UK trip part II - conclusion

I wish I had more time to blog, events that I wanted to talk about whiz by, become obsolete and no longer topical. I've been back in "real life" now for almost two weeks, but I still want to finish the story of our trip to Buckinghamshire.

We were only there for three full days, but we filled those days to the brim. My old family home (a smallish 1970's four bedroom house, I hasten to add, not the Edwardian farmhouse estate that the phrase may conjour up) is so full of memories. I don't visit it very often, so being there is for me like stepping back in time. Standing in from of the big oval mirror in the guest room, which used to be my sister's room, I can almost see my 16 year old self, peeping through bright blue mascara and glittered eyes (actually my favourite silver eyeshadow might even still be in a drawer somewhere!), trying desperately to tease curls into my straight brown hair, and spinning around to make sure that my tiny flared mini skirt showed as much of my rather short legs as humanely possible without revealing my knickers. The framed "Dirty Dancing" picture that is still on the wall enhances the flashback atmosphere.

I could go on and on, but I'll limit myself to summarizing a few high points of our trip:

1. Watching Geekygirl get to know her grandparents and her cousins. She remembers them from past visits and looks forward to seeing them, and I wish that they could spend more time together.  It was lovely to see Grandma read children's books I remembered from my own childhood with her. Mum was a teacher so has a vast supply. We read Meg and Mog, The Tiger who Came to Tea, Dogger (at 3.00am, mostly. YOu can't really explain jet lag to a preschooler). These were books I had as  akid but have not seen in the US, and I realized that when you have a child in another country you miss out on the pleasure of reliving your own childhood just a little.

10,000 miles and back in 4 days was worth it though, just to see the cousins together. On the way home Geekygirl said to me "Mummy, next time we go to Grandma and Grandad's house, let's stay for a longer time". Here's Geekygirl with my sister's middle child, sharing a princess moment.

2. The main attraction himself of course, my brothers new son. We spent most of all three days with the little lad, and honestly I hardly heard a cry out of him. He was passed from pillar to post, never taking eyes of his very proud mum, of course, and took everything in his wide eyed stride. I may be biased but he was just about the healthiest, happiest baby I've met, not a trace of cradle cap marred his fuzzy head, not a sprinkle of acne on those chubbly cheeks. A picture is worth more than a thousand of my words, so enough already, here he is.

3. Being in my home town. After living in the US I appreciate the oldness of England, and the charm of the little place where I grew up. It's been around since 1086 or thereabouts, in one form or another, and here in 2010 it is a charming town, full of coffee shops and cute boutiques, a very nice toy store, three Indian restaurants and six pubs. When we moved there back in 1972 most of these store fronts sold or repaired tractors, and there was a weekly pig market that left quite a stink about town, so it has rather come up in the world! My parents thought I was nuts going out in the rain with my camera, but I wanted to share the place with you. Here is Olney, Buckinghamshire for your enjoyment. I spent every Saturday of my teen years working in the chemists shop with the green trim on the left of the first picture, and knew far more than I should have done about the ailments and eccentricities of my neighbours.

 

and 5. Seeing my old friends. On the Sunday before I left the house was filled, my old school friend and her son came over, my best friend and her two girls, her sister and her little boy. Along with my sister and brother and their kids we had a very full house. I'm sure to my parents it seems like just yesterday that we were all little kids, so having our childhood friends and their children all in the house must be a bit of a time warp for them. It was strange and yet satisfying to have all these faces together, and to see our little ones get along. Well, Geekygirl did poke my friend's child in the eye, but apart from that, it was an idyllic reunion.  Just too short. Its good to know that I still have so many lovely friends despite my long absence. Maybe we will have to go back, someday.

Get Packing

Geekygirl and I are going on our very first mother-daughter trip. The two of us are jet-setting over to England for the weekend. Well, we leave on Wednesday and return on Monday, a ridiculously short trip, but with only 15 days of vacation  a year, you do what you can. The occasion is our very first audience with the latest member of the extended Geekyfamily, my brother's brand new baby son.

So, I'm packing. I've packed the important documents;
Passport (UK) and green card (actually a beigey pink color) for me.
Passport (US) for Geekygirl (some day I will get around to getting British ones for the kids too).
Notarized letter from Geekydaddy giving me permission to take our daughter out of the country (to prove I am not kidnapping her from the US to a life of deprivation in the UK).
Copy of Geekygirl's birth certificate, proving that I am indeed her mother despite the fact that we have different last names (oh, the inconveniences of feminism).

I'm working on the hand luggage:
Optimistically, books for me (Kate Atkinson's "when will there be good news", and "Raising Girls" by Gisela Preuschoff). Who wants to bet that they will return home untouched?!
Books for Geekygirl - yet to be selected but will try to avoid hardbacks and board books, since I'm not bringing my pack mule (aka Geekydaddy).
Electronics; Leapster hand held game, mini DVD player, iphone with new "Diego" episodes freshly downloaded, and my toy, the Macbook.
Snacks, sippy cups, wipes, pull ups, colouring supplies, changes of clothing (at least 2, past experience tells me).
Small tacky toys with too many pieces, purchased to be doled out at intervals, scrabbled for underneath airplane seats every ten minutes, eventually lost for good - inducing hysteria and whose purchase will likely be regretted.

That sounds heavy, just writing it down, so may have to be rethought! My tendency to over pack the carry on bags for every eventuality (a pound of dried apricots, anyone?) once caused Geekydaddy to physically crumble, like Black Beauty under the whip, on the gangway while disembarking from a flight to Seattle. Ideas for other (light) things to amuse children on 10 hour flights are always appreciated!

The actual luggage is proving difficult. You see Geekygirl loves her clothes. When at home, she changes constantly. She can have 5 outfits on in the space of an hour. When listening to music she will pause it between songs for a costume change. She likes to mix and match her pajama bottoms with her swimsuit and a pair of wellies, or her ballet leotard with her snow boots, mittens and an old baby bonnet. She has quite a selection of dress up costumes too, but seems to take the most pleasure in "dressing up" in her regular clothes. The result of this is that the contents of her closet are permanently all over the floor, and it drives me nuts. I never know what is clean or dirty, so I vacillate between washing her entire wardrobe every week, or sweeping things from the floor back into the closet only to send her off to preschool in an oatmeal (or worse) encrusted T shirt. While I have been writing this post she has changed four six times already.

If she had her way I would pack everything she owns. I made the mistake once, when packing her bag for a Tahoe weekend, of only putting in the actual number of outfits a normal person would wear in two days. Oh, the horror of a weekend with a three year old girl with "nothing to wear"! Over Christmas, when were were again up in Tahoe in frigid snowy weather I had packed  a large selection, including her summer dresses and ballet gear, but was admonished for forgetting her swimsuit! I think my little fashionista and I have a bit of negotiating to do regarding what we pack.

Me, I only have a couple of outfits appropriate for January in Buckinghamshire, so don't need to put much thought into my packing.

I am very excited about this trip, it has been almost a year since I last saw my parents, siblings and friends. My mum and dad still live in the house we grew up in and there is something so satisfying and circular about seeing my kids asleep in my old room, now a gallery of my teenage pony art, and watching them play with our old toys, especially the fisher price A frame house and its little bobble headed occupants, which enchant our kids just as they did us. As well as the new nephew to meet, my sister and her brood of three gorgeous girls will come over. It sounds corny, but nothing makes us happier than to have the whole family back together in our childhood home. I predict that we may drink a little too much, break out the LP records and find ourselves dancing to Wham, Barry Manilow and Shaking Stevens into the small hours.  My dearest friend from childhood grew up on our street, and her family also still lives there, so we will get to spend some precious time together with her family too.

I'm sad, though, that I'm leaving Geekyboy and his dad at home, I'm going to miss them. Geekyboy is at an age where he will miss me, but not really understand that I'm coming back. He is also completely adorable, affectionate, and grappling with language in such a hilarious way (latest gem "Boobillies" for blueberries), and I want to show him off to everyone. I toyed with the idea of taking them both, but it would have been brutal for all concerned to drag an almost two year old from San Francisco to London and back again to meet a cousin he won't remember the next time he sees anyway.

I'm also apprehensive about traveling as the lone responsible adult in our party, and rather worried about the enhanced security procedures. Still, one advantage of traveling with an almost four year old who potty trained rather late and wears a pull up at night is that she has no qualms about peeing in a diaper, so the "no getting up for the last hour or two of the flight" shouldn't bother her (I, with my post two baby bladder, am another story. Better pack extra pull ups!) I'm worried that the rigid security requirements will cause my sensitive child to get scared and upset, that they will take her blanky away for the last part of the flight, or even worse, the iphone. Better brush up on my "I spy" skills.

I'm sure it will be fine, it really is quite an easy trip and I have done it many times, but I'll be glad when we get there. England, here we come!

A new Geekycousin!

Today my younger brother became a daddy. In my mind he is still fifteen, so I'm struggling to get my head around the fact that he is now an actual fully fledged grown up and father. (He is 33, I hasten to add, well out of his teen years!).

I couldn't have wanted better news this morning. I knew that my sister in law was going to be induced yesterday, so was on tenderhooks waiting for the news. When I sat down at my desk I found an email from my dad, and shortly thereafter got a call and text from my brother, announcing the safe arrival of their son, complete with a beautiful photo of the little cherub nestled next to an "Arsenal" bear (early indoctrination on the part of his dad) that I promptly showed to everyone in the office.

This event warranted a trip to Target at lunch to purchase gifts. I know the thought of new babies and the feel of their tiny clothes often makes seasoned mammas feel broody again, but not me, thank goodness. I enjoyed my shop, I will always love baby clothes,  and I am wishing so much that I could just pop over to the UK to give the little guy a cuddle, but I'm content with adoring other peoples tiny babies from now on.

Tonight though, Geekyboy did seem bigger than ever as I zipped him into his fleecy dinosaur pyjamas. "Other foot", he offered brightly, full of chat, big toddler boy. I snuzzled him in my arms and sniffed his hair. Thinking of his new cousin brought back a memory of his new baby boy smell, spicy, sweet, and just slightly pungent. I buried my nose in his neck, and I think I caught a tiny whiff of it, still lurking there.


It is times like this that I regret the distance between San Francisco and London. Instead of going to visit my new nephew, I have to be content with blogging about him. I wish I could teleport myself back to the UK, bring over dinner for my brother and his wife, hold their new son and introduce him to his cousins, and hear her tell the story of his birth. Maybe I need to persuade her to start a blog. After all, what else can one do with all that lovely UK maternity leave?!