Actually, what's 7 + 7?

My wonderful college roommate and dear, dear friend, Lindsay is here visiting! An added bonus is her sweet little girl, Lydia, is here, too. We are having a great time exploring new sites, showing them a few of the sites we are familiar with, playing lots of games together and talking and talking and talking some more! It has been wonderful, and we get to have them here for a few more days still. On Friday we went up to London and did a bus tour. It was yet another great way to see the city! At one point I was talking with Owen and Walter was calling my name. Lindsay asked if there was something she could help with. He told her 'No, I just had a question for Mom.' Then he said 'Actually, what's 7 + 7?' My sweet little inquisitive boy.

I realized its difficult to maintain my blog with her here. I want to spend all my time with her and when the end of the day comes, I'm exhausted from all the fun. Here is a quick recap of what we've been up to in photos for the first few days, more to come soon...

We swam in the sea!

We explored Devil's Dyke.

We rode the Brighton Wheel

We cruised the Thames!

We smiled at Big Ben.

We rode on the top of a double decker tour bus!

We rode the Hove Park Rail.

No Paerants Allowed!!!

The clubhouse is underway. We've spent hours thinking about the theme, drawing out various ideal looks and functions for it, and on Monday, we spent the day creating. The boys settled on a Pirate theme and after dreaming of life size palm trees, look out nests, climbing ropes and slides, we decided to start with some good old skull & crossbones...and of course a sign that declares "No Paerants Allowed!!!"

What little boys clubhouse is complete without a frog?!

Can you believe he took first?!

Sweet Senor Heat had his second race today...and won! We certainly didn't expect it, but it sure was a fun surprise! It was in the middle of the day, so it was just the boys and I that got to see it in person. As we walked home, Owen said this to me over and over!

Here he is crossing the finish line and after getting lots of smooches and pets from us.

It's just kid talk.

As I alluded to earlier, the boys (particularly Owen) are constantly asking what Jer & I are talking about. We've started tell them that some conversations are just meant for adults, which has become 'it's just adult talk, Owey.' Well, Sunday while we were driving along the tables turned. We started listening to the boys and asked 'what are you talking about?' Walter quickly responded with 'It's just kid talk.' I guess we deserve that one!

The torch came by our house last night!!! It was so exciting! We enjoyed the pomp and circumstance before it arrived and really enjoyed seeing it run by. What a neat experience. The games are coming indeed!

Today we enjoyed a beautiful sunny day down by the sea...and at the skate park. They love it. Owen loves watching the others do their tricks and after a bit tries a few of his own. Walter loves watching his brother and doing whatever he does.

Senor Heat

This adventure was largely encouraged by me and Jeremy has been so supportive along the way. He's totally embraced it all, while I've dragged my heels a bit here and there, thinking 'what have I done to our family?' 'will our families ever forgive me for taking the boys away?' 'how will we ever live so far away from our wonderful friends?'. He's listened to me worry telling me its going to all be just fine, and consoled me when I've cried in the grocery store because it was closing within 5 minutes of arriving, and helped me feel (almost) confident driving on the left side of the road. Thankfully, one of his dreams has come true with all of this; we are now part owners of a racing dog. He has always loved horse racing and dreams of one day owning one. Yes, this isn't quite a horse, but it is a racing animal...and a really wonderful animal, a dog. We haven't broken the news to Griffin, and he still is #1 in our hearts, but we are also really loving getting to know and love our race dog, Senor Heat. The boys and I have been watching him train every week and yesterday was his big racing debut. We all went to watch his debut (he took 5th), along with one of Jeremy's coworker's and some of his family. His coworker (who also owns Senor Heat with us) owns a couple other dogs, one of which also raced last night and won! He invited us out for the victory photo and the boys were wide eyed for sure.

We are really settling in nicely now. We've been here for just over 6 weeks now, we've been in our house just over 3 weeks, we have a car (and I even drive it with the kids in it), we've had a real playdate at our house, our office has a pile of paperwork nagging me just like in MN, I've made soups and even a batch of cookies. Its feeling really great. Today we took a drive over to see some of the amazing salt cliffs this area is known for. We started at Birling Gap and enjoyed hiking along the cliffs with amazing views of the Seven Sisters. We also made our way to Beachy Head and ended the day in Eastbourne for dinner before coming home. The cliffs are just amazing. Jer and I held on to the boys hands really tightly however, as they are up to 530 feet high and there is no railing or any barrier. We decided that was the true definition of a cliff. Freaky...and really windy!

O checking out the cliff (have no fear, Jeremy is 2 inches behind him!)

Making sure Mom doesn't fall off the cliff!

It's like I have a smiling tongue!

It was a HUGE morning for Walter today...he lost his first tooth!

After his morning crumpette, he decided he was still hungry and opted for an apple. Owen told him that was a good way to get a loose tooth out and within 5 minutes there was a commotion at the dining room table. Walter's tooth had fallen out! He's been talking off and on all day about what it feels like, what it will be like to have an adult tooth, wondering when he'll have an adult tooth and checking out his new grin in the mirror. He told me "It's like I have a smiling tongue" after he realized he could stick his tongue through the new space in his teeth!

We had a great day out and about in Hove and at the sea yesterday. We scootered/walked to the sea with a few pit stops along the way. At the sea, we headed toward the skate park where the boys practiced their x-treme scootering skills. Owen was quite proud of his jump to a wheelie move, which landed him on his bottom. He's been talking about it still today.

Thank you Auntie Kindi!

Care package #2 arrived Friday...more presents for the new 5 year old! This time it came from Auntie Kindi, who somehow knew Walter's new bedroom is full of robots. Walter happily dug into the gifts and was enthusiastic to share with his brother! (Beaming heart, indeed!) Thanks Kiki!

Wow, they really do say 'Cheerio' here!

We received a delivery today, more plates & silverware, as the six of everything we originally were supplied with were pretty much lasting us through lunch. As the delivery man left, he said "Cheerio" and right away, Walter said this. The delivery man and I both laughed.

I tell Jeremy nightly that its nearly impossible to lure the boys out of this house. At first I thought it was the space after being in a hotel. Then I thought it was the newness of the toys from home. Now I'm thinking its just plain old fun. My boys have always been project boys and we have been really filling that love. I also think that I'm much more present here as there aren't many other distractions. In addition to our arts and crafts we are doing, we have also been playing board games, building legos, cooking, and we are continually rearranging little bits here and there. Here are a few photos of recent projects.

Sculpting the new creepy hand bank.

Giving the snowman an orange mohawk.

Our 99 piece jigsaw puzzle.

O's favorite scary monster. 

W's favorite scary monster. 

Dad's favorite scary monster.

Mom's favorite scary monster. 

O's triceratops sculpture.

It was way over 25 stories high.

We finally bit the bullet...or maybe swallowed an enormous bullet...and insured our new right sided steering wheel car. I can't even bare to tell you how costly it is to insure it, but will tell you it cost more than we paid for the car. Ouch.

Moving on, Jer bit another bullet and decided to actually drive it! On Sunday, he drove us up to Devil's Dyke and we enjoyed some time in the English countryside. It was great to get out and do some exploring on our own time and schedule. From this point, you can see the Isle of Wight, Ashdown Forest (the home of Winnie the Pooh), another forest known for dragons, and many other beautiful sights. We walked deep into the dyke and then the boys took a billy goat inspired trail back up. Once I was reunited with them, Owen told me it was 'way over 25 stories high'. (His point of reference is a 25 story high roller coaster he was on on New Years Day in Dallas!)

Can you find the boys? I promise they are in there somewhere!