August been and gone

What a month...I'll start with the good stuff.

The much anticipated arrival of my cousin Tony and his family was finally upon us. They landed on the day of parent interviews so while Ally met them at the airport I was working very hard at school.
That evening, Mum, Sarah and I drove to Rosebud to meet them. That in itself was a bit of an arduous journey, I haven't driven that way in a long time, the only time I have in the last few years was driving back from Sorrento having taken the ferry from Queenscliff so Iwasn't overly confident finding my way there. Add to that the weather and the darkness, an out of date Melways and an almost empty fuel tank (you always think there'll be another service station). Fortunately, I seem to have the luck of the Irish bestowed upon me afterall. Mum had told me they were staying at the Rosebud country club and I was feeling very lost so I pulled over. I realised we had missed a turn somwhere and had to go back. Where we were on the road seemed a bit deadly to turn around at so I drove on to the next big driveway...here's the funny bit...that was the Nepean country club and that was where they were actually staying but mum had said Rosebud not realising there were two. Stroke of luck I'd say considering the Nepean Country Club wasn't shown on my map.
Now mum had visited the family some years ago when she stayed with her sister in Engand, but apart from Hayley who stayed in Melbourne about three years ago and Tony, who I had last seen in 1982 these people were all strangers to me. I'll give you the run down...
Tony has two daughters from his first marriage to Suzanne, I was bridesmaid at their wedding and Rebecca was born before we left England. (Rebecca wasn't able to come on this trip). They also had Hayley who as I mentioned came to Australia not too long ago. Tony then married Amanda and they have four children of their own: Beth, Emily, Jenny and William. Also on the trip was Pete, Hayley's boyfriend who she met in Florida despite the fact he is from Liverpool - he also once jammed with Paul McCartney AND went to school with Dave Gilmour's son...playing six degrees of separation just got a lot easier!
So as we find a parking spot I'm feeling increasingly anxious as basically I'm walking into a room full of strangers which isn't my strong point.
We had to sit in the car and wait for a particularly vicious downpour to pass and then we headed up to reception.

We thought maybe they had been asleep but I realised later it was a fair hike from their apartment to the reception area. Tony came down with one of the girls, he seemed a bit shorter than I remembered but I guess I was eleven at the time. We met the rest of the crew at the swimming pool as the girls wanted a swim. Amanda kindly got a spare set of bathers for Sarah which was great as before we knew it she and Beth had hit it off. Mum chatted away to Amanda and met baby William and I chatted to Hayley and Tony.
After a good long swim we headed up the hill to the apartment, it was so cold after sitting round an indoor swimming pool and I felt terrible for my family who had come all the way to Oz in one of the coldest winters we've had in a while.
Back at the apartment we had cups of tea and met Pete, great guy. I finally found myself relaxing more. At one point Hayley was talking about my grandma and about how Tony and I had been the favourites. Mum's mentioned this before but I didn't really remember it, but as Tony joined in the conversation memories came flooding back and we both agreed that Hayley would have been a favourite too, something about being the second born was our theory. I really relaxed after this and we chatted about all sorts of things and for a few hours I got the sense of what it would have been like had we stayed in England with the security of extended family around me and I felt sad that we left and sad that we don't have more family here.
We left them to have some R&R on Saturday and on Sunday we decided to meet in Olinda for breakfast. Our Peter had come for dinner on Saturday night so he joined us and we also aranged to meet Susan and Jeff at the Ivy as well. Ally and Dave drove down from Kinglake and mum and Deanne came up with the Adams' family. My goodness, we filled a massive table in The Ivy and once again I had that lovely sense of connectedness. This was Aaron's first time meeting them as he'd been at work when we met them in Rosebud. He got along really well and that made me relax all the more. It was a long breakfast and Ally and I decided we should meet in Olinda more often as it's half way between our homes.
Mum, Amanda and the little Adams went to visit the sister of a friend of Amanda's who lives in Nunawading. Deanne, Tony, Hayley and Pete went to the Essendon v Hawthorn match. Our Peter went to Milgrove for his birthday lunch (happy birthday Peter) Susan and Jeff had left to open the shop and Aaron, Sarah and I did our usual Olinda wander.
That evening they came back to our place for pizza.
On Tuesday I was tragically struck down with a mystery illness and couldn't go to work, however, sometime later I made a miraculous recovery and the crew met at our place for a bit of a convoy road trip. Our first port of call was the Todd Road service centre (pretty cool eh?) but after that it was over the Westgate and on to Geelong. We had lunch on the pier and once again we took a long time over the meal just chatting. Sarah and Beth had really hit it off, so that was good but I felt sad for Emily who seemed a little lost without her big sis. When we headed back to the car I had a great D&M with Hayley who may come back to Australia depending on the outcome of a job she's applied for. As we drove on to Queenscliff Aaron and I worked out a great career plan for her and Pete which started with them staying with us while finding work and ended with them opening another Elephant and Wheelbarrow style pub nearby.
We caught the last ferry back to Sorrento and watched the sunset over the water. It was lovely but very cold and windy.
By Thursday I was severly punished for taking a day off work unecessarily and the dreaded flu that's been rampaging across Melbourne decided to get me. We caught up with them all briefly on Thursday night as they were leaving early Friday morning and taking mum with them so we drove her to the country club. Saying goodbye was really sad and I cried a lot on the way home. Now I'm wondering what we can do so we can go to England in a few years to visit.

OK. Well that was part A of the August run down, but I've got lots to do and it is another stunning day outside so I will love you and leave you for the moment but stay tuned for another update.

See ya