Our Welsh Getaway!

There are so many reasons we love living where we do. Birmingham has so much to offer but one of it's greatest attributes is its location within England....or in fact the UK. We are the furthest from any seaside but that's okay as we are so close to so many beautiful places to visit. That includes Wales!

Our best friend was over from Australia and before she headed home we wanted one last hurrah so a mini-break seemed the best idea.

At the start of November we headed so an unpronounceable Welsh village (Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant) just over 2 hours from our home and on the edge of Snowdonia. The majority of the journey was on A roads so we made quick progress, the last part was proper country road. Single track with low visibility and limited passing spaces so we had be ready to reverse at any point. Nothing makes it feel like an adventure like those roads.

Our welcome to the Airbnb

We arrived at our Airbnb late Saturday afternoon and checked in, started the fire and unpacked. The owner lived in the cottage next door and gave us a quick tour of the property that included a lovely garden overlooking a river. There was also a footpath we could take to cross the river to explore the hills on the other side.

As it was firework night we decided to head to Oswestry, our nearest main town 20 minutes away. Even though it was a 'town' it was a fairly small town and it wasn't hard to find the fireworks as everyone there seemed to be heading that way. We were fairly surprised at the £5 per person entry fee for a fairly basic display though.

Annabelle and Bisbee really enjoyed the event though. Bisbee loved the fact that one family shared their sausages and Annabelle was mesmerized by the bonfire and the flashing lights of the fireworks.

After the fireworks we picked up fish and chips for dinner and settled in at our home for the next few days. Breakfast the next morning included food provided by our host - fresh eggs and homemade bread. It set us up perfectly for us to head out and explore.

We knew things would be different traveling with Annabelle, things would take longer, we'd have to adjust our expectations but we didn't realise what she add. Her wonder at simple things, her smiles when she sees things she like, it's adorable and heartwarming.

Our first days activity was a walk around the local countryside, the guide had said it would take 40 minutes, it took us almost 3 hours. Our paced was slowed by adjusting the Ergobaby every time someone else carried her, two nappy changes, one feed and the photos - so many photos. The area was just too beautiful to not capture.

Our second day was more dramatic than planned. We were 4 minutes from our Airbnb when I hit a rock and punctured a tyre! Not great in an area with no phone signal. Thankfully a lovely couple stopped to help us and we were back up and running with half an hour and on our way to the UK's largest single drop waterfall. It was only 15 minutes from where we were staying and well worth the visit.

The third day we went to Lake Vyrnwy to check out the dam and its beautiful scenery. The weather had taken a turn so we had to be quick with our walk and we ended up in a cafe on the side of the lake. The drive back involved us stopping at the tallest tree in the UK and taking a dip in the river. A great experience to end our mini break.

The drive back was around 2 hours and Annabelle decided she was not a fan of the car seat at that point so our drive was accompanied by almost constant crying until we stopped at a lay by and fed her. We learnt that journey that it is worth always having a rattle to hand as that does seem to calm Annabelle down. We now have battery powered fairy lights surrounding her mirror so it's not so dark and we now have toys that can be attached so she can't lose them. So far it has made other journeys easier.

We also learnt that as long as we have the Ergobaby and nappy bag we can handle any situation. Thankfully there were no poo-plosions but even a simple nappy change on a thin wall is a challenge with a baby that can roll so it took teamwork and keeping calm.

We can't wait for our next adventure and will definitely take the lessons we learnt this trip!

Baby Blogging - The Baby Shower!

Technically I should call this post the 'Baby Showers' because last week included two. Both were full of surprises but one was a little more planned.

Our wonderful friends Sam and Sara had kindly offered to host our Baby Shower and Sunday the 10th had been the date we picked way back at the start of the year. Laura had been nervous that it was so close to the end of the 9 months, I was always confident that baby girl would still be quite at home. 

In the months leading up to the Baby Shower the girls had collated names and contact details for all our guests, inviting them with stunning paper invites detailing the plans for the day. We had wanted to invite family from across the globe although we fully appreciated they wouldn't be able to make it. What we hadn't fully appreciated was that so many of our UK family and friends would make it.

As the replies came back Sam and Sara kept us in the loop and the final count was 38. We were blown away. Not only had our Nan's managed to make it - Laura's from Windsor and mine from Tunbridge Wells - but we also had a mixture of work colleagues, people from our 'social activities' and, in my case, my closest family, and in Laura's case her brother. It was amazing.

Thankfully my parents were happy to host the shower at their house and their large garden was perfect, especially as the sun decided to shine. Since the start of the year my Mum had been hard at work prepping her garden, flowers beds had been put in, new turf laid, new decorations added and it paid off. The garden looked show home worthy.

Sara and Sam had headed to my parents house early on Sunday to set up and we had no idea what to expect, by the time we arrived almost 2 hours later the garden was transformed into a beautiful setting. My Mum and Aunt had added bunting and the girls had added balloons and decorations. The kitchen smelt delicious with all kinds of party food being prepared and in my parents dining room there was now a dessert table. It looked incredible!

Our guests started arriving at 2pm and we were able to welcome everyone as they came into the garden. It felt almost wedding-like as we very much felt like special guests. We had been provided with 'Mama-to-be and Mummy-to-be' sashes and our only job was to mingle and catch up with our guests.

My Dad had kindly driven to Windsor to pick up Laura's Nan - a 3 hour round trip - and we were so relieved they had made it in time to enjoy most of the shower. If anything this baby has really had people going to extreme lengths for her so far. We also really wanted to make sure Laura had her Nan there on the day. (She was kindly dropped home later that day by my sister).

My God Parents / Aunt and Uncle and cousin and his wife had made the journey up with my Nan from Tunbridge Wells and had stayed with my parents the night before, along with my sister and her boyfriend so my family were all on site and ready to help if needed.

Laura had colleagues old and new and people from choir and almost my entire netball team had made the effort to attend. We had Charlotte and Hannah up from Norfolk, Laura and Allana over from the Malverns and Lisa, my old boss, all there and we couldn't have felt more loved.

The Netchix team and their furry mascot!  Baby girl even got her own Netchix babygro :)

The garden was packed and buzzing and the food provided was the perfect amount. Once most of it had been eaten the girls started with the fun activities. Firstly they had asked people to bring baby photos and they had been placed on a line with numbers, the game involved matching the baby with the guest. Not an easy task when you have people meeting for the first time. (Thankfully the girls had provided name tags for everyone).

The slightly simpler task was then filling in a postcard with predictions for the baby - arrival date, weight, length, name and a wish for her. We almost cried reading them after. And someone guessed the name (we think we are going for) correctly!

The third task was to guess the number of sweets in a jar, this was won by my sister and her boyfriend who were only 4 sweets out! Not bad as the jar contained 163!

With all the fun going on we almost ran out of time to open the wonderful gifts that our guests had bought. Laura had asked that everyone bring a book they loved as a child so our little lady will have quite the library. What we hadn't expected was that we get anything else. It turns out that cute baby clothes are irresistible though and baby girls wardrobe is certainly well stocked now.

Baby girl also has a baby sling, play mat, baby monitor (I guess that's for us), sunshade for her buggy, some cloth nappies, teething toys and some cute Peter Rabbit cuddly toys. Not only that but one of Laura's friends gave us a hand knitted blanket, headband and shoes in our nursery colours and another friend had stitched an Alice in Wonderland picture - both gifts were so thoughtful.

Before everyone left they also got given a slice of the amazing red velvet cake the girls had got and decorated with beautiful real flowers, as well as a bag of popcorn to pop at home.

We sadly didn't get to thank everyone in person for their gifts so the next job we want to get done are thank you cards.

Not only was the girls organisation outstanding, to the point that my usual control freak wife even took a step back, but everything was so personal. The food was all our favs, the dessert table was my heaven, the decorations were gorgeous and everything had been thought of. It truly was a day to remember.

As I mentioned at the start of this post as if one baby shower wasn't enough, just as I had recovered from Sundays shower I walked into my team meeting on Tuesday to be greeted by my team throwing me a baby shower. The look on my face was indeed a picture.

This shower was short and sweet. I was greeted with an incredibly generous voucher and adorable Unicorn themed baby grow (my company is Unicorn Training). There was only a few seconds to compose myself before the games. We started easy with a guess the baby - this time I got almost everyone right but there were only 7 people to pick from. From there they upped the anti and we were split into teams to dress the 'baby' in a nappy. Sadly my team lost.....not the best start to motherhood!

We finished with a team selfie and tucking into the pile of goodies that had appeared. It was a complete shock and I genuinely had no idea my team had been planning it.

A trip to Head Office in Bournemouth later in the week also proved beneficial as baby girl was gifted her own Unicorn and I got a lovely card signed by the teams and a voucher to spend at Amazon. I am certainly very lucky when it comes to where I work.

In fact Laura and I are incredibly lucky to be surrounded by such love. My work team had included a picture of Laura in the baby guessing game and my head office made sure the card was addressed to Laura and I. I know they are small things but they are things that mean the world.

The baby shower(s) was the last event we had planned so we are now on baby girl countdown!

#4 Top LGBT Blog in the UK, Youtube's Pride month video, and Other Pre-Pride London Musings

As it's only 3 (!!!) days until Pride London, some awesomely 'gay' things are happening this week that we wanted to share with you.

We are gutted that we won't be attending Pride London this year - it is our 'first' Pride, as we have been attending every year (except 2010, when we were in Sydney, and 2014 when we were getting married!) since we got together, over 7 years ago! Last year, we were honoured to be there for our first year wedding anniversary, and were featured in this beautiful video from Youtube in the wake of gay marriage being legalised across the USA:

This year's video to celebrate Pride month is about Identity - and it is beautiful and moving as always:

We have differing opinions on Identity - I have always liked labels, since I was a high school student, labelling myself as a choir geek and part of the 'second smartest group in my class' - as an adult, labelling myself a lesbian has helped me become prouder of that part of myself, and has helped me be a part of an amazing lgbt community I personally might not have had the courage to seek without my identity. To clarify, I only like self-made labels and identities - I'm not pro- people putting others into boxes where they don't want to be.

Sarah, on the other hand, doesn't like labels - she finds them derisive and restrictive and is way too picky to be defined by just a few descriptors.

Anyway!

We were notified today that we have made it to number 4 (!!) on Vuelio's Top 10 LGBT UK Blogs! This is fantastic news, and we are in great company - you can check out the article and the write up on us and our fellow bloggers here - make sure you check them out!

Photo courtesy of Barefoot

Finally, Barefoot wine has sent us a bottle of their pink muscato (coincidentally our favourite ever wine, we love a bubbly pink!) to make a cocktail they dreamed up specifically for Pride London this weekend. We've bought pear liqueur, passionfruit coulis, and we can't WAIT to have our own little celebration this evening! Look out for that recipe so you can try your own!




Happy Pride to our friends in London, have an amazing, safe time, and don't do anything we wouldn't do :)

Love is love,

Our First Year Wedding Anniversary Part 3 (The Final Part!) - Bob Bob Ricard

I'd seen photos from the glamorous Russian restaurant Bob Bob Ricard in London on Instagram over the last few years, and always had it on my list of 'one day, if we have the money/an occasion' items.

So when I suggested it to my 'realist' wife for our anniversary and showed her the photos, I definitely expected her to say no. It is the most expensive place we would have ever eaten! So I was shocked when she said she thought it was a great idea, and I booked it before she could change her mind.

My parents very generously offered to pay for most of the meal as our anniversary present, so Saturday we set off all dolled up to have our first anniversary dinner!

And let me tell you, it was incredible. I think I thought the experience would be amazing, but didn't expect the food to be stellar, because it would be more about the experience. Does that make sense? But I was wrong!

The dining room was beautiful, very ornate, with the wait staff in suits with tails, and we ordered a cocktail each to get things started. Sarah ordered a chicken, mushroom and champagne pie, and I ordered the filet mignon, with a few sides each.

It was just divine. The filet mignon cut like butter, was medium rare and to die for - the pie was flavourful and warm, and the top of it was beautiful! Weirdly, one of our favourite bits of the meal was seemingly simple - the honey glazed parsnips and carrots almost brought tears to our eyes. We have tried to recreate it since to no avail.

The sides are quite small, but I'd say the flavour of everything more than made up for it.

And then, we noticed the 'Push for champagne' button at each table - and thought, should we?

How could we not take advantage!

We were delivered two glasses of rose champagne, and after a cheers to this wonderful last year of our lives, we got onto ordering dessert.

We ordered the eton mess ball and strawberry and cream soufflé - which paired very well with our lovely drinks, if I say so myself!

Then, the icing on the cake (quite literally) of this amazing night, they had overheard us talking about our wedding anniversary and surprised us with this pretty little celebration ice cream cake, which had sparklers on it and made us feel very special.

In short, we cannot recommend Bob Bob Ricard enough for a special celebration meal out. Delicious food, fantastic service, one of a kind experience. We will be back, whenever we can find a wonderful occasion to celebrate! Surely getting through this week counts - celebration that it's Friday!

Part 1 of our Year 1 Wedding Anniversary celebrations can be found here! We checked out Book of Mormon.

Part 2 can be found here! We were at Pride!

Seven.

Today Sarah and I have been together for seven years!!

Seven isn't necessarily a significant number, and with all that has been going on here lately it is passing without the biggest of celebrations, but I wanted to take a moment to recognise it.

Seven seems like a really long time. It's well over half a decade of love, laughs and adventures (and of course the occasional argument). Soon it will be in double digits, and I can't believe how quickly it is going. But I guess they say time flies when you are having fun!

So, in honour of the day, I thought I'd list my 7 favourite things about Sarah at this moment in time:
1. She makes me laugh with her wit and silliness, which always puts a smile on my face
2. She is the smartest person I know, both with her random fact knowledge and her
3. Her eyes - they are big, beautiful and always convey her inner feelings
4. She is so generous - always going above and beyond to make me feel special, doing chores that I don't want to, and making my life even better in so many ways
5. The. Best. Cuddles.
6. I love how much she loves Bisbee, and seeing how amazing and protective and loving she is with her makes me so excited for the future
7. She is truly my other half. The first person I tell good news to, who I run to for comfort, who I want to travel with and cook for and make smile every day

And now, a highlight photo from each of our seven years together. Here's to many, many more!!

Year 1 - Sarah's 26th birthday and our first trip together to St. Malo

Year 2 - our time in Sydney, living together for the first time!

Year 3 - Our trip to Naples

Year 4 - We got engaged in Idaho!

Year 5 - (technically slightly after) we got legally married in the UK

Year 6 - we became Mrs and Mrs Smith!

Year 7 - Our big honeymoon road trip to California

I love you, wife!!