05/07/2023
By 04:30 Tuesday morning Nali had finished packing all her sweet merch that she had picked up over the past few weeks and the grandparents were waiting for their airport transfer to drop them back at Edinburgh Airport. After 26 blog posts through: Hogwarts, around the North Coast 500 (which included Nali’s castle), Italy, Hungary and Austria. They have had an action packed trip. It was lovely to have them visit and experience our hectic lives. Eloise and Lachlan had great times showing them around and will miss them.
It is about time we tell you that a couple of weeks ago we received the terrible news from back home that Nanny or Great Nanny to Eloise and Lachlan had passed away, at age 96, it had happened suddenly. Making it even harder we were in London and Nali and Grandpa DAVE were in Italy at the time. There were a lot of emotional video calls and I was glad I was able to say a final farewell to her. Thank you family who were at the bedside. It certainly has been a challenging couple of weeks to process. Thankfully, work decided to fly the four of us back home to attend the funeral and be with family. We are looking forward to being with family and friends after the mentally and physically demanding period.
We were unsure how Eloise and Lachlan would react to yet another two long-haul flights we have been blessed that they are super flyers. At least they got a couple of full days to refresh. After telling Lachlan we had booked him “Juju’s chair on the dino plane” he was jumping up and down in excitement. It had only been just over six months from our last flight to Australia. On the first flight, the kids were brilliant. Qatar Airways aircrafts are much nicer than the dated Qantas and Emirates. Lachlan was entertaining himself paying Angry Birds and Eloise was happy with her first magazine which came with the kitchen sink. Surprisingly we all got at least an hour’s sleep, the kids closer to two hours. After almost seven hours on the 787-8 aircraft which had those cool electronically gel dimmable windows, we touched down in Doha.
After touching down in Doha, Eloise and Lachlan were glad to see Nali and Grandpa DAVE as we hopped off the aircraft. Lachlan sprinted off as if he knew the transfer route himself with the five of us chasing after him. After a quick Harrods bear snap, the kids found the interesting series of playgrounds designed by Tom Otterness.
We were feeling a bit peckish and accidentally picked up the world’s most expensive bowl of chippies before heading to our gate. This was when the wheels started to wobble. The kids had had enough of waiting by this stage, fair enough. Lachlan was having a bit of a hissy but turns out he just needed some room to run, stretch and do his pre-flight downward dog yoga routine.
All of sudden something clicked with Eloise when she realised the next flight was to Australia. She was pumped, jumping up and down, so excited to see all the family again. We are not sure where she thought we were going earlier. We then boarded a 777-300ER and we all managed to stay awake long enough for dinner before nodding off for almost eight hours. Funnily enough, they were much better on the plane than in the airport. With late flight bookings, we were lucky to get four seats together on the packed aircraft.
On Wednesday “King Charles III has been presented with Scotland’s crown jewels in Edinburgh in a ceremony to mark his Coronation”. Sadly we missed the Red Arrows. Meanwhile, King Lachlan had woken up on the right side of his chair and was preparing to touch down in Radelaide to kick off his Royal Australian Tour. King Lach and his traveling clan will be in Adelaide until the 16th of July.
After clearing border security and customs at a glacial pace, Lachlan was the first to sprint through International Arrivals, luckily there were people on the other side to collect him. The whole Nicholls clan had kindly arrived to greet us. Eloise and Lachlan went sprinting into their open arms.
There was also a wee VIP amongst them, their brand new cousin, Aubrey was on the scene. There were some nice welcoming cuddles at the airport, Eloise and Lachlan had been looking forward to this.
King Lach’s three-car procession brought us all back to Hotel Fensom. We had not anticipated being back so soon, so only Becca has a souvenir. Eloise was quick to give Becca her Scottish duck.
Eloise and Lachlan were as excited as Lily and Maya to see each other, there were plenty of nervous pats and dog cuddles.
After Super Mum snuck another Aubrey cuddle it was then the moment Eloise had been looking forward to.
It was lovely seeing the cousins together for the first time. Eloise was terrific making sure Aubrey was comfortable and Lachlan was very gentle.
Lachlan then stripped off and showed Grandma how fast his nudie runs are before an impressive stack while attempting a full speed naked somersault. We eventually wrestled some clothes back onto the boy but this still did not stop his aerial tricks.
It felt good to be back on Australian soil with friendly faces. We managed to get the kids down by 21:00, fingers crossed for some sleep tonight.
Welcome back to Australia albeit for a short time and for sad reasons. Charles and I are very sorry to hear such sad news. Daphne had been amazingly stoic for such a long time and had an incredible life.