The Seychelles. I’ll be honest. I’d never heard of it until we moved here and started looking for a potential location for our . . . let’s see, what will this be now . . . our eighth, no ninth . . . honeymoon. About as close to perfect as you could get really. A little wooden beach bungalow nestled lightly into the lush jungle-like surroundings and overlooking the turquoise waters below. Waking up luxuriously in a cloud of fresh white bedding, NOT to the sounds of youthful exuberance in complete opposition to an adult’s natural alarm clock, but to the sounds of gentle waves overlapping with the rhythm of my slow even breathing and the therapeutic cooing of some kind of tropical dove. The bright morning sun warming the wood floor boards of our back deck and beckoning us out to play. We shuffle out to the beach chairs nonchalantly in our flip flops and new beachwear, easily adopting this very relaxed pace of lifestyle. The chairs freshly swept and the sand raked into perfect little patterns by tan, muscular beach attendants, we read for a few hours and take a break only to cool off in the bath-like water when the moment strikes us. It is five full days of living only with regard to the next ten minutes in front of us, “Do we feel like snorkelling or kayaking? Should we have a beer or cocktail with lunch? Should we watch the sunset from the beach chairs or from the ocean view bar? Should we drive into the ridiculously little cute town for some local creole food or order room service and eat on our deck while the tropical evening showers serenade us?” It is five full days of romance and perfection with my man, having absolutely nothing to attend to except one another. And then we leave and I always wonder why we don’t take these kind of vacations more often. Strategically, I have completely piqued Liam’s interest in this world of sun, sand, and surf. Selfishly, we have yet to include him in our island galavanting, but he informed Keegan when we returned that our next family trip is going to be to Hawaii. I can’t say I had any reason to argue.
Week 32 quick thirty six hour jaunt to Paris. I always struggle going to these types of places, somewhat cliche, VERY touristy, trying to capture them in a way that a gazillion people haven't already captured them. I have fun trying though.
There's something about Paris in black and white that I have always loved . . .
Maybe just maybe someday I can cross these all off my list! So far, only 2 . . .
Layover in the Dubai Airport . . . beautiful architecture, I must add. Usually, when I've only been to the airport in a city, I don't count it as a place I've actually visited. However, I DO feel as though the absolute magnanimity of this airport and the bling within makes me feel like we kind of got a taste of what Dubai is all about. Perhaps, I'm wrong. Definitely worth going back to find out though!
And alas, we have arrived. ON Keegan's birthday no less. What a perfect way to start!
Keegan always tries to give me some line about how he is not cut out for the beach. Some mumblings and grumblings about pale skin and skinny legs and such. I don't know about you, but all I see is one hot Beach Babe myself.
Funny...my son makes this same face when apparently, I have pointed the camera at his face one too many times . . .
Typically, when we go on these types of vacation, to quote my brother, we "sit ass." I always FEEL like we should be doing something but quickly I realize I don't want to miss one single second in the sun, the very good book in which I am immersed at the moment, and the cocktail the waitress just offered to bring to me. We finally did a hike this time . . . only because it was to a beautiful beach and for that reason alone, made it worthwhile to take time away from our sitting ass.
It was a very long hike . . . much longer than we originally anticipated as Keegan's selected footwear was the ubiquitous flip flops, but it led to this:
Beautiful. Gorgeous. Wish you were here. The end.
It is not without a certain amount of sadness that I finally return to blogging. For one thing, Keegan has poked at me knowingly and said my fans have lost interest, which could be entirely and altogether true {please come back}, and for another thing, the fact that I am sitting here at my own desk, Liam off to school, Mother-in-law on her way home, means that this one long endless holiday is officially O.V.E.R. My neighbor looked at me with disgust this morning and said I deserve no sympathy, for which, truly, I was not searching. Fair enough though, but still, there must be something chemically and hormonally that happens within our bodies when we finally return to the real world after a proper vacation. The term, "post-holiday blues" doesn't seem to capture it accurately.
At any rate, I have some catching up to do starting with the week after our trip to Devon. It was a quiet week, Liam's first week of Spring Break (first in a line of many.....grrrrr....), in between that Easter weekend and our last minute jaunt to Atlanta. When we returned, I had a 4 day turnover that included welcoming Keegan's mom and getting her settled to watch Liam, 2 concerts, one in Paris, and then back onto the plane for the last and most fabulous leg of this month's journey, to the Seychelles with Keegan for annual Hubby+Wife Reunite vacation. In those 4 days, I meant to post on Week 30 and 31, and went so far as to write the words on the train to Paris, but never actually got around to posting it. So here it is. Week 32 and 33 (Paris and Seychelles) to come as well just as soon as I excavate my camera from the pile of laundry and suitcases all over our bedroom floor!
"Liam has been on Spring Break for what feels like forever. One week is reasonable . . . desirable even. 2 weeks, luxurious. 3 weeks, unnecessarily too long. 4 weeks, certifiably crazy. I do love having Liam home, but I completely lose my edge in terms of work, photography, blogging . . . obviously. Throw a trip back to the States, a weekend in Paris, 2 concerts, and a looming child-free holiday to the Seychelles (rough life, I know) into the mix and my organizational and multi-task skills are sporadic at best. Soooo.....here I sit on the Eurostar, typing away on the iPad notebook program....definitely NOT word "perfect," if you know what I mean, and catching up on 2 weeks now. Week 30 was the week in between our trip to Devon and our trip to Atlanta last week. We basically had 3 play dates in 3 days since I realized this might be Liam's only chance to socialize with his school friends before the traveling frenzy began, then didn't look back as we said goodbye to the London chill.....snow even on one of those days, and headed to some 80 degree weather. In doing so, Liam was able to have a proper spring break filled with sunshine, shorts and t-shirts, ice cream, convertible rides, hikes along the river, endless hours on the playground, evening thunderstorms, hot dogs on the BBQ and lots of playtime with the grandparents and cousins. I would be lying through my teeth if I said it was all for him. I was elated to be able to give him that, for Keegan to be able to give US that. At the risk of being melodramatic, it was medicine for the soul. We came back completely fulfilled and refreshed . . . not to mention to some lovely California-like weather here in London even, if only for a day or too! And now, I will sign off until week 32, when I will recap our weekend in Paris and our glorious week in the Seychelles . . . and you will all officially hate me. But hey, at least I will be able to return to whatever London has to throw at us for the "summer" season. I won't hold my breath on that one...."
Five year old home for 4 week wintry spring break . . . only so much jumping around on the bed you can do really . . .
Liam is all over the house, literally and figuratively, when he is not at school.
So we braved the cold one last time for a boat ride on the Thames to the Tate Modern with some friends . . .
The next Queen :)
Off to Atlanta!! Here we are enjoying a jetlagged breakfast in the dark at 4:30 a.m. local time!
My parents moved to Atlanta a few months ago to be closer to my brother and his young family. They have a lovely new home including lots of room for my mom's beloved gardens. The chickens came with the house but have quickly become a fixture in my parents' new retired lifestyle!! What a great place for a kid. Liam had a wonderful time.
All this kid really needs to be happy is just a big pile of dirt. The end.
My beautiful niece!
One of the things I've always loved about traveling to the east coast in spring/summer is the evening thunderstorms.
