When we moved here, we made a neener-neener list of places we would like to see while living in England. So far we are making really good progress. And soon enough we will be able to mark yet another destination off of the list. In June, Terry and I will be going on a cruise of the Greek Islands! We are super excited about this. It will be to celebrate our ten year anniversary! It's also our first cruise! Woohoo! I can't wait!
Last night Terry and I went to see Wicked in London. I must first say this was all made possible by Robin and Steve who were absolutely the best by taking our kids the entire time! Thank you thank you!!!!! We loved the play. The actors were amazing singers and gave a fantastic performance. The music was really wonderful and I loved being back at a theatre! It has been a while since I last saw a play and it was so nice to have a grown up night out.
Since we arrived early, we had time to grab dinner before the show. Terry suggested the Indian place across from the theatre but the clientele didn't look very inviting so we passed. Next we headed to a Pret a Manger but again I insisted we move on because the food wasn't what I wanted. Luckily, the next restaurant was Giraffe and it was really good food for a great price. Bobbie was with us and we all ordered something different and it was delicious. So great to have a night out with a good friend and my husband!
We had a great night! I am tired this morning seeing as we didn't get home until one in the morning. But it was so worth it! I highly recommend that you go see Wicked!
I have been really busy hence the lack in posts recently. I'm furiously trying to finish making some Christmas presents so that I can get them in the mail in time for the holidays. We've also had some sick kids. Here is Madi all cuddled up with daddy for a nap. I love finding them like this!
This was Em at her birthday dinner. She requested beenie weenie. Have I ever mentioned how much she likes British food? LOVES it. Oh, yeah, and there's Terry hitting Em in the face!
Oh no, he knocked out a tooth! OK, not really but it was fun to pretend. Then last night she was playing and got hit in the mouth and the other tooth fell out. Truth be told it has been hanging it there crooked for a few days so it was bound to happen. Lucky for me, it came out on the day I predicted!
My toothless, pizza faced daughter. Isn't she adorable? And here now I must brag. Em and I were doing her learning log homework and I was astounded to discover what she can do. Emi can do multiplication and division! In word problems no less! She had to read the problems, then figure out the numeracy sentence and solve the problem! I was super impressed! Also, she told me today that she was the fastest in the class to figure out 7x8!!! And she is going to be the witch in the Hansel and Gretel Christmas play!!! Way to go Em!
In addition, Madi came home with a certificate on Friday for fantastic reading! I didn't even know that she could read. And today her teacher sent a note commending Madi for her reading and promoted her a book level! And I was completely unaware!
I have to say that I am super proud of my girls!!!!!! WELL DONE!!!
Happy birthday Emilie!!!!! Yes, my baby is seven today! Time has just flown by. She is such a nurturing, funny, sensitive, creative, and amazing little girl. Emi is such a light in my life and I love having her in our family.
Luckily, her nasty virus seems to have passed and she is getting to enjoy her birthday. First thing this morning (at 3am) she burst into our room to tell us that her tooth had finally come out! So now we have a toothless Emi!! Then at a more reasonable hour of 7, we got up so she could open her presents. She loved them! Our future doctor received a skeleton, human anatomy model, several anatomy books, as well as some other books. Tonight we'll have the birthday dinner and birthday cake to celebrate our angel!
I love you Emilie and wish you a very happy year!!!!
In the military, you move a lot. Often, when I arrive at a new area, I bond with people fairly quickly only to see those people leave midway through the tour. It is hard but you just suck it up and get out there to meet more people. Well, today we got the most FANTASTIC news!!!! As we approach what could be our mid point in our England tour, we just learned that super close friends of ours are moving out here!!!!!!! We are over the moon at having them as neighbors again. We cannot wait to see them!!! Niether can the kids. Madi is in love with her best friend Ali and can't wait for her to get here. Not only that, but I have secret hopes (ok, not so secret) that our Madi will marry their oldest son Marcus. We've got to keep them in contact for my plan to work:) It is just amazing that everything has worked out for them to get the job out here. And I'm so happy!!! Can't wait until January!
As Madison was feeling a bit sick, I stayed home with her this morning from church. After a few cartoons, I stumbled upon the Remembrance Sunday parade. It was a truly touching sight. Over 9,000 men and women marched in the parade past a war memorial in London. Specific regiments, nurses groups, the Salvation army, and several different organizations were marching in the parade. I especially liked it when the announcers would describe the campaigns the groups had been involved in or had personal stories associated with them. It was very moving to watch all of these veterans walking together decked out with their various medals glistening on their chests. Or when there were wounded veterans being pushed in wheelchairs or blind men being led by friends so that could participate as well. You could see the pride that these men and women felt by watching how straight and tall they marched. They also seemed to have a special light in their eyes as they passed next to the memorial. I was glad that I was able to watch the parade and spend a few moments remembering all of the sacrifices that have been made on my behalf by those who have defended freedom. Thank you to all who have fought or are fighting to defend their countries in perilous times. You will never be forgotten.
November 5th is Guy Fawkes day in England. It is celebrated by having bonfires and fireworks all over the country. Friends of ours host a huge party in their garden every year and they invited us to come along. At first I thought that they had a huge teepee in their backyard but then I realized that it was the wood to be burned for the fire. It was huge and really hot.
Emilie really loved the fire. It reminded me of when she was a baby and she would stare at the fire for hours. She was mesmerized. After the fire was good and hot, they set off fireworks. There were loads of them and they were a lot bigger than I had thought. Here is a shot of a smaller one but they had tons that lit up the sky.
Madi thought that the fireworks were too loud but she enjoyed looking at them. It was almost like have a 4th of July party and being in the very front row where they set it all off. I loved it!
After most of the people had gone, we got to roast marshmallows on the fire. It was super hot but that made for some fast roasting:) They were delicious. The entire night was wonderful! I was so glad that we went!
Halloween was a super busy day at our house. It was the day after we got back and we had loads to do. As for celebrating, the first thing we did was go to our ward's Trunk or Treat. It was the first time that they had ever held one and I thought it was a great success. In addition to trick or treating, they had games, hot dogs, and root beer floats.
The kids loved the marshmallows tied up. They all ate at least one!
And here is the remarkable thing. Em enters the egg toss with a friend. Not only did they NEVER once catch the egg, but they were the last team with an unbroken egg! Unbelievable! After the ward party, we headed to a friend's Halloween party. I felt like the biggest loser as we did not go in costume but after just returning from France, I was not up to any extra effort. But we had a really great time while we were there. We called it an early night and headed to bed. All in all it was a fantastic Halloween!
Our last day in France was an easy going day. We got up, hit the patisserie for some breakfast and then began our four hour drive to the ferry. The kids were great travelers. They played and played and we never needed to use the video player. So after about three hours we stopped for lunch. We found a pub that looked just like an English pub. Terry was expecting some English speakers with some English fare but he was disappointed. However, we did have some of the most amazing food! Absolutely delicious. Since the kids were so well behaved we decided to drop over to the nearby McDonald's so the kids could play for a bit before we headed out.
All was well and we began our final leg of the trip. When we got into the car, it was 2pm and we needed to be at the dock by 3 to take the 4 o'clock ferry. Well, what we thought was an hour drive was actually an hour and a half. So I was speeding the entire way which was just fine until I noticed that we were dangerously low on gas. And here is where our predicament was hard.
During our entire stay in France, our credit and debit cards were not accepted at gas stations because we do not have chip and pin cards. As a result we only payed for gas in cash. But we were out of cash and super short on time to find an ATM and a gas station. We tried. We stopped, Terry ran inside to see if there was an ATM and ran back out when there was none. We found plenty of the with the GPS but they were all out of the way and we were worried about missing the ferry. We decided to just get to the dock and hope that all would be well.
At the queue for the ferry tickets our gas light came on. We still had to wait for tickets and then customs before queuing for the actual ferry. So I let the cars in front of me advance while I sat with the car off. Then I would start the car and move up several spaces. We did have a bit of luck in that another customs window opened up and we were first to get it. Then we were able to roll right onto the boat seeing that we were so late. Whew we made it!
As soon as we were off the ferry, we got gas right away and all was well. Then later as we were driving home the gas again got dangerously low (we only put in 30 pounds because British gas is expensive) just as we came to a complete stop in the loop around London. It took us one hour to go two miles. We were stuck at the toll and I was sweating bullets that our car would run out of gas right there. Luckily, we did make it and managed to get more gas.
It was enough drama for me! Unfortunately, when we got home we found a leaky radiator that had molded our carpet and floor. Luckily, it wasn't too bad to get cleaned up and we got it repaired quickly. So we made it home after all and it was such a great trip!
One funny tidbit to end our France trip. On the ferry, Emi came to tell us that a little boy was saying bad words. So we asked her what she thought were bad words and she refused to say them. So we asked her to spell them. She spelled s-t-u-p-i-d and i-d-i-o-t. Made us laugh so hard! I love that she thinks those are bad words! May she always stay so innocent!
Thursday we drove to Mont St. Michel which is an abbey located on a rock like island off of the coast of France. Originally it was a small church but over several centuries it has transformed in to an amazing piece of art. Ever since I lived in France, I have wanted to visit this abbey and I was so happy to do it!
It was only a little over an hour drive from our house so the kids were still bright and chipper when we got there.
Although this is later in the day, it is a portrait by Emilie. She was very excited to be able to use the camera!
Once you enter the city gates, you are bombarded with little shops. Mostly gift shops intermingled with restaurants. There were also four little historical sites that we chose to see. Let me just say that it was so not worth the 36 euros! Some of the artifacts were interesting but everything was in French. Between keeping the kids content and trying to listen, I didn't do the best job of translating for Terry. But I sure learned a lot! The first was the home of a knight who helped to guard the abbey. It was really simple and very true to the period. Timmy really liked the knight:)
Here is Madi and Tim in the narrow lane leading up to the abbey. It was packed with people. I kept thinking that they must be making so much money on this tiny island! It was a shoppers dream!
This was a nice little graveyard in the shadow of the abbey. I told Terry that when I die if he insists on burying me somewhere that I want plants growing on my grave like they were here. Made it look so much nicer.
After a wait in line, we finally made it up to the abbey itself. I was surprised by how simplistic it all was. And all I could think of was how cold it must have been in all of that concrete! 
This was the fireplace in the knights hall. It was interesting to look up because you could see the sky. Again, how cold that must have made the room! I did like this picture though because you can see the personality in all of the children! They are fabulous!
Here was the inner courtyard of the abbey. On one side you see the abbey and on the other is a drop to the water. Or rather the huge sandbars!
As we were leaving Mont St. Michel, Timmy and Terry had an impromptu sword fight on the road. It seems that everywhere we go Timmy chooses a sword as his souvenir. I love that Terry gets into it and plays with him! It was really precious! And look at that pose-he's a natural!
After we left, we drove for a bit before trying to find a restaurant. We didn't want to go back to Bayeux where our hotel was because the night before we had a hard time finding a place to eat. So we thought we would avoid that and just stop on the way home. Well, we didn't have much luck. We began searching around 5:30 for a restaurant. We got off of the highway and the first two choices we found were closed. Then we drove to three more restaurants all located by the GPS and all of them were closed! Seriously we drove for nearly an hour from restaurant to restaurant and everything was closed. Nothing opened until after 7 or 7:30. Finally, we navigated to a Buffalo Grill which we had seen all over France. It was an American themed restaurant. Suffice it to say it was not great. But we were fed and that was all that mattered. It was another great day in France!
