School events and the never ending driving - Friday 13th - 26th September

We flew back from Ireland in time for the Headmaster's cocktail party on Friday, with a quick 20 minute slot to see Charlotte just before.  She seemed to be settling in very well but also very happy to see us. She was getting used to a lot of new things - new school, new subjects and teachers, new activities, new friends, new home, new routine (with no mummy to organise her) and living away from mummy and daddy.... I think sometimes we forget how difficult it might be.

We checked into a nice AirBNB place in Shoreham-on-Sea overlooking the sea (the first of many future nights)

Back to the school for family breakfast (along with the plastic plates, and little benches to sit on) and chapel on Sunday morning.  Then goodbye to Charlotte again - but only 'til Wednesday.

Then the start of the week of driving....  Sunday - from Worthing to Tunbridge Wells (to visit Bernard)

then up to the M25 and back down the M3 to Sheila's in Poole. Monday we went to the Southampton boat show (M27) (see us below at the Bermuda Goslings Rum stall!).

Up at 3am on Tuesday to drive 2.5 hours (M27, M3, M25, M1) to Luton Airport to drop Jimmy off for his flight to Greece (to go sailing for a month..). Then down to Denise's (M3, M25 - arriving before she got up for work!). Wednesday driving down to Worthing (M25, M23) to Charlotte's school again to see the show"Bench" with her (any excuse to be able to see her!).  Thursday I picked her up after dinner and drove her back to Sheila's in Poole (M27) for a "Discover Day" on Friday at Canford School.  Up at 6am Saturday to drive Charlotte back to school (M27) for morning lessons ...  I took Charlotte and Charlotte (also from Bermuda) out for the afternoon (and the crazy girls went swimming!!):

Chapel again on Sunday, drive back to Sheila's (M27) to see the Osmonds!

and Wednesday up to Guildford to meet up with Jane, Susan and Debbie, from Bermuda. Friday back down to pick up Charlotte for the Long Exeat weekend - 1200 miles later!!!

Ireland - 8-12th September

While Charlotte got into the swing of school life, Jimmy and I headed off to Kinsale, Ireland.  The main purpose was to go to the Garden of Remembrance for 9/11, as this was the first year that Jimmy had not been in NY for the anniversary of 9/11.

The Garden of remembrance has a tree planted with a name tag for every NY Firefighter that died in 9/11

We were blessed with (unusually) fantastic weather.  Kinsale is a lovely sailing town in Southern Ireland - we stopped here 3 years ago for the day on a cruise ship.

Other activities included a boat trip:

and driving around sight seeing in our nippy Mini Cooper

On 9/11 we spent 4 hours at the Garden of Remembrance, creating a spreadsheet of all of the FF names on, and locations of, the trees for the people that were looking after the garden (to also enable them to see any duplicates and missing names).

The day finally arrives! - First day at Windlesham House - Sunday 7th September

Whilst I pushed the suitcases in, Jimmy finally managed to close the boot! Bags encroached onto Charlotte space on the back seat! We waved good bye to Sheila, Bob and Jake and started on the next stage of our lives.

4pm - We were met with a hive of activity at the school.  After checking in with Admin (and finally putting some faces to names) Charlotte and I headed to her new dorm "Lime" with 2 of her "hosts" who were soon helping her unpack everything and put up her photos.  Charlotte was very happy as she had a bed by the wall with a big pin board.

Then on to the Headmasters welcome address.  5 minutes to say goodbye and then Charlotte was whisked away by her new friends for games on the lawn and a BBQ.  We meanwhile then met the House Parents and finished off all the admin with the travel and Medical teams.  And that was it!  By 5.30pm we were heading out of the school and off to our hotel.  We could see Charlotte from afar playing with all the other girls on the field - but she didn't see us (too busy having fun!)

Dinner out for 2 that night seemed strange!

Getting Ready for Charlotte's New school - 27th August - 7th September

I lost count of how many name tags i sewed on!! (I bought 114 and there were not many left!) There was lots of things to buy and shopping most days - Charlotte was in her element!  Fortunatly we still had some time to enjoy so outings during the time that we descended upon Sheila Bob and Jake.

The Bournemouth Air Show was spectacular, in particular the Red Arrows

We got a bird's eye view on the Sunday whilst out on Bob and Sheila's boat.
So many boats, we could almost think it was the Non Mariner's race!! - but we didn't swim the water (despite it being at an all time high temp!).

Paddle Boarding,

Water park and iceskating,

interspersed the packing up of the suitcases in the last few days and I even managed an afternoon of bridge with Sheila and her friends!

The only "accident" of the trip occurred when Charlotte was baking a cake, and got her hair caught up in the electric mixer!! A bit of a bald patch to start school with, but a good story to tell everyone!!! (and yes we did still eat the cake!)

We had a nice meal out for Charlotte and Jake's (heading off to Uni) leaving.

Austria - August 18th-25th 2014

We had a great time in "Sound of Music" land meeting up with good friends Nicola and Werner, and children Emma, Daniella and Andrew.  What magnificent scenery!
Day one sightseeing Salzburg.

Day 2 sightseeing the lakes and hills, with our Tour Guide, Werner!

Then Charlotte, Jimmy and I took a 2 day trip to Vienna, seeing the Lipizzan White Horses and sightseeing. 

Next a 2 day trip into the mountains to stay at a "Hutte" - no WiFi!!! - and very little electric!!  We all has a ball roaming the hills, collecting mushrooms and berries, sitting out by the fire.. 

Claire and David's Wedding - Wednesday 13th August 2014

The day Charlotte (and I'm sure Claire!!) had been waiting for, finally arrived.  The day Claire married David, and Charlotte was a bridesmaid (with Laura).  Despite some bad weather before, Claire and David couldn't have been luckier with the weather - blue sky and sunshine for all the photos as they came out the church and arrived at the reception.

All packed up and ready to go - Sunday 10th August 2014

The start of a new life for Charlotte (and us). All the bags are packed, the apartment is locked up for 3 months, and Gertie drives us to the airport (Jimmy had left a couple of days earlier to fly via NY). The night before we had a nice leaving dinner with Gertie and Sophia.