Travel With Kids: Paris | Sneak Peak

Paris.
#comingsoon { I'm starting to sort them. Finally. Woohoo!! }

Have you travelled with your kids? 
Tell me about your favourite journey! 

Amber. XO

Love In Motion | When Our Kids Get Sick

I first published this post in August last year. 

And a little after that; we realised that Buster didn't just have a virus, that it was a bit more complicated. We were in the lead up to moving out of our house and going overseas, and B ended up in hospital for five days. To say it was a stressful period is an understatement; he was sick for a full month, and he only left hospital and started getting better mere days before we were due to fly. This week I've been reminded of that period because the same issues have risen their head for him; he's not been well enough to return to school and we've been doing the rounds of doctors and x-rays and ultrasounds again. This time, with extra knowledge, he's already feeling a bit better, and I feel confident that he'll be able to go back to school next week. But it's been a challenge!

And my mind was drawn back to this post. 

I looked for it, and I liked the message... the message of gratitude no matter our circumstances. 

So I'm sharing it with you again today.

Midnight and 4am hospital visits? Not on our usual schedule.

And not fun. Obviously. 

But, at the same time, there is nothing like mild sickness to bring great gratitude for the health that your children usually enjoy and that you realise you take for granted. 

Today I feel humbled. And grateful.

Grateful to have two strong boys who usually fly through the house full of energy & bounce off the walls and each other. Strong-wills and strong-emotions and strong-bodies. Who challenge my mind and my heart and my sanity (at times ;) but who have the world at their feet and their good health to take them on the journey. 

And I'm grateful for a public medical system where I can take my children to the emergency department in the middle of the night, see a doctor immediately and know that I won't be receiving a huge bill at the end of the visit. 

I'm grateful for my family and friends who have gone out of the way to be there for us at odd hours and with odd requests and who have extended their love.

I feel grateful for my husband and the life we have created together. The family we have built. 

I am lucky. My boys will be okay. They both have a virus, but it's playing out a bit differently for each of them, so they have conflicting issues but hopefully we're through the worst of it.

Being a mama is amazing.heartbreaking.hilarious.hard.beautiful.exhausting and a million other adjectives that my sleep-deprived brain can't come up with right now. It is ever-changing. It is love in motion. 

To all of the mamas and papas and families who are struggling with their children's { or their own } health right now, in both big and small ways, I send you love, strength and compassion. May we all find a moment to stop and feel gratitude for the small blessings, honour ourselves, and then share our love with those who need it. Amber. XO

196/365 Woah - Gluten Free Jam Doughnut Alert!

Believe it or not { yes, we may just happen to be listening to the theme song from The Great American Hero in bed right now, aren't you?! ;) } after more than two years eating gluten-free KT just ate his first jam doughnut! A GLUTEN-FREE JAM DOUGHNUT!

Oh YEAH! Happy days.

Small pleasures I know but when you're eight, and you spent a good portion of the past year perusing insanely attractive bakeries through Europe unable to eat pretty much any of it { macarons aside; God bless macarons!! } then finding a bakery with gf doughnuts is damn exciting. 

Byron locals; have you checked out the Holy Grain Bakery? It's near the organic butchers on Johnson Street. And the fresh bread is good too. And the banana bread. Yay!

Is anyone in your family gluten-free, dairy-free or something-else-free?

Let's talk family dietary requirements in the comments below, on fb or twitter :)

Amber. XO

Paris Baby! The Sneak Peak Post

I've been talking about posting more of our travel photos recently, specifically some images from Paris. 

But I have a few boring techie delays. Namely that I need to sort out all of my drives and sync them to my new Macbook Pro. Which is basically code for: the Paris shots aren't on my computer! Boo.

Luckily, I do have some to show you - a few shots that I had posted to another blog while we were away but that most of my Rainbow Mama readers [ yes you, hellooooooooo! ] probably haven't seen yet! 

I miss Paris a lot... 

It feels a bit like some grand adventure I must have dreamt right now, sitting back in my own house here in Australia. But it wasn't a dream :) And I'm going to love revisiting Paris along with you when I finally put all of the images together. 

But until then - enjoy this sneak peak! 

Amber. XO

What's YOUR favourite city? x

p.s. I have a new facebook like button at the bottom of each post! 

Can you see it's lil' blue self there? Please click on it and share the love :) 

Merci beaucoup! xx

141/365 Tracing Memories Along Metro Tracks | Paris

My one and only 'souvenir' from our six weeks in Paris... 

I especially love when the boys and I trace journeys and locations and stories across the tracks. Until my tea goes cold. Which is bad. But good at the same time :)

Favourite tea cup aside, I have a drillion-squillion photos from Paris that I really should edit and post. Do you want to see them? XO

80/365 Cheeky Devils

Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart.

In my rush to get the boys and myself packed, ready and out the door early on Friday morning I - gasp - forgot to grab my charging-overnight camera battery... Eeeek. So, a day with no camera means (seeing that I'm the only one setting the rules to this #photoaday2014 challenge :) that I get to post a cute photo from last week in Tasmania. Look at these two cheeky devils!! This hall of the museum will stay in my mind for a long time because it was while we were in there that Hug voiced his personal decision to return to being vegetarian. Unlike his friend here, the Tasmanian Devil. They actually have a sample of Tassie Devil poo on display - the thing that looks just like a stick to the left of this image - but close up? Close up it is full of bones and echidna spikes and... teeth! #ouch :)

73/365 The Kangaroo Kid

First things first. I did not take this photo. But it IS my choice for today's #photoaday2014 :D

This is 10 year old Hug's work. I don't think I realised what an up-and-coming photographer I had on my hands until I saw this shot! Oh, to be 10 and so talented :)

Having travelled north from Hobart we are now staying in the Tamar Valley just outside of Launceston in a quirky little faux-Swiss-village called Grindelwald. We have out own little Swiss chalet (you can see a few more images on my instagram) and a run of animals at our doorstep; masses of wild rabbits, ducks and just on the other side of a little fence - kangaroos! 

Hug has been asking to use my camera, and he's obviously got a natural eye for composition as well as the patience needed to capture great animal images. Now to find some kids photography competitions for him. Does anyone have any recommendations? x

72/365 All Quiet In The Court

Hug channeling his inner-judge at the Penitentiary Chapel Courtrooms, Hobart.

62/365 Skydive Splashdown

Our new digs has a pretty sweet high-rise / sky-rise pool.

Home for the next four days :) Helloooo Sydney!!

29/365 Growth

We are home. 

Well, not exactly "home" just yet :) but we are back in Australia and staying with family for the next few weeks. The boys are so excited to see everyone. We are ALL so excited to see everyone but I know how much they have been looking forward to this moment. 

I didn't foresee how strongly they would feel the call of home. That's been one of the key differences of travelling with them at 8 and 10 compared to when they were babies. Their connections here. The things they have missed.

And coming home... I start to see the growth. The changes that have happened over the past few months. Not just the height and the different pattern of teeth. But them. They are changed. They've been around the world; they've seen Shakespeare performed at the Globe, slept at Oxford University, been to book festivals and theme parks and countless science museums. They've climbed the Eiffel Tower and seen the sun set over Prague. They have conquered the Tube, the Metro and the high-speed ICE trains. They have swum in the Persian Gulf, eaten Yum Cha with throngs of Chinese New Year shoppers and ordered their own macarons at Paul in Paris. In French. They've experienced so many new things. And their ever-forming minds will continue to expand as they reflect on these memories.

It's a beautiful thing. This combination of appreciation for the familiar and also for the adventure. I look forward to watching them unfold and grow even more over the next few weeks as we settle and slow. Like the masses of juicy mangoes and this beautiful pineapple growing in Nanni and Poppa's garden. Ripening :)

28/365 Gamelan

Hug readily accepting an invitation to play one of the traditional Balinese Gamelan instruments on our last day in Bali. 

25/365 Alang Alang

One of the boy's favourite things at Green Camp was learning some of the fun (nature-based) games that our Indonesian leaders played as children. Like playing Papaya leaf trumpets, popping leaves, weaving coconut palms and making these Alang Alang grass 'flyers'. 

Green Camp at The Green School, Bali.

24/365 Yurt Life

Green Camp. Green School, Bali.

19/365 Singapore

Saturday night in Singapore's Chinatown a week before Chinese New Year.

Oh my... now THIS was an experience!  

15/365 In Transit

Milan Malpensa airport. Italy. 

10/365 Brotherhood

Playing Shops. 

Campo de Fiori, Roma.

You played for hours. Selling each other an assortment of books, pots, pans and the toys you've gathered along our travels. There is nothing else your daddy and I love more than hearing you happily immersed in imaginary play together. 

6/365 Universal

Santucci's celestial sphere from the Medici collection at Museo Gallileo in Florence. 1593.

A multitude of golden layers representing the pathways of the stars and planets circling around an earth-centric Universe. 

With half a day left in Florence we headed to the Basilica di Santa Croce to see the tombs of  Michelangelo and Galileo Galilei. Sadly it was closed for Befana which was disappointing but gave us a little extra time at the Museo Gallileo (and Institute of Science) which we choose over the Uffizi. We are all  feeling a little galleried-out post-Paris!

Museo Gallileo. Istituto e Museo di Storia Della Scienza. Piazza dei Giudici 1. Florence. Italy.

p.s. The museum also has a comprehensive virtual museum and portal for all things Galileo, if you want to learn more without actually going to Florence. I've added the link. x

4/365 Lucca

Bike riding around the Medieval city walls of Lucca. Italy. Super-fun :)

The Natural History Museum | London

I would love this to be a post about all the cool things kids can see and do at the London Natural History Museum. 

But it isn't.

Because, really, no matter how much you plan - or how far you travel - some things don't work out as planned. 

In the lead up to our trip, I'd poured over the website and romanticised all of the wonderful learning that would take place... Ahhhhhh! Sweet, educational bliss ;)

What I didn't factor in was life.
And jetlag.
And that one child who gets grumpy.
And the other one who doesn't like having to be in the same room as stuffed animals.
And everyone being hungry when we arrived.
Parents included.

Yes.

You know those days that make you feel like old Atlas here? ;)

So, all I can tell you is that there is a really cool escalator at the entrance to the Red Zone. (There are also Blue, Green and Orange zones but we didn't get to them) and a lot of taxidermy downstairs * See above note re. stuffed animals.

And that there is lots of information about rocks upstairs and then what I personally thought was a cool timeline of the History of Earth from the Big Bang onwards.

Buuuuut - that's about it.

I can't say that it was a complete loss...
I'm sure they learnt something? Maybe.

Oh - and we like trilobites so that was cool.

But button-pushing was probably the favourite activity *smile*

So we did the best thing...
We left. We abandoned ship and headed for a park :)

Wide spaces.
Green grass.

We talked about getting back to see the rest while we were still in London but it never did happen. Maybe one day when my boys are taller than me they'll take me back (a mother can dream ;)

Have you abandoned any outings recently? Please share in the comments.

p.s. I read this article in the Huffington Post yesterday: 'To Parents of small children: Let me be the one who says it out loud' and could totally relate. One thing T and I realised when we first took our kids traveling was that life goes on no matter where you are. You will still have good days. And you will still have bad days. Life is never perfect. Maybe you can relate too. x

Where In The World Is... Big Ben?

London. Day 1. 

Our mission is set: find Big Ben.

Hmmmmm, let's see....

Maybe this friendly fellow can help! No?

Ahhhhhh, this is better! Bobbies!! Surely they will know.

No? Really?

Hmmm, I think this guy might be telling us to look up...

Hang on... what's that we spy? 

Yes! Big Ben.

Hooray!

Mystery solved. Adventure complete.

We rock :)

* P.S. The boys are SO excited to see Bobbies! & Nikkis - their name for female Bobbies in honor of our neighbors Bobby & Nikki :)