys

Leo was very lucky to receive a wonderful gift from the UK Wrights in the form of 3 half days of daycare/school with Kian his 2 yr old cousin.  Kian attends Kingsmead nursery and it is a beautiful place, set in a 100+ year old school with wonderful playgrounds and lots of activities, Leo came home with a hand painted mug for Daddy’s coffee, a Leo-designed pot plant holder and some painted chimes.  It also gave mummy and daddy some time to plan their USA leg of the trip (see  FOCUS blog)

Leo's masterpiece

Chester Town Square

Spencer and Aunty Cal on River Dee

Family shot under old Roman arch

Picnic in park

Squirrel!

Chester Flier

I love this shot

Leo and Uncle Kelv - cheers boetie

the kids

Spencer and Alex in beer garden

Chester town crier

Bridge of Sighs

Another very memorable trip was to Chester.  This is an old roman city which has retained the original city wall and several ruins.  It has been named an international cultural heritage city and it is truly beautiful.  The whole family came on this outing and we had a blast.  The day consisted of walking through the town with the kids, watching the town crier (who was quite funny and actually put an old lady on a walking frame in the stocks!), walking down the River Dee and picnicking in the park (squirrels galore) and we found a great miniature train ride for the kids called the Union Pacific Chester Flier which took us around the park.   They have done a really good job of retaining the old English village feel with the cobbled streets, original shop fronts and there are some really old pubs there.  The oldest one we saw was built in the 1300’s.   There is an old roman amphitheatre there which is quite something and the kids had a great time running about in it.  

 There is even an ancient bridge called The Bridge of Sighs because it was the bridge where 16^th Century prisoners had to walk across to recieve their last rites before being executed.  We finished off the day by buying some red wine from a fine wine cellar (for later in the evening) and a beer/wine beside some roman ruins.  When that wasn’t enough we headed to Parkgate for their infamous fish and chips and of course whilst we were waiting we found a great beer garden to indulge in one last beer/wine for the day.

Cuzzie fun

It was really awesome to spend such a long time with family, see where they live and meet the important people in their lives.  Watching the kids build relationships was also priceless, Leo and Kian quickly got over the initial cousin politeness and I think we can safely say that by the end of our holiday together they were treating each other like brothers complete with pushing, snatching and bullying.  Kelvin and Justin had more than a few laughs comparing them to themselves as young’uns.  Favourite games were running up and down the slide, the big swing at the local park, cars, bikes, watching Donald Duck and Cars (the movie).  Spencer loved to terrorise Kian by pulling his dummy out…waiting until he screamed for it and popping it back in.  She would then take his blankie and try and run off with it.  Kian would have none of it of course and caught her before she got too far and paid her back by constantly gate-crashing Uncle Justin’s lap during her story time.  Alex and Livvie were brilliant with the young ones, Alex spent a lot of time playing sport but always had time for the kids and Leo adored Livvie who would make things fun (like sliding down the slide through a blanket etc).  Spencer would dole out big cuddles for both of them and I think she remembered that Alex spent a lot of time in South Africa trying to teach her to walk because she seemed to have a very soft spot for him.  Thank you Kelv and Cal for such a wonderful time, the kids loved it and we all felt right at home.  Such generosity can only be repaid in kind so here’s to a trip out to NZ to see us (Leo is counting on it) soon.

On D-Day  Kelv dropped us off at the train station for the 2 hour journey back to Euston Station in London where we caught the underground and overland to the Kavanagh’s in Leatherhead.  Steve and Emma very kindly put us up for our final night in the UK before Steve dropped us at Heathrowe which was a huge help given the kids and all our luggage.

We really can’t thank our family and friends enough for looking after us so well and being such generous hosts.  It’s a bit scarey to be turning up at Newark Airport USA and not meeting anyone but we think we are up to it.

Let the next leg commence!