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We are all safely and happily home. Alex celebrated by playing with his toys and watching his favourite DVD, and James celebrated by rolling over (due to finally having time to play on the floor) and getting a tooth. I just counted the loads of washing that needed doing...

We are all tired - possibly due to the 24 hours of flying + 8 hours time difference + 6 hours in airport lounges; possibly due to the three hours of screaming James has done the last two nights at 2am in the morning (potentially linked to the celebration above); possibly due to some other confounding variable.

We are looking forward to catching up with our friends and seeing what has happened to them in the last month.

Catching up on blogging may take a while as someone around here turns three next week and they want a birthday cake (and party. Ha!). Apparently going to Europe just doesn't suffice as a birthday celebration when you're three unless it involves cake, candles and balloons. It might also take a while for my brain to compose sentences in English rather than the hydrid German-French-English-sign language that it has been using for the last month.

I plan to post pictures and thoughts once I get all the photos from my Dad - which should be after we have recovered from the latest set of celebrations round here. We hope everyone (ie all three of you...) that still reads this will be interested....

You know the travel preparations are at their zenith when

.... the two year old starts to make his own travel plans.

These have consisted of

• pointing at random cities on a map of Europe and saying "Coffee here, and Coffee here and Coffee here" (A man after his father's heart!)
• measuring (with the measuring tape and scales) the luggage and saying "Oh No - too heavy" or "Yes - its OK)
• playing "aeroplanes". Which consist of Alex the pilot ensuring everyone has on their seatbelts, and headphones before we take off. We then "fly around up there" looking out the window at "astronauts" and then "land". I think Alex might be a little disappointed that he won't get to fly the planes....

Fabulous Food on a Friday

Cinnamon, Blueberry and Polenta Loaf
From "The Low GI Family Cookbook"

gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian

Serves 12

Canola cooking spray
1 cup (120g) maize flour
4 tsp gluten-free baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups (260g) fine polenta
1/2 cup (100g) firmly packed brown sugar
1 1/4 cup (310mL) soy milk
150g milk-free margarine melted and cooled
1 egg
2 egg whites
200g blueberries (fresh, or thawed frozen)

Preheat oven to 180oC. Spraty a 10 by 21 cm loaf pan with canola oil to lightly grease and line the base and sides with non-stick baking paper

Sift the maize flour, baking powder and cinnamon in a large bowl. Stir in the polenta and suga and make a well in the centre

Whisk together the soy milk, margarine, egg and eggg whites. Stir in the blueberries. Add to the dry ingredients and stir with a large metal spoon until just combined,

Spoon the mixture into a prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Stand in pan for 5 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool. Serve cut into slices.

Variations

Can also be cooked in 1/3 cup capacity muffin tins (reduce cooking time to 25 minutes at 200oC) or mini hole muffin tins (cooking time 15 minutes at 200oC)

Can be frozen by wrapping individual slices/muffins in plastic wrap and sealing in an airtight container

Can also be served toasted (with honey....)

This would be good after school or as a lunch box filler (or even a morning tea with friends with some food intolerences/allergies...)

This is easy to make (15 minutes preparation) with a "helper" and most of the ingredients can be easily bought from the supermarket - although I used wholemeal spelt flour instead of the maize flour. You could also probably replace the 2 egg whites with 1 egg. (My "helper" actually added the two extra egg yolks with only minor side effects)

I road tested this on 3 primary aged school boys - they all easily ate their serve!

The world according to Alex

Alex loves our camera - posing for photos, watching them afterwards and taking pictures himself. He has taken to "borrowing" the camera from where ever it is (and given his ability to work the step ladder it doesn't seem to matter where that is...) and photographing EVERYTHING in his life.

So we get bizarre pictures of peoples feet, everyday objects and the things that Alex deems photographable.

• Apparently James gets photographed.

• As does dinner

• And Daddy is a looong way up!

Slightly Elevated Tea

In the quest to find entertainment on cold winter afternoons, Alex and I occcasionally have a "proper" afternoon tea. We make a pot of "proper tea" drink tea from small espresso cups and have mini-muffin sized cakes with them. (That we baked earlier in the week...)

It makes a change from the usual "milo in sippy cup with rice crackers and fruit" afternoon tea that we normally have. Alex quite enjoys the ritual of choosing which colour cup to use, pouring the tea and then drinking from a grown-up style cup.

It is a pleasant spot of calm for me in the day and probably good practice for sitting in European Cafe's. Just a pity that cleaning up after eating takes as long as the afternoon tea....

The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak

Someone lost the fight (with themselves) to not have an afternoon sleep.

Holidays

We are about to go on holidays for a month - the sort of holidays that require considerable organisation and forethought. My parents, John and I and the two little boys are going to Europe for a month. I think we are organised ;-)

We are flying to Munich (via a few other cities) and we stay there for about a week. We'll be visiting Schloss Neuschanstein and Salzburg (birthplace of Mozart, and scene of Sound of Music). We'll also have a few days in Munich visiting the Englisher Garten and Nymphenburg Palace. Fortuitously it is the middle of their Opera Festival and they have a free outdoor opera on the weekend we are there.

We are then going to Basel in Switzerland for about two weeks. The Australian Federal Police Pipe Band (of which John is the drum Major) is playing in their Military tattoo. (This is why we are going). We're not exactly sure what we will be doing in Basel, but as it is on the French and German border and about an hour from Lucerne and Zurich I'm sure that we will find things to entertain us!

After the tattoo we go to Stassbourg (on the French German border) for a few days and then to Paris. We'll probably spend that time at the various Musee and Jardin... before coming home.

If it gets a bit quiet here on the blog it is because I am still busy cleaning the house for the person who is house sitting for us and getting organised here. If I'm still sane after the two 24 hour flights with two small boys then I might return and post pictures of our trip.