I am now officially Schneidered

So Benedikt and I eventually got married last month! We'd had to wait almost 6 months to get the relevant documents we needed from our respective countries to go ahead with the procedure. Well actually, Germany took 6 weeks to provide us with Benedikt's 'Certificate of no impediments to marriage' while SA took the 6 months to provide mine! What a schlep. So we'd been unable to actually get married in time for our wedding. But our wedding day is what counted for us, the actual official bit was just a 5 minute paper signing session really.
We'd had to go to an awful, brown, over crowded, run down building called Sheria House in downtown Nairobi numerous times to get it all sorted. What a time consuming mission. But now its done, and we are married, and nothing has changed! Benedikt still forgets his manners :)

I guess I will change my surname when I get round to it. Unfortunately! The main reason I will is because its easier with Nico. When I traveled with him from Germany to Edinburgh I had to somehow prove he was my son! Thank goodness we had a copy of Benedikt's passport.

Then 2 weeks ago we did the Rift Valley Odyssey, a 3 day mtb ride in and around the Great Rift Valley. The riding was really hard but beautiful. One part was really majestic, following an awesome piece of single track contour line along the edge of the rift, with a drop on the left of you, the Longonot crater ahead and Lake Naivasha in the distance. I am currently ultra unfit as I've backed off exercise a lot, so I really suffered on Day 1 and 2. I was really sick on Day 3, so much so that I went to hospital for tests in the afternoon once we were back in Nairobi. Turns out I had an ecoli infection and had to go on anti biotics. It was horrible! But the weekend away for the race was great. Very social. And Nico is STAR camper. He slept through so much noise both nights

Nico @ 14 months

So Nico is now 14.5 months. And this has got to be the cutest stage ever. He is just such a little person. He is doing so many new things these days, and just loves to copy what we do. He dances (badly like his parents) whenever there is music on.... he knows how to make our iphones play music - actually he taught us the short cut! Its a true sign of the times when a one year old knows how to operate a touch screen ;)
He has this habit of screwing up his face now when he doesnt like something which is just TOO CUTE. He even does it on demand!
He also loves when I sing songs to him and is slowly learning all the actions. For example he touches his legs when I sing 'head shoulders knees and toes' and he claps his hands, nods his head and stamps his feet at all the wrong times when I sing 'if you're happy and you know it'.
He has 12 teeth already, including 4 molars. And his top middle two are giant teeth, so he munches on anything these days from carrots to nuts to rocks and shoes.
He runs everywhere now, not just walks. He is seriously fast. And he climbs everything he can! He climbs the stairs, onto our bed, the sofa, onto his stool in his room, to the roof of his pram (!) and up the jungle gym at baby group.
He just has one bottle at bed time now, so no more baby baby for him. He also he prefers to drink from our water bottles or a cup rather that his beakers.

He loves to play hide and seek. And being pushed around in his truck. And he LOVES the hosepipe and anything to do with water. So moving water from one bucket to another can keep him busy for hours. He loves anything outside really so its great we have such brilliant weather here. He loves the dogs too, he pulls their tails and stands on them and laughs when they come into his room or watch him in the bath, he also hits them with things - which they never seem to mind, its more attention!
Between Benedikt, Sara and I and I think we must have covered 100kms already pushing Nico up and down like this: (and he complains if you go too slowly!)


He is so much better co-ordinated with objects too. Like tipping things upside down or squeezing things or pushing buttons and generally learning how to operate the world. He also knows the actions for many things like if you mention a hairbrush he brushes his hair, or if you say flower he sniffs! Its fascinating to observe really. This kid thing is truly entertaining!
He loves to copy Lilian, our housekeeper, and often goes around with a broom. All kids seem to love doing this? Would be handy if it stayed that way.


He is trying REALLY hard to talk. And I think he gets frustrated when we don't understand him. But so far we can make out these words: ball, book, out, go, come, mama, Horse (so funny cos he shouts it like are always doing), this and up. So coming along slowly. And he makes many many different animal sounds.
And scrunches his face when you tell him! And he so understands most things we say to him which is amazing. And he often brings you things when you ask him. Yay, another slave!

He went through a stage about 2 months ago when he didnt want to be fed by me and he also didnt eat himself which was pretty difficult... but after much perseverance and much wasted food, we've worked out what he'll eat and what he won't. Although we constantly try new foods and re-try ones that he rejected before. Now he is eating really well, and eating himself. So its finger foods galore. So in the morning he has a whole banana - he stuffs it in while I get a mango or avo ready for him.... then he'll eat half of that. Then he'll have breakfast with Benedikt and eat half of his oats! At lunch we start off with various veggies which I've cooked nicely or roasted and hope he is hungry enough to try them. Then we move on to tofu and tomato and cucumber which are firm favourites. Then he fills up on pasta! Wholewheat of course, and with a dab of rapeseed oil and nutritional yeast. I do often give him leftovers from the night before too. eg lentils or quinoa. Then at around 5pm he eats ALOT of watermelon and sweet melon himself, while I shovel a fruit smoothie into him. He does eat meat much to my chagrin, but only when Benedikt feeds it to him ;)



Sleep wise he is an angel! I really don't know how we got so lucky but he is great. I guess we have Gina Ford to thank really. Her routines really work well for him. So he is down to just one sleep in the day time now - from about 12:30 to 3pm. And then he sleeps from 7pm to 7am every night and hardly ever wakes up! We are very lucky me thinks.
Check out one of my favourite videos of him:
And great news is that he's stopped sucking his thumb! So no dummy and no thumb. Yay. Although I did think the thumb sucking was a great comforter when his sleep was disturbed

My brother's Wedding Festival

So on the 3rd of September 2011 it was my brothers wedding... he was the last of us 3 to get married. And seeing as Boz and I had already had such AMAZING weddings (here and here), the competition was on! Although he had an advantage - they had a whole wedding FESTIVAL. And Nicola, the most amazing girl ever, and now my sister in law, had organised it all.
It started with the hen and stag do's, followed the next day by Edinburgh breakfast and castle and a haggis evening, then the actual wedding day. Which dawned fresh and overcast on all of us glampers.
It did rain quite a bit in the morning, and up until about 20 minutes to go, then it suddenly cleared up marvelously for the beach ceremony - what luck. So here is Nicola on her dad's arm, being piped onto the beach. She was very relaxed as you can see!



So then we all moved to the tepee for champagne and bitings for about an hour or so....during which we HAD A FLYOVER!!!! WOW!!! How amazing is that?! Mark organised it and was so chuffed it happened. Weather and schedules played along! The crew were even hanging out the side of the sea king. It was BRILLIANT.

So after that excitement we all went inside. The Teepee looked brilliant and the atmosphere was just electric. Mandy of all people was the MC for the evening and promptly got on the stage. Which is where she spent A LOT of the night. I can't remember the exact order of the speeches, but Nicola's dad gave an awesome funny and revealing speech about Nicola. He told us how she was such a perfect brownie and how she always liked to win! Daawie, Mark's best man, gave a very funny speech about Mark. He has just too many funny stories to tell of stuff that Mark has done or they've done to him over the years. Eg taping a tin of pilchards to the bottom of his bed in his room at res. He couldn't find it for months... especially cos they removed it when he cleaned his whole room out... and then put it back! Mark gave a great speech where he thanked everyone and told us even more about Nicola. Basically that she is so generous and has a heart of gold. And how scarily clever she is! He started off his speech saying that her mind goes 'tick tick tick tick tick tick tick' non stop, whereas Mark's goes 'tick .......................................tick .......................................tick'! Mark also spoke of the fairies in his life (me cos I ALWAYS organised everything!) and how my sister and I are his favourite people in the world. Although Nicola is now his wedded favourite ;).
In between all of the speeches Mandy was on stage thoroughly entertaining the crowd. She told everyone how her and I, on the other hand, had been expelled from brownies! And how Mark had been a springbok scout. ie. uber nerd. I was in a very cocky mood and would add in chirps from the table whenever Boz was speaking. I think we were very funny. Not sure what everyone else thought! Mandy also spoke about the 3 of us now being married well. Although I am married to a GERMAN. She spoke of Mum and Dad and how they shaped our lives. At one stage she just got up on stage and got everyone to clap for her with their arms up.... as if she was a pro high jumper or something!
So as the meal was being served I nipped off to go and put Nicolas to bed, and to chat to the babysitter who was a lovely old lady from nearby. Nico was a star and drank his whole bottle and went to sleep without any fuss. Another couple bought their baby into our tent to sleep for the night too... I was worried that when he woke up he'd wake up Nicolas, but Nicolas stayed sleeping until 7am the next morning. What a star! Especially with all of us 8 tipsy folk coming in at different intervals to go to bed and of course ALL the noise from the nearby wedding.
BUT, as I left to put him to bed, one of Nicola's surprises performed at the wedding. She'd organised for three opera singers to serenade everyone - and boy were they loud! I head them clearly from our tent and was very sorry to have missed the whole thing. But Benedikt videoed it all so I got to see it later.
When I got back to the reception I ate my divine meal - quinoa and yummy salad & veggies - and enjoyed great conversations with 2 of Nicola's bridesmaids who were next to us on the main table. Next was the seriously good piper who played some fantastic popular scottish tunes, which got everyone going, as if the crowd wasnt already in the mood!
Soon after that the dancing began - and it didn't stop. The band led everyone through a lot of those fun fun fun organised dances. My favourite (probably because it was also the simplest) was the one where everyone stands in 2 long lines. And a couple moves down the linking arms and spinning around with each person then linking arms with their partner and spinning around. Its a lot of spinning and jumping around. All the dances were actually - I LOVE Scottish dancing!
Later on in the evening we were all given sparklers to wave and chinese lanterns to let loose into the chilly night sky... as ever they were a bit tricky but a lot were successful and they looked really pretty floating off together.
At one stage in the evening, Adam, who I mentioned in one of my previous posts balanced first a wheelbarrow on his chin. THEN A KAYAK. I kid you not. Photographic proof coming soon, so come back.
Then there was also a fireworks show! It was brilliant. I've never been to a wedding with so much entertainment.
The next day Nicolas woke us at 7am as per usual and we tried our hardest not to wake our fellow glampees. We hung around until 11am and then it was time to leave - BOOHOO.
It had been SO cool to meet Simon, my Aunt Stef's Count. He was a laugh a minute, and Mandy and I were particularly fascinated with him and his posh accent and own tartan!
Another bonus had been my favourite Aunt and Uncle had been there, with my cousin Fin who is now a Russian Model of note! We spent loads of time with them and we've hopefully convinced them once and for all to come and visit us all in AFRICA.
My dad's older sister, Urszula was also there, she was a REAL laugh with all the young men in uniform - we couldnt control her!
I spent far too little time with Adam, Lizzie and Jen but saw enough of them for a catch up over the last 8 years or so. Lizzie and Jen are both so clever and musical and talented, I just know one of them is going to be famous one day!
The wedding festival in the meantime, continued on until the Monday afternoon when Mark and Nicola left for honeymoon. The plan was for them all to climb a nearby volcano and watch the Ediburgh Festival fireworks on the Sunday evening.

And if I'm honest, I think Mark won the 'Best Wedding' competition.
Although Mandy and I each loved our own weddings more.... because of who we married

Macleod's Majorettes

Nicola had 2 very efficient and creative bridesmaids organising her hen party and boy did it turn out well. It started off with high tea at a lovely restaurant apparently, where they got Nicola into her very sexy GI Jane outfit.
Benedikt meanwhile arrived haggard and grumpy off the 4 hour train trip and 2 flights later - just to get to Edinburgh from Nairobi! I met him at the train station at 13:30 while Nico slept in our room in our nearby hotel. Thankfully my sister and Collin and Peloso (a very cool friend of my sisters) had arrived from Manchester half an hour earlier and were able to keep an eye on Nico. It was a crazy few hours while we all ran around our hotel from room to room sorting our luggage and outfits and presents and cots and showers and meals and hellos and shopping.... eventually us girls met up with the hen party at 5pm for drinks and the judging of each team’s success.
The 20 or so ladies had been split up into teams and had a series of challenges to do around the city. For example, climb a lamppost, be photographed with a famous look alike, extreme lying down, strategic jelly baby placements, deep fried mars bar eating... and the one I liked the most was get a bunch of guys to spell out Nicola. My mum and Nicola’s team won that hands down, they found a group of workers on a lunch break and promptly spread them out and each one had to be a letter – it looked brilliant.
So after a Mojito and some Scottish whiskey down downs we all hit the streets and walked to a nearby restaurant. Over dinner Nicola had to answer some dodgy questions that Mark had answered previously... and opened all her sexy underwear presents. She was such a good sport. THEN we had 3 strippers come and give us a show! Ha ha ha ha it was 3 of the hen’s boyfriends and they were BRILLIANT. They gave Nicola a lap dance she’ll never forget!
Then we went clubbing – YAY! It was loads of fun. The stags joined us there and everyone really got down and boogied. The stags had played this awesome game where Mark had to run around Edinburgh while being chased by all the others. He had been dressed up in a tight leopard outfit, mask and tail and all. They all had applications on their iphones that enabled them to track where Mark was. So they would run after him and once they found him they shouted ‘Stop Leopard’ and Mark would have to stop in his tracks and be pelted with eggs! Then he was allowed 5 minutes to get going again. Only to be tracked and egg beaten by another group of guys! What a FUN GAME. As long as you aren’t the leopard.
My mum was great and just joined the hens for the day time activities and then went back to the hotel to babysit Nico. Who slept like an angel of course. Thanks mum!

So on the Friday after the fun hag and sten night everyone met for breakfast at a cool restaurant in the city centre then went to the Ediburgh castle for drinks in the Officers mess and the 1pm gun blast. It wasn’t a great gathering for kids so Benedikt Nico and I set about shopping! Boy is Edinburgh a great city for that. The shops were AMAZING. And the streets so pretty to walk around. There are green gardens lining the one side of main shopping street and then just back to back name brand stores and all the traditional stores in between. I was after a new jacket and after about 500 stores I found a perfect 3 quarter length waist tying one along with a beret. We also stopped at the oh-so-fantastic Boots and stocked up on food for Nico for the weekend. We met up with my sis and co at 2:30 again and after a bit of a palaver, got the car, packed it to the brim (again) and all 6 of us piled in. None of us knew where we were driving really so that was the next challenge.... but we managed to find Harvest Moon on the coast which is near North Berwick just east of Edinburgh quite easily and we unfolded ourselves out of the car upon arrival. With Mark standing there shaking his head at his loony family.
But what an AMAZING venue! Perfect for their wedding

Here is a link too a youtube video that Kathryn made of the day and night - its BRILLIANT!