PRIMROSE HILL

this weekend we finally got to have some london fun. finally. i persuaded nick to get on a bike(!!) and we cycled along regents canal, through regents park and up a rather steep hill to primrose hill. it wasn't quite the brooklyn heights view that we love, but not bad london, not bad. it was a pretty glorious day out too. if you peer in close you might be able to spot st pauls cathedral and the london eye....its like a wheres wally challenge (or waldo, if you please!)

FAMILY JOY

we've been back in london 6 weeks now! six whole weeks! in actual fact it feels longer, its amazing how easy it is to slip back into london living again. we are up and running over here, with nearly all our boxes unpacked (just those last two stubborn boxes left), i have started my new job and oli boy is back to his old self, sleeping in his new bathroom sink and he even gets to try out his new garden this weekend!

the real joy of being back in the uk is being closer to our family.

way back in may my brother, will, and sister in law, kate, gave birth to a beautiful little baby girl. our gorgeous niece was a little miracle, an answer to prayer, and that is exactly what she is called, arabella, which means 'answered prayer'. 

we had the longest 3 month wait to see her, but finally a few weekends ago we got a train up to sheffield and spent the weekend with them. it was so good to get out of london and the stress of finding somewhere to live and relax t'up north. we had slow mornings catching up, trips out for coffee and cake with inspiring conversations, lunchtime picnics and evening movies. and the cherry on the cake that weekend was doing it all with arabella, her cuddles and smiles were just the best. isn't she just the cutest?!

you can see more of beautiful arabella on kate's blog 'seasons'

BAHAMA-MAMA

the last leg of our journey was to the bahamas with some friends on our first ever cruise ship. 

the first day we spent on a private island snorkelling in the clear bahamian seas where we spotted a squid. nick and i promptly swam away from it, whilst our floridian friends followed the squid and found a manta ray! it was then we realised that our natural habitat will always be cold rainy england and not the exotic seas of the bahamas!

the second day we spent in nassau, the capital of the bahamas where we met michael, our local tour guide who took us for a spin in his people carrier, let us taste sapodilla (tastes like pears and sweet potatoes!), found some sea urchins for us to hold and then dropped us off at atlantis. we quickly realised that we didn't have enough cash to get us back to the ship....so in true atlantis style we decided to make our fare home with a 25c that nick found in a slot machine. so with several 1c bets we managed to make $8, our cab ride back to the ship!

N'ORLEANS

next stop was new orleans, which, with a southern accent is 'nor-lans'. we stayed in the french quarters which is actually very spanish, with quaint cobbled streets and elaborate balconies. we thought the pace in chicago was slow, but new orleans was a whole different level! it was so lovely to relax, wonder around the french quarters, eat poboys (basically a sandwich on a french baguette! we found the BEST poboys, killer poboys, on our first night in the back of this dark bar. in fact every poboy we had after that first one was just not the same!), eat beignets (pastry with a tonne of icing sugar on top) at cafe du monde, listen to some great jazz, explore the mansions of the garden district (from a tram and at night, hence the quality of the photos!), and feed alligators marshmallows and hot dogs, obviously!