Liam starts to crawl

During our holiday, Liam had started to show signs of moving on his own. But when we arrived home, he set off with a vengeance across the living room floor. Using his pull with his arms and push with one foot technique, he slid across the polished floors, finally able to discover the flat for himself. It was as if coming home, he had been reminded about the flat and suddenly he had a way to get around, so he did. We stood and smiled as he went from room to room. Although it wasn’t conventional crawling, it was good enough for Liam, and he was enjoying it very much.

On to Germany

The second part of our summer holiday was 2 weeks in Germany. We took a flight from Bologna to Cologne and stayed with Christian and Til for the first week. They have a great house, are very easygoing and fun to stay with. Other than sitting in their garden, we were busy planning for our event in Cologne. This was a chance for Caroline to invite her family and friends in Germany to a belated wedding celebration. We had hired a room and garden at a local restaurant for the event. We were lucky with the weather and the sun came out to warm us as we had a welcome drink in the garden. About 45 people in total were there and I think they all enjoyed both the food and the relaxed atmosphere. The theatre group put on a great show for us, with their improvisation theatre. Franz even organised some Greek dancing for us, with a traditional Greek wedding dance in a big circle around the garden. Following that weekend, we took the train down to Caroline’s mums, where we stayed for the rest of the week. After four weeks away, we finally flew back home to Stockholm… a good holiday and nice long break.

On holiday in Italy

This year, our summer holiday started with 2 weeks in Italy. We took a flight to Pisa and were collected by Franz and Eva, two of Caroline’s German friends who were sharing the house in Tuscany with us. Christiana and Til were already at the house, another couple from Germany, who also drove down from Cologne. The location was just great, a stone farm house, set on the side of a hill and surrounded by vineyards. The village of Lucareli is in the hills and is about half way between Florence and Siena. We spent the 2 weeks relaxing, cooking, swinging in the hammocks and generally having a good time. Liam enjoyed all the attention and splashing in a small plastic pool in the shade. Caroline spent time painting in the studio with the girls, who were all painters too. During the two weeks, we made numerous outings to the local villages, such as Greve in Chianti, Castellina and Radda, where we shopped for food and wine… what lovely wine, and Italian ice cream. We also made some longer day trips to Siena and San Gimignano, where we ate and photographed the classic Tuscan city streets and architecture.
So at the end of the two weeks, we were very pleased with the Italian start to our holiday… now on to Germany.