Hookers, Hippies and Halloween

The past month has seen the departure of (Bebbe) Rhona and the arrival of (Booba) Sally and (Zaida) Mikki. During Booba and Zaida's month we headed abroad, first to sunny Barcelona were we shared an authentic but grotty city apartment. We experienced our fair share of Gaudi, visiting Parc Guell, La Pedrera and Sagrada Familia. We took the obligatory stroll down the disappointingly touristy (and somewhat feral) La Rambla and wandered through Barri Gotic and El Raval. The cable car ride (or 'fly box' as Noah called them) to the top of Montjuic enabled us to enjoy the beautiful gardens and amazing views over Barcelona. Our highlight was an evening at the local tapas bar (without kids!) where we were the only foreigners and had to point to the various tapas behind the bar - all washed down with the biggest gin and tonic and bucket of beer ever seen!





































From 30 degrees in Spain to 15 degrees in Holland..... next stop was Amsterdam where we all stayed with a friend of Sally and Mikki's, Benny. Thanks to Benny we were able to sample some authentic - delicious, carb rich and calorie laden - Dutch cuisine (see photo of Ethan woofing down the herring!) We enjoyed wandering the streets (and trying to pronounce their names), along the canals and the kids made it their mission to have a photograph with each of the hundreds of elephants scattered throughout the city. Ann Frank's house was an educational experience, as too was the red light district but obviously for very different reasons (see photo of Meaghan and Sally 'window shopping'). Thankfully Noah was able to reassure us that the ladies were just there to 'advertise bras and undies'.




































Back in Oxford we played tour guides to Sally and Mikki visiting places such as London, Cambridge, Bath and the Cotswolds. They chose a good time to leave as 'British summer time' (did we have a summer??) has just ended (meaning it's dark by 5pm) and the weather has turned cold and wet as we prepare for winter.










We headed up to Woodstock (the UK version) last week to celebrate our friend, Marie's 40th b'day and 10 year wedding anniversary. Given that it was also the 40th anniversary of Woodstock (the Woodstock), the theme was 'hippie' which made for a good laugh (see Meaghan 'party like it's 1969').













And finally the day Noah has been counting down for the last 90 + sleeps - Halloween. Halloween is huge in the UK. We were required to 'decorate' the house with ghosts and spiders and had to make our own jack-o-lantern. Noah dressed up as Ben 10 for nursery and then donned his 'scream' mask to go trick or treating with his friends.




























Incredibly, it's already November and our attention has turned to preparing for our homeward journey. Just over 2 months to go......

Pizza, Pasta and Claudia

We've just returned from a fantastic fortnight in Italy together with Rhona. We started with 3 days in Venice which was just spectacular (pic 1). The Jewish ghetto was a highlight as was taking a ride on a vaporetto along the Grand Canal. Travelling with kids brings its own challenges, not least chasing Ethan who made it his mission to climb every bridge in Venice (and there are lots) and chase every pigeon in St Mark's square (if you thought there were a lot of bridges....) (pic 2). Ethan finally started walking just before we left for Italy. Of course he only did so the day before he was due to see the GP to find out why he wasn't walking - typical.

Next stop was a week in Tuscany - we stayed in a magnificent Tuscan villa on a vineyard in Montale, about 45 minutes from Florence. We hired a car and after mastering the art of cruising at 130kph on the autostrade on the wrong side of the road in our rented Mercedes, we enjoyed visiting a different city each day. We spent time in Florence (Pic 3 - on Ponte Vecchio), Pisa (pic 4 - the obligatory 'holding up the tower' photo), Siena (pic 5 - Pizza in the Piazza), Lucca, Viareggio (pic 6), San Gimignano and Pistoia, each with something different to offer. Evenings were spent in the swimming pool overlooking the vineyards (pic 7) and enjoying the sunset overlooking the nearby towns. We took the opportunity to harvest some of the grapes (pics 8 and 9) and Noah particularly enjoyed sampling a drop of the finished product at the wine tasting evening.

Our last 3 days were spent with Claudia Schiffer in Rome - well not exactly, but she did happen to visit the Trevi fountain for a quick photo shoot while we were there - Meaghan managed to get up close and personal, paparazzi style and took some great photos (pic 10). We visited the Colosseum (pic 11), Roman Forum, Vatican City, a whole lot of piazzas and fountains and even squeezed in a bit of shopping. We do have one confession to make. After 2 weeks of eating nothing other than pizza, pasta and gelati (a real challenge for gluten intolerant Rhona), we were desperate for a change and after 4 and a half years, we finally introduced Noah to McDonald's (never had a tastier Big Mac). Ethan made short work of the McHappy Meal (pic 12) and we're sorry to say the kids are hooked.

Sadly we had to say arrivederci to Italia and we are now back in Oxford where winter is fast approaching.... it's already freezing! Rhona is already packed (a week before she is due to leave....is she trying to tell us something??) and we are looking forward to welcoming Sally and Mikki in a fortnight's time.
Shana Tova from the Lusts in Oxford xxxx

Magnifico Menorca

While England has endured another wet and soggy July, we have spent the last week in magnificent Menorca, sister island to Majorca off the coast of Spain. We stayed in a nice resort in Arenal D'en Castell, on the northern coast, overlooking the superb beach. In complete contrast to England, the weather was beautiful, 30 degrees every day and not a cloud to be seen. The kids had the times of their lives and we couldn't get them off the beach or out of one of the 4 hotel swimming pools. We went 'all inclusive' so had access to an endless supply of meals, snacks and drinks (including alcohol) and we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of food. There was constant entertainment for young and old and the kids' 'minidisco' every evening was a huge hit - the German song 'das rote pferd' about a red horse sent the crowd into a frenzy (see video at bottom). We had tribute bands playing ABBA, The Temptations, The Four Tops and Take That. There were acrobats, Brazilian dancers and even performing parrotts. Enough to keep the kids and adults occuppied until 11pm every night. The only draw back about the trip was our appalling hotel room. Reminisant of school camp - long, dark, narrow corridors along concrete floors leading to hundreds of identical dorm rooms. Each room (dorm) - no bigger than a shoe box - had a couple of stretcher type "beds" (careful not to sneeze or the bed will collapse) and a basic utalitarian bathroom (no bigger than a matchbox) - Club Med it wasn't! Rumour has it that the Brits were put up in these type of rooms (appropiatly called, "Block B") while the Italians, Germans and Spanish were in the slightly more upmarket, "Block A". This didn't stop us having a great time though. We met a lovely English family from Derbyshire who were besotted with Ethan - their three kids (Thomas, 13, Tanya 11 and Todd, 8) fussed over Ethan, fed, carried him, played with him and chased him all over the resort. They were great with Noah too. We look forward to meeting up with them again in England.
Back to the grind now with Mark working the next 2 weekends. It's school holidays so Meaghan has both boys at home for the next few weeks - HELP!!

More Than Half Way

We're past the half way point and well and truly into the English 'summer'. In fact we had to endure a 'heatwave' earlier this month when we had a week in the high 20s and the temperature soared past 30 degrees. If you thought the Poms complained about the cold, wait till they get started about the oppressive heat. Mind you, there is no such thing as air-conditioning so it did get mildly uncomfortable for a day or two. Even the hospital isn't air-conditioned so each patient had their own fan by the bedside. Unfortunately, the sun was short-lived and last weekend was back to reality - 17 degrees and rain. Not sure how the rain missed Lords where the Aussie cricket team needed it. It's no fun being an Aussie in England when their cricket team wins an Ashes test. And didn't the media jump on the bandwagon, going from bagging their incompetent team a week ago to worshipping their heroes.

The last month has been a social one for us. We were thrilled to catch up with Rob and Cheryl (Mark's brother's future in-laws) who visited from Australia en route to their European tour (photo 1 below). We've been to dinner parties and lunches, and hosted the odd lunch ourselves. Photo 2 is at our place with the Baileys and Lubels, some fellow Antipodean friends and work colleagues. We attended the annual summer lunch at Marks bosses' 'manor', "Knights Spill" in the Costwolds, just outside of Oxford (photo 3). We thoroughly enjoyed this very traditional English garden party - complete with homemade chicken and leek pie and trifle for 'pudding'.
We've also been enjoying the company of our neighbours and friends, Marie and Raj and their two daughters Nitya and Namita who have paired up nicely with Noah and Ethan (their joint baths at night before we all have dinner together in Marie and Rajs' garden - are very cute!). We had a picnic on the banks of the canal near our house, accompanied by the cows and horses that graze freely in the meadow (Photos 4 and 5). We also made an attempt at berry picking before being washed out by the rain (photo 6). Nicest of all though are the beer gardens where it's great to soak up a bit of rare sun on the lawn with a pint of lager and a bag of crisps.

The school year is drawing to a close before "The Summer" and Noah has really enjoyed the end of school festivities at his nursery. The Aussie fairy bread went down a treat next to the sushi, Korean sweets, strawberries & cream and Brazilian chocolates at "International Day" and even Meaghan had to partake in the parent's race at "Sports Day". Thank goodness Noah didn't inherit his mothers' sports prowess - see photo of him winning a race and being presented with his medal. Meanwhile, Ethan continues to eat, drink and grow bigger (photos 9, 10). He really needs to start walking soon as he's getting way too heavy to carry.

Craving some real sun and sea we are off to Menorca (one of the Balearic islands off the coast of Spain) for a resort holiday this Saturday for one week. - Can't wait. Even the almost certain prospect of lobster red holidaying Poms can't put us off! 'til then, ole!