Oh I do like to be beside the seaside

It was full steam ahead with a trip to the printers to finalise colours. It was a family day out in Hastings with lovely seafood, fresh air and a trip up the funicular.

Hastings old town is great for poking around little junk shops as you never know what you might find. There is also a lovely shop: Made in Hastings, which sells a mixture of arts and crafts and items for the home which are all hand made.

Happy elephant ending

I saw this article on the bbc website about an elephant calf at Howletts zoo in Kent that was initially rejected by its mother. After being fed round the clock by keepers for a couple of weeks the mother responded to the newborn and went on to show maternal behaviour and they developed a bond which allowed the calf to be cared for entirely by its mother. The picture of the calf following its mother reminded me of our little calf...

Wedding weekend

The family took a weekend off from Little Blue Zebra planning and headed to the Cotswolds for Joanna's wedding. It was a fabulous day and a fantastic venue. The reception was held at a lovely local pub which we took over for the day and well into the evening!! The food was brilliant and I would highly recommend a visit there - as it seems would others...

"The kitchen is a serious restaurant workplace. The bar menu is as fine as any I've seen...anyone thinking of opening a local pub restaurant should come here and see the gold standard." (AA Gill writing in the Sunday Times)

Nuffin' like a Puffin

The other day John went along to the Puffin party which they have every year - but this year they were celebrating their 70th birthday and to mark the occasion they made this animated video - which I think is fab and very catchy!!

The invite...

Tweet tweet

As all the illustrations for the prints have now been finished - John was able to work on our twitter bird, and doesn't he look fab. Follow our tweets here. We have also been selecting the final colours for the prints - here is a sneak preview of the selection...

1 year

We have had a busy few weeks since returning from Hong Kong. We celebrated Oliver's 1st birthday a few days after our return - and the jet lag meant we were up early to start baking! It was a lovely day with friends and family and he received some lovely gifts.

Shop til you drop...

During our stay in Hong Kong Adam's sister pamela moved apartments from Kowloon side onto Hong Kong island. Although she had done most of the moving before we arrived - there was still the inevitable last few items to transfer across. So we filled 2 taxis and headed off to her new neighbourhood. She had been telling us how it was very central and surrounded by shops and bars and she wasn't wrong. She had some amazing shops right on her doorstep, so needless to say as soon as the last box was emptied we hit the shops for a bit of retail therapy after a stressful days moving!

Hong Kong

13 hours, 9648km and one taxi ride later we arrived at Adam's sister's apartment. The anticipation of being trapped on a plane for such a long time with a very active 11 month old meant that I was a little apprehensive as to how we were all going to survive the journey. I was however pleasantly surprised. As it was a night flight, it meant Oliver slept most of the journey which allowed us to watch a couple of films and even have enough sleep to render us capable on arrival in Hong Kong.

We had a fantastic 2 weeks and the time difference even worked in our favour as it meant Oliver went to sleep later and then slept till mid morning, which was heaven! After we adjusted to the humidity (unusual for that time of year apparently!) and bought a few more suitable items of clothing we were ready to explore.

We took a rather precarious trip on a cable car in strong winds to visit the Giant Buddha. After being blown about and clinging on for dear life we climbed the steps to reach the Buddha which was atmospherically shrouded in mist. On our descent I spotted Alexa Chung, who, after a bit of research was in HK to launch her Mulberry handbag. So after a bit of celeb spotting we went to perhaps my favourite place of the entire trip - Tao.

Alexa the day before in Kowloon...

The bag...

I am not sure if Alexa took the coach trip down the mountain to Tao, but if she didnt, she missed a treat. Away from the hustle and bustle of the city and the Starbucks and other global brands that line the streets of many cities lay Tao. Only a short journey from central Hong Kong it felt like a million miles away with its houses on stilts and local market. It was also the first time the sun had made an appearance and so after a stroll around the back streets we found the most perfect spot - a little cafe/bar on stilts above the estuary. It was exactly what I had been craving - some Dim sum, a beer and a very friendly bar owner who bought out a book on the history of the fishing village. Reluctantly we thought it best to get Oliver back so we went to get the bus only to find we had missed it by 5 mins and it would be another 55 until the next one. It was not the type of place where this type of thing caused stress and so we sat patiently and waited for a bus while Adam helped a local Chinese man translate a letter he was writing to a factory. My favourite day of the hols!

The very wet wetlands...

The animals went in two by two hurrah, hurrah...

More out of curiousity than anything else, we visited Noah's Ark on a small island. It was a rather appropriately rainy day on which to visit. A lifesize replica of the ark - with model animals, it was well designed and the exhibition inside was very interactive but I think Oliver was a bit too young to appreciate a lot of what was on show and slept most of the way round!

Mosiac zebra.. not so little or blue but nice all the same!

Some art that adorned the walk ways...

As a result I presume of so many people living in high rise buildings without any outside space, the parks and play areas for children were fantastic. Oliver wasted no time in getting stuck in...

DIY card

I saw this card and thought it would be fun way to send someone a special message.

RE found

I have been meaning to visit this shop in Corbridge, Northumberland for a while now, as it's near my inlaws. Their online shop is great but I would like to browse through all their re found objects in the shop itself - so next time we are visiting the inlaws I will pop along to Corbridge.

3 weeks and counting

This time in 3 weeks Adam, Oliver and I are off to visit Adam's sister in Hong Kong. She has been living and working there for a couple of years and we promised to go out at some point. I am not sure how the 13 hour flight with an 11 month old that is too big for a flight cot will go, but I am sure we will be fine, it's the others on the plane that might not be. I am really looking forward to exploring and as Pamela has lived there for a while we will be able to get an insiders guide. Can't wait...

Modern art

This made me laugh...

Please pass the blue pencil!

With this many colours to choose from (500 to be precise) - budding artists will be spoilt for choice. They are available by monthly subscription of 25 a month for 20 months from Social Designer and I think they look great displayed by themselves for those who prefer to buy their art rather than create it!

Meet the family

Every year we try to go away on a big extended family getaway. It tends to be over the Easter weekend and therefore is a choc lovers delight. Last years holiday was a little different to previous years as Oliver was only 3 weeks old. Needless to say we were a little tired but it was lovely to introduce Oliver to a lot of the family.

The accommodation was fantastic as it was made up of 3 cottages which meant that only my sister and Liam had to hear Oliver's cries at night as they drew the short straw to share one of the cottages with us.

There were 18 of us in total from 4 generations with ages ranging from 3 weeks to 88 years.

The week was spent catching up, going on walks and generally relaxing... for those without a 3 week old baby that is!

Since I mentioned chocolate - I was a little sad to see the British institution Cadbury has been sold today. I just hope the chocolate still tastes as good on the next Easter holiday.