A Matter of Choice

For the last few years, we have been working with the photo booth  over Halloween weekend at Cyherbia,  providing spooky photos for the hundreds of visitors they get each year. This year due to wedding bookings we were unable to work it but I did get the chance to experience it as a visitor once again when I took the boys up for a few hours on Saturday. I've lost count now how many times we've been to Cyherbia,  it's been a long time since our first visit in 201 3 - where I pushed baby Louka round the maze in his pushchair,  followed by visits with him on reins (also pushing the buggy for when he got tired - which of course he didn't, but undoubtedly would have done had I not taken it!) I loved every visit but it was hard work compared to now - it was always fun, but I would be exhausted once I got home - either from the effort of trying to keep up with them in the maze, trying to get the boys to go in the same direction, or chasing them around the gardens...

Photo Credit - The Hacks Photography As you may have guessed, my Sunday photo this week is not MY photo but it is awesome and  I didn't take any as I was rushing around trying to get ready for guests arriving at our house for my birthday drinks! The photos were taken in Ayia Napa by The Hacks and show the amazing and bizarre skies we experienced over eastern Cyprus on Friday afternoon. The day had started nicely, and fairly normal for this time of year.  It can be a little chilly first thing in the morning but we are still ok in shorts and t-shirt for the walk to school.  Louka decided to wear his fleece (with the hood up!)  but Leo realised he would be warm enough once we started walking. By lunchtime, as usual, it was hot but as the afternoon progressed the clouds came in and brought the rain with them.  We watched closely after spending time cleaning and rearranging our balcony ready for the evening celebrations.   Without the use of the ...

I love this time of year, Autumn is starting to show signs of appearing,  it's a subtle arrival admittedly as it's still warm enough to swim (once you get in and start moving!) and during the day it is still very hot. Nights are cooling now though,  we've been sleeping with the patio door shut for the first time in months and no fan on - it's not duvet time for a while though yet. Sunrise is usually gorgeous though,  who needs filters when it looks like this... I really don't mind my alarm going off when I get out of bed and see a sky like that. It's a great time of year - still enough of summer but the promise of a new season (and the 'off' season)  is just around the corner, the kids are back to school and routine starts to appear again,  people are looking forward to finishing work, and it's nearly my birthday! ****** My Sunday Photo - doesn't need much of an explanation but back in the day I used to join in with a blog li...

When the boys went back to school earlier this month I wrote what at the time was going to be my final blog post here. I was toying with the idea of keeping it live with that as the 'end'  as I thought it was likely that I would regret it sooner or later if I deleted it completely - 9 years and over 1000 posts is a lot to just disappear like that! I was chatting to Leo about it, about it was different now that he and Louka are older and how it's not up to me to put anything about their life on the internet, about how once it is 'out there' it is out of our hands etc. We spoke about the kind of things I'd written about over the years, and how he is welcome to look at all of it, and if he would like me to take anything down I will do so. I said how I couldn't write as often as I used to, and I don't fancy sharing as many photos and information about what we were doing each week.   We ended up talking about 'blog linky's',  You Tube, Meme...

It's the start of a new era in our family,  not only is it back to school time which is always a big change after 3 months off but this year both boys are in the same school for the first time! Louka has been very excited to go and has taken it all very well so far,  this morning was the first sign of reluctance - saying 'Well I don't really want to go to school today' but that was as much as we got.  Leo laughed and said 'You don't get to choose!'  and he got on with it.  They seem to be very happy so far being together, and its made school runs much easier. No more debates on who to drop off or pick up first, and no more driving!   As school is just down the road we are now walking which I am really enjoying and a great start to the day.  I could write more but after years of oversharing online I'm becoming increasingly reluctant to,  maybe I'm getting older and wiser, maybe it's because I have a much wider selection of facebook...

Dear Louka, Happy 6th birthday little dude! I should probably stop calling you the little one - I know you are not that little any more! A big year for you this year - you finished Prodimodiki (pre-school) and in 2 weeks time you move up to first grade and start your new school with your brother who will be going into fourth grade.  I really hope you enjoy school as much as Leo, and settle in well.   You are very excited at the moment anyway. This year you have changed a lot, so chatty and funny at home and you are much more of an equal to Leo when you play these days.  You have got so much better with playing games, and not always winning,  unless you play Leo, when you are more likely to get upset by losing.   It's like you don't mind not to win, as long as you are not losing to him! Your love of this year has been football, ever since you watched the World Cup with Dad.  I love your conviction that one day you wi...

After taking the boys to bed this evening, I suddenly fancied writing a blog post. I've no idea what prompted this idea after all this time (not counting Leo's birthday post, which I felt I should write, it has been almost 7 months!) I decided not to 'over think' it, not to think about what I *should* be doing, to forget the fact I should  maybe do some ironing, or write a work blog post, or many other things. I always wrote my blog posts on the balcony, and I've missed sitting out there in the evening. Now I have a desktop computer I'm always inside and sitting there just feels like I'm working, we also gave up smoking back in February which means we hardly sit there any more. So, what a great plan it was - grab my laptop, get a drink and throw together a quick post - easy! That was about an hour ago, I got my laptop, of course it was dead as a dodo.  Where might the charger be then? I found it, quite happily in the 3rd place I looked. Fab, plu...

Happy 9th birthday gorgeous boy! For the last 8 years I have written you a letter and published it on my blog, on your birthday. This year it seems a bit silly to do it as I've not blogged for a long time yet on the other hand it seems wrong to break the tradition. So instead I will not publish your birthday letter,  it's for you after all and not the world. I know one day you might not thank me for all the times you've been mentioned on here, I hope you'll forgive me!  Just be thankful that I at least thought it through a little bit and I never put on photos on you in the bath! Of course I have no need to wish you a happy birthday online as I will do doing so in that crazy thing we call real life but as you have grown up with this blog I couldn't let it go! Love you Leo mou!

Many years ago I saw some photos online of a small church built into the rock somewhere in Protaras, I'd often wondered exactly where it was and finding it has been on my 'to do' list for ages.  Walking has never really been our 'thing' especially with several years toddlers or pushchairs and the fact they don't mix well with exploring, but now the boys are bigger it's a lot easier to go 'adventuring'. After our successful geocaching day earlier this month, I decided to give it another go and started searching for our next geocache and was pleased to discover one very close to the church, making it very easy to find.  We ended up going with Sam and the kids, who knew where it was anyway and was surprised to find out we'd only been a very short distance from it when we went out last time! It's a fascinating little place and while it's only a few minutes drive from Protaras and Ayia Napa it feels like it is in the middl...

Facebook drives me mad a lot of the time, not mad enough to not live on it constantly of course (It's not that I *want* too, I HAVE to because of my work, well that and I'm far too nosy not to!)  It's full of rubbish a lot of the time, but also lots of little gems, funny things and random links that are a major time suck but so addictive. Every now and again though it throws up a gem, or in this case inspiration for a blog post... Recently I saw a link to an 80's nostalgia website and this particular post was all about the 'Come and Praise' hymn book that surely every 80s kid held in their grubby little hands once upon a time. (I couldn't find the original post, so I'm making my own!) We used this book every morning in assembly throughout my primary school years. They were kept in a box and handed out at the door as we left the classroom to go to the 'Big Hall' for assembly.  There were many very battered copies in the box and a few b...

It's been a long time since we went geocaching, maybe even a whole year but on Tuesday 2nd Jan I suddenly decided to download the app again and planned to go out with the boys the following day. They were excited about the idea, especially after our recent 'adventuring' walk and even more so when it rained so much first thing in the morning ensuring there would be plenty of puddles to jump in! In an unexpected coincidence, it turns out that it was 2 years to the day since we had found our first geocache , so I jokingly announced it was 'Geocaching Day' which impressed the boys even more. There are many geocaches in the area we'd like to go and find but I thought we'd head to Protaras today, firstly because the boys enjoy the 'off road' ones more than the ones hidden in more busy areas as they get to run, play and explore, and on a day like today to jump in muddy puddles!  There are 8 geocaches in a reasonably small area in the hills of Protar...

I love going for winter walks in Cyprus, it's something we have so rarely done yet when I do bother to get out its' great, especially now everyone can walk (well, Aaron not so much at the moment but we can leave him at home!)  and generally not fall over. We went out during Christmas week and had a lovely walk along the cliffs in Kapparis and some time on the beach. It was very warm, despite it feeling chilly at home and I even took my fleece off and sat in a short sleeved t-shirt! While sitting on the beach watching the boys compete to throw rocks the furthest into the water I thought how amazing it was to be there, in December and how it was better than being indoors. I thought we need to do this more often, I thought I need to remember that it's always worth going out I thought with a smile,  I should write it down so I don't forget Louka had not wanted to go out when it was first suggested, moaning first about getting dressed, then having to pu...

Hello 2018! How are we here already?  I realise it just makes me sound very old but seriously, how can we have reached a year that once sounded so far into the distant future to me that I couldn't have even imagined it.   Of course, once upon a time 1999 seemed like a long way away, but I feel like I've lost a decade somewhere if I think 10 years ago I still have to check myself to think it was actually 2008 not 1998! Last year Aaron was thinking it very funny to constantly tease me about the fact I would be turning 40 in October,  I generally tolerated it as I was ignoring the actual age thing and excited about the forthcoming celebrations.  I did assume that the jokes would stop once I became a 40-something but he still continues,  I wouldn't mind but he's older than me! So, I'll be 41 this year,  meh,   it's ages away and who actually cares. 40's the new 30 anyway ( thanks Pitbull! )  I guess that makes me a proper adul...

This month saw the end of an era, as my last article was published in Daxi Magazine. I've been writing for Daxi for almost 7 years now and after several months of debate reluctantly decided it's time to stop. A lot has changed since I started, and my day to day life has changed considerably in that time.  Back then I was blogging regularly,  often 4 or 5 times a week and it was easy to adapt a post a month into an article for the magazine, for a couple of years now my blog has taken a back seat as the business got bigger, and my boys are no longer babies and as easy to write about. I always have things in my head I'd love to write about, but finding the inspiration and the time to get them out just doesn't happen as easily now.  This year is the first since I started when I'd not managed even one blog post in a month as I missed the whole of November. Over the last year, I have thought many times of closing this blog completely but can't help but t...