Lost luggage

Posted on August 5, 2013 by admin

It was bound to happen eventually — after 9 or so international journeys (I’m losing count) our luggage was lost on our trip to the UK. It’s easy to see how it happened. We arrived at the airport in plenty of time, and we got to the gate without a problem. Then, just at boarding time, our flight disappeared from the monitoring screen at the gate — never a good sign. Then “all passengers connecting to London” (us, plus a woman named Dorothy) were called up to the desk. Our flight was delayed, and the airline was worried about us missing our connection, so we were rebooked on another airline, connecting through Cologne. We were assured our luggage would be rerouted, too, and of course we were only ACTUALLY booked from Vienna to Cologne, but we had to go “right now” to make our flight, and so we did.

We were only booked standby on our new flight, and although we got seats, they weren’t together. But while the first person I asked to switch so B and I could sit together actually said no (Dan worked out seating for himself and Liam), another passenger switched with me, and yet another switched so that B could have a window seat, and all was well.

Until THAT flight was delayed by about 45 minutes, which resulted, after a trip to the check-in counter for another booking, in a flat-out “Home Alone” style sprint through the Cologne airport while they actually held the plane at the gate for us while we got through security and passport control. Of course, we didn’t have seats together on that flight either, and the plane was literally backing away from the gate while we sorted things out. (Again, one person gave up their seat so B & I could be together while another volunteered to switch so that B, who wasn’t even whining, could have the window. People are awesome.)

So, sweaty and exhausted, we made it onto a plane bound for Stansted airport, and, 2 hours later than we’d planned, we finally arrived. But our luggage did not. So there we were, day 1 of an 18 day trip, with two kids, no bags and an early morning flight the next morning to Edinburgh (after which we planned to rent a car and drive 3 hours further away).

On the bright side, everyone we talked to from the airline was thoroughly helpful. Also, we didn’t have much luggage to drag to our hotel. And, I got to do a bit of unplanned shopping for the family at a mall outside of Edinburgh. By late the next evening, our bags had been located, and, with our carry on stuff, the fruits of our shopping excursion, and the kids’ clothes kindly lent to us by our bed & breakfast hosts (who have a 4 year old son), we barely missed a beat of our vacation. Both suitcases were delivered on the fourth day of our trip, safe & sound. (Never have I been so glad to see old socks.)

Our trip is going wonderfully (lost luggage aside), but we fly to Ireland tomorrow, and I can’t help over-thinking every single thing I pack in our carry on — instead of packing light and taking just what we need for the trip, I feel a little like I’m packing the carry on for wilderness survival for a week. We managed quite well for being without our bags for about 72 hours, but I’d really rather not do it again . . . especially not on this same trip.

Can it possibly be like we remember?

Posted on July 26, 2013 by admin

We’ve just about arrived at the “vacation” part of our summer vacation. We leave this weekend to spend 2+ weeks in England, Scotland and Ireland. Yes, we were there for 2 weeks less than a year ago, and we’re going back already. We loved it that much.

I wonder, as I do anytime I go back to a place I’ve been before, if we’ll like it as much this time. Was it a fluke, or was it really as fantastic as we remember? After a night outside of London and an early flight the next morning to Edinburgh, we’ll actually drive back into England and spend 5 days in the Lake District, at the same place we stayed last year (it was so great last year that we just had to go back . . . and stay longer this time). We’ll follow that with a night in Glasgow (which will be new to us) on our way to the coastal highlands (which we tried to visit last time, but we had to reroute that part of the trip due to illness). Then we fly to Ireland, visiting both Northern Ireland and the Republic while we’re there, before flying back to London to spend a last day there before we come home. I am really excited to go back to my absolutely favorite travel destinations so far.

Last year, when we were in England, we fell in love. There wasn’t a single place we visited where we didn’t find something wonderful. And then, astonishingly, we maybe even loved Ireland more. (We loved Scotland, too, but we saw so little of it that I want to reserve judgement.) We were lucky to have wonderful weather most of the time (an anomaly, I know) and to meet kind and welcoming people (who all spoke English, which, alone, was a treat for us) throughout our travels. So, with amazing, picture-postcard-perfect memories like these, is it possible that it’s going to be as great this time around?

And then I pause for a moment and remember the other stuff that was also true of our trip. I planned parts of it very poorly, and we ended up driving for hours (and hours and hours) in some cases (I think the worst day involved 11 hours of car and air travel). We got a flat tire while we were in the Lake District, had to limp back to the hotel on the bad tire with both kids soaking wet in the backseat, and had to wait until the next day to have it fixed. Both boys got horrible stomach illnesses. They were sick in 3 different countries, 4 different hotels and 1 car. Liam fell when we were at Edinburgh Castle and bonked his head and we spent the rest of that day in the Emergency Room. Our hotel in York had NO HEAT even though it was COLD. Our trip to the Giant’s Causeway was a disaster — the weather was terrible, the kids were miserable, we had to change a diaper outside, in the rain — I don’t think that trip could have been more traumatic if there had actually BEEN a giant in residence.

But, for all of that . . . *including* all of that, in some cases, partially BECAUSE of some of those things . . . it was my favorite trip that we’ve taken since we’ve been abroad. (Well, it was my favorite destination(s) — having 2 of my sisters with us in Italy might have made that *trip* my favorite.) Without blowing out our tire, we would never have had a warm, boisterous, a la carte dinner with our fellow travellers in the Lake District. Without the kids being sick we would have spent even MORE time driving, and would have missed out on one of our favorite pieces of Scotland. The stories and pictures from our miserable day at the Giant’s Causeway make me smile and laugh EVERY time I think of them. We had a fantastic, wonderful, amazing, memorable, family trip, and it didn’t have to be even nearly perfect to be magical.

So, I don’t think we’re painting an overly rosy picture of our trip from last year — I think we just had a great time. This trip won’t have to be perfect to be excellent, either. I’ll be there with my most favorite people in the world, in some of my most favorite places in the world. We’ve got less driving, less “stuff” to do, and more downtime planned. We’re going back to some of our favorite places and trying out some of the ones we wish we’d seen last time. (And, it’s also true that everyone still speaks English, so that’s still going to be a major plus again.) I’m so excited to go back.

Paddling pool

Posted on July 24, 2013 by admin

Our first summer here, we bought the kids an inflatable wading pool for use on our terrace. I can no longer remember what motivated the purchase, but, in retrospect, we should have realized that it would have been better in theory than in practice.

Back then . . .

That first summer, it caused more stress for me than I had anticipated. In addition to having to blow it up myself (always on a very hot day, of course — the best kind for such an activity), I then had to fill it by hand with a pitcher, taking dozens of trips back and forth between the kitchen sink and the pool on the terrace. At this point, the kids were naturally interested in what I was doing, so in addition to trying not to spill the water, I had to try to wrangle both kids in order to keep them in the house and out of the pool while I was filling it. (Liam, at this point, was not yet walking, and I could not have left him in or near the pool for even a moment while I walked back and forth.) When I would finally get the pool full of too-cold water, coax the kids into swimsuits and get us all out there, I was exhausted. Then, I had to keep a hand on Liam the whole time while worrying that B would slip on our slickly wet tile terrace. And, after we were done, I had to reverse the entire process — kids inside and dried, floor mopped up, and pool drained and emptied so the pigeons didn’t turn it into a massive bird bath overnight. The kids loved it, I didn’t, and we only got it out a few times that first summer.Such was my trauma at the hands of the paddling pool that we didn’t set it up even once last summer (although I kind of regretted that by the time it was fall). Yesterday was hot here once again, so I bravely decided to take on the paddling pool challenge once again.

. . . and now!

It’s as much of a pain to set up as ever — I had to inflate it, and then carry each pitcher of water (I needed over 20 to get a reasonable amount into the pool) from the kitchen to the terrace, trying not to drip on the hardwood floor. But, the kids are a little older, so the distraction I provided with the tv kept them from discovering my plans for a few minutes, and even after they did, simply asking them to give me a few minutes to get it set up actually worked (more or less). But, once I got it set up, it was an entirely more pleasant experience this time around. The kids actually participated in getting dressed, and they helped me find and collect the toys that they wanted. Once I got them in, they mostly wanted to pour water on each other and splash like crazy. At first, I tried to get them to keep the water IN the pool (I was a little too bitter from carrying it all from the kitchen to watch it go down the drain so quickly), but then I simply told them I was done filling the pool for the day, so they could splash as much as they liked as long as they didn’t expect a refill. It became not so much “playing in the paddling pool” but rather “gradually emptying the paddling pool”, but that was fine with me. (It also made for less emptying for me to do later!)It was glorious. They played together, splashed like crazy, got water everywhere, and I got to sit *in a chair* and watch them. Other than retrieving a few wayward toys that came near me, they needed almost no intervention on my part. They played for an hour, and had a great time, and only came in when they got chilly. (Actually, only Liam got cold — B would have stayed in longer.) They had fun and cooled off, and I got to just sit and watch them play. It was fantastic, and made every trip from the kitchen with the pitcher totally worth it. I think the paddling pool will return again soon.

37

Posted on July 23, 2013 by admin

Happy birthday to me! Yesterday, I turned 37. I had a great birthday, with cake, presents, my favorite olive bread, and cards made for me by my boys. It’s been a wonderful year. We’re finally feeling settled here, everyone is happy and healthy, and I’ve gotten to travel to some of my favorite destinations ever. I miss home, I miss my family and friends, but I love Austria, and we’ve really found our place here, and it, too, feels like another home to us.

And, the year to come is going to be a great one, too! We have more travel planned (mostly back to some of those places we’ve already been but liked so much that we want to go back) and, by this time next year, we will most likely be back home, living in the States.

I’m so grateful for this past year. I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunities I’ve had, and to be living the adventure I’m living, with a wonderful family, great friends and amazing kids. 36 was wonderful. 37 will be too. It’s going to be a great year. Life is good!

A fondant adventure

Posted on July 19, 2013 by admin

Last summer, while we were on vacation in England, Benjamin picked out and purchased a book about Angry Birds. This is not surprising, since he loves the games and the birds. In the book, among other things, there are many very helpful ideas provided for throwing a bird-tacular (or something like that) Angry Birds birthday party. Included in these pages are instructions for baking and decorating an Angry Bird cake. Ever since he first saw it, back in September, B has wanted that cake. Not a cake like it — the exact one in the book.

Last weekend, we threw a pretty fantastic Angry Bird themed birthday party for him. It was a cultural adventure, but it went great. In anticipation of the party, and with full awareness of my middling baking skills, we opted to purchase a lovely cake. It was, of course, Angry Bird themed, and even included an entire spherical Angry Bird (made of cake!) perched on top. And it was tasty, too!

And, although he loved the cake, this did nothing to reduce his determination to have “the cake from the book” for his *actual* birthday this year. It also gave me a very tough act to follow.

I believe in the power of being the birthday boy. I think that all reasonable requests on and for a birthday should be honored when possible. And so, with many disclaimers about how I am not much of a baker, and that I’ve never made a cake like that before (I’ve never worked with fondant before at all) I told him I would make my best effort at creating “the cake from the book”.

This is what I was going for:

Ever since I committed to this plan, about a month ago, I’ve been wondering if I made a huge mistake. I had visions of my efforts ending up, at worst, with a barely edible disaster, and, at best, with a grotesque project worthy of the “Cake Wrecks” site. Nonetheless, he wanted the Angry Bird cake from the book, and I figured I could at least try. After all, it’s cake! How bad could it be? I ordered the requisite fondant ahead of time (I was pretty grateful to learn I didn’t have to make it, especially since they don’t seem to sell food coloring in Austria, and I had no idea how I would tint homemade fondant). Part of me was hoping it wouldn’t all arrive in time, but it did.

The night before the big day, we made the cake (from a mix). After it cooled, I frosted it (with “strawberry” frosting — another request from the birthday boy, which I’m pretty sure is not actually advisable to ingest). Problem 1 — I haven’t made a layer cake in a while, and I didn’t stack the cakes the “right” way — instead of putting the flat sides together in the center, I put the top cake, convex side down, on top of the other one. Instant instability. Well, whatever. It would still be (relatively) edible. I put the cake in the fridge overnight because although I am crazy enough to try to make an Angry Bird cake, I am not crazy enough to try to do it at 1:00 in the morning.

Yesterday was the big birthday! 5 years old! Yay! While he played with some of his new presents, I set about preparing the fondant for my very first attempt at this. Following some very helpful advice I found online, I spread confectioner’s sugar on my work surface and added some shortening to the fondant. To make things even more complicated, the first one I needed to use was the red (no chance at practicing on something simple, like white). I kneaded it for a while (and took a guess on the desired consistency) and set about rolling it out. Problem 2 — Although the rolling went ok, I didn’t use enough fondant the first time, so I had to start over with more. Oops. Now I had confectioners sugar liberally mixed through my red fondant. Actually, though, after I got done with it, and put it on the cake, it didn’t look awful. For the first time, I felt hope:

I continued to follow the instructions. I trimmed it up, and then used the white . . .

. . . then the orange . . .

. . . and finally, the black fondant. And, after all was said and done, I have to say, I’m pretty proud of the result:

It may not have been a culinary masterpiece, but I’m pretty proud of it, and B was very satisfied. And Dan, who has been chuckling in my direction since I decided to undertake this project, had to admit he was impressed, too. The cake was a successful piece in a wonderful birthday. Not too bad for my first fondant adventure.

Benjamin’s 5th birthday

Posted on July 18, 2013 by admin

To my sweet 5 year old boy —
Benjamin! You are 5! Happy birthday, wonderful, darling child of mine. What an amazing guy you are, and I am so excited to be celebrating your 5th birthday. Every single day, I enjoy being with you. You are a great kid, and I love you so very much.

It is so wonderful to watch you learn and grow. I swear that you get taller every day — I feel like every time I look at you, you can reach new things. You are so fast, too! And you are developing amazing skills — even at 5, there are quite a few things you can do better than I can. You learn new things all the time. You’ve always been eloquent and precise in your speech, but this year, your sentences have become longer, more detailed and increasingly polite (very impressive!). You’ve always been a pleasure to talk to, but, amazingly, I find that I enjoy our conversations more and more. You say amazing things — you notice so much of the world around you, you take in so much information, and then you ask the BEST questions about what you see. You are so thoughtful and insightful, and you are so genuinely interested in learning more and solving the puzzles in your mind. (Although I am surprised by how often — VERY often — you ask questions that I can’t answer simply.) And you are so brave! As you grow up more and more, I see your enthusiasm and willingness to try new things, and to persevere at old things that pose a challenge.

And as you learn new stuff and conquer new challenges, you are still, without question, the wonderful YOU that you have always been. You are, as always, such a kind and sweet kid. I see this most in the amazing love you have for Liam. You a fantastic big brother. And while you guys may not always get along perfectly, you are always thinking of him, concerned for him, and (usually) happy to share with him. You guys are great friends, and you take really good care of him. It is my most favorite thing as a parent to see the love and fondness the two of you have for each other. And it’s not just with Liam that I see your kindness. There are so many ways that I get to see your awareness of others. You care about the younger kids in your class at school, you always look out for Bailey, and you always think about everyone in your family and everyone around you. You love to be in touch with your friends and family, you think about how actions or events might affect people or creatures in the world, you empathize with the characters in books and movies. You are a truly sweet kid.

This year has been a great one. We’ve travelled a lot, seen many new things and met lots of new people. I love to hear about your favorite places in the world to visit, and your favorite memories of each destination. You’ve also had a wonderful year at school, making great friends and learning so much. And this coming year, you are so excited to be one of the Vorschule Kinder! How grown up! I am so excited for you. You are starting to be able to recognize words and “read” just a little, and you’ve been working on your writing, too. Your drawings have become really neat this year — I love to see the detail and thought in the pictures you make. It is just fantastic to see what you’ve accomplished this year.

I am so grateful that I get to be your mommy. I really feel like I have the best luck of any parent in the world to get to have you in my life. I’m also glad that although you’re getting bigger, stronger, faster and smarter all the time, you’re still not too big to snuggle with. I love to give you hugs, to hold you in my lap, and to cuddle with you. No matter how grown up you get, you will always be my baby, and I will love you forever and ever and for always, no matter what. You are a truly lovely person, and a wonderful kid. You are so big and strong and smart and kind and brave and loving — wow, that’s a lot of great things!

Benjamin, I love you so much. Thanks for being my guy. Happy birthday, sweet boy.

Summer outing: Starbucks

Posted on July 16, 2013 by admin

We’ve spent 2+ weeks of being housebound with various illnesses, but today we made our first trip out of the house of our summer vacation. Destination: Starbucks.

It may not seem like the most exciting, educational or cultured of choices for an outing with the kids, but, for the first trip out in weeks, it was a good choice. The kids have wanted to get out of the house and do SOMETHING for about a week, and I’ve held off because Liam wasn’t yet quite better, and I didn’t want him to get sickER again before Benjamin’s birthday party last weekend. Also, Benjamin has gotten a stuffy nose and a cough over the last few days, so I didn’t want to push him, either. (I’d rather spend our summer inside watching movies, but give the kids the rest they need, than let my frustration about *still* being stuck inside keep me from taking care of my little guys if they need to recuperate from something.) I wanted to get out of the house, too, especially because the weather today was just so beautiful (perfect blue sky and about 75 degrees). I just needed to pick a destination.

Benjamin was actually the one with the idea. I go out (or try to) twice a week and take an hour to drink a coffee and read a book, usually at Starbucks. The boys always want to come with me, and I almost always say no (because as sweet as they are, and as much as I sincerely enjoy their company, two hours to myself every week is the minimum I need to keep my sanity). Last week, Benjamin REALLY wanted to come with me, and he suggested that “sometime soon” he could come along. When I asked if he’d mind if Liam came, too, he thought that was “even better”, so I tucked that idea away and decided to pull it out the first day with great weather that I couldn’t stand being stuck in the house any longer. And today was that day.

The boys really wanted to ride the bus, so we did. (I love hanging out with my kids. To grown ups, the bus is just transport, but to the kids, the bus is a grand adventure.) When we arrived, Liam got a lollipop, B chose a cookie and I had a coffee. I had the boys order their items themselves (Liam loved it, B was nervous, but did great) and they got to choose our table. (Another great treat for a 2 and 4 year old.) They chose a table for two, and sat across from each other, and I sat next to them. It was a very grown up adventure.

We really had a great time. It seems like such a small thing, and kind of a trivial adventure, but for three people who have barely left the house in 2 weeks, it was excellent. We even stopped at the drugstore on the way home and did a little shopping for the house. A fun and functional journey — perfect!

Over the next couple of weeks (until our big vacation at the end of July) and then, for the last few weeks of August (after our big vacation) it’s my plan and intention to go on a variety of outings with the kids. Our collective energy level will determine how adventurous we are — more trips to Starbucks, or a day at the zoo? We shall see. For today, it was GREAT to be out in the sunshine, enjoying a little bit of Vienna with my boys.

Birthday party, international style

Posted on July 15, 2013 by admin

We did it! Benjamin’s birthday party went very well on Saturday. We had 11 kids and 9 adults — 2 kids who hadn’t RSVPed (including 1 we didn’t actually invite, the older brother of an invitee . . . but if we’d known he had an older brother, we would have invited him), 1 child who said he was coming but didn’t, 1 set of twins whose parents dropped them off and left (which surprised me, but as one of my friends observed, it was 2 fewer people to entertain), 2 kids and 1 parent who spoke absolutely no English, 2 kids who barely spoke English, and 4 different nationalities represented (and no other Americans, aside from us).

It was great. The kids all seemed to have a good time, including, most importantly, the birthday boy. The whole party was Angry Birds themed, just like B wanted — cake, decorations, games, and all. I think it ended up being quite festive. I was able to visit with each of the adults a little (and thus even practice my German a bit!), and play a lot with the kids. We played games, had cake (which was beautiful, tasty and plenty big enough) and ice cream, and even opened presents. (I had planned to skip opening presents, but was persuaded to do it. I’m glad we did — it was fun for everyone.)

Mostly, I’m glad that Benjamin had a good time. It was his first time hosting his school friends at his house, and since we hadn’t hosted a play date at home in a while at all, having a house full of friends was a real treat. Liam had a great time playing with everyone, too. He also gets credit for the sweetest mistake of the party — he misheard Leonie’s name as Lambie, has been persistently asking when “Lambie” is coming back to visit again. We all had a great time, and I think we managed to be reasonably decent hosts. At the very least, we didn’t create any kind of international incident. It was a success.

Party prep

Posted on July 12, 2013 by admin

So, this is it — 24 hours from now, my house will have been full of 2-6 year olds and accompanying parents for several hours, and, probably, they’ll all already be headed home. How many will be here is still a mystery, although we have gotten 2 more “yes” RSVPs and one more “no” since last week. I checked with some Austrian friends (a grand total of 2), and they report that I shouldn’t put too much stock in the RSVPs I have or have not gotten — people who have not responded will probably show up, and it’s equally possible that people who have said they’ll be here won’t come. So, we’ll see. We could end up with 5 kids here, or we could end up with 15. I’ll know tomorrow. (Note for the next party I throw in Austria — inviting fewer people makes things much simpler.)

Right now, coming down to the wire, I feel like I should be more stressed than I am. An unknown number of people are coming to my house tomorrow. Many of them may be people I’ve never met before (parents of B’s classmates) and I may not be able to communicate with all of them. We’re crossing a lot of cultures, and I truly have no idea what kinds of expectations people might have of a 5 year old’s birthday party in Austria. (I’ve only been to one birthday party since I’ve been here.)

But I’m actually feeling ok. It will be whatever it will be, and if I break every Austrian etiquette rule, well, I’ll continue to play the “not from around here” card. Actually, recognizing how out of my element I am is incredibly liberating. It’s another one of those moments when I accept the probable imperfection of the situation, which allows me to relax and focus on what’s really important. Do we have balloons? Check. Cake? Not yet, but Austria is the land of cake, so even if something goes awry with our ordered-and-to-be-dropped-off-tomorrow cake, we’ll be able to figure something out. Will there be kids here? I think so. Do we have enough snacks and drinks? Close enough, I think. Will Benjamin have a good time? Most likely, and that’s what really matters.

We’re all really working together to make this party happen, which is making it fun just even to prepare. We spent much of last weekend getting the house ready — cleaning, mostly — so that we would have less to do today and tomorrow and might have enough energy and good cheer left to actually enjoy the party. The boys have been amazing at helping me get ready. (Really.) We’ve been working together on the decorations and the games we’re going to play: Angry Bird basketball (regular basketball, but using Angry Bird stuffed animals as the ball), Angry Bird bowling (rolling/throwing stuffed Angry Birds at paper “bowling pins” with pictures of pigs on them) and a wall of repurposed cardboard boxes, at which we’re going to throw stuffed Angry Birds, thus knocking down the blocks. The boys have done most of the “artwork” for the game supplies, and Benjamin came up with the idea we’re using to make the paper bowling pins keep their cylindrical shape. They have also been entirely in charge of deciding which toys go in the “off-limits” room — the door will stay closed and no one will be able to play with anything inside — and for actually putting them away in there. It’s been pretty amazing.

We’ve still got a fair bit to do this evening and tomorrow morning, but it’s not overwhelming. I’m pretty sure we’ll be ready in time for our first guest’s arrival (which, considering this is Austria, will probably be very prompt). In some ways, it really does feel like a lot of pressure — hosting a party for so many people, including so many that I don’t know, and having truly no idea what people will be expecting or how it’s going to go. But, really, we can do what we want. We’re the foreigners here, so whatever we do, we get to make it truly ours. We can let go of anyone else’s expectations, and do it the way we want. My greatest hope is that we allow ourselves to enjoy the day. (I hope that Benjamin has a great time, of course, but I can’t guarantee that, either — it’s hard to know what expectations might still lurk in the mind of an almost 5 year old.) We’ll see!

Stir crazy

Posted on July 11, 2013 by admin

Tomorrow will be the end of the second week of our “summer break”. We’re keeping B home from school during July and August to give us all a break from the lengthy back and forth commute to school, and to spend some fun summer time together. Of course, it hasn’t gone like that at all yet, because from the day before our first day of summer break, Liam has been sick.

When he first got sick, I was sure it was strep — actually, I was sure it was scarlet fever, because his sore throat and high fever were accompanied by an all-over rash. Turns out it was “just” a virus — he recovered from the sore throat and fever within a few days, but even though today is the 11th day of his illness, the rash has stuck around. I think we probably *could* go out and do stuff. The pediatrician assures me he is no longer contagious, but I feel like if he still has a rash that resulted from an immune reaction, then he’s probably still having the immune reaction on some level, and it probably won’t hurt anything (other than my sanity) to take a few extra quiet resting days at home. Plus, Benjamin’s birthday party is on Saturday, and I want the boys to be able to enjoy it, rather than being miserable from being sick.

So, we’ve been housebound for ALL of summer vacation so far. The weather has been beautiful (if a little warm some days), and with both kids feeling relatively well for the past week or so (not counting the rash) we’ve all been itching (pun intended) to get out of the house. But, no luck so far. Keeping the kids happy and occupied over the past couple of weeks has been a challenge. It’s like being snowed in, except that it’s tantalizingly beautiful outside. We’ve watched every movie we have about a million times, and I recently resorted to putting on TV shows that they don’t like very much, because the ones they don’t like they haven’t seen them in a while, so they’re still relatively interested in what happens. We’ve built about 1000 Lego cars, put together every puzzle we own, colored, painted, and gone out onto the terrace to blow bubbles. We’ve staged indoor basketball, soccer and football competitions, and we assemble the Matchbox cars for a daily “car party” each morning.

We’re actually having a pretty great time, considering we’re confined to the house during such a perfect time of year to be outside, but really, we all just want to go out and play.

A Mommy Abroad

Our big adventure, as a family of three.