Thursday, May 22, 2014

Brighton for the Beautiful Maisie's Birthday

The beginning of March saw me budget-airline-hopping back to the UK, to celebrate my beautiful granddaughter Maisie's fourth birthday. I had been in touch with Maisie's mummy lots before the trip, and I was over the moon to be invited to watch Maisie in both her swimming and ballet lesson during the week. Getting permission to watch a ballet lesson is a pretty big deal too, so I was very grateful!

I had actually booked to travel to Brighton the week after Maisie's birthday as I knew Mark, my son was having Maisie that following weekend.  I also sneakily extended my stay as my dental procedure needed another appointment too.

I arrived on the Friday, and was very happy to hear that plans had been made for Maisie to have a sleep over at my daughter Frankie's house with Kaci.  They are so alike, they think are are total princesses, so girly, into hair and nails and all things pretty.  It was great for me to read them both a bed time story that first night.  Plus at four years old they are not yet thinking about staying up all hours chatting, they were happy to just turn over and go to sleep!



On the Saturday we celebrated Maisie's birthday.  First stop  was to meet up with Mark and Maisie, plus a good friend of Mark and Frankie's, Martin and his little boy Dillon. Dillon is two weeks younger than Maisie.  Mark and Martin were in the same year as each other at school and were mates, but he will always be remembered by me for looking after Frankie when she had too much to drink one night when she was under age, naughty girl!  Martin looked after her and brought her home... good lad! It was great they were able to share the day with us.  The Sea Life centre was the first port of call and the kids loved it.

Touch a starfish... poor starfish!

Mark with Kaci and Maisie

Martin and Dillon

Next stop the pier and chips!  It had to be done, and it didn't disappoint!  It's one of the few things I miss here, chip shop chips... yummy!  The kids had a great time on a few of the rides too.




Photo bombed by a seagull!


After a super day all together Kaci went to her daddy for the rest of the weekend, which gave me time to have lots of cuddles with my gorgeous new grandson Jaxon.  Little Jaxon was 3 months old, and had already changed so much.  Bless his heart he has had a few health problems too.  He has been suffering with reflux, and a flappy or floppy larynx.  In other words he kept bringing his milk back up, and he had terible tummy ache since he was born.  Poor little mite was always crying, and almost constantly bringing his knees up in pain.  It must have been so difficult for Frankie.  Time after time at the doctors they told Frankie there was nothing wrong.  Eventually one day Frankie, going on her mum's intuition, paid a visit to the children's accident and emergency department at the the local childrens hopsital.  A doctor diagnosed it within a couple of minutes.  At least that put her mind at rest and they are keeping an eye on him, plus he has some medication too to try and control it. 

The following day the sun was shining brightly and Mark, Laura (Mark's girlfriend) and Maisie all came over to Frankie and Jordan's flat and we had a lovely walk along the seafront.  Although I have to admit these days, I see the sunshine and expect some heat from it.  Yes I know it was only March.  So a hot chocolate was the order of the day, before heading back again.



The holiday flew by, as it always does.  I loved spending my time with my children and gorgeous grandchildren.  It was great to be able to let Frankie have that extra hour in bed some mornings. It's not easy with two little ones. As for me, I loved my early morning wake up calls. 


I watched little Maisie in her swimming lesson, although she had a few tears, I think she was tired after a busy day at nursery.  Her ballet she got totally stuck into and concentrated really hard, bless her, even though I was watching.  Good girl Maisie, Nanny was very proud of you!


As always I managed to catch up with a few special friends, not all of course... some are already on my list for next time. I, of course managed to see Uncle Charlie, who thankfully was keeping well.  It was my job, this trip, to try and organise him a free buss pass. What an ordeal!  Having tried three different offices in town, we were told "I can see your uncle is over 65, but I'm afraid if he doesn't have a passport, driving licence or birth certificate with him, we cannot issue him with a free bus pass!"  Uncle Charlie's answer to this was "Tell the lady I swam the channel, a couple of months ago... and I did it in record time!"  Bless him!  Still no free bass pass  So we went back to his pub instead!


Kaci and I had a little scoot along the seafront one morning.  Well Kaci scooted and I walked and we enjoyed an ice cream together, whist her mummy had a bit of time with Jax. She wanted to wear her Spanish flamenco dress, but it was a bit nippy so she was wearing lots of other clothes underneath it.



Two more exciting things to do before travelling back to sunny Spain, the first was the final part of my implants (yes, the teeth still)  the second was a lovely night with the family.  As I'm not the worlds best cook, Jordan (Frankie's boyfriend) who is a very good cook, offered, or maybe I even asked him, if he would cook something nice on my last evening.  We invited Mark and Laura over too.  It was a really lovely evening, and the food was lovely, thanks Jordan.  It really finished off a lovely holiday.  Thanks so much for having me!

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