Tired after getting in late as we drove back from near Reading where we were celebrating Margaret and Del's 60th Wedding Anniversary. We were all feeling a little the worse for wear this morning but somehow managed to rouse ourselves to breakfast after getting our revenge on Bethany by getting her up for a change. It was the first time many of our southern relatives had met Bethany and after her initial wariness she enjoyed herself and actually fell asleep in Margaret's arms during the dance in the hall. She happily slept through the rest of the evening until we returned to the hotel where she woke back up and, feeling recharged, got her second wind and played until we staggered out of the bar around 3am after catching up. Diane and Tim's daughters happily entertained her along with Emily's boyfriend who may have found the whole experience a touch unusual after he was constantly being picked on by the MC leading the dancing with instructions and asking for "Ben, get up here" or "Where's Ben" and even "This one's easy. Even Ben could manage it" often for Ben to decide the time was ripe to sneak out of the hall for a cigarette.
Not feeling ready for the long drive home after checking out at 11am it was nice to be invited to Margaret and Del's for a barbecue with most of the rest of the family. We killed some time in my parent's room, who are stopping an extra night before visiting Steph whilst in the area, where I basically sat slumped in a chair for an hour. At the barbecue the usual Margaret teasing took place but with the underlying warmth and concern over her recent fall which left her with a broken jaw on Friday. After noting that she fell in Asda we wondered if it had been in the wine aisle and her response to my mother's suggestion of having soup because she had barely eaten for two days unable to chew was that it was the wrong time of year for soup.
As well as their first meeting with Bethany we met an even newer addition to the family in Evie May. Helen and parents saw her when she was only a few weeks old when they came down for Margaret's 80th birthday a couple of months ago but Alison and myself saw her for the first time and realized it did not seem so long since Bethany was that cute.
As is the way of these occasions we did not end up leaving until about 4:30pm knowing that it would be at least 5 hours before we got home. Already knowing from the journey down that we would have to go the longer route as the A43 had been closed for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone we eventually got away but the first half of the journey seemed to take forever with roadworks and heavy traffic delaying us further. I had to stop after 60 miles for petrol and much against my initial hope we had to stop again before we passed the half way point as Bethany was really upset. By this time it was after 7:30 pm and she was hungry and tired so I stopped at the next available services (Donnington Park) which were nearly half way home. After some food a couple of nappy changes and a bit of a run on some grass we set back off with Alison sitting next to Bethany in the back, the better to attend to her whilst she finished her food and we did the last stretch in one go with Bethany falling asleep a little later on. Hopefully the whole weekend has not messed her up too much and we have another long journey to look forward to in a few weeks when we go to Norfolk on holiday. At least the return leg won't be until a week after the outward bound drive.
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