The ABBA Show

The night before The Abba Show, Giullem treated us to lovely chinese food at our favorite resturant. You can tell that everyone is enjoying their food. The boys stuffed themselves silly!


The Abba Show was set up at Parkers Piece Park in the center of Cambridge. This was part of the music festival that the city hosts for free every year. There were lots of fun rides and bouncing castle for the kids before the concert.







Ana is a huge fan of Mama Mia and Abba songs so she really enjoyed the concert.

Dancing Queen

Ana and Tymek really enjoyed the concert. All the kids loved it...Mary's kids, Ollie and Emily also Josh and Giullem. It was a really good atmosphere and the evening was nice and clear. There were fireworks after The Abba Show which gave a nice ending to a lovely evening!

Punting Along The Backs of Cambridge Colleges

This past Saturday we took Ana punting for the first time. In fact it was the first time for many of our friends....David and Giullem who came to visit us from Barcelona. Our friends from Finland (Sanna, Jonne,Aada) had never been punting. But our Polish friends (Martyna, Piotr,Tymek) and Chinese-American friends (Jane, Richard, Abagail) were old pros at it by now since they have had lots of visitors SO we made of day of it and rented 3 punting boats.

Joshua is now with us for the rest of the summer but he is an old pro at riding along the river. We went before 12 in the morning because it was less busy and less hot. It takes around 2 hours to punt the whole length of backs of the colleges. Weekends can get quite crowded with all the tourists visiting and one of the great things to do while you are in Cambridge is to punt along the back of the Cambridge Colleges because it is so picturesque.



We are at the beginning of the river and Ana was having a snack before we started punting.


Andrew is quite good at punting...but then you would expect it as he was born and raised in Cambridge.



Sanna, Aada and Tymek, Martyna (L-R) passing us by on their punting boats.


David got invited onto Jane and Richard's punting boat before he realised he was going to be the punter...he thought was going to ride along instead of actually having to work! You can see that Jane is helping him paddle.


David taking a rest and we are still at the beginning of the river...not even close half way finished! It's hard work being a punter.


Richard, Abagail and Jane enjoying the scenery as well as being punted along.


Kings College Chapel which was complete by Henry VIII. It is worth it if you ever get a chance to visit inside, it's very beautiful. Even better if you can go for a music concert there.


Joshua enjoying the ride with Piotr in the background punting quickly ahead of us.


Ana enjoyed being with Josh and Giullem on the punting boat. Here we are at the end of the river so have the punt our way back. It took 1 hour to get here so another hour to get back to the boat house. Both boys got to try punting and did pretty well.


David finally enjoying the ride back rather than the work of having to punt.



It is nice to have a picnic with you so that you can eat and drink as you are being punted down the river.


Ana, Aada, Tymek, Piotr and Sanna sat onboard the horsey for a ride.


Abagail, Tymek, Ana and Aada
After punting we took the kids to the Lammas park which is next to the punting boats and had a picnic under the trees. It was a hot day but lovely when you can find shade under the trees. Lammas park has so many slides, swings and rides for the kids that they can play there for hours and then when they get hot and tired they can have an ice cream. Riding horsey is one of their favorite things to do.

Fooling around at the beach in Camber Sands

Camber Sands is another stretch of beach next to Rye Harbour. There are commercial shops behind the beach and it is not as natural as Rye Harbour but the beach itself is less muddy and you can take lovely strolls especially at sunset. We only got to go there once because Rye Harbour and Camber Sands are seperated by a small delta. We had to wait for Ana to wake up from her nap and then went there in the late afternoon. It was really beautiful and never crowded.




Ana just loved the rental helmet....can you tell why???? PINK! PINK! PINK! and more PINK Flowers!



Making muddy feet together....


Ana loved collecting seashells during our holiday. She found a small bowelful of her favorite shells to take home.

Driving in the Garden in Girton

Can you believe that the car that Ana is riding in is over 16yrs old?!? This was the beloved car of Sarah Hickling the 4th oldest Hickling grandchild of Andrew's family. Well, Ana just fell in love with is car when she first saw it over 1 year ago. We went over to Chris thatched house in Girton on Sunday after coming back from Rye to have a Sunday dinner for Granny's birthday. Ana took her bicycle but then immediately forgot it once she saw the car in the garden. We all agree that Chris' garden is spectacular but it's all due to Aileen's vision and Chris' elbow grease. Luckily we get invited over so we can enjoy the fruits of their labour.

Rye Harbour - Dancing on the Beach Video

Just a short clip for the family to see Ana's performance. It lasted a good 15 minutes...both Andrew and I enjoyed it. (Sorry computer would not allow me to rotate it so that everyone could see it upright.)

Port Lympne Wild Animal Park

On Friday, we took Ana to Port Lympne. It is very different from conventional zoos. The animals are able to live and breed in conditions as close to their natural habitat as possible. It is a park that allows the animals to be in a more natural environment within 600 acres, roaming free as well as in natural enclosures. Within the park you can go on a safari so Ana got to ride on a massive converted army lorry and for 90 minutes they drove you around and gave you a tour of the areas of the park where animals were allowed to have freer movement.


Ana is having a quick snack before the lorry takes off for the safari.


Ana posing for the 'Say Cheese' for the camera...not the most attractive of poses she has developed for the camera.


Andrew had command of the camera as I was sitting with Ana therefore the rhino was the only good photo and a fuzzy gorilla from the whole 90 minute safari ride.


The lorry we rode in was much bigger than the photo above but this is to give you an idea that the safari was in an open vehicle.


Ana posing with the big army lorry that we rode in for the safari.


Ana was completely exhausted at the end. This is the last hour out of the 5 hours we spent at Port Lympne. She was so tired that by 3pm she fell asleep in Andrew's arms and he had to carry her back from the elephants to the car. Big workout since it was 25 minutes walk to the parking lot and Ana weighs A LOT more (14 kg).