14th July 2011. It’s been ages since my last blog. I just didn’t find the time (and probably, the inclination) to write everything up while we were away on holiday. The result however, is that this is an epic blog – so happy reading & give yourself a gold star if you make it to the very end.
Part 1: Cotton wool
Even when I lived abroad before, I always felt that a trip back home was like landing in a big mound of cotton wool. Complete comfort in the familiar. You know where you are, how to get where you’re going and where to go to get what you want. On top of that luxury, you are surrounded by people who have known you forever and have a lifetime of history shared with you. So landing in Jo’burg was just that – a cotton wool experience, it was just amazing to see our families and catch a few moments with friends.
The weather however, was not quite as kind. I’m pretty sure that we may have picked the coldest weekend of the winter to visit and we stayed at my parents’ house which is cold even on a warm day. Evan was dressed in layer upon layer of clothing including gloves and a beanie to keep warm. He was in great form though, full of beans and loving being the centre of attention with both his grannies and his grandpa in attendance.
Evan and I also got to spend a little time with friends and it was so awesome to see him reconnect with his best buddy Liam. With only 6 weeks difference in their ages, they had pretty much seen each other 3 times a week or more since birth, so really they are brothers in every way but biological. I also got to have a wonderful sushi dinner with my special schoolgirl friends – I believe I had fantastic people judgment in my teens, as more than 20 years later they are all still amazing and I couldn’t possibly have picked better friends. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see everyone we would have liked to, we couldn’t get hold of some people and some weren’t available, but that just leaves more things to do on our next visit back.
We also made some time to visit our kitties, Thandi and Billy, at Viv’s place while she was away in the US. Billy was super friendly, sitting on my lap purring up a storm and even allowing Evan to poke him from time to time. Thandi is obviously still highly upset with me – she deigned to rub herself against my legs a few times, but bolted every time I tried to give her a pat or pick her up. They are both a bit chunkier than when I left them (thanks Viv for feeding them so well) but super happy and settling into their new home well.
Then quick as that, it was time to pack our bags, jump on another plane and head off for the UK.
Part 2: A cousin, a concert and London as never before
Mark’s brother Lloyd and his daughter Kaela picked us up at Heathrow when we arrived and drove us back to their home in Milton Keynes. The last time Evan and Kaela saw each other was in August last year when Evan was just 5 months old – so it really like the first meeting of the cousins on this trip. Once Evan woke up from his post flight nap – the two of them were inseparable. They played and played and played, it was really nice to see them interact so well despite a 7 year age difference. One of the best things ever is that Kaela has a kid’s motor car, a red jeep. She drove Evan around the garden tirelessly even though her legs are way too long to comfortably drive it anymore. Lloyd offered the car to us for Evan, and we would love to have it but still haven’t figured out how to get it from the UK to Kenya without it costing the price of a new one. Any suggestions would be most welcome!
We spent the next few days just relaxing with Lloyd, Dasi & Kaela, doing a fair bit of shopping (those UK sales are really exceptional) and playing with the kids. On Friday afternoon, we headed up to Woburn Abbey to take Evan and Kaela to watch ‘In the Night Garden Live’ – a theatre styled adaptation of the CBeebies television show, which Evan loves to watch. It was excellent and although Kaela is a few years to old to really enjoy it, Evan thought it was amazing, dancing in the aisles to the songs and clapping for his hero, Iggle Piggle. Very cute indeed.
Then on Sunday afternoon we headed off to the Milton Keynes Bowl to the concert of concerts – The Foo Fighters! They played two shows in Milton Keynes, the Saturday and the Sunday that we went, both were sold out with a crowd of 65,000 people at both concerts. It was absolutely packed, and with every shape, size and type of person you could imagine – they clearly have a very diverse fan base. I hadn’t heard of any of the support bands before but one called Biffy Clyro had a huge following in the audience. The Foo’s where simply amazing. They played 3 solid hours of rock at full throttle and I loved all 180 minutes of it – what an absolute treat, I am so lucky to have been there. I have to also say a big thank you to my husband Mark who really doesn’t have any taste for rock music and who really doesn’t like the Foo Fighters much, for hanging out with me at the concert and not moaning his way through it. If you ever have the opportunity to watch them live, I would highly recommend that you do – simply great, raw entertainment.
On the Monday morning after the concert; Mark, Evan and I headed off by train to take on London. By now on our holiday, Evan had taken a plane, been in a car, taken a bus and gone by taxi, we just had the tube left to conquer once we reached London. I absolutely love London – but this was my first time with a toddler in tow – so my usual haunts of the Tate Modern, the West End and hours cruising Oxford Street were not on the agenda. We got to our hotel (just 3 minutes from the Baker Street tube station), settled ourselves in and headed off to see the city through the eyes of a 16 month old. Despite appearances, London is really child friendly (with the exception of the tube stations, which rarely ever have lifts for prams) with so much for the little ones to do. We started off at the Museum of Modern Science and headed straight to the basement which has been transformed into a sensory wonderland for littlies. Evan had a ball, especially with the water canal activity, he splashed and splashed, sent boats down the river and more. He also played with giant lego blocks and enjoyed the wall of wellies and springs. We also had a good time even though we never made it upstairs to see the more educational part of the museum …
The next day we headed off to Hamley’s and it’s 5 floors of toys. Evan is still a little young to understand the magnitude of it all, but he had a good enough time checking out the toys and watching all the demonstrations. We bought him an Iggle Piggle toy (from ‘In the Night Garden’) at the store, because no child should go to Hamley’s and not come out with something special for themselves. Mark and I enjoyed the store too, that many toys will bring out the kid in anyone! After Hamley’s, Evan had to endure a couple of hours with us traipsing up Oxford Street, but soon we had our picnic lunch bought and we headed for Kensington Gardens. With the fabulous summery weather on our side, we sat on the grass and had lunch before making our way to the Princess Diana memorial playground. Another highly recommended spot if you’re in London with young ones, the playground is beautifully maintained with a large pirate ship at the centre and plenty of sand, grass and other toys to enjoy too. Evan soon found the water section and was sopping within minutes, but happy as can be nonetheless.
We also took a ferry down the Thames to see London from the water, embarking at Westminster and floating all the way down to the Tower of London before returning to Westminster. Evan had a snooze through most of the boat trip, but Mark and I enjoyed seeing all the sights again, as once you’ve seen Big Ben and the Tower etc., you hardly ever go back to see them on subsequent trips, so it was great to see it all again. The ferry is reasonably priced and very relaxing too.
With sights seen and some shopping done, we made our way back to Milton Keynes for our last few days in the UK and to celebrate Lloyd’s birthday with him, a rarity for any of the three brothers as they all live on different continents. Then we started our shopping in earnest, making our way around the MK Centre with true purpose. We all got new clothes and shoes, some DVDs and more. Packing up was quite a job – luckily Mark is very good at it – as we put all our purchases plus the awesome gifts that Evan received from the family into our cases, weighing in at almost 70kg by the time we checked in! Luckily we weren’t asked to pay any additional baggage fees. Then we were on the plane again for the long haul flight back to Jo’burg.
Part 3: Over and out
We had less than 24 hours in Jo’burg on our way back home to Nairobi. Just enough time to celebrate Mark’s mum’s birthday with her (a few days late) and enjoy her delicious prawn curry and chicken for lunch. Then off to visit our friends, the Utermöhlens, who just had a brand new baby girl. It was lovely to hold a newborn (2 weeks old) again and Madison Gin is a beauty – congrats guys!
Louise kindly let us use her home as our hotel for the night while she was away and we were in bed and wrapped up warmly soon after we got in that evening as we had to make an early morning run to the airport for our fight to Kenya.
Part 4: Home sweet home
Well perhaps not quite as our house still needs our furniture and bits before it will really become home, but we made it back to Nairobi with our luggage and sanity intact. It was fantastic to see Percy, who I always miss terribly when we’re away, and of course he was doubly delighted to have us back.
Our container is in the country, so hold thumbs that by the end of next week, we’ll have taken delivery of it and unpacked and sorted out the bulk of our stuff. I can’t wait to settle in properly now – just need my car, which as of now, still has no ETA … but I am hoping it won’t be too much longer.
So after a wonderful family holiday it is back to life as usual and I am determined to make it a good one.
Catch up soon with more news from Nairobi xxx.
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