blondefish.blogspot.com: October 2019

Black Night #Halloween

The Brits REALLY go to town for Halloween. We only just went around the block (boom boom), but the place was hoaching and the kids had filled up a bucket from our and Oma's neighbours in no time. On the one hand, I've never been much of a Halloween fan. On the other, there was a real sense of community out on the streets!

Before we got dressed up in thermals:

The highlight of the night was Small Fry being covered in real blood when his tooth 'fell' out. Very appropriate.

Our end of town is a bit quieter so we didn't get too many visitors. More for me!

Some like it hot #ontheroadagain

It's -1, but smart mummy searched out the ski suits and we are now fully equipped to go to Baby Gym on the bikes (as long as that sun stay super strong!)

Roba Corazon #stealingmyheart

Now that my work hours have drastically reduced, I get to spend a bit more time with this lovely lady.

A perfect day #lowsusgarsweets!!!

A rose that blooms #Thalia

Obviously 3 months until Christmas is waaaaay too long to wait to meet a new niece, and as it was still the hols for the Boyd Bairns and I have, well, El Puma and Oma, we decided to make a girls' trip out of it and head down south for 2 nights.

A girls' trip! (see below) Gettit? Although I haven't seen many yoga poses on escalators at St Pancras' I must say.

Newborns are so delightful. Especially when it's not yours so you know you'll be getting a better night's sleep than its parents.

Future babysitters:

And we topped off a wonderful day with the new niece and new parents by stopping past Platform 9 3/4 on our way through Kings Cross. Not.

Before we knew it, we had another full day to spend on a train. All I can say is, let's do it again, SOON!

And the same day was Mamita's 102nd birthday; well worth a blog mention. Happy Birthday!

Freedom #nevergoingbackagain

I have been made redundant and today was the final day of work at IPNLF for me.

Yeah...I'm not crying.

Don't stop the music #BigNoise

I'm not being rude, it's actually called Big Noise, and parents got to attend the Year 1 Orchestra where Fingerling is learning the cello. Ok ok it was a Big Noise. But an exceedingly fun one too.

Knocking' on heaven's door #3

Still one of my favourite photos of my dad and I:

I am still so very sorry that my kiddies won't get to know their grandpa - I know he would have adored them.

I haven't been back to his grave in a couple of years, so it was a nice moment to be able to go on the third anniversary of his death to plant a tree and lay some flowers.

In fact, it's always a treat to visit the cemetery as it's such a beautiful journey and a wonderful part of the world, especially in Autumn.

We're all smiles (almost all) because although it was great to honour him, it also reminded me that he's not really there. I was able to celebrate Life with a lot of the most important people in mine.

Hot fun in the Autumn time #Octoberbreak

I'm not a believer in reinventing the wheel.

And neither in repeating blog posts.

So if you want to know what we got up to these holidays, check out Life in Prison, why I got time to work on job applications in the mornings Crazy Kids, how you can get a strike and still lose How we Roll, and the best way to get blisters New Balance.

So here are just some extra photos not featured elsewhere.

The holidays started pretty much as they carried on, with a bit of nature, a bit of wine, and a lot of good company. We drove to Edinburgh on Saturday morning to climb Arthur's Seat, a lovely little walk with stunning view of Edinburgh...and with about 1,000 other people. Honestly, I don't remember it being quite so busy. It was like a motorway. Still.worth.it cos it's gorgeous up there, if a little windy, which was a bit of a theme of the holidays.

And then lunch with my old school friend Sandy and his wife. El Puma was too busy drinking wine to take pictures and I was too busy having to refuse the wine as designated driver. Also.worth.it.

Before we got us some cousin loving, we went for a few days to Oban, last featuring in our travels on our way back from the Outer Hebrides post-honeymoon. Absolutely stunning weather featured for a second time...as did the drive between Stirling and Oban...and again...yup, I had to keep teaching my seminars at the Uni so that was a nice little 4-hour round trip on the Monday.

Still, the remote location was totally worth it.

Being on the coast, we decided to spend the day I wasn't driving back and forth to Stirling exploring the island of Mull, just a 40 minute ferry ride from Oban. The ferry had no more car space so we went as foot passengers...luckily, as in the end Fingerling got sick and we had the flexibility to turn around and come back on the next ferry...a great opportunity for more photos I say.