Family Party!

The whole reason that we stopped in England was because my cousin Vicki and her husband Julian were celebrating their silver wedding anniversary and throwing a grand party. They'd invited all of us in Canada to come to the party, and since the dates jived so well with our trip to Lenk, and we'd flown British Airways (which stopped in London anyway) we decided to come to Eastbourne and party.

 I'm so glad we did. It had been 27 years since we moved to Canada, and I hadn't seen any of my cousins (except Stephen, who wasn't at the party) since we'd left!

Uncle Brian, Aunty Gina and my cousin Gayna stayed at our hotel and came to visit for Saturday afternoon. Then we all disappeared to get pretty and off we went to the Cavendish. Elisabeth and Uncle Brian obviously hit it off right from the start.

 Gayna insisted we needed a picture together since we matched so nicely. I'm glad she did!

 More pictures on the steps of the hotel.

 And then we found Vanessa and made her pose for pictures too.

 Here I am with Vanessa, John and Gayna.

 And photobombing Dad, Trisha and Sarah.

 Here I am with the siblings. Vanessa, Vicki (the blushing bride) and John!

 I tasked David with being photographer because I was busy chatting with everyone. He got lots of candids of everyone around the tables.

 Aunty Gina and cousin Brandon.

 John and Uncle Rob.

 And here one of my Uncle Peter's brothers, Geoffrey, came to chat.

 Even though I was a child, only a year older than David when we moved from England, everyone was so welcoming and kind. I felt so at home. And sad that I haven't visited sooner. We only have a small amount of family in Canada and I didn't know what it was like to be around so many relatives!

 Aren't they lovely?!

 Oh, and Julian. The groom. He and his son are in a band called The Ask and were playing much of the night. As I was chatting with everyone, I didn't get much of a chance to really listen to them play but they were very good.

 My cousin Lucy, who was just 9 months or so when I left England, and her daughter Lacey.

 And her mum, Aunty Ann.

 Elisabeth and David said that playing with Lacey was the most fun they'd had so far.

 We found Vicki's iPad and were trying to break into it!

 Looking at pictures from Vicki and Julian's wedding.

 There was a lot of laughter and a lot of singing.

 And finally, a picture of Vicki's family.

 Or maybe two.

Thank you, cousin Vicki, for giving us an excuse to come visit. I hope we'll be back soon!