good old chinwag: June 2013: The Social Season in London, Dahhhhling

How in the world did it get to be the end of August? Well, I think I can tell you...loads of visitors, the end of the school year business, more visitors, a Royal Baby and then a fun 10 day trip...I am way behind on this blog so you might get a slew of pictures with little commentary (which some might say isn't a bad thing)!

Let's go back to June shall we??

June is typically a very busy time for the socialites of London and especially the Queen. That gal is EVERYWHERE! She celebrates her non-birthday with the Trooping of the Colour, then the Order of the Garter and right into five days of Royal Ascot! We had so much fun at Ascot last year with the fantastic Grimstead family, that we had to make it happen again this year! This year it was sans children (Mummy did not set a good example last year to my two cuties) and an adult only event with our friends Molly and Rob and their friends Gina and Neal.

We had a fantastic day, dressed up, donned our smart looking hats, drank some Pimms, waved to HRH the Queen, and shivered in our trench coats! Unfortunately, it was cold and raining on the day we went. We toughed it out but we could only imagine how much more pleasant it would have been with the sun shining! But it certainly didn't stop the fantastic people watching you get at Royal Ascot!

On the train to Royal Ascot...our helicopter must have been broken

HRH the Queen...lookin' good girl!

Tiny Queen!

Minions awaiting the Queen

Some of the Royal Chavscots

Gina and Molly looking lovely (and cooold)!

Awaiting the Queen!

Winning ticket...nope!

We clean up good

Along the race track, drinking Pimms...it was cold :-(

Good thing the Grimsteads weren't with us this year...no "gincidents"!
Just kidding, we really missed them!

Londoners on their way home after Royal Ascot-
you can only imagine all the DRUNKS on that train!

The following Saturday Pete and I headed for a day at Wimbledon with our friends Molly and Suzanne. My oh so generous neighbours, Trevor and Thea, were able to secure tickets for us through their Mum and Dad, members of the All England Club! The SUN was out and we had a great day exploring the immaculate grounds of the All England Club! We watched some up and coming junior tennis and some early rounds of Men's singles, Women's doubles and some Mixed doubles. This was a crazy year at Wimbledon ~ all sorts of upsets and surprises. It was fun just to be there and take it all in-definitely a bucket list moment for both Pete and I!

Road trip to Wimbledon-Suzanne and Pete~ Suzanne wore her fancy pants !!

All England Lawn Tennis Club

Umpires debrief...looking chic in their Ralph Lauren kit

Centre Court ~ Hawkeye Calibration

Empty Centre Court-awaiting the "show" players

The ball boys and girls were awesome!

Early matches of Men's Doubles

Young girl players

Suzanne, Jen and Molly on the "hill"

The grounds were impeccably maintained!

It was hot and crowded but it was Wimbledon!

Watched some great matches on this court!

Lots of lovely little spots to have a break in tennis action

Along with the Saturday tickets, my lovely neighbour Thea, invited me to the Men's Quarter Finals on July 3rd! Along with her mother-in-law, we lunched in the Member's Only dining room and sat in the Member's seats...super close to the Royal Box. Unfortunately the Royal Box was not so Royal and I really didn't know anyone in it save for some British comedian and a few older Wimbledon tennis champions. It was a lovely day and the tennis was AMAZING!

First up was Del Potro v. Ferrer...the match was almost done before it even started as Del Potro fell on his injured knee straightaway. But he forged on and ended up beating Ferrer in a great match! Del Potro became my new fav and I was rooting for him to take the whole thing!

The second match was England's own beloved Andy Murray v. Fernando Verdasco...an epic, 5 set match! Amazing tennis and so much fun to see the hometown favourite get the crowd riled up! The match was tense, the crowd was pumped and Andy Murray was victorious! The gentleman sitting next to me was so nervous in the 5th set that he was twitching and jerking with every shot! He even grabbed my hand at one point!

A quick disclaimer: I do not love Andy Murray. In my opinion, he is kind of boring, whiny and looks like a combo of Beavis and Butthead. However, I appreciate his dedication and passion to his sport and it WAS fun to watch the hometown guy win! I will say I was very impressed with Verdasco-he was cool as a cucumber throughout the match and not bothered at all by all the Murray support. After all the upsets, I was hoping he would win...kind of...

A big thank you to Trevor and Thea for making this all happen-I will remember it forever!

Centre Court Ticket for Men's Quarter Finals~
Del Potro v. Ferrer & Murry v. Verdasco

The All England Club Member's Area

Walking across the gangway towards Centre Court

Seats in the Member's Section = really excellent seats!

Del Potro v. Ferrer...an amazing match! Del Potro my NEW fave!
That boy can hustle!

When he finally won-he was exhausted!

The Royal Box-I was so close but alas, it was full of C-Listers that day...
if only Kate and Pippa had been there.
Days later I missed Bradley Cooper, Gerad Butler and Jude Law!

Love the English flair!

Whilst we were socializing with the uppity ups, we had visitors coming and going throughout the 2-3 weeks of Royal Ascot, Wimbledon and the Henley Royal Regatta. Oh and the kids were still in school (Henry even went to France with his school for the weekend), so it was a lot of juggling of schedules, airport pick ups/drop offs, changing sheets and cooking!

Our great friends, Paula and Grover Holtzclaw, came for a visit the week of Wimbledon and the Regatta. They stayed in a flat in London with their daughters and Paula's mom and friend Nancy. They were able to come out for a day/night to spend some time with us, watch May compete in her Sport's Day, go on a hike in the Chiltrens and see our house! The day after Wimbledon, our friend's the Taylors arrived (all 5 of them!) for a 6 day stay at Hotel de Davis. Whilst they toured London and Windsor Castle, the Holtzclaws came back out for a day of rowing competition at the Henley Royal Regatta. The sun was out again (we have had a great summer compared to last summer) and it was hot in Henley on Thames. We enjoyed the great preppy people watching, some cold Coronas and cute crew teams!