July was a busy month of socialising and holidaying. We were very excited to see our great friends Kate and Rob who were over here from Australia for a month. We had a great afternoon at Kate's Dads house sipping wine in the sunshine and reminiscing with old friends from our heady days in London. It was a brilliant day and Charlie got to meet Scarlett and Flo and discuss the joys of being 2.
Then Charlie and I had a few days away with my parents in Dorset staying in a fabulous boutique hotel near Corfe Castle Village. We spent a couple of afternoons on the lovely sandy beach in Swanage which Charlie adored and took me back to my childhood of making giant sandcastles and boats and generally chasing Charlie up and down the beach, it was wonderful. We also visited 2 castles, first one being Corfe Castle which was an amazing ruin sitting on the top of a mound and once at the top the views were spectacular. I have never known a 2 year old be so fascinated with such a piece of history but Charlie found the whole experience so brilliant and loved running at full speed down the hill to the cafe at the bottom.
The next castle was Lulworth and more of a stately home than a castle but did come complete with a 'fearless knight' and had very smooth wooden floors throughout which were just right for running around like a nutter (me not Charlie) Outside we found ourselves in the rain and heading for the smelly animal farm where we were deafened by the abundance of peacocks who were parading about the place. A quick tour of the farm and back to the hotel for dinner and a lovely bottle of local wine.
The following weekend was spent celebrating my sisters engagement to her boyfriend James. The threw a lunchtime party at my parents house and it was a great turnout of friends and family, lots of food and wine, good weather and a great celebration.
A few days later Kate and Rob came to stay and we had a great few days at the Oyster Festival, barbequing at home and spending time at the beach hut. Much wine was drunk and many stories told. Kate and I found our refereeing skills coming into play when having to break up the many fights between Charlie and Flo over who had what toy and Scarlett kept us informed of the situation by giving us regular updates of the state of play throughout the day. It was so fabulous to see the Duthies as always and we were sad to see them leave. However, Rob left us with a lasting impression of him encassed inside a red tunnel looking somewhat deranged and scary.
August 11th saw the entrance into the world of my gorgeous little niece Stella Winter. She arrived in splendid fashion at home following a water birth with not a drop of water spilt on the carpet (my brother has an obsession with water leakages) She is very tiny and very cute and certainly is her fathers daughter. I have had lots of cuddles and cannot wait for Charlie to meet her as he had to miss out on the first visit as he had chickenpox. She will be coming for her first outing to the seaside next weekend for a BBQ and i hope she will be wearing her party frock.
