Milan April 2009

Tyler, Tristan and I went to Milan to visit the Parisis - It was a quick weekend trip - Thursdsay-Sunday. I was exhausted by the end - I never took kids before - let alone a stroller! And I always have gone for at least 10 days so this was really weird to be there for such a short time. We had so much fun being with Max, Lu & Pia though - just wish it were longer!!!

We girls went to Bologna to meet our friend Geraldine from HS - she lives near there and it was so fun to catch up. Her little girl is adorable and we had a great time.








Leaning Towers of Bologna






Our next day we went into Milan and Max had the day off - it was a holiday actually so very CROWDED - but we had a fabulous time anyway!




Tyler's ears are clean!


Washing stations by the canal - get to work ladies!


La Scala - perhaps in the ballet one day....


The famous Bull - you make a wish and turn your heel on him 3 times...


I'm taller than Auntie Nu!


Cinque-something (500 series)


Eating our beloved panzerotti - the best place to get it is a little place by the movie theater - deep fried dough with mozzarella & proscuitto! Yum!


The best gelato!


Look at the size of the pizza! And yes, we had our gelato before our dinner - oops don't tell my mom!


Pooped after a long day out


What a trooper!



I had to jump right back into the swing once we got home - no rest for the weary! Mike left for Germany and Chandler went to 4th grade away camp - I thought he might fall over from the weight of his rucksack!!! He comes home tonight I'm sure he'll have stories!


Cman, Ms. Moore (who's from SF!) & Donnie


Donnie & Cman - packed & ready to go. They have a talent show and the boys have been practicing for months - they were like a traveling band - they had Donnie's bongos & trumpet and Cman's clarinet!

Easter Break Pt 3: California Visitors

For the second week of Easter break we had our friends Christy, Jessica & Julia come to visit us. Tyler was soooo excited - she made a sign at the airport in case they didn't recognize us... Christy had actually booked her flight before we left last September so it was a long time comin' for their visit!




The girls at the airport... the first night we went to the movies and saw Zac Effron in 17 Again - it was fun to have a night out




The next day we went into London to see Wicked - The Appolo Theater is right by Buckingham Palace so we took a quick walk over to shoot some photos.

Christy & me

I dropped the girls & Christy off on Thursday to visit Hampton Court and on Friday they took the train into London - Tyler has those pictures - I'll have to get them from her! But the classic part of it is that it rained like cats and dogs on Friday while they took the Big Red Bus tour! Those pictures would be great to see.


On Saturday the boys had baseball - that's Ian with a lead off single (on 1st base) and Cman at bat - what a great shot!


Ian as catcher


In the meantime we girls went to Claremont Gardens near out home - it was beautiful grounds - we couldn't convince the girls to go to Windsor Castle - they were done sightseeing - we told them when they got older they'd regret not seeing the sights!!!


We had another surprise - our friend Tim was coming through town on his way to Dubai - so we all went to dinner together whilst the kids babysat. Tim is our neighbor he lives across the street in CA but we've know them since before we had kids - almost 16 years - his son Jared is Ian's bff - Tim took the train to our house and Ian & Lucas waited on the platform for him - when Mike told them he was coming they darted off running to him - so cute! Both Tim & Christy are both in our ward as well so we're all good friends :)





Sadly everyone had to leave and life resumed - the kiddies all got off to school on Monday (hooray for mom!)

Now onto the next event - Tyler, Tristan & I leave tomorrow for Italy! Can't wait to visit LuLu, Max & Pia!

Easter Catch Up Pt. 2

My Great Uncle Kingmun (he is a great uncle, but he's my grandmother's youngest brother) and Aunt Reina came to town to visit us for the Easter Weekend. I keep ranting and raving about how incredibly light they pack! They had each a VERY tiny bag - like the small overnight suitcases that fit in the overheads - and small backpacks - that's it! And they were gone from the states for 2 weeks - I was so WOW-ed! I couldn't do it! Not for two weeks anyway.

Well it was very fun having them out - the first of our extended family to come visit us. We dropped them off at Hampton Court for 3 hours on Easter and they really enjoyed themselves there. There is a huge new display for Henry VIII - to celebrate the anniversary of his coronation 500 years ago - for those of you that don't remember which one he is - he's the one that changed the face of England's religion forever because he wanted to marry Anne Boleyn (and then beheaded her...and a few others) and since Catholics do not believe in divorce he created the Church of England and basically outlawed Catholicism.





The kids liked seeing them. (Pau Pau if you look closely Tristan is wearing the pretty cream sparkly dress you bought her) It was a great visit although brief - we sent them into London on the train and they had a ton of museums on their list of things to do.

We also went to Lo Stivali an Italian restaurant here in Cobham - it was yummy! The funny moment was when we sat down and they put the menu in front of us - it caught on fire from the little candle they had on the table!

So we had a very fun visit - Hi Uncle Kingmun! I know he reads the blog - can't wait to see the pictures you will put up on YOURS!




For Easter our friends the McAuliffe's who live by us had an impromptu Easter Egg hunt and we ended up bringing our ham over to share and eat with them and another family - the Minors who the dad is our soccer and baseball coach. We had a good time and it was nice to be with some other families and kids.



Chandler, Brady, Donnie, Ian & Lucas


The day after Easter was a bank holiday so Mike did his first European Sprint Triathlon. It was by Hampton Court and the swim was in a swimming pool instead of the dirty Thames River - but I think the Olympic length ones will be in the River. I dropped him off early and then went back home to nap - the other kids didn't want to get up to hunt for parking to try to see him on the bike route so instead the kids made posters.....


The upper windows say "Good job Dad, We Love our Dad"



Actually before Easter we got a trampoline from a friend that was moving back to the states - there is a lot of movement in the spring and early summer for the people moving back to the states and in July people will move in like we did last year. The trampoline is from one of Tyler's friends that moved back to Chicago - it was a great deal for us!



We also gave Tristan her first cereal - my how time goes so fast. She wasn't too excited but she kinda swollows it - we are working on it. She has a horrible Eczema rash and impetigo on her sideburns - she rubs her face constantly so it is so hard to keep her hands from rubbing her face. Ian had the same thing. We're going on 2 months now and numerous creams... I think I'll be going back to the Dr's this week for Plan C....





So that was last week - I have loads more pictures from this week... this has been a busy Spring Break for us!

Easter Break - Pt. 1 Brighton

We had a nice 2 week Easter Vacation (well it's not over yet!) Before Easter we went to Brighton for 2 nights - which is similar to Santa Cruz, or New Port Beach Pier, or Coney Island - it was so fun and a little bit for all of us. We stayed in a nice hotel - the DeVere - right on the water. Of course in 2 rooms but they were quite roomy for England!

It isn't very far from us either - about a 40 min drive......





























This is one of the old Royal Palaces - it is actually much smaller than I thought it would be - but still worth to see...

Home Bound

Hip Hip Hooray!!! We finally booked our flights to go visit home.... we plan to go back to Sunny California June 25 and stay until (or at least some of us) July 30!! I'm sure it will go by so fast! The flights are actually pretty decent at the moment - much cheaper then last winter for sure. (That's a hint to come come visit us!)

The kids are on Easter Holiday for 2 weeks - we couldn't go anywhere too far as Mike had to work still for most of it but we are getting a short get-away to Brighton - which is South on the Beach (not sure how much sun accompanies it but...). Everyone we know that has been there absolutely loves it so we've very excited.

My grand uncle is coming this weekend and then our friends from CA come after that so we are going to have a busy break - I'll post lots of pictures!

Happy 5th Birthday Lucas!

Lucas is such a sweet little boy in our house - he's very gentle and happy - his favorite color is Red, he loves all things Pokemon, cars, trains, he likes to play games and has some really great friends. He is a really good big brother to Tristan - which must have been weird as he was the caboose for so long! He also has the very best "birth-day" ever - 04/04/04!!

We love him so much and he makes us all very happy in our family! He woke up this morning saying, "It's my Dirthbay today!"

He was always a beautiful baby - I always say if I had the time and I took him to SF when he was an infant he would have been the perfect Gerber Baby Model!

March Madness

It's been a little hard for me to get blog-inspired lately - that and I feel like a walking zombie! Things are good just busy - which I'm not that used to anymore. I guess it's just that it is a "different" kind of busy here.

In CA I would do 2-3 errands a day plus carpool to 2-3 different schools, after school activities and then all the night time stuff. Here I only plan one outing if possible (except on Wednesdays!) and my kids take the bus! But I guess it's that it takes so long to get anywhere and it is WORK to shop here. So it isn't as much fun. So on the good side - I don't spend as much $$, on the interesting side - I've only gotten myself less than 5 new items of clothing for myself (considering I don't have a lot of post-preggo items to wear still) since we moved here in September. Oh well - if I don't go out - I don't need to worry about how cute my t-shirt and jeans are!

The last few weeks have been busy with my parents visit - we either took them or sent them to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, Hampton, London - Buckingham Palace, Harrods, London Bridge, oh and Costco.

Tristan is 4 months and had her 3rd round of shots - they don't see her again until she is 1 - kinda scary in my mind - they don't do well-checks here?? But she is cute - doesn't like a bottle much any longer which is bad for any free time for me. I'll be starting cereal for her in a bit. Someone gave me a free highchair - so nice :)

Lucas is turning 5 on Saturday! He was "Child of the Week" this week so I had to make a big poster for him - I took a picture of it so I'll have to post it. Today he brought in his favorite Monkey, tomorrow his favorite book, Thursday I get to go read in his class, and on Friday it's the Spring Party.

Ian is still a huge reading bug - he goes through about 3-4 books a week. His teacher has great books he lends him - but considering the amount he reads I need him to put a little more effort into his reading and math - he knows them but breezes over them way too fast so he can READ

Chandler had a Spring Concert last week - he does really well on his Clarinet and loves it (I think I see Band Camp in his future - one can only hope!) He's a smart boy - there are about 14 clarinets in the 4th grade band, he's the only boy.....

Tyler tried out for Track (all the kids that try out will make it) I'm so glad for her - all of her friends are doing it so she thought it would be fun. We'll see how it goes - at least track here is done in do-able weather! Tomorrow she will also face another right-of-passage - she is getting braces!

Mike was in Paris the last couple days. He said the Spring weather was beautiful. It was very cold here today so I wish I was with him! That's about all on the home front. Here are just a few of the new pictures I've taken in the last few weeks - I wish I could get picasa to work for me to post more at once but this is what I've got....

Yikes - "4th" Times a Charm??

Okay - I'm almost too exhausted to post this - definitely too tired to post pictures today - gosh you'd think I had a 4 month old.....

But the latest is just this.....we've been here 6 months - and I've gotten my 3rd calling (job) at church - although they have released me from the other two - activities & RS Teacher to give me.......wait for it...... Homemaking Counsellor!!! Now for the friends that know me really well - you will note - this is the 4th time I've done this calling - with the last time I did it for 2 Presidents for 6 years straight - collectively I think it is 10 years - ugh - I've either really not learned what Heavenly Father wants me to learn from this calling yet or I've done it so well... well I'm just sure it isn't that part.

My friend (or so I thought! ha ha) Margie was called as RS President - and I know why - she is one of THE most compassionate and giving person I've met in a very long time. When I grow up I want to be like her! Well we should have some good times at least but ugh, when they called I was worried it was to be Nursery Leader - now I'm wondering if that's what it should have been!

I'm going to bed!

Memories

Ahh, so cute - this is one of Tyler's old dresses - we found them when we cleaned out the attic before we moved....I found quite a few of her old dresses for Tristan to wear. How fun is that?

My parents have been here so we've been busy but I'll post an update very soon!

Picture Catch Up

It seems like there is always so much to report about - these beautiful "roses" were made by one of the ladies in my ward - it's made up of artificial roses and Onesies and baby socks!! It's gorgeous! My friends had a baby shower brunch for Tristan and we had a really nice time. She got some adorable outfits of course - so fun to shop for girls.


Last weekend we also went into London for the day - the kids really like going into town - we just walked around and explored - partly also because many of the tube stops were closed so we kept walking until we reached the next one!

Trafalgar Square (London's Times Square)

Ian got to go to a birthday party for one of his classmates - it was called Bocketts Farm - it was wonderful! They had so many fun things to do for the kids and there were so many signs of spring - so many cute little new lambs and kids - it was so fun!

Saturday night was Blue & gold - so we have a Webelo and and a Bear now! So fun - their pack was terrific and they had so many fun activities for the kids and prizes and it all turned out really nice (I'm glad I wasn't in charge!)

Last night Mike & I worked on our taxes - in the states we've had our great tax advisor helping us and I would just pass over the paperwork - here - it is very different - we had to input everything onto a website -meet with our advisor ehre to do US Taxes & UK taxes which they are of course on different schedules - I hope it works out!

Today I got to go to Pilates again with my friend Sara - we have a great babysitter - she really is like Mary Poppins - I love that we can get experienced babysitters here during the day and not worry about anything! I think it would be a nice job to have whenyou are a grandma!

Well now off to do more sorting!