Granny & Pop: the coolest in-laws ever!

This is a post I've been meaning to write since the end of June, but you know how it is with being a new mum... you are highly emotional and so have been avoiding it!

Living on the other side of the world from our parents has been a big deal for Austin and I. We have been in London for nearly 10 years now and have had our 3 children over here.
It's hard enough being away from family when you're single or with just you and your spouse, but when there's children involved, that's a whole new level.

Austin's parents (Granny & Pop) made the trip from New Zealand to London in May this year, just in time for the arrival of baby Massimiliano (Max).
They stayed for a whole 5 weeks and just LAVISHED their grandchildren with love and affection and presents.

Whenever I mentioned it in conversation to random people that my in-laws were coming to stay for 5 weeks when the baby is born, I was surprised at so many of the reactions. Obviously not sure whether having the in-laws to stay for 5 weeks was a good idea, they would ask if I'm okay with that...?
Well, they obviously have bad in-law experiences and have never met my in-laws!

If ever I have met two simply wonderful people, it is my in-laws {I really dislike the term "in-laws" so I'm now going to refer to them as J&D ok? Good}.

When I married Austin I married into the COOLEST family around. Honest and Truly.
A pretty crazy and fun-loving mum and dad team who have four crazy and fun-loving sons of their own. So they've done the distance and survived! I like to keep reminding myself of this fact......

So I had absolutely no qualms at all about having J&D stay with us for 5 weeks, living in close quarters, them sleeping on our fold-out couch. We had been looking forward to having them stay for so long. Simply craving being around our parents again, spending quality time with them, seeing them be grandparents to their grandchildren.

And that's exactly how it was.
With the ease that comes from being around people you love and spending time with them - no need to fill silences, just being together and doing the every day together again was just so wonderful.

I actually put on weight after having Max because I was being fed up so well, looked after, waited upon and having every need met without having to lift a finger. BLISS!
{apart from the whole putting on weight thing. That was nicht so gut...}

Baking With Granny.

It was almost painful watching our children interact with and love and adore their grandparents because I knew it must come to an end when they were to leave. But maybe because of the fact it was a limited amount of time made us all the more determined to make the most of the time and moments given.

Whereas the grandparent/grandchild relationship could easily be taken for granted if it was an everyday occurrence, this way it was 5 weeks of quality time.

Story Time with Pop.

Such wonderful memories were created.
Unbreakable bonds between grandson and grandparent were formed.

Granny & Pop,
Thank you for coming all the way over to London to see us and spend time with us.
Thank you for your generosity and selfless giving. We have all been so blessed by you.
We are sorry we can't live closer to you at the moment, but thank you for understanding.
Even though we live so far from each other, you are never far from our thoughts and conversations.
We love you very much XXxxx

:::

Bike rides, Bratwurst and Beer

I've realised that this is a post I have been putting off doing because I'm just not quite sure how to put into words all the sights, smells and sounds experienced over our weekend in Germany. I mean, when you are surrounded by beautiful people in a beautiful country who eat FREAKING AWESOME food, where do you start??...

My nearest and dearest friend has parents.
Her parents live in Bremen, Germany.
We have been meaning to visit them in Bremen for the past 3 years.
They are moving back to NZ at the beginning of next year.
I am now GUTTED that I never went and stayed with them sooner. GUTT-ED.
But I am EVER SO GRATEFUL we were given an opportunity to experience a weekend in Bremen before they head back to their Homeland.

Austin and I left the boys in the more-than-capable hands of Auntie Gretchie (and her reinforcement/support troops) while we flitted across to another Continent for 3 days.

Oh the freedom and uninterrupted sleep! Freedom in that we didn't need to be responsible for anyone other than ourselves. Therefore, we hit the town on the very first night!
Hard core. I know.
But instead of hitting the clubs we went along to the final night of the Freimarkt (a big festival/carnival) that runs for the month of October and has done so since the 1600's.
It's actually just a big stimulation session for all the senses.

My favouritest stall from the evening - Corn On The Cob served with an Aioli (creamy garlic) type sauce. 
Oh. My. Word. A seriously exciting taste-bud party.

There were rides and other such things to do. Matty and Austin braved one ride but came off looking decidedly pale so we decided to head straight for the Festival Hall for the rest of the evening where they serve beer. And not just any ol' beer. MASSIVE beer.

For the record, I was NOT drinking the beer, being pregnant and all. The above photo is for aesthetic reasons only.

The Festival Hall is where the Germans - young (16yrs+) and old alike - sit around drinking beer and dancing on tables to live bands. Very fun times indeed!
Those Germans sure do know how to have a good time without it ending in tears and punches. We only saw one punch-up the whole night (which was football-related of course. I know this only because one of them was wearing a Bremen football shirt and they had just played a game that afternoon...). I was pleasantly surprised the crowd was so well-behaved, considering all drinks are served in maHOOsive glass Steins - anywhere else (except for Germany it seems) this would be asking for trouble!

:::

The following morning we headed out for a bike ride to the park to take in the beauty of Autumn in Bremen.

Leaves of gold and mahogany fell all around us like snow as we cycled along leaf-strewn tracks. The beauty and serenity was absolutely breath-taking.
There was a bit of a drizzle happening so you can imagine our excitement when we rounded a corner and were greeted with this:

It would have been rude to just cycle on by so we decided it was hot chocolate time.
The decorations inside were pretty crazy - wooden horses and old brass instruments hung from the ceilings and very retro old advertising signs filled the walls.

The rest of the day was spent discovering the streets and shops of Bremen and partaking of more great German food.
Kartoffelpuffen (Potato Pancakes) served with apple sauce, Bratwurst, mushrooms cooked in white wine and served with that yummy Aioli-type sauce and fresh bread.

We made ourselves acquainted with the infamous 'Town Musicians of Bremen' characters and wandered the streets, soaking up the ever-so-quaint atmosphere of the city.

And check this out - making boiled candy.

As darkness fell the shops lit up, luring passers-by in with their invitingly warm glow.

We managed to not get too seduced by the stores tempting us to buy their very German/Quaint/European wares. One must keep in mind the 10kg carry-on bag allowance when flying with RyanAir...

:::

Our final day happened to be a certain young man's birthday

We celebrated in style with a champagne breakfast at home with fresh bread from the bakery, meats, cheese, some crazy German dishes with pickled Herring in them which are DIVINE and lots and lots of coffee.

Our flight back to London didn't leave until later that evening so, after the wonderfully lazy breakfast, we still had a good handful of hours left - time enough to indulge in some Kaffee und Kuchen and revisit some of those dear little streets of Bremen.

I am sorry to report (Ma & Pa Bokser) that I brought shame to the Bokser name.
We were in a very classy kitchen store where everything was very stylised and expensive and I'd discovered some very cute egg-cups that I thought would be great for Christmas presents for the boys. One of the shop assistants very kindly offered us a coffee from their machine they were promoting. Of course we said "HELL YES!" and were served espresso in some very dinky dainty stylish cups and saucers.
So I was holding my dinky dainty stylish cup & saucer with one hand and asking the shop assistant if she could gift-wrap the egg-cups when suddenly my dinky dainty stylish cup (still mostly full of coffee) went crashing to the floor.
Friends and Husband - being so wonderful and loyal to me - immediately headed for the door, leaving a very embarrassed me apologising profusely to the shop assistant. I could have blamed it on the baby "I am with child" but thought that was a bit of a fob off...
But she still gift-wrapped the egg-cups for me and wouldn't let me pay for the broken cup. Bless her.

Our last port of call was for the largest meal of Weiner Schnitzel EVER served at the Hofbräuhaus
AND they even served alkoholfrei weiss bier (alcohol-free white beer) which is truly heaven-sent when you are pregnant and would kill for a beer.

I am sad to say I only managed to polish off half of the Weiner Schnitzel - but it wasn't wasted, that's what husbands are for.

So after a truly wonderful and relaxing weekend away we were still eager to see our boys again. They were both asleep when we got home so I spent some time poking them hoping they'd wake up and want to come and snuggle in bed with us. But no such luck. Auntie Gretchie had done a SUPER job of wearing them out so they didn't wake until their usual 7am.
And the first thing Luca says when he walks into our room - "Where's Gretchie?"
*Sigh*
I'm sure he did actually miss us.

Getting my craft on

I have just come back from a marvellously long weekend away in Bremen, Germany WITHOUT THE CHILDREN!
It was marvellous.
I got to sleep in.
Austin and I travelled extremely stress-free - we actually got to do some reading on the flights which is quite unheard of!
But we did miss our wee men and we were all very excited to see one another upon waking this morning.

I've got a heap of photos to organise from the weekend so hopefully I'll be able to share our Bremen experience with y'all in the next couple of days - there's something to keep you on the edge of your seats!

But in the meantime I've been getting things organised, getting supplies, getting ready to "Craft It Up" in preparation for Christmas.

Well, that's my intention.
I've got a head-load full of ideas but am lacking the time and space required to get these done.
But I believe this will always be my complaint so I just need to knuckle down and get on with getting my craft on!

:::

On Thursday evening I whipped up a pair of these for Beni from a really ugly t-shirt Austin got from his work (apologies for the rather blurry photos of these, but hopefully you get the general gist of their design? The subject was not keen to stay still while I had to manually focus...)

They turned out to be a pretty chavtastic pair of sweatpants for little Beni-Boo. Having the drawstring waist was an ingenious idea as they stay firmly in place around his waist whilst he crawls around - unlike 98% of his other trousers that end up around his ankles...

Inspiration for these is from the very clever sisters at KojoDesigns found here.

As a result of family and friends having babies recently I've once again got numerous knitting projects on the go. It's unfortunate I couldn't take knitting needles on the plane with me over the weekend as I would've been able to finish at least one of these projects.

Oh well, I managed to devour my book which had been collecting dust on my bedside cabinet so the time definitely wasn't wasted.

And on that note, I need to get cracking on with some knitting followed closely by sleeping.

Absorbing in Italia

A vacation is having nothing to do and all day to do it in.  ~Robert Orben

In the early hours of Thursday morning four tired travellers stumbled through their front door, ready for the sweet and familiar embrace of their beds.

Well, two stumbled through the door, hauling the luggage and two slept soundly in the buggy.

And what did they dream of? Italy. Italy and more Italy.

For the past 2 weeks we have been holidaying in our little spot in Italy with nothing to do except absorb.
Oh how I love to absorb - this is just one of the many things my mother has taught me to do well. Not wanting to miss a moment, capturing them and locking them away safely in my Italia Memory Bank which is becoming very rich indeed!

There was lots and lots of absorbing to be done.
Absorbing our surroundings - the familiar sounds and smells of the village.

I love to lie in bed in the mornings, open up the shutters and just listen to the village waking up.
Hearing the soft scrape-scrape rhythm of outdoor brooms sweeping the areas of pavement just outside front doors.

The clink of teaspoons against coffee cups.
Mamma's calling out for the whereabouts of their children.
Senora's telling off their husbands, their voices bouncing off their tiled floors, out onto the cobbled streets.
It is such a lovely contrast from the constant noise of traffic on the roads and planes overhead in London...

Absorbing watching our boys soak up their part of Italy and embracing it and all it has to offer with open arms.
Absorbing seeing them practically become celebrities in the village.

It was almost ridiculous trying to walk down the street with our blonde-haired blue-eyed children as 90% of the people we passed in the street would stop and squeeze the boy's cheeks exclaiming "Bello! Bello!".  To which Beni in particular would exuberantly smile back making them exclaim even more and do more cheek squeezes.

Absorbing getting amongst it all on market day.

The promise of fresh pastries and great coffee {as only Italians can do} was all the encouragement I needed to get out of bed each morning. Our morning stroll included a wander down to the bakery for pastries, a fresh loaf of bread and more than likely a few biscotti treats thrown in for the boys. Then it was back up to the piazza for cafe and general hanging out with the locals.

We managed to get just under 3 days of rain during our 2 week holiday - I was not complaining as it is always a great excuse to stay home {I'm a home-body through and through} and it is so lovely when it rains in the village. The rain clouds don't do any mucking about - they boom and clap and crack with lightning while they drench the village streets and the surrounding hills. When it rains it pours.

There's something about the sound of rain outside that always makes me want to bake... and so for the first time in our nearly 6 years of owning our home in Italy, I baked. I baked and I baked.
I managed to conquer our temperamental gas oven and I made cookies and cakes, their fragrance filling our home with sweet comfy goodness. I am pleased to report the baking was a roaring success so I happily dished out the cakes to neighbours who we have befriended. Nothing cuts through the language barrier quite like food. Where our grasp of the Italian language fell short the baking certainly made up for it!

Aside from the baking, the other thing I put my efforts into while it was raining was a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle. Now, I haven't done a jigsaw puzzle for years and I had almost forgotten my love for them until I saw one in the supermarket for only 10 Euro and I just had to get it!
And so for the next 2 days Austin and I laboured away on the jigsaw any spare moment we could get and ended up staying up until 1:30am finishing it off. WARNING: Jigsaw Puzzles are very addictive!
In the morning after only a few hours sleep I went downstairs to take a photo of our many-man-hours-masterpiece and was greeted with this sight...

Bizarrely enough there was no tears (on my part - Austin is another story...) just incredulous laughter. I knew that if I didn't laugh I would certainly cry.

Fortunately the remaining days were sunny and warm with clear blue skies - and when handed days like these on a platter it really would be rude not to make the most of them so off to the beach we trotted armed with umbrella, towels, sunblock and a chilly-bin full of fruit, snacks and cold beer. Oh yeeeeeaaaahhhhh.

Beni and Luca just went nuts at the beach - their absorbing tank was full to the brim of sand and salty seawater at the end of each day which left them absolutely shattered.
For Beni he became a little sand-bug as he crawled around in the sand, discovering it's texture and eating it. As you do...

For Luca it was all about building - and then destroying - sandcastles with Papa, playing football with Papa, swimming with Papa. Basically just as long as he was doing whatever Papa was doing he was happy.

The only thing that could tear Luca away from the beach was the promise of Gelato.

The only thing that could tear Beni away from the beach was the promise of sand in his nappies {we never realised how much sand Beni had actually consumed until it came out the other end with gusto...}

The only thing that could tear the grown-ups away from the beach was the promise of wine and antipasti on the rooftop terrace.

Ah the Italian way of life. I just can't get enough of it. And when it came time to say goodbye to our lovely little village it hurt so bad. But we still had a day and a night to spend with our friends in Frascati (in the hills above Rome) before our flight out and there we knew more good times awaited us all.

Our friends live on the top floor of this building

...and have a boy and a girl exactly the same age as Luca and Beni, although our children are nearly twice the size of theirs! All of the children are equally as healthy as each other, but ours are giants that's all...!

It was so great seeing the 3 year olds instantly rekindle their friendship even though they haven't seen each other for a year.  And the wee bubba's spent their time crawling around putting anything and everything in their mouths (who needs to hoover when there's teething, crawling babies in the house!)

How absolutely wonderful it was to spend time with a very cool couple and so refreshing to be around another family with children the same age and to see that our 'family dynamics' are actually normal! On the second day we attempted to eat out for lunch and it ended up being laughable trying to "contain" our children's energy.
I felt normal.
I felt good.
Especially after a generous portion of vino rosso which ended up being compulsory in order for the adults to cope...

Later that afternoon, as our plane lifted off Italian soil my Italia Memory Bank was filled to the brim.
I am thankful, so very thankful, for an amazing family holiday we were blessed to be able to have and for the ease at which we can just 'pop over' to Italy where I feel, this time, I definitely left a bigger piece of my heart.