Friday's Fave Five - 1/8/25

Well I have been AWOL again (but I'll explain why below) so it's good to be here and catch up with Susanne and other like minded bloggers to look back on the past week (or three!) and remember the things we're grateful for.  You can find out more here.

This week I'm all about Family!

1)  We had our son and his family here from Vermont here for just over two weeks.  It was so good to see them.  Of course the time flew and saying goodbye to our son last Friday and then our DIL and grandsons on Wednesday this week was hard but we've definitely had some quality time with them.

2)  For the second part of their visit we also had our other son and his family staying with us.  It was a busy and hectic household but it's so lovely to see the cousins interacting like they saw each other yesterday even though it's been a year since they were all together.  And of course we made sure to get all the grandkids together as much as possible.

3)  One of our nephews hosted a get together at his house during their visit so they were able to catch up with lots of cousins, aunts, uncles etc and they all got to meet the latest baby in the family which was lovely.

4)  And then we all (apart from my US son*) went to France last weekend.  Hubby's sister Anne Marie lives with her French husband Jean Marie in Dunkerque and we were celebrating his 70th birthday.  Jean Marie is also one of 8 siblings so it was a huge party.  Thankfully the weather was good and they have a big house with a huge garden.  Their 4 sons did an amazing job and we all had a wonderful time.  There was a good turnout from both sides of Jean Marie's family and although some of us are not great in a second language we all managed to communicate!

*Michael works for the US Government but gets 10 days leave!  Here in the UK he would get at least 20 days leave if not more each year.  This makes it hard for him when he visits.  I know he probably could get more unpaid leave but he's been in this job for less than a year and he's also had to take a few personal days when the kids have been sick so he flew back to the US last Sunday and missed the trip to France.

5)  Thankful that my DIL and the 2 grandsons made it home safely to the US on Wednesday.  They were delayed for 2 hours on the tarmac due to the technical issues the UK had that day and they ended up staying with friends in Boston overnight before driving home to Vermont yesterday but they are home and of course we miss them already but so many happy times over the last couple of weeks.

A few of the siblings from both families in Dunkerque.

 

A trip to the beach is a must when in Dunkerque.

They had a photo booth at the party which was very well used! (And although the photos were printed instantly there was also a link provided to access them all digitally!)

Cousins and Jean Marie (in the white shirt)

Anne Marie - definitely the hostess with the mostess!

Their (2nd?) cousin Maya gatecrashed these pics.
(L-R)Rory, Ella, Maya, Vinny, Noah, Nathan and Miles)
So hard to get all our 6 together for a decent pic.

We all travelled to France on the same ferry.  The children were very excited.

They took in a show.

Made Rocky Road

Getting 4 boys to sleep in the same room worked better than we thought it would lol

Love this one.

And now my house is quiet - well apart from the washing machine which will be going non-stop over the next few days as I work through all the bedding and towels lol.

Have a good weekend all.  Mine will be spent quietly catching up on some sleep and relaxing.