GENEVA, SWITZERLAND | TRAVELLING AND INTERRAILING WITH KIDS

Ah! So! Here we go.. I've been so excited to blog about our trip, and finally all the editing has been done, I've scanned the polaroids in, the films have been developed and I'm ready to put it all out there.. 

You can see more about our plans here, but in short, we travelled to Geneva, Montreux, Zermatt, Vienna and Budapest, and did a quick few hours in Bratislava. I've decided to break it all down place by place, I'll add links for anything relevant where I can, and I'll be cross-linking to my photography blog too, where I'll be sharing a different selection of images (I didn't want to overwhelm this blog with photography-related content, and overwhelm my photography blog with family content..)

You can see my blog post for Geneva on my sallytphoto.com blog here.

We packed up, had backpacks with snacks and our travel diaries, and Dav dropped us at the train station, which would take us straight to Manchester Airport. I'm so glad I added a full case, my romantic idea of only having backpacks for the trip were soon dashed when I realised we'd need such a range of things; we needed clothes for ski weather and warm weather, hiking boots and swimming costumes.. it wasn't ideal lugging a huge case on and off trains but definitely better than not having everything we needed.

We arrived in Geneva late on the Monday night, and by the time we were checked into our hotel it was about 10pm and too late to eat out anywhere. In the dark we walked down to the Lake and looked across at the twinkling lights, and had a little wander before grabbing a take away pizza (to Vivienne's delight) to eat in bed. In the morning we grabbed a pain au chocolat to go and I think she immediately thought Geneva was the best place ever.. 

We armed ourselves with cameras and a few essentials, and walked through the city up to La Jonction. I'd researched Geneva a little and La Jonction looked so bizarre and so interesting that I really wanted to see it for myself.. It's the point where the rivers Arve and Rhône join but the waters don't mix. It was a bit of a trek to get there, and Vivienne wasn't best pleased (until we found a small petting zoo at the top of the hill just before we reached this point) but once we reached the point overlooking the rivers on a railway bridge it was all worth it. 

I was so excited when Vivienne showed an interested in using the camera I'd lent her for the trip - it's an Olympus Pen PL7 - and she loved going back through what she'd taken and keeps asking me to teach her how to edit.. Further down the line I think I'll blog a selection of her photos from the trip too.

After La Jonction we walked back through the city and headed towards the Old Town, which was uphill through narrow streets towards Cathedral St Pierre. There are two towers which you can climb in the cathedral, and one had a really panoramic view over the entire city. On a clear day you'd be able to see mountains in the distance but we happily settled for overlooking the rooftops, harbour and the Jet D'Eau. We stopped mid-afternoon for a drink and some chips (we didn't realise this would become a daily tradition at the time..) and wandered back through Geneva and down to the Lake. 

We walked to the Jet D'Eau, which you can see above, but it happened to be off by the time we reached it, we hung out by the harbour for a little while, watching people catching fish, and hanging out in the park nearby, Vivienne loved spotting the super-cars that race each other down the streets and admiring the graffiti (I think it was what she photographed most).

We picked up our bags from the hotel and jumped on the train an hour round the lake to Montreux, stocking up first on crisps and a few treats from the shop in the train station.

Geneva was somewhere I chose to start the trip for mainly logistical reasons - it was easy to fly to and move on to where we wanted to see next; but we ended up really loving wandering around this city. 

You can see a different selection of pictures from Geneva over on my blog here.

NEXT STOP - MONTREUX!

Links
La Jonction
Cathedral St Pierre
Jet D'Eau
Geneva Old Town
"Things to do in Geneva" By HandLuggageOnly

A SHORT FILM | TRAVELLING AND INTERRAILING WITH KIDS

So! We're back from our Interrailing trip and we've been home for a few weeks now; the Easter holidays are over we're getting back into the swing of the normal routine. 

It was *so* good. It took a lot of planning and going over and over details and checking the logistics of everything, but it went so smoothly and it was one of the most special things I've ever done with Vivienne. I'm working to put together some blog posts and organise the photos I took along the way, I'm going to be breaking the trip down into places to really go into detail about what we did in each place; but, for now, here is a short film I made of our travels. It was put together on my phone, and it's a little rough but it shows snippets of our travels and I hope you enjoy it!

EMBRACING WINTER + TAKING IT SLOWLY

I began writing this post back at the end of January, but with the snow and the freezing cold temperatures sticking around it all still applies!

Instead of new year's resolutions and 'New year! New me!' everywhere as soon as the January hit, we sort of.. ignored it. And took 2018 at our own pace. I worked two weddings between Christmas and New Year, Sylvie's birthday was on the 2nd January, we needed to disassemble Christmas in the house, I had weddings to get out and into the post.. the 2018 'New Year' feeling skipped us all at this end; we were busy and then it went quiet.

January dragged and dragged (hurry up, Spring, and bring us some sunshine..) and we were ill in our house, one after the other. It was like a relay race of feeling shit and being unable to move off the couch. I'm rarely ill and it was so bloody frustrating to not be able to function properly (also, no-one pays you when you're self employed and can't work. But this is a rant for another time..) It went on for three, then four, then five weeks, and suddenly we were powering through February and here we are in March, wondering where the time went.

On the flip side, it's been so beautiful and I've absolutely loved the snow. I didn't get bored of it - for the record (for my future self) we had thick, thick snow that lay heavy and fast and it was the stuff that childhood dreams are made of. I'm going to throw all my glorious snow-day photos in a separate post; in short, it was magical.

Anyway, new year, same me. This was the year my baby turned one, and the year I turn 30 (yikes). We have travels booked and started looking for adventures to be had. I eventually made some last half-hearted resolutions (lovely, easy ones, like "take your make up off before bed for god-sakes you're getting too old to be lazy about this stuff. While we're here start moisturising and stuff.") and I got the ball rolling with work and marketing and a ton of other interesting things like that. 

And you know what? Easing into a year with no expectations and "this is the year I....." has been lovely. 2018 may be the year I care less and do more. Maybe it's because I'm approaching 30 and maybe because I've run out of fucks to give.. but next new year - start slowly and stay in bed while it's cold. Eat well, take your make up off before bed, and start the year properly a few weeks or months down the line..

Happy 2018. The year of enjoying doing less and living more.

THE MAGIC OF A BIG AGE GAP

A bit of back-story for anyone not 'in the know' - when we realised Vivienne was on her way it was a huge surprise (AKA it was unplanned and we were shitting it). I was 20, David was 21, we were both in Liverpool at uni and it was *not* something we were expecting, to say the least. I guess the full extent of that chaos is best saved for another day, but in short we became parents long before we expected to. 

Nevertheless, it only took for Vivienne to become a young toddler before some people started asking when we were going to have another, even though I was only 22/23.. and it never really stopped since. For all the women out there (who probably aren't reading this family-centric blog) who don't want children and are sick of being asked about it - even women who *have* kids are constantly asked about whether they're planning on getting pregnant soon.. even, on one occasion, with one woman in Sainsbury's telling me I was a cruel mother for not planning on 'giving' Vivienne a sibling. Nice. 

Anyway, fast forward six and a half years and batting off hundreds of questions about our plans (we didn't even *have* plans about more kids up until this point), we decided to go for it and try for another.

When I fell pregnant Vivienne was a few months off seven years old and when Sylvie was born she was seven and a half. She was old enough to be patient and understanding when I was feeling crap and irritable during pregnancy, and also old enough that if I wanted a break or a nap for half an hour on my own then she was responsible enough to be completely safe in that time.   

When Sylvie was born she was old enough to understand that, although we loved them both equally, Sylvie often had priority and her needs had to be seen to before Vivienne's. She knew how to get herself ready for school and could (most of the time) pack and check her own bag, do homework on her own, and help a bit around the house. There was never a hint of jealousy or feeling a bit pushed out when Sylvie arrived; we thought the novelty of having a baby at home might wear off a little and she would want to spend some time doing her more grown up child things when at home but it hasn't been the case at all.

As it stands the girls adore each other, they gravitate towards each other in the house and only have eyes for each other when they're reunited after school at the end of the day. Vivienne is an amazing help, we don't push her when she's not feeling like it but most of the time she loves little responsibilities like getting Sylvie ready for the day or watching her for me while I sort things out. Life consists of a *lot* more juggling with two little ones but with Vivienne being older it makes the baby stage so much less intense - they really do entertain each other every day. 

There were many reasons that we had a big age gap, and we never really 'pined' as such for baby number two - we were often close to deciding to only even have Vivienne as she got older and things became easier. We were young, working on careers, moving house and moving house (we moved about six times in as many years..) and there was too much going on without throwing more chaos into the mix. We could easily have stuck at one baby but Sylvie seemed to arrive at exactly the right time for us - even being born out of wedding season exactly as we'd hoped for.

Any baby books I read seemed to list negatives for big age gaps, "they won't bond as well", "you'll have to rebuy all your baby equipment", "the eldest will be jealous after being an only child so long".. but forgot some amazing positives such as "childcare costs a fortune and you'll only ever have one in pre-school care at a time", "you can comfortably get a shower or have 15 minutes to yourself because there's someone to responsibly watch the baby", "your eldest is more independent and can get ready/eat/wash so you're only wrestling with one little person each day" and "only one bloody massive car seat to wrestle with at a time".

Maybe everything just happens for a reason? (Maybe that reason is that in seven years we'll have one that can babysit the other..?) Whatever led to this point and whatever made us take a little longer than average, it's worked well and I can't imagine it any other way.

Big age gaps are the way forward - and we have these two to prove it.

SYLVIE TURNS ONE

That face! How is she one already? It feels like only a few months ago that I was writing in this blog about how it felt to be pregnant with this little monster. And now she's a whole year old.

So excited to get going that she arrived almost three weeks early, and she's been a wonderful force of nature ever since. Yes, she has her moments, but she's been a dream (teething was a difficult few weeks.. and she can scream the place down if you don't feed her fast enough.. but she slept through after a few months.. so I guess it's swings and roundabouts).

She adores Vivienne and Vivienne adores her; which is all we ever really wanted. When we dared think about having another baby, we knew what we'd hoped for but we didn't think we'd get it and more. Of course there were days where frustration, hormones and tiredness took over, but it was (and is) all worth it.

For her birthday celebrations, especially as it falls the day after the national hangover, January 2nd, we decide to keep it really small. We basically bought the party food selection still left after Christmas at M&S with some lasagne and invited family and godparents round. We sang happy birthday to a baby who had no idea what was going on, she was passed around and cuddled and loved and it was all we ever wanted for her from that day. Dav and I are up for celebrating anything all the time (any excuse) but even we were a bit fatigued after Christmas..

Anyway. Here's to our Sylvie-boo. You came into our world early; hungry, loud and beautiful and you've made our lives and family richer every day since. You are so full of character, so funny, such a little pudding.. we love you. And we can't wait to see what the next few years bring.