Becky and Hannah have been training hard here in Cape May (runs are so much nicer along the boardwalk!) and are counting down the days. Their Blenheim triathlon is a week tomorrow: Saturday, June 7th. They’re raising money for the Candlelighters Trust, which has been a huge support to our cousin Lucy and her family in the last year. If you haven’t sponsored them yet, now’s your chance! Click here to contribute.

Chloe and Evie are already becoming fast friends…as if they ever had any choice. We’ve been encouraging the relationship by dressing them in matching outfits (the t-shirts say “Mummy’s Little Ray of Sunshine”):

At first Chloe wasn’t quite sure what to make of Evie, but then she started waving at her. (Actually, Chloe’s been waving at everyone we pass, as well as at a few trees. She even waved at the nasty customer service rep at British Airways, which didn’t really do much to help our case.)

And before too long they were holding hands like the best of friends.

Hannah gets car sick in the back seat (that’s her excuse, anyway) so Auntie Bex (a.k.a. Becky Poppins this week) has been sitting in the back seat with the cousins. Here’s Evie showing how much she loves having Auntie Becky in town:

And here’s Chloe looking adoringly at her Auntie B:

And one more of Evie smiling at Bex’s camera, just for luck.

The high chair we borrowed for Chloe was missing some straps, so for her first breakfast we tied her in with two dressing gown belts.

Not really a permanent solution, so we decided to head to the mall for a replacement chair. First stop, of course, was Friendlys…

Chloe is none too impressed with the free balloon…

So we decided some retail therapy was in order. Chloe and Evie egged each other on and got completely carried away. Look what they bought!

Much better…

It turned out to be rather complicated getting from England to Red Hook with Chloe and Evie. But the blame lies solely with British Airways — Chloe and Evie handled it like champs! It started on the plane with Chloe’s bassinet, which wasn’t quite long enough. So instead Chloe sat in it like a boat…

Then we arrived at Newark to discover that B.A. had lost Evie’s car seat and pram and Chloe’s pram. While we waited (four hours!) for a B.A. representative to help us, Evie and Chloe made themselves at home in baggage claim (Evie even napped)…

Eventually we realized the car-seats weren’t forthcoming, and the loaner car seats B.A. offered up didn’t fit, so Rob drove the car home while the girls headed into NYC to get a train to Red Hook. This involved a 2-hour lay-over at Penn Station, where we had some dinner and Chloe drank from a big girl glass…

Aaaaaahhhhh! Much better. We were all rather thirsty as there was no water in the baggage claim area and the B.A. rep said it wasn’t her job to provide us with some.

By the time we arrived at the Rhinecliff Station, Rob had been via Babies R Us to pick up two new car seats. Yay, we’re going home at last!

Emma got tickets for the 3 of us to see the filming of The Apprentice You’re Fired.  I am a massive fan so was beside myself with excitment, especially as we were moved from our shoddy back row seats to a centre aisle position to ensure we were “in camera shot” and then invited to the green room after the show to mingle with some very D list celebs, but more importantly Bex and I had a quick chat with the fired contestant. It was a fab night - keep an eye out for us tomorrow night BBC2 10pm!!

A Sunday lunch up in London to celebrate Rob & Emma’s upcoming birthdays, followed by a walk to the Park. Emma, Rob and Becky set off with Evie   Nan-nan looking a bit nervous crossing the road with James and Dianne!James and Malcolm disappear off to try and find a pub in the Borough of Chelsea and Kensington not showing the Chelsea vs Bolton game .. eventually finding one brave pub showing the Man Utd vs Wigan game!! The rest of the group relax in the Park!Proud Mum with Evie!… and Dad’s pretty pleased with himself as well of course!and try and keep Grandma Muz away from Evie!…. and oh yes Chloe had to get a look in back in Oxford!!

Emma Rob and Evie in Oxford for the weekend, taking a break from Emma’s filming in London.Grandma Muz with her two favourite little girls …Chloe trying to climb the stairs!Nannan (and Tilley!) in Oxford as wellEvie in Redhook in February in her tiny Oxford outfit… compared to now .. (someone is obviously thriving on the house white!).. both Dads taking charge of the bottles!… while the girls check out Facebook!