The end of summer

Since arriving back home on 24 August, we've been busy enjoying the last days of summer and getting ready for school to start on 5 Sept. Although we had a really good trip to the US - even with all of the sadness and grief that was woven into this time - it has felt great to be back in England. The hardest part has been seeing friends and acquaintences in the village who ask excitedly how our summer was or if we had a great trip to the US and who don't know the sad news about my Dad. So we haven't ventured too far and have mostly hung out with our closest friends this past week or so.

Emma and I took the troops to pick blackberries one day on a big trek which ended at Heaven Farm. When they started complaining about being tired, we busted out the gummy worms...
Here are Sophie & Rhiannon (aka Starsky & Hutch because of their coloring..) on a normal rainyish afternoon, looking after their babies (note that one is in the bottom basket) while Tryfan is in the background fully immersed in his own world of Star Wars Lego figures and the ensuing drama.
Fortunately it was a long weekend with a public holiday Monday, and it felt good to be allowed to have our own space and time to transition back to this timezone.