My darlings, I'd love to share a few photos from our vacation in England, if you'd like to see...
Our grandmother lives in a teeny tiny fishing village called Polruan. Our first evening there, we had a drinks party on her terrace. She invited her friends of all ages, and we ate smoked salmon and potato chips.
Toby loves a good party...
We toasted my cousin and her husband, who were celebrating their first wedding anniversary. (Aren't they cute?)
And this is the view! Crikey! It was so much fun.
During this trip, Toby met his new "cousins" (they are my cousins' daughters) for the first time ever. It was ridiculously endearing to see them all play together. My British aunts referred to them as "the littles," which I loved.
One particularly sunny afternoon, we took a spectacular boat ride to Lantic Bay, a beach nearby. (That's when we took this family photo, too.)
My cousin's husband Nick brought along a bottle of Cornish scrumpy, which is a strong alcoholic cider that tastes just like apple juice.
Toby drank too much and passed out. (Kidding.)
The English ocean water was freeeeezing but my cousins are brave.
One day, we all hiked to visit my grandfather's grave, which is in a lovely countryside church overlooking fields of sheep. My grandmother always brings whiskey (his favorite) to sprinkle over his grave.
My awesome sister carried Toby all the way (uphill). Yay for aunts!
Have you ever had a Cornish pasty? It's dough filled with beef, potatoes, carrots, onions and lots of pepper, and you can eat them with one hand. (Originally, they were developed for miners and sailors.) Delish...
As with all great vacations, we ate way too much.
One day, we took a walk through the village before dinner. The slanted light was gorgeous, and we stopped to chat with sweet old ladies on the street.
At the end of each day, we'd just hang out, cook dinner, gossip, play games and drink gin & tonics. I remember how my grandfather used to sometimes call out, in his booming British voice, "Noise level too high!"
One evening, my brother made the mistake of dozing off in a chair, so naturally we decided to see how many items we could stack on him before he woke up. (I thought the bottle on his head was especially impressive:)
Our final morning, we got up early to leave. We were sad to go but the bright side was seeing the view from the terrace. The morning fog looked foggy and magical--right out of Peter Pan. Polruan, we miss you already! Thank you for having us, Milly! xoxoP.S. English wedding hats, and ten tips for traveling with a baby...