Seattle revisited

Rosie didnt ever sleep 'til 7am again, but for the most part she wakes up around 5-530am which allows me plenty of great sleep! I still 'wear' her all day, but today I managed to lay her on the bed for a 3 hour nap, allowing me time to do a bunch of things!

Loving life today!!!

In the airport - We lost count of the number of times Henry yelled 'airplane' at the toop of his voice!

We left 80F, blue skies and sunshine for this!?

Childrens museum got us out of the cold

Bath time is so much easier now that they bathe together!

Spontaneity is not my thing!

Right now...

I know my posts are few and far between, but its pretty time consuming having two kids and I can't seem to get decent pictures and I don't want to post without photos for you.

Danny came home for lunch Monday, or maybe it was Tuesday, and asked me if I wanted to go to Seattle - Friday! I really dont deal well with spontaneous suggestions but there is no point of having the freedom of a stay at home mum and not taking advantage of the perks of a job that means you hardly ever get to see your husband and are a single parent more than you are a family. So yes, we are in Seattle; air miles, Marriott points and a little bit of spending money. Unfortunately we left the best weather you can imagine (80F, glorious sunshine) for snow, wind, rain and upper 30sF, but we spent the weekend together! Danny is working now and we are in the hotel room taking naps; ahhhhhh peace and quiet!

As usual I am behind on photos, Seattle fun photos to come, but below are some of the kids from last week (I dont get many of Rosie because she lives her life attached to me right now - thank goodness for baby-wearing!).

Jogging on the bike path. Got 20lbs to lose! Me, not Henry!

Henry just discovered these gloves - it was 80F+ out!

Henry thinks he needs to play with Rosie whenever she uses the jungle gym. She is awake more and more each day and she is such a happy little person.

Yes, he is wearing his beany in 80F weather.

Look, there are some battles that are just not worth fighting!

Fantastic last day

Today was the last day of my vacation and it was fantastic (apart from being super sick).

Henry and I cycled to the baby doctor for H's one year check up. No waiting, for a change. The nurse had to prick his finger for an iron test, which didn't bother him at all. Nor did it bother him when she spent the next minute squeezing blood out of his finger. But when she put that bandaid on his little finger he had a fit and started crying his eyes out. It's always hard when he gets vaccinations too, he cried so hard with the first injection and there was still two to come. I took a packet of fruit jellies though, and his wailing cleared up pretty quick when I offered him a berry bunny. His health is great. Weight 19 lbs 10 oz, 8 th percentile. Height 30 inches, 50 th percentile. Head circumference 79 th percentile.

We dropped the bike off at home and walked to the park, where we spent ages playing on the slide and swings and just generally crawling around. Danny even popped by and dropped off a donut! After lunch H took an insufficient nap and was a little grumpy. We cycled to pick up our csa veg then cycled to the pool where we had a blast. Back to town to meet Papa for dinner at Ajax. I thought Henry would have been tired when we got home at 7pm, his usual bed time, but I put him on thie driveway briefly while I unpacked the trailer and he became engrossed in some tennis balls, rackets, softballs, and badminton rackets that were lying around, so we sat on the driveway for half hour. When I did put him to bed at 730 he went straight to sleep.

I am now putting myself to bed and hoping I sleep better than last night with this horrendous cold.

What a beautiful day with my beautiful little boy!

The end of the trip

Im tired but its been a good holiday.

I managed to get burnt yesterday for the first time. Sucks that I go the whole trip and dont get burnt and get a little toasty yesterday. Not a lot, just a little. Little man has stayed unburnt, thankfully, though he is a little Coppertone Baby with his brown arms and legs and little white toosh.

We had a fun few days at the posh resort nearby. We checked in early saturday morning for one night to get the perks that go with the resort. We took a private ferry to the private island and played on the beach for the day. Jade even stayed in with Henry after he had gone to bed, so that Danny and I could go out together! We took a stroll through the gardens, got dessert and strolled around the marina. Poor little Jadie wasnt sure if babysitters were allowed to go to sleep so she was desperately trying to keep her self awake, to no avail! Then yesterday we went to the beach in the morning where Jade and Danny rented a jetski and Henry played in the sand happily. We dig him a big hole and he just spends hours climbing in and out of it! I managed to get him to take a nap in the Ergo (which of course made us sweat like no bodies business!) and then we all went to the little waterpark on the resort where I took Henry on the tubing slide and he played with Therese and Jade in the kiddie pool. Apparently he got so excited about going down the kiddie slide with his Auntie Jade that he screamed and pointed in the line with the other kids!

Today is a quiet recovery day by the pool, H is napping and Im on my way now.

Tomorrow we head home on a 1pm flight, perfect for nap time in the Ergo. So I guess that means we had better go pack! We have stuff EVERYWHERE!

Going to get one last Pina Colada with dinner tonight, Henry is addicted! I even put some in his sippy cup but he thought I was tricking him so he wouldnt drink it. When he suddenly realised I had given him some, he drank the entire cup!

Oh and butt rash is a little rough when he is sitting in a swim diaper all day and sand gets in the cracks, but hopefully it will clear up quickly when we get home. 1 year doctors apt Friday! Poor little man is going to need a vacation from the vacation to recover!

A day on the water

Henry slept like a baby, as it were, though this is a silly saying as babies don't really sleep well at all. So that meant both Mummy and Daddy slept well, which meant everyone was in a good mood this morning! Yeay!

I woke up early and just laid around waiting for H to get up, which occurred around 7am. We walked to the marina and looked at the boats and I was sweating before we got half way home - needless to say, its hot here! I left Danny in bed as long as I could and ended up waking him around 830am to check his email about the boating trip. Turns out you had to be there at 930am so we dashed around getting ready and Danny announces at 855am that he wants to go buy a floatie for Henry. So we head to the store, not stopping to look at a map. hmmmmm. So we get a little off route, but we did end up there, just 10 minutes later than we should have. So Danny flew into the Walmart and then drove to the boat dock like a bat out of hell, which is fine because he was just driving like a Puerto Rican. Speaking of which, there seems to be no rules of the road. People just pull out in front of people onto main roads, drive on the wrong side of the road when they feel like it (no cars along the side of the road to go round and there is a yellow line in the middle), park in the middle of the road... in short, they are crazy ass drivers and Im glad its not me driving us around as Id park up and start crying. And also its really weird seeing island/Mexican style houses and then a bunch of American stuff (Burger King, Pizza Hut, Church's Chicken, Walmart, Walgreens etc). And Danny is truly bothered by the fact that everyone has bars on the houses (windows, doors, patios, yards).

Anyways, we made it to the boat dock a little late, but in good time nonetheless. Since Im sure you love to hear about all of my many poo poo mishaps, Henry did a big stinker and I realised that the diaper thing I carry in my bag was still in the stroller from this morning. Oh dear. So we had no wipes. hmmmm. So I took him to the toilets and stuck his ass in the sink. I mean, its not like I havent done that before, regularly. It was a large catamaran and we got on quick enough to get a seat in the shade, thank goodness. I just think the sun here is so much stronger than at home. Henry was great, he just sat on my lap, dancing to the music. We sailed to a nice white sandy beach where Henry and I played in the sand. He stinking loved it! I kept burying him in the sand and he found it hilarious. He wasnt so keen on the salt water and cried when it went in his face a lot, but he liked sitting at the edge of the waves, as long as I lifted him up for the big ones.

He sat in the floatie (a bumble bee) on the boat with his bucket and spades and played happily for ages after lunch. As usual, everyone loved him and he was continually dancing to the loud music! At the next snorkeling location Danny and I took H with us in the floatie. He liked it alright for a while but I think he just wanted to see us because he would complain while our heads were in the water and laugh and be happy when we looked up at him. So I took him back to the boat and we floated around together next to the boat for a while. More playing in the floatie on the boat deck and lots of crackers and kiwi fruit kept the little man happy as Larry, despite no nap. So on the 3 minute car journey home, he went straight to sleep! He woke up briefly when we got him out of the car and then went straight back to sleep on my shoulder. Such a good little chappie.

After his nap we popped out for dinner and had a super hard time finding somewhere to eat and ended up at Pizza Hut because we were in a hurry. Strangely, everyone in there was Puerto Rican except for one other American looking family. I just think they arent really a culture that eats out all that much. There are tons of bars, just not very many local restaurants. We did drive around for a while looking for somewhere before we gave up and went to PH.

After a bath and a story, Henry went straight off to sleep and fingers crossed for another night like last night because I am whoopped!

San Juan tomorrow I think. Not a moments rest I guess.

Jadie comes in tomorrow night, so hopefully we can rest Wednesday as she will be tired from travelling and will want to play with H.

Oh and Wednesday is Henry's birthday, though with all the presents and parties a bit at a time, I feel like he has had a hundred birthdays already!


I just had a thought (yes, it hurt). I wonder what all of this travelling and activity is doing to Henry's development as a person. I mean, don't most kids just go to daycare and come home; with one family vacation a year, camping in North Carolina. He is a very very sociable person, but is that how he was born? Anna-Prescott and Collier, two of the kids he shares a babysitter with are 10 months apart in age and such different siblings. AP is very shy and quiet, while Collier is a little chatter box. Im sure their mum doesnt treat them terribly differently, so is it just how they were born? Was Henry just born a sociable young man? One of the things people always say about him is what a happy little baby he is, and yes he is a very happy little baby. Surely this is nothing Im doing - he must have just been born that way. Is it something I did pregnant? There is so much we just don't know. I like to think its just the way he is, that way I cant screw him up too much!

Puerto Rico begins

Yesterday was long, seriously long. The travelling part wasnt so bad. Henry took a decent nap in his Ergo at the regular time. He ate airport and airplane food and all was looking good. He fell asleep on the drive from the airport to the condo and then we couldnt get him back to sleep when we got here. Hours of crying and us not giving in, then in the end he fell asleep, thankfully. But it didnt last long and I really didnt have the energy to do anything about it, so for the first time in his short life, he slept in the bed with us. oh dear. So of course I hardly slept because I was worried Danny would roll on him and to be honest, he looked so sweet asleep I watched him for a huge portion of the night. I was also hot because we raised the temperature in the room because he was sleeping without a blanket but I didnt bank on him spooning with me under the covers. And my foot was itchy. Put it all together, and the fact that he woke up at 630am, Mummy hardly slept last night. Though I wasnt so worse for wears today, thankfully.

The day started early but relaxed with a leisurely breakfast. Then someone suggested taking a ferry to the island which left at 9am so we rushed around getting ready and were actually out of the door by 830am ish. We drove around to a few of the wrong locations and eventually pulled up to the ferry spot to find out that people line up for tickets at 11pm the night before, to buy the ticket at 1am when the office opens. Needless to say, we ended up back at the condo pool, which was more than fine by me. It was then impossible to get Henry to nap for some bizarre reason. It took 1 hour and 40 minutes and even then he only slept 55 minutes. So he was very very tired this afternoon. We played at the pool again with our little fish. There is a baby pool thats just the right depth that he can wear his floatie and swim around without any help... unless of course he rolls on to his back. Then he is like a little turtle and he cant roll over, getting very annoyed at being stuck.

We had dinner at Ole Lelolai restaurant which was delicious but pricey. I get the impression its going to be an expensive holiday. I had Sea Bass with an olive tapenade and parmessan risotto, which Henry loved! He even ate the sea bass and Theresse's seafood paella.

Tomorrow I think the plan is a snorkel cruise on a catamaran, so we shall see how Henry likes that.

Im exhausted and was rather anxious for tonights bedtime situation, but to my surprise, he went straight to sleep. Thank goodness, I dont think I could have taken another night last night. Thank you H.

Baby moon is officially over...

Monday we drove back up to Miami, in our car with no air conditioning. We stopped off for a walk on the beach part way but the wind was too gusty for Danny to want to go swimming in the sea. We checked into our hotel, which, like everything in Miami, seemed especially dated, though not in a cool retro sense, but in a tired-needing to be renewed sense. Danny played in the water at Miami Beach and I took a nap on the sand. We ate at a so-so diner, sharing a burger and house salad, but never fear, we had our own milkshakes!

Danny complained about our lack of ac and threw in the 'my wife is pregnant and was not happy' and they knocked $110 off our $170 bill! It always pays to ask right! The worst they can do is say no!

The flight home Tuesday was uneventful and practically empty.

We plunged back into real-life with a to-do list the length of a kite string. Very sobering. The biggest problem with 'our' to-do list, is that I cant help with most of it. Its not necessarily the 'helpless' feeling that I mind, its the pressure upon Danny to do it all. Its not like there are any jobs that we can get someone else to do, we just need time I suppose. Its a good job pregnancy has brought an unusual calm over me.

Oh and before anyone tries this remedy, be warned, my broccoli had died by the time I got home. So this age old remedy of spraying broccoli with dish soap that I hear about from everyone, didnt quite work for me; but Im guessing I used to strong a solution and perhaps needed to dilute it more. Other sad vegetable patch news is that deer ate my bean seedlings, though left the tomatoes, thank goodness. The little erhms also mutilated my apple tree, leaving just a few leaves and a single apple. Now I have to erect a fence round the apple tree, which will be an eye-sore in my front yard, but Im not losing a perfectly healthy tree to some flea-ridden deer. They ate some random flowers in my flower bed by the road, but Im less mad about that, just mildly niggled.

To end on a positive garden note, everything else around the garden is looking fantastic. Dont get me wrong, I have some major weeding and up-keep to do, things that need staking and so forth; but for the most part, it looks great out there and it keeps itself. Many of my elephant ears eventually came back from their long hibernation, my hydrangea are all blooming already; some that last year were white are now blue, and some that have never bloomed for me are covered in little flower heads. My spirea are flaunting their pink beauty. Three of my clematis remain in bloom and the stella d'oro day lilies have begun to open. The nicest surprise of all was the opening of the Holly Hocks by the mail box in the deepest shades of pink-purple and the imminent lavender deluge alongside the bright yellow coreopsis. If only I knew someone who would take pretty pictures of it all for me...

Baby moon Part Deux

What a beautiful day!

In the morning we relaxed by the pool and splashed around in the water.

In the afternoon we sailed to a mangrove island and snorkeled around the shallows. Unfortunately, Danny didn't see that much stuff, I say unfortunately because we really went for him. I however, saw a ton of stuff! I was more about the floating around, than the swimming, so I guess I just chanced upon more wildlife. I was floating around, minding my own business when some kind of ray swam along the reef just in front of me. It was a little grey one, about 2 feet across. When I looked up, this long skinny fish with a pointy nose was swimming past me. I felt a little uneasy and watched it pass, following it as it left, and watched the water where it had been for a while to ensure that it had left. Then it came around me on the other side; gulp. Turned around and came past me on the left side again; bigger gulp. At this point I lost it and bolted for the boat; that long skinny fish unnerved me. On swimming toward the boat I also swam over a huge black ray laying on the floor, it was a good 6 feet wide! I asked the staff what the big skinny fish was that was circling me and low and behold, it was a barracuda! Had I have known there were barracuda in the water, there is no way I would have been in there too! Mind you, I had asked the lady if there was anything in there that could hurt me before I got in, and she had said no!

We had an early dinner in town at Fogarty's, again! I know, I know, sad to eat at the same place twice when you only have three nights to eat in one town, but we were really tempted by their menu and really enjoyed the food the first night; and they had blended drinks! So Danny was tipsy by the time our dinner arrived! My dinner was delicious though; pan fried grouper with crab stuffing, rice, asparagus and red bell pepper sauce. After a frosty drink refill, for the non-pregnant one, we took the shuttle back to our hotel and watched the sun go down sitting on our balcony, before enjoying the huge jet-bath in our 'apartment'. What a beautiful end to a beautiful day!

Tomorrow, on to Bahia Honda State Park for more relaxing on the beach and snorkeling! It doesn't get much better than this! The funniest thing is our random sunburn! We are both doing pretty well, but we both have some random spots of red. For me its the inside blotches of both knees, for Danny its the little strips on his shoulders where he sprayed the front and I sprayed the back and we didn't over lap!

This has to be the most relaxing and indulgent few days we have had in a long ass time! The baby, on the other hand, has been about as animated as it can be!

Doctor's visit

26 weeks 5 days doctors visit went well.

My blood pressure was 'great', announced the nurse, at 122 over 74.

I had gained 3 lbs, which she said was also great.

Uterus height was 'perfect' the doctor stated and we listened to the heartbeat a little while, but we were chatting so I forgot to ask the heart rate. It sounded strong though. We were chatting because he had a bike wreck caused by a dog, my biggest fear when road biking. He is ok now though.

Unfortunately I failed the glucose test for gestational diabetes, though Im not worried about it (and am sitting here eating a cookie!). I have to go back next week and do the longer, more accurate test (read: 3 hours of not eating!). No food since the night before until after the test, which will be over around lunchtime! I have usually eaten at least 3 times by then and drunk juice! Oh well, Im sure a little fasting wont kill me and it would be better to find out, so that I can amend my diet if necessary. Though I don't really see how I could do any more exercise or change my diet all that much, so hopefully the second test will be better!

He said there is nothing we can do about the excruciating tendinitis I have in my right hand, since it would require anti-inflammatories, but you cant take those pregnant, so I just have to deal with it.

He saw no reason we couldn't go on a short vacation at 32 weeks, so Key West, here we come! I really will be the beached whale! We have free flights on air miles and a free hotel on Marriott points, so it shouldn't put too much of a dent in our pockets, though I can eat through some spending money!

Nothing more to report. Feeling great, as usual. Hit the third trimester at the end of this week, so that's fun! Pregnant time seems to be flying by!

Where should we go?

I want to be taken away for the weekend so that DK and I actually get to spend some quality, adult time together. I dont want to think about all the stuff around the house/yard that needs doing before the baby gets here. I dont want to read about the three stages of labour. I dont want to look at any baby furniture and worry how we dont have anything at all yet, not even a cleaned out room with clean walls and a clean carpet.

The only weekend we have available for this is April 16th. So I have to chose between missing the violin quartet at the Ford Center and the Memphis Botantical Gardens Spring Event (my favourite time of year; tulips, daffodils, crocus etc) and squeezing in a trip.

If I do decide to miss these things that I have been looking forward to for literally over 6 months now, the question is:

Where should we go?

Assuming we can get some days off work, I dont want to drive more than 8 hours. It wont be hot enough to lie on the beach and play in the water, despite not necessarily wanting my huge stomach to be exposed to the unsuspecting public. A hiking trip with a cabin might be nice, then do we take the dogs?

hmmmm, so many questions when I dont even know if squeezing a trip in to the ONLY (and I mean only) free weekend we have available between now and the baby's birth early July, is even going to be relaxing. Not to mention that this means all the stuff around the house and yard remains uncompleted.

New Hampshire pics

In Munch's (short for Munchkin, I know, Im crazy) short life, its already been to Portland, OR, England, Scotland and New Hampshire. That's one well travelled fetus, taking in its parents footsteps already.

New Hampshire for the weekend

Our long weekend in New Hampshire was an absolute blast. Its always great to see friends you love so much but live so far from. I am thoroughly exhausted though and not relishing the dog bathing and house tidying that must occur tonight to make my next two weeks alone (Husband travelling) an enjoyable one; but needs must. I only have a few photos of Helen and I sliding down a hill slope on our butts, but I will attempt to post these here as soon as Mojo is clean and no longer scratching himself raw from allergies.

Moan moan moan moan moan

Why do I continue to think, with this job, and this boss, that I can leave my jogging til the end of the day? Now its 6pm and Im still at work, its dark out, I feel like a slug and my poor dogs have not been for a walk/jog today.

On the bright-side, tomorrow we fly to New Hampshire for a ski trip! I will not be skiing, of course, because it sucks (read: too fast for me) but will be snow shoeing on long hikes, enjoying time with my buddies, eating and drinking lots of good food and hopefully making some progress on my reading and knitting.

Have a great holiday all, Im so excited to not be coming to the hell hole until Tuesday.

Yes, I had a rough day it seems!

I washed!

Since the water came back on yesterday while we were at work (who knows how much water we have wasted leaving the taps on, shame) I was able to shower this morning and no longer have the potential to smell of anything but soap!

Getting ready for our New Hampshire trip. How exciting! A ski trip with no skiing, for me at least! I already have a plan... get up in my own time, go for a two hour snow shoe hike in the national forest, come home for lunch, go to town, peruse shops and settle down in a coffee shop with my knitting for a few hours, go home and get dinner ready for my chums who will be tired from skiing!

Its going to be great!

British Antics

Our journey to England was a little manic, it has to be said. We taxied for 40 minutes on the runway in Amsterdam, so when we got off the plane we only had 30 minutes to our next flight. Instead of booking us onto the next flight, Delta chose to book us onto the one after that. Of course our cell phones didnt work in Amsterdam but they had given us phone credit so we were able to call my mum, who was picking us up; but her cell phone was dead so I had to leave her a message and hope she got it. My poor mum sat at Heathrow for 5 hours, having dropped her friend off earlier in the day. Best 1.75GBP coffee she ever bought! The parking ticket meter ate our ticket so we had to stand there in the freezing cold waiting for the attendant. Then we hopped on the motorway to sit in traffic, so we put the radio on to get the low-down, and Sally Traffic said there was stand-still traffic on the M25 (London's ring road) from junctions 12 to 22. We were at junction 13. At which point, my mum realised that the numbers were going down, not up - we were going the wrong way round! But by that stage we had skipped all of the stand-still traffic on the other side of the road, so we decided just to keep going. Then it started snowing! Eventually we got to my parents house around 9pm ish, instead of 130pm ish had we caught our intended flight - exhausted!

We visited my grandmother on the monday and it snowed again on the way home. Really heavy snow in a short amount of time. It took my mum and I six hours to get home; a 1.5 hour journey. The first 12 miles took about 5 hours! I was starting to realise that I was going to sit in a car most of my holiday!

Tuesday we drove (see, more time in a car) up to Fort William, Scotland; a 9 ish hour drive. The snow up there was much thicker and made for a pretty white christmas. We had a daily trudge through the snow and was fed abundantly by Dave's sister Lorna. We played cards every night with randomly chosen teams, and the teams I was on only lost once! My claim to Samba fame!

We flew out of Edinburgh airport Tuesday morning, probably much more efficient than leaving from Gatwick or Heathrow, where delays were much greater. We flew to Amsterdam again, where they scanned your stuff, and went through each bag individually, and patted everyone down, seriously patted you down. As a result, our plane left an hour later than scheduled and it was a close call on our third flight, but we made it with a hair to spare. We were awake 24 hours that day but unfortunately still jet lagged, so despite finally falling into bed at 1130pm, I still woke up around 430am, but managed not to wake Danny up til about 630am! Wasnt I good!?

We had the Klimetz' over for NYE last night but I got tired and so sneaked into bed when they went outside to do fireworks at 10pm. They woke me up to celebrate and drink sparkling grape juice (god that stuff is awful, tastes like a rubber ball) at 1150pm and I went back to bed at 1210am! I had cooked lots and lots of food, mostly unnecessarily as there was tons left over, and we played board games. Oh, dont ever buy Battle of the Sexes... the boy questions are easy and the girl questions are impossible. Although the boys we played with, summized that it just showed how selfish girls are that they dont learn anything about things that interest boys. Although they didnt know half the answers to our questions! I mean seriously, any ideas what the engine in a dune buggy is? Or the second longest continually running sporting event? (I have got this one now though, Kentucky Derby.) Needless to say, we lost miserably. Break out the Boggle, Ill show you a thing or two! We didnt get to eat the delicious cheesecake I made yesterday as no one had room after the baked brie, Bruce's Southern Caviar, pulled pork, wedge fries, braised cabbage, french bread and blondies, to mention just a few things that took up my day. So perhaps its cheesecake for breakfast!

Im still jet lagged so Im sneakily writing this post in bed while the sun comes up and the three young men in my life snore away happily (only one of them is in my bed, dont worry! Id never sleep with two massive dogs in the bed, there would be no room for me!). I have some sewing and knitting to do, so I suppose Ill get up and do that now, while everyone else sleeps. Excited for our typical NY day activities of a nice long walk with the dogs and afternoon trip to the cinema, perhaps Sherlock Holmes today.

I think its going to be a great year this year. No resolutions as you only end up breaking them. Instead Ill give thanks to all those that love me and are so generous with their friendships and time. I hope I do as much for you all as you do for me. I am particularly thankful for my wonderful husband (who cleaned the entire house yesterday so that I didnt have to worry about it, and the oven when my cheesecake base leaked butter that burned to the bottom of the oven and filled the kitchen with black smoke!). Im also thankful for my mummy who is always there with the perfect comforting words and a hug. Even big girls need tlc!

Now, to plan what cake I shall make myself for my birthday next week, hmmmmm! Sweet potato perhaps, with a cream cheese frosting!

Im sure Ill find some pictures to post next week.

Happy New Year!

Holiday time!

With a totally new look to shock my family, we are off to England. Not looking forward to the long, long flight through Amsterdam but its the price you have to pay, I guess. We are doing a family Christmas with my sis Sunday as she is stuck working most of the time and cant come with us on our excursion. Then Wednesday we head on up to Fort William, Scotland. I think its about a 9 hour drive, so Im sure that wont be too fun either. The 10 day forecast for Fort William predicts snow and 32F average high during the day. We have packed hiking boots each and expect to be tramping through the snow up the mountains a little ways. Fun fun fun! I wont be cooking, cleaning, doing laundry or ironing for two weeks! Hopefully it will leave me refreshed to get on my yard when I get home, the leaf situation is totally out of control. I cannot believe I have left it this long!

Even though this may seem a little premature...

Have a great Christmas!

Winter syndrome

I realise I have not posted in rather a long time, but there isnt too much going on really.

We have a new addition to our family. A beautiful dark blue manual, diesel VW Jetta - Danny's new baby! He denies it every morning when we have to take separate cars... he hands over the Jetta keys and I say, 'no dear, you take the Jetta, Ill take the Outback', and I grin; he denies that he wants it, I should have the nicer car he says, but I know he wants the Jetta so I just increase my smile and take the Outback keys. Doesnt matter to me, as long as I get to work safely. The Subaru is still a really nice car, it just needs a good clean! In actual fact, I think the Subaru that we have is a much more luxurious car than the Jetta, but its a little older and let's face it, hatchbacks are practical family cars that boys who like toys just dont like as much as nippy little Diesel engine Volkswagon Jettas. We were a little put out by the initial low gas mileage, but you have to run a diesel engine in, and the mpg are already increasing, so hopefully we will be averaging 50 mpg here shortly!

Not much else going on really. Not too much baking occurring, just the usual bread for the week. I used to think a nice warm kitchen in the summer was the best thing for tasty bread, but after doing a little research online and now baking bread in the winter, I have come to realise that cool rising for triple the time makes a much more full bodied bread. The best schedule is to get up early and prepare bread at 6am. Turn and shape at lunchtime. Bake after work. Might make myself some ginger bread tomorrow when Danny is out at his wedding. Gosh that boy gets married a lot! (Actually stole that phrase from my father-in-law).

Went to the Veggie Potluck last night and it was remarkably fun! Lots and lots of people and everyone brought two or three dishes each so the amount of food available was incredible! All vegetarian or vegan meals, obviously. My favourite thing last night was the Vegan Dahl, I scooped it up with my multigrain bread and it was just divine! It was nice to get out of the house, a task I find hard when its cold and dark from about 445pm onwards.

We are off to the UK next week for the Holiday Season so Im being terribly lazy and dont have any Christmas decorations up and havent even sent out cards. Oh dear. Im seriously looking forward to sitting around my mum's house eating mince pies and drinking tea by the fire and not doing too much else! We drive up to Fort William, Scotland just before Christmas to spend a few days with Dave's family so we will hopefully do lots of tromping around the mountains in the snow!

Happy Christmas baking to all of those of you who can make the effort in these cold, dark times!

NZ Roundup

Im kinda tired going back in time to tell you what all we did in New Zealand, sorry. So instead Im uploading the rest of my pictures that I like and if you want to see the CPDK fancy ones, you will have to go to his website and beg him to put more pictures on his blog.

We drove around a lot, watched Lord of the Rings in our camper van, went to some beaches, made sand castles, hiked up a big mountain (although I guess all mountains are by definition, big), took a day cruise in a fjord, relaxed in some hot springs and checked out a geothermal park. It was all very fun! i mostly enjoyed just living in close quarters with the love of my life and getting to spend lots of time together with no responsibilities. I missed my dogs and my girlfriends, my bed, my shower, my kitchen, my garden and not wearing the same clothes everyday.