Empty Promises

Another three weeks goes by - maybe more! Is it more? Probably - and no blogging. I will reintroduce blogging into my routine but I can't seem to find the time for anything at the moment. I blame the weather and the fact that all my 'spare time' seems to be taken up with scraping mud off my boots and drying out wet clothes! I am simply not used to all of this rain - when is it going to stop?

When we are at home I love the country life we lead. I am a country girl, I was born and brought up a country girl. I am comfortable in wellies, I don't mind the wind and rain (in moderation), I'm not scared of the dark or creaky old houses. In fact, I would rather live without street lights if I had the choice. I can drive a quad bike and reverse a horse box - and when I came back to Dorset I am coming home, this is where I belong.

However, what is with all the mud? Am I loosing my hardy, rural tolerance? My Mum and I have a horse and although it is mainly hers now we are away so often, when home I am fully involved in the day to day care of our beloved Charlie (and Horace and Shettie the ponies). This is where the mud comes in. Let me give you some examples of what we are dealing with on a daily basis at the moment...

And that's you seeing it on a good day! The sun is shining for the first time in weeks!

I am moaning for effect really. I do realise that coping with a little mud, however annoying, is nothing but an annoyance and not a serious problem at all and despite this relentless British winter, this is what I wake up to every morning at the moment...

And this is why I brave the mud to put out the hay...

I have said it before and I will say it again, how lucky am I to have this for half the time...

And this for the other half...

We are missing Angus though. He passed his exam by the way and is now a full, bona fide captain! I am so proud I could just burst.

Insomnia...

... is a terrible thing but at least it gives me an hour or so to catch up on some blogging. I feel a bit like I have been missing in action for the past month. Blogging has been on my 'to-do' list for weeks and I never intended to take this long break but life happens.

Since I last touched base we have flown back to the UK and had a fabulous (if not exhausting) holiday catching up with friends and family. As always there are so many people we haven't managed to see yet but Coco and I are still going to be around for a while longer so we hope to rectify that over the next couple of months. We have seen cousins and siblings, we have had two more Christmases, we have walked a lot and ridden horses a lot. We have shared curries and roasts, fish and chips and bottles of bubbles, we have laughed but not cried (there will be no tears on holiday!). We have seen The Kings Speech and La Boheme (Angus's first ever opera experience!). We have dressed up as pirates and walked the South West Coastal Path - not all of it and not in our pirate costumes I hasten to add! We haven't slept in the same bed for more than two nights and we have wracked up the miles, but we have had fun - such fun.

During the last week however we have attempted to plant our feet firmly on the ground. Coco has started nursery (very strange, she is growing up so fast!), I am attempting to get into a proper working routine, we have unpacked our suitcases at last and Angus has been revising like crazy for his final Master's exam (which is today by the way - hence the insomnia). Last time I mentioned the Master Exam in my blog someone asked what it was and what it meant, well, it is the final step for Angus. It is basically his captains qualification and it is a really big deal. He has worked so hard for this and is so ready to become a captain so I need everyone to keep everything crossed for him today. Please xxx

Whatever happens, we are now about to enter a more settled phase for a couple of months. Angus goes back to work, Coco and I have a normal routine for a while and oversee the building of our new house, although there is still a way to go! This is the situation so far...

We get to play catch up, on sleep (I can honestly say that although it has been wonderful, the last month has left us exhausted) on our health (we have all had ongoing illness from which it is time to recover) on the fitness plans (don't these always go haywire on holiday? plus it is so cold over here and I have been ill and I can't face running) and on saving some money (now Coco is at nursery I can really get the work coming in - hopefully!)

So that is a whistle-stop tour of what we have been up to. I am looking forward to catching up with everyone over the next few days, I will keep you posted on Angus's news and I promise it won't be as long before I log in again. Speak soon!

And again...

...we are packing up and on the move. Although I still find it VERY tedious, I am getting better and better at it. We don't fly until Friday and I am pretty much there (how organized!), I just need to pick up a couple of things tomorrow, give the house a clean and we are good to go. I do also have a shed load of work to get done before the weekend (which I should be doing right now!) so this is a short and sweet post today mainly to say 'hi' to all of my new followers! I can not tell you how happy I am to have you onboard - welcome.

The reason I have increased my following is thanks to the very lovely, blogging genius that is Maxabella, who gave me my very first blog shout out. I had taken myself off to bed with laptop in hand to have a quick catch up in Google Reader before going to sleep and stumbled across my blog getting a mention in Maxabella Loves (I have said it before and I will say it again - check her out, she is inspiring). I was so excited I skipped, whooping like a child, into the sitting room to share the good news with Angus. I was touched that he understood why this was such a momentous moment for me and we celebrated with a quick smooch!

I started blogging for my family and friends at home. Travelling all the time means that the ones we love miss out on so much of our lives, and I realise that this is especially hard when there are children involved. They change so quickly - almost daily! I had heard of 'blogging' and set myself up with a blog having absolutely no idea that there was a whole community out there to be explored. Although I still primarily think of this site as our little online diary of our adventures, I am trying to start thinking like a blogger; what do people want to read about? I find myself making mental notes as we go about our day to day lives of things that I want to tell people or get others opinions on. Invariably, I have forgotten all of these mental notes once I sit down at the computer but I will work on rectifying this problem!

Basically, my blog brings me immense joy. I get satisfaction from writing it, I find the concept of putting our adventures out into the blogosphere fascinating, I love it that family and friends at home can keep tabs on what we are up to and how we are doing and I adore the fact that I have an expanding list of followers. So I suppose I just wanted to say thank you for dropping by! Bear with me, I am still learning and always open to suggestions. This year I hope to become a much more accomplished blogger and may even improve the design of my site so it isn't quite so... purple!

Right back to the work and then hopefully I can enjoy our last couple of days of sunshine before heading home to the chilly UK.

Here is a little clip of Coco's kitchen picnic earlier. She was at the table but decided that eating raisins on the kitchen rug was far more appealing.

What's around the corner?

Happy New Year to All!

I am absolutely buzzing with excitement today. I have read so many damning articles about the concept of 'New Year' over the past few days and I'm sorry, but I love it; I love the tradition that is New Year. Sometimes I feel that I need a defined moment in time when I can reflect, assess and adjust. I can shake myself off, dust away the cobwebs and energise. I want to be told that this is the time to take a good, hard look at myself and decide where there are changes that need to be made. I actually enjoy setting myself aims and objectives and I accept that these may need to change and I won't feel a failure if they aren't all achieved. The whole concept of new beginnings is exciting for me; not because the old was bad, far from it, but because you can keep evaluating your life and making the good even better.

We had a very sober New Year's Eve. Angus was working so Coco and I stayed on the boat (I was actually extremely excited about a night on the boat!). I haven't slept in a top bunk for years and Coco never sleeps in our bed so a top bunk and Coco cuddles all night was delicious. I am suffering a little this evening though as I was completely paranoid that she would get out of her grow-bag, crawl over my sleeping body and crash to the cabin floor from a great height. She didn't of course but although I loved our night of camping out at the boat I got very little sleep!

Once Coco was in bed, Angus and I sat and talked dreams, aspirations and goals for the coming year and our future in general. There was nothing new, it was all stuff we had discussed plenty of times before, but to have a little focus, to be able to draw on the past and plan for the future was so exciting. There is obviously so much we can't guarantee, who knows what will happen and how things will turn out but there are an awful lot of wheels in motion as we go into 2011 and if just a few of these wheels were to take us down the roads we are hoping they might then we have one massive year ahead of us!

We didn't actually make it until midnight, but that didn't matter, that really is just symbolic. We had achieved all we wanted to achieve from the ritual that is New Year's Eve; we had reminisced, we had planned and plotted and we went to bed positive, hopeful and happy (with a game of Trivial Pursuit thrown in for good measure). As I lay there and watched the reflection of the lights on the water through the porthole, the surrounding boat horns tooted to signal the coming of the New Year on the strike of twelve. Whilst listening to Angus's slow sleepy breathing coming from the bunk below, I was able to kiss Coco's soft, milky cheek and feel completely content with life and where it was heading.

Today was windy. Warm and windy. Perfect for brisk, beach walks and enough of a breeze to help really get those wheels turning!

The Best Bits of 2010!

Seeing as we are all a little under the weather today (well actually Coco is pretty much better apart from a lingering cough - but she has kindly shared her lurgi with both Angus and me) and we are at serious risk of becoming 'snowed-in' if the piles of tissues decided to avalanche, I need to cheer myself up a bit. It is the end of 2010 and time to reflect. I am already formulating my list of resolutions which I will share with you at a later date but before that I would like you to join me on a jaunt down memory lane for a quick game of 'Best Bits of 2010'!


The New Year started perfectly shared with old friends and new at a party hosted by my dear friend who is quite literally the hostess with the mostess. This would be my first 'best bit' but really, although it deserves a mention, I think it really belongs in 2009. Despite loving January's snow filled fun I was happy to fly to Antigua at the end of the month after a long, nine weeks away from Angus.

My first 'best bit' was the 2010 Superbowl. Although the match was in Miami, the hoards of people spilled over to fill the streets of Fort Lauderdale and what a crowd it was! The New Orleans Saints were playing and so the general theme of the event seemed to be Mardi Gras - the colour, the people, the atmosphere - it was all amazing and although I don't know anything about American Football it was fabulous to witness the phenomenon that is Superbowl!


All our visitors were a huge highlight of 2010. When you are away from home, having friends and family come and share your life abroad with you makes a big difference. First of all there was Marcus who had to squeeze into our little studio apartment in Miami. It did feel like we were students camping out - with a baby! Then Mums and Peter came for a couple of weeks relaxation in Antigua. We had an amazing time but my 'best bit' was being able to share my first Mothers Day as a Mummy with my Mummy. Then Jennifer, my Mother-in-Law, came to enjoy the sunshine and boy, did we natter! Our next visitors were my Dad and Christine who managed to squeeze in a week over the famous Antigua Classics Regatta and it was lovely to have them (although they nearly didn't make it home due to the cloud of ash covering the UK after the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull).

During a trip home in May, we spent time with family and friends, all of which was as brilliant as always but the highlight for me was a picnic at Wardour Castle with mother-in-law and sisters-in-law and a family weekend at the end of May where our little crawler fell madly in love with her eldest cousins who were wonderfully adoring and attentive.

We had a fabulous summer in New England and it is definitely one of my new favourite places, I absolutely loved it. The scenery, our little house, our new friends, the beaches, our visitors, my new body, the Jack Johnson concert, hurricane, boat rides, Boston, Newport, Maine... it was all one big best bit really but there was a weekend that stands out as being the very, very best bit and that was our weekend in Maine for Coco's 1st Birthday. Such a happy, memorable time was had by all. 

Another summer highlight was Coco and my two week vacation back to the UK to see one of my closest friends getting married. The whole week was terrific starting with the hen party and ending with the most magnificent wedding.

Autumn in the UK was just perfect. We had our lovely cottage, Coco's Christening, time with friends, Angus's birthday, the Eden Project Half Marathon, noodle nights, and loads of time with family and friends - an overall best bit!


Our year is drawing to an end in Florida. We have had a superb, if not a little chilly, time here over the past few months. Coco's swimming is improving tremendously, we have managed to have lots and lots of family time which is a rare treat, we have made yet more lovely friends and found some beautiful places. Coco continues to bring us so much joy and is a 'best bit' everyday with new words and an ever developing sense of humour. Her singing voice leaves a lot to be desired sounding at the moment as if it is a call to prayer, but she is young so all hope is not lost! She eats like a horse (although she doesn't yet use a spoon - I'm hoping that will come fairly soon!) and climbs with such energy and bravery for such a little person. She has all of her teeth and such a lot of gorgeous, blond hair. She has changed so much in the last year and we are so excited to see all of the changes that 2011 will bring. 

One of the over all highlights this year was the day we heard that we had got our house. Next year we move into our own home, we will see Antigua again, we will continue to travel around the world but will come back to our own little house, with our own bed and our own things. 2011 holds such promise; Angus will hopefully get his Masters ticket, Coco will turn two, three of our closest friends are having their first babies and who knows what else? It is just so exciting! So many more best bits to look forward to!

What a great Christmas!

Ah, I can't believe it is all over so quickly! Where has Christmas gone? Angus is back at work, we are into the old routine and I am even contemplating taking the tree down as it just seems out of place now that all of the festivities are over. There isn't the fill-in of festivities between Christmas and New Year that we have at home. Here in the US, once Christmas Day is over, things quickly return to normal.

I'm not going to lie to you, I was feeling a little sad about Christmas. We love our families and adore it when we all spend time together. When we are all with each other you can guarantee massive amounts of laughter, stupidity and fun. To miss out on all the hilarity seemed so upsetting but I have to say, the idea of missing out was much worse than the reality. Don't get me wrong everyone at home, we would have loved to have been with you, but actually we had a lovely Christmas in Florida too. The biggest disappointment was the fact we missed the first white Christmas in my lifetime. All those prayers asking for nothing but snow for Christmas and then the one year we are away there is bucket loads of the stuff. Next year I am going to insist on Christmas in Lapland or somewhere equally as cold where I can count on sledging and snowmen.

When Coco's temperature soared on Christmas Eve (39.5!!) we thought that Christmas was going to be a washout or even involve a trip to A & E, however, the miracle that is Calpol and the fact that we have the bravest baby in the world meant that a wonderful time was still enjoyed by all. After present wrapping and stocking stuffing, Angus and I curled up to watch the original Miracle on 34th Street with a bottle of Baileys and a delectable feast of tasty nibbles before hitting the sack, full and happy. This was  our first Christmas together as a family. Last year Angus had been away working so we were determined this was going to be a special one.

I think I was awake before Coco, brimming with excitement and as soon as there was the slightest murmur from the little-ins room I was in there like a shot. All three of our stockings were opened with absolute joy, and Coco was very obviously over the moon at the realisation that she had some new toys. With travelling around all the time, she is a little light on toys and was in desperate need of some new entertainment.

It was fresh and sunny so we decided to hit the beach for a bracing walk, coffee and croissants. Having mainly previously experienced rural Christmases I loved the fact that we were sharing our Christmas morning with all of these unknown people. The beach front was quieter than normal but still had the early morning buzz of joggers, holiday makers, last nights revellers, roller-bladers and dog walkers. Every one had a smile on their face and there were constant calls of "Merry Christmas" between both friends and strangers.

Home for presents and Skyping - I have said it before and I'll say it again - Skype is amazing! How can we be 4000 miles away and Coco was able to open her first present in front of an audience at home? It still blows my mind.

Nobody should be alone at Christmas and if you have the power to avoid this happening then you should. The thing with boats is that there always has to be somebody on board so that person was inevitably going to spend Christmas alone unless, of course, you take Christmas to them - which we did! A full Christmas dinner (although we opted for beef instead of turkey) on the boat so that everyone could join in.

What a fabulously brilliant day - an excellent first family Christmas!

Our Neighbourhood

Check it out - it is a whole different reality...

The play park is pretty normal but lovely and just a couple of minutes walk from our home. How lucky are we?! The funniest thing is the fact that everyone comes here in golf carts! Nobody walks in Fort Lauderdale, you either jog or drive or, in our neighbourhood you drive around in a golf cart like it is some kind of holiday resort! It is very funny.

This is one of the less splendid houses - yes really.

A view of the canal.

A view from the bridge, everyone appears to have a private jetty!

And some of those jetty's have some pretty big private day cruisers on them!

They go to town on the decorations on this side of the Atlantic!

I think the Christmas decorations look so funny alongside the palm trees.

If I was to choose any house around here - this is my favourite.

Just in case you were wondering, as Coco and I walked around taking photos, I was wearing a t-shirt covered in hummus, I haven't worn make-up in at least four days and Coco had yogurt around her mouth from lunchtime because she won't let me wipe her face at the moment without screaming the house down! So we may be living amongst some of the most well groomed houses and people in Florida but we still have a lot to learn!

I hope this bit of sunshine helps to defrost some of you guys back in the UK?