As I sit here in my living room in a woolly jumper with my wood burning stove warming the room, it’s hard to believe that just a few days ago it was sunny enough to spend an afternoon outside on Wimbledon Common in summer clothes!  But it really did happen!

Matt’s Auntie Joan is visiting the UK from San Francisco, so we enjoyed some family time with her over last weekend.  On Friday night, we joined Matt’s brothers and sister-in-law for dinner with Joan in Primrose Hill and had a wonderful evening of good food, conversation and a bit too much wine!  Then on Saturday afternoon, we all met again on Wimbledon Common – this time with most of her nieces and nephews with us so she could see them.

The weather was glorious, and we were a bit early, so Alex and Sophie let off some steam on the Common, running around Rushmere Pond and across the meadows.

As soon as they could get close enough to the water, the found some stones to through and some Egyptian geese to chat to!  Sophie was so thrilled with her twirly dress and kept playing with the skirt.

Soon we received word that the rest of the Agars had arrived, so we headed into our chosen meeting spot – the rather swanky Hotel du Vin on Cannizaro Park.  We managed to squeeze into a small corner of the terrace, overlooking the beautiful lawns – and ordered a proper afternoon tea.  Of course, the children weren’t interested in sitting down and talking, so we were soon exploring the grounds.  Sophie led me off on an adventure…

…and we found a gorgeous little aviary.  Sophie loved looking at the colourful birds and listening to their song.

Meanwhile, Alex was busy playing a variety of sports with his older cousins Thomas and Edward.  They started with a football match….

…before moving onto cricket.  Thomas did his best to show Alex what to do.

Alex looked pretty convincing, but didn’t really have a clue about the game, so that didn’t last too long!

All the cousins (plus their dads) soon ended up in the woodland at the end of the lawn for some serious tree-climbing fun.

Sophie didn’t let her dress and sandals stop her!

She was so content playing with all the boys!

Here’s Alex having a go:

And wielding a stick sword – one of his favourite current pass times (too many Star Wars / Indiana Jones movies):

I love how our nephew Edward gives a thumbs up in every photo!  Guess he likes tree climbing too!

And not to be outdone by all the older children, our smallest nephew, William, got in on the action too!  He’s so gorgeous!

While all this was going on, I was enjoying a thoroughly lovely catch up with Auntie Joan and my sister-in-law on the terrace!

Just as we were about to leave, I decided to try and get a photo of all the children and Auntie Joan – it was like herding cats trying to get them all into one location and looking at the camera at the same time!  But it gradually came together!  Here’s Alex and Edward…

…then Thomas joined in…

Here’s Alex catching up with William…

And then Sophie completed the quintet of cousins.  It was such a shame that the other Agar cousins, Oliver, Jessica and Max couldn’t come to complete the set.

So I managed to gather all the cousins – but then I lost Auntie Joan!

Phew – here she is with five of the Agar children!

I love gatherings like this – it happens so infrequently that I really cherish capturing moments when we’re all together.

To close, here are Richard and Matt, with their Auntie and their children – a lovely reminder of a wonderful afternoon.