Margaux at home: A photo montage

It's been far too long since I've made a photo montage of Margaux and she's been up to all sorts of things, so here's one from our time in Cascais...

She's growing bigger and stronger every day and, try though I might, I never capture nearly enough to demonstrate it.

In the above montage you can see that she began a love to sitting in whatever she could... under her highchairs, in a suitcase, and even the bidet!

There are a couple of examples in these photos of her walking, but she really took off when we were in France. More about that to come!

First stop: Lille

We arrived in Lille without a hitch - and without Mammy and Pappy to greet us, as they were in Corsica.

By the time we arrived at Jean-Paul and Rita's from the airport in Brussels it was about midnight and we were exhausted. We settled Margaux into 'her' room and collapsed ourselves into the adjacent one - respectively Marie's and Thomas' original abodes.

When morning came we were happy to be by ourselves and without the stress or upheaval of leaving Portugal. Finally, we were on holiday! For the next 5 weeks we had nothing but fun to look forward to, before Thomas began his new job in Dubai. Hooray!

We enjoyed the intermittently sunny (though invariably cold!) weather that was offered to us, with Margaux enjoying using the slide, playing outside, going to walks, and even meeting some neighbouring horses!

Too much time has passed for me to remember the days' activities exactly, but the important point is that we had a few days which we could devote entirely to ourselves. Bliss.

Again, I had a little video for you... basically I've already made them and it seems a bit silly to do photo montages when these gems are available:

First stop: Lille

Leaving Cascais... and onward to France!

It was with a bit of a heavy heart that I boarded the plane with Thomas and Margaux out of Lisbon. In the end, although we (especially I) loved living there, there were more reasons to leave than to stay.

I will miss so many things: my friends, their kids, the beaches/ the Tejo River, the signposted Anti-Stress Zone just down up the street from us (complete with a deck chair on the sign and a chess table in the square), the summer weather, downtown Cascais... and so many more that I'm sure will become more obvious as time passes.

But there it was. The movers had been and gone, so we took our belongings for the next couple of months with us to a hotel for our last night. Thomas headed off to work for his final day on Thursday, April 2nd, while I had a delightful, impromptu catch-up with Margaux and some of my Mums and Tots friends (with kids, of course!) in the Marechal Carmona Park... yet another place I'll miss.

Miss Maggie and I headed off to meet Thomas and we made our way to the airport - thankfully comfortably making our flight. You just never know these days... I'd like to call it the 'Margaux Factor' but in reality it's usually me who's the issue. And off we went, for Margaux's 31st plane flight!


Here's a little video of it, for your viewing pleasure :) Goodbye Cascais...

Sarlat-bound, via Paris...

We set off on May 6th to go to Sarlat for 10 days, stopping overnight in Paris so that Thomas could get various French documents authenticated in the UAE Embassy in Paris... after all, Dubai was our next destination and we had to have all our ducks lined up if we were to get his visa hitch-free!

Margaux enjoyed playing in a sandpit/ play area in a park near to where we were staying, however her daredevil antics lead one Frenchman to describe her as a kamikaze! They also thought she was a boy, despite her pink tracksuit and pink shoes... honestly, stereotyping has some serious implications. Yes, girls do go hurtling down slides face first; they do try to climb down elevated, near-vertical stairs without assistance; they do literally roll in the sand; and they do try to use equipment and games that are designed for much older kids!

I have a 'thing' about her being called a boy ALL the time. Thomas tells me I should get over it, but it still hurts a little. Unfortunately she pulls out any clips or headbands I put in her hair, and I'm not ready for her to have her ears pierced, so maybe I will just have to succumb to the perceptions of others. What a pain.

Anyway... Here's a little vid of our time there - Margaux playing, our trip to the Eiffel Tower, and a couple of views from a day-time walk we did.

We set off early the next morning for the rest of our trip towards Sarlat, where we arrived at a lovely hotel essentially opposite our land. Thomas had secured a child minder for the days that we would be in meetings, so we left her (rather unwillingly, from her side) with Maeva. After the initial hesitation Margaux loved spending time with her. She took Margaux to a place that was catered for childcare, and Margaux was able to play with a boy who was about her age. We booked Maeva for 4 days, and by the end of it Margaux was unwilling to leave!

Thomas and I had two very productive meetings with Helene, the architect, and one with Moilamain, the Permaculturalist.

With Helene we had some very exciting throwing around of ideas regarding the layout, structure, and content of the gite. It's still to be finalised, but we came a long way. Hooray for us!

We met Moilamain on our property, where he literally pegged out the house and gite, which was rather exciting, to be honest. We could actually walk through what we know will be a bedroom or the kitchen or whatever. He also indicated where there would be a drive/ path from the house down to the marshy area - for a possible amphitheatre..? Well, it's not really marshy, it's just got a pond and not a whole lot of sunlight.

Anyway... The fourth meeting was with Phillipe and was all rather technical so I pottered off and did my own thing while Margaux was in Maeva's capable hands.

While we were in Sarlat I made contact with Enasha (seen in the main picture of the collage above with her husband, Steve, and their son, Xavier). Enasha is British and moved to Sarlat a few years ago, and we all got along like a house on fire. It's lovely to have already made a connection there; after all, it's the people who will make you feel like you belong (or don't) whenever you settle somewhere.

After 10 days our trip was up and it was time to make the 8-hour journey back to Roncq. With Thomas at the helm we arrived back to Jean-Paul and Rita's in time for dinner. Perfect.

Moving Days - and Margaux's first word..?

Tuesday, March 31st...

Having spent the previous night packing and sorting the basics - and dispensing with even more of our food and other contraband goods to friends - we were set to go when the movers arrived.

Margaux had a ball. The 5 or 6 burly movers thought she was a little star and didn't (seem to) mind that she was running around everywhere. There was one man who would make animal noises and entertain her while packing at the same time... she thought he was great. And of course all of them were saying 'Ola' to her... and then she said it back! Well, sort of. Enough that it gave the guys the impression that it was her first word. :) And she kept on saying it, much to everyone's delight. They even kindly co-ordinated their lunch break with Margaux's nap!


Wednesday, April 1st...

April Fool's Day was thankfully prank-free! It was amazing how quickly the men worked to get everything bundled up... obviously it's their job, but I was impressed nonetheless.

I hurriedly signed the paperwork at about 3:10 because it was my last chance to get to the bank before it closed at 3:30, and left confident that the movers would finish soon and be gone before Margaux and I came back. It was about an hour or so before I returned... where I found all of the men waiting outside the apartment building!

As I walked up the hill my surprise gave way to the assumption that their knock-off time was 4:30 so they were just going to hang around, which was fine by me... until they explained that they thought I'd left without taking my key and they didn't want me to be locked out! I don't know how they were hoping to help since they didn't have a key either, but it was such a gorgeous gesture. And ALL of them were there, even though they were travelling in two trucks!

And just like that it was over. Our home was back to an unfurnished flat. The fact that our departure was imminent was becoming obvious - and I wasn't feeling that excited about it, to be honest. Still... every day is an adventure waiting to happen, and the next day was certainly the case for us!

A touch-and-go in London

Unfortunately I don't have any photos from the little sojourn I had in London the weekend following Sarlat with Bronwen... finally, we were having our exclusive girls' weekend!

It was so much fun spending time together without distractions like our kids and husbands... :)

We really appreciated walking around multi-floored shopping centres sans a pram (where you don't have to find the elusive lift, if it even exists, or cart your pram up and down the stairs); at going out to eat without having to accommodate a pram, feeding our respective baby in situ, and being upstairs - restaurants rarely have lifts!; at being able to sleep uninterrupted; at not having to make considerations for nappy changes/ clothes changes/ wriggling babies etc... oh, the bliss!

I arrived on Friday afternoon and navigated myself (mostly successfully, I might add) from the airport to our accommodation, My book and I enjoyed a lovely dinner, and I appreciated living in an English-speaking country. :)

Bron arrived on Saturday morning, so we took the opportunity to visit the Covent Garden Markets, which I hadn't been to before. Oh, it was so great! The atmosphere, the smells, the hustle and bustle between the market-goers and the vendors... and it was certainly more enjoyable to move within the packed space without a pram.

We met up with a Perth friend of Bron's, Mel, and after a delightful pre-dinner catch-up we headed off to a Chinese restaurant, where we intended to have a quick meal before seeing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on the West End... except that the meal was anything but quick. We got through our entree and then had them turn our mains into take-away food that we ate in the salon during the interval of the show! Three hungry girls slurping greedily (and probably noisily) on lukewarm Chinese food in the luxurious salon of the Theatre Royal... not an everyday sight, I'm sure!

The show had amazing special effects but and choreography but unfortunately it was difficult to understand the actors and I felt like the show relied on the special effects to entertain you. We did, however, have the cutest kid sitting behind us, who at the relevant time cried out 'he's got a golden ticket!' and one or two other comments during the performance. Hilarious.

Bron and I enjoyed a lazy Sunday together and headed off to our separate airports at about 18:00.

To be perfectly honest, I was absolutely delighted to see Margaux and Thomas on Monday morning, but I quite enjoyed my weekend of selfish pleasure.

It was a splendid weekend with wonderful, unforgettable memories. The next adventure was already knocking at the door... stay tuned for what was lying around the corner for us..!