Sweeties

As Jer likes to say, in England 'they like their sweet.' Of course, I fit it quite well with this aspect of the culture (though I recently did a mini sugar cleanse lasting a good 6 weeks!). I've noticed they call candy 'sweeties' and wanted to show you a photo of what I call sweeties:

We are counting down the days to our 3 week long Easter break! We are anticipating the arrival of Jer's childhood friend, Eric Gerold, for a week, followed by a 12 day trip to Spain...which will include a day in Alicante, where I studied 17 years ago. What?! 17 years ago? Crazy, crazy. We hope you are well, are loving life & your sweeties!

Boochi Gaga & Moochi Gaga

Walter is our silly little happy dude. He's always making up songs and stories and smiling and laughing.  One of his recent made up things is Boochi Gaga & Moochi Gaga. He calls himself Boochi Gaga and me Moochi Gaga and it always draws me in and makes me laugh. He pulls it out as I'm tucking him in at night and ends up dragging on bedtime much longer than any other stunt has ever been able to. 

We went exploring East Sussex this weekend, heading to an old observatory that has now become a science museum. It was in the middle of a field, surrounded by sheep, and worth the adventure. The boys loved exploring all the hands on exhibits, followed by some Cricket practice in the car park. On the way home we stopped in a village for a traditional Sunday roast dinner. The village happened to have a castle so we walked around a bit before heading home again. It was a lovely day out...even if it was a bit damp!

Mom, do you ever think...

'What if we would have made a different choice how our life would be different'?

Owen asked me this the other day. Who knew an 8 year old could be so thoughtful, I certainly didn't, until this little man came into my life.

We've been keeping busy with school and work. Jeremy is buried at work these days...last night he was up working until 1am! I am working Monday - Thursday at The Montessori Place in the Infant Community. The children are really sweet and such a joy to be around, although they do wear me out! The hours are ideal as I start when the boys do and finish about 5 minutes before they do. The biggest perk is getting little glimpses into their days and a few extra smiles (from O) & kisses (from W) throughout the day.

Beyond that we've been busy making and doing as usual. I ended up buying a small sewing machine here instead of worrying about ruining my US machine with a transformer. Its quite nice to have a basic machine and I feel much more comfortable having the boys use it. We made our own parachutes for lego dudes and flew them out the windows the other day. We also have been inspired by our recent trip to the Science Museum and have had plenty of experiments and construction happening. A favorite was the spaghetti & marshmallow structures they made to hold a chocolate egg...which was then consumed!

Walter 'chillin out'

We also had a very special visitor last weekend. Jeremy's childhood friend, Josh, was in the country for work and managed to spend the weekend with us. They stayed up until 5am the first night laughing and reminiscing about the glory days of high school football and baseball. The second night they were in bed by 2am...and 11pm on the third night. They slowly realized they weren't quite 17 still.

Have we been on the Piccadilly line before?

The boys & I are off of school this week. Its a beautiful little thing called half-term! We've been busy with three different play dates which have included a sleep-over, swimming, exploring the nearby woods and building forts. Yesterday we took a break from friends and decided to go see one of the many great museums in London, the Science Museum. We had a blast exploring the space gallery, watching an Imax film about water reptiles of the dinosaur era, learning about climate change, recycling, and many, many more. The highlight of the museum was definitely the Launch Pad gallery, which was hands on science. Owen said a few times 'I really like this place, Mom!'

After 5 hours in the museum we decided it was time to get some food...so we hopped the Piccadilly line to Leicester Square and found CHIPOTLE!!! There are 3 in London, we went to one once when my parents were visiting, and were so happy to go again yesterday. We then caught a double decker to Victoria Station and headed home.

Owen's eyes get big when we are out exploring. I see him trying to understand the tube & map and I get so excited as I love this stuff, too. As we figured out how we were going to get from the museum to dinner, he asked me 'Have we been on the Piccadilly line before?' When I told him we hadn't, he smiled...which I interpret as being excited to explore somewhere new. Oh I do love that boy.

Standing a few feet from Walter & Mom...gaining a bit of independence & confidence...

Wow, that's really big!

My wonderful husband and the boys' super dad is 37! His birthday was Wednesday and there was much anticipation leading up to the big day. Walter and I were scooting home Tuesday after school while Owen was at chess club and he asked me 'how old will Dad be again?' When I told him 37, he said 'Wow, that's really big!'

Tuesday evening the boys and I made a cake and frosting, made our cards and found some wrapping fabric for his present. We woke him up with lots of hugs and kisses on Wednesday morning and made plans to pick him up from the station to go out for his favorite - Indian.

All was going as planned and we were happily celebrating Jeremy until we sat down to dinner and I ate my first popadom. I realized the headache I'd had wasn't just from adjusting to my new job but it was that I was about to get really, really sick. We made it through dinner, impressed by Owen's new interest in trying new foods (even the waiter commented on him eating the spicy masala), and headed home. We managed to sing, the boys all enjoyed the cake and present opening, and Jer tucked the boys into bed...just in time to start caring for and cleaning up after me. I won't go into the details, but his efforts were heroic and I'm just standing up for the first time since Wednesday evening now, 40 hours later.

I think he deserves a mulligan on this birthday.

Yes, let's go sledging!

On Monday there was a light dusting of snow when we woke up. The boys ran out in their bare feet & pj's and threw a few snow balls at one another. They then each put a snow ball in the freezer to save and the snow in our yard was pretty much gone.

On Friday, we got real snow. Enough that Walter got double play time at school on Friday and Owen spent the afternoon at a park playing in it, both followed by hot cocoa with their classmates. Enough that I went to 5 stores before I could find any sort of sled. Enough that it took Jer 2.5 hours to get home by train. Enough that the buses were warning of major delays, the airports had major delays, and cars were getting stuck all over. It was about 3 inches of snow! :)

Of course, when I picked the boys up from school I asked if they'd like to go sledding and Walter replied 'Yes, let's go sledging!' So off to Hove Park we went to sledge...or sled.

Yesterday the snow was still on the ground so we went up near Devil's Dyke and went sledding again, this time with the Mates' family. Jeremy works with Dave...Lesley has been so welcoming and kind to us...and Adam is the boys' favorite babysitter ever. We feel so lucky to have them in our lives and were able to show them our appreciation with a few snow ball fights!

Boo, hoo, hoo.

Some days its just plain difficult to be living on another continent, far from home. Today is one of them. I dropped my parents off at the airport this morning and my eyes are a bit red still. We had such a nice time with them, they are easy to have around and the boys are quite fond of them. Add to that that my best friend is having surgery tomorrow, Jer's childhood friend's wife is dying of cancer and Jer's grandpa is recovering from a stroke, and it is hard not to question what we are doing here. That's when its time to embrace the challenge and focus on all the good that is around us. I stopped by Jer's office on the way home from the airport and we had lunch together. As we were talking about it all, I realized how great it is to have him in my life (a daily revelation!) and how wonderful this experience is for our family. We are all much closer already, we have found some really kind people who enhance our lives here and how great is it to expose ourselves and two little sweet peas to the world?!

On that note, here's a peak into the second half of our time with Grandma & Grandpa Harala here.

We spent a very full day in London. In addition to the main sights, we rode the Eye, sang London Bridge on London Bridge, and saw Yoda levitating. We rode the train, the tube, a double decker and walked and walked some more. The boys got spoiled in Hamley's and we topped it all of with a trip to Chipotle!

We also spent a few nights in Windsor exploring the Castle, scootering around, feeding swans, and swimming for hours and hours in the pool.

Hove was a nice refuge in between all the coming and going. Although the bustle didn't stop here as the boys were always eager to go explore the woods with Grandma & Grandpa, play games and create one thing or another.

G'day mate!

My dad has a terrible English accent that he loves to try a little too loudly in public. His favorite phrase seems to be 'G'day mate!' He sounds Australian at best and sometimes a bit Scottish. Thankfully I am not 15 anymore or I would be consistently red checked these past few days! :)

I am happy to report Santa found our new home in Hove. The boys were spoiled with all sorts of fun toys, books and games. More importantly, we've been spoiled with lots of fun time and experiences with my mom and dad here. Jer & I have snuck in a few movie dates, we've played all sorts of family games, there have been lego building extravaganzas and many explorations into the great woods a few blocks away.

Christmas Day walk on the beach!

We also took a little holiday to Bath (with a pitstop at Stonehenge!), where we explored the Roman Baths, experienced our first panto at the Royale Theatre (Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs), the boys and my parents did a Halk Walk and we wandered the beautiful city of Bath. Unfortunately, my dad and Owen got rather ill by our last day there and we decided to come home instead of continuing on to Windsor. Luckily, we were able to reschedule our hotel in Windsor and will be heading there on Friday.

Last night my mom and the boys decorated and prepped the house for a low-key New Year's Eve party (while Jer & I went to SkyFall and my dad snoozed) and we all enjoyed a night of games and appetizers. As many are yet on the mend, we were all fast asleep by 10pm...but did wake up to neighborhood fireworks as the new year came in!

Today we kicked off the New Year with a walk in the Downs at Birling Gap followed by a pub lunch. How English are we?! Happy New Year!

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!!!