Our Rainy Family Trip to England (Just How We Like It) | Cup of Jo

My loves! How are you??? I’m so excited to catch up. We just got home after two weeks away, where we saw my family in Cornwall, England, and then friends in Copenhagen. I’d love to share photos, if you’d like to see. First up, a wet week in England…

We visited my beloved aunt Lulu, who took care of my grandmother for five years before she died this spring. We are crossing all fingers and toes that we’ll be able to keep the family house (we’re waiting to see).

It was fun to have the littlest cousins there. Like all good English children, they are being indoctrinated to appreciate milky tea and rainy weather.

I didn’t not have baby fever. But can you blame me? Those chubby cheeks! The wonderful book I’m reading by Irish author Colin Barrett has a line about kissing a damp cheek: “She kissed him, chastely, on the cheek, the wetness of her skin when she pulled away adhering like a decal to Danny’s skin.” Don’t you know exactly what that feels like?

We laughed about how many words used to describe the weather: misting, spitting, drizzling, sprinkling, drumming, hammering, pissing, pouring, bucketing, pelting, teeming, driving, chucking down… it also felt like a good opportunity to teach the boys the word ‘ominous.’

Still, they bravely put on wetsuits and jumped!

Toby and his cousin Bo have been so cute since they were babies (here’s a little slideshow). They’re four months apart and look more like twins every year.

Teenagers be teenagers, as they say, haha.

Since people always descend like wolves on any bowl of chips, my cousin had a pro tip: hide them in a tea mug and no one will know.

This sign also made me laugh — so polite!

Finally, the sun came out for the last couple days, which was a treat.

Thank you so much to my aunts Lulu and Janey for always taking such good care of us…

And to my grandfather and grandmother before them. (Here I am at age nine.)

We love you, Cornwall. Until next year. xoxoxo

P.S. Our England trips through the years, including when Toby and Anton were babies; and my packing list this year.