Tiger Boy- Liam's first face painting

We had a fairly fun filled weekend despite the weather being disappointing. Ollie took Liam swimming on Saturday morning and he didn't want to leave the pool. We had to coax him out with promises of bananas and chocolate. He had a great big nap and certainly worked up a big appetite for my pasta with homemade cheese sauce followed by Ben and Jerry's Phish Food frozen yogurt in a cone.


Yesterday we popped down to Victoria Square for the 'Big Toddle' event. Barnardos (the children's charity) was doing a family fun day with face painting, balloon animals and various other children related events. We quickly registered and then head up to Frankie and Benny's for lunch. We rarely eat out - especially with Liam. We're always a little afraid of how he'll act. Happy to report he was fairly well behaved. He was a little greedy with his adult sized pizza and only shared a slice with Ollie when his ice cream arrived. He has a ferocious appetite and eats bigger portions than me! After lunch we 'toddled' around the Big Toddle walk to the face painting station. We passed Domer the Dinosaur, but Liam was a little afraid and didn't want to get his photo taken. Liam decided (with some help from me) to go with a tiger.The artist was so lovely and really patient with Liam. He was pretty close to perfect, allowing her to paint all over his wee face.

Liam kept licking the face paint.

He was a little cautious when he first saw the finished face looking at himself back in the mirror.

But he soon thought it was the best thing ever.

He wouldn't let the mirror go and kept smiling at himself. The official photographer for Victoria Square asked if he could take some photos and Liam posed like a pro (wonder where he got that from)! Hopefully we'll see his cute tiger face online or in the magazine soon!

A final rrrroooaarrr for mommy when we got home.

Great family fun weekend.

Chicken Pox- take 2

So the main reason for our lack of posts and communication over the past month has been Liam's big battle with Chicken Pox. Although he had a very mild case just before his second birthday, his daycare had a major epidemic from Easter. He was one of the last of about 24 kids in his group to get it and boy was it a bad one. He had them everywhere- ears, mouth, body, scalp. Poor wee thing was covered. I took some pictures to document the mess.

He was pretty miserable with them. I made him some 'special bath's of ground oatmeal to help soothe and dry out the spots. He had to stay out of daycare for a week and was pretty much guaranteed for 2/3 weeks. The spots have all pretty much cleared up, but he has a few marks on his torso and face. I'm definitely going to petition for the introduction of the vaccine as part of the childhood routine vaccination programme over here. It was so hard to watch him suffer like this.

Gardening and other bits and bobs

A few pictures from the end of May and June. Liam loves to play in Annie's garden. He's very helpful with watering the grass and plants.

Liam has also mastered riding his little Trike. We need to remove the handle since he won't let us push him anymore.

Liam loves blowing bubbles, although he mostly blows up towards his brow than through the wand.

Cute picture of Liam enjoying some ice cream in the rubble that was our back garden. Ollie has now finished laying the patio and we're just finishing off the landscaping. Will post some pictures of the final project soon.

Marbella Holiday- A big picture post!

Well we’ve just returned from our first proper family vacation. While Liam is a seasoned flyer having travelled over to the states twice already, trips home are never a vacation. There are always tons of people to see and things to do and we usually organise it in conjunction with a big event- last year was Rachael’s wedding and the year before was Cherie’s. So this year, we really wanted a nice sunny holiday where we had no schedule to keep or people to see or things to do.

There was a bit of drama with the Icelandic Volcanic Ash disrupting air travel for most of Europe over the past month. Luckily we were able to slot right into the clear window 7-14 May. Literally if we had gone one day either way we would have either gotten delayed here or stuck in Spain.

Gotta have the coveted window seat...

Entertaining Liam on the flight was tiring... especially since we were up since 4 am! The colouring book did the trick...

My mom was able to get us a huge 3 bedroom flat at the Marriott Marbella Beach Resort in Southern Spain. We’ve stayed at Marriott timeshare properties before (Palm Dessert and Aruba) and we are never let down! The Marbella beach resort was absolutely beautiful- 5 stars all the way! The grounds were immaculate, the pools beautiful (although the outdoor ones were pretty cold), plenty of kids stuff and the apartments better equipped than our house! Each room had a 37” plasma tv, an ensuite in each of the bedrooms and even a nespresso machine! We had a few extra perks because we were considered “Marriott owners”. We got a beautiful bottle of Crianza as a welcome gift (would have cost around $50 to buy), enjoyed an owners drink reception (where we meet a few people from New Jersey!) and had a daily cleaning service. We really couldn’t have asked for a more well appointed, comfortable and beautiful place.
The view from our balcony...

The master bedroom...And ensuite...

Living and dinning area...

Large main pool overlooking the sea...

The resort was really kid friendly with 2 play areas, family pools and an under-6 water slide area...

Chess anyone?
Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate the whole time. We had 2 ½ days of rain. It was annoying at the time, but we still were able to use the indoor pools and relax. We did head into Marbella Old Town and Marbella boardwalk one day, but the rain made the streets very deserted and it lost a bit of charm. I did most of the cooking in the apartment as it was more economical, but we did go out for food a few times.
Liam really enjoyed the swimming. So much so, that we’ve promised him that we’ll go a couple of times each month to the local pool… there’s also an indoor waterpark in Lisburn that we’ll have to try out. He loved spending every minute with his mommy and daddy and so did we. Here are a bunch of other photos from the trip...
Liam in his king-sized bed...
Enjoying waterplay with daddy... I really like this photo... Super flying Liam... Chillaxing with an ice lolly... Waterslides... Are so fun!One of the many outfits from Aunt Lin... Tricks with daddy... An attempt at a nice posey photo... And again... More candid...

Looking cute...

Mmmm, pasta...

Toes in the Mediterranean Sea at sunset...

Liam passed out after a fun filled day...

I was in the water too, but Ollie isn't as camera savvy (obsessed) as I am. So the water shots are all of the boys.

We did have an accident. Liam thought it would be a good idea to jump off the couch and scrapped his leg on the edge of the coffee table.

Posing with Mommy...

Liam loves to draw...

He doesn't quite get the concept of pouting...

We all really had a blast and would go back tomorrow... seriously, can we go back tomorrow?