Our first trip to the dentist here tonight - a long experience!!!! after waiting 3 months to get an appointment - i set off from the house without the all-important social security cards which mean we claim back most of the cost (at 200 euros +..................it meant me running back home to find them!!!!!)......so it was a race up the hill to town so we weren't late for our appointment! German speaking dentist and so thought her ruthless efficiency might have resulted in a missed appointment if we weren't punctual!!!
Anyway - all good and lots of paperwork to sort and we all got our turn in the dentist chair!!! Great location on the 4th floor overlooking the main square looking out over the christmas market and lights!!!! so an hour and a half later we are done and so a perfect opportunity for sausage and gluhwein........fantastic no need to do any cooking tonight!!! kids in heaven with sausage in a bun and a ton of ketchup, swiftly followed by a hot chocolate and crepe with chocolate sauce!!!!! hmmm just what the dentist ordered......not! kids ate more than us......no wonder we feeling a bit peckish!!!
Now sitting with sainsburys sauvignon blanc, scotch pancakes and crumpets with i'm a celebrity on the box............could be back in England....well almost if we had some light fittings and curtains to make it feel vaguely cosy!!!! oh....and west ham just beat man utd 4-0 so conor not going to be a happy camper in the morning! conor just got his first invite for a sleepover so he's very excited!
anyway - scotch pancakes gobbled up so time to sign off
bonne nuit m x
Tuesday, 30 November 2010
the snow and freeze has arrived in Lux!
So it's steadily been getting colder here since we arrived back from hols.......we've had a few flurries of snow overnight but nothing that really settled! Until today........it's basically been snowing ALL day.......and amazingly the roads are clear (yes even our road that is a no-through road had the gritter by 8.30am this morning!) and the place is still functional.............nobody talking about the snow as an excuse not to get anywhere! and of course we're laughing this year with our 4-wheel tank PLUS the obligatory winter tyres we had fitted!
Well - I haven't actually ventured out in the car yet......Noora (our au-pair share) took all the kids this morning and was so not fazed about the snow given that Finland is covered for a fair proportion of their winter months! Fabby dabby dosy :-))
In the meantime Ruby and I ventured out on foot and I didn't hear a peep out of her the whole way......she obviously doesn't remember her 1st skiing adventure last year at a few weeks old!
It's looking very pretty here with the snow......few pics attached!
View from my kitchen window
Route up to town
Walking back from town.....downhill..............phewwww
Millie been nagging me all weekend to get out the snow boots and gloves......so this morning I eventually succumb to going through the "ski gear" marked boxes which we had neatly "filed" in the cellar!!!!! Hmmm........Conor couldn't even get his feet in so another shopping experience on the good old www plus another hefty postage cost!!!! Until then - it's cold wet feet son......sorry!!
Well we're all ok here.....another "too busy" weekend (as quoted by Shaun!!!)......but none of my doing at least! Apart from making a suggestion of a trip to the Christmas market here in town for a late afternoon gluhwein.....he was never going to pass that one up!!! So Friday night we had our first experience of the International School of Luxembourg (ISL) production! So all the year 5 and 6's have been spending all their music lessons and more on a production of the Snow Queen....very professionally done and Conor enjoyed taking part and all the singing :-)) We had great seats on the front row - obviously not my doing as I'm never early enough to these events!!
Saturday night we were invited for dinner to a friends house - yes x-factor was recorded!!! and we were 3 english couples and 1 american....so the french not making too much progress!!!! - and they had this amazing stairgate......the stairs here are a complete pain now that Ruby is mobile (a few pics of her on her feet!!!) ......as nothing to fix the stairgate to as some kind of weird spiderman cage effect railings that go all the way up the house!!! anyway after picking my jaw up at the cost 500 euros!!!!! and resigning myself to the fact i would just have to follow Ruby everywhere - they said they didn't need them anymore and they would sell them to us for 50euros each (yes they have 2!!!!!!!!) .......anyway good evening and so enjoying being entertained.,........gonna be my turn soon but will put off and try and be the "new gal in town" as long as poss!!!!!
Ruby with "bed hair"....actually it's just like that all the time!!
Sunday we were invited to a friend of shaun's (who he works with at amazon) for brunch! Kids were amazingly well behaved and Ruby slept, so a great day of doing nothing but eating/drinking/chatting and left at 5pm! Wasn't sure what to expect for food - I'd probably do bread/croissants/bacon/eggs etc but the food was yummy.......baked camembert with redcurrant sauce and walnuts in pastry (like a pie) to start....and then something Tam called a "breakfast casserole"....cross between a quiche and an omelette.....really good.,......and then crepes which kids loved as nutella was on offer for them!
We had promised Millie we would go swimming which there was no way I was going at 5pm on a sunday in the freezing cold so instead we put up the Christmas tree!!!!!! how early???? I know! but only got 3 weeks here so got to make it worthwhile! And it kept the kids entertained......thankfully Ruby not discovered the decorations YET........I'm sure it won't be long!!
That's all for now folks :-)
PS: Ruby's also started waving when we say bye.......and clapping!!! There's no stopping her now!
Well - I haven't actually ventured out in the car yet......Noora (our au-pair share) took all the kids this morning and was so not fazed about the snow given that Finland is covered for a fair proportion of their winter months! Fabby dabby dosy :-))
In the meantime Ruby and I ventured out on foot and I didn't hear a peep out of her the whole way......she obviously doesn't remember her 1st skiing adventure last year at a few weeks old!
It's looking very pretty here with the snow......few pics attached!
View from my kitchen window
Well we're all ok here.....another "too busy" weekend (as quoted by Shaun!!!)......but none of my doing at least! Apart from making a suggestion of a trip to the Christmas market here in town for a late afternoon gluhwein.....he was never going to pass that one up!!! So Friday night we had our first experience of the International School of Luxembourg (ISL) production! So all the year 5 and 6's have been spending all their music lessons and more on a production of the Snow Queen....very professionally done and Conor enjoyed taking part and all the singing :-)) We had great seats on the front row - obviously not my doing as I'm never early enough to these events!!
Saturday night we were invited for dinner to a friends house - yes x-factor was recorded!!! and we were 3 english couples and 1 american....so the french not making too much progress!!!! - and they had this amazing stairgate......the stairs here are a complete pain now that Ruby is mobile (a few pics of her on her feet!!!) ......as nothing to fix the stairgate to as some kind of weird spiderman cage effect railings that go all the way up the house!!! anyway after picking my jaw up at the cost 500 euros!!!!! and resigning myself to the fact i would just have to follow Ruby everywhere - they said they didn't need them anymore and they would sell them to us for 50euros each (yes they have 2!!!!!!!!) .......anyway good evening and so enjoying being entertained.,........gonna be my turn soon but will put off and try and be the "new gal in town" as long as poss!!!!!
Ruby with "bed hair"....actually it's just like that all the time!!
Getting ready to pounce on Conor's guiness book of records book.......and destroy!!!!!!
Look at me..............
Sunday we were invited to a friend of shaun's (who he works with at amazon) for brunch! Kids were amazingly well behaved and Ruby slept, so a great day of doing nothing but eating/drinking/chatting and left at 5pm! Wasn't sure what to expect for food - I'd probably do bread/croissants/bacon/eggs etc but the food was yummy.......baked camembert with redcurrant sauce and walnuts in pastry (like a pie) to start....and then something Tam called a "breakfast casserole"....cross between a quiche and an omelette.....really good.,......and then crepes which kids loved as nutella was on offer for them!
We had promised Millie we would go swimming which there was no way I was going at 5pm on a sunday in the freezing cold so instead we put up the Christmas tree!!!!!! how early???? I know! but only got 3 weeks here so got to make it worthwhile! And it kept the kids entertained......thankfully Ruby not discovered the decorations YET........I'm sure it won't be long!!
That's all for now folks :-)
PS: Ruby's also started waving when we say bye.......and clapping!!! There's no stopping her now!
Sunday, 21 November 2010
Conor is 9 today!
Conor's birthday today........thank god the bloody party is out of the way! Now recovering!!! After my previous droning on about party stress - everything else turned out well in the end........23 boys outside playing football for 2.5 hours and wolfing down pizza/crisps/popcorn and cake before heading back out! Fab!!! Conor had a ball (and got 4 more as presents!!!!!) and loved it all! Ruby and I hid inside (out of the freezing cold!) pretending we were sorting out the birthday lunch...but really all the hard work had been done........got up at 7.30 to cook pizzas and make sarnies (and amazingly my pizzas stayed relatively warm with my state-of-the-art insulating bag i got when i picked my shopping up last week to put my frozen stuff in!
Anyway - here are pics to prove it! and dads joined in to and got rewarded with some beer for their effort!!!! Conor got a Luxembourg footy shirt from the coach (who coaches Lux U21 team!)......looks more like a dress on him but by the time we leave it'll fit a treat (if he grows quick in a few years.....no we're not staying longer than that!!!)
PS: just look at that cake......impressive huh?? all my very own work....honest! Tastes fantastic - even if i do say so myself! my cake making skills must be getting better :-)
Anyway - here are pics to prove it! and dads joined in to and got rewarded with some beer for their effort!!!! Conor got a Luxembourg footy shirt from the coach (who coaches Lux U21 team!)......looks more like a dress on him but by the time we leave it'll fit a treat (if he grows quick in a few years.....no we're not staying longer than that!!!)
PS: just look at that cake......impressive huh?? all my very own work....honest! Tastes fantastic - even if i do say so myself! my cake making skills must be getting better :-)
A trip to the Alsace
Kids get a day off school and there's no time to waste.......let's get away for a long weekend :-) This time it's off to the Alsace in France...............bordering Germany and about 2.5 hours from luxembourg.
We leave Saturday morning to time with Ruby's sleep and hardly any traffic (such a joy :-)) and we arrive problem free to clear skies and a relative warmth in the air...........such a relief from the persistent rain of Lux!
Beautiful villages all around - sort of chocolate box appearance with cobbled streets, lovely views of the hills and vineyards EVERYWHERE.....fabtastic :-) sort of makes us feel like we're back in the 50s or something.......very old-fashioned restaurants and stuff (makes Luxembourg feel state of the art!!!!) but we had a great time. Apparently years ago you used to always see a stork on every church steeple top.......then they disappeared soa breeding programme begun some years ago........we didn't see any but we saw plenty of huge nests on tops of buildings (see picture below)....so there's a bit of not very useful factual information for you (omg - Conor's facts are rubbing off on me!!!!!).......and for those of you who don't know (and for me when I read this back in years to come and can't remember any of these places!) the Alsace is on the far east of France and borders Germany. The main city you will have heard of is Strasbourg, and of course wine is the main money-making occupation. Alsace wines come in those identifiable flute-like thin style bottles (and no they are not all yukky medium-sweet wines as my perception always was when i used to see them in the supermarket)!!!!! Riesling and Pinot Gris - very drinkable indeed!!!!!! And we bought a boat-load of Muscat - perfect apperitif :-))
Hotel fab (cour bailli)..............2 good rooms with lounge and kitchen......and of course no cleaning or cooking for me so can life get any better??!!!!! breakfast a huge hit with the kids as they eat coco pops, more coco pops and yes even a third bowl of .......you guessed it.......coco pops!! and nutella on toast to polish it all off!!!! thankfully plenty of hiking and climbing up hills to castles soon worked off the sugar-induced energy! Great castles all on the tops of hills from medieval days (has time moved on here yet??!!!!)..........a successful trip to a winery with Roubles sleeping and the other two entertained with a lolly and a book........we managed to taste a significant number of the local grape and thankfully we were close enough that we could walk back to the hotel!!!!! a good job we had the buggy to laden up with all our wine purchases!
We lunched in a local pub kind of place with plenty of locals ......tarte flambee the speciality of the region.....a french style pizza which is basically a thin pastry base covered with cream cheese/cream and then bacon and onions!
Hotel had a great restaurant and very kid friendly........obviously we were there at opening time and the only ones in.....by the time we left.....the place was chocker and Ruby had made plenty of friends!
Kids so exhausted they flopped into bed and shaun and i were in bed the earliest since we left UK.........readour books, had glass of wine and by 10.30pm lights out - bliss!!! In lux we never seem to manage to get to bed before midnight............not good!!!
Our last day we succumbed to visiting the hotel pool/jacuzzi which the kids had been nagging us about! it was underneath our room and the jacuzzi had a glass roof which we could see when we came outside on our patio.....conor and millie amused themselves by peering down on all the people in the jacuzzi and entertaining them with their moonies?!?!!!!!!!
After 2 and a half days of sun, bucket loads of fresh air and rich, heart-warming grub........it was time to head back! Lovely weekend and arrived back to Lux in (yet more!) rain!!!!
We leave Saturday morning to time with Ruby's sleep and hardly any traffic (such a joy :-)) and we arrive problem free to clear skies and a relative warmth in the air...........such a relief from the persistent rain of Lux!
Beautiful villages all around - sort of chocolate box appearance with cobbled streets, lovely views of the hills and vineyards EVERYWHERE.....fabtastic :-) sort of makes us feel like we're back in the 50s or something.......very old-fashioned restaurants and stuff (makes Luxembourg feel state of the art!!!!) but we had a great time. Apparently years ago you used to always see a stork on every church steeple top.......then they disappeared soa breeding programme begun some years ago........we didn't see any but we saw plenty of huge nests on tops of buildings (see picture below)....so there's a bit of not very useful factual information for you (omg - Conor's facts are rubbing off on me!!!!!).......and for those of you who don't know (and for me when I read this back in years to come and can't remember any of these places!) the Alsace is on the far east of France and borders Germany. The main city you will have heard of is Strasbourg, and of course wine is the main money-making occupation. Alsace wines come in those identifiable flute-like thin style bottles (and no they are not all yukky medium-sweet wines as my perception always was when i used to see them in the supermarket)!!!!! Riesling and Pinot Gris - very drinkable indeed!!!!!! And we bought a boat-load of Muscat - perfect apperitif :-))
Hotel fab (cour bailli)..............2 good rooms with lounge and kitchen......and of course no cleaning or cooking for me so can life get any better??!!!!! breakfast a huge hit with the kids as they eat coco pops, more coco pops and yes even a third bowl of .......you guessed it.......coco pops!! and nutella on toast to polish it all off!!!! thankfully plenty of hiking and climbing up hills to castles soon worked off the sugar-induced energy! Great castles all on the tops of hills from medieval days (has time moved on here yet??!!!!)..........a successful trip to a winery with Roubles sleeping and the other two entertained with a lolly and a book........we managed to taste a significant number of the local grape and thankfully we were close enough that we could walk back to the hotel!!!!! a good job we had the buggy to laden up with all our wine purchases!
We lunched in a local pub kind of place with plenty of locals ......tarte flambee the speciality of the region.....a french style pizza which is basically a thin pastry base covered with cream cheese/cream and then bacon and onions!
Hotel had a great restaurant and very kid friendly........obviously we were there at opening time and the only ones in.....by the time we left.....the place was chocker and Ruby had made plenty of friends!
Kids so exhausted they flopped into bed and shaun and i were in bed the earliest since we left UK.........readour books, had glass of wine and by 10.30pm lights out - bliss!!! In lux we never seem to manage to get to bed before midnight............not good!!!
Our last day we succumbed to visiting the hotel pool/jacuzzi which the kids had been nagging us about! it was underneath our room and the jacuzzi had a glass roof which we could see when we came outside on our patio.....conor and millie amused themselves by peering down on all the people in the jacuzzi and entertaining them with their moonies?!?!!!!!!!
After 2 and a half days of sun, bucket loads of fresh air and rich, heart-warming grub........it was time to head back! Lovely weekend and arrived back to Lux in (yet more!) rain!!!!
Friday, 12 November 2010
recovering from the shock.........................
of my dry cleaning bill!!! So I have 2 dresses, ok so they are silk I think, but nothing much too them and after hols I decide to get them cleaned so they are ready for next time!! So how much do you think ??? £20 maybe £30 tops if you go to a snazzy place........my god I nearly fainted from the shock when the till showed 62,30 Euros.......another occasion of not being up to speed with my french causing barriers to communication (a bonus for them!)otherwsie I would have protested violently and demanded a reduction!!!! As it was I smiled sweetly, asked when they would be ready to collect, paid the bill and said au revoir through gritted teeth!!!!!!
Anyway after a week of trying to be more at home and getting some stuff done to try and get it into some kind of order (managed the staying at home more but failed miserably with anything else!!!!).............although I did have a good catch-up with my neighbour Becky where we put the worldof living inLuxembourg to rights and a nice lunch today with a friend of mine also an Amazonian-wifey!! So after the escapade of the dry cleaners I recovered with a nice 6 euro lunch at a soup place.......fantastic!!
Other happenings of the week.......oh yes of course how could I forget.....the organisation of Conors party!!! so a few weeks before holiday I start to look for venues for conors football party.....I mean how hard can it be to find an indoor sports centre for boys to run around palying football........well actually almost impossible!! So after much waiting (and a trip down to Foetz a few miles out to check out a place I had heard of but unfortunately has now closed down......bloody typical!!!) I hear back from the guy that runs the football after school club and he has a venue......hurray.......albeit outside which given the fact it has done nothing but rain since we arrived back from hols may not be the smartest plan........but hey......and then swallowing hard when he tells me the price we just go with it (next year Conor will be doing something straightforward like bowling!!!) and I think job done! Oh no.......of course with only 10 days now to go until the party I now need to find invites (as Conor wants to invite boys from lots of different classes/years so have no email addresses for all) - another feat in itself which involves a trip to Little Britain....a shop out of town which sells as guessed from it's name British products!!! So I pick up 2 packs of the only vaguely looking boys invites (and throw a few other things in whilst I'm there......and refused to pay 5euros for the ONE box of Oatibix ....no wonder it's nickname is Little Rip-off!!) we get home and all is hunky dory!
So after traipsing all the kids out at 6pm so Millie can get to gymnastics (oh roll on next week when it is our week with Noora our au-pair!)....we arrive home at nearly 8pm (oh yes we nearly ran out of diesel too so had to stop on the way home.........the one cheap thing here!) and all kids late in bed but thankfully behaved as we had our young boy babysitter round at 8.30pm (Noora phoned me at 6pm to say she had been violently sick for the past hour....oh joy!) and I had to race into town to meet Shaun and one of his new recruits moving from Munich who was over on an induction and so Shaun thought we should take her out and tell her how nice it is living in Luxembourg........hmmm......not sure my frame of mind is right at the moment to do the big sell......but managed somehow!!!! The fact that Shaun's secretary had booked a lovely Thai place which I had been wanting to go to obviously helped....when in fact earlier I would have relished the thought of curling up on the sofa with my book!!!!
Arriving home not so late I then have to embark on the writing of the damn invitations so Conor can give them out tomorrow to maximise time before party date arrives (blimey sick of the thing already!!!!!).........what makes it even worse is there are NOT ENOUGH invitations..............aghhhhhhh.........help!!! So Thursday then sees us stopping at the post office to pick up a parcel (always a pain as in a part of town we never go to and always busy) only to find the parcel had been re-delivered and I had been home so the damn thing was already there!!!! Follow this with a trip to the parking garage to get into town for more invites..........well this was like something out of a comedy....so i find a space (albeit rather a tight one but am determined to squeeze into it as want to get home ASAP) and park only to find Conor is the only one who can pysically open his door enough to get out!!!!! I'm not moving I say to myself so I squeeze in the back andout of his door and as the car next to us leaves I think great......only to find a much smaller space as a big 4-wheel drive parks in it's place (a mini before!!!!!) so I am well and truly snookered.........losing my will to live....the old couple in the car on the other side then arrive back and can't get in to their car either.....................so to cut an even longer story short I drive out to let him out and then park across 2 spaces so we have more space than we know what to do with......fab!!!! BUt why do they make spaces so bloody tight...............impossible! Anyway eventually out of the parking garage we find the bookshop with invites and another OMG when i see the only ones they have are 12,50 for 8!!!!! That's it...........this is the party to last his whole stat in lux.......never again!! Remind me next year.....MUST BE MORE ORGANISED!!!!!!!!!! After all this palava......we arrive home at 5pm Ruby screaming as she's had nothing since lunch and Conor fed up because it was too late to get to football training......ho hum.........all in a day's work eh?!
The upshot is.........Conor is soooooo excited about his party and successfully gave out all his invites and replies are now flooding in..................alls well that ends well I guess :-)
PS to add to those frustrating moments (lots of!!!) I then sit down to order Conor's school sports uniform (yes he lost his on the 1st day and hasn't been seen since...........and yes it did have his name in!!!!!) and after getting everything in the basket proceed to checkout, fill out the billing details and then nothing....NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING.............aghhhhhh again......what a complete waste of time!
Anyway...................nice calm afternoon .............Millie at a playdate,Conor was dropped off for me and we're off to the Alsace for a long weekend tomorrow as kids off on monday. Get me to those wineries.......QUICK SHARP! A demain!
Anyway after a week of trying to be more at home and getting some stuff done to try and get it into some kind of order (managed the staying at home more but failed miserably with anything else!!!!).............although I did have a good catch-up with my neighbour Becky where we put the worldof living inLuxembourg to rights and a nice lunch today with a friend of mine also an Amazonian-wifey!! So after the escapade of the dry cleaners I recovered with a nice 6 euro lunch at a soup place.......fantastic!!
Other happenings of the week.......oh yes of course how could I forget.....the organisation of Conors party!!! so a few weeks before holiday I start to look for venues for conors football party.....I mean how hard can it be to find an indoor sports centre for boys to run around palying football........well actually almost impossible!! So after much waiting (and a trip down to Foetz a few miles out to check out a place I had heard of but unfortunately has now closed down......bloody typical!!!) I hear back from the guy that runs the football after school club and he has a venue......hurray.......albeit outside which given the fact it has done nothing but rain since we arrived back from hols may not be the smartest plan........but hey......and then swallowing hard when he tells me the price we just go with it (next year Conor will be doing something straightforward like bowling!!!) and I think job done! Oh no.......of course with only 10 days now to go until the party I now need to find invites (as Conor wants to invite boys from lots of different classes/years so have no email addresses for all) - another feat in itself which involves a trip to Little Britain....a shop out of town which sells as guessed from it's name British products!!! So I pick up 2 packs of the only vaguely looking boys invites (and throw a few other things in whilst I'm there......and refused to pay 5euros for the ONE box of Oatibix ....no wonder it's nickname is Little Rip-off!!) we get home and all is hunky dory!
So after traipsing all the kids out at 6pm so Millie can get to gymnastics (oh roll on next week when it is our week with Noora our au-pair!)....we arrive home at nearly 8pm (oh yes we nearly ran out of diesel too so had to stop on the way home.........the one cheap thing here!) and all kids late in bed but thankfully behaved as we had our young boy babysitter round at 8.30pm (Noora phoned me at 6pm to say she had been violently sick for the past hour....oh joy!) and I had to race into town to meet Shaun and one of his new recruits moving from Munich who was over on an induction and so Shaun thought we should take her out and tell her how nice it is living in Luxembourg........hmmm......not sure my frame of mind is right at the moment to do the big sell......but managed somehow!!!! The fact that Shaun's secretary had booked a lovely Thai place which I had been wanting to go to obviously helped....when in fact earlier I would have relished the thought of curling up on the sofa with my book!!!!
Arriving home not so late I then have to embark on the writing of the damn invitations so Conor can give them out tomorrow to maximise time before party date arrives (blimey sick of the thing already!!!!!).........what makes it even worse is there are NOT ENOUGH invitations..............aghhhhhhh.........help!!! So Thursday then sees us stopping at the post office to pick up a parcel (always a pain as in a part of town we never go to and always busy) only to find the parcel had been re-delivered and I had been home so the damn thing was already there!!!! Follow this with a trip to the parking garage to get into town for more invites..........well this was like something out of a comedy....so i find a space (albeit rather a tight one but am determined to squeeze into it as want to get home ASAP) and park only to find Conor is the only one who can pysically open his door enough to get out!!!!! I'm not moving I say to myself so I squeeze in the back andout of his door and as the car next to us leaves I think great......only to find a much smaller space as a big 4-wheel drive parks in it's place (a mini before!!!!!) so I am well and truly snookered.........losing my will to live....the old couple in the car on the other side then arrive back and can't get in to their car either.....................so to cut an even longer story short I drive out to let him out and then park across 2 spaces so we have more space than we know what to do with......fab!!!! BUt why do they make spaces so bloody tight...............impossible! Anyway eventually out of the parking garage we find the bookshop with invites and another OMG when i see the only ones they have are 12,50 for 8!!!!! That's it...........this is the party to last his whole stat in lux.......never again!! Remind me next year.....MUST BE MORE ORGANISED!!!!!!!!!! After all this palava......we arrive home at 5pm Ruby screaming as she's had nothing since lunch and Conor fed up because it was too late to get to football training......ho hum.........all in a day's work eh?!
The upshot is.........Conor is soooooo excited about his party and successfully gave out all his invites and replies are now flooding in..................alls well that ends well I guess :-)
PS to add to those frustrating moments (lots of!!!) I then sit down to order Conor's school sports uniform (yes he lost his on the 1st day and hasn't been seen since...........and yes it did have his name in!!!!!) and after getting everything in the basket proceed to checkout, fill out the billing details and then nothing....NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING.............aghhhhhh again......what a complete waste of time!
Anyway...................nice calm afternoon .............Millie at a playdate,Conor was dropped off for me and we're off to the Alsace for a long weekend tomorrow as kids off on monday. Get me to those wineries.......QUICK SHARP! A demain!
Monday, 8 November 2010
The Atlantis, Dubai
The day finally arrived for our much-awaited desperately needed holiday! At last - time to catch up on some sleep and chill! Or so we thought..................
Lovely holiday, great place and Emirates airlines can be highly recommended!
Apart from an overnight flight on the way where Ruby hardly slept, she had a raging temperature and I had to hold her the whole way (and suffered aching bones for the next few days which a trip to the hotel spa and a treatment soon sorted :-)), kids club only for 4 years +, and Millie being sick for a day we had a great time!!!!
Loads of sun and sea and swimming, loads of fun in the waterpark (Shaun and Conor succumbed to the Leap of Faith!), far too much food and drink and even a few celebrity spots!
It was great for us to spend so much time as a family and we had fun! Ruby was a real star and laughed and smiled and smiled and laughed.............she had conversations with almost everyone she saw (or they did plenty of cooing at her anyway)!!!
Ruby having fun at the water park
Aquarium in the lobby of the hotel
Our lovely brood :-)
Family McCabe
Ruby on the beach in her little tent!
PS: If any of you ever go, there is a fab bar at one end of the beach of the hotel..............tres trendy right on the beach with DJ the lot :-)
Lovely holiday, great place and Emirates airlines can be highly recommended!
Apart from an overnight flight on the way where Ruby hardly slept, she had a raging temperature and I had to hold her the whole way (and suffered aching bones for the next few days which a trip to the hotel spa and a treatment soon sorted :-)), kids club only for 4 years +, and Millie being sick for a day we had a great time!!!!
Loads of sun and sea and swimming, loads of fun in the waterpark (Shaun and Conor succumbed to the Leap of Faith!), far too much food and drink and even a few celebrity spots!
It was great for us to spend so much time as a family and we had fun! Ruby was a real star and laughed and smiled and smiled and laughed.............she had conversations with almost everyone she saw (or they did plenty of cooing at her anyway)!!!
Ruby having fun at the water park
TheAtlantis
Sunday night blues!
Feels like a long time since those Sunday night blues............but after a trail of good things - trip to London, UK friends to visit, hols in Dubai and long weekend lounging at home...........it was time for the kids to go back to school and Shaun back to work :-(
It felt weird flying back into Frankfurt airport on the way back from Dubai and driving back to Luxembourg.........it didn't quite feel like we were coming home! I sort of felt my stint over here was done and it was time to return to our real home!!!!!!
Anyway - here we are......back to school runs and regimes and working to the clock again!!!! I guess same as world over! At the moment I've got no appetite for planning or organising so having some lazy days at home (apart from coffee with Becky next door and lunch with a friend on Friday!!!!!! would be rude to go completely cold turkey!!)...in attempt to try and sort some stuff out at home which otherwise i can see in 3 years time being in the same state!
All is well, just feeling as grey as the weather outside! anyay I think we are finally all well again so things are looking up :-)
Hope you all have a good week
It felt weird flying back into Frankfurt airport on the way back from Dubai and driving back to Luxembourg.........it didn't quite feel like we were coming home! I sort of felt my stint over here was done and it was time to return to our real home!!!!!!
Anyway - here we are......back to school runs and regimes and working to the clock again!!!! I guess same as world over! At the moment I've got no appetite for planning or organising so having some lazy days at home (apart from coffee with Becky next door and lunch with a friend on Friday!!!!!! would be rude to go completely cold turkey!!)...in attempt to try and sort some stuff out at home which otherwise i can see in 3 years time being in the same state!
All is well, just feeling as grey as the weather outside! anyay I think we are finally all well again so things are looking up :-)
Hope you all have a good week
Sunday, 7 November 2010
More visitors from the UK :-)
So having arrived back home late Friday night from a frantic few days in London, I had the morning to prepare for the onset of the Thraves family - really looking forward to them visiting but haven't quite got my head around feeding 9 until Tuesday given that up to now I don't seem to have had time to prepare!!!!
I seem to have adopted this mega laid-back attitude since arriving in Lux - most unlike me but I guess instead of trying to fight against the frustrations and slow pace of life here.......I would join it instead!!!!!! Anyway - good friends should be happy to turn up whatever state we're in that's what I say!!!!!
Anyway I thought I needed some element of prep so out came the cook books which seem to have been a distant memory of recent time!! With the menu roughly sorted and feeling much more relaxed we all head off to Auchan shopping centre (one of those dreadful places with a hypermarket style supermarket and shops/restaurants to boot - all under one roof with underground parking to negotiate!!!) to get haircuts for everyone (except me!) might be doing millies myself from now on - an outrageous 32 euros later she was done......I suppose she did get it washed and dried nicely......although not sure to what benefit as she had a swimming party that same afternoon - I didn't think she'd take kindly to being asked to keep her head out of the water and hair dry at 6 years old!!!!! C'est la vie!
So the Thraves arrived with only Ruby and I here......Shaun desperately trying to cope with the logistics of only 1 car trying to be in 2 places at the same time!!! Anyway - after getting stuck in a load of traffic and being a good half hour late to pick Millie up, everyone arrived back safe and well.........Conor winning his water-logged footy match 9-1 and Millie full of sugar from after-swimming treats!!!
After quick drinks and treats (and gratefully receiving more english treats from Louise!) it is time to get dressed up for Halloween night......yes strange given it is only October 23rd!!! Being such an influx of Americans here in Luxembourg and obviously the huge celebration they have in America for Halloween - this is a full-on organised event with tickets and the lot!! So this is how it works...................
The American Womans Club (an organisation set up in the late 1950s by a small group of women who lived here and wanted to be able to meet fellow english speakers etc.........this has now grown to hundreds of members of all nationalities moving to Luxembourg and wanting a quick/easy way of meeting people in similar situations/nationalities! They organise coffee mornings, walks, kids activities, nights out....you name it....even quilting and scrap-booking (hmmm....I'm not quite there yet!....but apparently huge with some of the yanks!). Anyway, every year they organise a big Halloween event where a neighbourhood in Luxembourg is chosen.........and a group of streets is chosen where all the inhabitants (foreign and local) buy into the concept of Halloween and are prepared to answer the door a million times between 6pm and 8pm on a particular SAturday night to hand out "candy"!!!!!
So 5.45pm....kids all dressed and ready to go (see pic....yes even Ruby got into the spirit in her pumpkin!!!!) off we set for Sandweiler, one of the suburbs of Lux.....thankfully more on our side of town than not!!). Chaotic parking when we arrive which I suppose was expected as we all invade this small neighbourhood temporarily!!! With all the kids equipped with some kind of bag/container for their sweets it's time to hit the streets! All a bit surreal for me.....given it's daylight for one....and all these hundreds of kids going from 1 house to the next in swarms.........residents hardly had time to close the door in between so no need for the kids to even say "trick or treat" as a lady/gent/child was already standing there with their box of sweets to give out.............not quite the same eh as creeping around West Way in the dark with scary pumpkins lighting the way and knocking on doors to unexpecting residents??!!!!!!
Anyway......we bumped into plenty of people we knew and kids thought it was great to have a boatload of sweets and chocolate to take home with not much effort involved!!!!! Having purchased a trendy new high-gloss dining table since we arrived here (having always wanted something high-gloss to be part of the trend!!!!!!), all 9 of us then fitted beautifully around the table for dinner (which i did manage to mostly prepare beforehand :-)) We then slumped in front of the TV with wine/beer and X-factor.....bliss!!!!!
The rest of the weekend passed beautifully with kids all playing together and keeping themselves out of our way! Plans to visit Parc Mervielleux were binned when we found out it closed at the end of September for the year!!!!! so headed to another park which was fun for the kids and we spent an hour looking for animals my book mentioned and I was then determined to find! Thankfully on route we discovered some caravan park where we could stop for refreshments (some smoke-filled bar anyway........yes you can still smoke in all public places!) and hit the centre of lux for moules frites!
Tour of the city (and me trying to remember all my historical facts from my guided tour of the city a few weeks previous) finished the weekend with us all going to Strassen swimming pool....great pool we have found here with slides, wave pool, toys, diving boards the lot! Fab.........of course I just laid in the cosy warmth of the baby pool with Ruby :-)
As the Thraves waved their goodbyes on Tuesday morning.......I could put it off no longer.......time to think about packing for hols tomorrow!!!!
I seem to have adopted this mega laid-back attitude since arriving in Lux - most unlike me but I guess instead of trying to fight against the frustrations and slow pace of life here.......I would join it instead!!!!!! Anyway - good friends should be happy to turn up whatever state we're in that's what I say!!!!!
Anyway I thought I needed some element of prep so out came the cook books which seem to have been a distant memory of recent time!! With the menu roughly sorted and feeling much more relaxed we all head off to Auchan shopping centre (one of those dreadful places with a hypermarket style supermarket and shops/restaurants to boot - all under one roof with underground parking to negotiate!!!) to get haircuts for everyone (except me!) might be doing millies myself from now on - an outrageous 32 euros later she was done......I suppose she did get it washed and dried nicely......although not sure to what benefit as she had a swimming party that same afternoon - I didn't think she'd take kindly to being asked to keep her head out of the water and hair dry at 6 years old!!!!! C'est la vie!
So the Thraves arrived with only Ruby and I here......Shaun desperately trying to cope with the logistics of only 1 car trying to be in 2 places at the same time!!! Anyway - after getting stuck in a load of traffic and being a good half hour late to pick Millie up, everyone arrived back safe and well.........Conor winning his water-logged footy match 9-1 and Millie full of sugar from after-swimming treats!!!
After quick drinks and treats (and gratefully receiving more english treats from Louise!) it is time to get dressed up for Halloween night......yes strange given it is only October 23rd!!! Being such an influx of Americans here in Luxembourg and obviously the huge celebration they have in America for Halloween - this is a full-on organised event with tickets and the lot!! So this is how it works...................
The American Womans Club (an organisation set up in the late 1950s by a small group of women who lived here and wanted to be able to meet fellow english speakers etc.........this has now grown to hundreds of members of all nationalities moving to Luxembourg and wanting a quick/easy way of meeting people in similar situations/nationalities! They organise coffee mornings, walks, kids activities, nights out....you name it....even quilting and scrap-booking (hmmm....I'm not quite there yet!....but apparently huge with some of the yanks!). Anyway, every year they organise a big Halloween event where a neighbourhood in Luxembourg is chosen.........and a group of streets is chosen where all the inhabitants (foreign and local) buy into the concept of Halloween and are prepared to answer the door a million times between 6pm and 8pm on a particular SAturday night to hand out "candy"!!!!!
So 5.45pm....kids all dressed and ready to go (see pic....yes even Ruby got into the spirit in her pumpkin!!!!) off we set for Sandweiler, one of the suburbs of Lux.....thankfully more on our side of town than not!!). Chaotic parking when we arrive which I suppose was expected as we all invade this small neighbourhood temporarily!!! With all the kids equipped with some kind of bag/container for their sweets it's time to hit the streets! All a bit surreal for me.....given it's daylight for one....and all these hundreds of kids going from 1 house to the next in swarms.........residents hardly had time to close the door in between so no need for the kids to even say "trick or treat" as a lady/gent/child was already standing there with their box of sweets to give out.............not quite the same eh as creeping around West Way in the dark with scary pumpkins lighting the way and knocking on doors to unexpecting residents??!!!!!!
Anyway......we bumped into plenty of people we knew and kids thought it was great to have a boatload of sweets and chocolate to take home with not much effort involved!!!!! Having purchased a trendy new high-gloss dining table since we arrived here (having always wanted something high-gloss to be part of the trend!!!!!!), all 9 of us then fitted beautifully around the table for dinner (which i did manage to mostly prepare beforehand :-)) We then slumped in front of the TV with wine/beer and X-factor.....bliss!!!!!
The rest of the weekend passed beautifully with kids all playing together and keeping themselves out of our way! Plans to visit Parc Mervielleux were binned when we found out it closed at the end of September for the year!!!!! so headed to another park which was fun for the kids and we spent an hour looking for animals my book mentioned and I was then determined to find! Thankfully on route we discovered some caravan park where we could stop for refreshments (some smoke-filled bar anyway........yes you can still smoke in all public places!) and hit the centre of lux for moules frites!
Tour of the city (and me trying to remember all my historical facts from my guided tour of the city a few weeks previous) finished the weekend with us all going to Strassen swimming pool....great pool we have found here with slides, wave pool, toys, diving boards the lot! Fab.........of course I just laid in the cosy warmth of the baby pool with Ruby :-)
As the Thraves waved their goodbyes on Tuesday morning.......I could put it off no longer.......time to think about packing for hols tomorrow!!!!
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
whistlestop tour of Oxford Street
So now we have an au-pair we are sharing with our American next door neighbours! Noora is from Finland and joined us a few weeks ago..........she is fantastic and great with the kids, in the kitchen and doesn't need any hand-holding.......she just gets on with it :-)
After spending a few days with us and getting to know the kids and our routines at home......she spent the following week next door! Shaun informs me of a trip to London he needs to make so I immediately jump in with a suggestion of me tagging along for a shopping trip.......in major need of new everything given I was pregnant last winter and thinking about it the winter before and so couldn't possibly wait until Christmas! Shaun agreed it would be a good idea and had visions of a little romantic trip for 2.......except I decided leaving Noora (19 years old!) with all 3 kids probably pushing "straight in at the deep end!" a little to the extreme!!!!
So Thursday morning at 6am saw Shaun, Ruby and I sleepily roll into the taxi for a 7am flight to London City (yes - the advantage of the airport being close to the city AND it not taking long to check-in as so small!!) and we were off! 7.30am we were back on English soil and having been so long since our working commuter days to the City, we were naiive in our thinking we could even get on a tube with Ruby/buggy so after waiting for 3 or so trains all packed like sardines to pass at Bank.....we trudged back up and outside to hail a cab to Paddington....much more civilised :-)
Nice little boutique hotel (hmmm bit of a aqueeze to accomodate a cot AND the buggy......AND all my prospective shopping bags!!!!!) but felt a treat all the same! After leaving the case and car seat, it was all systems go for Shaun to get to his meeting At LoveFilm, but more importantly Ruby and I to hit the shops......woohoo!!! 9.30am after a (very!) brisk walk (speed increasing as the shops got nearer due to excitement of being let loose for 2 whole days!!!!) I arrived at M&S!
It felt like something out of supermarket sweep......how fast can you get round a store and how much stuff can you pick up in that time!!! I did a fair old job there picking up kids basics and a couple of dresses for me......including a very nice italian number. Job done....time to move on!
Selfridges here we come! So with Ruby now awake I wasn't sure how the jeans shopping was going to go....but what the hell.......only 1 opportunity so let's give it a go.....what's the worst that can happen......she screams the place down and everyone looks at me with those "take that baby out of here" evil stares!!! Anyway no need to worry, she was angel...........I decided to have the body scan to get jeans to fit my body shape! I got showed to a lovely dressing room complete with designer chair (who would have expected anything less!!!) and plush carpet.......or so it was before we entered!! I had to go into the "scan" room alone so left Ruby occupied with a biscuit............only to discover on my return that the Organix baby biscuits seem to make more mess than you could think possible!! So we hurried out leaving a trail of mushy biscuit deposits all over the "once-plush" carpet and chair legs........and plenty of traceable evidence all down her pale pink tights and dress!!
Having bought the bloody expensive (but perfectly formed!) jeans I didn't batter an eyelid........surely even a tenth of the mark-up would pay to replace the bloody carpet never mind just clean it!!!!
The tour of Selfridges continued as I struggled to find any boots that were what I was looking for......but in the meantime found plenty of other items to consider returning for on Friday!
Next stop.......Pret! Oh joy........decent-sized coffee and nice lunch that didn't involve pastry of any description!!! Ruby smiling to every passer-by and laughing with me......we had a lovely hour together :-) With her asleep once more..........shops shops shops here we come! In and out of a few stores we finally made it to John Lewis........god I miss this store!!!! What a haven of everything you could possibly need! So the buggy laden with about 20 items, changing rooms here I come! A few definite hits and I leave with an outfit very "Cheryl Cole".......shame the body inside it is not quite so!!!!
Buggy now fairly laden with bags to the extent it will tip up if left on it's own even with Ruby inside it!!! So time for quick stop at Boots for (heavy!!) necessities and stroll back to the hotel!! When I worked around this area of London I never realised just how Lebanese Edgeware Road was!!! Food smells delicious but not sure about how much thought behind the restaurant names........as I pass the Beirut Express!!!!!!!
Quick prosecco in hotel bar where we meet Shaun (and he didn't even ask how much money I'd spent???!!!) and I definitely have that "Pretty Woman" satisfied shopping success feel!!
We then hop in a black cab down to Dulwich where our friends Steve & Sonia have invited us for dinner.......big roast and all the trimmings......lovely jubly.........great to see them and catch up (and finally visit them south of the river rather than them always making the journey up north!!!!!!)......shame Ruby screamed for the 1st half hour!! And that was only the start.........arriving back at the hotel at a decent-ish time....lo and behold Ruby was adamant we were going to be up most of the night.......as she refused to sleep until gone 2am!! So the luxury, boutique hotel left a cramped, exhausted taste in our mouths the following morning as we checked out!
Day 2.........Shaun went off to Slough to see his old buddies and get some work done (and pick up his online shopping he had delivered there about a month ago!!!) and I hit Oxford Street 1 more time!!! Just time for a quick coffee stop and a few shops before heading down to Oxford Circus to meet Elena and Rosemary (avec Charlie!).............It was great to see them......just like old times......we managed a few shops before we called it a day and just headed to the cafe in Liberty so we could really chat and catch up!! So after (more) Prosecco and a lovely lunch and plenty of chit-chat Rosemary headed back up to Harpenden (ps: I hope you sorted the rip in your leather jacket?!) and Elena and I shopped and chin-wagged some more before she too had to head back up to Harps! It was such a lovely day and soon the 3 of us were back in the cab heading back to London City!
Traffic was problem-free........fairly amazing for a Friday afternoon!.......and having thought everything would now go completely to plan......we were mistaken! Checking-in we were told we would have to wait for the captain to finalise weight allowance for the number of passengers as there was a restriction due to the size of the plane.........pardon........I exclaimed..........run that one by me again please?!!!! I couldn't believe it....we were there almost an hour and a half before the plane was due to leave and they were telling us we might not get on the flight.......I was obviously outraged......partly as I could have stayed longer in london if that was the case....but mostly because we had to get back for Conor and Millie as Noora was on for a big night out with her friends!!! To cut a long boring story short after much complaining and using the "we've got a baby" and "children back home we need to get back for" line we got on the flight which by the time we found out it was final call and we had to jump the queue at security and no time to buy water or anything!!!
10.15pm........back home to Lux and time for bed!!! Busy few days..........loved it and looking forward to next time :-) Shaun not so convinced.......partly due to the credit card damage and partly due to lack of sleep......I'm working on it :-)
After spending a few days with us and getting to know the kids and our routines at home......she spent the following week next door! Shaun informs me of a trip to London he needs to make so I immediately jump in with a suggestion of me tagging along for a shopping trip.......in major need of new everything given I was pregnant last winter and thinking about it the winter before and so couldn't possibly wait until Christmas! Shaun agreed it would be a good idea and had visions of a little romantic trip for 2.......except I decided leaving Noora (19 years old!) with all 3 kids probably pushing "straight in at the deep end!" a little to the extreme!!!!
So Thursday morning at 6am saw Shaun, Ruby and I sleepily roll into the taxi for a 7am flight to London City (yes - the advantage of the airport being close to the city AND it not taking long to check-in as so small!!) and we were off! 7.30am we were back on English soil and having been so long since our working commuter days to the City, we were naiive in our thinking we could even get on a tube with Ruby/buggy so after waiting for 3 or so trains all packed like sardines to pass at Bank.....we trudged back up and outside to hail a cab to Paddington....much more civilised :-)
Nice little boutique hotel (hmmm bit of a aqueeze to accomodate a cot AND the buggy......AND all my prospective shopping bags!!!!!) but felt a treat all the same! After leaving the case and car seat, it was all systems go for Shaun to get to his meeting At LoveFilm, but more importantly Ruby and I to hit the shops......woohoo!!! 9.30am after a (very!) brisk walk (speed increasing as the shops got nearer due to excitement of being let loose for 2 whole days!!!!) I arrived at M&S!
It felt like something out of supermarket sweep......how fast can you get round a store and how much stuff can you pick up in that time!!! I did a fair old job there picking up kids basics and a couple of dresses for me......including a very nice italian number. Job done....time to move on!
Selfridges here we come! So with Ruby now awake I wasn't sure how the jeans shopping was going to go....but what the hell.......only 1 opportunity so let's give it a go.....what's the worst that can happen......she screams the place down and everyone looks at me with those "take that baby out of here" evil stares!!! Anyway no need to worry, she was angel...........I decided to have the body scan to get jeans to fit my body shape! I got showed to a lovely dressing room complete with designer chair (who would have expected anything less!!!) and plush carpet.......or so it was before we entered!! I had to go into the "scan" room alone so left Ruby occupied with a biscuit............only to discover on my return that the Organix baby biscuits seem to make more mess than you could think possible!! So we hurried out leaving a trail of mushy biscuit deposits all over the "once-plush" carpet and chair legs........and plenty of traceable evidence all down her pale pink tights and dress!!
Having bought the bloody expensive (but perfectly formed!) jeans I didn't batter an eyelid........surely even a tenth of the mark-up would pay to replace the bloody carpet never mind just clean it!!!!
The tour of Selfridges continued as I struggled to find any boots that were what I was looking for......but in the meantime found plenty of other items to consider returning for on Friday!
Next stop.......Pret! Oh joy........decent-sized coffee and nice lunch that didn't involve pastry of any description!!! Ruby smiling to every passer-by and laughing with me......we had a lovely hour together :-) With her asleep once more..........shops shops shops here we come! In and out of a few stores we finally made it to John Lewis........god I miss this store!!!! What a haven of everything you could possibly need! So the buggy laden with about 20 items, changing rooms here I come! A few definite hits and I leave with an outfit very "Cheryl Cole".......shame the body inside it is not quite so!!!!
Buggy now fairly laden with bags to the extent it will tip up if left on it's own even with Ruby inside it!!! So time for quick stop at Boots for (heavy!!) necessities and stroll back to the hotel!! When I worked around this area of London I never realised just how Lebanese Edgeware Road was!!! Food smells delicious but not sure about how much thought behind the restaurant names........as I pass the Beirut Express!!!!!!!
Quick prosecco in hotel bar where we meet Shaun (and he didn't even ask how much money I'd spent???!!!) and I definitely have that "Pretty Woman" satisfied shopping success feel!!
We then hop in a black cab down to Dulwich where our friends Steve & Sonia have invited us for dinner.......big roast and all the trimmings......lovely jubly.........great to see them and catch up (and finally visit them south of the river rather than them always making the journey up north!!!!!!)......shame Ruby screamed for the 1st half hour!! And that was only the start.........arriving back at the hotel at a decent-ish time....lo and behold Ruby was adamant we were going to be up most of the night.......as she refused to sleep until gone 2am!! So the luxury, boutique hotel left a cramped, exhausted taste in our mouths the following morning as we checked out!
Day 2.........Shaun went off to Slough to see his old buddies and get some work done (and pick up his online shopping he had delivered there about a month ago!!!) and I hit Oxford Street 1 more time!!! Just time for a quick coffee stop and a few shops before heading down to Oxford Circus to meet Elena and Rosemary (avec Charlie!).............It was great to see them......just like old times......we managed a few shops before we called it a day and just headed to the cafe in Liberty so we could really chat and catch up!! So after (more) Prosecco and a lovely lunch and plenty of chit-chat Rosemary headed back up to Harpenden (ps: I hope you sorted the rip in your leather jacket?!) and Elena and I shopped and chin-wagged some more before she too had to head back up to Harps! It was such a lovely day and soon the 3 of us were back in the cab heading back to London City!
Traffic was problem-free........fairly amazing for a Friday afternoon!.......and having thought everything would now go completely to plan......we were mistaken! Checking-in we were told we would have to wait for the captain to finalise weight allowance for the number of passengers as there was a restriction due to the size of the plane.........pardon........I exclaimed..........run that one by me again please?!!!! I couldn't believe it....we were there almost an hour and a half before the plane was due to leave and they were telling us we might not get on the flight.......I was obviously outraged......partly as I could have stayed longer in london if that was the case....but mostly because we had to get back for Conor and Millie as Noora was on for a big night out with her friends!!! To cut a long boring story short after much complaining and using the "we've got a baby" and "children back home we need to get back for" line we got on the flight which by the time we found out it was final call and we had to jump the queue at security and no time to buy water or anything!!!
10.15pm........back home to Lux and time for bed!!! Busy few days..........loved it and looking forward to next time :-) Shaun not so convinced.......partly due to the credit card damage and partly due to lack of sleep......I'm working on it :-)
One for the girls!!
Something to make you all smirk...........
So it was a week or so before we were due to go on hols and so I decided I needed a few girls things done......eyebrow wax, nails done, legwax and of course the obligatory bikini wax.........and that's when I realised how much I needed to learn French!!!!
Having found a pretty nice salon, friendly girls, accomodating to Ruby and perfectly located (apart from having to squeeze into the tiniest lift possible to get to floor 2 with the buggy!!) on the main street in the city (i.e. I could walk there!!)....it was all looking more than ideal! So with Ruby fast asleep, Violette got to work.
1st impressions great as she used a roll-on wax device that made things extremely quick - one of the key factors with a sleeping baby!!! So with legs smooth and silky in no time at all.........it was time for the dreaded bikini!!! OMG..........so wanting to get it over with I didn't take much notice when Violette with hindsight was obviously asking me how high I wanted the wax to go!!!! She then asked me to take my pants off which I thought a bit odd as I never had done before in England!! I presumed it was so they didn't get any wax on! Little did I know what was to come.............O M G!!!!! I now am the proud owner of a brazilian wax.......ouch ouch OUCH!!!!
Having survived the ordeal.......and now on holiday living in a bikini...........I am now quite proud of myself.......and there is certainly no need to worry when I'm lazing in the inflatable ring at the water park......just a shame my body's not quite up to wearing the itsy bitsy teeny weeny triangle bikini pants.....ho hum.......next time!!!!!
So it was a week or so before we were due to go on hols and so I decided I needed a few girls things done......eyebrow wax, nails done, legwax and of course the obligatory bikini wax.........and that's when I realised how much I needed to learn French!!!!
Having found a pretty nice salon, friendly girls, accomodating to Ruby and perfectly located (apart from having to squeeze into the tiniest lift possible to get to floor 2 with the buggy!!) on the main street in the city (i.e. I could walk there!!)....it was all looking more than ideal! So with Ruby fast asleep, Violette got to work.
1st impressions great as she used a roll-on wax device that made things extremely quick - one of the key factors with a sleeping baby!!! So with legs smooth and silky in no time at all.........it was time for the dreaded bikini!!! OMG..........so wanting to get it over with I didn't take much notice when Violette with hindsight was obviously asking me how high I wanted the wax to go!!!! She then asked me to take my pants off which I thought a bit odd as I never had done before in England!! I presumed it was so they didn't get any wax on! Little did I know what was to come.............O M G!!!!! I now am the proud owner of a brazilian wax.......ouch ouch OUCH!!!!
Having survived the ordeal.......and now on holiday living in a bikini...........I am now quite proud of myself.......and there is certainly no need to worry when I'm lazing in the inflatable ring at the water park......just a shame my body's not quite up to wearing the itsy bitsy teeny weeny triangle bikini pants.....ho hum.......next time!!!!!
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