Natalia's visit 2

James took a detour from Birmingham to Cornwall via Lowestoft to join us. Quite an excursion.
Gregor is at that age where men are becoming decidedly more interesting than women, ie mummy, since - at this age - the only woman for him is mummy. But I'm prepared. I think.

James took it all in his stride. Little does he know he's an idol for these kids. And they're thinking, well that's a lot more efficient than anything else I've seen up to now.

Below is me on my bike on the esplanade - a scenic route that is finally open to cyclists. Hurrah!

And meeting up with everyone in Kensington Gardens, a small garden with boating lake where we play hide and seek and tree climb, just up the road from us. It's a magical little place. I am sure when the boys are all grown up and they come back and visit they'll wonder how on earth they imagined it was so vast. Right now it's just that.

During Natalia's stay Auntie Pauline came to visit. Alastair calls her Poorneen and Gregor, the sweetie lady. Go figure.

On one of the days we satisfied Leandro's desire for all things prehistoric by taking him to the dinosaur park the other side of Norwich.

We followed a trail and had to spot all the dinosaurs and stamp the ones we found hidden along the way on our special cards.

Perfectly designed place, great value for money, super day out. The boys were in their element all day.

And me and Natalia had a fun time too.

Meanwhile, back in Lowestoft Alastair had a rendezvous at the zoo with 'cuttin' man'.

During the week Leandro paid for his board and lodging by helping with the washing up.

We hooked up with my friend Ayuka and one of her sons, Kaito, on one of the days. Kaito is Alastair's friend. They don't say much to each other but neither mind sharing toys and mamas with one another.

A good moment for Alastair. Playing Connect 4 with Leandro. A great game for hand-eye coordination, turn-taking, etc.

A rare photo of me and Misha together.

In honour of James' convoluted trip - and other thing to tick off Natalia's list - we did a tapas night.

Tortilla, asparagus, squid and chorizio with roasted vegetables, spinach and raisin tartlets, olives, hams, cockles and so on.

Natalia's visit 1

In early June Natalia and Leandro came to visit from Long Island. They came last year too, but there were so many photos, I haven't yet got round to blogging it all. But I will, I will... Natalia likes plans. And lists. And she writes her lists and ticks things off and gets things done and feels good about that. She is very organised and driven and good with time. I, on the other hand, also like lists and write them, but lose them and then can't tick things off and feel good about it. We both like our food and wine, putting the world to rights, our kids awake and asleep. Back to the lists.

Visiting Lowestoft's (the UK's?) oldest smokehouse was top priority. Last year James got to go in while Natalia babysat kids in the car outside. This time we left Leandro snoozing safely while mine were at school. Here are the herrings coming down as kippers after an overnight smoke upstairs.

I usually get my mackerel from here and also my smoked, undyed, haddock, wrapped up in newspaper just as it used to be. I've tried the smoked prawns, but I'm not a fan.

Did I mention I have a job? I think not. I will have to get a pic for next time, but this is evidence of the hazards of my work - me showing a gashed knee after a spectacular crash on my bike outside my house. I work for Sustrans - an NGO campaigning for cycle routes, and we are doing a sustainable transport project in Lowestoft. I do a bit of everything, household canvassing, delivery and data entry. As everyone keeps reminding me, it gets me out of the house!! Actually I am really enjoying it and look forward to the last stint in the autumn.

We have a lovely putting green right near our house. Costs a fortune to play golf there, but after 5 it's empty so we often go and kick a ball about. The guy who runs it is called 'lawnmower man', and Alastair always likes to peer inside his hut there to check out the mower.

Actually, I only noticed this sign now. Ho hum, pretend we didn't see it.

And another hero, this time 'cuttin' man'. He cuts grass at the zoo on a tractor, 'don deer'. So there.

The Ankole cattle are my favourite animals at our 'Africa Alive' zoo. It's their colour that I love. I don't think Leandro shares my enthusiasm for brown.

But the Bob Builder cardi does suit him, though.

Dragged to museums

All Alastair wanted to do all holiday was 'go park, more car'. Once we'd given him a packet of crisps he was quite happy to put his car needs on hold and go along with what the rest of us wanted.

Gregor was keen to see tanks and army stuff, so we went to the military museum for a spectacle.

We got a bus directly from Kreshtatik to the museum and stretched our legs in the surrounding hills before the assault. The church in the background is Lavra, the Orthodox monastery with lots of underground caves and tunnels and protected by UNESCO today.

These hills and parkland by Lavra and the museum seemed to go on forever. Spring is such a lovely time to visit Kiev.

Gregor enjoyed having Misha tell him what all the vehicles and machinery were and how they were used. Like big brother, like father, like grandfather, and so on.

This is an enormous statue dominating the landscape and she jumps at you when you enter from the airport. They call her 'Iron Baba', derogatorily of course, and I recall Misha making some connection with a shortage of knives and forks in the canteen at university and Iron Baba's entry into the world!

Gregor was deep in thought all afternoon. Goodness knows what was going through his little head. For once he was not bombarding me with questions. It was so pleasant.

Then he wanted to do as the biguns do.

We were all exhausted by this point - the sun was very hot - so we skipped the symbolism inside and dangled toes in the water to cool off.

Walking out this time it was Alastair who was lost in thought.

Who knows what he registered about them. He did ask 'vwhy?'

But he was certainly fascinated by the sheer scale of it all.

And happy to be back on a bus. Such a treat.
A couple of days later we visited the natural history museum, close to the flat.

Gregor being an anteater.

And quite quiet at this one. Eat your heart out Damien Hirst!

After a great game of 'find the beaver' - Alastair's favourite animal - we finally did.

This last shot is of us at the airport, waiting to fly back to Luton. I don't know if it's possible to see the menu board in the background, but I quite liked the choices - toast with salami, toast with salmon, toast with tuna, Greek salad, porridge...

Inside

The parents' flat is dubbed 'Central', so named as Misha's HQ in a strategy war game he used to play with his friends in the 80s. It was sort of a mix between Risk, battleships, Diplomacy and chess, but happened as a board game in real life with his real friends in their fantasy neighbourhoods and with fantasy personas.

By the end of the week Gregor had grown tall enough to call the lift. Must have been that doughnut sausage that did it. Mikhail Mikhailovich - or Gaga - was happy to play with Alastair, who's still as light as a feather and always up for a jump up and down on the floor with Grandfather.

The kitchen. Nela is sitting down with frame at the ready since she has recently had a hip operation. While she was just beginning to walk a few steps without her frame during our visit, now she is taking an evening stroll with just a stick down Kreshtatik with MM.

Gregor being grilled by the professor on his homework.

The view from their balcony on a good day. The building in front is the Bessarabka market. Most of the background buildings are new and have completely transformed the Kiev skyline.

Talking of transformation, last time I was in Kiev - in 2005 - these lights were not advertising boards but bona fide old brass lamps. What happened? Where are they now? What a shame.

Someone put some music on the record player. Hard to believe the boys found such rythym in Leonard Cohen, but hey...

Gregor was looking forward to playing knights with Gaga, so I built them a castle out of old boxes.

Then let them get on with the rest.

Misha decorated it perfectly. And lots of games ensued, though Gaga didn't let Gregor triumph all the time.

The boys were only allowed on the balcony accompanied, mainly due to the fact that the ceiling above is falling apart. This is a typical picture of the boys when Alastair is unsure. He touches Gregor for reassurance and Gregor is indifferent but there.

Such a lovely thing to listen to them read.

Then a shock in the night. This is the doctor visiting the following morning, but that night we'd had the paramedics visit as Gregor's breathing was very laboured and he'd had some form of bronchitis, possibly brought on by an allergy to the poplar blossom, they suspected. Anyway, we did all the steam shower thing as you would for croup (though it wasn't laryngal, we knew) and called the paramedics to be on the safe side. Gregor was very brave and I'd told him, just before he got an injection of steriods up his backside, that it would be like sitting on a hedgehog and then getting up.

Fortunately he didn't need to be hospitalised, though was not himself for the next few days. After the doctor had gone he said 'mummy, you know last night when you told me the injection from the paramedic would be like sitting on a little hedgehog lost in the garden, well it wasn't. You tricked me. I'll tell you what it was like. It was like a big needle being shoved up my bum!'

But we forgot all about our travails when we posed for the photo!