Ingham Family Tails

Experiencing Ireland

2012-11-18T14:53:00.000+00:00

Continuing on with our adventure over the summer in Ireland...

Wednesday/Thursday, June 27-28, 2012

On Wednesday morning, Steven, Nicole, David and I left the kids and Brenda and Dewey at the Cliffhouse in order to drive to the train station in Galway for an overnight in Dublin! It was an early morning, so we were all pretty tired on the trainride into the city. But four hours later, we had arrived! I have to admit, I wasn't as excited about going to Dublin as I had been to see the parts of Ireland that we were staying near. Friends that I had talked to had told me that it really isn't that much different than any other big city over here, and we had been to plenty of those. But I couldn't imagine being in Ireland for a week and not going to Dublin, and I am so glad we did! Guinness, anyone???

After a long walk to the hotel to drop off our bags, we started our day with a pub lunch in the city centre. We were originally going to take a walking tour, but we were all pretty tired from all the cycling on Tuesday and the early morning, so we decided to take an open top bus tour of the city, instead. We listened to the live guide as he told us about Dublin, and got to do a drive-by of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin Castle, the Jameson Distillery, and of course, the Guinness Storehouse.

That night, we went on The Gravedigger Ghost Bus Tour. Anyone who knows me should know well enough that this isn't the type of thing I would normally choose to do. I am not a fan of scary stuff, things jumping out at you, etc etc. But the tour was so much fun and our guide was hilarious. It is basically just like going to a show or comedy night. The double decker bus with the blackened windows and smoke machine took us around town, and our guide told us about "his" time living in Dublin during the Plague. We stopped at several spots around the city where he and the other actor on board told stories of strange occurrences and creepy tales throughout the city. Then we made one last stop at John Kavanagh's Gravedigger pub. What a fun experience!

On Thursday, we ate breakfast at the hotel and again boarded the city tour bus (thank you two day passes!) to take us to the Guinness Storehouse. David has been to several breweries before, but I have never been, so I was excited to learn about how they make the perfect Guinness! We learned about how important the water is that is used to make the stout. Guinness is available pretty much everywhere now, and is brewed in many different countries. But depending on the site where the water for it originates, the flavor and taste can be altered. Only Guinness brewed in Ireland with water from the Wicklow Mountains is exactly how Guinness is meant to taste!

In college, when we used to go to Molly's to "Ride the Rail," I always used to trade my Guinness for the cider. :o) I always hated it! But we got a tip: Guinness is not meant to be sipped. You should take a nice long drink of it, to get the true flavor. And let me tell you, it worked! Our self-guided tour ended with a pint up at the top of the Storehouse, overlooking all of Dublin. I drank the whole thing, and half of another!!!

Cheers!

Friday/Saturday

On Friday and Saturday our little family of four broke away for some alone time. First, David and I took the kids on a tour of one of the caves around Doolin, Aillwee Cave. We walked down into the ground and got to experience what real darkness is! No natural light, no artificial light. Our guide even made sure everyone put their cameras and phones away. It was really spooky. The cave was only discovered in the 1940s by a farmer who followed his dog, who had been chasing a rabbit! The farmer didn't tell anyone else about his discovery until the 1970s, and even as recently as the early 1990s were areas of the vast cave still being explored for the first time. But even with its "newness," the cave is still probably the most famous of all the thousands of caves throughout the Burren. Inside there was an underground river, a waterfall, and lots of stalactites and stalagmites. (Do you know the difference???)

After the cave we went to the Burren Birds of Prey center, and got to learn about owls, hawks and other birds of prey. David and I even volunteered to go up during the talk to have a hawk land on our arms!

Saturday morning we left early and took the kids back to the beach near where we went on Monday. There was an aquatic centre there, so even though it was super cold and rainy outside, we got in some swimming practice indoors on our holiday. After swimming, we went horseback riding. All week, Darian had been saying that she wanted to ride a horse, and Maxwell very adamantly said that he did not. But when we finally got to the pony rides, Darian was too scared to go, and it just ended up being an adventure for Maxwell and Mommy. It was really fun, and he did great! My horse was not a good listener. He kept stopping along the path to eat a snack, and each time he bent down to get a bite to eat, I thought I was going to fall right off!

Maxwell and his guide

Me and my hungry, hungry horsey

We met back up with the rest of the family for one last pub dinner before heading back to England. And although we left Ireland behind, David has still been drinking Guinness often when we go out!

Last night in Ireland

For the full (out of order) album from this leg of our trip, go here.

Éirinn go Brách!

2012-11-18T12:48:00.000+00:00

A few years ago, David and I wanted to go on an Alaskan cruise. We sent out emails to friends to see if anyone would want to go with us. At the time, Brenda said that she and Dewey wanted to take us all on a trip for their 40th wedding anniversary, so she asked if we would wait until 2012 to take the cruise. Never in our wildest dreams would we have thought that we would be living abroad in 2012!

I was pumped at the prospect of a Mediterranean cruise instead, but then in early 2012 before we started making our plans, the Costa Concordia cruise liner sank off the coast of Italy. After that, I knew there was no way we were going to get Brenda on a cruise!

Luckily for us, there are so many beautiful and amazing countries right around the corner, just waiting for the Ingham Family to explore! David did his usual research, and we all decided on Ireland! Éirinn go Brách!

Sunday, June 24, 2012
Happy Anniversary!

Brenda and Dewey: 40 years!!

After an early morning wakeup call, a bouncy bus ride, a quick trip up and down in Aer Lingus, a car rental debacle, an hour car ride, and a quick grocery run...we were finally at the house! The Cliffhouse in Doolin, Ireland. It was gorgeous and it was a wonderful way to spend the week on the island. After getting settled, we drove back into town to have a pub dinner. The first place was way too busy; it was so much fun to see firsthand all the fun, energetic (rowdy?) Irish men and women, drinking their Guinness and having a ball. Just another Sunday night in good ol' Ireland! When we walked into the pub where we ended up eating, there were musicians playing traditional music. It was awesome! We had a yummy dinner while we watched some football (soccer) and then headed home to get settled into the house.

Monday

Remember when I saved Maxwell's life on the bobsled in Prague? Well, apparently that is now a theme during our travels. Let me back track a bit...

On Monday morning we all left the house and took a scenic drive to the Cliffs of Moher. We all hiked up the hill to see the amazing view of the cliffs and the Atlantic Ocean. If only my eyes were strong enough to see thousands of miles across the sea, we could have waved to Terri and Randy in Rhode Island!! :o)

Atop the cliffs, there is a tower called O'Brien's Tower. The tower is more than 175 years old, and from the top you can look out and see the Aran Islands (where we traveled to on Tuesday).

After the initial hike up and then back down, Dewey went to rest and the rest of us hiked up even farther on the other side of the cliffs. We came to this sign...

...but we are rebels and we kept going. (Hey, everyone else was doing it, too!) We walked quite far up the clifs, and there was no fence or gate between us and the side. Scary! When we got to a point where we thought we had seen enough of the view, we all stopped and were about to turn around. Nicole was carrying a sleeping Darian in the ergo, and her newly potty trained little body couldn't wake up to tell us she had to pee. Poor Nicole! Poor, wet, pee stained Nicole!!! Maxwell told me he had to pee, too, so rather than have three wet pee stained bodies on our hands, I grabbed his hand and went to take him behind some rocks to pee. Unfortunately, there was also an electric fence between the rocks and the green space! Maxwell grabbed the fence to steady himself, and we both received a bolt!! He cried (rightly so), and I was totally scared! It felt like someone had punched me in the chest; as if my heart had stopped for a second and then threw itself inside me to start back up again. My whole body felt tingly, especially my hand where I had been holding onto Maxwell's. And it was hard to breathe for a few minutes. CRAZY!!! I can't even imagine what his little body felt, knowing what I experienced just from holding his hand. He seemed fine, and I convinced myself that the jolt went through him and I got the most of it. Let me believe that, okay? The alternative sucks!

Originally Dave, Steve, Nicole and I were going to take an hour long surfing lesson. But the weather was gloomy and cold, so S, N and I ganged up on David and convinced him it wasn't a good idea. :o) Instead, we went to the beach and had lunch and played on the nearby playground with the kids.

Tuesday

We had an early start on Tuesday, in order to get to the port where we would take a short boat ride (over choppy waters, I might add) to the Aran Islands. Once we arrived in Inishmore, the largest of the three Aran Islands, Brenda and Dewey set themselves up with a bus tour of the island, and the rest of us went to rent bikes. I figured that I get enough of toting the kids around in the trailer on a regular basis, so this time David got the pleasure of hauling that load! It was a misty, cloudy, cool day, but the view was spectacular. Limestone rock fences, grazing horses and cattle, and the North Atlantic, stretching out as far as the eye could see. It was a hilly climb, and occasionally we had to stop and rest and/or walk our bikes up the path, but it was well worth it to travel that way.

Nicole had since moved away from
the potential spit bombs

We reached our destination, Dun Aengus, and parked our bikes to hike up to the fort. After all the cycling, those steps were not my favorite part of the day! The prehistoric site is one of the most famous forts, with a breathtaking view. I parked the kids well away from the edge of the cliffs while the rest of us took in the sights. It was incredibly windy, and quite scary on the edge!! Steven, Nicole, and David decided to lie down on their bellies to look over the edge, and David tested the wind by spitting over the edge, only to have "it" come back up and nearly hit Nicole in the face!

About as close as I wanted to get!

The bike ride back to the boat was SO MUCH FUN!!! As hard as it had been to cycle up the hills to get us to Dun Aengus, the hills going down made it totally worth it! The kid in me came alive as I let go of the handle bars, put my arms out, and screamed a mighty, "Woooo hooooo!" as we glided down to the bottom of the hill.

To see the full album of pictures from this part of our trip, go here.

Summer Fun

2012-09-06T19:48:00.000+01:00

The summer of 2012 will certainly go down as a busy, adventure packed time in our lives. All the tails in this house were busy, busy! Although, it seems like that is the nature of this entire living abroad adventure!

We all logged lots of miles in the car, in the air, across the sea, along train tracks...I believe there was even a horse or two involved in our travel over the past several months! But the best part was, we got to have in person hugs and kisses from some of our favorite people. We had visits from Gaga Brenda, Papa Dewey, Uncle Steve, Aunt Nicole, and Nana Paulette!

And as you can imagine, there are TONS of tales as all those tails made their way across Europe, and more photos and videos than I can even contemplate at the moment. So...

The littlest tail is back to preschool this week and is already thriving in her new but familiar environment. She understood that her big brother was going to big school, but she was still sad to be walking through the nursery door alone. Big brother will be scooting his little tail off to Reception next week!! Kids start Reception, or Foundation Stage, the September after they turn four here. It is the equivalent of Kindergarten. His teacher came by the house yesterday for a visit to prepare him (and us!) with what to expect on Monday, and he is super excited!!

All that being said, when those little tails are both off to school next week, Mommy is going to bust HER tail to get those pictures downloaded and write some Travel Blogs from Summer 2012! So keeping watching back to read about our adventures!!

Finishing the week with a few bruises...

2012-05-31T14:56:00.001+01:00

Remember that time when I saved Maxwell's life on the bobsled? No? I haven't told you that story?!? Well, you'll have to wait because it happened on our last day in Prague. If you are reading this blog and haven't read the first two, go back! I am writing these in order of events, but blogspot posts the most recent one first. This is the third and final Prague blog.

Wednesday:

When we began this adventure abroad, I told David that I wanted to see some historical sites while we were in Europe, like perhaps places that were ruined by war or a concentration camp or something. I always hated history, but I love seeing places in order to learn about the past. David set up a tour for us to go on to Terezin, Czech Republic. Terezin is a walled city, with a fortress that has held many uses since its construction. It was first a military fortress, then a prison camp, and during WWII, a concentration camp and prison. The city and prison were not a death camp, although many people did die there due to the horrible living conditions and overpopulation. The kids enjoyed the bus ride to the town and were really good once again throughout the tour. It felt very strange to be walking through this place that has such a horrible history. It is a town where people live and are trying to thrive, but it has a sense of despair and quiet that just can't be erased. The prison is now a tourist attraction, which is so hard to wrap your head around. There are lines of restrooms with really nice facilities, and a restaurant/cafe WITHIN the prison, where all of these people were held as POWs and died horrible deaths. I was glad to have experienced it, but I hated it at the same time.

After arriving back in Old Town Prague, we stopped at a mall to walk around and look at the different shops. In the square there was a dance competition going on with all these little girls, from about 5-10. It was a fun little pit stop to watch them dance and people watch in the square (and I picked up my souvenir egg). Even in the middle of all the other tourists, there were all these locals celebrating, drinking, and having a good time watching their kids. It was cool!

Thursday:

It was raining when we woke up on Thursday and the forecast called for it all day, so after breakfast David took the kids swimming at the hotel, and I went to the hotel next door for a massage. It was wonderful, as always. I feel the same way about massages as David does about pizza: even if it isn't great, it's still good!! We decided to take advantage of the rainy day and headed back to the mall that we found the day before. We had lunch in the food court, at a place called The California Cafe that had dishes named after cities in CA, but were Czech meals like fried cheese steak and wiener schnitzel. Weird. Then we found an indoor play place and let the kids roam for a bit. Maxwell and David really liked the ball guns. I love my husband, but he is a dip. It's all fun and games until your toddler (and his mother) get a ball launched right at his face. He had a quick recovery, and was able to be the big man and a good big brother when Darian got trapped at the top of the play area and he helped lead her down the slide to the bottom.

Afrikania

Butterflies

The week was beginning to take its toll, so we went back to the hotel to take a nap. We had big plans for a late night, so I wanted to have the kids at their best. Daddy went out to pick up an easy Chinese food dinner that we ate in the hotel room before out big night. We were testing the kids: we took them to the theatre, for a show that didn't even start until 8pm! I gotta say, we got some dirty looks from the people around us, who were probably thinking, "Oh, great. Toddlers. Our night was just ruined." But as always, the kids were FANTASTIC! It helped that the show was amazing. :o) We went to see Afrikania, a black light theatre production. It was all music and dance, where the dancers had these amazing costumes in front of black backgrounds that just glowed when the black lights came on. It was mesmerizing and the kids both loved it! Darian really like the first dancers, the butterflies, and Maxwell liked the zebras.

After the show we walked to the Charles Bridge to see the city at night. It was a long day with a lot of walking again, so I have to admit I was a bit crabby. I was kicking myself for not bringing the Ergo to Prague, and wishing that we could have brought the stroller. But the city was ablaze at night and it was well worth the midnight stroll.

Friday:

Our last full day in Prague, David had quite the experience planned for us. After breakfast we took the metro to a different mall, where there was a dinosaur park on the roof! It was a very cool exhibit, with realistic looking dinosaurs who moved and had sound effects. It was very "Jurassic Park," and even the font for the signs was like the film. Maxwell (who loves dinosaurs) was a bit freaked out by the two huge T Rex's at the entrance who were moving and roaring at him, but he warmed up and was eventually running up and down the pavement to look at all of the dinos. The tickets to the park included a 3-D movie back inside the mall, that was in Czech and was actually quite gruesome. Maxwell didn't like that at all (oh, my timid little man) and Darian, as always, was up for anything.

After lunch at the mall and a bit of shopping to find a birthday present for Aunt Nicole (my new tradition. Her Christmas present was from Spain, bday from Prague. (o: ), we went back to the metro to travel to our last big adventure. And let me tell you, David saved the best for last.

Remember that time I almost died?

Yep. BOBSLEDS. We walked for about a mile to get to the park and restaurant. David said that Maxwell and I should go first, so I went for it. The track is about 1km or a little over half a mile. I was nervous but excited! There wasn't anyone else at the park right then, so there was no one ahead of me in line. I asked the man who was "directing traffic" how to stop the sled, and he said (in broken English), "Stop. Down." Easy enough, right?

Maxwell was sitting in between my legs and we were both holding the brake. There was absolutely no support on the sled, either for my back or legs. I figured it would be best to start off slow before I learned how to manoeuvre the thing, so I pressed the brake flush to the floor of the sled. We started going down, and I couldn't believe how fun it was...or how fast! This is at full break?!? NO WAY! When we started going towards a turn in the track, I realized that I would have to lean my body against the curve in order to stay upright. It was the scariest thing I have even done in my life. I was sitting in this thing that felt like it was flying, and I had my baby boy on my lap without a helmet. We did a couple more turns like that, and on the fourth one I couldn't hold my body up enough to keep us up. My feet and legs couldn't hold on and the flailed a bit, and my right shoulder hit the wall of the track. I was digging my heels into the track best I could without cutting my feet off, and my right arm/shoulder kept riding the rail. I seriously thought we were going to fall off. I was able to almost slow to a stop, and we came to another turn, where there was a sign with a picture that said (in English, thank goodness!) "Break! Stop!" and it showed pulling the brake TOWARDS you. Oh my goodness I am a dip. I was so pissed at the guy that said break down!!! I pulled it up and we stopped and I was able to reposition us on the sled in order to get back down. The rest of the ride was uneventful, and when we started getting brought back up the hill, we were all smiles. David didn't even know that we had almost crashed! Maxwell didn't have a scratch on him, and he was totally fine. Nothing like knowing that your kid feels totally secure and safe in your arms!!

"I. AM. SPEED!!!"

"WEEEEEE!"

When I was showing David what happened, we realized that there was a burn mark on my jacket, and my arm was all red and starting to bruise. One small bruise, one huge victory for Super Mom!! I saved my kid, and he went right back down the hill with David a few minutes later, yelling, "I AM SPEED!" (Cars/Lightning McQueen reference)

Saturday:

We didn't have much time before the ride to the airport, so we didn't plan anything for Saturday. We had a nice last buffet breakfast at the hotel, and then David kept the kids occupied with the blocks and games in the lobby while I went upstairs to pack. It was really easy to get through the Prague airport. We were about ready to go to the gate when we realized that we had never been through security. But wait...we had been through the duty free shops, and had lunch at a cafe. How can they not have security?!? Turns out they had two small lines right at the gate. We went through, and then were ushered to a bus that took us to the plane. We had priority boarding since we had the kids, but it wasn't really a luxury on that flight, because there were two full buses of families! It was the most chaotic flight I have ever been on in my life! The kids were loud, crying, screaming, fighting...at one point someone threw a stuffed animal at my head. It was quite an eye opening experience that really made David and I look at our kids in wonder at not only how well behaved they were on that flight, but how well the behaved all week. They really are awesome. I love that we have a routine when we are at home, but I am so glad that they are easy going enough to be cool with it when we aren't. We only had naptime once or twice all week, they were late to bed at night, we were either doing tons of walking or they were strapped into the stroller for hours and hours...our kids are just amazing.

When we got back to the airport, we didn't have the best time getting the car back from "Stress Free Parking" company. It took an hour and a half, and had we not valeted but parked on our own, we would have been home in that time. A strongly worded letter later, David got a partial refund, and all in all, regardless of the yuck of that moment, our week in Prague was one of the best weeks of my life. We explored, experienced new foods and culture, spent real, quality time with each other and made amazing memories. No words can describe how lucky we are to be living abroad and have the chance to take these amazing trips. Like I said in my first post, I am still on a Prague High!!

To see the full album of this part of our trip, go here.

With a smile on my face, because this is one trip I will NEVER forget!!

This was on Sunday night, about 48 hours later. I really should have taken a picture of what it looked like on Tuesday. Believe me, it got WAY worse!!

The Easter Rabbit Found Us!

2012-05-31T11:32:00.000+01:00

I really am getting quite good at packing for our holidays. David was shocked to see everything that I was able to bring along in just two bags for the four of us for a week! Including goodies from the Easter Bunny. Or Easter Rabbit, as Maxwell corrected me.

Our first full day in Prague was Easter Sunday, and what better way than to wake up to an egg hunt in the hotel? Maxwell woke up, and very quietly came to my side of the bed and said, "Mommy! The Easter Rabbit left eggs and treats all over the hotel!!" We had fun looking for all the eggs and then got ready to really start our vacation.

Note to readers with toddlers: It is SO worth it to splurge on breakfast at the hotel if they offer it. We were able to start each day with a nice, filling breakfast, with plenty of options so we were sure to find something the kids would eat. As a stay-at-home mom, I feel like oftentimes I just go from meal to meal...make breakfast, play, get them a snack, play, make lunch...you get the idea. When you are out of your home for days at a time, the idea of providing all of that food on the go is a bit daunting. After trial and error (mostly from our trip to Barcelona last fall) David and I learned that filling the mini-fridge with Maxwell and Darian friendly food, packing a lunch and sometimes dinner each day totally makes our adventures easier!

Sunday:

It was very cold this day! We got all bundled up and headed out towards the river, where we were taking a water taxi to the Prague Zoo. We have been to a lot of farms here in the UK, but we haven't been to a zoo since we moved here. And the LA Zoo isn't really all that great, so we were excited to see all the animals! I definitely recommend going to the zoo when you are in a new country, with or without kids. David and I really enjoyed seeing all the new animals, specifically birds, that we had never seen or heard of before. The Prague Zoo was huge and had such a variety of animals.

My favorites were the ones we saw at the end of the day: the polar bears, penguins and wolves. But this tiger was awesome. They had the male and female separated (I think this is the female; there were cubs on her side). The male was pacing back and forth on his side and growling, and then when we got over there to this side, she jumped up onto this log and was "talking" to him. It was so cool to see them communicating like that!
It was so cold that it actually started snowing quite a bit while we were there, and Darian was not happy. She perked up a bit when we rode on the chair lift, but it was a long day for the little one. We took a bus/metro combo to get back to the hotel for a swim. Then we finally experienced our first Czech dinner. We ate at a pub called Pivovarsky Dum, and the food was delicious!

Monday:

It was still quite chilly on Monday, but the sun was shining and it was a wonderful day for a walking tour. After breakfast we walked to Wenceslas Square again, and headed to the Old Town Square. There were lots of Easter Markets buzzing with activity. We heard lots of different accents and languages about, but our ears were always drawn to the Americans. We decided on a "free tour" in case we had to leave it early if the kids weren't behaving. Our guide was great, and there were about 6-8 other people on the tour. We walked through Old Town, the Jewish Quarter, over the Charles Bridge, into Lesser town and then up a huge hill to Prague Castle.

At the wall overlooking the city from Prague Castle.

All of the architecture and sights were just beautiful, and we really covered a lot of ground. The kids were AMAZING! Darian fell asleep for a bit, but Maxwell was so content, just sitting in the stroller and enjoying the views. At one point David's blackberry did have to make an appearance in order to keep him from whining, but otherwise the kids were fantastic. The tour was a good three hours or more, so once we got back to the hotel we were pretty tired. No swimming this time. That night we had another yummy Czech meal at a pub by our hotel, U Graffu.

Tuesday:

It is always nice when you don't have to get up for anything specific when on holiday. On Tuesday we woke slowly, let the kids watch some Sesame Street (dubbed in German, I think) and Dinosaur Train (dubbed in French!). We took the metro to Subway. Wait...what? ha ha We wanted to get sandwiches for ourselves that day, so we took the metro to Subway. Why is that confusing? :o) From there we took a tram up to Petrin Hill. Atop Petrin Hill is Petrin Tower, which looks a lot like the Eiffel Tower, but smaller. But since it is built on top of the big hill, I think that the observation deck is actually "higher" than the Eiffel Tower!! We took a funicular up to the top of the hill. The kids love those. They must be a European thing; I had never heard of one before, but now between Barcelona and Prague we have been on several. The kids spotted a playground, so we stopped for a little while to play before we ventured onto our big climb. Maxwell was adamant about taking the stairs, so he and David left Darian and I waiting for the lift and started their climb. When we met them at the top, I was shocked to find out that Maxwell did all of the stairs but the last ten. 289/299! What a big boy!

Tower and grounds

Panoramic view from the observation deck of Petrin Tower

After the tower we went into a small building that had a Hall of Mirrors. The kids LOVED it. Entry fee to Hall of Mirrors: £5 for the family. Sounds of giggles and BONKS! as Maxwell rounded the corners too fast and ran into himself? PRICELESS.

Tuesday night we went to an amazing restaurant for dinner, Vytopna Railway Restaurant. (That is a video of it!) Maxwell had a love/hate relationship with this place. There are mini rails all throughout the place, and they deliver your beverages on a train! Maxwell spent the entire evening standing up in his chair, waiting for the drink to go by. He was so restless. When one would come by, he was so excited. But as soon as it would leave he would turn around and ask David and I to hurry up and finish our drinks so that we could order more!

To see a more thorough album of this first part of our trip, visit here.

Prague High!

2012-05-31T10:19:00.001+01:00

You would think since the Ingham Family Tails has been silent for almost three months that not much has happened around here. Quite the contrary! Yet since we have been so busy, finding time to sit down and write is a bit of a challenge. As for our recent travels, I MUST get this blog posted today (May 31). Tomorrow it will be June, and at the end of June we are going to Ireland. I cannot put off this Prague post any longer!

Quick Kid Update: Since our last post, Darian has settled into nursery school with flying colors. She loves it, and has made lots of new friends. Maxwell loves having her there, and is such a good big brother to her. Maxwell is really excelling with his reading and maths. He is "quite keen" as his teacher puts it. :o)

March was a busy month for us all. The kids finally started swimming lessons again. Darian is in a Mommy & Me class and is doing fantastic. Maxwell, on the other hand, doesn't really like being in a pool without us, but hopefully as time goes by he will warm up to the class and the teacher.

Maxwell and Mommy on Mothering Day

The Birthday Boy

We had that big 4th birthday in March. We had a nice, small little pizza party here at the house with our friends, and Maxwell had a great time. March in the UK is also the month to celebrate "Mum's Day" or "Mothering Day," as we saw on many signs around town. David and the kids made it a very special day, and I had a blast.

Back to our travels...

When we decided to go away during Maxwell's week off school for Easter, my vote was to go somewhere warm. I had been in serious need of some sunshine and temps above 50*!! In our research though, there wasn't really anywhere in Europe that could guarantee anything more than 60 or 65, so I told David to just go wherever he wanted and to surprise me. I just wanted to show up. No planning, no research. I just wanted to get away, and since my job here at home is to be prepared and ready on a daily basis to keep the two littles entertained and fed and everything, the vacation part for me would be not having to worry about all that.

David came through with flying colors! When the time came, I knew that we were going to Prague, and he had run a few ideas by me. But when it really came down to it, I did not know anything about the city, what to expect, or what he had in store for us. Being away from his office and all the calls and emails is a holiday for David, but for me traveling with the kids is still my "job." David is an amazing trip planner! Like I said...Prague High! I am still all giddy from our trip, and we have been home for more than six weeks! We had the best. week. EVER! (Sorry about all those exclamation points, but it really was a fantastic week).

We left Saturday morning pretty early in order to get to the airport. David arranged for us to valet park so that we didn't have too far to get to the terminal. Our flight was easy and uneventful. All this traveling has made the kids pretty used to road trips, flying, hotels, etc. They were great!

When we arrived at the airport in Prague, there was a gentleman with an "Ingham" sign, ready to take us to the car. How posh! :o) It really worked out great though, because we didn't take car seats and planned on using public transport all week. The airport runs are the only hiccup in that plan, and David found a company who provided infant seats. Nice!!

We were quite early for check-in time at the hotel, so after dropping off our bags we went for a walk to explore a bit of the neighborhood. We walked to Wenceslas Square, where David was pleased to see his favorite European thing: markets! Pretty much the same as Christmas markets, except these were Easter markets so there were lots of stalls with souvenir eggs, rather than Santa's. In fact, a hand-painted egg from one of the markets was the only souvenir we bought that week (we prefer to take home pictures and memories!!). Our first Prague food experiences were not Czech, unfortunately, but they were delicious nonetheless. We stopped for a pizza lunch and went to a local grocery store before heading back to the hotel. Grocery shopping in a new country is one of my favorite things to do. With two picky toddlers, we have learned to pack a picnic style lunch (and sometimes dinner) for the kids each day when we are traveling. Eating out is expensive, and half the time they won't eat anything at the pub. I LOVE perusing the aisles at the market, finding the right bread, fruit, searching for snack foods the kids will eat. It is so fun!!

Wenceslas Square, Prague

After stocking up on groceries, we headed back to the hotel for a swim. The heated pool was actually quite chilly, so Darian didn't last long. But Maxwell had a blast and was doing great with his new floaties. Now if only we could get that same behavior at his structured classes. Hmmm...

Dinner on Saturday night was quite a treat for us. Margaritas and Mexican food from a very authentic restaurant, Banditos. Experiencing Czech food would have to wait until the next day. That first day was very low-key, but exhausting because of traveling and getting up so early for the airport.

To break up the descriptions a bit, I will end this one here. Many more Prague adventures to come!

School Days

2012-02-28T21:24:00.001+00:00

For the past couple of months, David and I have been going back and forth with deciding whether or not to put Darian in nursery (pre-school) a couple mornings a week. We knew it would be good for her, so of course David wasn't the one having reservations. He misses the kids while he is at work no matter what they do during the day. But leaving BOTH my babies behind while I sit at home by myself??? I really struggled with the decision. David left it up to me, and finally I decided to just go for it! I knew that seeing other children her age besides Maxwell (without me around) and receiving instructions from other adults besides Mommy and Daddy would be good for her. I thought that being in that environment would help her language development, social skills, independence, etc.

So today, Darian had her first day of preschool!! She is with Maxwell at a Montessori Nursery here in Oxford. We really like this school , and for the last six months Maxwell has really thrived there. Originally we thought we would send her to the other Montessori that the principal runs. We wanted them each to have their special place, to make their own friends, and to have a few hours a week where they didn't have to share everything. But the other nursery had children from 1-5 years old, and part of the reason to send her a couple mornings a week would to be around other kids and learn by example. I decided that spending those hours with all those babies may distract from that. And of course, it is a lot easier on us to have them dropped off and picked up at the same place!!!

Darian had a great first day! She was so excited to go this morning she barely ate any breakfast. She wanted to put her new school shoes and backpack on right away! Maxwell was really excited to have her go, too.

When we got to school they held hands down the sidewalk and walked in together. Once inside she knew exactly what to do, having watched Maxwell get dropped off so many times. She took off her coat and put her indoor shoes on like a big girl. Then she was ready to go upstairs. Maxwell was so excited to show her everything, even though she sees it everyday, that he hadn't put his shoes on yet. She was standing on the stairs saying, "Come on, Maxwell!!"

It was awesome. Upstairs he got her set up with a puzzle and the sat side by side to play. Seeing she was fine David and I said our goodbyes. They both waved and blew kisses as we left, and Mommy held it together until the door closed behind me until the tears came. It was hard to leave him the first day, but I had her to go home and play and cuddle with. Today was hard to leave my baby girl behind.

But then I went grocery shopping BY MYSELF, which I have done maybe 5 times in the last four years!!! :o) I washed and vacuumed the car and then had coffee with my friend Debbie. When I picked them up, they were sitting nicely side by side in the kitchen singing songs with their teacher, Rose. They both got up when they saw me and ran over for hugs. Darian had a huge smile on her face and said, "Mommy I go to school!" What an awesome experience for her!!

The teachers said that she did GREAT for her first day and that they were surprised at how happy and quickly she just jumped right in to do everything. Rose was pleasantly surprised that Darian already holds her pencil correctly and seemed interested in writing. :o) We do a lot of that around here. About halfway through the morning, when they were outside to play she got a bit upset and cried for me, but Maxwell came to comfort her and they were able to distract her and then she was fine. We are so proud of our big girl!!! She had the orange plate at dinner tonight to commemorate this special day!!!

(To see a few more cute pictures, go here)

Guest Blogger: Daddy Weekend

2012-02-12T22:10:00.001+00:00

Jennifer has been saying for a while that she would like a weekend to herself. Being with the kids all the time can be a little draining, and even though she loves it, needs some time away. Also, Jennifer likes saying that I don't know what it's like to take care of the kids all day, implying that if I tried I might lose one (or parts of one). So we finally decided to address all of these things and the kids and I went off for an overnight! We selected Belgium since it's close and we needed to go shopping there anyway (mommy needed Speculoos Spread and daddy needed beer). :-)

We started early on a Saturday morning and drove to Dover to catch the ferry to Dunkirk, France. The kids were very good on the 2.5 hour drive, but they did alternate between wanting to listen to the Glee CD (Maxwell) and their Monkey Music CD (Darian). It's a cliché that kids want to listen to and watch the same things over and over, but they really do, and it's cute at first and then annoying shortly after. We got on the boat without incident and the kids proceeded straight to the play area where they stayed the entire time. They played with a couple of French kids for a while and it was cute to watch them 'talking' to each other.

Do you see her all the way in the back?

'I'm on a boat!'

5 hours and 2 countries into the trip and I still had 2 kids with 10 finger and toes each.

The first stop was at a monastery/brewery less than an hour from Dunkirk. It has just snowed the day before so we carefully drove through Belgian farmland, dodging tractors on small back roads until we arrived at our destination. Along the way we passed a few bread vending machines that were in farm towns too small for a shop. I guess the bakery fills the machine every morning so the townsfolk don't have to make the long drive to the next town. At the monastery we had a beer (me) and ice cream (the kids-although the ice cream was made with some of the beer), before playing in the snow.

The brewing facility.

Maxwell and Darian

Playgrounds are great even when covered in snow.

After the kids were sufficiently frozen from playing in the snow (Jennifer almost was right, we barely survived frostbite) we were off to our next destination....The Hotel! We were staying in a town called Ieper/Ypres, a town destroyed during WW1, but was rebuilt immediately after. After a pizza dinner we messed around the hotel room.

Nice face Darian.

That's better.

Shower cap monster!!!
(guess who took this picture)

In the morning we had a great breakfast (Darian ate the frosting on top of an eclair and Maxwell had a pain au chocolat) before going to the supermarket for our shopping trip. I always like doing normal stuff in a different country. It's one thing to go to tourist locations where you just see other tourists, but a grocery store is a different experience. Also, here I was not in a tourist area and away from major cities, so English was not very prevalent. But a grocery story is a grocery store, so even though I didn't know what the lady was saying I just imagined she was asking me for my club card and if I had any of my own bags, normal stuff. In the end my chip and pin card worked so I left with my beer (case and a half) and speculoo spread (12 jars).

We then made our way to the final stop, a small beer distributor on the French/Belgian border to get a few more cases. Darian slept through this part and Maxwell liked the owners dog that was roaming the aisles.

Shopping.

Hop Farm near the store.

After a quick lunch we drove back to Dunkirk and boarded that boat back to England. Maxwell and Darian played the entire time again, and wore themselves out. However, we did have a significant loss, Maxwell's stuffed airplane 'guy' was left on the boat to forever travel the English Channel. On our final approach to Oxford we again switched between the Glee and Monkey CDs, and came home to Mommy waiting patiently for us...happy we were gone, but ecstatic to see us! She didn't count their fingers and toes, but believe me, they were all still there.

Speaking English

2012-02-08T20:50:00.000+00:00

Since we have been here for nine months now, I think I have gotten the hang of the differences in my American English vs. English English. Or at least I thought I had until the other night when I rode my bike to the store for some milk.

There were three cyclists in front of me; two were going my speed, one was very slow and wobbly. The two fast people passed the slow guy, so I did the same. Except when I went to pass him, he yelled at me! And you wouldn't believe what he said: "You wiley cu**! You almost ran me over!" Now, at first I was pretty shocked to be called this, but then I realized the wobbliness was because he was drunk (pissed!) and looked like he was probably homeless. It made me wonder if he had just "acquired" that bike recently. Anyway, I came home and told Dave that story and he busted out laughing. I am wondering if in England the term is more common? Like calling someone a bitch in the US isn't really all that insulting anymore??

Then for some reason, something has changed in Maxwell this week. He has slowly been developing a bit of an accent for months, but this week we have really noticed a difference. You can really hear it in the inflection when he asks questions. It's not something I can express with the written word, so I am going to do my best to capture a video of it! And of course because I spend all my time with him or other moms, teachers, and kids, I am starting to do it, too. Dave thinks it is hilarious and makes fun of me, but also thinks it is awesome because I don't even realize I am doing it. And for some reason I only do it when I am talking to Maxwell or other children. The biggest changes in Maxwell's vocabulary are that he occasionally now says wee and toilet (instead of peepee and potty), rubbish (garbage), bin (garbage can), bit (piece), as well (too), and biscuit (cookie). He is also saying today and story weird. Today sounds like todah, and story is suddenly stor-ay. And of course, much to my dismay, I get the occasional Mummy. Yuck. Of course, these words always sneak up the most the couple hours after I pick him up from school, and on the weekends he doesn't do it much.

Then there is my spelling. I bought my laptop here so it is set up to UK English and the keyboard is all weird. I think I am getting used to it. When I first got it I always had ## at the end of everything because that is now in the place by my right pinky where the enter key should be. It is weird seeing words that I know I am spelling correctly get underlined all the time, though. Color? No, colour. Neighbor? Nope. Neighbour. Favourite. Favour. What's with all the extra "U"s? And apparently I am only supposed to hit the spacebar once after I finish a sentence, although I was taught to use two. Hmmm...

So, just in case you come to visit or call us on the phone or skype, here's a quick reference guide to some of the new words we are using, due to the fact that if we don't people look at us like we are a little dumb. :o)

Garden = backyard
buggy or pushchair or pram = stroller
nappy = diaper
pants = underwear
trousers = pants
lorry = truck
trolley = shopping cart
motorway = highway or freeway
slip road = exit on the motorway
queue = line
cinema/film = movie theater/movie
ring = call on the phone
call = visit your home
diary = calendar
boot = trunk
holiday = vacation
proper = actual or real. I used this a couple weeks ago on my Facebook page without realizing it. "David and I went on a proper date." ;o)

These are the terms that have crept up into our vocabulary over the last nine months. There are a TON more differences! It took me years of living in California to start saying soda instead of pop, so I am pretty surprised that these changes have happened so quickly. Do you think we'll all have accents by the time we move back to the States??

Man. I just heard that last question in an accent in my head.

And We're Off!

2012-01-29T21:29:00.001+00:00

When we found out that 1) David got a lot of time off around Christmas and 2) Marie was coming to visit us for the holiday, we decided that we should go somewhere for a few days. At first I wanted to go to Paris. I have this idea in my head about Paris at Christmas..I think I watch too many movies! We started to plan for it, but then Marie told us she was going to France in January, so we figured we should show her part of Europe that she may not go to on her own while she is living abroad this year.

David's favorite European city (so far?) is Brussels, Belgium. When David and I went to Belgium in 2007 we also fell in love with Brugge, but since we were only there for a few hours during that trip, that is where we decided to go this time. I thought it would be fun to surprise Marie with the trip. Our plan was to say on Wednesday night, "Pack a bag for two days...we're taking you somewhere tomorrow." And then just cousin-nap her away. But when she first came to town she babysat for us and then she went to Bath and London with her Aunt Terri and cousin Nina..so I started to feel guilty that she wasn't going to be able to explore Oxford much at all. So I told her on Tuesday night that we were going somewhere so that she was at least forewarned a little bit, but our destination was still a surprise!

Thursday, December 22 started bright and early. We had tickets on the 9:15 ferry from Dover, England to Calais, France so we had a two hour + drive ahead and had to get everyone up and out the door by 630am! The kids were excited about the road trip with Cousin Marie in the backseat to play with them!

The ferry ride was cool, and it had a pretty amazing view of England as we sailed away!

The white cliffs of Dover, England

The ferry ride was a lot of fun for the kids, and the adults all enjoyed the views.

Once we landed in France, we had a quick hour or so drive to get to Brugge. We all agreed that the countryside in France looked quite similar to Illinois! Very flat, empty fields and plains. It was strange for David to be driving our UK car (driver's side on the right) in France and Belgium. They obviously drive on the right there, but they still have round-abouts. Being on the right side of the car while also driving on the right was a challenge for him!

When we got to our hotel the room wasn't quite ready, so we stashed our things and parked the car in order to go for a walk and explore. In the main square in Brugge, we found the usual European Christmas markets (mmm...waffles and mulled wine) and an ice rink! We told Maxwell about ice skating and he said over and over that he wanted to go. David and I know our kid well enough to know that it wasn't going to happen, but we went with it. David bought two tickets and got this far with him before the freak out got too bad to continue:

Then since we had already paid for two, Marie stepped in while the kids and I watched!! It was very warm out and the ice had a good 1/2 inch of water across the top of it, so David and Marie were very careful not to fall! And they didn't! Good job, guys!!!

David and Marie, trying hard not to fall!

Jen and kids, enjoying just watching!

Brugge is such a beautiful city. The buildings are like a fairy tale land, and with the bridges over the canals and the trees...it is just so magical. It was wonderful to see it all done up for Christmas. The markets are really cool. There are stalls with food, crafts, clothing, beer, ornaments. Anything and everything. We even found a section of one that had some games, so we stopped for the kids to play!

We had a nice dinner out that first night and then walked around some more. Once we got back to the hotel and got all settled in with kiddies in bed, David and I took advantage of our travelling companion (Marie!) being there to stay with the littles while we went out and got a drink.

Friday arrived with the wonderful news that the kids had slept in...late! The hotel had awesome blackout windows (must buy those for this house) and we all got some much needed zzzz's. After a quick breakfast we loaded up for the day and headed to the train station to Brussels. It is really interesting trying to take public transportation in cities where you don't speak the language. Interesting. Luckily, we made it to our train and were ready to have an awesome day!

Our stops in Brussels before heading to the town centre were really, really cool! David did a great job of planning our day. First we went to the Atomium, a structure that was built in 1958 for the World's Fair. Hard to describe, so here is a photo:

Atomium

Crazy long escalator tube!

5 or 6 of the spheres are open, connected by ginormous staircases and escalators. They have art exhibits, a restaurant, and one of them is dedicated to the construction of the structure in 1958. We watched a video of these guys hanging from the thing, tightening nuts and bolts with their bare hands. It blew my mind! I couldn't believe this amazing piece of architechture was built in the 50s without scaffolding, cranes, etc., and then that made me think about ancient creations like the pyramids and from there I had to stop myself because no good can come of me letting my mind go like that! (Dave, Mom and Shelly know what I am talking about! Ha!)

Anyway, after the Atomium, we popped over to the rest of Europe to see some of the sights. You know, the Eiffel Tower, Acropolis, leaning tower or Pisa, Big Ben, Stockholm Cathedral, Mount Vesuvius, Arc de Triomphe. All the normal things that you would see in a day, right? :o) We went to the coolest exhibit: Mini Europe! Set up almost like a mini-golf course, the path led us through more than 25 country's greatest architectural sites. It was really amazing, and now after seeing the miniatures, my list of places to visit while we are here has grown even more.

Marie and Jen at the Eiffel Tower

The whole time we were at Mini-Europe it was drizzling and cold, so we decided to pack up and head somewhere warm. We made our way back to the tube and took a train to the Grand Place, the main square in Brussels city centre. In the center of the square there was a giant Christmas tree, and all the buildings were lit up and there was a light show set to music. Not a great photo opportunity, but very cool to watch. We had a not-very-Belgian dinner at an Italian place and then walked around the markets. Marie and I had waffles for dessert and David and Marie enjoyed a hot mulled wine. All in all it was a great day!

On Saturday morning (Christmas Eve!) we realized that a lot of things we could potentially do that were a bit touristy were closed. We took our things to put them in the car and the car wouldn't open! The ceiling light had been left on in the backseat (for TWO DAYS) and the car doors wouldn't even open. We were able to open the driver's side door with the actual key, but the car was totally dead. David was about to head back to the hotel to call someone, but I suggested seeing if there was anyone working in the garage. There was, he was able to go pick up a portable battery and cables and give us a jump. So I saved us a couple hundred Euro. :o) David stayed behind to take care of the car and Marie and the kids and I went for a walk around town. We fed some ducks in the canal, got another waffle, did some shopping. It was such a beautiful day, that we really just took advantage of our surroundings and really soaked it all up.

When we parked the car on the ferry for the ride home, we pulled up right behind a car from Greece that had an Illinois State sticker. How cool was that!?! I felt bad taking a picture of the car with the driver still in it, so I waited until he got out and asked if it was okay. He was a really nice Greek guy who was VERY proud of the fact that he had gone to ISU. He was so surprised to hear that Marie and I were from IL and had gone to school there, too!

Our quick trip to Belgium was absolutely amazing. I love that country. I just love Europe. I am so glad that Marie came to stay and that we were able to show her a part of the world that she might not have thought to visit on her own.

To view the complete album of photos from our trip, please visit my Facebook Album.

Craft Collage!

2011-12-26T17:30:00.001+00:00

The two weeks leading up to Christmas went by in a blur of activity. Buying and wrapping presents, making cookies, getting ready in general. But we still had time everyday to make a craft to decorate our home!! Since there are so many, I will just share little tidbits and pictures of all of our fun activities! Enjoy!!

Day Eleven
Monkey Ornaments!
I don't have a picture of these for some reason and they have already been packed away (it IS Boxing Day afterall!), but we went to a birthday party for Monkey Music on Sunday December 11th and made glittery ornaments!

Day Twelve
Snowflake Suncatchers
We don't get a lot of sun these days, but on the afternoons that we have, these fun ornaments are a nice decoration in our kitchen window.

This paint stained!

Darian was careful. Whew!

Day Thirteen
Darian: Christmas Crown (made at playgroup that morning)
Maxwell: Classmate Christmas Cards (He wrote his name and each classmate's name on every card!!)

Queen of Christmas Festivities

Hard at work!

Day Fourteen
Jingle Bells!
We had a lot of fun with this easy, quick craft.
If you haven't watched the video that corresponds, you can see it here.

Day Fifteen
Gift Tin Covers

I made all my cookies (seven different kinds!) and Maxwell and I decorated tins for him to give to his teachers at school. We also made one so that Marie could take some cookies back to Barcelona with her!

Improvised Blossoms

My PB Ball tin!! :

Day Sixteen
Today we had Maxwell's sing-a-long and party at school, and then Marie came to stay with us, so we didn't have time for a project. But look at how cute buddy was at his school!!!

Day Seventeen
Stockings with Marie
While David and I went to London for our anniversary, Marie stayed with the kids and made glittery stocking decorations!

Day Eighteen
Christmas Lanterns

Fold. Cut.

Make a circle and tape together.

Add handle.

Place over a tealight. (Then turn off the lights)

FESTIVE!

(We bought some LED tealights)

Day Nineteen
Stocking Names
I was "saving" this easy job for a night when we didn't have time to sit down and do much! But to the littles it still counted, and they had fun smearing glitter glue on paper plates after we were done. ;o)

The stockings were hung on the chimney with care...

Day Twenty
Spiral Tree Ornaments
These were so easy to make and look really cool!

Day Twenty-One
Wrapping Presents
This was a quick one that we kinda just made up really fast when I realized I didn't have anything planned for the craft this day! ;o)

Days Twenty Two and Twenty Three
MEMORIES.
These two days we were in Belgium, so we didn't make a craft project, but we made plenty of awesome memories. Blog and photos from our trip to come...

Day Twenty Four
Christmas Trees

(I think Marie had fun with all our projects, too!)

Tree Cheese!

Day Twenty Five
FOOD!

And lots more memories!

Turkey and stuffing

Broccoli salad, corn pudding, mashed potatoes
and gravy, rolls

David, the kids and I (and Marie!) had a lot of fun this month decorating the house and making lots of fun holiday craft projects. I hope you enjoyed seeing the fruits of our labors here. It was eye opening to me to realize how much more we can do other than coloring, which is all we used to do every afternoon. But now, the kids get excited about doing their project everyday, and even if it is something that takes us five minutes, they have fun and are so excited to show off their creations! Happy Crafting friends. I am excited to see what kind of special artistic activities I can find for the new year.

It's beginning to look a LOT like Christmas!!

2011-12-14T23:35:00.002+00:00

So. Interesting English tidbit. David and I have noticed that barely anyone decorates the outside of their homes for Christmas. You can't see their trees in the front windows, no lights on anything outside. Occasionally a wreath on a door, but that's about it. It kinda stinks because last year the kids and I used to like to drive around and look at all the twinkle lights. The shops are done up and there are a few trees with lights around town, but nothing extravagant. I figured it was because there are no electrical outlets outside of the houses here, but Dave had a conversation about it at a work function the other night. His co-worker's response?

"We just aren't that showy here."

Hmm. Well, our kitchen is at the front of the house and our tree in the living room, so that would make sense why you can't see people's trees in the front windows. I need to drive down Abbey Road at night to see, because our living room was in the front there.

But, really? If that is true why does Tesco, Sainsbury's, Marks and Spencer and every other store I have been in the last month or so have these silly things on sale??? And yes. We have seen people with them in their trolleys to purchase.

Anyway, that showy comment prompted me to hang a string of lights in our bedroom windows last night, and now David and I are jokingly referring to ourselves as "Those Showy Americans in #8."

Notice the darkness. These "decorations" are so funny because of how pathetic they are. :o)

But we are getting more and more festive everyday inside with all of our Christmas crafts! Just look at what we added to the tree over the weekend!!

Day Ten
Popcorn Tinsel

Popped on the stovetop!

They helped by eating it all.

It wasn't me!

Our little tree!!

The countdown is really here! Only ten more days until Christmas! And only two more days until Cousin Marie comes to stay! We are so excited!!! Today I started making all my cookies, too. It smells delicious! I am making Peanut Butter "Buttons", Sugar Cookies, Chocolate Chip, Peanut Butter Balls, Russian Teacakes and maybe one more. I know most of my readers won't be able to taste them, but what is your vote for the last cookie?

More Christmas Crafting!

2011-12-12T23:26:00.001+00:00

I really need to be better about posting these things as we do them. Right now I have a back log of over a week worth of projects to share with you!

This whole crafting experience is pretty cool. I should have gone out of my paper and crayons comfort zone long ago. Maxwell and Darian both now look forward to doing a project every day!! They go down nicely for their afternoon nap with the promise of something fun to make when we wake up, and they wake up ready to create!!! Even on the days that I did something quick and easy, they were excited to participate and see what we could make.

After our fun Christmasy day in the city centre last Sunday, we got a special prize for completing the scavenger hunt at Oxford Castle. The prize was...wooden ornaments to paint/color!!

Darian chose a tree and Maxwell a star. So after a busy weekend and crazy Monday, we had a quick and easy project that spruced up our little tree even more!

Mommy *may* have done this side. :o)

DAY FIVE
Coloring Ornamnets

Righty

Lefty

These were not my favorite markers. They were probably good ones for Darian to use, but not Maxwell. They had no tips. LAME. (I guess they were good for the ornament dots I made on my side of the tree, though.)

Darian's very colorful tree!!

My star!

Day Six

More trees!

The experts have spoken. Give your toddlers a Q-Tip with a puddle of glue on a paper plate, some embellishments from your local craft store, and ANYTHING to stick them to. They will be happy and occupied for well over an hour. (At least mine were!) And it wasn't that hard to clean up. Oh, wait...is that a glittery star in my hair???

Mommy prepped some felt trees

She ditched the q-tip. Oops.

The guys all watched!

Our tree decorations are now lined up on the refrigerator to spruce up the kitchen!!

Day Seven

Easy Peasy Candy Cane Ornaments

My mom always had these tiny plastic candy cane ornaments to fill in the holes on the tree. Making these today made me think of those. :o) Supplies? Red and white pipe cleaners. Twist. Done!

We saved some so Daddy could create when he got home!

Day Eight

Stamping fun

I was tossing around the idea of letting the littles do some stamping to help me with my Christmas cards this year. Based on what happened here...well. They did not.

When Darian started eating the markers, we called it a day. Maxwell's started off okay, other than the fact that he wanted to do them all in black. I did not take a picture of the page that he made that was all scribbled out, as I was busy cleaning off the mess you see above.

Cheeky girl!!

After this fiasco, we took a day off. We had a busy night on the 9th, picking Daddy up from work and then eating a late dinner. Unfortunately we didn't get a project in that afternoon. :o( But we're on a roll now and there are more Christmas crafts coming you way! Stay tuned for days 10-12 and beyond!!!

Sunday Funday...(no football involved, sorry)

2011-12-04T22:06:00.000+00:00

Today we had a very Christmasy day in the Ingham house! We walked to town to check out the lights and the Christmas market at Oxford Castle, with hopes of maybe seeing Santa (Father Christmas!), too. The kids stopped along the canal on the way to feed the ducks and then we made our way to the city centre. Since it was daytime the lights weren't on, but we could see the pretty arrangements drawing from one side of the street to the next. The shopping centre that we frequent has a really big Christmas tree set up in it, so Maxwell was quick to point that out!

At the castle, we made our way through the market, looking at all the cool handmade crafts, ornaments and fun trinkets, and enjoying the delicious smells coming from the stalls selling cider and mulled wine and treats. While the kids rode the carousel, I splurged on a Belgian waffle with maple syrup. YUM!

Carousel fun!

The market had a scavenger hunt for the kids to find all these cutouts. At each stand there was a stamp hanging down. When you collected all five stamps, you got a prize! The kids picked out something cool. Stay tuned to the Christmas Craft Brigade to see what they picked out...it will feature in a craft very soon!

Skating cuties

After walking around the market some more, stopping to listen to some carolers, we found the Post Office to send Santa our letters. Maxwell asked Santa for Toys and Darian wanted toys and books. :o)

Little Lady

Little man

We made it to Santa's grotto, but by this point we had been walking around in the 45* weather for almost three hours. The kids (and mommy!) were cold and a bit cranky, so we headed home for naptime. We made a quick pit stop to have a hot chocolate warm up before heading to bed.

But after nap, it was time for another Christmas Craft!!

Day Four:
Snowflakes!!
Mommy folded up the papers and Maxwell and Darian drew with pencils where they wanted us to cut. Maxwell's little man scissors just wouldn't cut through all those folds, so Mommy and Daddy had to be in charge of the cuts.

So serious.

Daddy has been enjoying craft time, too!

This was one of Darian's!

We came up with some pretty cool designs, and now...

...it's snowing in Oxford!

Hope you all had as fun a weekend as we did!

xoxo Jen

Christmas Craftiness!

2011-12-03T21:32:00.000+00:00

Last week I was skyping with the best of the besties, Renee', when she randomly held up a pop-sickle stick mummy that she and the girls made as their Halloween craft. I thought it was really cute and I thought to myself, "Self? Why don't you and the kids craft more??"

The truth is that I am a very crafty gal, but I don't like mess. So with a 2 year old who likes to destroy everything in her path, and a 3 year old who doesn't like when he gets a smudge of dirt on his fingers, anything other than paper and crayons is a little bit much for our household. But here we are in the UK, thousands of miles away from my surplus of Christmas decorations, so I decided I needed to take our normal afternoon coloring session to the next level. Thus began our month long

Christmas Craft Brigade!!!

We are doing a Christmasy craft everyday after naptime. We started on Thursday December first, and will go for as long as I have the supplies and patience to do so!

Day One:
Wreaths!

Mommy's wreath. :o)

Getting Started

She got a good start...

Yikes...someone needs a manicure!

That's not where they go, silly!

Proud of her "finished" wreath!

Proud and shy guy...he did a great job, I think!!!

Day Two:
Snowmen Coloring (Maxwell was pretty sick, so back to coloring we go!)

We have a door leading into the living room that needed some holiday sprucing up.

Maxwell loves writing his name!

Is she going to be our "righty?"

Maxwell helped Daddy color one when he got home from work!

Day Three:
Paper Chain

Ballerina girl? Daddy was about to drop her, I think!!

We went to Tesco this morning to get an artificial tree. Just something inexpensive and little for our time here in the UK. I only brought the kid's ornaments along, so we only had about 6 pieces to hang. So I bought a box of silver bells for £1 to fill in the holes, but that still left the tinsel! Today's craft was a lovely chain to drape across the tree!

Ta-Da!!

So far we are having a lot of fun with these projects and I keep thinking of more and more to do. I am either going to A) run out of days before Christmas gets here or B) get in trouble for spending too much money at HobbyCraft. :o)

What will tomorrow bring? Keep checking back to see!! Happy Holidays!!!

On Holiday in...America?

2011-11-07T17:06:00.000+00:00

The kids and I just returned from our two week vacay in California. We saw all of our family there, and as many friends as we could. I wish I could have seen everyone, but CA is a big state and it was a whirlwind of a trip as it was.

We were able to celebrate in person as the twins turned one, have a much needed sleepover at Nana's house with Nana and the puppas, enjoy the heat and sunshine in Corona with Uncle Steve and Aunt Nicole, have a birthday party to celebrate Darian's birthday coming up, go to a Halloween party with our playgroup friends, trick-or-treating with more friends, and rounded out the trip with more cuddles, hugs and kisses from Aunts Shelly and Jill and the twins. Mommy got in plenty of retail therapy, and even had a little side trip to Vegas to watch her BFF Erynn tie the knot!! It was a great trip and it definitely wore us out!

To top off the tiredness, upon returning to Oxford we got the keys to our new house and started moving in all of our things. As the movers brought in each box and bag, I started to wonder who all that stuff belonged to; it certainly seemed like more when it was time to find somewhere to put everything away than it did when I was packing up a month ago.

The new house is great. We have an assigned parking spot out front, and a nice manageable yard in back. There are only two floors, so we feel much closer and I like sleeping on the same level as the kids. The kitchen is so tiny that we bump into each other all the time, and we went from 5 drawers and 12 cabinets to 3 and 6. Yikes! My brain already hurts from the clutter, because I have to have so much stuff on the countertops. The trade off is that we have a large living/play room/dining room. (Well, UK large, anyway) I am still working on unpacking the boxes, so I will post pictures as soon as it is presentable!

But being back here a few days after having been in CA for two weeks, I have been mentally creating the following list. I figured you would all be curious, so here it is!

What I miss about CA:
-family and friends are obvious
-the weather (duh)
-my puppa dawgs (arf arf)
-familiar restaurants
-familiar stores and convenient shopping
-super fast and efficient washing machine (not to mention huge for huge loads!)
-super duper dryer (even though I didn't think to take it out and shrunk my favorite sweater. But then I left it in the cab in Vegas, so it's gone now anyway. :o( Guess I better go shopping!! )
-my pediatrician and health insurance (Maxwell was sick the whole time, and we had to just wait it out because I was unsure how it would work for us there now. He is better, but it sure would have been nice to take him in to see Dr. Saifee.)
-the ice maker and cold, filtered water dispenser from the fridge. Oh, and getting LOTS of ice in your beverages when eating out
-Venti Black Iced Tea from the Bux. They don't do tea iced over here.
-Needing to wear my sunglasses because it is sunny, not just windy.
-My tv shows. Although we now have the channel that gets me Glee and Modern Family. Yay!
-All of the different choices and options when at the grocery store, which also could be a negative. There is SO MUCH of everything in the US!
-Lower tax on everything I bought.
-Parking lots/garages.
-Space. Everything is bigger at home: houses, showers, beds, closets, streets. We went from a CA King bed in Burbank, to a UK King (almost a US queen) in the first house. Now we have what I can only assume is a double bed and David and I may begin sleep wars soon. And/or we will test out Shelly Pearson's question about how we learn not to fall off the bed. :o)
-In & Out. :o)

The things I DON'T miss:
-the heat. Man, that took me by surprise the day it almost reached ninety degrees in Corona!!
-Driving everywhere. I don't know much about the public transport in LA, so I can't say it sucks. What I can say is that everything is so spread out, and I felt like I spent a LOT of time in cars.
-Along those lines, traffic. Oh, 5/405/91 how I loathe thee.
-Rude drivers.
-Processed food. I feel like I eat better here in the UK, and that there isn't as much crap (either available or) in the ingredients of the food.
-Rude flight attendants. Maybe we were spoiled on our Swiss flights to Barcelona, but the service was a MILLION times better on those flights (and the British Airways flight that we took in May) than the US flights (cough cough Delta sucks cough cough).
-Taking off my shoes at the airport. You don't have to do that at London Heathrow.
-Allergies. And the Santa Ana winds.

Things I appreciate/missed about the UK that surprised me:
-the weather. GASP! Did she just say that?? Yeah, it's mild here. I like that. Rain/gray? Not so much.
-the seasons. While we were away it turned to fall! The drive back to Oxford from the airport took my breath away. The fields and hills were green and lush, and the trees were red and golden and beautiful. It was lovely.
-No dryer. DOUBLE GASP! Well, I wouldn't have ruined my favorite sweater (before I lost it) had I left it here in Oxford where it rightly belonged. Also, my jeans felt WAY too tight after I dried them.
-Walking. My friends Jamie and Aine and I had a convo about why we don't walk more there, especially when the weather is so nice. We agreed it is the heat and the fact that everything is so spread out. But here, I walked two miles with Darian in the stroller with the rain cover on today while it drizzled on us. No biggie.
-Kindness of drivers. I wouldn't be able to pull out of our own street, or into the lot at Maxwell's school if someone wasn't nice enough to pause and let me in everyday. And they do it with a wave and a smile. Nice. I turn on my turn signal on the freeway in CA and the other drivers laugh and speed up. Jerks.

The other things I missed were no surprise: I missed David more than I can say, my new friends, Maxwell and Darian's classes and school. I miss the Abbey Road house already, but I know that we are going to make a lot of fun memories in this house, and that this will feel more like home as we get settled and make it our own.

Pictures to come, friends. For now I need to get these kids up from their nap. I think they are confused because it is 430pm and as dark as midnight outside right now.

Moving On...

2011-10-16T22:21:00.000+01:00

It is such a cliché, but I really cannot believe how fast time is going by!!! The kids and I left California six months ago (next weekend) to begin our journey to the United Kingdom. And next weekend, we will be making our first trip home, almost exactly six months later.

David and I spent the weekend working as a team to A) entertain the kids (because that always comes first!) B) pack up the house and C) take our things to storage. AGAIN. Although this time the storage unit is right down the street. David was able to take 5 or 6 loads in our itty bitty Prius today in less than two hours. Wouldn't that have been nice back in April...
Anyway, packing up our things and getting ready to move out of the Abbey Road house has been making me think a lot about what my first impression of this house were. Talking to my grandma and grandpa on the phone yesterday, I told them that the little things about this house that bothered me when we first got here (no dryer/fighting rain to dry clothes on the line, no plug in the bathroom for hair dryer, the closed off feeling of the rooms) I rarely even pay attention to anymore. We've got our routine down, and I have learned how to do my job: UK Style. I was even able to do eight loads of laundry when we got back from Spain, all drying either throughout the house or on the line!

I am so grateful that we found this house. We are so close to the city centre, to the community centre, the train station...we have made great friends with our neighbors and learned so much from them. I have made some mommy friends and Maxwell and Darian are both involved in activities and classes (and of course Maxwell has started pre-school). David is doing well at work and he has been running again all summer, even running a half marathon the day after we returned from Spain!

We have made a lot of great memories to start off our adventure abroad, right here on Abbey Road, and I will be sad to say goodbye to this house. But when the kids and I leave for California on Thursday morning, goodbye it will be. When we return, we set up shop in our new place (where we will be for a year..whew!).

We'll have lots of tales of how the tails wiggle about in California (WE GET TO SEE THE OTHER TWO TAILS!!! WE MISS YOU GRIFFIN AND TUCKER!!) and when we return in a few weeks, we'll be able to share all the fun of setting up a new routine in our new house and neighborhood.

For all our friends and family in CA: we'll see you soon!

El Final...the end.

2011-10-11T16:18:00.000+01:00

David and I decided to do something on our last day in Barcelona that we probably should have done on day one. We took a city bus tour around to learn about all the buildings and neighborhoods we had been walking through all week!

We started the day off with breakfast in the room, and then took our time heading out to sit at the cafe on the corner for some yummy cafe con leche and enseimadas. One of the things that I love about the restaurants in Barcelona is that the outdoor eating area is right on the sidewalk outside the front entrance. So it is the perfect place to people watch, relax, and for me, look at people's shoes! (If you haven't read my other blogs, this comment might confuse you; go get caught up!)

The first bus we came to was all filled up on the top, so we had to ride on the lower level. Maxwell liked playing with the earplugs and listening to the music. The first time we got off the bus we had a bit of a hiccup. Our bags were heavy and packed for lunch, we didn't have the stroller, Darian was already getting heavy in the Ergo...I did NOT want to be out walking around. Plus it was pretty hot out, at least compared to what we've been living in in England! We stopped to get our bearings and then hopped back on the next bus that came by. We enjoyed the sights and got off at our first destination: the aerial at Montjuic. The kids loved going "way up in the sky in the buckets," and David and I oohed and aahed at the view.

Once we made it to the top of the hill, we were able to walk through the castle and eat a nice lunch. The views from the top of Montjuic were incredible, and I am so glad that we decided to take the aerial up. What a great last minute decision!!

Back on the bus, we circled around a good part of the city, learning about the architecture and artwork that is scattered throughout Barcelona. Maxwell sat so nicely next to me on the bus, with his earphones in place, enjoying the view. Only did I realize he was actually listening to the tour guide when he shouted out, "The guy in my ear just said Barcelona!"

When we had gone full circle on the bus and were close to our hotel, we got off and started back to rest and put the kids down for naps. We walked past Casa Mila/La Pedrera, one of Antoni Gaudi's buildings that we had walked by almost every day. I decided I wanted to see the inside, so David took the kids back to the hotel and I took the tour by myself. The camera battery had died so I didn't get any good pictures, but the rooftop terrace and the flat that I toured were so awesome. Gaudi was inspired by nature, and rarely (if ever?) used right angles in his designs. There was a display with things found that exemplified parts of his building: corncobs, a beehive, the waves of the ocean. My minimal description and any pictures I would have taken of this amazing piece of art just wouldn't do it justice.

That night, my wonderful cousin Marie came to the hotel to get the kids in bed and stay with them so that David and I could see the city at night. Since our City Bus Tour tickets were good for the entire day, we took the bus again and rode on the top of the double decker to experience the city at night. Then we made our way over to the fountain at Montjuic, where the amazing fountains were set to music and light. Unfortunately, there was also a huge concert in the plaza in front of it, Merce, so the choreographed music for the fountains was drowned out. But the show was cool, and it was really neat that we stumbled across a concert in the middle of the city, too. There were food stalls and beer stalls and hundreds of people in front of the stage.

By this point it was pretty late, so we found a restaurant for dinner. David had been wanting Paella all week, but every place we stopped only served it for a minimum of two diners. I couldn't eat it because of all the seafood, and David didn't want to either waste or eat an extra portion of food! We still had a great dinner (with Sangria, of course!) and a nice night out in the city.

We didn't have much time for anything on Saturday before we had to head to the airport, so we had our cafe con leches at the cafe on the corner again. The kids were ready to go home. I was out of clean clothes. And David had to run a half marathon in less than 24 hours. Back to England...

Impressions of Barcelona/Spain

* What a beautiful country with so much history

* The artistic value of everything you see is incredible. It was a modern city like any other, but so much more beautiful and sleek than I was expecting.

* The food. Oh my goodness. I wish I had a month to just stay and eat and try it all. We barely got a glimpse because the kids are so picky, but what we did try was fantastic!

* The people are busy and focused, but still smile and look you in the eye. They seemed to like watching the kids and the dynamic between us. We got a lot of smiles on the trains, and on several metro rides, people would talk to Maxwell or say how beautiful Darian is.

* The people also seem to savour things. They take long lunches, siestas in the afternoon, and have long dinners with good food, wine and friends until late, late at night.

* The public transportation is awesome. Very family friendly and so accessible. Yet with amazing weather, there were so many people on bikes and walking. I want a bike. :o)

Things I learned about traveling with toddlers, okay..MY PICKY TODDLERS

* Pack lighter and figure in a laundry day.

* Bring more food they will eat from home to be prepared. Then find a grocery store to get fruit, bread, etc on the first day.

* Either figure in the naptime or always have the stroller so they can sleep in there; Darian is getting big for the Ergo for extended amounts of time, and Maxwell literally was falling asleep on Dave's shoulders as we were walking back to the hotel one day!!

* Lower my expectations of the touristy things that I would like to do versus what is realistic. The kids would have been happy at the pool and/or beach everyday. We are lucky that they were so easy going with everything else that we forced them to do!!!

All in all, we had a fantastic holiday in Spain. We only saw a tiny, minuscule part of what I am sure is an amazing and culturally diverse country. After all, we were in the heart of Catalunya....I am sure cities like Madrid, Seville, and other little towns throughout the country have a completely different vibe and atmosphere than Barcelona. LA and NY are different, right? Hopefully we will be able to return and see other cities someday. Who wants to come along next time??

To see the rest of the photos from the last few days of our trip, view my online album here.

A la playa!

2011-10-05T18:26:00.000+01:00

BEACH DAY!

After living in mild England all summer, I was really looking forward to a day at the beach! We don't go to the beach often, as living in Burbank it isn't exactly right around the corner. But we do enjoy the sun and swimming pools on a hot day, so I was excited to spend a day soaking up some much needed Vitamin D!

Marie had warned us that the local beaches in Barcelona weren't that great. In fact, she got some things stolen out of her bag there. So she suggested we hop on the train and go down the coast to Sitges, a small town about 40 minutes South(west?) from the city. The train was really easy to get to and get onto, and of course, the kids were free which is always a nice added bonus. Plus it is entertaining for them. That is one of the main things about buses and trains in Europe that I like. They get bored in their carseats; they ride in those everyday. So getting to sit in a seat like a grown up on a train is fun for an almost 2 and 3 1/2 year old kid!

Sitges was a lovely little town, and it was so beautiful that day. It was your average, run of the mill beach day. The kids played in the sand, David got burned because he refuses to use sunscreen...what else is new? I went to the restaurant on the beach and got sandwiches for David and I to eat. I tried the local version of grilled cheese, called a Bikini (grilled ham and cheese), and got Dave a pork sandwich. Maxwell was a little nervous about the waves and water at first, but he ended up loving it. Darian not so much. The water in the sea seemed so salty and it made me wonder if it was indeed saltier than the Pacific Ocean. Something to look up on Wikipedia later, I suppose. Oh, and it was a topless beach, and since it was the middle of September and most kids are in school, there weren't many children or families. Mostly older men in speedos and older women in bikinis. In my one piece, full coverage bathing suit, I was definitely out of place!!

As we were walking back towards the train, Maxwell needed to use the potty so we stopped at a gelato place and had a yummy treat. I had a nice conversation with the gelato guy about the menu and the differences between Catalan, Spanish and French (see my last blog!).

That night since we got home so late and the kids didn't nap, we decided to just do something easy for dinner. I went to the restaurant next to our hotel to get a couple pizzas, while David got the kids cleaned up and ready for bed. I thought I would sit at one of the tables on the sidewalk and wait for Marie to walk by, since she was going to come by out hotel room that night and have a drink with us before going out with her friends. I ordered "un Sangria, por favor" while I waited for the pizzas. The bartender said, "Grande?" and I said, "No, no. Pequeno." I then proceded to watch him make a PITCHER of Sangria that consisted of sugar, whiskey, vodka, gin and red wine. A few other things splished and splashed in there that I didn't catch. Um...okaaaay. I figured I better get something in my stomach if I was going to drink this concoction, so I ordered a tortilla espanol, which was like an omlette: eggs and potatoes. So yummy! Anyway, I took it all to my table with two glasses and waited for Marie to walk by. Two glasses later, she still hadn't. Weird. She is so punctual. As I was pouring my third glass, the pizzas came. I paid the bill. No Marie. Now I had been gone for over a half an hour and I knew that the kids were tired and hungry and that David was probably wondering where I was. I finished off the pitcher, gathered my things, and made my way up to the room. Wobbly. I was drunk! I haven't had enough to drink to feel more than a bit tipsy in ages!

I got up to the room and Marie was sitting on the floor doing a puzzle with Maxwell. She had gotten to the hotel from the opposite corner, so she never walked by my little Sangria cave. Oh well. I felt great and I was on vacation!!!

On Thursday morning I definitely felt my age. No more pitchers of Sangria for me!

We met Marie at the train station and got our tickets to ride out to Montserrat. I looked this up on Wikipedia, but Montserrat literally means "jagged mountain" in Catalan. Perhaps this is why-->>> The peaks of the mountain were these jagged piece of rock, which created quite a stunning view. We had a beautiful, clear day up on the mountain and got lots of pretty pictures of the views. To get up to the part of the mountain that housed the monestary, we took an aerial, which to Maxwell and Darian was the big bucket. :o) Strange that I get car/bus/plane/train sickness now, but going up in the aerial I was totally fine.

Once we reached the "level," if you will, with the monestary, we ate lunch and explored a bit. We waited in line to walk through the basilica, or church. It was beautiful and our kids were so great waiting in line. Maxwell kept asking what we were waiting for and we answered that we were waiting to see things. He looked around and seemed okay with that, which shocked the pants off the Americans (probably in their late 60s) in front of us in line. They were quite impressed with both kids' behaviour in line and complemented us several times.

There he is, waving from the top!

After the church, we got in another aerial that took us even higher up the mountain. Here you can hike and rock climb and go to the very top! We didn't quite do that, but David was the most adventurous of us all (and the only one of us wearing tennis shoes!)

That night, we once again got home late and the kids didn't nap, so we needed something easy (again!) for dinner that we knew the kids would eat. We stopped at a small bar on the corner by the hotel and I asked the bartender, "Necessito algo para mis ninos a comer. Tiene algo?" The only thing we saw on the menu was Frankfurt, and when he responded that is what he said, so we went with it. :o) That is a huge part of my problem. Even if I can spit out a question or sentence, there is no way I can catch enough words in the response to know what the heck they are talking about! But we got a hotdog for the kids. Dave took them to the hotel to bathe and get in their pjs while I waited for the food. I felt pretty proud of myself, and David was SERIOUSLY impressed. ha ha

Another great couple of days in Spain. If you would like to see more pictures, please do check them out here.

Mas de Barcelona

2011-10-05T16:47:00.000+01:00

I learned right away at the airport that there really is a big difference between Spanish and Catalan, the language that is spoken in Barcelona. Dave likes to joke around that I speak both Spanish AND French, because of that one year of French that I took in high school. He is seriously mistaken. However, in Barcelona, I did start to notice the similarities between Catalan and French. If I remember correctly, in French there were more Ts and in Spanish Ds. Or the Catalan words would just be shortened. For example, in Spanish, the word city is ciudad. In Catalan, it is ciutat. At the gelato place, a large was gran (Catalan) where in Spanish it would be grande. In Spanish, a grocery store is un supermercado. In Catalan, un mercat. Or as David liked to say, "the meerkat. Why do they have stores here that sell meerkats?" He is a dip. But the best example of the French connection was "please:" In Spanish, por favor. In French, si'l vous plait. In Catalan? Si us plau.

Back to our holiday adventures...
On Monday we woke at our leisure, had breakfast at the hotel buffet, and made our way out to explore again. We ended up at La Place de Catalunya, which I believe is the city centre. It was a large square with a pretty fountain and lots of tourists about. And plenty of pigeons looking for a meal, which gave Maxwell and Darian a fun way to release some energy!
The Placa de Catalunya was also the beginning of La Rambla, the street that we had tried to get to on Sunday before we got trapped in the monsoon. La Rambla is a beautiful street, filled with stalls and merchants, sidewalk setups for the restaurants and cafes, and street performers. It is also a place that is known for pick pocketing, so we were forewarned and very careful. But even when we sat down at a cafe to rest and get something to drink, the waiter warned me to keep an eye on the stroller and the diaper bag I had hanging from it at all times.

We went into La Boqueria, which is a huge open market. There were hundreds of people milling about, so it was really hard to get in with the stroller, but we made our way through to look at all the meat, fish, and fresh fruit stands. We bought some fruit for the kids to munch on, and David and I got an adult beverage. One guess what I got!

La Rambla was pretty typical of a tourist market. Stalls with your everyday souvenirs--magnets, maps, coffee mugs. We didn't see anything that we would want to buy, and we were lucky enough that the kids were pretty content to sit back and people watch and enjoy the day out.

That night we started to realize one of the challenges of traveling with toddlers abroad. Food. It seems like that should be easy, but with two picky toddlers it was quite a challenge. We ended up at the restaurant on the corner by our hotel. The kids ate some pasta and David and I shared a pizza, which was delicious, but still not giving us the taste of local Catalan food that we wanted to experience. Next trip? We will find a market right away and get food for the kids for the week. They can survive for a week on fruit, sandwiches and normal picnic style food that I can pack in the bag for them, and that way David and I will be able to go to whatever restaurant we want and really take in the local cuisine!

For all my stay at home mom friends, you know this. But when your full time job is being home with your kids, traveling with them is not really a vacation. It is more of a business trip. I was starting to feel that after dinner on Monday night when Maxwell was being picky about his food, Darian wouldn't settle down and sit in the chair (no high chairs...we ended up tying her to the chair with the Ergo!!) I was frustrated and tired and in desperate need of either A) a two hour massage B) a stiff drink or C) some serious alone time. Luckily, I have the BEST husband in the world, so I got both B and C!! And if our hotel had a spa I probably would have gotten the massage the next day, too! David took the kids up to bed, and I stayed behind to enjoy the rest of our pitcher of Sangria and a lovely flan. I sat and drank my wine, taking tiny bites of my dessert, and watching the city come to life around me. It was WONDERFUL!

Main Entrance...this was actually where we exited after our hike.

On Tuesday morning we met up with MarieB again and went to visit another Gaudi work of art: Parc Guell. It is basically a garden complex, that we had to walk up very steep sidewalks, stairways, and even escalators to get to! But it was worth the climb, because once at the top we saw breathtaking views of the city below and the amazing architectural components designed by Gaudi that were sprinkled throughout.

That night for dinner we found a diner style restaurant that had nuggets de pollo on the menu. :o) The kids were happy, David and I had yummy burgers and beer, and I even got a chance to try something that I hope was more of a local dish: meatballs. They were delicious! We didn't go to a Tapas restaurant this week (the horror!!) but I got to taste these lovelies and I could have had them as a main dish. SO GOOD! After dinner we walked around and took the long way back to the hotel, finding some markets and stalls that were set up selling homemade items like jewellry, clothing and handbags. I bought a new bag that I just love. We also found a shop that had foods from around the globe, and I was able to get a special treat for our local tour guide, my cousin Marie: Resee's Peanut Butter Cups!!!

To see more photos from these spectacular two days in Spain, visit here.

Barcelona! (part one)

2011-10-04T21:53:00.002+01:00

I have wanted to visit Spain since I was a freshman in high school. My first day of Spanish, my zaney teacher taught us a song that I still remember to this day:

Yo soy de Cuba
Tu eres de Aruba
El, Ella, Usted es de Vancouver
Nosotros somos de Chile
Vosotros os de Milli Vanilli?
Ellos, Ellas, Ustedes son de...Really?

It makes absolutely NO sense, but nineteen years later, I still remember that stupid song! And I didn't realize how much of my Spanish I would remember until I was actually faced with the challenge of NEEDING it. Granted, I am sure I made lots of mistakes, but I am glad that I did have some knowledge of the language for our first holiday while living abroad. But more importantly, I am glad that we went to Barcelona and were able to hang out and visit with my wonderful cousin, Marie!

I have already written about my impressions of the air travel and public transportation for our trip, so I will try to limit those comments. My first impression of Spain, by the look of the airport in Barcelona was how modern it is. It looked so shiny and new, and was so filled with shops and cafes that I felt like I was in a mall. Our first communication challenge came when we wanted to get some cash from the ATM. There was an icon to get instructions in English, but it still asked a strange question that made David cancel his request and wait in line at the currency exchange instead.

It was dark when we landed, so we didn't get to see much of the city that night. After arriving at the hotel we settled in for the night and all got a much needed rest after our day of traveling. On Sunday morning, Marie met us at our hotel and we went to the cafe on the corner to get our bearings and figure out what we wanted to do with our week. Goodbye English tea, hello Cafe con leche! I was hooked!! And the enseimada (pastry) Marie suggested was DELISH!

The view of Carrer Paris from our hotel room

We set off and walked through town. Our hotel was on Carrer de Paris, which was just a block or two from Avinguda Diagonal, which cuts through the city at a diagonal (imagine that) and stretches for over six miles. We set off in that direction and then turned down Passeig de Gracia. It was so cool to walk down the street and just SEE. To see the shops and buildings and architecture, the cyclists and motorcycles and cars, and the people. I love to people watch, and for some reason ever since I moved to England, I always look at people's shoes. I think it is because we walk so much more here. And I am always amazed at the shoes women are wearing while doing all that walking. I've never really been a "shoe girl" and I'm still not because I would rather spend money elsewhere. I just like to look at them in awe!!

Along Passeig de Gracia we came to several of Antoni Gaudi's amazing buildings. Gaudi was a Catalan architect whose famous works are scattered throughout the city. First we came to Casa Mila, or La Pedrera. This first day we just looked at the beauty of the building, but on our last day in the city I went in to take the tour. It was amazing!

A little further down the street was Casa Batllo. These buildings are so crazy and beautiful and modern; it's nuts to me to think that Gaudi designed these buildings when he did (he died in 1926).

The bright sun, bad angle and my mediocre camera just cannot show the true beauty of these buildings!!

We continued on while Darian napped and took a few turns to head in a different direction in order to get to La Sagrada Familia. We only saw the outside of this massive architectural wonder, and now I wish I had gone back while the kids napped one day and gone inside. The church began construction in the 1880s and at the time of Gaudi's death in 1926, the project was only 1/4 complete. It was a slow process, as the funding was based on private donations. I believe they are hoping to have it completed in 2026, the centennial anniversary of Gaudi's death. Again, my pictures do not do it justice!!

There was a small playground right where we took this picture, so we let the kids run around and play for a while to let out that pent up stroller-induced energy. Then we headed towards the metro to try out what the city had to offer for public transportation. Most stations (at least all of the major ones) have elevators to help you get to the underground, so with the stroller, that was AWESOME. We got on at La Sagrada Familia and headed towards Universitat so that Marie could show us where her school building was.
From there we were going to walk to La Rambla, a street lined with trees, shops, restaurants and plenty of people watching.
But when we emerged from the metro the sky opened up and it started absolutely POURING.
We got drenched and took cover, along with dozens of other people taken by surprise on the streets, under the very minimal awning of the nearest building. (Darian commandeered the only umbrella we had!)
The rain had stopped by the time we walked back to the hotel. Marie left us to nap (which we ALL did!) and get cleaned up. We tried out the metro again that night without our tour guide and made it successfully to Marie's apartment. She lives in a nice neighborhood, in a modern, updated apartment. I am so excited for her!!!

Marie's roommates suggested a nice restaurant for us all to go to that night. Marie had mentioned that restaurants were easy, because all you had to do was read the menu. She also told us that if people can tell you speak English, they will speak to you in English, give you English menus, etc. This does pose a bit of a problem for a student like Marie, living in Barcelona to try and become fluent in the language. All in all, we had a great dinner and end to a great day, especially when the waiter gave Marie and I roses on our way out!

More about Spain to come!!
If you would like to see more pictures of this awesome day, go to my online album!

--
JEN

FYI

2011-10-04T21:48:00.000+01:00

For everyone who reads all of my blogs, I have to write a little disclaimer. If you have been reading, you already know that I am never at a loss for words. I write like I talk: TOO MUCH!!

I need everyone to understand that I do want to share our travels and experiences with you all, and I enjoy SO MUCH hearing about how you like to read about what we are up to, but that my blog is also for me. For my family. For us to remember all the little details of our trips and experiences and ups and downs. So I put in every little detail.

My plan is to make our blog of our three years in England into a book. Have you ever heard of Blurb? I am really excited to start using this software!! My friend Kate gave me a gift certificate for Blurb ages ago, so I am going to test it out soon by turning all of my blogs prior to our move into a book.

That being said, I just wrote the first part of my Barcelona blog. It's long and so far I only wrote about the first day. :o) Hopefully you will be inspired enough by my recollection of the trip to read it all!!!

xx
--
JEN

Europe does it RIGHT!

2011-09-28T16:31:00.000+01:00

I am very lucky in that for the most part, my children travel well. For the most part. :o) They have been known to be fine in their carseats for road trips to San Francisco or Phoenix, both about six hours. They have both flown all over America, from California to Georgia, New York, Boston, Pennsylvania and Illinois. We have not shied away from taking our kids on airplanes.

The trip from Illinois to England was the scary one for me. Nine hours? What am I going to do with them??? Luckily, Maxwell was able to watch Cars three times in a row before he finally passed out. And Darian only kicked me a few times before she did, too. All in all, a decent flight. I had no idea what to expect about traveling throughout Europe. Luckily, I was MORE than pleasantly surprised!!

Well done, K Swiss, well done!!

Okay, okay. K Swiss is a brand of shoes, but for some reason I got it stuck in my head that K Swiss was in fact the name of our airline for our trip to Spain and I can't get it out. I can totally, 100% recommend this airline! And Heathrow Airport was a walk in the park compared to LAX!!

You may be wondering why I am going on about this rather than diving right into what we did on our first holiday. But I need to get this out there, because I am so impressed with how easy it was to travel with the kids last week. I'll make it easier by writing a list rather than going on and on. :o)

* We walked a few blocks from our house to the bus station, to hop on the bus that dropped us off at the airport. No hassle, no fuss. AND THE KIDS WERE FREEEEEE!!

* At Heathrow, our bags got priority tags so that we would be able to collect them right away when we got to Spain. BECAUSE WE HAD TWO SMALL CHILDREN WITH US!

* Going through security, we didn't need to take off our shoes, therefore didn't need to take off little people shoes either. Whew!

* With all the extra time we had, we sat down at a restaurant called Giraffe for a real lunch. The waitstaff were the nicest, friendliest servers I have encountered in ages, either here in the UK or back in the States. The servers loved our kids and were so nice to them!! They had crayons (which is rare here in England), and brought the kids these little giraffe stir sticks to play with. **Side note: there is a Giraffe in town. I am going to try it to see if this chain provides that experience everywhere or if it's an airport thing.

* Our flight to Barcelona was actually two short flights on Swiss, with a short stop in Geneva. Each flight was one hour and ten minutes long. Up. Down. No time for much more than a drink service, right? WRONG!

*The pilot stood and welcomed us onto the plane and talked to both my kids.

*The flight attendants brought us toys for the kids: two little stuffed airplanes, a book for Maxwell, a little padded picture book for Darian, a coloring book and colored pencils, and one of those magnetic sketch/wipe off thingys.

*Shortly after take off, they started beverage service. The guy in front of me ordered a beer. Included.

*Suddenly, flight attendants are offering all four of us a sandwich. Nice!

*A few minutes later, a smiling lass came around with chocolates. Nicer!

*Then back again to see if we wanted another sandwich. ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME??

*The man sitting in the aisle across from me was asleep during the service, and when he woke up about 10 minutes before we landed, a flight attendant asked him if he would like a sandwich or beverage. The guy said yes, but that he was a vegetarian. The flight attendant returned with the man's drink, some chocolates, and a banana, apologizing that all the sandwiches that were left had meat.

*Did I mention we all got a free bag to check included with our ticket?

*In Geneva, a playplace for the kids to occupy the layover time.

*Flight from Geneva to Barcelona: SAME EXACT THING. (Different toys)

*In Barcelona, most of the metro stops have elevators, so walking in town with the stroller and still using the metro was no big deal.

*On our Swiss flights home? Same wonderful service.

Seriously. Is this just Swiss or are all airlines that take you throughout Europe this nice? One hour flight and we got bags checked for free, food, treats, and toys? I know gas is just as expensive here as it is in the US, and that is what the airlines there are saying is the reason for the increase of fares and decrease of amenities. We had a great flight on British Airlines back in May, too. Is it because it is an international flight? I mean, our trip from London to Barcelona was the same distance as going from California to Colorado, but it was still international. Maybe that's the difference. Whatever it is, I LIKE IT.

Random Stream of Consciousness

2011-09-15T23:37:00.000+01:00

My life.
Before Kids.
After Kids.
After...England???

I was walking through town with Darian today, thinking about how much my life has changed in the last six months. Then that led to how it has changed since we had the kids, then to since I married David, met David, moved to CA...my thoughts kept backtracking into the past and I was reliving moments that I had long since forgotten. To people I have forgotten. To parts of my life that seem like scenes in a movie rather than something that I actually experienced myself.

I did a writing activity with my students once. I called it a stream of consciousness and wanted them to just write and write and write. Anything. One word leading to the next. No worries about punctuation or run on sentences. It was to simply get lots of ideas on paper. For example: If they wrote about a trip to the mall and in it used the word yellow and that made them think about the sun which in turn made them think about a sunburn that they got when visiting their grandparents in Phoenix and thinking about their grandma made them think about the cookies she used to make which brought them to the cookie cutter shaped like a teddy bear that made them remember the Winnie the Pooh bear they carried around when they were a baby and then that made them think about how they knew a girl in their old school who just had a baby...well. You see how it works. Random stream of consciousness. The more subject changes the better I always said. I normally leave out most of the middle pieces, and David will say to me, "But how did you GET there?" Then I have to go back and explain the entire stream. You are all getting a piece of how my brain works right now, because this entire post is a random stream of consciousness. Good luck keeping up!

I saw a group of kids on a fieldtrip, walking down the street in their cute little uniforms. (Side note: I can't wait for Darian and Maxwell to be in schools where they wear uniforms and I plan to find somewhere in CA once we get home, too! Those kids look so cute and so proper! Love it!!) Anyway, these kids in uniform made me think of the only time I ever wore a uniform, which was when I was in Girl Scouts. I used to love the day I wore that to school! So proud of all my patches!! And think of how much work we did to sell those cookies!! Yes, my dad took the form to the police station and my mom took it to her school for me. But beyond that Shelly and I were out there on the pavement. Door to door! Peddling those cookies for all our neighbors. We didn't have a table set up outside of the grocery store; we had to find our customers on our own.

It's funny how the brain works, because then I saw a threesome of university girls in short skirts pop out of a store right in front of my path. They were wearing short short skirts and shoes that can't possibly be good for walking around town. At ten in the morning on a Thursday. I never really went through a short skirt phase. Maybe a little bit senior year of high school, but I wasn't really all that girly. I do remember one day in particular where I wore a short little jumper type dress with white tights. And I don't think I ever did again, because I had forgotten that it was bowling day in gym and we didn't dress. It was not fun "trying" to bowl in that skimpy little thing. Especially for someone who isn't much of a girly girl!!

Continuing on with the university girls...they were in front of us for a little while and I got a few snip-its of their conversation. Why is it that even a drunken tale about dancing on a bar and getting sick in the alley sounds better when the person telling it has an English accent??? Anyway, it feels like a million years since I lived that kind of life. Really, it was only ten or eleven. I have lots of fond NIU and Eduardo's memories that I can't really mention here (not when my Mom reads this blog!) Just kidding. Especially since the only time I ever got sick in an alley was the night of my 21st birthday, and my wonderful mother was there the next day for the hangover of the century and even had to pull the car over for me when we went out that afternoon. That phrase "hangover of the century" just made me laugh and feel a bit old, because my train of thought led me to whisper to myself, "I turned 21 in the 1900s." Okay, it was really the 1990s, but as you can tell from this blog, my train of thought is clearly random.

Darian and I then made our way to a Costa Coffee where we sat for a tea and scone with clotted cream and jam. I really don't get the fascination with clotted cream. It's really just butter, isn't it? Anyway, Darian ordered a babyccino (yes, it actually says that on the menu!!), where they asked if she wanted chocolate sprinkles on it. This is what she got!

I sat in that coffee shop, watching my little girl swing her legs and eat her scone with a big smile on her face. She is growing up so fast. Today she picked out a new pair of earrings all on her own. They are butterflies. :o) The first few days before and after Maxwell started school I was sad because he was growing up and I missed him so much while he was gone. Yet this week was really great, because Darian and I spent so much quality time together. On Monday we went to Monkey Music, Tuesday to playgroup, Wednesday to Tumble Tots, and today to tea and shopping! We have had so much fun, and I love that I am getting to know a different side of her. She is different when Maxwell isn't around. Or is it me that's different when I can dedicate all my attention to her?

So. We left the coffee shop and headed to the Farmer's Market where I bought books, meat pies and doughnuts. Random, I know. I LOVE THE MARKETS HERE!!! But shopping and walking through town with Darian in her stroller and no Maxwell talking to me non-stop, I had a lot of time to think. It really is crazy how your life can change in the blink of an eye.

What the heck am I doing in England?
Where did these kids come from?
Who is this man sleeping next to me every night?

I had lunch with my friend Candace last weekend and she mentioned how it feels strange to be getting so close to thirty, because she doesn't feel any different than she did in college. I feel the same way. I wonder what it is like for my 80+ year old grandparents to look at themselves in the mirror. Because when I am walking down the street, I don't feel any different than those three girls I was walking behind today. Close my eyes and I am dancing on the coffee table at the apartment on Lucinda Avenue. Then I realize that I am pushing a stroller with not one but TWO toddlers, heading to the market to buy ingredients to make my husband a wonderful dinner, while wearing sensible walking shoes and mom jeans.

Before I was married with kids I would...
...go to bars and clubs...eat whatever I wanted and know I would dance it off...drink diet coke as my caffeine hit every morning...do laundry when my closet was empty...have date nights with my David on a Tuesday just because we could...drive to Vegas to pick up David's World Series winnings because why get them in the mail when you could go to Vegas???...have happy hours with my co-teachers because we had to get together and bash those little punks after the way they treated us all week (ha ha...we should have done it on Mondays)...coddle Griffin and spoil him and cuddle him like he was my baby...celebrate the anniversaries of the day we met, our first date, the day we moved in together...

Then we had kids and I would....
...only go to a bar when the wait at the restaurant was more than ten minutes...think about how everything I ate stayed put (on the belly, the tooshie, the chins)...drink coffee and diet coke and tea all throughout the day just to keep my eyes open...do a load of laundry everyday just to keep up (how do those itty bitty socks, onsies, and bibs add up so quickly??)...have day dates for an hour and a half on a Saturday afternoon because Nana came to visit...go on vacations to IL and PA because everyone wants to see the babies...talk about how I used to be a teacher, even though now more time has passed that I haven't been in the classroom than I was actually IN the classroom...sometimes forget that Griffin and Tucker hadn't been out yet...celebrate the babys' milestones: one week old, one month old, one year old...

And then we moved to England!
*We don't go to bars/restaurants, we go to pubs! WITH the kids!!
**I eat more meat and potatoes than I ever have before (even growing up in Illinois!) but I have lost weight because I walk so much!
***I start my day and revisit in the afternoon with a nice cup of cream tea.
****I do a load of laundry everyday, because I have to hang it outside, and if it isn't nice enough, it needs to be inside for days to dry.
*****Dates? Not yet. (except when Gaga and Papa were here...that was nice) Hopefully we'll find a good babysitter. :o)
******We have traveled to Bath, and leave soon for Spain, and have plans before the end of the year to hit Belgium and France!
*******I rarely mention that I ever taught. I AM A STAY AT HOME MOM. (And proud of it!!)
********I think about my puppas everyday. Oh, how I miss those cuddly warm puppa tooshies to hug and cuddle. They are my babies once again, and I so wish they could be here with us.
*********Think about the anniversaries of our time here: "we've been here three days, one week, one month"...as of last week, we actually hit FOUR months in England.

Six months ago I lived in California. Nine months ago I never imagined I wouldn't. Ten months ago I became an Aunt. And got a new sister (because of our Misters!) Twenty-two months ago I had a baby girl. Forty-two months ago I became a MOM. Sixty-nine months ago I married my best friend. One hundred and nine months ago I met the man of my dreams and started the journey towards all of the rest. One hundred and twenty four months ago I made the move to CA that changed the course of my life. One hundred and thirty six months ago I graduated from college....

And four hundred months ago I was born. When you put it that way, I sure have done a lot of livin'. Here's to the next four hundred months and beyond.

Random. Stream. Of. Consciousness. It all started when I saw a group of primary school children walk down the street in their cute little English uniforms today. Funny how the mind works, isn't it?

Note to my loyal readers: Yes, that is more math than I have done in years. And yes, I had to use a calculator. :o)

Week in Review

2011-09-09T16:15:00.000+01:00

It has been a very busy week for the Oxford Ingham's! So busy that it seems to have flown by, because at the beginning of the week we had a little boy in the house, and now he has suddenly disappeared. :o(

Maxwell started preschool on Monday!!!

Our little man is not so little anymore. Most of the day on Sunday, I went back and forth between being excited, sad and nervous. What a big step for our son and family! David was just excited; he knew that Maxwell would thrive in the new setting, and was stoked to see how the week played out. I, on the other hand, was mostly sad. I have spent everyday of this kid's life with him, for the last three and a half years! Not only was I going to miss him during the hours that he was away, but I was sad that I wouldn't always know what he is doing. Try getting a real answer from a three year old when you ask, "What did you do at school today?" Good luck.

On Monday morning David and I were able to take him to school for the first time together, while Gaga and Papa stayed behind with Darian. Maxwell was the first one there. He hid behind my leg for a minute when all three teachers were looking at him and talking to him, but he quickly opened up and ran upstairs to play. He jumped right in!!

Wednesday was a pretty crazy day. After dropping Maxwell off at school I took Brenda and Dewey to the bus station so that they could hop on their ride to Heathrow. Then Darian and I drove to Abingdon so that I knew where to go later in the afternoon for Maxwell's new tumble tots class. Last term Darian didn't take Tumble Tots, because her class was a Mommy & Me class and Maxwell would have had to just sit there and watch. So this week she had her first official class!! She was amazing and so courageous and SUCH a good listener. She participated in the songs and climbed all over everything. She is growing up way too fast! (My phone was in the car charging, so I didn't get any photos this time).

After class Darian came home for nap and lunch, and then we went to get Maxwell. She misses him so much when he is at school! All through lunch, she just kept pointing at his empty chair and saying, "Maxwell?" Of course, the way she says it sounds like "Fow-Fell" for some reason, but that just makes it that much cuter.

He had a good day at school, but his teacher said that he was pretty tired. We went ahead to Tumble Tots, and I am glad that we did. Maxwell had a ball, and Darian and I got in a good brisk walk while he was in class. But with all this back and forth, I felt like all I did was drive people around all day! I can't imagine what it will be like when they are teenagers!!!

I asked Maxwell what he wanted to do today, since he doesn't go to school on Fridays. I asked him if he wanted to go to the playground, or if he wanted to go somewhere else fun, and he said, "I want to stay home." :o) What a cutie! I bet being gone away from home for five hours everyday has taken its toll on him, too. We stayed in this morning, playing One Fish, Two Fish and drawing, and then packed up a lunch to head into town. We got some new library books and sat to eat lunch in a sandwich shop.

I was stopped by a record number SIX ladies today to ask where I got my stroller. I really think I should contact Joovy and tell them how much of a demand there would be for Sit and Stand strollers here. Maybe they would give me a commission? Why don't they have them in the UK? I don't get it. People do so much walking over here. Odd. You see plenty of buggies for babies, but most people with an older child are either dragging the poor thing along on a leash, or yelling at them to "come here!" all day long. Neither of those work for me. I'm glad to have the seat for Maxwell!

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!! Anyone want to schedule a Skype date???