The Beginning of a Fantastic Holiday

Here we are. Finally on our way to see the Queen (and Kate). For the next two weeks we will be touring Britain from the coast of Dorset to the Highlands in Scotland. 

Cute pilot for our Easy Jet flight to Gatwick. 

 It has been a year since Sophie flew with Daddy. The flight was so empty that I had the row to myself in front of them. Although it was sunny in Duesseldorf we had to wait a bit for the fog to lift at Gatwick. That did not bode well. 

 Auntie Sandra fetched us from the airport and here we were in the middle of the New Forest after an al fresco ploughman's lunch and some tea.

 The New Forest is full of wild horses. We spotted some right next to the road.

 Then we walked down a path to look for the wild deer. They were hanging out in the distance.

 We found the truck with the Dorset ice cream. Spicy ice cream (mint chocolate chip) of course for Sophie and rhubarb custard crumble for the rest of us. Yum.

 After a long drive to Auntie Sandra's house in Bournemouth, we quickly stretched our legs at the playground.

- Flashback to March 2010 - 

England in Jubilee fever. Buntings and flags everywhere. All the papers were full of specials on the Queen. We kicked off our Jubilee celebrations in style with this Victoria sponge cake.

 Sophie had the Queen on her piece. 

Safe landing after many sad goodbyes

So here we are in Germany. Having the cats here is the biggest reminder that this is not just another vacation. It definitely feels a bit strange - as did seeing the first proper rain since May. At least the weather gods were kind to us and granted us one day of warm temperatures (about which some Germans still complained) and no precipitation. 

Suitcases are unpacked and stowed away for now and we've had a good night's sleep, so here is a summary in pictures of the past couple of days:

 Sophie's solution to avoiding having to say goodbye - she simply refused to do so. Here with her friend Ciaran.

 Last quick play date in the park with friend Nico. Sophie's beloved babysitter (and my friend) Lalani came as well.

 Our last night in California (at least for a while) - not without a campfire and marshmallows at Nanny's house, oh and one more good bottle of our wine collection of course. We spotted two horned owls that night - a special farewell treat.

 9th September - tearful goodbye to Nanny in the morning. ;-( We made sure that she wasn't crying anymore by skyping with her today.

 Oh, flying has become so much easier with Sophie now - thank you Apple and Dora! And we had a first in that Sophie went to sleep when I told her to and stayed so for four hours - bliss!

 Yes, the cats survived the flight... (Fletcher is not hissing, just couldn't stand the smell he left in his carrier)

 ... and landed in cat heaven! A garden - they haven't ventured beyond it yet, an unlimited supply of grass, lots of attention and pet mice. Here is Nelson busy exploring.

 Bag chaos! It took me a few hours to clear it today.

 First "Kaffee und Kuchen" - tea time in German.

Fletcher couldn't run inside fast enough when it started raining this evening.

Tomorrow is Sophie's first day of preschool in Germany! She was very excited when she went to bed tonight. She's been assigned to the Ladybug Group - how fitting for our ladybug girl.