The holiday in a snapshot

This holiday has been all about lazying about. I had my running shoes with me (running clothes are always in my drawer here in Elorrio), I had a hiking jacket in my bag and planned this holiday to be a kick of back into health. Not really succeeded there. Not that I have been drunk by lunchtime every day, but spent my days sleeping in and doing next to nothing. When Little H has woken up either early in the morning or during the night Amama Socco has been only too eager to check on her and lull her back to sleep. So most time with Little H has been quality time at a decent hour.

I have bought knitting wool and started on a scarf, a bit alarmed about the instructions saying: “knit till the length of the scarf is 84 cm before changing to pattern number two”. How long does a scarf need to be?

The weather has gone from one extreme to the other. We went to the beach the other day, while two days after we were walking around in poring rain wearing three layers. 

It’s been rather unpredictable and not easy to plan excursions. But we have made two proper ones. One to the beach in lovely summer weather and an other to an indoor aquarium to keep out of the wind and rain.

Little H loves the beach, the water and all animals so both trips were custom made to fit the little Dolphin’s demands. Look at the photos and decide for yourself…. 

Hanna gone fishing

Dancing in the rain

Laughing of the rain 

Splash splash

Getting wet

Travel Trouble

The last time we flew with little H was in December last year. She was then a little baby and behaved relatively good. Now she’s a toddler with plenty of personality, a loud voice, ants in her pants and a strong will.

I was looking forward to two weeks in sunny Spain, but rather nervous about the travel to get there. On the drive to the airport we had a little disco dancing H in the backseat. No sleeping, although it was at 5 am. The only person sleeping in that car was me.

Checking in late, rushing to the gate, no morning coffee, no magazines, but a new perfume in the duty free (Lola, Marc Jacobs) a lip-balm (Dior Addict Lip Glow) and an eye-shadow. All necessities of course.

The boarding went well, Little H found a dog to pet (!?!)(Flying to Brussels?), and all was calm and cuddly. In our seats we bribed her with grapes and yoghurt, and Pappa Kas managed to get her to sleep the last 20 minutes of our two hour flight. While awake she wandered around the isle, tried to grab an old lady’s silver pink hair, flirting with the people around, well- being H. We got no nasty looks from fellow passengers, so I concluded that the first half of our journey a successful one.

We had to run to catch the next flight, and started already then doubting whether our luggage would move as quickly as we did over to the next plane(fear confirmed btw).

Next flight was more or less the same as the first, except that Little Miss Loud did not sleep a minute. We ate our packed lunch of omelette and fruit salad. Flying low-cost (of course) with Brussels Airlines, and no food on board, might as well, as airplane catering is not my first choice of a holiday meal. Little Miss Charming continued with her shenanigans, but with Pocoyo on the Ipad and more grapes we managed this flight pretty well as well.

Journey over. Amama Socco and Aixite Sebas waited for us at the airport and at the moment little H saw them she ran towards them with open arms. I do not know who was happier. Us having babysitters, H having someone who would spoil her for two weeks, or the grandparents who were going to do the spoiling.

Any tips for getting Little H to sit still on the journey back? 

Lady B- the busy bee

No blogs for a while, I haven’t forgotten nor ignored it, just been too busy with work, domestic chores and spending time with some long neglected friends. 

Writing this from rainy Spain, as apparently we took the stormy Norwegian weather with us when we flew to Bilbao yesterday, It seems like it is autumn even in Spain.

So what’s been going on since I’ve been so busy?

Not much really.

I have seen a couple of films at the cinema. Tree of life – which I heard on the grapewine that had gotten good reviews, but ended up wasting more than two hours on bursting volcanoes and close ups of the Milky way. Little dialogue made me glimpse a possibly good story. The actors were good ( Pitt and Penn), the soundtrack not bad either, but the time spent watching were two hours of my precious time. I would rather have watched the view from my living room window than this film. But that’s just my opinion.

I have also seen Oslo 31^st of August, which was brilliant. It follows a previously drug addict through 24 hours, showing how he is struggling to find meaning in living. He visits some friends, sits at a cafe and listens to chit-chat, goes to a party and nothing gives him any reason to live on. It is a film who has made a long lasting impression on me, and is the best film I have seen in a long time. It also uses Oslo almost as acharacter in the film, which I really liked. 

I have been to a party. Upon getting there I got lost and arrived after 9 pm. I had a really good time, nice people, a good tapas buffet, fantastic chocolate cake and great Spanish wine. Sadly I had to leave around midnight. So three hours of “partying” – wow! It was fun three hours though and entirely my fault that I got lost on the way.

We have also celebrated Pappa Kas’ birthday. Little H got him a game for his Wii as his wife would never have gotten him such a silly thing. I got him a boring, but very nice jacket and an equally conservative t-shirt- still nice. I did make a rather delicious cheesecake and he got sweet cinnamon buns. He also got to pick the dinner of his choice, pasta Carbonara, so I guess his day was nice and birthday-ish. He even got to borrow Little H´s crown. 

 We have had some nice walks in fine autumn weather. Crisp air, brown leaves and red cheeks,  then home to hot chocolate and waffles. That’s autumn and I love it. 

What have you been up to lately?