Letters from the Larmours

Letter from Saffy from India

Saffy — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 06:42:41 +0000

Hello everybody,

This is my first blog post and I’m very excited to tell you about our trip to India for Holi. this is our first time going to Holi.

We went to Jaipur and one of the first things we saw after we arrived was a sign saying water is precious don’t waste it because in India there isn’t a lot of clean water.

We went to explore Jaipur and we had kulfi and we rode in an auto! I LOVE AUTOS!!!!

We saw heaps of paint all bright and colourful ready for Holi. At Holi people throw paint and you’ll get covered in paint so wear your old clothes. We got covered in paint from head to toe, hair, nose and even more places then you could think of!!!

Indy still has some Holi paint in her hair which is impossible to get out!!!

We rode in lots of autos and we saw lots of cows in the traffic

and we rode in an Ambassador, which are very famous cars in India.
there are busy shops in jaipur and look at this one, busy right? well if you go to jaipur you will find shops just as busy! Probably everywhere in Jaipur there’s shops selling these statues

Me and Indy went to the city palace Jaipur. It’s amazing, right? Yes. The first thing we saw was the cannon. and a big chandelier with a pigeon on it! My family took a picture in the biggest water jar in the world!!!the king used this to carry water from the river Ganges all over the world!!!

This is the peacock doorway at the city palace Jaipur and it is amazing! Your eyes would be bursting and nearly popping out!!!!

On the peacock doorway in the city palace Jaipur there is loads of pictures like the one of the two people above but my opinion on which one is the best is this one it’s always amazing at the city palace Jaipur. This is the golden door in the city palace jaipur it’s great but you can’t get through it … My cutie pie sister is at the city palace

We went to the palace of the winds and it was beautiful even with all The scaffolding on it was amazing. There is stained glass at the palace of the winds and its amazing you would stare at it open mouthed and pretend you edittid it different colours right? yes

The elephants are going to the amber palace but we walked up because we are fit and healthy people! This is the mirrored ceiling in the amber fort.

i was named after this garden at the Amber Palace which is called the Saffron garden and I love the name Saffron thank you mama for the name <3
We explored and climbed up and down stairs. And Me and Indy went to an Anokhi Museum and we made prints that look like this below there amazing, right ? Yes

It’s easy to get lots of yummy vegetarian food in India I had the biggest paper masala dosa in the whole wide world!!!!!!!

After we left Jaipur we went on a sleeping train and me and Indy went on the top bunk…very scary you could chop your fingers off. Ah !!!

We went to alwar and thought we saw a cow sleeping…it wasn’t it was a reindeer!!!

The hotel gave us cupcakes as were sick! But then we got better for swimming
I loved India and I’ve been lots of times before and I always love it. Holi was the BEST fun ever and I loved this holiday and I hope we can go again. I hope you enjoyed reading about our India trip, love from Saffy xxooxxooxxooxxoo

PS I took lots of these photos by myself but Mama and baba gave me some they took with instagram of me too so i could have some pictures of me in my blog post. xxoo

PPS Mama put some more pictures of us on the train on her work blog and you can see them over there xxoo

Letter from Cyprus

Kirsty — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 07:30:26 +0000

You may remember that last year we attempted to go skiing in Lebanon… and it was a total whiteout of a disaster!!!

So this year we attempted something different, and headed past the snowy slopes of Faraya to Cyprus… and stayed in the beautiful Trodos region. Our main reason was to ski and let the kids try something more than just Ski Dubai and I have to say the snow was just perfect – soft and powdery and the slopes were just the right kind for the kids to play on – shallow enough to learn, steep enough to challenge and lots of bumps and places for speed!!! I wouldn’t recommend it as a place for advanced skiiers but for beginner families (3 of our family anyway!) it was LOADS of fun!!

First toe (boot) dips in the Mediterranean Ocean

Don’t you think this t-shirt is perfect for her? Sent by a lovely photographer friend in the USA getting to grips with skiingLoving the great outdoors!!!!!Spring has sprungLittle posers ready for some more skiing!!Who wouldn’t want ice cream in the snow!!We also got to explore the island a bit, both north and south and see spring blossoms – something we never see here… I would definitely go back and explore more of Cyrpus…. it had that lovely European yet familiarly Middle Eastern feel to it.

Exploring castles in Northern CyprusThe kids absolutely loved our hire car – a mini Suzuki jeep – we needed the 4 x 4 for the snow, and we could take the top off down at the coast – perfect!!!

All for now, Kirsty xx

A letter from International Day

Kirsty — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 07:07:21 +0000

I love my kids school – under different circumstances I could see myself homeschooling, or even (shock horror) un-schooling… but right now, the school they go to is a pretty great mix of everything we want for their education at this stage… One of my favourite days is International Day where they learn so much about the diversity of their school community – in theory the kids get to dress up in their national dress… well so far Saffy has been Irish (country of her passport), Chinese (country of birth), Scottish (country of her mummy’s family) and this year Indian (country of her Grandmothers birth) and I’m fine with that – we’re bringing up international little citizens of the world and I’m all about embracing whatever she wants to celebrate! Indy has so far been Irish, and Chinese!

Here are my little international citizens this year!!

Till next time… Kirsty xx

Letter from Ras Al Kaimah

Kirsty — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 06:59:58 +0000

Earlier this year I had a special birthday – I didn’t want for much other than to spend some time hanging out with my 3 favourite people doing not very much, away from the pressures of work and home life… so we took off for a long weekend to Ras Al Kaimah and it was bliss…. everything I could have possibly wanted….. within minutes of our arrival the kids jumped naked into our own private pool (yes, us, the budget backpackers stayed in a place with our own private pool – I felt VERY spoilt!!!!) and a gazelle strolled past!! FOR REAL!!!! I documented some of it on my Project 10 over on my work blog – and here are a couple of other favourites….

Early morning sunshine…..And the totally different light of late afternoon sunshine…..

More coming soon, Kirsty xx

Letter from Christmas 2012

Kirsty — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 06:52:50 +0000

A very brief look at our Christmas holiday in England and Ireland….. oh how I wish i had time to play with more photos… the trip consisted of lots of catching up with family and friends, christmassy stuff and walks on the beach!!!! Plus a trip to the Giants Causeway! These pictures are being published in Teresa and Thomas magazine sometime soon More soon…. including our trip to Cyprus…

love Kirsty xx

Letter from December 2012

Kirsty — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 11:26:04 +0000

Time passed some more and December saw National Day jubilations, the rugby 7′s and a little bit of rain – all cause for celebration – and a few pictures along the way And then Christmas tree decorating, even though we weren’t spending Christmas in AD! Of course we did lots more, but as usual…. I’m well behind!!!

Till next time,

Kirsty xx

Letter from Autumn 2012

Kirsty — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 17:15:00 +0000

And so, as summer passed by we slipped back into the routines of school and work, and all the extra fun that goes with both and travel plans went on hold again…. until the Eid holiday that was… where we took ourselves off to the mountains of Fujairah, or was it Oman, or even Ras Al Kaimah camping, sometimes you just can’t tell where you are as you wind your way up those mountain roads – but oh what bliss it was….

It’s no secret that I’m a mountain girl – I go slightly stir crazy when I don’t see them for a while – I LOVE the sand dunes, and I’m pretty content with a gorgeous beach, but nothing beats mountains. So, off we took for a couple of nights… driving up wadi’s and across plateaus and finding perfect camping spots…

I’m so thrilled that the girls love it so much too (I wrote more about it in my November Project 10 and showed more of the journey over there) they couldn’t be happier than when off with their toilet roll binoculars, climbing up mountains by themselves, being given independence that we just can’t give them here in the city and then coming back down for marshmallows on a campfire…

I adore this picture – it became the girls holiday card this year!!!

I should sell this one to Explorer!!! Nothing beats sightseeing from the top of your car!!My favourite of my little mountain goat explorer!!

And if you’re up for a few more pictures of our camping trip and our beautiful UAE Mountains there’re some on my November Letter to the girls too…

More 2012 updates coming soon, Kirsty xx

Letter from Last August (2012)

Kirsty — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 16:31:43 +0000

It’s sad to say but despite all my best intentions life always seems to get in the way and I never quite seem to manage to keep this blog totally up to date Last year we managed some fabulous travels which I’ve still not blogged – but that’s nothing, I still have so much from the year before to blog, and edit photos for – this is the problem with doing photography for a living…. when you want a break from photography that also means from the personal projects…. but in an attempt to stay vaguely up to date I’m going to spend a few nights adding in some photos and very quick, rough updates of the latter part of last year, before I get back to finishing off our European travels of Summer 2012…..

Sooooo….. August saw us back in hot steamy Abu Dhabi – which meant lots of beach and pool trips -T’s parents also came to visit which was even more of an excuse for sitting around and doing not very much!

You can also see some more of our August in my Project 10 over on the work blog, and some instagram pictures of our August here in my monthly Letter to the girls,

Until next time… Kirsty xx

Letter from Prague Castle

Kirsty — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 15:59:45 +0000

Prague Castle, the biggest castle complex in the world – full of mystery and history, and tourists, and rain….. man alive it was COLD! And did I mention before about how we had no waterproofs? Yup, we still didn’t!!! And we still didn’t have enough warm clothes (my rather sensible (I thought!) idea of hitting H&M and buying us all an extra long sleeved top was vetoed by T – the shopping party pooper – who kept assuring me that this freak cold front would pass – which of us has a degree in Geography??? I digress again, but remembering the crazy cold affects me like that!! Of course the other more sensible reason was because we didn’t have room in our 1 suitcase!)

But we went, and it WAS big and impressive, and impossible to see it all so again, we were selective… to be honest, I barely remembered any of it from the last time I went so it all felt new to me.

We started at the St. Vitus Cathedral with it’s pretty impressive stained glass windows and tombs and carvings.We then headed into the Castle itself which i think the girls liked for the winding staircases and impressive ceilingsThe St. George’s Basillica was next but lots of it was under renovation… and then we reached Golden Lane – which was mobbed! And was for tiny people!

And that’s about it from the castle – next up… the toy musem!!

Kirsty x

Letter from Prague

Kirsty — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 16:18:47 +0000

So, the next day we did what every Prague tourist does and headed out across the Charles Bridge with the masses of others…. bearing in mind, as I said, the last time I was in Prague it was still Czechoslovakia – it was pre the days of Easy Jet flights and stag night parties, pre package tours – it was in the days where many people still said “Where?” or thought it was behind the Iron curtain still I saw a HUGE difference right here, right away – last time the bridge was half empty, used by Prague residents on their way to work - for sure it was one of Prague’s main tourist sites, but not like this – it was mobbed!!!We still managed to take some moments to take in the impressive views though…And then we headed to the Astronomical Clock amidst more throngs of visitors.Now I think this was another tourist site I’d not remembered quite accurately – whilst it’s undeniably cool and fascinating, I remembered it as having more moving parts and had bigged it up to the kids quite a bit!! Thankfully they thought the skeleton was quite cool, and they liked the music and the horn player too – phew!The Staromestske nam, or old town square is very impressive – surrounded by grand buildings, ornately painted. We wandered around quite a bit and up and down some of the surrounding lanes and then over to the Jewish Quarter where everywhere had huge queues, and we’d not been organised enough to book in advance and we frankly weren’t going to stand in line for hours with kids in tow – which is fine – sometimes looking from the outside is half the fun!

An ice cream stop was of course in order – Saffy had been asking non stop about when we could have ice cream after a friend of ours had told her where the “best ice cream in Prague” was!!! We’d resisted to this point as we were still feeling pretty cold – but what’s a holiday without ice cream??
We followed a walking tour and passed some amazing buildings, had lunch in a micro-brewery which had some fab wall murals….

and saw the monument to the fall of communism, which is hidden down some passage off a main street and easy to miss.We took in some street art – decent street art I mean – for Prague’s walls are frankly covered in graffiti – I’d read about this before going, but in my head this had meant cool murals and symbolic artwork, but in reality most of it is little more than crappy spray can tagging – I was a little disappointed, and disheartened by how shoddy this mindless vandalism made some of the grand buildings look.

Lots of souvenirs on sale everywhere!
And late afternoon we headed back over the even more crowded Charles Bridge, got caught in a downpour and Jo, Indy and I took refuge in an Irish pub!!! Somehow Tommy and Saffy missed it and ended up back at the hotel!! I tell you, after all that walking, and the rain a Kilkenny went down very well!!!

The day was topped off with dinner in the Hanging Cup pub – where I have no idea what everyone else had, but I had the most awesome veggie pie ever!!!! It was recommended by a photographer friend of mine who studied in Prague and it was fab!