First week in Australia

We are having fun in the Australian Summer. Playing with the sprinklers is a classic Aussie kid past-time. William finally had his moment: chucking some snags on the barbie.

We had a very warm day and went to the beach. The four cousins have been getting to know each other and work out the dynamics of playing with four kids.

It has been so long since I last had an Aussie Christmas I felt that I may have forgotten the routine, but it soon came back to me! The afternoon begins with a glass of sparkling red wine,  catching up with my cousins, aunt and uncle, progresses through Christmas lunch (cold roast ham, asparagus, roast potatoes with chestnuts, cold roast chicken, 2 salads, stuffing), Christmas pudding (my Grannie's recipe), backyard cricket (audience in the red chairs) and finally stories before bedtime.

Phew! I need a holiday!

Another day, another day at the beach

More beach pictures, along with a brief update on the sandcastle situation. Today - two new types of sandcastle: the ball roll (like a marble roll, but for a ball - multiple paths from the top down to the sea) and the floating sandcastle (a first for me too!) on William's swimming board). Although Sophie's behaviour was often that of a typical 2 year old (not surprising really!!) they did get a treat after lunch.

Yesterday we climbed the hill across the road. On the way up we saw some bee hives, and subsequently met the bee keeper (who sold us lunch) and so bought some of the honey from these very hives. I'm pretty excited about that. William asked him whether he wore a scary mask to collect the honey. We explored the hilltop church and cross.

Today the kids and I visited the local museum, which is focused on the sea. There was a glass floored section, atop a shipwreck and sandy seabed (slightly eerie to walk on). Did you know that Cyprus used to have hippos and elephants? Well, we have seen the skeletons and images of the archeological digs to prove it.

More Cyprus

 I forgot to mention that we have the option of champagne for breakfast from our buffet each morning. Woo hoo! The first morning we each had a large glass, but to be honest, champagne for breakfast every day isn’t really me. Straight after breakfast we head to the beach, usually arriving by 8.30am ready to dig.

  We took a lovely tour on a boat called the Yellow Submarine, because it has large underwater viewing portholes. We all liked seeing the fish up close. From this boat we went swimming into sea caves. The boat gave us a life bouy which the kids held on to in the deep sea, and this made it easier to tow them about. They liked the adventure of it all. They also liked the big splash that Daddy made as he slid down the slide (attached to the side of the boat) and into the sea.

 We go to the beach 1-3 times every day, and are working our way through the sandcastle repertoire: sandcastles with decorations, with tunnels, in 3D shapes (cylinder, cuboid, 3- and 4-sided pyramids)(William is learning the names for 3D shapes at school), with drizzly towers.

 The monastery in Ayia Napa was free to visit and a small haven of calm and peace. 

 This evening we took a sunset stroll along the clifftop – a lovely view of the Southern Cyprus sky.

Cyprus - Day 1

-->

 We’ve only been here for one day and it really feels like we are on holiday. We left a particularly grey and dreary Oxford yesterday. This morning when we came down from our hotel room for breakfast on the balcony, it was to a cloudless blue sky, bright sunshine (I’m going to buy sunglasses tomorrow) and a view of the sea. We were so very obviously newbies as Sophie yelled out “I can see the seaside”. All the other diners (many Germans, some Italians and Brits) turned and smiled. A couple of minutes into breakfast Sophie reached up to touch her hair, “My head is hot” she says. I don’t think that she remembers experiencing such lovely weather before in her lifetime.

 We went straight to the beach after breakfast and all spent a lovely couple of hours playing in the sand and splashing in the crystal clear water. I don’t think that Sophie remembers much about going into the sea (expect maybe some paddling in Pembrokeshire last Summer) so it was as if we were seeing her first responses to walking out into the waves. The joy and excitement on her face were great! I’m looking forward to more of it during our Summer in Melbourne this Dec/Jan. I’m afraid that I turned and said to Andrew that this was better than an Australian beach…….no mosquitoes, not too hot, warmer water….. do I lose my citizenship now?

 After a bus to the local town (which turned out to be closer than we’d thought – we walked back along the beach in 15 minutes) for lunch (giant chocolate milkshakes beforehand may have been a parental tactical error as they didn't eat any food!) we returned to the beach by the hotel for the afternoon. Sand and water really do supply endless entertainment!

I did, however, wonder whether it was worth coming all the way here at the end of the day, as we lay in bed talking about the events of our day. I asked Sophie whether she enjoyed being here on holiday and what she liked the most about today. She replied "when we went and saw Thomas" referring to a trip to Didcot a month ago to see Thomas the Tank Engine. Cue the large parent SIGH.

Some good quotes from Sophie today:

“We need that camera to make people say ‘Cheese’”.

“I do it all by my own”. I think that William used this same turn of phrase at the same age, perhaps it is a common stage of learning?

A day out with Thomas

Today the kids and I (and another mum friend) went to see Thomas and his other steam engine friends at Didcot Railway Centre.The kids all had lots of fun watching the troublesome trucks. I was most impressed with the train turntable, on which 2 men can turn a massive steam engine and truck full of coal. Now that must have some excellent engineering to it! Lunch on the train (as it went backwards and forwards on its 4 min trip between stations) was also quite relaxing.

6th wedding anniversary

Andrew and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary with two traditional gifts.

Iron: see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li4AvjG6Q98 (and yes, that is exactly how our garden sounds)

Sugar: High tea at The Old Parsonage (although the experience with kids wasn't quite as uber-posh as most meals here). Macaroons with glittery bits on them are yummy.

Two recent milestones for the kids are that William can ride a peddle bike all by himself (including starting off!) and that Sophie no longer calls William "Wuh Wuh" but now "Wim mem". Progress!

William's school sports day

I watched William and his class at their school sports day today. It was made that much more exciting by the (real) Olympic torch and gold medal Olympian (Lily was the cox for the LTAMix4+ boat which won gold in the Paralympics). William got to hold her gold medal!It was really heavy, he said.

The first time we've grown spuds!

The kids had such fun this evening digging through the dirt to unearth our home-grown potatoes. They have such lovely white skins! I'm thinking of turning them into a Summer potato salad, seeing as Summer is here this week.

Hidcot Manor Garden

Clare and Jen invited us all to Hidcot Manor Gardens and we had a LOVELY day.  Hidcot was designed by Major Lawrence Johnston, and is a great English garden as he combined the more formal French style with the English ‘cottage’ garden style.

Although the weather was threatening we didn’t get any rain (which was fortunate as it was St Swithian’s day (a British weather lore proverb says that if it rains on Saint Swithun's day, 15 July, it will rain for 40 days).

 Sophie needed some reminding about some of the rules when visiting gardens: ie don’t pick anything!

There was a tennis court there for anyone to use – Andrew and I lost 2 sets to Clare and Jen, even though the umpire and ball girl were meant to be on our side.

Although some people tried to pretend that they didn’t enjoy themselves, we all had a really nice day out, away from Oxford, with friends we don’t see often enough.