Still here and lots to say...

Hello world.  Yes, it has been way too long since my last blog. I think January will have the least blogs on record.  I can't really tell you that life has been SO busy since the holidays, because it has been pretty normal. There were a series of phases though. There was the after the holidays phase, back to school adjustment phase and the just plain old tired can't imagine doing anything after 7pm phase.  Deepest apologies to those on the interweb who check the blog on a regular basis. 

There are some highlights to note and places we have been within the last month.

1) The boys started swimming lessons.  Swimming lessons here are a little different to what I am used to and maybe different to what you are used to.  I bring them to the pool area. They get in without floaties or a bubble.  They are given a noodle which they can cling on to for about 5 minutes. In that 5 minutes they do some practice laps with the noodle and instructor. When this is done, they take the noodle away and they cling on for life to the bar that is around the edge of the pool. Then one by one they do laps with the instructor holding them. At one point there are two instructors with your child- there is one holding your child and the other is facing them. My kid is then supposed to swim to the instructor in front of him. And yes, they go under because THEY DON'T KNOW HOW TO SWIM. Also, I can not be pool side.  They allow me to watch them through a very thick glass wall on the other side of the pool.  To access this watching area you have to go through the lobby and outside.   If I run it takes me 2 minutes to get to them.  It is a 1/2 hour class and you can imagine I do not blink during any of it. 

2) Dress up.  I think it would be safe to say that the boys put different costumes on every. single. day. No matter what time of day it is, they are in costume.  Don't get me wrong- I do love it. It is hilarious.  Sometimes I just wish they would wait until after 8am because my coffee just does not kick in until then. Here are some pics to show the variety-

3) The Tower of London.  Mark and I booked a sitter and took off for the afternoon.  We decided to tour the Tower of London without kids and we were thankful that we did.  Lots of stairs and we actually got to read those little plaques describing what each item was.  That is one thing I took for granted prior to having kids- the ability to take your time, appreciate what you were looking at and learn something. We got there a little late and only had about an hour to tour but what we did see and learn was pretty cool.

Tower of London was used for many things: Prison, menagerie, armory, treasury and home of the Royal Mint. It was founded in 1066 as part of the Norman Conquest of England.

 

This picture I took from the web but it gives you a perspective of how big it is and how cool it is to be situated in the middle of very modern structures. 

 

Mark and I thought that this was going to be a room filled to the brim with jewels. Sadly, it wasn't. I would say maybe 3 rooms.  But we did get to see the largest diamond in the world and the crown that the Queen wears on grand occasions. It is very sparkly. (sorry no pictures allowed in this building)

 

The White Tower

 

The Traitors Gate. "Criminals" would be brought through this gate off the boat and then brought to their execution.  Seven people were executed in the "bloody tower", 112 people on Tower Hill.  The list of people who died and for what reason is interesting and worth a read if you have time.  See here. Two of them being Anne Boleyn and Guy Fawkes (earlier post Guy Fawkes Night)

 

This is one of the torture machines that was used.  I would call this the stretcher and it basically did what I mean.  Hands up top, feet below and pull.  Yikes.

Armor for Henry VIII

This suit was made years later after he put on a little weight. Notice they had to make a little more room in the middle of the armor below (I'm not talking about below the belt- that is just weird).

Lovely bathroom accommodations.

Mark with the scenic Tower Bridge.

 

If you are ever in London and have the chance, this is a very cool place to explore. Again, we recommend without children under 6.

4) The Natural History museum.  This is a place to bring the kids.  First of all, it is free entry. Brilliant! We went mostly to see the dinosaur exhibit but we were able to squeeze in the mammal exhibit too.  The boys really enjoyed seeing all of the different types of dinosaur skeletons and they have a very real looking T-Rex that moves and roars. The boys had a hard time understanding that it wasn't really real.

 

 

 



5) My sister Rainelle and her family were here this past weekend. I'm waiting for her pictures to do a separate blog because we did a lot (she has the better camera) and it certainly deserves a post of its own.  It was so wonderful to have them here and the boys loved having their cousin Charlotte around- they were the three musketeers! We miss you guys already.

Look at those faces!! And they are holding hands. Love it.

 



Throw back to days in Melrose.

 



 

Need I mention the costumes? I wasn't lying.

6) Bits and bobs I have learned in the past month:

Swan Upping- traditionally the Queen has rights to all of the swans on open water in the UK. At this time the British Monarch only exercises it's rights to certain sections of the Thames and we happen to live one of those sections.  So come July, there will be a very official Royal crowd on the river catching the swans to make sure they have a tag on their foot and if they don't they will tag them.  Swan upping dates from the 12th century, during which time swans were a common food source for royalty. Swan Upping is a means of establishing a swan census and today also serves to check the health of swans. Under a Royal Charter of the 15th century, the Vintners' Company and the Dyers' Company, two Livery Companies of the City of London, are entitled to share in the Sovereign's ownership. They conduct the census through a process of ringing the swan's feet, but the swans are no longer eaten. (wiki) Yikes.

Sledging: This is the same as sledding. In the US, we go sledding. In the UK, they go sledging.

Rain: It was just announced today that we have had the most rain for January in the past 150 years. You can imagine how happy we are to be here to witness this record being broken. It's bad, really bad.

Coming soon- full post on the Comeau family visit and a post on our upcoming ski trip to Switzerland! Stay tuned. I promise not to be gone for so long :)

Cheers!



    

There's no place like home

Well, here we are.  Back from nine days in the states and a weeks worth of jet lag.  And before I get into our journey, let me just say that jet lag is our enemy.  It does horrible, nasty, unexpected things to you and your children.  No, I'm not naïve, I knew it would effect us somehow, just didn't know the extent. Now I know and will be much more prepared the next time.  Now, on with our Christmas vacation! Warning: there are a lot of pictures.

It was so good to be home and in some ways it felt like we never left- which in my book is a good thing. There is something very comforting about being able to pick up where you left off.   Mark's mom aka Nana was more than gracious by letting us storm through like a tornado for that week.  Just as in the summer, she stayed quite calm as the boys zoomed trucks and yelled like banshees when they weren't sleeping. And they didn't sleep much.  They woke up very early every morning, like 3 or 4am, stating that they were done with sleeping. Awesome. We couldn't actually blame them because Mark and I were awake as well.  Ahh...jet lag.  A big thank you to you Mrs. B for hosting our mini tornado- we love you.

Saturday morning the boys woke up to snow on the ground. At 4am, Henry started yelling, "Mom, Dad there is snow outside, it snowed, it snowed!!" Well, yes, it had snowed most likely a few days prior but they didn't know that. They wanted to go outside immediately and make snow angels, build snowmen, and go sledding.  It took a lot of convincing to wait until the sun cam up all the way.  They barely made it to 7:30am.  There we were, outside bundled up doing all of those things.

Everyone had to participate in snow angels- not sure how Mark got out of it though.  Oliver refused to give his brother more room- hence the "I have snow on my face!" look on Henry.

 

First snow man of our year! Complete with ski poles.

 

 

Saturday afternoon we visited with my sisters families and my Dad.  The kids were very excited to see everyone.  There was cookie making, a walk on the nice mild day and lots of silliness.  Then it was time for my kids to crash.  It was hard getting them to 6pm since it felt like the middle of the night but they did it- Mark and I were right behind them making it to the very late hour of 7:30. We tried.

 

 

 

Oh Lucy...you can't get cuter.

 

Monday consisted of 3 dentist appointments and gingerbread house making with the girls (and Adam & Craig). Of course lunch was complete with ballerina dresses and clown hair.

 

 

Thank you Rainelle for bringing ALL of the supplies needed for this undertaking.  We had so much fun!

 

 

 

 Christmas Eve was full of amazing food and lots of fun.  The boys were able to take naps that day so we could stretch them a little longer.  Small miracles do happen, especially at Christmastime. Speaking of small miracles...look at these precious faces.

 

 Our annual same pjs on the couch picture (I should get a better name for that).  I believe everyone is singing jingle bells, well, almost everyone. Bean!!!

 

 

 

The infamous kiddie table in full swing.

And then the dancing ensued.

 

 

The ladies and I enjoying one of our favorite foods...cheese.

I'm not sure if everyone knows about Christmas crackers but when a friend mentioned them to me in the UK this is how the conversation went:  Annie asked, "Do guys you have Christmas crackers as part of your tradition?" I said, "No, we don't. Are they good?".  She said, "well, they are fun to do at the table for Christmas dinner". Perplexed, I said, "Ok, but what do they taste like?" She burst out laughing and in-between her laughing proceeded to tell me what they were.

 

 

Christmas crackers are part of Christmas celebrations primarily in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Commonwealth countries such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. Crackers are typically pulled at the Christmas dinner table or at parties. In one version of the cracker tradition, the person with the larger portion of cracker empties the contents from the tube and keeps them. In another each person will have their own cracker and will keep its contents regardless of whose end they were in. Typically these contents are a coloured paper hat; a small toy, small plastic model or other trinket and a motto, a joke, a riddle or piece of trivia on a small strip of paper.^[3] The paper hats, with the appearance of crowns, are usually worn when eating Christmas dinner. The tradition of wearing festive hats is believed to date back to Roman times, and the Saturnalia celebrations, which also involved decorative headgear. (wiki)

 

The aftermath of the Christmas crackers! 

The crackers we brought happened to have crowns and some silly masks that the kids, I mean, all of us, really enjoyed.

 

Brilliant and smashing time!  Craig and Stephanie, thank you so much for hosting. Your skills are impeccable!!  Dad, thank you for the endless amount of beer you supplied that my husband thoroughly enjoyed. Adam- a big thank you for your entertainment. Really, I don't know where you store the energy.

 

 

Christmas Day!! Just so happens that Nana emailed Santa to let him know that the boys were going to be at her house for US Christmas Day.  Lucky boys.

 

Then a short time later...the Bowers family came with smiles, laughs and A LOT of Christmas cheer.  You can tell by the lovely jumpers they are wearing.  Can you guess the theme?

 

 Jesse, you're back, we missed you! Sorry man, I had to post this. Welcome home!

 

The boys missed their older cousins a lot and had no problem getting in the mix of things.

 

The usual suspects gathered in the living room. Discussing world peace I'm sure.

 

Casey showing her extreme passion for Christmas- she wins!

 

Not to far behind her is her sister Cassidy. Way to represent girls.

 

 

 

I wasn't around for this scene but the boys had a really good time up on the shoulders of their uncles.

 

Jack, not sure what you are letting them watch on your phone (and I don't want to know) but thank you.

Manda and Nana, I love this picture of you so I had to post it.  Beautiful ladies!

 

The other annual family photo. This one has been a long time tradition and is Nana's mothers day gift every year.  Lots of love goes into getting this picture just right. This shot is just from Mark's camera. There is a small paparazzi next to him trying to get the perfect pic.  Don't think it won't happen.

 

 

The day flew by because of the fun we all had. To all of my nieces and nephews on the Bowers side, I sincerely thank you for all of the attention and love you gave the boys. They love being part of the "big kid" clan and you helped Mark and I more than you know.  If anyone has pictures of MaryAnne and John- please send. They can not escape this post that easily. Also, next year I will be taking more pictures. Mark was there- he really was. M -thanks (again) for taking all of our pictures!!

 

What a week! It was so much fun and it went by so fast but we were able to see all of our family and some friends as well- we couldn't ask for much more!  We miss everyone and can't wait to see those who have planned their trip over to see us this year. 

 

Happy Christmas (as they say in England) and have a safe and healthy 2014!