Martha's Marvellous Munchies

Ahoy there, me hearties!  All hands on deck, we have some partying to do!  Arrrr! Now, hats on, and don't forget - no self-respecting pirate admits to having two working eyes.  Eyepatches it is, mateys!  (What scurvy dog cut the elastic too short?  They should be thrown into Davy Jones' locker.) Hats ready for assembly.  From Yellow Moon but the elastic really was too short. All of ye who can wield a pen, get drawing a treasure map.  We wouldn't want to mislay our loot, would we now? Toby wrote his name backwards and Blogger uploaded this sideways, just to confuse you. Shiver me timbers!  Where did those gems and spyglasses go?  Get hunting, me hearties, and the last one back with the swag is a scurvy dog. Each pirate had to find these in the treasure hunt. Now, this is a strange parcel, methinks.  Let's pass it round, and when the shanty stops, why, 'tis your turn to unwrap a layer. One of his real presents, act...

So, you don't have small children?  Well, guess what?  You should go to Italy too! Thinking over the trip, I didn't feel like we were hugely restricted by having children in tow.  Sure, it's never so relaxed when you are constantly making sure that two small humans are adequately fed, rested, cleaned and entertained.  But there wasn't much we really missed out on.  (Except the risotto.  The Lombardy region is known more for its rice dishes than its pasta, and I did want to try a real Italian risotto.)  There were, however, a number of excursions that the boys would have preferred not to have been dragged out on. Alps Oh, the mountains.  The mountains were beautiful.  One day we drove north and stopped for lunch on the Passo della Presolana.  Perched above a hairpin bend on the road, we munched our focaccia surrounded by the clear cool air and the swooping, soaring peaks. Without children (except as handy photographer) With...

Go to Italy... it's only a two-hour flight * Most of the plane journeys I have been on are in the transatlantic, super-jetlag, screw-up-two-days-of-your-life category, so it still feels like a pleasant novelty to board a flight for a mere two hours.  Especially when you have two children who require continuous attention.  This was Theo's first flight; he took to it like a pro, and even charmed some lady in the next row into cuddling him for a while.  Despite travelling "light", we somehow had nine separate items to keep track of (not even including Toby's penguin, turtle and blanket, which I lived in permanent fear of him dropping), but everything made it there and back without incident. so. much. stuff. *Valid for residents of UK and certain other countries only.  Your flight time may vary. Go to Italy... and rent an apartment Climbing medieval steps near our apartment  Believe me - two bedrooms and a kitchen make life sooo much easier.  Gr...

Once the summer vacation was over, the month was fairly evenly divided between back-to-preschool (yay!) and holiday-in-Italy (YAY!).  Both had a few ups and downs, but went well overall.  Italy was beautiful and peaceful and historical and colourful and flavourful, and you will be assaulted by many more photos of it in due course. Toby First day! - struggled a little bit with saying goodbye when he started back at preschool, but is now happily settled in again (this morning he practically pushed me out of the door). On the boat - said his favourite parts of the holiday were the boat trips on Lake Iseo, watching a crane lift boxes in the Roman arena in Verona, .and the pizza and ice cream! Gelato for Toby, espresso for Penguin - has been seriously over-using the word "no". Quotes: When picking at a meal I'd rather over-seasoned: Me: "OK, you can have bread and butter if you really hate it." Toby: "I really hate it." Graham: ...