May 2009

We finally had a birthday party for Lucas - his birthday was April 4th. We had his two friends Jack & Ryan over with their families - both of them have twin sisters so it was perfect because the girls had buddies too. We had a fun dinner and visited with their parents.
Jack gave Lucas a new backpack - he loves it! So much better than his Pink Dora the Explorer backpack!!

Here are the party-goers!

Here's my big girl

The kids have swimming at school - that's Ian. It's a great pool - OH! And the coolest news about our school pool.... it was announced that it is going to be used as a training facility for the 2012 Olympics! The kids keep talking about Michael Phelps swimming at their pool!

http://www.acs-alumni.co.uk/page.cfm?p=317

You'll have to check out the link - it is a picture of our campus - we have a track, soccer pitches, baseball field, pool, golf course, tennis courts...it's really neat.

Cman and Tristy-Lu

Tristan is getting so big - 6 months old already - way too fast!

Mike's parents and their friends are here from SLC - they used our house as a stopping ground and they've been on a Mediterranean cruise for the last 2 weeks. They arrive back tomorrow to spend a few days with us here before going to Paris then home.

The couple weeks have been fabulous here - with the weather so wonderful it would be a great place to stay since it hasn't been TOO hot - but just gorgeous. I'm told they only get about 3 days a year like this - so far we've had almost 2 weeks of it! It's wonderful.

My Mother's Day Gift

It's been so long since I blogged I forgot my Mother's Day Story.... so here in the UK they celebrate "Mothering Day" in March - so I thought - SCORE! I get 2 mother's days!! Well Mike said he was kinda too busy to celebrate it in March (I don't think they wanted to get up too early to make me breakfast as is our normal tradition) so I said okay no worries. They wanted to celebrate it in May. Lucas' class is the only one whose class actually made a little card or something - very cute.

But then May rolls around............ I didn't hear anything... I mentioned to Linda that I thought my family forgot - so being a great friend - she sent an inconspicuous FB to Mike to remind him - we ALWAYS spent Mother's Day with the Smiths so this year was very sad for us.......

We get up - nothing, we go to church - nothing, we come home I make lunch - nothing... so finally I ask - "what time should we call your mom?"

Mike says, "why do we need to call my mom?"
Me - "hmm, well because it's mother's day today"'
Dead silence.... those are the best responses....

So since then I've been waiting for a card, flowers, a love note - still holding my breath...so instead of 2 mother's days - I got bupkiss - and it was a New Baby year - how hard is that!?

So luckily I bought myself a necklace that I had been designing for about a month - I found this lady on Etsy.........let me know what you think...

Summer-itis

Cman - Osmington Bay


Happy Mother's Day

Happy Birthday Lucas!

Lucas' bday buddies - Jack, Ryan, Samantha, Natalie, Devon

I always feel it when May is upon us - even I get so tired of doing homework, making lunches, and going to the school - the kids are counting down the days - there are only about 3 more weeks of school left. The school year has gone by SOOOOO fast!

The kids have all grown so much this year away - in our house in Pleasanton I always measured their height on our pantry door jam - I hope it is still there but I won't be surprised if it isn't - can't expect everything to be the same in your house when you rent it out.

So many changes - We go home in less than a month, Tristan is 6 months already, Chandler is a great clarinet player (I spoke to the school band director today - said he was one of the top 2 new clarinetists and is a great sight reader), Tyler has braces and has grown up so much this year, Ian is just as happy as ever, and Lucas finally had his 5th bday party!

Cheese & Whine

Just having a calgon moment.... things have been a bit crazy around here - ugh, little Tristy Lu here seems to think she can type as well so sorry if there are typos...

I feel like lately I'm just on survival mode until Summer - but this is no ordinary summer - it will be the summer I get to sleep near my own house! How weird is that? I'm so grateful for the wonderful friends I have - offering me places to stay when we go back to the states.


Oops, have to continue this later...

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!