I just can't wait until tomorrow.

My parents are here! They arrived Wednesday afternoon and we've been busy exploring, playing games and having fun since. Before they arrived, the boys had a countdown until they came. Now that they are here (& the gifts under the tree have expanded drastically) they are anxiously waiting for Christmas Eve. This phrase came out of Walter's mouth numerous times today.

Thursday was a big day for both boys as they both starred in their school plays. Walter was a donkey in the Nativity play, while Owen was 'Bubbles' in 'Bubbles the Overgrown Penguin' (a play he & his classmates wrote, directed & made their costumes for!). Although it was at times hard to hear over the excited children, we left so proud of them! If you'd like to watch them, you can click here.

On Friday, we enjoyed the sun and went for a walk in Devil's Dyke. The boys decided that we should climb up the steepest ridge they could find instead of taking the gradual path back up...and they ran up and patiently waited for my mom & I to slowly catch up. We then made our way to the Bluebell Railway for a Victorian Christmas experience. We enjoyed a lovely steam engine ride through the country, played some fair games and even got to visit Father Christmas.

Saturday we enjoyed the rain and stayed in to bake cookies and put together a gingerbread train. Today, we went to see the Lost & Found Orchestra here in Brighton, followed by dinner at the boys' favorite restaurant, Donatello's. I'd say the trip/Christmas vacation is off to a great start!

Merry Christmas!!!

That was bloody huge!

We went to a magic show up at Jer's golf club this weekend. It was their holiday party for families, complete with Santa pulling up to the club on a golf cart at the end. Well, both boys ended up assisting the magician at different times during the show. Owen by scaring the magician, while Walter made a handkerchief disappear with an enormous magic wand. They both thought is was quite magical. As we were leaving a worker asked Walter how he held that magic wand 'that was bloody huge!' I still giggle with delight when I here typical British words and phrases and 'bloody' is one that gets me every time.

We are gearing up for my parents to arrive. They are coming on Wednesday and we are all looking forward to their time here. We've been busy planning a few nights away in England as well as fun things around Brighton/Hove.

We had our first dinner party with friends from school over the weekend. It felt like a milestone in moving to me. It was such a big part of our lives in MN, it felt really nice to do it again here...having the house full of kids running around and having friends to talk with and laugh with. I'm sure you know I love a good Mexican meal and its really not that well known here (we've decided their Mexican is Indian food...and its delicious!). Thus, I made a little fiesta of food, including some mighty fine vegetarian enchiladas, if I do say so myself!

Other than that, we've been busy making 'bloody huge' airplanes...

Reminding Santa that we've moved (but Griffin is still in MN)...

And playing with water balloons...in December...

The weather is finally panning out for us. We seem to be sticking around the 50's here, which means Jer still golfs ideally at least once a week and the boys & I walk to & from school whenever possible. (Although the boys were ready to hop a plane when they heard about the 17" Minneapolis got last weekend.) We will be heading down to the beach on Christmas day to watch the brave & crazy do their annual Christmas swim. Owen thinks he's going to talk my dad into doing it...I will post photos if it happens for sure.

Epic!

Thanks to Owen and his friend Cassius, this is the adjective that describes just about anything that is good in our house these days. Things are no longer cool or awesome or neat or fun...they are all epic.

This weekend we went and took our race dog for a walk. He is absolutely enormous and a playful guy. Jer and I laughed that even though he is much bigger and younger than Griffin, Senor Heat is a much better walker. I know that reflects only on us as dog parents and I have no other excuse to give.

After, we spent sometime at the skatepark in Crawley. It was epic.

Can I set my alarm for 1:24?

Last night Owen asked if he could set his alarm for 1:24 am, so he could be awake when he turned 8. I talked him out of it and he came running down excited to be 8 this morning. As we were wishing him a happy birthday, we realized he actually was just about to be turning 8 as it was 7:15 am - 1:15 am in Minnesota. So we celebrated his real birthday without having to get up in the middle of the night after all!

I feel confident saying Owen had a fantastic birthday. The celebrations started yesterday as we hosted his party at a local indoor skatepark. Many children had never boarded before and by the end of the party they were nearly all going down ramps. Owen learned to 'drop in' and go off some pretty high jumps. It was really fun to see all the smiles. When there was just twenty minutes left, we gathered the kids to sing and eat cake. After we sang, while I was cutting the cake, they all left to go back to skate and ended up taking home their cake along with their goody bags! (the only downer of the event was realizing I really don't know how to use my new lens in an indoor setting...I don't like the color given by using the built in flash and don't know how to properly use my detachable flash...basically, I need to get going on my Photography class!)

Learning how to 'drop-in'

Today we started the day with O's request for banana bread. Owen rode his skateboard to school and then had a great day at school. Also per the birthday boy's request, we headed to Donatello's for dinner. With full bellies, we headed home for presents and a cupcake. 

Owen is growing into such a lovely young man. We feel so blessed to have him in our life. He certainly makes us proud. He gave out some seriously wonderful thank you hugs today...I hope they never stop.

S or O?

When Owen asks me if he can do something, have something, etc., once he's posed his question he will say 'S or O?' I now reply S for yes and O for no...and regardless he smiles.

We took a little adventure this weekend to Kent. It is the SE corner of England and the home of Canterbury, Dover and some other lovely places. After swimming lessons on Saturday morning and a round of golf for Jer, we packed up our estate (yes, that is English for station wagon) and made our way to Maidstone. We spent the late afternoon and evening in Whitstable, a charming little artsy fishing village that is quite famous for rock oysters. No one was brave enough to try one however, a shame I know all you seafood lovers, but it was fun seeing all the fishing equipment at the harbor. We ended the night swimming in the pool and cuddled up for a movie and popcorn in the hotel room.

Shell Beach! 

On Sunday after breakfast and more swimming, we made our way to Canterbury in time to catch the Remembrance/Armistice Day parade in the town center. We strolled through the streets and enjoyed a river tour before hitting the road and driving through the country side. We drove through Sandwich (yes, the namesake of what you often eat for lunch!), along the coast to Deal and through Dover before heading our way back home. We saw all sorts of beautiful trees, sheep, golf courses, oast houses and lovely English countryside. And although we've both commented on it previously, we realized just how far north we are here as the sun was setting around 3pm each day. It is now pitch black by 5pm easily...and December 21 is still over a month away!

Just inside the walled city of Canterbury.

Jer at the Royal Saint George's...wishing he'd brought his clubs.

You don't want to cut your children, Mom.

Walter has been growing his hair out. Until recently, he wanted hair down to his lips. Yesterday morning he asked for a haircut. He was done with having his hair in his eyes. After school, he asked again and I of course embraced the opportunity and we headed up to our beauty salon (located on the second floor of our house) and I gave him a haircut. As I was going around his ears, I reminded him to be very still and he reminded me "You don't want to cut your children, Mom."

Let me just get it off my chest here...the gap in posts is due to my dear computer not recognizing my USB/camera. I know you've heard it before, but I'm saying it again. Maybe at some point the Apple gods will show up with a new one for me...or maybe Santa...or my dear amazing husband...or anyone...Bueller? Bueller? Until then you're just gonna have to hear me complain about it every now and then...and be deprived of your regular updates on the amazing world of the Hipps family. Or maybe I'll just have to stop buying handbags and saving my own money up.

Alright, whining over, here's some sweet photos of my sweet boys one afternoon on a walk in the beautiful English countryside.

(these are not my sweet boys I was talking about.)

Owen helped edit this one until it was just right.

"Why would you want a picture of the fence, Mom?" - Owen

I want to get a 'Spooks' book.

Owen is clearly becoming a big kid. He likes scary things...as seen in his choice of Halloween costumes and is particularly interested in renting really scary books from the library. Really scary. He gets it from his father.

Jer loves scary stuff...last night he wanted to watch an episode of Walking Dead and I obliged as it was Halloween and sat with him with my iPad looking down durning all scary scenes. At one point he yelled and jumped.

After much uncertainty of what it would bring, we enjoyed our first Halloween in the UK. While the houses weren't quite decorated like they are back home, there were still plenty of treats to be found. The boys stocked up and ate way too much candy. Here are some photos of our pumpkin carvings while Grandma Donna & Grandpa Bruce were here as well as some scary dudes with full buckets!

Guess how many days until my birthday?

Someone around here is excited to be so close to being 8! Owen has a countdown in his room and reminds us often just how many days until his birthday - 21 from today!

A few more guests have arrived...number 7 & 8. First, was Owen's class guinea pig, Peebles. We brought her home with us on Friday and get to take care of her during half term. Yes, the boys are reaping the benefits of the UK school year and are enjoying a week off for half term. Right now we are enjoying family time with Great Grandma & Grandpa before they leave tomorrow evening.

Guest number 8 was Jer's cousin, Matt, who lives over here in Worcester. The boys adore him; he is one seriously fun dude. They especially loved teaching him all about Bungees and playing hours & hours of it with him...even at 6:30 a.m.! (I told you he's cool.)