Home

First, I wanted to blog a couple more favorite pictures from Cadzand. Here, Olivia has a fantastic time being photographed and adored in her first-time pigtails.

Holland is a wonderful bicycling country, and we got out once as a group to go on a picnic. We rented a cool double-seater to carry Olivia and Lyra, and on the way home, against all odds, with wobbly heads and trying not to be leaned upon by each other, they both fell asleep.

On our way home, the three of us stopped in Bruges for a couple of nights before meeting Kate in Brussels for the Eurostar ride through the Chunnel back to London. Bruges is a lovely city full of historic buildings and joy-of-joys, horse-drawn carriages - FULL of them! Olivia had a hey-day watching them come and go. She signed by patting her bottom and pointing at the horses that she really wanted to sit on them. I'm keeping my eyes open for a pony-ride now!
Less to do directly with Olivia, we also brought home a ton of belgian chocolate - yum!
After less than a week at home, we all spent a week in Edinburgh where Bob had some work to do. Olivia and mama kept busy going to the playground, the Botanical Gardens which has a nice waterfall in the rock garden (just ask Olivia), and the zoo, where Olivia saw many favourite animals she'd never seen in real life before. The zebras were a big hit, as were the rock-hopping penguins and the gibbons. The pygmy hippos were a little scary for some reason, whereas she _really_ wanted to get in to the rhinoceros' enclosure to play with their big blue ball...

But now we're home for the long haul, which is a comfortable feeling. Preparing food in our own kitchen, reading all Olivia's books, seeing mama & Olivia's friends, welcoming papa home for lunch in the middle of the day, sleeping in our own bed, making plans for Olivia's _second_ birthday next month - WOW! What a joy to be Olivia's mama and papa and together at home at last.