{Our Moment(s)}

Two sisters, two pictures…from two different countries. A Friday ritual. One photo each – no words – capturing a moment from the week. An image, a memory, a moment we want to pause, savor, remember and share. (Inspired by Amanda Soule)

Safety in Numbers

The girls are wound-up! They can’t wait for our trip! Sun sea, cypress trees, charming hill towns, taking-in new (and old) wedding memories,  fabulous wine…okay, maybe the grown-ups are buzzing with a bit of excitement too. It’s true – I can hardly wait to watch our girls strolling the piazza, in sundresses, licking gelato under a bright Italian sun.

But if I can put a slight damper on this idyllic setting for just a moment…Whenever we travel with our kids, I almost always encounter at least one panicky moment. We are often lugging various suitcases, hunting for a gate number or struggling to make a connection, with a dawdling little day-dreamer trailing behind us. It is crowded and for a split second, she is gone.

You can’t help but wonder…what would happen if they got lost? Would my shy 5-year-old be brave enough to do what I’ve advised her (stay where she is and use her instinct to select another mommy and ask for help)? What if they didn’t speak English? Then what?

So, mostly to easy my mommy-nerves, we made these little bracelets out of Fimo clay and etched my mobile phone number into the beads with a toothpick. (Of course you could use number beads, but I could not find any and this was more fun anyway.) They will be worn on travel days, when we are more likely to be whizzing through crowded places. The girls actually think it’s really cool to have mommy’s phone number on their bracelet and I think they realize the value of it. Perhaps if they got lost, they would not be so frightened.

In reality, with half-finished packing going on and so much to do before we go, the biggest risk is losing the bracelets before we even depart!

 

{Our Moment(s)}

Two sisters, two pictures…from two different countries. A Friday ritual. One photo each – no words – capturing a moment from the week. An image, a memory, a moment we want to pause, savor, remember and share. (Inspired by Amanda Soule)

 

{Our Moment(s)}

Two sisters, two pictures…from two different countries. A Friday ritual. One photo each – no words – capturing a moment from the week. An image, a memory, a moment we want to pause, savor, remember and share. (Inspired by Amanda Soule)

 

Sushi and Spring Rolls

A trip to Japan is in our future – or at least it should be. The girls are smitten with sushi lately. We occasionally order-in or eat out, but lately we’ve started making it at home, which has naturally, only increased the obsession, since most kids adore eating their own creations.

Considering the raw-fish factor with kids, we tend to stick to smoked fish and cooked shrimp and lots of their favorite veggies. These bamboo sushi rolling mats are great. I’m pretty sure there is a method for making normal white rice into sticky sushi rice (I think it involves vinegar), but since we normally eat brown rice, we buy “sushi rice” just for these occasions and it is naturally sticky.

We need to work on our chopstick technique – but they sure are fun!

Bring on the Spring Rolls!

We enjoy these for dinner sometimes too and our mostly-gluten-free girl, loves getting spring rolls in her school lunch. They are easy to put together the night before and are a great way to reinvent leftovers. We often include shrimp or chicken, lettuce, cucumber, red pepper, carrot, a bit of rice and soy sauce.

It takes a bit of an assembly line to put them together and I could do a better job at rolling the rice wrappers, but sometimes you have to love a no-cook meal!

{Our Moment(s)}

Two sisters, two pictures…from two different countries. A Friday ritual. One photo each – no words – capturing a moment from the week. An image, a memory, a moment we want to pause, savor, remember and share. (Inspired by Amanda Soule)

When life gives you malt balls…

This past Easter we saw our candy stash triple in size. And because we aren’t huge candy eaters, these goodies are around for ages.  The girls love dumping their entire bags onto the floor and taking inventory.  I remember loving this too – the sight and sound of all that candy, spilling and tumbling out of the bag, surrounding me in a colorful and delicious halo of (Mine! All Mine!) sugar. 

Like me, the girls spend ages humming-n-hawing over “which one to try tonight.”  My eldest and most cerebral lass always asks for my opinion,

Should I choose this one…or this one mama?”

Lately, perhaps because we’re in a new country and absolutely everything around her seems new and mysterious, she’s even more intent on getting me to weigh in on the hits-n-misses of All Things British.  Sweets and treats are no exception.  Since Easter, it has been my job (piece by piece) to describe the flavors and features, pros & cons of each potentially-delicious candidate.

This past weekend, while walking over the Malvern Hills, I brought out a small bag of sweets and let the girls take their pick. As usual, Layn quickly chooses two things and runs off; thrilled to welcome sugar in any form, yelling a wind-swept “Thank You!” over her shoulder as she disappears around a turn.  Wynn, on the other hand, is pensive and methodical. She takes forever (foreeeeeeeever) making up her mind.  She’s narrowed it down – this one, or that one? …or maybe that one? She’s most curious about a small bag of malt balls and asks what they are.  And so I describe them as best I can…

Well, these are covered with a thin layer of chocolate, and the inside is airy and milky and sweet.  These can ‘pop’ open in your mouth or melt on your tongue – your choice. They’re good. I think you’ll like them.”

She’s intrigued, and she chooses the malt balls. 

 

I smile at the fact that, at six years old, the world is still a place that has malt balls up its sleeve…still a place full (FULL!) of first time sights and tastes, textures and lessons. 

And quite suddenly, I realize that this malt-ball-moment just might be the perfect way to explain why I have loved living a life of constant movement.  A life that includes packing up, relocating, discovering, settling in — and then doing it all over again.

In my experience, once I have lived somewhere long enough to know how most of the candy tastes…what aisle the cereal is in…where the two best Indian restaurants are in town – it often feels as though it might be time to move on. {I have found that this takes between 2-3 years.}

Familiar things are wonderful and I am constantly thankful for the comforts – the scent/tastes/sights/friendships — found at home.  But there is also something equally wonderful about being in a place where life is constantly introducing you to malt balls. 

This way, as a girl in my late thirties, I get to be six again. I get to be curious, take a risk, and try something new. I might love it. I might not. But, it’s hard to beat the feeling of waking up and knowing there is (there truly is) a whole world outside my door waiting to be discovered.  And savored. 

For the very first time.

To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.” – Bill Bryson