Sunday 27 July 2008

Greatham Family Picnic!

Thursday afternoon I made two different types of Thai marinade one I'd used before and one I found as a video recipe on a fantastic site called video-jug.

Friday morning before going out with Fleur and Shellie shopping I made some cakes ready for the picnic, I made cherry and coconut cakes and plain fairy cakes, I had wanted to make them butterfly cakes but I realized it wasn't practical to transport them that way. Friday afternoon I made Mexican Pastillos which are a sort of biscuit served at traditional Mexican weddings, we weren't really celebrating a wedding of any kind but it's a recipe I've wanted to try out for ages and so this was a good opportunity, they were quite nice but not what I'd been hoping for.

Late Friday after the worst of the pollen had settled we headed down to Greatham and arrived to find everyone sat out on the benches chatting and eating, we of course sat down and joined in. It was particulalrly lovely to spend time staring at the stars spotting shooters and lost satellites, i do miss that under the orange glow of London Town.

Saturday we got woken early by Fred trampling about the house excitedly however managed to get back to sleep and have a pretty good lie in as Edward was tired out from all his adventures the day before. I then went downstairs to find it full of people preparing food and so got going on my marinades, which didn't take too long as it mostly just involved smothering the meat in them and shoving it in the oven for a guess period of cooking time!


Luke had taken Edward out into the garden on his playmat, I went and sat out with him for a little while and Luke helped manhandle things like benches down to the picnic area. I then had to go and do my nebs and physio. By the time I'd finished that it was about kicking off time for the picnic hurrah!!

Food glorious food!!

Everyone had made really tasty things, someone in particular had made an exceptionally nice rice which I ate lots of, even little Edward joined in and had some pitta bread and tennis balls!



This was the first time Edward had met most of the family and it was really lovely how many people came over to admire him and congratulate us, I don't know if Luke really took it in as he is paranoid they all look down on him, but they all seemed sincere to me and genuinely pleased to welcome a new little member into the family. Edward of course lapped up the attention especially when it came from Harriet who is his favourite girlfriend!


There was a tennis tournament organised by Camilla which lots of people took part in including Fred and Luke, neither of them did well but they both had fun, though afterwards Luke felt utterly awful and had to go and lay down for most of the rest of the afternoon. The combination of the overdose of hayfever meds, tennis and heat got the better of him :o(



The picnic went on all afternoon though Edward and I had a bit of a nap up at the house half way through as it was all a bit much!

That evening was again lovely and chilled out, and I got to do lots of tidying in the kitchen which made me feel better as I'd felt guilty for skipping off earlier after having just done my bit, not that I could have done much if I'd stayed as there were so many people milling about.

Sunday morning Edward and I spent some time down at the pool with Thea, Harriet and Shambala though not too long as Luke decided it was best to head home as he was still feeling really bad and it was rubbish sitting inside sleeping while everyone else was outside. Although I would have liked to sunbathe a bit more I didn't mind too much as I know the instinct to 'crawl home when feeling crap' all too well.

It was a gorgeous sun-soaked weekend and I can't wait for our long stay later in the summer, I just hope it's as sunny so that Thea and I can catch some rays with the little sun-worshiping baby of gorgeousness :o)

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