The Journey: How Romantic!

Josefs

This will be two weeks rolled into one. Not because there wasn't much happening, but I shall condense it for you.

The week before last I was busy trying to get as much work academic work done as possible, as we were heading over to the UK for 10 days. Ian had a lot to do too. There was still snow to clear so paths were visible, there was hay to put in the alpaca houses, poo to clear and so on. All regular chores or work for us now. We also went around to one of the neighbouring farms to talk about their garden, as Ian is going to work for them part time for six months. That will help with our income in preparation for Brexit.

A beautiful winter's day

The snow piled up before we left to make way for
somewhere to park a car

Finally we were as ready as we could be and after letting the alpacas out on a beautiful sunny Valentine's day we set off on our travels. It would have been a glorious journey but I was still working on a paper so I didn't see much of the scenery. We got to the airport in plenty of time for our flight and in true Valentine style we got to sit at opposite ends of the plane due to Ryanair's ridiculous random seat allocation policy that they now have. There is no way we are going to put an extra 4€ into their pocket just to ensure we can sit together when it is not beyond them to alter their algorithms to allow groups to sit together. I had reconciled myself to flying with Ryanair again after they changed their policies to treat customers better, but they are proving that leopards do not change their spots so easily and are slipping again in my already low estimation of them. The problem is that from Riga to the north of England there isn't much choice.

Spring coming early. These buds are likely to get frosted, they
usually do if they start too early.

Almost two!

Anyway we arrived to see our daughter with two of our grandsons. One went all shy and hid behind his Mum and the other was having a paddy on the floor. Little ones are such fun. We were given two cards that were made that morning and the youngest recovered from his paddy enough for us to head for the car. The older one decided that Granda was the best and held his hand and insisted on sitting next to him in the car. We were only staying at my daughter's overnight as we headed off to Scotland the next day for a week's holiday with the family.

Snack time on a walk

And our other greeter

Off on a Zog hunt

Not a bad little abode! No we weren't staying here, this is
Kielder castle

The place we were staying in was an old farm cottage with plenty of room. We stayed in the maid's room at the back of the house and the family had the two big bedrooms in the main section of the house. It was really well equipped and even though the weather was not great we didn't get cabin fever because there were enough rooms and corridors to keep the children active. (Link to the place where we stayed)

Following the Zog trail

Sneaky shot by Ian

There were enough dry days or dry enough days to go on a forest walk nearby and a Zog and Gruffalo trail a little further away. There were also two wet walks. One wet walk was for the youngest to splash in puddles while the older two went swimming; he needed a good long sleep to recover his good humour - well as much good humour that a nearly two can muster. He could go from laughing to an all out paddy in seconds but he could also chatter away quite well, despite is young years. He's still lovely though and can give great hugs. The other wet walk was to a nearby cafe for some fresh air. The older two played together nicely and much time was spent reading books, colouring pictures, making paper airplanes (or adults making the elaborate planes and the kids flying them) and occasionally tearing around the house chasing each other. I wouldn't say it was a relaxing time exactly, but it was time well spent with the kids.

And we're off!

Well sometimes! Carrying hay bales builds up the muscles for
such a job as this.

We found a Gruffalo

We finished the holiday off with a trip to one of Ian's brothers. It was quite a family reunion as both brothers were there with their wives, some of their grandchildren and one of our nieces. Later one of our son's and his family turned up to add to the mayhem. They had been on holiday at my daughter's since it is a very scenic part of the country and they were just about close enough for a day visit. Much reminiscing and catching up went on before we headed back to my daughter's with my son's family. We were relegated to the lounge since all the bedrooms were taken, but that was fine with us.

And a fox in the deep, dark wood

Learning to ride a bike

The next day the whole of our once little family assembled with the arrival of my youngest son, his family and my parents. That was a total of 10 adults and 8 children. Quite a group. Once again there was more chatting, more eating and more playing with children or rather holding various conversations with them as they milled around and on the whole getting along. Amidst the family gathering a rather wide hedge was removed from the garden. Not quite sure how many were working and how many supervising though. My daughter-in-law, my mother and I took the kids to the park at one point so they could play out, away from the chainsaws. That wasn't without incident though as my little grandson managed to fall between a gap in a climbing frame hitting his head on a pole on the way down, so he was returned to Mum with a rather nice purple egg on his head. Fortunately he wasn't too traumatised as he was up and scrambling around on the climbing frame within minutes after a cuddle.

Well someone's nailed it!

You are supposed to be asleep little man!

The following morning with a slightly reduced number milling around, a fence was put up in place of the hedge. This brightened up the dining room considerably, as the hedge absorbed so much light and the fence reflected the light much better. After a fish and chip lunch it was time for us to head off home and with the final goodbyes, our daughter and her youngest took us back to the airport. We still weren't sat next to each other on this flight, but at least we weren't at opposite ends of the plane. Ian ended up sat next to a lady who had a cuddly alpaca toy with her and so within about five minutes he was showing her videos of our little alpacas play fighting. I also had an interesting chat with the lady next to me, who was married to a Brit and had just been for an early visit to her son and grandchildren before Brexit happens. She usually visits at Easter time but didn't want to risk not seeing them if the planes weren't operating. We rolled back into our home just before 2am the following morning Latvian time and my throat was beginning to tell me that once again the grandkids had passed some bugs onto me. Bless 'em!

Will you lot sit still!

Okay are all in the picture? Check! All smiling? Near enough!
Our eight grandchildren

Such style!

It was nice to come back to a home that wasn't absolutely freezing. Our neighbour had heated the apartment for us so it took the chill off. At least it meant that I didn't have to light the fire straight away in the morning. It's good to have good neighbours.