During the February half-term, we were invited to a big cottage in Shropshire to celebrate our friend Helen's 40th birthday. The countryside was beautiful...but the night drive to the cottage had me thinking we were filming the Blair Witch Project!
The next school term passed by quickly and Audrey has been part of a committee to rebrand the Badgemore School logo and uniform! I'll be sure to post a picture of the new uniform once they finalise plans and start selling them.
We had a big two-week holiday planned with Stegen's parents for the Easter Holidays, but Grandpa had a herniated disk and needed surgery immediately. We all suffered a bit of heartache - it's been almost 8 months since we've seen any family! We're so sad that GG and Papa won't be with us for our holiday, but we are very glad that the surgery went well and that he's feeling good. We love you Mom and Dad!!
Last week, a crazy discovery almost called for a cancellation of our part of the holiday as well! Audrey's US passport expires on May 24, 2015...plenty of time to get it renewed after our trip, right? Wrong!! Five days before our departure, I find out that we need at least 6 months' validity left on our passports in order to travel to certain countries in Europe - like Italy! Panic!! Do we bring her birth certificate and hope for the best? Do we leave her behind with two weeks' worth of Cheerios and milk?!
Thankfully, I pressed enough zero's to get through to a live person at the US Embassy in London. We got her in for an emergency extension and after an £88 train fare and 3.5 hours of agony, we were handed a five-page passport. Phew! Audrey's coming with us after all!
We're driving to Gatwick airport as I type and spending the night there before our 7am flight tomorrow. I'll leave you with our itinerary and hope to update a few times during our trip!
Smith Epic Easter Holiday Itinerary:
- Fly to Zurich, stay one night
- Take the (awesome) Bernina Express Panoramic train through the Swiss Alps!!
- Take a train to Lake Como, Italy to stay in the town of Bellagio for two nights
- Take a train to Venice where GG rented an amazing apartment for us. Spend three nights including Easter weekend there!
- Take Bahn train from Venice to Munich in a train compartment!
- Spend 4 nights in Munich to explore the city and Bavarian area.
- Fly back to London
It's an ambitious trip...originally planned for four adults to wrangle two children around. Now it's two on two - wish us luck!
