Cambridge I

For the last couple of weeks it has been Bluet's half term holiday. Last weekend I took her and Ilona to Cambridge while Emily was in Boston on a business trip. It was a busy few days.....


On Friday we headed to Zurich airport nice and early in the morning. Here the kids are enjoying breakfast


The flight was uneventful, and we got through security and collected our bags in record time (~15 minutes after disembarking), allowing us to catch a bus from Luton to Cambridge 2 hours earlier than expected. Thus it felt like we had an extra day of holiday.
here we are at Gran Helen's house, elegantly eating soup



And then in the afternoon we had time to go for a walk across Cambridge, taking time to stop and look for conkers along the way

To the post office!




Next: Our Cambridge visitors

It's Christmas!

Who is this cool, crazy kid?




This weekend we put up our Xmas tree, which was fun for all the family, as you can see. Bluet and Ilona have been merrily making more paper decorations all week. On Sunday we went to the airport to do our Xmas shopping, as the airport and the train station are the only places in Zurich allowed to be open to buy stuff on Sundays, which is a little bit crazy........

Christmas shopping at the all night garage

Those kids are awfully quiet. Do you think we should go see what they are up to?
Maybe, in a minute

A Stone circle

Hello, I hope you are still there. Sorry, we've been in the UK for the last week, hence no blogs. Anyway, we set off last Wednesday from Zurich airport - Ilona loved the shiny floors and luggage trolleys, whilst Bluet was very entertained by the moving walkways. In fact, Bluet is very excited in general by flying, which is great, and even carries her own luggage. We flew Swiss air, which was nice as they gave us free Ice Cream and chocolate, and a stuffed aeroplane that has become one of Bluet's favourite companions (see trampoline picture below)

Our first stop was to see Steve, Dorthea and Caroline in Swindon Wroughton (near Swindon). Because there are no transport links from the East to the West of the UK that don't involve going through London, I have spent very little time on the West coast. Turns out it is quite interesting over there - they even have historical things like Stonehenge, and in Avebury (a short bus ride (at the front of the top deck)) from Wroughton, there is a stone circle that is almost 5000 years old. Here are some pictures of stones and excitable children. Fortunately those architects and engineers from 2600 B.C. knew how to design something fun for children to run around, whilst remaining fascinating for adults.

I can't see Bluet anywhere

Stay tuned for more pictures from the UK..........

Advent Day 18

Today Bluet and Emily left to spend Christmas in Missouri whilst I stayed in New York. But, never fear, I am off to Missouri myself on Friday. Also, I saved up enough stuff to keep the advent blog going. So everyone wins

Here is Bluet at the airport this morning, just before I waved them off

Airports

Sorry for the lack of blogs. We've been busy first in Houston and now we are off to Missouri for thanksgiving. Last week's trip was fine except for the very beginning, when the plane bluet and I were traveling on was delayed by three hours. I don't know if you've ever entertained an 18 month old at an airport for three hours, but it is tough, especially if the airport is as rubbish as laguardia. Fortunately bluet is growing up fast and was extremely well behaved. The airport kindly provided racks of application forms for credit cards at bluet height which she was happy to rearrange. She took them out and put them back in a new, abstract order. When we did get on the plane we both fell asleep for the majority of the 4 h flight.

We also discovered Houston has a fine zoo, and located a new house.

Back in New York it is cold, so Bluet wears then quickly removes her winters clothes. Stay tuned for thanksgiving photos.