holiday celebrations

I rather missed writing my blog while I was away. Typically, I could have written about goings on a daily basis as well as uploaded photo's of wet ducks and row boats and the rather un-nerving neatness of Thorpeness, Suffolk but the lack of Internet access made this impossible.

Over a week ago now, my parents very kindly organised a Sullivan family get-together to mark
my Mum's and her twin sister Ce's 60th birthday (along with little Matilda who also shares their birthday, but being just one doesn't really count). We stayed in
Thorpeness, a pretty holiday village designed by  Glencairne Stuart
Ogilvie in the late 1800, who relocated from Scotland and bought a huge
chunk of rural and seaside Suffolk.

Ogilvie decided he would turn Thorpeness into a sort of fantasy
holiday village, building homes with mock Tudor and Jacobean styles
around the man-made large boating lake, the Meare. It was a house with
a garden leading down to the Meare which we stayed in last week. It was beautiful with large
rooms, wood panelling, fabulous old oil portraits and a full sized
billiard table in the top of the house not to mention the views over the lake.

The week was fabulous, it was just so lovely to spend some time with my newly married brother, his wife and daughter; my sister, her husband and daughter and of course my wonderful parents. Time just went too quickly, I needed to have at least another 3 days with everyone as I seemed to spend the first 3 days cooking and panicking about the surprise Hawaiian themed birthday BBQ party to be held at Mum's sisters rented holiday house, at nearby Southwold....

Despite the weather being far from tropical, the party was a great success. I know the events of the day made Mum and Auntie Ce extremely happy. The entertaining organisational emails between siblings, cousins and fathers had made it a party to remember, our Mum's were made up. It was so lovely to see them laughing, smiling, reminiscing  and to be so content to be surrounded by their children and grandchildren as well as surprise family guests. It was a great day and one I will always remember as I know they will too.

Dad, thanks for making it all possible.