Thursday, January 17, 2013

The last time I went on holiday I.........

The last time I went on holiday I introduced my firstborn to his great granny. I didn't know it would be the last time he'd ever see her.



The last time I went on holiday I played with my son in the garden of the home I grew up in.



The last time I went on holiday I was pregnant with my second baby.

Handy Manny had just made me cry!

The last time I went on holiday I took my boys on a real train.



The last time I went on holiday I watched an incredible bond grow between my father and my son.



The last time I went on holiday I shared my egg and chips with S-boy. He hasn't eaten an egg since.



The last time I went on holiday I visited a pub with my best friend, and she made me laugh like this.

The hubs apologizes again for not taking any pics of me with my best friend.

The last time I went on holiday I saw a bird shit on my son's head. 

Some kids have all the luck!

The last time I went on holiday I kidded around with my brothers and sister.

From left to right: Momma, big sis, twin bro, big bro 

The last time I went on holiday I hugged this great lady.

My mum.

When we emigrated to Texas the hubs and I made a solemn promise to each other that we would make it a priority to get 'home' once a year. We haven't been back since 2010.

***************************************************

This Friday Finish the Sentence link up is hosted by Can I Get Another Glass of Whine with My Morning Quiet Time? and Janine's Confessions of a Mommyaholic. Go check them out and while you're at it, have a squiz at all the other brilliant bloggers that are linking-up. If this weeks 'contenders' are anything like last week's they are well worth a read!


Let's see if Wikipedia can help us get this cultural incongruity straightened out:
*Vacation, in America, describes recreational travel, such as a short pleasure trip, or a journey abroad. 
*People in Commonwealth countries use the term holiday to describe absence from work as well as to describe a vacation or journey.
*Canadians often use vacation and holiday interchangeably referring to a trip away from home or time off work. 
*In Australiaholiday can refer to a vacation or a public holiday.
(Like that wasn't confusing...)

Do you go on holiday or vacation?

21 comments:

  1. Josie, thanks so much for linking up. The picture with your son and grandmother reminded me of my own grandmother, who sadly passed away before Emma (my first) was 6 months old. I have a photo of the both of them smiling like crazy at each other and cherish it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm so glad I have this photo. We even filmed her singing to him too. It's priceless.

      Delete
  2. Those photos were fantastic, along with wonderful captions too. Sounds like it was a vacation to never forget...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was. My eldest (who's now three) won't remember any of it, but I'm so glad we have the pictures to share with him. These pics (and skype) are the only relationship he has with his 'faraway' family.

      Delete
  3. Oh, Josie, that was really beautiful! I laughed- hard- (the bird poop got me),I felt teary, and I loved the photos. Nicely done!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Stephanie. I wanted to write a funny holiday story and I couldn't get one out. This felt more right somehow.

      Delete
  4. Josie, this was beautiful and everything that a vacation/holiday should be; good times, great friends/family, and long lasting, heart warming memories. This was perfect. :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for those words Terrye. I appreciate hearing that very much. Oh, and a BIG thank you for retweeting it too! That doesn't happen so much to me;)

      Delete
  5. I love all of your photos - especially the one with you laughing. The bird ppop on your sons head and his expression like he knows is priceless. I know you feel "sort of". The one time we were stationed out of the country we only got to come home once in three years. It was hard. This was a very sweet post. #FTSF

    ReplyDelete
  6. What a wonderful post! There is nothing like a good "holiday" with great friends who make you laugh and family you love so much. So glad you got to take your son to meet everyone.
    I hope you can get back there again soon.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I go on vacation, but knew what you meant. :-) My Grandma was born/raised in England (not that that's the reason I knew what holiday means - just FYI). :-) I almost cried reading this and then laughed out loud at the bird poop pic. That happened to my son, but it was a bigger poop on thick hair at the beginning of an hour drive through the city and we had no napkins. He sat very still. I hope you're able to get back home soon. My grandma only ever went back twice after moving here in her early 20s - transportation was a little different then - she took a boat. I always felt sad that she didn't get to go back more.

    ReplyDelete
  8. The pictures here are great, especially the one with your grandmother. My grandmother has just started slipping into Alzheimer's and I miss her.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I LOVE the way you set this post up.

    I suppose I go on vacation, however, ever since I fell in love with the movie The Holiday.. I like to say I'm going off on Holiday. :) Haha.

    Thanks for stopping by Seriously Kate and you know, I wonder if the Irishman on the double decker bus was just telling us tourists a fib?!?! I choose to believe he was not.

    Have a great weekend!

    Kate

    http://seriouslykateblog.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  10. The grimaced look of disgust that was one the baby's face when the bird pooped on him...too cute.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Don't think I'd ever seen some of those pics, or don't remember them anyway. Loved the trip (down your memory lane)! S-boy with the bird poo is, of course, priceless, and in that photo he looks like Winston Churchill.

    ReplyDelete
  12. These pictures are just fabulous.

    The Holiday issue. I use the word "Holiday" but writing my FTSF post off I had to replace it with "vacation" for my readers.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Love the photos you used. The ones of you laughing are perfect and it's too funny that you'd just been caught crying over Handy Manny. Ah, pregnancy. The bird poop photo is priceless as is the one with your Granny :)

    We vacation but think "holiday" sounds more charming. Especially with an accent.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I love this! Great pics, great memories...love the pics of you laughing! And the bird shit - priceless! Ha!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Josie, that pic of your grandmother is priceless. I love all of the pictures of your last holiday. Your parents seem so sweet. I know how hard it can be to be away from the ones you love. Your children are lucky to have such a loving family ALL over the world! How wonderful. Hopefully, your daughter will get to meet some of them very soon. Skype rocks for that.

    ReplyDelete