Bex in Moz

Summer loving

So I realise that reading about other people's holidays is not always thrilling and as such I shall keep this year's resume to a hit and miss list and a few photos.

HITS:

Family. An all-round winner; many happy hours spent in the company of parents/grandparents, siblings, cousins etc.

Friends. Many and varied and best of all several whose path we haven't crossed for far too many years. Wonderful.

Dinosaurs. The Natural History Museum once again scored highly on the boys' holiday satisfaction reader. The animatronics, the big teeth, the toys! What's not to love?

Aquarium. Going strong in its third summer holiday, the Lisbon Oceanarium is a must-see, and the sea otters don't get any less cute over time.

Food. Daily ice-cream, real cheese, stylish sea-food restaurants, awesome take-away curry, freshly picked figs and super-Maman's home cooking. Yum.

Dentist. Unlikely one this, but we all got the all-clear. Result!

Murtal. 3 days in the country cottage where we got married, eating fruit staright off the trees, swimming in a glorious fresh-water tank, reminiscing and the rest.

London Zoo. Much changed since my last visit (decades ago), my sister and I enjoyed this as much if not more than the kids.

MISSES:

Lost luggage. My bag did not turn up in Lisbon. I think it's still in Heathrow. BA have no idea where it is. Grrrrr.

Sea. Lovely beaches, shame about the bloody freezing water in bot the UK and Portugal. I have clearly lost my nerve. The boys overcame their initial reluctance to romp gaily in the frigid waters of the North Sea/Atlantic. Obviously take after their maternal garndfather.

Pregnancy-related anxiety. I was very much looking forward to sharing the good news of our forthcoming thrid child with all my friends and family when a very dodgy nuchal translucency result - implying a heightened possibility of all sorts of chromosomal and heart abnormalities - went and threw a spanner in the works. Cue biopsy of the placenta (large needle stuck into my tummy, no pain but no fun either) and several weeks of background anxiety until the final results and a further two scans showed that there was absolutely nothing wrong with the little one after all. Not exactly what we had in mind for the holidays, but on the other hand our final HIT is that we are indeed expecting a perfectly healthy baby at the end of February, and no we don't know whether it's a boy or a girl, and although it's pretty obvious what I might be hoping for (Paulo is genuinely indifferent to gender) I am just grateful that all is well and I will love equally whoever turns up in 5 months.

After all, going on past form, we won't do too badly!

Labels: holidays

posted by Rebecca @ 3:30 pm