Mauritius, baby!

So October saw me going (a quarter) native, as I visited where Mummy was borned...Mauritius!

It was a family trip with Grandma and Grandpa B (he was borned there too) and Unca Ash, as well as Mummy, Daddy and me. And I had the biggest suitcase of them all - ha ha!!!

This was my first time EVER on an aeroplane - till now I've only really seen the ones hanging on my mobile, and I sometimes hear them flying in the air, but this time I actually GOT IN ONE!!! It was a lot bigger than my nursery 'planes, I'll tell you that for nothing.

Mummy and Daddy got to sit at the front because I got a 'bassinet' to sleep in which attached to the wall. Mummy peered in and told Daddy that if I growed any on holiday I might not be able to fit in it on the way back!

I was very good and cried once in the middle of the night. Understandable as there was a big queue of people waiting to go into my nappy-change room and staring at me when I woke up... I mean where was I?!?!? Who were they?!?! And what was Daddy doing sat there?! Waaaaaa!

Here is a pic of me the next morning, having my first taste of airline food (a bit of Mummy's bread roll)...it's evidently an experience!

Anyway, 12 hours later we touched-down (see, I'm a natural traveller, I got the lingo already) and were met by a lot of rellies...I can't remember all their names right now, but they were all very lovely and gave me lots of cuddles and kisses!

After Mummy, Daddy and Unca Ash had settled into Mummy's Unca Prem's and Auntie Madhur's holiday apartment (in Blue Bay), they were invited to her Unca Kamal's holiday home (where the Gramps were staying) for dinner. SO MANY PEOPLE! Great Uncas Prem, Kamal and Leckraz (Grandpa B's brothers), his sister, Great Auntie Sheila, and Great Auntie Lata plus her son (Mummy's cousin), Preet, who was great fun!

I have to say the whole 2-week holiday whizzed by in a whole host of family gatherings and parties, where everyone was very pleased to see me and Daddy - oh and Mummy too, because it had been a whole 10 years since she'd last been there!

I met some more of Mummy's cousins - Vinay (crazy Unca Rajnish's big bro and Great Unca Prem's son), his wife Helena (she was very pretty) and their daughter Tahina, where we all had a sleepover. We also went to visit another of Mummy's cousins Shalini (Sheila's daughter) and her hubby Pradeep and hung out with their kids Shahil and Sheena (they had an AMAZING huge house, it was so exciting, I couldn't get to sleep so I got to stay up late!).

We also visited some family friends, the Gujudhars (who own the race track in Mauritius and some horses), the Ramanjooloos and the Sonahs (Grandpa's college/school friends). They all gave me lovely presents; some cute clothes, a real gold coin, a handmade fluffy sheep and some Mauritian money :). We also met Grandpa's cousin Unca Dheeraj and Auntie Minakshi for a huge family Sunday lunch!

If you are confused reading all this...well, I was too. But I did love the round-the-clock attention and the constant hugs and kisses - I was never put down - which is a shame because I forgot to tell you I started crawling a week before we flew out, so I needed the practice! (Well, I was moving across the floor commando-style at least. Mummy and Daddy were caught out as they haven't baby-proofed our house yet...)

It was OK visiting people in the evenings because the 'rents brought my super-cool travel tent along (http://is.gd/i193y ). It pops up in seconds - if Daddy does it anyway! - is light as a feather and even zips right up to protect me from mosquitoes - which makes it almost as clever and compact as I am :)

Ooh, nearly forgot! I turned half a year old on holiday! Mummy and Daddy decided to save some beautifully-wrapped presents from Great Auntie Madhur to celebrate the occasion and Mummy led Daddy and Unca Ash in singing,

"Ha Birt, t' y', Ha Birt, t' y', Ha Birt, de, Lu, Ha Birt, t' y....'"

which is half the Happy Birthday song.

Honestly, sometimes I think my Mummy is the funniest lady in the whole wide world! Ahem.

I got a cute pram toy (see pic) and a dining set for when I can feed myself.

Talking of which, I am trying to feed myself already, but I'll get it all over me, the chair, the floor - everywhere! If Mummy missed cleaning up a tiny speck, we would come back home to an army of ants, which meant a massive squishing and mopping session before I was allowed near the floor! Mummy sighed that she spent more time cleaning on this holiday than she did at home...

Anyway, it's all worth it as I'm getting a real taste for the exotic, with new food highlights including jack fruit, pineapple, custard apple, mini bananas, paw paw (Mummy hates paw paw, says it tastes of feet. But she loves kissing my feet?!), watermelon...and, er, cream cheese! (Mummy started me gently on proteins now I'm 6 months old). I also discovered I love gnawing on baguette; tastier - and of course, messier - than any teething toy :)))

Here are my other holiday highlights...

Unca Preet drove us to see some of his favourite places - including a huge Indian temple and a beautiful rugged beach called Gris Gris that was his dad's favourite place too when he was alive (Great Unca Harish, another of Grandpa B's brother's). Here's me and Daddy in the bracing breeze at the clifftop!

As you can from Mummy's hair in the second pic - it was VERY windy!

Another day Daddy, Mummy, Unca Ash and I took a bus to go see the nearby town - I loved the old rickety Mauritian buses - loads of ladies to flirt with as they got on and off...exhausting work though!

In town the bus-station was beautifully-located on the beach, although the 'Beware of Falling Concrete' sign was a bit worrying as we'd been sat in the shade there before Mummy saw it!

And I loved our trip to Blue Bay beach near our apartment. Just the one trip though, as Mummy found it all a little stressful! Instead of the old days where (she said) she could just lie there reading a book, it ran like more like this:

1) Coat baby in sun cream, find shade, attempt to keep hat and sunglasses on a wriggly baby intent on pulling them off.
2) Put towel down, and wriggly baby on towel.
3) Try to stop him flipping over and attempt to crawl, therefore bunching towel underneath him and ending up with hands in sand. Fail.
4) Two person job: Daddy grabs baby's hands to stop baby eating or rubbing sand in face/eyes/hair, and Mummy grabs for wipes to try and get sand off. Fail on both counts.
5) Take baby to sea to try and wash sand off.
6) Dry baby on a corner of towel that is not covered in sand.
7) See step 1. Repeat until you give up and strap wet, sandy baby into pushchair to go home.

I did get to splash and swim about a bit in the sea when the 'rents went to wash me off. Mummy called it my "baptism in Mauritian waters"!

The Gramps turned up soon after, which gave Mummy and Daddy the chance to stroll down the beach, have a splash about and pretend they were on a romantic honeymoon for a few minutes, but in the end, they decided the next time they would go to a beach with me was when I was toddling and I could understand *not* to eat the sand!

Especially after Daddy found sand in my nappy the next day.

Told you I was getting a taste for the exotic ... :)