We got to the sunny (yay!) South of France yesterday a little bit later than intended. Our flight was supposed to depart in the morning but the French do love a strike and it so happened that the air traffic control staff were on one yesterday. We were told that our flight would take off with a mere seven hour delay. Nice. Rather annoying news to anyone let alone to a two and four year old. Had we been at Heathrow there would have been plenty to do but out of the ordinary we flew out of City Aiport, which is extremely convenient when it all goes well but not the most exciting place to hang out in for any longer than necessary. So off we went to kill time at a nearby Westfield shopping centre. That was great. We had some lunch and a nice play at their playground. We headed back to the airport hours earlier than the new scheduled departure time just to learn that in fact the flight had been brought forward and that it was leaving in five minutes! We legged it. Little M normally moans when she has to walk but this time she absolutely flew through security and the terminal holding onto the buggy or my hand and we made it indeed. Just.
The flight itself was a breeze. I feel like we're getting to the other side now... Both children know what they're expected to do and are happy with their iPads for longer periods of time. If I'm able to time the flight right Baby M will sleep, which she did today from take off to landing. Little M played with her iPad and I read magazines. No complaints. My on-flight snacks for them these days always include raisins and lollipops. Might sound a bit odd but both can keep a toddler preoccupied for a long time. Lollipops are sticky stuff but their happiness (read: silence) is worth the mess! A full pack of baby wipes is still an absolute must and I can't see that changing anytime soon.
So we arrived in France early evening. The girls entertained themselves by creating master pieces with their paint brushes whilst I got to work... I had about two hundred dead bees to clean away. Most of them were stuck in honey that was scattered all over the floor. It was quite "gusting" like Little M would say. You know how a dead insect will crunch in your fingers when you pick it up with some kitchen roll? Imagine a couple of hundred of them. It was really crunchy but with the honey it was sticky at the same time. Plus I felt sorry for the bees too! It's not something I'd like to do again in a hurry. What happened was that we had a bees nest in between a window and its shutter. Apparently there were around 40,000 bees in it!! Obviously the nest had to be destroyed... such a shame, poor bees. Wish they had set up their home somewhere where they were not going to be evicted!
When that was done we got all the toys out.
And Little M checked up on the flowers. She was very pleased with the results of her gardening.
In the comments some of you have been asking to see more of what I wear. I promised to try and do more of those posts. I will try and do them properly too but let's start with this. With children I always travel in comfortable jeans, a t-shirt and flats. I have my hair up in a bun and wear no makeup. I've tried having my hair down and wearing some mascara but it's a bit pointless. My hair ends up sticky with what ever the kids are eating and my mascara smudged. I don't wear any jewellery or belts that I'd have to take off when going through security (it's enough having to fold the buggy up and lift it up on the conveyor belt whilst making sure the girls are doing what they're supposed to and not running off) and my shoes must be easy to take off and put back on. These sandals are good as they have a zip at the back rather than a buckle.
Well that was a lot of text! If you've read this far, have a great weekend! :-)
Minna x
