The Timbertop bear family

The past two weeks of my life have been a roller-coaster ride that I don't want to repeat any time soon. Since it never seems to rain, but always rather pours in my life, my husband had to go in for another operation to his leg. This meant that we would both have to take time off from work and our four year old son had to spend some time visiting his granny-nanny again. After spending all of my Sylvanian savings on a surprise box of Lego to keep the little chap occupied and hopefully in some small way make up for the inevitable parental neglect that he would be facing while his father got his share of Mommy's attention, the big day finally came and went without incident.

I am very thankful that we had yet another successful operation and that my family is now all back under one roof where they should be. :D

But, since things have been so busy, I have not had much time for my Sylvanians recently and I really started to miss them! I kept occupied by reading blogs from some of my dear Sylvanian collector friends, but it just isn't the same as holding and cuddling your own critters.

Luckily I had a little time to spend with my critters this weekend, after my mother was so kind as to go to the post office to collect some international parcels for me. (twice I must add, since the first time my parcel containing my Slydales was "misplaced"...)

The first parcel contained my Japanese Slydale fox parents from the 80's. They are in good shape, but need some fashion advice and will soon be joining my village.

The second parcel, contained my Timbertop bear grandparents! Meet grandfather Guss and grandmother Fern Timbertop.

I honestly have not yet had time to take proper photos of them, since the study is looking a lot like a tornado hit at the moment, but that will be sorted out soon! I am planning on spending at least an hour every day for the next two weeks taking photos and uploading them to my website as soon as I conquer the gremlins who have taken up residence in my study...

I really love these two figures so much, and I must admit that after seeing grandmother Fern in the Sylvanian Families stop  motion DVD (the one narrated by Bernard Cribbins), I just had to add her to my collection.

I was surprised to see how well these critters have held up over the years and their flocking is still in excellent condition with no real fading that I can see. They are missing their glasses, but grandfather Guss even has his walking stick, which I just adore! When compared to my celebration Timbertop family, the grandparents are only a slight shade lighter - as they should be, since they are getting a little grey.

One problem that I do have with my celebration family, however, is that they have all formed light spots on their fur. This photo was taken just after I received them in October 2012. The light spots were barely visible back then and didn't really bother me much. 

This is a more recent photo that I did a few weeks back with proper lighting and a nicer background. The light spots are clearly visible now, but they don't seem to spread, so I am not really worried. I bought the family from BeHappy in Malaysia and the items that I receive from them always seem to be a bit stuffy when they arrive. My best guess is that the spots might be due to mold growing on them while they were stored. 

Spots or no spots, I love this family very much and I think the overly large bear parents are just too cute! 

I also think that the whole Timbertop family is very glad to finally be complete. 

Lots of love, hugs and Sylvanians.

Santie.

Then Japan will come to me...

A little over a year and a half ago, my husband and I had a discussion about a holiday abroad. Of course I want to go to England, but that is just so that I could visit the Sylvanian shop... But, my other great dream-destination, is Japan. After some debate, we decided to start saving up for a trip to Japan! Yay!

Finally my wish would come true and I would be able to visit the Sylvanian theme park. If you have never heard about it, here is a link to Grinpa's website. 

The photos that I have seen on other travelers' blogs are ever so cute and I could just see myself taking hundreds of photos with life-size Sylvanian Families critters, eating at the Sylvanian restaurant and of course browsing through the shop to bring back lots of fuzzy little Japanese cuties...

But, as with most things in life, things happen and plans change. After hubby had a motorcycle accident last year, our plans were put on hold, dreams were shattered and life was hurled off course. I dropped out of university to take care of him at home and our days became a blur of doctors, hospitals, operations, x-rays and medical bills. Lots and lots of medical bills!

Things kept me too busy to think about our plans for a holiday abroad and before long, the idea was forgotten and life carried on as usual.

The past two weeks saw me in bed with the flu most of the time, and at my computer frantically trying to catch up on all of the missed work for the rest of the time. On top of my annual bout of flu, I had a 10 year anniversary event to plan at our sport club. Everything that could go wrong, just happened to do just that and by this morning, I was feeling pretty run down and defeated.

But, that is exactly when hubby Mic came to my rescue with a trick up his sleeve. If I couldn't go to Japan, then he would just have to bring Japan to me!

He presented me with a parcel and a big smile on his face. 

"Itabashi, Tokyo" I read the address out loud. Of course it didn't take long for me to rip open the parcel to get to the contents, and my big surprise:

I don't know where or how he found one, but inside the ordinary little parcel in front of me, I found a sealed Soyokaze cat figure! Needless to say, I am OVER THE MOON!!! :D She is even prettier in real life than in the photo too! Of course, I am now conflicted with opening the box and taking photos or leaving her in there forever and ever... But, I am extremely happy to call her the best anniversary gift ever!

A little information on the Soyokaze cats:

The Soyokaze cats were released in 2009 as the 5th anniversary figures of the Sylvanian Theme park. There is a whole family of Soyokaze cats on display inside the theme park, but only a sister figure, key-chain baby in a smaller version of the same dress and a baby in a blue dress, packaged together with a Wildflower rabbit baby have been confirmed to have been released. 

Photo taken by TheRockie