To finish our time in the USA we spent a long weekend with my Uncle Joe, Aunt Anne, and cousins Aidan and Christopher. It was really special to spend family time with them.  On the Saturday we went to Aidan’s ice hockey game and then went apple picking at Stribling Orchard before taking part in a special treat – carving our very first jack’o’lanterns!

The boys helped us and we had a lot of fun following stencils to carve them out.  We also attended an Oktoberfest festival and went shopping (it suddenly occurred to us that Europe might be quite unpleasant without jackets!)  One of the highlights of our stay was a visit to Washington National Zoo, where we saw giant pandas, cheetahs, bears, otters and lions. It was so much fun to see the boys’ reactions to the different animals.

It was lovely getting to know my cousins (the last time I saw Aidan he was under 1 and Christopher had not been born!), catching up with my aunt and uncle and being able to introduce Reubs to this part of my family.