We then did the only sensible thing to do when in Bruge …. wander! We decided we should top off our experience with a Belgian waffle so found a nice little cafe we had seen previously. By this point Ella had fallen asleep in her pram so we decided to take the opportunity to sit down and enjoy our waffles properly. We both had hot chocolate sauce and strawberries and Adrian had cream too. The lady who served us was really nice and helped us translate the page of waffle options. Then when we were finished she gave us a homemade eggnog each to try. It was nice, but not really my thing, so I had a few sips and left the rest.

As we had already seen everything we wanted to, we decided to head back to the car and make our way to the eurotunnel, hoping to get an earlier train. We managed to get on the 2.20pm train without paying any extra, which gave us just enough time to give Ella her lunch and have lunch ourselves. When we got off the other end we drove straight home and were back in Maidenhead at about 3.30pm.

After unpacking and putting on a load of washing I went and picked Laura up from the station and we got a few things from Waitrose (including something easy for dinner so none of us had to cook).

Our last European adventure is now over But we had a fabulous weekend and thoroughly enjoyed our little getaway. It is the first family holiday we’ve had with just the 3 of us and we enjoyed every minute of it. The hotel was perfect as we had plenty of space and with it being so close to the Markt we were able to come and go as we pleased. It was so nice to see Ella enjoying herself – she has this new little thing we call a ‘boogie’ where she wiggles her body from her bum up like a little dance (don’t know how else to explain it). She took great delight in making new friends everywhere we went and was such a good girl the whole trip. All in all a great trip

After a brief look at some of the shops, we walked back to the hotel and got the pram out of the car. We took a nice scenic walk through the canals to the Half-Moon Brewery, then found one of many chocolate shops that had nice take-away hot chocolates. We kept walking to the Minnewater (lake of love), where it is said that if you throw a coin into the lake you will find your true love. Since Adrian and I already have each other, we gave Ella a coin and helped her to throw it in. From there we continued our walk to the main train station where we found a nice little place for all 3 of us to have lunch.

The reason we had gone to the station was because they had an ice sculpture exhibition on the square in front of the station. This year the theme was Disney, so we paid our money and put any available piece of clothing on to prepare for the sub-zero temperature. The sculptures were amazing but it didn’t take Ella long to get grumpy (and I was freezing) so we had a quick look at everything and then made our way to the exit.

We walked back to the hotel so that Ella could have some play time and her afternoon tea, and then went back out again to buy some beer. Adrian bought two packs of local beers – one pack for himself and one pack for Dad. It was too hard to carry around, so back to the hotel we went. We then went and had a look at some more shops and Ella fell asleep in the pram again so we kept wandering, going down streets we hadn’t explored yet. We decided it would be easier to feed Ella in the hotel room, so we did that and then carried her to our restaurant choice for tonight, on the corner of the Markt. Tonight we both had Waterzooi Chicken (chicken in a creamy soup) and asked the waiter for some bread for Ella to munch on (she happily devoured mine last night and was a good tactic for keeping her occupied).

Adrian has put up some photos from yesterday and is currently sorting through the ones from today. It turns out I’m not chief photographer this trip – he took photos today while I carried/pushed Ella.

The crossing only took half an hour and during that time we managed to give Ella her lunch in the car. We drove to de Panne and then took the coast road to Oostende. Although it was nice to be off the motorway the drive wasn’t as nice as we thought it would be. We found a services to stop at to give Ella her afternoon bottle and snack and then drove to our hotel (Hotel Aragon) in Bruges.

We checked in and then let Ella have a play on the floor for a while before heading off to explore a bit. Our hotel is only a 2 minute walk from the main Markt area which is absolutely stunning at night. We wandered around for a bit and took note of some shops to go back to tomorrow and then starting looking for somewhere to have dinner. The main criteria were not too fancy (coz we had Ella), had to serve local cuisine and had to have a highchair. We found a lovely little restaurant where Ella made lots of friends. Adrian fed Ella her dinner while we waited for our meals (we both had Flemish Beefstew, a stew done in dark Belgian beer) and then she happily devoured some bread while we ate.

We had a quick look for the belgian waffle place we had seen earlier, but it was closed, so we just went back to the hotel for some more playtime with Ella. Before we knew it, it was time for bath, bottle and bed. We’ve just been watching TV, looking at our photos from today and relaxing. Adrian has just asked me how I managed to take 155 photos in one day, when all we really did was drive – I guess I take after my Dad

On new year’s day, we walked down to church (coz we wouldn’t all fit in the car) for the 11am service. Church had decided to combine the 9.15 and 11am services so that people didn’t have to get up quite so early. This meant we were in town for lunch, so we went to the Bear pub and then walked home again. The church do a new year’s day walk every year, but because the 1st fell on a Sunday, this year the walk was on the Monday. Unfortunately Laura couldn’t come with us as she had a meeting at her new school, but the rest of us went to the meeting point in White Waltham and joined 99 (so I’m told) others for a beautiful 3-4 mile walk which took about 2 hours. I carried Ella in her baby carrier (front pouch) and she loved it – I just had to hold her hands towards the end and occasionally sing to her.

Speaking of Ella, the main reason for writing this blog was to tell you her new achievements. She has her first tooth!! This is making her even better at eating, so we’ve tried her on some new things like strawberries, mango, nectarine and tonight she even had her first tim tam (just a little bite). She has also learnt worked out how to go from lying down to sitting up and can then pull herself up to a standing position using something like a chair, the lounge or a person as leverage. She is such a clever little thing (no surprises with us as parents, lol) – I was showing her how to put one of her new balls into the stacking cup yesterday and after trying it a few times herself she now loves to show everyone how she can do it. She has even worked out how that she sometimes needs to turn the cup over to then put the ball in it.

We have heard Ella giggling before, but only ever little chuckles. But the other day she was really laughing her head off at Adrian, who was juggling at the time. She thought it was hilarious, particularly when he dropped the balls. Since then a couple of things have made her really laugh and it’s so adorable.

Mum and Dad are off to Switzerland tomorrow so Adrian and I decided to have one last holiday in Europe before we move home and figured that was the best time to do it so that Nanna and Poppa wouldn’t miss out on Ella cuddles. We are going to take the car on the Eurotunnel and then drive to Bruges (in Belgium for those of you who aren’t good with geography). Not sure if we’ll have internet access so the blog might have to wait until after we get back.

In the meantime there are some more photos on our site. Hope you all had a nice new year and are settling well into 2012. Lots of love xoxo

I decided at the start of December that I wanted to be part of the carols services at church this year, so I started going to the practices and thoroughly enjoyed being part of a choir again. The first carols service was on 11th December so I went down in the afternoon for a practice and then stayed afterwards for mince pies, while Adrian was at home with Ella. The next carols I took part in was with school/work. Each year a varying number of staff and students sing outside the local Waitrose, raising money for Children in Need. This year Ella came with me, but it was raining and very cold so she got a bit upset. We stood just inside the entrance so that we could still sing along, but had the warmth of the store, which made us both a lot happier.

Then before we knew it, the time had come to go and pick up Mum and Dad from the airport! We did all sorts of bits and pieces with them that first week. Mum came with me to the school carol service, which was very good. The Friday was the last day of term at school and my last official day as a teacher there, so I left Ella with Nanna and Poppa and went into school at about 11.15am. I went to the Yr 9 achievement assembly so I could see what my tutor group (they’ll always be mine) had been up to and then spent some time with them afterwards before they were dismissed for the holidays. After the students had gone, the staff all had Christmas lunch together and I was given a present from the Headteacher on behalf of the staff.

Probably the best day so far (apart form Christmas itself) was when we bought our Christmas tree. We’ve always loved buying our tree with Hilary and Andy and this year we got to share the tradition with Mum and Dad. We went to Hilary and Andy’s place in the morning to have croissants for breakfast (Emily & Oliver were there too) and then we all went in 2 cars to the tree place. Once we had chosen our tree, Andy & Oliver loaded it onto their car and we set off home. We spent the rest of the morning decorating it and getting ready for our Christmas tree party which started at 3pm. As always we had a lovely time with friends and it was nice for Mum and Dad to catch up with everyone again and meet some new people too.

The next day was the second of the carols services at church, again in the evening. This time Mum and Dad were able to come and watch me sing, which was really lovely.

Adrian finished work on the Tuesday before Christmas so we all caught the train into London with Ella to meet him after work. We spent the evening in London looking at the Christmas lights. We started in Trafalgar Square and then walked up to Oxford St, Regent St, Carnaby St, and back to the tube. From there we caught the tube to the other side of the river, where we wandered along the German Christmas markets that they had at Southbank. After eating our packed dinner and a scrumptious stick of marshmallows dipped in a chocolate fountain, we caught the tube to Harrods to see their display. By this point it was getting late so we headed home, but we all (Ella included) had a great night out.

Then on the Wednesday we went to the panto at the New Victoria Theatre. This year it was Peter Pan and was very funny. Ella enjoyed herself for most of it except one point where she got a bit restless (but was easily distracted) and another time where all the screaming and cheering from the audience scared her a bit. I mustn’t forget to say that before the panto started, we took Ella to Santa’s Grotto to meet Santa for the first time and have her photo taken with him. She wasn’t too sure what was going on, but didn’t cry, so I’ll take that as a win.

On Christmas Eve we baked our ham, made our pork apple and sage stuffing, and made the festive sherry trifle dessert. Then on Christmas Day we woke up and opened all our presents in the morning. Ella was quite impressed with all her new toys, not to mention the boxes and wrapping paper they came in – at one point she launched herself into the pile of wrapping paper! After we’d opened everything we all squeezed in the car to go to church. I led the singing and was amused to find out that the child I could hear snoring through the sermon was in fact Ella. After seeing some of our friends afterwards for a quick Christmas hug, we came home to cook the turkey, honey-glazed veggies, and baked potato & sweet potato. – our first hot Christmas lunch was a great success! After lunch we all played with Ella and her new toys and then had leftovers for dinner. As Christmas should be, we spent the day eating and playing

On Boxing Day we had a fairly quiet day, walking into town in the afternoon to buy a cable Adrian needed. We had a coffee/tea/hot chocolate at one of the cafes in town and Ella sat in their highchair, which she absolutely LOVED. That evening we watched Love Actually and realised that it’s been a long time since we’ve watched a movie, so will have to start doing it more often.

Yesterday we spent the day at Wanda and Alan’s place for another mini Christmas. We gave Ella her lunch at home and then went over, armed with presents, potato bake and mars bar slice. While lunch was cooking we exchanged gifts. They got Ella a gorgeous bead to go on the bracelet they gave her for her baptism. It is a love heart with the Union Jack on it, to remind her of her time in England. I got a lovely bracelet with all different red, black and silver beads. Adrian got a series of different shaped and sized boxes which took forever to get into – it was great entertainment for the rest of us, and turned out to be all sorts of chocolate, fudge, biscuits etc which he was instructed to share We had a lovely lunch (as we always do at their place) and after lots of talking and playing with Ella we had a few rounds of Bananagrams (a game where you race against each other to build your own crossword grids). Because Dad was there with his camera, we managed to actually get some nice photos with them and Ella, and us too. We spend a lot of time with Wanda and Alan but never think to get any photos, so thanks Dad.

Today we had a quiet day and then in the afternoon I went to pick Laura up from the airport. Laura is a very good friend of mine from Oz who arrived today to start her adventure of living here for up to 2 years. She had managed to get herself a job at a primary school in Reading which is great. She had dinner with us and then I took her to the Holiday Inn up the road so she could get a good night’s sleep and then she’ll be staying here (in our loungeroom) while we help her find somewhere to live.

So, like I said at the start, a lot has been happening. I apologise for the huge blog, if you’re reading this then well done for getting to the end! We’ve put some photos up and will put some more up as we sort through them.

Wow, what a year! Clearly the biggest news of the year is the birth of our beautiful daughter, Ella Maree on April 17. It was very special to be able to share her arrival with Janet’s parents and to then be joined the next day by Janet’s sister Katharine and Aunty Eenie. The four of them had conspired to keep Eenie’s visit a secret and we were kept completely in the dark until she walked in our front door. With Ella in our room, Sandy and Richard in the nursery, Katharine on the floor in the lounge and Eenie finding a bed in the hotel just up the road, it was a very full house with plenty of helping hands to let us ease into parenthood.

Katharine had her heart set on introducing Ella to the beach, so despite the blustery English spring conditions, we all piled into a van and headed off in search of a “real beach”, but wound up in Brighton. We also enjoyed other day trips – walks into town and exploring some of the areas around Maidenhead which helped to get us used to getting out and about with Ella. She quickly became a well-travelled baby.

The travelling continued after Katharine and Eenie headed back home, as the remaining 5 set off once more on a road trip along the south coast of Wales, giving Ella her first night in a hotel. We were then very blessed to have Sandy and Richard here for Ella’s baptism. Ella was the perfect baby through the whole service and didn’t even cry when having the water poured over her head. Her Godparents Wanda and Alan and many of our other friends joined us afterwards for cuddles and cake at our place.

Not long after Sandy and Richard left, we had our next visitor, Janet’s good friend Laura who stayed with us for two weeks. We enjoyed spending time together, mostly eating and watching tennis. Ella showed early signs of enjoying tennis, being fascinated by the TV whenever the tennis was on.

Since April we have started experiencing many “firsts” – first Father’s day, first solid food, first rolling, first time being baby-sat etc. We have also kept in touch with the couples from the antenatal class, with Janet and the other Mum’s catching up every Monday and seeing each other in their busy social lives at “bumps and babes”, “rhyme time”, baby yoga and more. Ella has almost completed her first series of swimming lessons with Daddy and is very confident in the water, happily splashing, kicking and even being completely submerged.

Our biggest adventure of the year was in August when we flew back to Australia to introduce Ella to the rellies. Not only did Ella fly all that way, she also flew all about Australia to visit Adrian’s family in Townsville and Janet’s relatives in Leeton NSW. Ella is very blessed to have two great grandmothers who she met on this trip. This was also a chance for us to meet Ella’s new cousin Maddie (Madison Eve Giorcelli) – Adrian’s sister’s first child, born 12 weeks after Ella.

The trip back to Australia highlighted the fact that we have a very content little girl. Ella has slept well from a young age and is always full of smiles. She did however decide that the day we flew back from Australia was a great time to start experimenting with making loud noises – at least they were happy squeals…

The trip back to Australia really made us realise just how much we miss our family and how much we want them to share in as much of Ella’s life as possible, so we have decided to move back to Australia in February 2012. It is however going to be very difficult to say goodbye to all the wonderful friends we’ve made over here. We have been busy filling out paperwork as Ella is registered as a dual citizen and Adrian acquired British citizenship as well, so we are now a 6 passport family. Adrian’s citizenship also means that any future children who are born in Australia will automatically be dual-nationals as well. Hopefully one day our kids can come over and have the same kind of amazing experiences that we have had.

Last year we spent Christmas day with Wanda and Alan and their family. It was wonderful to spend Christmas in a family atmosphere and we are very blessed that we’ll be able to do that again this year as Janet’s parents are coming over. Richard is desperately hoping for a white Christmas but the weather forecast suggests this may be the one year we’ve been here that it doesn’t snow. They plan to head over to Switzerland though so should see plenty of snow there. While they’re away we’re hoping to do one last trip into Europe and take the train across to France and then drive up to Belgium. Next year we’re hoping to keep up the adventuring spirit and explore more of Australia.

For those that haven’t discovered it already, we’ve been keeping a blog of our adventures at www.thesuttons.name. You can enter your email address there as well and you’ll get an email whenever we post something new. It will be a great way of keeping in touch when we move back to Australia.

We hope this letter finds you in good health and that the New Year brings peace, joy and happiness.

Merry Christmas,

Adrian, Janet and Ella

I’ve also had her weighed recently and she is now 7.6kg which is nearly 17 pounds and still right on the 50th percentile.

Other than that we’ve just been doing our usual activities during the week. Adrian and I also had our first night out since Ella was born. Wanda and Alan babysat for us while we went to the Bowaters Restaurant at The Compleat Angler in Marlow, where we enjoyed a lovely jazz dinner.

I’m back on the singing roster at church, for both the 9.15am and 6.30pm services. I’m also in the church choir for the carols services which should be fun.

The girls from mothers group had a night out on Saturday – dinner at Pizza Express and then a few drinks at the pub. We then had our Christmas party at our usual Monday meet-up where the kids all got gifts and the adults got crackers and food.

All in all it’s been a good few weeks since our last blog. Will post more in the lead up to Christmas. Enjoy the photos

Ella’s latest trick is now making sounds without using her hand against her mouth – so far she’s worked out how to say ‘babababababa’ pretty much constantly! Every time I try and film it she stops and stares at the camera, but hopefully I’ll capture it soon so you can all see how cute it is.