Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 16/17

Fall Feelings 2016

It's now obviously very far from fall, being so close to Christmas.  I loved this fall so much and have to--however belatedly--remember some of the beautiful days we spent outside in the crunchy leaves and golden sunshine.  Eliza asks every day for her red jacket, though it's too cold for it now.  That's how I feel about autumn, too, I want it to linger on and on. 

We spent most days outdoors--it was truly the most amazing fall we've had in England.  It was all the best of a New England fall only in London.  Thus better than either of the others alone, in my opinion!  Primrose Hill and Regent's Park were almost daily haunts.  The boys had leave wars and Eliza collected bouquets everywhere we went.  It was a dry fall so the leaves stayed lovely and crunchy for much longer than usual.  I caught a leaf or two falling from a tree on camera, feeling like a wildlife photographer.  I was so elated when I actually got one in my visual range, it was embarrassing. 

I was inspired by everything around me and brought my camera with me at all times.  I loved being in the zone and having time to play.  Being creative is important to me.

England doesn't go overboard on decorations for any holiday like we're used to in America.  The extent of autumnal decorations is a gourd here and there.  Also the roses are still blooming.  So it's basically the perfect balance.

Eliza and I spontaneously were in the neighborhood of Selfridges and had just heard about their eclair donuts in the food hall.  (Seriously--incredible.)  While we were there I was overwhelmed to see Christmas already up in force all over the store.  The dessert case had one tiny nod to the fact that it was still the beginning of October.  I read after that Selfridges claimed the "prize" for being the first Christmas window display in the world of the year.  I am not okay with decorating for Christmas quite that early, though we have been converted to decorating soon after Halloween.

Our pen pals sent us treat bags from America with Halloween candies unavailable here.  We love being spoiled!

Egypt Water and End (4)

 

The evening after Karnak and Luxor temples Eddy crawled into bed really early and fell asleep.  I asked Collin to take Eliza and Davy to the night time light show at the temple and let Eddy sleep.  A few hours later Eddy woke up sick and so began a long night, day, night, day, night, etc.  He got some terrible intestinal infection that lasted over ten days, poor kid.  That first long night I was hopeful that it was some minor food poisoning that he would get out of his system and be weak but better by the daytime.  I thought perhaps we could postpone or eliminate non-essentials from our original itinerary.  Not to be, he was far too violently ill every few minutes to be moved more than two feet from the bathroom.  I will try to not include any more graphic details than that--your imagination has already done plenty I'm sure.  (It was bad.)

Anyway, we had to scrap the rest of the trip and figure out how to cope with the reality.  Collin kept Davy and Eliza busy and entertained--out on a boat on the Nile and lots of swimming.  I think they had a great time--likely a more enjoyable and relaxing time than if we had been out in the hot desert seeing tombs and funerary temples!  Davy did seem disappointed when he realized we wouldn't see king Tut's tomb after all, so we have devised a new itinerary for "the next time we visit Egypt!"  (Sorry, Collin.)

On the Nile boat the kids got to drive the motor boat and enjoy a breeze.

Eliza still remembers the "Horus eye pool" as one of her favorite parts of Egypt.  They would wrap up in towels like mummies and lay on the chairs to dry.

Eddy resting in between episodes.  I had come prepared for some stomach issues and had some electrolyte packets to add to bottled water to keep him hydrated from the beginning.  He also was willing to drink tea.  I think if we hadn't been able to keep him minimally hydrated in the early stages he would have been in much worse shape when the sickness lasted such a long time and he had to cope with some very hard hours of travel to even get home.

Eddy is the absolute sweetest boy.  Even in the middle of his fever and yucky sickness he was patting my back and stroking my face.  I got to enjoy the view of the Nile at sunset for a few minutes from the hotel balcony.

When we couldn't stay at the hotel any longer (we extended one day to give Eddy a little more time to recover enough to travel) we had to move on.  Apparently, according to the tour company who was helping us, no flights were available from Luxor to Cairo last minute.  The fastest way home was to drive four hours through the desert to the Red Sea, take a flight to Cairo, an hour to the hotel, an hour back to the airport to London, then home.  That's a hard day even if you feel great, so Eddy was a real trooper to get through all those things with no complaint (other than wearing a diaper--he was not happy about that).  I carried him and Collin carried all the stuff.  It's incredible what our bodies can handle when they need to and God is strengthening.

One of the travel buses (Eddy laying down on the seats so you can't see him):

We didn't have a full day to hang out by the Red Sea per our original plan, but the tour company did figure a way for us to have an hour to rest before catching our late flight to Cairo.  They checked us into a hotel for that short time (the resorts own all the beachfront property I guess) so the healthy kids could play and Eddy could lay down.  He insisted he could put his feet in the water first and he did with all the energy he could muster.  For literally one minute before he had to be back in a bathroom and then bed.  Eliza was expecting the Red Sea to be red, so she still talks about how it was actually blue.  Davy spotted a crab and got all the way in, using all those swimming lessons.

The kids loved the mango juice and the Fanta and Coke they were allowed to drink.  Also the fries.  We have no idea what caused Eddy's sickness, as the rest of us were fine and all ate and drank the same careful things.  Poor boy was just super unlucky.  He had to take an entire week plus a few days off school, had to go to the doctor three times and the A&E once (he actually loved the ambulance part of the adventure!), and take lots of yucky medicine.  He stayed in bed without me having to tell him so for days on end, finally being able to nibble on some foods and tons of liquids to gain strength back.  He was on the toilet more often than off.  He stayed in one pair of pajamas or another for almost two weeks.  He lost a lot of weight--all the rest of his baby softness, so so sad to this mom!  His mind was still very alert even when his body was tired.  He was listening to books, especially Harry Potter 1 over and over and doing lots of maths problems in his head and in workbooks once we were home.  He felt well enough to play Lego for a few minutes and rode in the stroller for that whole week.  I'm sure I babied him a little tiny bit but he was so sweet and kind during it all--he deserved it!

Collin cheered up Eddy by making an Egyptian flag crepe.  Eddy could get one tiny bite down but mostly just wanted juice, of course.  And we came home with the chips--love the Arabic but had no idea what they were until we opened them!  The picture showed some sort of cheese . . .

(Bonus: while we were homebound for the week + I reorganized everything in between helping Eddy.  I found this old National Geographic map of Egypt and Karnak temple I'd saved for years and apparently moved to London with us in some envelop of papers.  Davy enjoyed studying it.  Even with Eddy's unfortunate sickies I think I'd love to go back to Egypt someday and finish our tour.  Davy and I agree we want to go the Valley of the Kings to see the tombs and the temple of Hatshepsut, then continue on a cruise up the Nile to Aswan, then to Abu Simbel.  Ten years from now, we'll talk about it again!)