Nana and Grampy's Brighton Visit

Now that we have made it through our big move and Thanksgiving, I thought it was time to update the blog.  We have to go all the way back to October for our last big event - my parent's visit to Brighton.  My mom and dad came to visit us during the girls' Autumn Half-Term break.

My parents flew into Heathrow on Thursday, 20 October, and they took the coach from London to Brighton.  I picked them up and we had quite a time fitting the three of us plus all of their luggage into our tiny car.  Luckily, the girls were still in school, and I was the only one who came to meet them.  After flying all night and arriving in London early in the morning, it was a challenge keeping my parents awake until Sutton got home from school.  Sloane was on a school trip that week, so she didn't get home until Friday.

On Friday, I took my parents into town to see a little bit of Brighton.  We went to the Royal Pavilion, King George IV's pleasure palace, and even my dad enjoyed it.  He did go through it so fast that my mom and I lost him, but somehow he got all of the information because he quizzed us all afternoon.  After our tour of the palace, we met Keith for lunch at Bill's in town.

On Friday evening, our church had a church social at Gloucester Place.  The hall was transformed into a "youth club" for everyone, and there was ping-pong, pool, board games, wii, and even a tuck shop (candy and sodas).  It was a great time for my parents to get to meet lots of our friends from church.

We decided to do a little exploring on Saturday, but we also realized that all five of us would not be able to drive anywhere because we couldn't all fit in our car.  Based on the bus availability, we decided to go to Seven Sisters Country Park which is on the coast and situated in the South Downs National Park.  It took us about an hour to get to Seven Sisters on the bus from Brighton, but it was worth the trip.  The park is named for the chalk cliffs that run along the coast, and they are amazing.  The cliffs at Seven Sisters have actually been used in some (false) advertising for the Cliffs of Dover because they look so similar, and they might even be more beautiful.  It was quite a hike down to the sea and the cliffs, but everyone persevered (it helped that we had a little picnic halfway). 

On Sunday, we of course went to church at One Church, and my parents  got to hear Dave preach.  They were really impressed and were happy to get to worship with us and our new church family.  After church we took them across the street to the Open House Pub to get a proper Sunday Roast.

Monday we sort of hung around the neighborhood because Sutton had a birthday party we had to work around.  On Monday evening, we had our church small group at our house, and my parents got to join us for that.  It was a nice time for them to get to know some of our closest friends.

On Tuesday we woke up early for our road trip to Hampton Court Castle.  Keith had to work, so I drove my parents and the girls to Hampton Court which is just south-west of London.  It was the furthest I have driven since we have been here in England, but thanks to our sat-nav, we made it.  We spent the entire day exploring the castle that was most famously once the home to King Henry VIII.  

Keith took the day off work on Wednesday, and we all went down to the Brighton Pier.  The girls love to go to the pier, and they couldn't wait to show Nana and Grampy all the fun games and rides.  They were also excited to get the "best" fried rice in Brighton, but somehow it wasn't quite as good as they remembered.  After hanging out at the pier for a while, we took Nana and Grampy to do some shopping in The Lanes. 

It would be a major understatement to say we were sad to see Nana and Grampy leave on Thursday morning.  We love living in England, but the one thing we will never get used to is living so far away from family.  It was so fun having Nana and Grampy visit us, and it was really special to get to share with them what our new life in England is really like.