bring on spring

Hello again.  Long time.  No Blogging.  It feels like most of my favourite bloggers and myself are a little distracted with other things in their lives these days and blogging has taken a back seat for a while.  Has Pinterest, Instagram etc become the quicker easier social media fix these days?  Anyway, I'm here and if you're reading this, then you are too and that's great.

Here in the Pacific Northwest, Spring is teasing us.  Two days of sun. Two days of rain.  Blossom on the trees.  Wind blowing gale.  Light jackets.  Scarves.  Heating on.  Doors and windows thrown open!  Argh!   Thursday we are supposed to hit 84 degrees, but just for one day!  Let's just get on with it and bring on Spring in full force please!

Spring Break has been and gone in a flash.  We had a wonderful family trip to Arizona (in search of sunshine of course), and it did not disappoint.  Yes, yes, we all know how bad the sun is for our skin, but it felt oh so good to feel the warmth on my skin again.  The need to wear sunglasses, sun screen and light breezy clothes, and to sip Margaritas and eat tacos sitting outside in beautifully lit terraces as the sun set.  Palm trees swaying and cacti blossoming.  Heaven after the grey wet PNW these past few months.

Six days in a fun hotel with pools and lazy river and more pools, split in the middle with a three day trip to the Grand Canyon.  And WOW!  Just WOW!  What an amazing place.  It was the first visit to the GC for myself and the kiddos.  The Huzz and been 20+ years ago.  Incredible.  Vast.  Stunning and so changeable throughout the day.  We did a 40 minute flight in an eight seater plane over the South Rim and Eastside.  I did great for 20 minutes.  The next 20 minutes were mostly spent looking into a brown paper bag!  Motion sickness I hate you!  The rest of the trip was stunning.

Back home and life has taken on that count down to the end of the school year!  Did I really say that? It's hard to believe that June 17th will be here before we know it and my kids will have finished 1st and 7th Grades!  

We've finished Basketball season (2nd place, hurrah),and we are just starting Track & Field season for the teenager.  New spiked running shoes are in the house.  Personal Bests are being discussed.  He did so great in his first season last year.  Here's hoping he loves and and does just as well this year.   I know I love watching him and yes I'll be that mum bellowing from the bleachers in my best English voice, getting looks from the other parents and daggers from the boy!

Spring Cleaning has taken a hold of me!  Trying to get stuff done before the good weather arrives and I want nothing more to do inside our home.  A repaint and rearrangement of Ruby's bedroom has long been discussed and is so overdue.  Lots of decisions on artwork to be made - the Huzz has a vast collection of photographs that we'd love to get onto large canvas.  Yard landscaping will be tackled too.  And that's just to get us going.

Here's to Springtime and warmer days.

a christmas recap

Welcome to 2016.

Ok we are 11 days in, but it's still all new isn't it.

We arrived back home in Portland on 1st January (at 11.57pm to be precise), returning from a fabulous busy family fun filled two weeks in the UK.  A trip long awaited and that of course went by in a flash of partying, feasting, drinking, feasting, gift opening, festivities, fireworks and did I mention feasting!

London looked fab, of course.  Street lights, Christmas trees, wonderfully decorated store windows.  My only regret was that we didn't have time to see more.

I really loved taking the kids to a Christmas Eve carol service gathering outside the local church.  With my mulled wine in hand and singing all carols (very) loud and clear!  My son, now 13 and full of runaway hormones, had a look caught somewhere between embrarrassment and amusement looking on at us.  My kids hadn't ever attended a carol service, so this was a totally new and wonderful experience for them.  I shall be seeking out more in their future.

Days rolled into one another.  Family, friends, cousins meeting cousins for the first time, seeing aunts and uncles that we hadn't seen for more than 4 years in some cases.  Sadly not seeing everyone we'd hoped to.  Feeling we are missing being closer to everyone.  Holding on extra long for goodbye hugs.  Tears or laughter, joy and sadness.

Lots of champagne, gin and tonics, sausage rolls, mince pies and chocolates!

It was a Christmas well spent.

Wishing you a wonderful year ahead filled with good things.

X X X

a new york weekend

I've been tardy again!  What can I say?  Sorry!  We've been getting back into the whole new school year routine.  The Huzz has travelled back and forth a few times to the Netherlands.  And I went on a fabulous trip to New York City!!! Yay!

Last weekend I met up with two of my great British girlfriends in what is the 'middle' between London and Portland.  New York!  Three days and nights in the Big Apple doing exactly as we like.  No children calling out every 2 minutes.  No household chores.  No real agenda.

There was rather a lot of 'Popemania' going on last Friday, so we changed our plans around and avoided the areas where crowds were gathered and security was at it highest level.  Instead we took a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and all around Dumbo.  Admiring the fabulous Brownstones, neighborhood streets and great views back over to Manhattan. A lunchitme cocktail, instead of the usual afternoon car-pool drive, was a perfect escape from the norm!

A fabulous meal at Gelso & Grand and then discovering an even more fabulous cocktail bar, the Mulberry Project, down some steps under a handbag store, certainly started our Friday evening off well with one of the best Lemon Drop cocktails, ever.

We found a great breakfast stop just a few minutes from our hotel, which we visited two of our three mornings.  Greecologies is a Greek yogurt lab!  The most delicious yogurt, topped with a selection of either fresh fruits, amazing honey, granola, rose petal preserve or feta, olives, tomatoes.  Delicious and so worth a visit.

On Saturday we stopped at Hugh Jackman's non-profit coffee shop, Laughing Man, for what was an outstanding latte (but alas, no sighting of Hugh!) and then moved on to visit the World Trade Center 9/11 Memorial and admire what a fabulous architectural momument now marked this tragedy.   We took a stroll along the High Line Park, which really is a great use way of this disused railway and a major NY tourist attraction now and enjoyed equally by locals.

New York has such a great vibe.  Every corner hold something new and interesting.  I loved the street art ("grafitti" seems to give it an unexceptable feel).  Typical scenes like fire escapes tumbling down the outside of apartment blocks, small community gardens, neighborhoods each having their own distinct feel even when just one street apart.  We stayed at The Sohotel which was a perfect location and a great little rustic boutique hotel with everything we needed and super comfy beds, which we all we needed after a long day out in NYC.

Just having the time to wander, catch up, people watch and soak up all that is NY was the perfect getaway.  Here's to the next time!

#newyorkcity

sunshine state of mind

We have just returned from a family vacation in Florida.  Visiting an old favorite place, staying in the same familiar blue and white beach cottage.  Walking the same path to the beach.  Visiting tried and tested restaurants, cafes, doughnut shops and beaches.  All lovingly familiar and making us feel right at home immediately on arrival.

We've stayed at Indian Rocks Beach on the Gulf Coast 6 times now.  We vacationed in other places for  the past two years and thought we wouldn't miss our little beach cottage.  But we did. Of course.  The sun shone and we all have a healthy 'glow' to bring us into the summer and outdoor pool time once again. We are rested from lazy mornings, exercise really not much more than walking to the beach and along the beach!

The light in Florida is amazing, giving photographs that beautiful brightness that you see in magazine spreads.  Greens are greener.  Blues more azure.  White sand so soft, almost like flour, reflecting the sunlight.  

My favorite meals always include coconut shrimp and Grouper fish tacos!  Of course, a Margarita or two on the side is the perfect partner!  Some local live band playing (not always good) music and the warm air and sunset.  I could live here, without a doubt.

We're already planning a return trip next year.

H a p p y   M o n d a y.

summer road tripping part II - where there is water

As long as there is water nearby, my kids are happy.  Like 'Pigs in Mud' kind of happy!  When planning our summer road trip, these were the first things they asked.

"Is there a pool?"

"Can we swim in the sea?"

Well of course we couldn't have a vacation without it.

Here's a few photographs from our trip with them enjoying lakes, rivers, pools and the ocean, whether it was swimming, jumping, fishing or playing it it.

Happy Summer Days.

summer road tripping part I

Our family really loves a road trip.  A loaded up car.  Bikes on the back.  Box on the top.  Iphones with great playlists.  Movies loaded on iPads to keep kids going (eye spy only lasts a short time these days!). Not forgetting all kinds of snacks, candy and treats to pass those hours.

This year we headed to Northern California, coastal and inland.  Then to Southern and Central Oregon.  1800 miles.  4 overnight locations = 4 mini vacations.  A great mix of tent camping, a cabin by a lake and a couple of hotels (to ease that aching back from camping and to get a super hot shower and sleep in crispy clean white sheets - bliss!).

So much to see, do, experience and enjoy.  There is nothing like a road trip in the US.  The ease of driving makes such a difference.  Endless roads, many with just us travelling on them.  Amazing scenery - trees as far as the eye can see, crystal clear rivers, mountains, lakes and wildlife.  We've been swimming in lakes, rivers, the ocean and pools. The kiddos have tried to catch fish, crawfish, toad, chipmunks, gophers and tadpoles - the most successful was the crayfish when they caught enough for lunch on two days!

The kids have enough scrapes, bruises, blisters and tan lines to show they've really lived outdoors these past two weeks. Screens only during travelling time.  The rest of their days spent cycling, playing games in grassy campsites with newly made friends until the sun has set, trying to climb rocks or jump off them, making campfires, exploring rivers and lakes, toasting way too many marshmallows.  Great memories.

I hope you'll indulge me as I post more than enough photographs ….

First up…  A little town named Cottage Grove in Oregon.  Most well know for its six 'Covered Bridges'.  A perfect stop after 2.5 hours driving.  Lunch, a drive around the town finding the 6 covered bridges.  And a few rides at the fair ground.  There's also lots of murals painted on buildings which made turning every corner a surprise.

 

   

 

And then we moved onto the Redwoods and our first camp site at the coast…

To be continued ...

Hope your summer is going great and is filled with all good things.

our Hawaii vacation

Aloha!

We are back in the real world!  Back to school, work and quite a drop in temperature!

We took at extended Spring Break (half term) vacation to the island of Kauai in Hawaii.  The Garden Island.  So tropical, green and lush.   This was a return trip to our favourite island, that we'd last visited 8 years ago when Luca was 3 years old. Now 11. Where did those 8 years go?

When we vacation, we like to split the time up.  Half the time in a hotel and the other half in a vacation rental property.  It makes the whole trip seem so much longer and we get to experience two totally different weeks.

The kids loved spending time at the hotel pool, over indulging in hotel buffet breakfasts (eating their weight in waffels and pancakes every morning!), making friends, trying out some new activities, exploring the hotel on their own etc. Whilst the Huzz and I enjoyed the odd Mai Tais and hot tubs by the pool side!

And then when we moved onto the beach house where the kiddos could exlore and find frogs and toads, geckos, roosters and chickens passing through the tropical garden.  Trees were laded with papaya (sadly not ripe yet) and coconuts.  There was a lovely bridge from the garden, across the a stream that led to the path just a few minutes walk to the beach.  We walked down to the beach first thing in the morning, with our mugs of coffee in hand, and strolled along the sand of the almost private beach (the road to the beach was so off the beaten track that barely anyone would visit it).  We discovered lots of great local food and had the most fantastic fish tacos, macadamia nut icecream, and the juiciest sweet pineapples.

My son and I took our first open water scuba dive together - I think he may be hooked!   And we all snorkeled every day seeing so many fish just steps into the ocean - Luca even saw an octopus.  We were lucky enough to swim alongside so many turtles just doing their thing in the ocean, not bothered or concerned about us being there.  And on a couple of days at the beach we got to see two turtles and two monk seals swim up onto the beach for a lazy after sleep in the sunshine!  Wild life in action right there.

We are slowly getting back on track with being home, but as usual during that first few days home, I find mind self thinking "This time last week we were….. ".  Ok, on with the laundry it is then!

X X X