A New Home!

Finally, I have set up a new blog here

www.beautysglance.wordpress.com

Feel free to come and visit and if you do, don't forget to let me know!

Look forward to seeing you there...

Sports Day

We visited the beautiful Highgate Woods for our Sports Day and unlike the non-stop rain of Bertie's Sports Day one week ago, we had lovely sunny weather. Phew!

LissaLou proved that she is her father's daughter by winning the run as fast as you can to the other end of the track (100m sprint perhaps?) - here is her victory photo!

During the filming of the above race, CassCass managed to attack 6 biscuits brought back from France the previous day be Bertie! Not surprisingly she didn't manage any lunch...
The other two races were the egg and spoon (which became pan and ball for nursery!) and the sack race (so funny to watch! but this became bouncing along for the littlest ones)
LissaLou lost her hat in the first race and came near the end, but went very steadily on this bouncing one to come third or fourth. Good for her!
Mum joined us for the picnic lunch after the racing - neither of us were brave enough to go in for the Parents' race (Bertie will have to attend next time!)
LissaLou and her BF at nursery Afterwards the entire school descended on the playpark - my sincere sympathies for any mums enjoying the tranquility beforehand! Baby JoJo got his first swing in the special baby swings, and had a great time with LissaLou pushing him.

Can't Get Too Much Of A Good Thing

Well, that definitely applies to Kenwood! Not content with being there on Saturday night, we took the loudspeaker at their word when they implored "Come again soon" and were there again the following day, for our leaving picnic. Much to my delight, BBC 5 day forecast actually got this one right and it was a beautifully sunny day. It was great to have so many people come, both from our church and friends from elsewhere - thanks to you all for making the effort!

There was plenty going on - eating, chilling, chatting, catching up, reading, climbing trees, tap dancing, decorating gingerbread men, getting covered in chocolate ice cream, playing football and frisbee, sleeping - so I had to take plenty of photos! I'll let them do the talking!

And saving the best till last...

The Best Way To Enjoy Music...

...is most definitely in the outdoors, with a blue sky overhead, surrounded by trees gently waving in the wind, in the most excellent company of my three main men. Yes, this weekend saw me, Dad, my brother and Bertie at Kenwood for the Classical Prom. What a great night! Any concert where you can eat, drink, laugh, chat, film and do more or less what you please rates highly in my book!
We watched the weather with anxious anticipation all week and were delighted to see that once again BBC 5 day forecast could be relied on to get it wrong - no light showers, just a fine evening.

The highlights:

The music (well of course!)
MJM trying out the contents of the freebie bag – poncho and fan (fortunately neither were required!)
A rather tasty picnic (prepared by yours truly)
Baby JoJo sleeping peacefully through the first half, then bopping through the second
Being able to walk home
Very pleasant free cider
A lady with huge feathers on her head (happily not sitting in front of us)

Thanks to Mum for babysitting and I look forward to listening to the CD Dad got in Guadeloupe when I am feeling homesick for the Heath...

Back At The Pool

We are working very hard at preparing for life in the West Indies - hence another visit to the azure warm waters of the Heath! LissaLou and her BF had a great time running around in the ice-cold water, whilst CassCass for some reason stripped off her swimsuit and put on her dress to wade around instead. Why? I have no idea. She was soaking by the end, so we changed her, only to get caught in a ferocious rainstorm on the way home and end up soaking all over again!

The thing that strikes me most in this photo is how long the girls' hair looks!

Is it just me, or does this remind you of a scene out of Baywatch?
Keeping Baby JoJo company
Praying?
Nope, practising pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake!
Can anyone tell me what I did to the camera to get this ethereal shot?!
And for a wonderful new talent that CassCass has acquired, have a look here!

Nos Recentes Perigrinations

Isn't that a groovy word? Bertie taught me it this week and I have been dying to use it somewhere! I'll leave you to find out what it means!

After 7 years in our flat, many of our things have been falling apart. Bertie kindly repaired the chest of drawers for us and the girls were quick to profit from this new empty space in our flat!
Baby JoJo keeps working on his neck strength
I have been enjoying listening to Wimbledon on Radio 5 - and endless debates with Bertie as to whether Nadal or Federer will be this year's champion. Federer, no question!
Strawberries...ummm! There aren't any in Guadeloupe so we are eating as many as we can before we go!

Our recent discovery is BBC iPlayer - and Bertie has got us into Doctor Who, just in time for the end of the series! Exciting, if somewhat bizarre, stuff...

Fun At The Pool

Aren't these two so cute? CassCass took a while to get changed and only stayed in the pool a few minutes, but long enough for some photos of her in her very girly cozzie and her little friend who I am sure looks just like Baby JoJo will in a few years time!

Baby JoJo enjoyed a few minutes up front in the buggy
Whilst CassCass preferred the swings to the pool by far!

26 Stops And Back

Friday saw us heading off to Heathrow to see Evie during a stopover as she travelled Hawaii - Chicago - London - Johannesburg. Wow, I'm tired just writing it! Mum and LissaLou went early to meet her off the plane, but their plans were foiled by United Airlines losing one of her bags. When she was finally let out, an impromptu shopping trip was necessary!

Dad and I had the pleasure of bringing CassCass and Baby JoJo the 26 stops on the Piccadilly Line and once we had mastered the lift system from the tube to the airport, and worked out where exactly all the rest of the family was, twas a very pleasant family reunion. Okay, so Evie was exhausted from 2 previous flights, LissaLou was exhausted from getting up so early, CassCass was exhausted from no afternoon nap...! (If you want to know just how tired Evie was - we didn't see her camera out once!)



We annexed four seats, settled ourselves there (to the amused looks of passers-by) and spent a couple of hours chatting, eating, and shouting "Girls! Get back here!" We survived the 26 stops back, then got the bus home - the highlight of which was someone letting off a stink bomb on it! How nice to be home again, and to have tea waiting on the table (thanks honey!).

Here is Tatie Evie being reacquainted with her growing nephew
Our Most Organised Mum came equipped with crunchy nut cornflakes for a late breakfast...

...and lentil bake for lunch!But nothing could rival Granpa's packet of crisps, for which the girls came a-begging
Then it was time for afternoon naps - no bed? No problem!
CassCass finally gave Tatie a hug - when she wanted a bit of hair!For some more photos, visit Mum's site here.

London Zoo

People ask how I manage with three small kids and I say it is usually ok...as long as I keep my expectations low for what I can get done. And I mean very low! I would add to that, as long as I don't have to get anywhere important by a specific time! This morning we had to be at LissaLou's nursery by 9.30am with all our packed lunches etc ready for our day out at the zoo, and it was nothing short of a miracle that we were there on time. With more or less everything we needed. If you don't count CassCass telling me at the bottom of the outside stairs (where there is no going back!) that she didn't have any knickers on...!

With LissaLou waiting for her nursery coach, we dashed along to the bus stop and waited...and waited...and waited... As typical of London buses, we saw many go by without space for us to squeeze in and I began to lose hope that we would be there on time, so I did a very exceptional thing and waved down a taxi! Normally we wouldn't consider such a frivolity, but it was great fun and CassCass was delighted to sit next to me with her seatbelt and survey the world from this new perspective! The great thing with black cabs is that they fit even the largest buggies in with no need to fold. Bliss!

CassCass enjoying taxi life

When we had all finally arrived at the zoo, we wandered around and enjoyed the animals. The giraffes and gorillas were particular favourites - there was a mother with her new baby, very cute! We marvelled at the messiness of the camels (the sign next to them said "Bad hair day"! apparently they shed their hair in spring). It was fun to see some animals mentioned in one of our current favourite books, Happy I'm A Hippo - meerkats and warthogs. The girls were pleased to see the lions, though they were pretty inactive (and the daddy lion was called Lucifer as his lion number is 666 - hmm). I stayed clear of the snakes etc - shudder - but we all loved the butterfly house and marvelled at moths that are born with no mouth as they just live a few days and live entirely from the food supplies they were born with. The monkeys were great too, especially the ones that use their tail as a fifth arm - so agile! The otters can be seen both above and below water and there was so many of them rolling around on one another.

Above - gorilla, girls, warthog, okapi
zebra, giraffes, meerkat
otters, penguins, butterflies, pelicans
heron, flamingoes, camel
and finally, we didn't see any crocodiles, so we had to make do with the one on Baby JoJo's top!


But the highlight of the day was...THE BOUNCY CASTLE!!! Sigh! Which, I hasten to add, cost £1 per 5 minutes! I will get on my high horse about these places which add in such features at a high cost and in very obvious places, making it very hard for poor parents to resist all the nagging that ensues...If you must put them in (and I don't see why, as the point of going is to see the animals), either include them in the price or hide them away somewhere, please!



In the end (and due to an empty purse) we gave LissaLou the choice of an ice cream or a go on the bouncy castle. She went for the later (waiting 10 minutes for the pleasure!) and on getting off immediately requested the ice cream because she was hot! Needless to say, she was offered water! CassCass was a bit subdued all day and just went with the ice lolly, spending most the day in the buggy. She made it out to play in the playpark though!
Our overall conclusion was that it was a pleasant day out - free for LissaLou and reduced for us as we were with the school - but it was just too overwhelming for the girls. LissaLou complained that there was too much to see. It would also have been nice for them to have had more hands on activities with the animals. I wouldn't recommend taking little children for the full price of some £50 for a family!

Picnicking With The Brethren

This delightful little boy was one (already!) today, so we celebrated with a picnic after church in the local park

Food, fellowship and football were plentifulAdmittedly, we women didn't go anywhere near the football (or tennis or rugby or frisbee...) we just sat and chatted and kept an eye on...
...these lovely girls as they had a good run around! Getting them to stand still for this photo was no easy task!LissaLou is blessed at church with two friends who were born within two months of her. CassCass still misses her special friend Caitlyn, who celebrated two years this week in New Zealand - HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAITLYN! However, she enjoyed running after the big girls and did a good job of keeping up with them!

Father's Day Fun

To honour this special person on this special day, we popped into see Dad on the way home from our church picnic. We got to enjoy the marvellous garden - the girls particularly loved the swing, ball pit and log cabin that the upstairs neighbour has installed for her daughter.

Dad bonded with his youngest grandchild
The beautiful Giulietta arrived at the end to show off her new John Rocha (no less!) dress...We had been intending to carry on our Mother's/Father's Day tradition of some patisseries at our preferred cafe on the way to church but Bertie gallantly spent his Father's Day morning preparing quiche and rolls for our church picnic so we delayed it till this morning. Armed with our vouchers for a free breakfast at Cafe Rouge (you can get them on Bonne Maman jam jars! Thanks to Eline for sending hers over to us!) we headed up to Highgate this morning...only to be told no availability. Hmph! However, no need to worry, we just picked up some patisseries and cherries in the local shop and had a lovely picnic in our local park instead!

Papa and his children (Papa et timoun-ay - I am practising my creole for our trip!)
We took LissaLou out of school for the day to enjoy her company - but by the end of the day and a LOT of non-stop chatter (now who does that remind me of?), I could see the advantage of her being at school...Oh, and she wanted me to write how beautiful she looks here!
CassCass in cousin Valerie's old dress (merci France-lise!)
Baby JoJo is now much more alert when we go out and will lie happily in our Phil and Ted buggy looking at the sky and his octopus - here is the view I have of him when I push the buggy!