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A portrait of my babes once a week in 2015 (25 months), London, UK

Oh London we loved you. We loved strolling along the Southbank from Westminster to Borough Market, we loved visiting Tate Modern and running through the National Gallery to find one of our favourite paintings, we visiting the queen at Buckingham Palace and watching the gardeners rake the beds, we loved the good weather conducive to running through green Park , we loved nibbling on croissants for breakfast and eating out at restaurants and trying new foods and strolling back to the apartment in the evening when all the lights were glowing and city commuters were on their way home, we loved catching buses and underground trains and riding in taxis with no car seats, we loved watching the fountain in Trafalgar Square and listening to a street performer play his bagpipes, we loved walking around the cobbled streets of Convent Garden watching the world go by, we loved discovering Peter Pan's statue in Hyde Park, and visiting friends we've only met in letters. For us, it was fun to be back in a city in which we both once lived, and for you, it was fun to experience a big bustling city who's sights and sounds we'll talk about for many months and years to come.

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A portrait of my babes once a week in 2015 (25 months), Windermere, UK

This week we went on a great adventure It started with 24 hours of travelling to arrive at Langdale Chase Hotel, Windermere in the Lake District in England. You are super star travellers - sleeping the whole flight, running through airports with your little backpacks,  asking questions about buses and lifts and transfers and check-in and security, and finding the while experience rather thrilling. Travelling with you makes every part of the trip more fun, including all the waiting. 

The Lake District was beautiful. We met up with your Papa's family there for a few days to celebrate Oupa Jan's 60th birthday. We stayed in a grand old hotel, with wooden-clad halls and ornate fireplaces, which you fondly referred to as Jeremy Fisher's house. We would wonder around the grounds in the afternoon, stroll along the waters edge, and run down grassy hills.  You gazed in wonder at the new scenery - the glass-gray lake, the old wooden jetty, boats passing in the water, damp stone buildings, and a constant mist which gave it all an eerie, magical feeling that would only lift in the early evening. We also took a boat ride around the islands, ate lunch at old pubs, strolled through a little village and came across a meadow of cows, and visited the quaint Beatrix Potter Museum. This area is the home of Beatrix Potter (some of your favourite books) so we and you were fascinated by all the characters. 

The highlights for you however, were the hearty English dinners you ate (think roast chicken with old fashioned veggies, fish and chips and cottage pies); and getting to wear your raincoats and gumboots and splashing in the puddles with umbrellas one rainy afternoon.

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A portrait of my babes once a week in 2015 (26 months)

I took you for a haircut this week. While it was not your first cut, it was certainly your biggest. In an instant you transformed from knobbly, wisps of ragamuffins to the sweetest little pixies I've ever laid eyes on. But along with those snips of  soft baby locks, a part of your toddler-ness was cut away, to reveal a stronger glimpse of the little girls emerging from inside. 

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A portrait of my babes once a week in 2015 (25 months)

My bush babies on the back of the Landrover.

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A portrait of my babes once a week in 2015 (25 months)

We're back in the bush for a week - endless days, silent nights, no cell phone reception, sleeping under mozzie nets, eating breakfast with hornbills and squirrels, and cultivating a love for this special place in you. Sleeping on the platform was one of my greatest adventures growing up. We introduced you to this adventure for the first time and it was magical falling asleep with you under the stars, bundled up against the cold, listening to the sounds of owls and a far-off leopard, and waking up under the leaves with the sunrise outlining them in a startling glow. I hope this is the start of a family tradition for you, the next generation of bush babies.

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A portrait of my babes once a week in 2015 (25 months)

Sometimes it's really hard being a twin. But mostly, it's really wonderful.

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A portrait of my babes once a week in 2015 (25 months)

The South Coast immediately conjures up idyllic memories of childhood beach holidays. That damp smell of ripe vegetation, squishy berries underfoot, mixing with sand bought up from the beach and never quite discarded (even months later we find tiny traces of those days at the bottom of beach bags), big banana leaves that make you feel very far away from ordinary life. As I watch you scurry along an overgrown path with lush overhangs of tropical proportions, it's as if I am watching myself many years ago, running with buckets and spades under arms, eager to get to the beach. The destination. The reward for a long walk down. 

Everyday, in the late afternoon, we walk across the golf course, down this overgrown path, and onto a beach, deserted. All ours. Surrounded by nothing but the Indian Ocean and rocks on the one side, and vegetation on the other. It's the end of August so a winter chill is still hanging around in the evenings but this doesn't prevent dips in the sea, and naked bums on the beach. We make our way back up to the house for dinner, tired but exhilarated, and you tastes of salt as I kiss your chilly bodies and wrap you up in whatever warmth we can find. These are the favourite parts of my days.