 Summer 2024 has been a great time of celebration and connection. It was a time we will look back at fondly and cherish for a long time. Here is how this splendid summer went from start to finish in chronological order... Starting off with a bang Summer started off rather strangely with frost on the grass in June. Throw in the sudden abundance of freedom from piles of paper, books and intense brain work, it made us very restless waiting for something summery to turn up. We took the plunge and decided for ourselves SUMMER IS NOW! That meant we took 636 mile (1023km) round trip to Cornwall (the very south western tip of the UK). I won't go into the nitty gritty details because I've written a post for that trip here: www.hirojack.com/blog/am-i-too-old-for-this#/ We visited Tintagel Castle, St Michael's Mount and stuffed ourselves with the most delicious Cornish pasties. These are arguably the Crown Jewels of a very stunning part of the UK. We celebrated the blue skies, emerald waters and a well deserved break!       Everything in between We are no longer travelling full time and I think we quite enjoy this freedom to roam and yet be rooted at the same time. We have found ourselves a great community and summer meant more gatherings and being outside. It was nice connecting with people again! I think all four of us would agree it was nice having me back from being holed up in the study for months getting the dissertation finished.   Between travelling and meeting people, school continued and dad's taxi schedule was really packed. Gwyn's scheduled was packed with dance practices for her exams and major performance. Despite it being her first taste of formal testing (by an examiner that isn't her parents), she did really well. In the midst of all this chaos Gwyn also asked for a guitar and wanted to learn it after seeing me play and sing for the Sunday school kids. Makes me strangely proud she picked up the guitar. Don't particularly fancy the colour though 🤣   June flashed by really really quickly and it felt like we didn't do much for the month. Not sure if we expected July to turn out the way it did.... Jam-packed and Jubilant July The first week of July started off with the UK general elections, Gwyn performing at 3 shows and preparing my family's visit. I think it caught us slightly off guard. We didn't expect ourselves to be that tired.  But before we knew it, we were up and down the motorway travelling to London to meet my family whom we've not met for almost two years. In the midst of all that commuting chaos, Gwyneth asked me if she could get the soft toy in a claw machine at mall near an underground station. I was a little shocked because she never asks for toys like that. I'm so glad I said yes. (I shocked myself by saying yes too). We celebrated the first time we've ever caught anything with a claw machine. That toy is now hugged and loved every night in bed. Just cannot emphasise how important it is to sometimes say yes in the midst of a busy schedule and exhausting day. It might just be the makings of a very precious memory.  For the next two weeks, the family had a great time seeing the UK, catching up and enjoying meals together. We've not seen our little nephews and niece for a long time. It was such a precious time holding their hands chatting with them and showing them the land we now call home.       The highlight of it all was being able to celebrate Matt and Gwyn's Baptism and my graduation with the family. It was a joy and privilege to be all together to celebrate life's big moments.       It's shocking how quickly all this went by. We were back in London saying our goodbyes and we'll meet agains. It was however not that shocking that England lost at the European cup finals....again. Can't say that's a highlight of our summer but Matt and I made many memories of yelling at the TV in anguish and joy 😅 We had some down time to ourselves before we resumed our adventures in the final week of July. The kids finally had their first taste of the Cinema. I can't believe we took 10 years to take Matt to the cinema. We watched Despicable Me 4 and Gwyn even dressed up as a minion! We had the whole theatre to ourselves and it was really awesome!   After a brief lull period, we visited The Black Country Museum (in West Midlands near Birmingham). This amazing museum is a living museum with "actors" telling stories in period costumes. You get to time-travel and experience school lessons of the past, go in a mine, ride an old Routemaster double deck bus to the next part of the museum and enter realistic period-accurate buildings that tell a story.        There was even an operating chip shop that cooked the fish and chips in beef dripping. Oh my goodness, it tasted divine! This museum is an absolute treat for all your senses. You get to see real buildings and touch artefacts from the past. You'll get to hear stories and listen to music as well as the old black country dialect. You'll ride the old buses, experience the dark cold mines and school lessons of the past. I definitely loved that integral to the whole museum experience were an operating pub and a real chip shop. How often do you get to taste old school fish and chips as well as beer in a Museum?! July ended off with a trip to Leeds for the Monopoly takeover and the seaside at Blackpool. I must add that at this point we are quite done with the heat of summer wishing cooler days would return. It was absolutely boiling in Leeds when we were out looking for clues, finding "properties" around the Leeds city centre.      With quite a few hours of daylight to spare, we decided we had enough of the heat and headed for Blackpool to cool off for the evening. There's just something magical about walking along a boardwalk/pier into the open sea while enjoying the breeze and sunset.   Astonishing august I think we are astonished ourselves after an amazing June and July that August would be just as good. We started August with a trip to our favourite place in the world. Those who have been with us throughout our journey here would know that Cregennan Lakes in Gwynedd, Wales is especially special to us. We laid out our picnic mat and camping chairs, soaked in the stunning landscape and celebrated our 12th marriage anniversary!      Our first Bristol Balloon festival last summer turned out to be the wettest and muddiest we've ever experienced. This year we were really really fortunate to have blue skies, sunshine and a cool breeze. It was a relaxing day sitting in a large estate, soaking in the sights and just enjoying each other's presence. Maybe next year's winds will be perfect and we'll finally get to see the balloons take off!          Feeling the warmth of the flames in the cool evening breeze and watching the night sky glow in sync with the music is just phenomenal. But of course, there's always something about the weather to complain about... We had some really hot days lined up after the festival and on the hottest day of the year we escaped to South Wales where it was a whole 10 celcius cooler. We visited the Royal Mint and went for the factory tour to see how coins are made. Apart from the tour, we also got a history lesson of coin making and the mint at the exhibition. We even managed to strike our own coin celebrating the Olympics and sporting the new king's face! I was most amused to see the widest smile on Matt's face when he got to touch and lift a real 999.9 gold bar weighing 400 troy ounce (12.4kg).       The rest of the year's hottest day was spent up the Bwlch Mountain. What's a trip to Wales without visiting a mountain? Never happens with us! haha! I pushed the little car's tiny engine hard round the hairpins and inclines before we were rewarded with these amazing views + a photo-bombing sheep.     It wouldn't be the last time we'd be out in the country side....because the last bits of summer was spent having picnics with friends and enjoying walks together.     It was also spent on property websites looking for our new home this summer because our landlord is selling. We encountered terrible property agencies and discriminatory landlords. Discriminating against families with children isn't as bad as the outright racism we faced in Singapore where landlords would say "No certain race" or "Race X only" but it's something fairly uncomfortable to experience.  The search for a property goes on...not the most ideal way to end an amazing summer. Regardless, I think we've scored a hat trick of amazing summers...
1. It all started with our 7 month long Grand Tour in South East Asia https://www.hirojack.com/blog/category/the-grand-tour-2022/3#/ 2. Our stupendous 2023 British summer https://www.hirojack.com/blog/a-stupendous-summer#/ 3. And now in 2024 a very very splendid summer! It is going to be a very changeable autumn with all the house moving, making career choices, restarting of the business. We really don't know what lies ahead but we are surely hoping that this awesome streak will never end. We are also focusing on the little ones' birthdays this week! How did your summer go? What do you love and hate most about summers? Would you enjoy a summer like ours?
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