christmas 2014

Christmas Eve

Tim did at least half of the decorating this year and most of the eating.

Luke helped for the first time.

No space for a big tree, our fibre optic mini made things festive.  Tim and Luke helped with the streamer.

Tim was more than happy to go to bed on Christmas Eve having worked out that the sooner he fell asleep, the sooner Santa would arrive.

The boys trying out the newest Skylander game.

Luke was quick to combine Angry Birds and Jenga.

Seconds out of the boxes and both boys are deep into Mario on their new Nintendo 3DS game players.

Thank you family for all the wonderful presents for the boys.  This it the first year where batteries were not required, hopefully a new trend.

lights in london

We took a trip into London last week to see the city lit up for Christmas, and we were not disappointed.  We took the train to Waterloo, then the tube to a stop near Regent's Park where Paul likes to walk on his lunch.  We walked through a small section of the beautiful park, then found a pub on Baker Street, just a few doors down from the Sherlock Holmes museum.  We ate dinner and waited for the sun to set, then got on the 139 city double decker bus.  We started out just one seat behind the top front seats and half way through our journey got move to the very front.  What a show!  It was London's night for Santacon and we saw at least 500 people dressed as Santa.  The streets were filled with cars and the crowds were so thick that they were spilling into the roads.  It was great to be above it all.  The bus journey took us down Oxford Street and Regent Street, through Piccadilly Circus, around Trafalgar Square (an Englishwoman behind us told us the story of the Norwegian Christmas tree there), across Waterloo bridge and ended at Waterloo.  We were home by 7PM.  

halloween

Halloween was a family affair again this year, starting with pumpkin carving and painting at the Lawn's house last weekend.  Dom and Edie regard me as the expert since I'm American, and they listened attentively to all my directions and took everything I said to heart.  I had a great time.  Jon even cleaned and toasted the seeds, which disappeared in our bellies immediately.

Tim's cub scout pack decorate pumpkins for the annual Halloween carnival at ACS.  They have to have their pumpkins ready five days before the carnival, so they are painted rather than carved.  Tim drew a scary black face and then painted the entire pumpkin white.  This was entirely his own idea/creation.

Dom's original painted and carved skull.

Edie painstakingly used the stencil set I brought (bought here now that Halloween has grown in popularity) and carved this cat.

Stacey spent the whole week of school exposing Luke to the idea of the Halloween parade at school of Friday.  He didn't wear the Skylander costume but did accept Spiderman.  He did the whole parade with his class.  He also decorated a pumpkin using Mr Potato Head pieces (it's on the end of the row behind him to the right of his head).

Tim dressed as Spyro from Skylanders this year.  At Trunk or Treat, he filled this pumpkin tub 2.5 times!

Luke spent most of his time at the carnival jumping here or sliding down the bouncy castle type slide.  Tim joined him at first but once the candy collecting started, he was gone.  

Trunk or Treat is organized chaos hosted by ACS.  About 20 families decorate their cars in some kind of Halloween theme and dress up in elaborate costumes.  The cost of a ticket is £5 plus 50 pieces of candy, which Tim got back double, I think.  A Subway sandwhich is included.  It's a great price for an evening of fun in a contained, safe environment.   The boys won't eat the Subway, but going to the dining hall for the chips and drink that comes with it allows us a good view of the everyone's costumes as it's well lit.  Luke is in love with Mario and Luigi right now.  Two 11 year old girls were dressed as these characters and Luke went from being clingy to overly animated when he saw them.  I let him go to them and he poked Mario in the belly and rubbed his face in Luigi's belly, saying their names over and over.  The girls were sweet and told him that they would say hello to Princess Peach for him.

Paul went to work early so he could leave early and be part of it all.  We met at a pub with a group of families before hand.  It was a motley collection of fairies, knights, dragons and superheroes (and that was just the adults!).

poppies at The Tower of London

There's an exhibition going on at The Tower of London until Armistice Day on November 11.  The poppies are handmade ceramic flowers about the size of your fist, maybe larger.  When we were there today, over 350,000 had been placed.  By the 11/11, there will 888, 246, the number of fallen from the Commonwealth during WWI. It's a powerful, beautiful and moving view.   You can purchase one of the poppies.  It will be sent after the exhibit is over and the proceeds are donated to Service charities.  We've bought one each for the boys and one for us.  We've explained what it's all about, and these keepsakes will help them remember what must never be forgotten.

Along with the poppies, the boys got to see tall ships go through Tower Bridge and of course the crown jewels and armoury.

Going to London is still a long, hard day for us.  Manoeuvring the boys on trains, tubes, buses and crowded streets is taxing for all us, but we're getting better at it.  We bring plenty of snacks and fully charged devices.

the diana memorial playground

We picked a gorgeous day to go to London and our friends the Haags were nice enough to join us.  We made our way to the Diana Memorial Playground in Hyde Park, an impressive place with a pirate ship, obstacle course, sand feature and water feature.

Jack with Tim and Luke on the train into Waterloo.

Trying out the obstacle course.

Ahoy matey!

At the helm.

Ice cream? Ice cream!  This was mine.  When Paul handed it to me while I was holding Luke, the little fellow leaned in and tasted it, then took it out of my hands.  He ate a good bit before he accidentally threw it on the ground.  He managed to scoop it back into the cone, plus a lot of dirt and rock, so Paul gave up the remainder of his cone.

Posing in front of the Albert Memorial

and Royal Albert Hall.

istanbul

"Istanbul, not Constantinople" is one of Tim's favorite songs now.

We took advantage of a four day weekend over Easter to visit Kelly, Martin and Megan in Istanbul.  Johannes was in Colorado working with his uncle for a school internship type program.  We missed him but thoroughly enjoyed his lego.  I will never tire of Istanbul, to a large part I'm sure, because I get to see it from the comfort of Kelly's lovely penthouse.

Luke actually tries to make music rather than just pounding on the piano.  He tries but doesn't succeed.

Yummy

City life

Markets that even Tim enjoyed seeing.

The view from the balcony.

We bought two small Turkish carpets from this man who couldn't resist giving Tim's cheek a pinch.

The carpet shop was near the Aya Sophia and the Blue Mosque.

The boys liked the ferry ride much more than the carpet shopping and mosque viewing.

They also enjoyed the playground on the island where Kelly and Martin have their summer home.

Really, both of them are too big for these but they had a race nonetheless.

The deck on the island.

Thanks Kelly, Martin, Megan and Johannes!  See you soon in Colorado.

boat ride to greenwich

After a week of unpredictable spring weather, Saturday was glorious, so we headed into London and onto a bus boat for a ride down the Thames to Greenwich.

We got on the boat at Westminster, just across from the London Eye.  At this point, they didn't know about the open air seating upstairs. We waited until after they ate their lunch to go out there.  This is the first time we've taken the boat bus instead of the river cruise, and I recommend it.  It's less expensive, the line is shorter to board, and you still get chirpy commentary.

Note the blue sky - the first of many we hope.

For a future outing, we plan to take the tube to St. Paul's and walk across the bridge to the Tate Modern Art Museum.  It's free and the Tate is an interesting building, so it shouldn't be too painful for the boys.

Once Luke found the open air spot, he stayed here for the rest of the ride (an hour).  Of course he wanted to hang as far over the railing as possible. 

The Golden Hind - a replica of Sir Francis Drake's ship

The Tower on the way down the Thames.  On the way back - about two hours later - the water level was at least six feet lower.

The Tower Bridge.  Friends of ours went to a wedding meal in the bridge.

The Greenwich Meridian.  Neither of them were interested in what we tried to tell them about time and the significance of the place, but I think Tim, at least, will remember being here when he learns about it in school.

The London skyline from the observatory in Greenwich.