Our seven-day Scandinavian adventure: fly to Copenhagen, train to Malmo, overnight train to Stockholm, overnight ferry to Tallinn, ferry to Helsinki, fly back to London just an hour before our flight leaves for San Francisco. Whew!
After Sitchfest, John and Ben + Allie + Florence + Rosie + Eddie headed back home to Canada, but Joe + Sarah + Ethan + Hannah and our family headed to the Spanish island of Menorca for a little R+R, plus to sail Cousin Richard's boat, Cumulus.
One of the reasons for our UK trip was Sitchfest, a get-together for the four children, 10 grand-children, and more than 15 great-grandchildren, plus spouses and partners, of my grandparents Edward (Ted) and Helen. We had the meetup at the Harlow Rugby Club, the site of which is within a 15-mile radius of where Sitches have been documented to live for the last 400 years!
After braving the castles and beaches of North Wales, the ten of us (Ben, Allison, Florence, Rosie, and Eddie, plus Sara and me, Charlie, Miles, and Harriet) travelled to the very south east of England to stay with my cousins Jess and Zoe in Folkestone. My dad had already arrived and was staying with Zoe. My other brother Joe, his wife Sarah, and their kids Ethan and Hannah joined us a day later. Luckily we could all pack into Jess' place!
Ben and Allison, plus their kids Florence, Rosie, and Eddie, met Sara and me and our kids Charlie, Miles, and Harriet, in London and we took the train up to North Wales to stay with Aunt Jane, my mother's sister, on the farm where she and my mother were born (and where my mother is buried). We had a whole week together with nothing planned - perfect.
My immediate family are nomads: my brothers and I were born in England, grew up in Canada, and now live in Texas, California, and Ontario. The rest of the Sitch clan hasn't moved much in the last 400 years! Our aunts and uncles in the UK are still very close to where some of the earliest records of where Sitches (then called Sache's) once lived.
It's been a while since we've seen our UK relatives, so we planned a reunion! We may also have done some vacationing.
We haven't had much rain this year, but the boys have been enjoying every little bit!
