Autumn Stories

Simple games and toys are always fun for kids. Here is Maria enjoying some wrapping bubbles that daddy brought for her.

September and October have been 2 very nice months for all of us. Maria is developing quite well, crawling, waving "bye-bye", clapping hands and playing with many toys.

Last month, we had a visit from Will's uncle and aunt. We had a great afternoon together.

Great Aunt Jill, Maria and Grannie Mary, Great Uncle Geoff and Granddad Peter

Each weekend, if it was a nice weather, we took Maria for hikes and walks around the beautiful places of England's countryside. As she is getting bigger, but still not too heavy (as she hasn't gained in the last 2 months a single gram), we decided to "upgrade" her to a baby back pack carrier when we take her for walks.

Mummy taxi

and daddy taxi

Mottisfont Abbey Garden

A beautiful time in the gorgeous weather

Having fun on the grass

At the beginning of October we went for a trip to Munich (Germany) to visit our friends Mat and Sally and also my friend Ursula, who I haven't seen for about 7 years. It was so nice to see our friends and Maria enjoyed the trip a lot. In the first day there, we went to the center of the city, went geocaching (of course...) and visited my friend Ursula and her husband at their place. I felt 7 years younger; all the memories from the US came back, as everything happened just yesterday.

Marienplaz - the same as it was 15 years ago

we changed...

We went for a walk in a nearby park and introduced Ursula and Florian to geocaching. In the evening, we all went to a nice Bavarian pub in the center of Munich.

 So nice to see Ursula again after such a long time

Maria is having a nap, preparing for the evening...

I am awake now and my eyes are glowing in the dark. Spooky!

Lovely dinner with our friends in a cool Bavarian pub

The second day in Munich we went for a nice walk to the Andechs Abbey. This time we introduced Mat and Sally to our geocaching adventure and it seems that they liked it quite a lot and we ended up recruiting new members. We managed to find all of the caches. After a long walk to the Abbey, we had a Bavarian lunch (white sausage and pretzels).

"Thanks, Mat for playing with me!"

"It's Sally's turn now"

Back from Germany and straight to Heathrow to pick up "Mama Lili". She is so happy to see Maria again and play with her. My mum's first weekend here was busy. On Saturday, we took a travel bug to the beach and "upgraded" Maria to a MacPac (Thank you grannie Mary and granddad Peter for my first birthday present.)

" Brrr, a bit chilly today, I need my hat on. Let's go geocaching, everyone!"

And the biggest sport event in October, the World Gymnastics Championships in London. What a treat! And how nice of my lovely husband to suggest to get tickets for the event. Thanks, Baby, we all enjoyed it so much! In the last day of the event, we went to see the apparatus finals: 2 for women and 3 for men. The Chinese dominated the last day, but the Romanians and the Brits managed to "steal" one gold each, too. How special for all of us to get to sing our anthems and see your gymnasts compete and win golds.

The Romanians won gold and silver at Men's Vault event, in a competition where almost all the gymnasts performed Marian Dragulescu's vault. But who was the best?

Marian and Flavius celebrating winning gold and silver

and receiving their medals

time for some tears of happiness when the Romanian anthem was playing in the O2 arena

The Romanian girls were not as good as we got used to and Ana Porgras, the only Romanian with chances at medals, won only a bronze medal in the uneven bars, even if she was the main favourite in the beam event. We still enjoyed watching and cheering for her.

Romanian Ana at the beam

The British and Romanian supporters in front of the O2 arena. Thanks, Lauren for joining us!