San Frangriffco: Surprise!

It's not very often you get the chance to fly 5,500 miles on your own to attend your brother's wedding party at your parents house, so when that chance came I decided to do it without telling anybody. Literally, nobody in Wales knew I was going to be there.

I just walked into the garden and said hello.

Here is that 'surprise' moment:

Dad stares for a while.

Then - in shock - he turns to my Mum and nudges her.

More staring. It's starting to get uncomfortable now.

Delayed reaction. Finally.

Tight hugs and tears. Dad wouldn't let me go.

Still holding the wine bottles - none dropped. He's a dedicated father indeed!

I had walked from the local village pub to my parents house, and as I walked down the pavement towards their drive I saw my Dad unloading wine out of his car. I stopped and smiled at him, but instead of recognizing me he turned and walked into the garden. I guess I was out of context so he literally didn't see me standing a few feet in front of him!

I later found out that the reason he was unloading wine from his car was because the stack of wine they had bought for the party weeks ago had 'disappeared' by the day of the party. There were several theories floating around. The tactful amongst us suggested they might have been stolen but none of us were in any doubt that my parents had been tucking into them in the lead up to the celebrations. Nothing changes!

Nadia, my bestest mate, met me from the plane. There was a wonderful moment where we were hugging on the pavement outside Heathrow Arrivals and didn't realize my suitcase had wheeled itself into the main road and had stopped traffic. Hysterical screams and laughter - as if we had never been apart. Home to her house for pimms and a catch up!

A selfie with Granny Rita, cousin Simon and the new Mrs Edwards - my beautiful sister in law!

So amazing to see my brother with a wedding ring on!

Arriving in Wales thanks to a lift from London from cousin Jo meant arriving into rain. Beautiful rain. I haven't felt rain since early 2015 so as everyone ran inside when the downpour started, I ran out and just stood in it! I was only there for three days and made the most of every minute. Since there wasn't a spare bed (the downside to surprising people) I kept myself awake with wine and British TV and went to bed at 9am when the first person woke up (the upside to jetlag!)

Before I left for the UK we hosted Dan's parents for a few weeks.

Annie and Tom with 'Bubby' and 'Gramps'

Shopping and eating at Union Square

Cable car-ing

Watching 'soccer' at San Jose

Annie's 7th birthday and a visit to the American Girl store. Groan. Annie's doll is called Isabelle. Did you know for a small fortune her and Annie can get manicures at this store together - imagine that? Groan.

We also enjoyed another camping trip to Costanoa this summer with some British friends. It’s hard to pull a straight face if I suggest we were roughing it! Here is our tent for the weekend:

And yes, the beds had heated blankets.

We are used to seeing warning signs for Mountain Lions in most public spaces, but didn't realize until we checked out that the one at this campsite was in reference to a Mountain Lion that was spotted the night before we arrived outside one of the tents we were staying in.

We spent Saturday at the beach, which was beautiful because there is no car access so we hiked there and saw dolphins and seals from the shore.

One thing I noticed when back in the UK is that many public places look overgrown and untidy, such as the roundabouts and parks. Dad said the local cemetery where Nan and Grandad are buried has stopped being tended by the local council and is overgrown. I guess it's a local funding issue, but I was still surprised that nobody is doing anything to make things look better. It's a shame.

There is a real shortfall in public service provision in San Mateo. Our church decided to fill those gaps one Sunday in August by canceling our normal Sunday worship and going out into the community to see how we could help. We called it Community Sunday, and I was really happy to step forward to lead the project as I think this is exactly what a church should be doing.

We made breakfast for 180 homeless people and served it at a local train station.

We pulled weeds from school campuses, swept classrooms and painted a school conference room.

We cleaned streets and washed down the bins that the neighbors have been asking the local council to do for months.

Annie was part of a team that made sandwiches to hand out to homeless people in Redwood City and Menlo Park. Almost 200 people signed up to volunteer in total, some from our church and others who live in the area and just wanted to help. I was so proud that so many children signed up to volunteer; such an inspiring experience for them.

It's been a long summer with 14 weeks off school but Annie is now back in school and Tom starts pre-school this coming week. The Peninsular Indian Summer is starting - temperatures of 37 today.

Here are a few more photos from one of the best summers we have ever had: