Aberdeenward bound

After a busy week in Cambridge, Bluet, Ilona and I boarded a train to Aberdeen on Friday morning*. While in Aberdeen we went to Castle Fraser, which was really fun, once the kids were given a checklist of things to spot and tick off. A busy weekend ensued

At Mill House there was a swing to play on

A car Andrew and Nick are building to play in

A tree house Andrew just built to not fall out of

Muffins to eat

And a railway to watch in full steam (NB we must get one of these at our house)

Oh, and bees to visit

*We changed at Peterborough onto a busy train, but as we had reserved seats it was fine. In fact the kids behaved perfectly - probably because I let them play games on phones. At Newcastle we changed again and this time the carriage was so full the passengers did not want to let us on even though we had reserved seats, but we eventually got on and everything was fine; all this because of the Edinburgh festival, the train was empty and peaceful from Waverly onwards. As we then arrived 30 minutes late, 50% of our ticket price was refunded, so it all worked out great. 

A trip to the UK - part I

July 31st 2019, Bluet, Ilona and I started our 2 week excursion to the UK. First stop, Newark airport (Emily drove us through a raging storm to get there on time). Here are the girls feasting on Pizza

One (3 hour delayed) 6h flight later (they loaded up on extra fuel so they could go fast, and flew in almost a straight line across the atlantic)...and we were on the Trans Pennine Express (which is actually quite slow, and expensive), next stop York!

Arriving in York, Bluet and Ilona were thrilled to see their cousins Della and Gus again. An afternoon playing in the garden followed, one of many to come!

New York

This weekend we took Bluet and Ilona for an overnight trip to New York. First stop, the Upper East Side, where we ate lunch then took a walk to the apartment we used to live in on 79th Street.



Onwards, to Rainbow Hardware, where we used to buy our DIY supplies (they also stock more or less everything else you could think of for your home), where we also took a look at paint colours for our new house.

We then walked further downtown to the hospital where Bluet was born, then took a taxi down to our hotel near Grand Central. After dumping our bags, we headed up to Central Park via Bloomingdales, where Ilona got a new pair of shoes



And then Central Park, the kids favourite, where they ate ice cream and climbed big rocks.




There was time to visit Whole Foods Market for refreshments



And then for dinner, then bed





Sunday we headed downtown to get the best view (land based) of Bluet's current obsession, the Statue of Liberty




Then the train home

Train to Paris

The first step in getting to Paris is to get on the train. As it takes 4 hours, we took advantage of our iPads to entertain the big kids (which surprisingly mostly brought peace and harmony), and plastic cups to entertain Wilder. Then when we arrived, we headed to the same apartment we stayed last year, in Montmartre, where Nana and Wayne were waiting to meet us.