In February I had the wonderful opportunity of visiting my sister and her family, the Finnemore Four, in London. It was an amazing four weeks that felt more like 5 minutes. London was having a milder than normal winter and even though we had some of the coldest days of the winter in those weeks, we used the bright sunny days inbetween to our advantage. I was also able to catch up with some SA and NL friends during that time which was really great. Thank you to everyone who took the time and made the effort to meet up with me, it was so good to see you. And a heartfelt sorry to those I did not get to see, thank you for your understanding and I hope we can meet up next time.
Thank you Graham and Michelle for having me, for spoiling and loving on me the way you did. Thank you for letting me join your family life for a few weeks. You are both amazing parents and your children are so beautiful and well adjusted. Parenting is the hardest job but you are doing it amazingly and with so much patience and grace. Well done for being such a great example of good parents. I miss you all madly!!! (Ask Justin, I tell him everyday.) My apologies for taking so long to blog about our time together, I still burst into tears looking at these pics because I miss you so much and wish we lived closer. Roll on December!!! =)
Without further ado, please enjoy this slightly different post of a holiday in pictures!
The first cuddle!
'Come inside our house Aunty Bronwen, where it's nice and warm and cosy!'
Real sentence from an almost 3 year old!!
Even though we skype all the time, Joshie felt smaller in my arms than I expected him too.
Michelle had left a Lindt dark chocolate bunny on my bed and Joshie was very excited to open it the minute I arrived, lol. We opened it together a bit later in the holiday. 'Can I just see it, can I just look at it, just for a little bit', one of the catch phrases of the holiday, lol.
The first cuddle with the precious little Dani.
She had her second round of immunisations the day I arrived so we gave her space to recover over the next few days. I was a bit broken after the long flight and the time difference and went to bed at the same time as the kids the first few nights, lol. Jet lag wasn't too bad though, found it to be much worse on my return to Perth where it took at least a week to adjust.
Looking for the ducks and Stickman and Stick Lady Love (characters in one of Joshie's favourite books).
The day after I arrived was mild and sunny so we took advantage with a walk in the park behind the house after a slow morning when it had warmed up a bit.
Travelling in comfort and style with a nap along the way.
Twinnies!
Fun in the wiggle park.
A Milka Santa!
Uncle Markus in Germany very kindly sent us a box filled with all kinds of goodies including real lebkuchen, baumkuchen, Milka and other treats. Thank you!!
Opening a Kinder egg together.
The red stripe on the cheek is from playing with face paint crayons together earlier.
Nap time!
I enjoyed many Dani snuggles that turned into naps. She was so little! I feel very privileged to have spent this time with her when she was still so small.
Painting!
One of Joshie's favourite activities. It got very serious shortly after this pic with aprons and hand prints. We were making a picture to go in Grandpa's birthday card.
Joshua with one of the pieces we did together.
Afternoon story time on the big bed!
'Now I have two Moms' said Josh shortly after I arrived.
One of the rare times I had my hair tied up. For some reason Josh didn't like it and kept pulling the elastic out. After kidlet bed time was a good time to tie it up, lol.
I loved being part of their daily life including bath, story, and bed time, a very special daily routine with lots of good memories.
Graham took Josh to the park for a run around that first Saturday while we all collected our thoughts and made plans for the coming days. The winter had been very mild and many plants and trees were already flowering! It was very bizarre to see so many trees with blossoms in the last week of January and all February!
The first baby chino date!
Can't get enough of this beautiful baby! She's a carbon copy of Michelle as a baby.
We sneaked in a family chino date after grocery shopping at the big Tesco that first Saturday afternoon.
Pre-show selfie!
I took Joshie to a story reading at a kiddies theatre in Wimbledon that first Sunday. We had a super fun time hanging out together and also played in the play area oustide for a bit afterwards. And it was also nice for Graham and Michelle to have a toddler free coffee date.
Joshie was so brave on stage all by himself!
So little in that big red coat watching the snow flakes fall.
Post show family Nando's date!
Joshie ate almost that whole burger by himself, very impressive buddy.
The first Starbucks chino date!
On the Monday after the post office and dropping off the dry cleaning.
*insert a photo of play group here*
(No photo since it's not allowed to take pics of kiddies in groups like this)
After lunch we went to play group. Joshie has been going to a local play group most weeks since he was a few months old. This group is for 0-3 year olds so this was his last one before his third birthday the next day. Having heard so much about 'gay poop' (before Josh could say play group ;) ) it was so nice to join at least one time. Joshie loved the water table, the car garage and song time. Was also nice for Dani to enjoy the soft play area.
Making a boofday cake!
Joshie and I did lots of baking in the holiday including his birthday cake, cupcakes, banana bread and chocolate biscotti. He also helped me blend soup sometimes.
Get your apron on!
'Good mixing Aunty Bronwen!' Thanks buddy, you too =)
Happy Third Birthday Joshua!
Graham took the day off work and we all went to Hobbledown Farm Park for the day, a family orientated small animal farm and kiddie play area.
Joshie loved the indoor soft play area! We had to drag him out to see the animals and it was only 5 minutes before he wanted to go back in and play, lol. He has so much energy! These soft play areas are specially designed for kids, they can run around upright in the tunnels and go down slides and cross beams, this one was particularly well thought out. Adults can go in too but it's much more challenging crawling on your knees! We each took a turn with Joshie in the soft play but he was also happy running around by himself too.
Mom and son orange tunnel selfie!
Petting the bunny rabbits
Otter snack time
The only time Josh sat down the whole day, lol. And the only thing apart from one sandwich that he ate. But he had a super fun day and just loved it. Dani also had a nice day with the adults mostly to herself and she had a turn in the baby area too.
Back home blowing out candles and opening presents on Skype with family abroad. Joshie loved his cake although it wasn't my best attempt, sorry about that buddy. Next time I'll practice some more first ;) Making it together was very special though. Shell and I iced and decorated it after Josh went to bed and he was so excited to see it decorated the next day, was very sweet. He has a really good memory for a small person.
Wednesday was a chilled catch up with ourselves day after a busy boofday.
Read: Shell and I cleaned house while the children rested, lol.
The Thursday was a beautiful mild and sunny day which we spent in Bushy Park.
We fed the ducks, spent lots of time in the sand pit and play area and had tea and scones.
Little Marshmallow blowing bubbles.
One of my favourite pics of the holiday. Dani is so snuggly in that snow suit!
Girls!
Joshie the train driver taking us to the beach.
See-saw fun!
Unfortunately a large part of the play area was closed for upgrades or something and we forgot to bring the sandpit tools with us, but it was still super fun in the sand and see-saw and so nice to be outside on a mild day.
Another favourite photo of the holiday.
Joshie is really good at selfies and Dani is learning fast, lol.
*insert photo of hanging out with Bron and baby Owen here*
On the Friday of that first week I met with a good uni friend Bronwen and her almost 1 year old son Owen at King's Cross Station and we spent some time catching up over lunch at the Wellcome Collection, the museum for the incurably curious. Thank you for taking the day off work and coming to London from Oxford just to see me! It was so good to see you and meet Owen. Fail for not getting a photo together, lol.
While I was out Shell and Josh made a reading fort in a tent =)
Catching up on Dani snuggles after a day out.
Can't get enough of this beautiful baby!!
My new trick: sticking my tongue out!
Her nickname after she discovered this was little lizard since she did it all the time like a lizard, lol.
She was so little, just 4 months old when I was there. Now she is 9 months old, has much more hair and is already crawling around and pulling herself up to stand. Time passes too quickly. Miss you lots little miss muffet.
Travelling to London! Kiddies play area in Doha Airport.
I flew Qatar Airways from Perth via Doha and can highly recommend them. Was a good journey in both directions, just really long. Fortunately all 4 flights were almost empty, so it was nice and quiet with lots of space to stretch out. The Qatar staff are all really polite and go out of their way to be helpful. The only negative would be the food, it was not great at all. Take emergency snacks!
I think the bear is a library section, or something. Airport security were not happy with my photo taking and I got shooed along very quickly, lol. Not sure why though since the same pics are already on Google images.
Part 2 and more London adventures coming soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment