We had our tickets booked to SA so many months ago, that it has felt like a long wait and a lot of anticipation had built up for our trip. It has been over 4 years since we were here last so it was the first time we met our new nephews, Lise and Barbara's boys. We were due to go to SA over Christmas, but then found out we were expecting another, so it was too far in the pregnancy to travel. I think March was the perfect time, we had missed all the heavy rains aswell as the sweltering heat. It was still really hot for us, the weather was just gorgeous.
Lise and Will's youngest son Jordan, isn't he gorgeous. It is quite amazing to see the strong resemblance in his eyes to Lise, Barbara and Michael.
Our flight to SA was not without its problems. It took us absolute ages to just check in as they could not find Ayla on the system since we had to make a separate booking for her after she was born and it was not joined up to our original booking, an error on their part. We were initially given seats all over the plane so none of us were sitting together??? In the end I had to forfeit the sky cot to get the family all sitting close together, but it wasn't too bad as I had Ayla in a sling and she slept the whole night right next to my body, I think she only woke up once. Ciara fell asleep even before they brought dinner and woke up a few minutes before we landed. Jude stayed up till midnight watching as many movies as he could and then fell asleep and also woke up a few minutes before we landed. Niamh slept on my legs which was slightly uncomfortable for me, but she slept well so I was happy. Eden was the only one who couldn't get comfortable, and took about half an hour to fall asleep. When we arrived in SA we went straight to the baggage collection, and immediately heard our names being called over the intercom to inform us to go to a counter, but neither of us heard the counter so we asked one of the airport staff to check for us, she phoned through and her reaction could not have been more disturbing. She kept on say "OH NO" and "are you serious", to me it sounded like our luggage had been either destroyed or lost for good, what a horrible way to start the holiday, especially with young children, the thought of having nothing for the baby and children was terrible. Fortunately my fears were allayed as soon as we went to the luggage counter, they said they knew where our luggage was, it had just not come on the flight with us, 2 suitcases would be delivered the next day to Lise's house and a suitcase and pram would be delivered the next, Michael didn't believe it at all he was convinced it was lost for good, but I remained hopeful. My biggest concern was the pram which had been lent to us by friends in the UK. It is one of the most expensive prams on the market in the UK, and is an absolutely lovely double pram that we needed for baby and Ciara, and we certainly did not want to lose it or have it damaged in anyway. But true to their word all the luggage was delivered in good condition by the end of the weekend, and we got by on borrowed clothes in the meantime.
Over to Mike's mom, what a lovely meeting for us all, we haven't seen her in over 4 years.
It was kind of a first meeting for Jude, the last time we were over he was only 8 months.
The lovely thing about this holiday was that Michael got to spend so much time with Ayla. With the others he would've been working all day and missed a bit out on this special age where they change so much each day.
Ciara being cute.
Lise and Will's oldest son Aidan and Niamh took it upon themselves to clean the pencil drawings on the wall, they were at it for ages and did a good job too - nice bonding time :D
Lise and Will's youngest son Jordan, isn't he gorgeous. It is quite amazing to see the strong resemblance in his eyes to Lise, Barbara and Michael.
Our flight to SA was not without its problems. It took us absolute ages to just check in as they could not find Ayla on the system since we had to make a separate booking for her after she was born and it was not joined up to our original booking, an error on their part. We were initially given seats all over the plane so none of us were sitting together??? In the end I had to forfeit the sky cot to get the family all sitting close together, but it wasn't too bad as I had Ayla in a sling and she slept the whole night right next to my body, I think she only woke up once. Ciara fell asleep even before they brought dinner and woke up a few minutes before we landed. Jude stayed up till midnight watching as many movies as he could and then fell asleep and also woke up a few minutes before we landed. Niamh slept on my legs which was slightly uncomfortable for me, but she slept well so I was happy. Eden was the only one who couldn't get comfortable, and took about half an hour to fall asleep. When we arrived in SA we went straight to the baggage collection, and immediately heard our names being called over the intercom to inform us to go to a counter, but neither of us heard the counter so we asked one of the airport staff to check for us, she phoned through and her reaction could not have been more disturbing. She kept on say "OH NO" and "are you serious", to me it sounded like our luggage had been either destroyed or lost for good, what a horrible way to start the holiday, especially with young children, the thought of having nothing for the baby and children was terrible. Fortunately my fears were allayed as soon as we went to the luggage counter, they said they knew where our luggage was, it had just not come on the flight with us, 2 suitcases would be delivered the next day to Lise's house and a suitcase and pram would be delivered the next, Michael didn't believe it at all he was convinced it was lost for good, but I remained hopeful. My biggest concern was the pram which had been lent to us by friends in the UK. It is one of the most expensive prams on the market in the UK, and is an absolutely lovely double pram that we needed for baby and Ciara, and we certainly did not want to lose it or have it damaged in anyway. But true to their word all the luggage was delivered in good condition by the end of the weekend, and we got by on borrowed clothes in the meantime.
Over to Mike's mom, what a lovely meeting for us all, we haven't seen her in over 4 years.
It was kind of a first meeting for Jude, the last time we were over he was only 8 months.
The lovely thing about this holiday was that Michael got to spend so much time with Ayla. With the others he would've been working all day and missed a bit out on this special age where they change so much each day.
Ciara being cute.
Lise and Will's oldest son Aidan and Niamh took it upon themselves to clean the pencil drawings on the wall, they were at it for ages and did a good job too - nice bonding time :D
1 comment:
Hi all,
What lovely pictures, so good to see the children bonding with their nana Joey, after so many years.
Ayla is still so serious and looks so intelligent ha. Ciara of course so cute in the hat. Just so wonderful for them be able to bond with all the family.
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