jul, 17th - just keep on driving....

day 155:

shoowee, a long drive is tough on babies. strapped into a car-seat in a warm, crammed car.....our drive back from Cornwall made me feel guilty for the full 6 hours....next time i'm taking a train/ boat/ plane...anything that allows her a bit of freedom of movement. i mean, when we were small, we were lying on the back rear-window platform...or when we were really small, we were in baskets at our mum's feet or stretched across her lap. (which doesn't make it right but definitely wins if they're handing out high-risk-high-comfort badges.)

on the way down...we managed to break up the journey with a cricket match (see day 148) in-between and left the last 2.5 hours for night-time when she was happy to sleep. but, on the way home, we were just keen to get back. so, except for changing, feeding and rolling on a rug on a tiny patch of grass we found on the edge of a parking-lot (oh the glamour)...we just kept on trucking.

i highly DON'T recommend it!

we did ALOT of singing and even tried row, row, row your boat as a round WITH actions.

i was just happy to get home, pluck her from that seat and let her roll with abandon!
i've made a solemn promise that she won't be subjected to the car-seat for at least three days.

jul, 9th - packing....

day 147:

[Mousehole...our Cornish destination]

soooo, after our two overseas flying escapes (day 84 and day 102), next week we are off on our first driving holiday (we’re cramming them in before i have to go back to work!). we’re off for a week to Cornwall for A.’s annual cricket tour. Limi’s Nanna and Grandpa Bill are over from Australia and Stav is also joining us for a week of cricket pitches with sea views, postcard harbours, lots of dairy products (Cornwall is famous for its’ clotted cream, butter, clotted cream ice-cream….you get the theme here) , fantastic galleries and of course plenty of fresh fish and sea air.

although, we’re not constrained by the airline weight allowance this time around, we are fairly constrained by car space …so this is my driving-holiday-survival-list:

1.     car with a sizeable boot (obvious…yes!…but do we have one…no! after many years of just the two of us in the city with our only requirement, being a car big enough to fit a cricket bag in…we’re having to seriously reconsider zooting vs practical)

2.     packing in zones (read: separate bags that can be layered according to importance): bathing, feeding, sleeping, clothing…..so that when you get to your destination late at night, you’re not digging through the boot or bag to find the travel-cot sheet…. was that us in Greece…um…yes!

3.     a trip bag (which is a pimped-nappy-bag) – along with the essentials, include a sleep-suit so that at bedtime you can dress them in their sleeping gear and then it’s an easy transfer from the car to the cot

4.    and finally these bits and pieces in no particular order:

·      nail scissors/clippers (unless it’s just limi who’s nails seem to grow at scratch-lighting-speed….)

·      thermometer (only because it’s such a pain to be on holiday wondering if it’s actually a temperature or just a weather change)

·      a couple of emergency ready made formula cartons

·      the bedtime routine essentials – soundtrack, rubber-ducks and her giraffe waterholes

p.s. i'm hoping that all the extra hands will mean plenty of lie-ins and book reading...whoohoo!

jul, 4th - max love for the mini....

day 142:

My nephew and niece are obsessed with Mini Coopers. We once spent a Summer in London counting Mini Coopers (reached 156 in 4 days....and A. and I were still spotting them weeks later....and screaming MINI COOPER! as one drove past.)

so...continuing on with my favourite-aunt-bribery tactic, we hired a Mini Cabrio for the weekend (from here).

and luckily the weather heard my begging as I hit the 'hired button' and put on a brilliant Summer display so that we could put the roof down and zoot through the London streets.

ps. sadly there was no room for Limi so she was stuck in the carseat in our VW