Best Dressed Nominee

I can't decide if our son is particularly stylish or if his parents have completely lost it, but either way, I haven't seen many other toddlers dressed like this....

How would YOU dress to do deals?

No pants, no shoes, no problem

Your'e never too young for fruity drinks and Hawaiian shirts while on vacation

Cool-o-rado

A primary motivator for our recent global excursions was to celebrate Unkie Chad aka Chutch Migillicutty aka DJ Chimichanga's recent mastery of business administration. To Boulder we went and convened with some of Chad's biggest fans. While getting in some family QT, were also able hit the slopes, indulge in Colorado's finest brews, make sure the local fish weren't getting too comfortable in their ponds, and treat local diners and hotel guests to the joys of an 8 month old's jet lag. 

Victory over an elusive foe

Super shredder Chad pictured behind the gapers

Rare sleeping moment

Much more common awake moment

Although the trip was way too short, we left confident that Colorado was in good hands with a master administrator (and musical styler) in its midst.

Biblical Baptism

Confession: up until this point, Dillon had never been baptized. Although he received a blessing at Christmas mass, we hadn't gone through the traditional baptismal ritual to welcome him into the fold. I started feeling a bit remiss about the whole thing as I viewed the seemly endless stream of friends celebrating their newborns in hilarious ancient baptismal costumes with their families.  At the same time, I wanted the event to be special, rather than an impersonal arrangement with strangers at a London church I would probably never attend. So nothing ever happened... until this past Easter weekend when we just happened to drive by the site on the river Jordan where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. 

Whatever your beliefs or current involvement in the church might be, the site has a way of making you feel connected to a major religious milestone that occurred on these same river banks over 2000 years ago. So it was in the river Jordan, witnessed by godparents-in-waiting Michelle and Joseph, that Dillon was properly welcomed to this world and the next.  So now the only challenge remaining is how we are possibly going to match this with kid #2....

Jordanian Journey

Because we like to do things differently, we spent our first Easter as a family in a Muslim country (nevertheless, we actually managed to squeeze in a pretty special religious moment on the trip--more on that here). Visiting Michelle and Joseph in Amman, Jordan allowed us to explore a corner of the world to which we might not have otherwise ventured. After 32 years of friendship with Michelle and many previous trips under my belt, I had an idea that this probably would be a fun-filled whirlwind of a trip.
How an 8 month old would deal with this much excitement was the only mystery to be solved as Joseph had planned out an impressive 5 day tour of the country's highlights.

Awake after a very brief nap. Only 3:54 to go...

Luckily, Dillon rose to the challenge and was quickly nominated MVP for his ability to charm everyone in sight, obtain early hotel check ins and withstand the occasionally non-baby friendly portions of the trip (aka planes, multi-hour hikes, skipped nap times, etc.).







Here are a few photo highlights of the trip:

Our hosts' pad in Amman

Soaking in the Dead Sea's therapeutic mud 

Best buds

Camel Country

Guyz n Style

Not pictured highlights:

• The time when Michelle flagged down a random driver blaring Tupac to give us a ride. After the end o the jam, he inquired if we also liked Michael Buble and proceeded to blast those beats without noticing the slight inconsistency in his musical tastes.
• The time when we almost ran out of gas in the desert and stopped at a fire station for directions. Almost 20 firemen poured out of the building to help, bearing freshly baked treats and offering to siphon gas out of their personal cars. 
• When our personal dance party got so extreme we broke a bench which we then tried to blame on faulty construction

Overall....a trip of a lifetime with great memories and photos to match.

Memorable Mum's Day

March 31st (oh, sorry... 31 March) was Mum's Day in the UK and I thought I would share this lovely note I received "from" my darling son:

Mummy, 

You are the bee's knees!  Ace in every way and I appreciate all that you do for me each day.  I truly fancy the various schemes and bits & bobs you use to keep me prim and proper and away from all things dodgy. I can see that I often leave you knockered (zonked, really) and driven out on the piss. Me being the full can of beans that I am, its no surprise you have lost all those zeds. And lets not waffle, I become a rather pernickity lil' chap when I get buggered! But although I can be a ripe pain in your arse, you simply must know that I love you and am wonderfully chuffed to bits to have you as me mum!

Dillon

PS- Zambezi says "How are you"

Quite the British lad already, isn't he?

Joie de Vivre

For our first international excursion, we felt we had to head to the City of Lights. Armed with two additional helpers, Eurostar tickets and what we felt was the bare minimum amount of baby gear, we hit the road....er, tracks.

The journey from London to Paris takes just over two hours by train, with the highlight being the passage through the famed "chunnel."  Unfortunately, we were so excited about the existence of the bar car, that we didn't even notice the passage through the chunnel on the outbound voyage.  A bit anti-climatic but we were unphased.

We arrived into Paris on a beautiful spring day and were able to perceive an apparent difference in work ethic between Londoners and their Gallic cousins.  The parks were packed almost to capacity with people of all ages doing nothing other than sitting in chairs facing the sun.  On a Thursday. At 2 pm.  Clearly this was not a city where something as trivial as a traditional work day would get in the way of  excellent weather.

We quickly caught on to the local mentality and bought a bottle of Bordeaux for our sunset stroll around the Eiffel Tower (luckily no one in the group had any interest in waiting in a seemingly interminable line to actually go up into the tower).

For the next two days, we spent our time strolling around the city, eating and drinking well, and doing our best to get the Parisians to understand our incredibly basic French (i.e. about 7 words).  

I could tell you all of the wonderful things we ate, saw, and drank on our trip, but lets be honest--it would be better if you just booked a trip yourself. Overall, it was a great start to our, hopefully, many Eurotrips to come and gave us a taste of the famed joie de vivre just south of our new border. 

Just one instance of a member of the group witnessed skipping in delight

To Market We Go

Last weekend, we made our first trip to London's famed Borough Market.  Long time readers of our blog might be curious how it compares to the Biscuit Mill in Cape Town...well, lets just say it blows it out of the water, both in terms of sheer size and offerings. Unfortunately, expanded options aren't always a good thing if you arrive hungry and overwhelmed by the choices on offer. Luckily, we found some instant winners to hold us over until more substantial decisions had to be made: fresh oysters on the half shell and a pint of the market's finest.  A few highlights from the excursion: 

Enjoying some over-sized fresh oysters

Family fun with local wildlife outside the pub

Tanked out on the tube ride home

All in all, not a bad way to spend a Saturday with a couple thousand other Londoners....

Overcoming Dining Drama

Navigating the social protocols of a new city can be challenging. Add one occasionally impatient 5 month old with two parents' desire to experience all the city has to offer and it gets really interesting. Luckily, our newest Texpatriate has inherited a strong social streak and a charming Cheshire grin that has made adapting to our new reality, and enjoying lunch, a bit easier.