More London Stuff

OK, I know everyone's sick of seeing Trinity's lost tooth post. So, now that those teeth are grown in, I guess I'll start adding some more posts. I have a lot of catch-up to do, so they might be dated before this one, but I won't date any of them before the Lost Tooth post in case anyone's interested in catching up with me. Happy Reading!!

Tubing to Cockfosters

From Rayner's Lane to Cockfosters on the Picadilly Line

From the first time Amy and I rode the Picadilly Line tube, there was something we had to do... ride all the way to Cockfosters! The name alone intrigued us, plus we wanted to ride the line all the way to the end. Some of the English names are just crazy, and Cockfosters seems to be at the top of the list! One day while all the kids (except Carter) were in school, Amy and I began our adventure. It took us almost 2 hours to get there! We exited the station and explored the area. If I remember correctly, it was May, but it was quite chilly out and very windy. We found shops and boutiques and a yummy Greek restaurant called The Blue Olive. That made our lunch choice easy and we gobbled up tzaziki with pita bread and chicken kebabs. Since we had a 2 hour ride back home, there was no time to linger, so we hopped back on the tube and headed home. Carter did so well entertaining himself on the way there, but the ride home was almost too much! But now he can say he's been to Cockfosters!

Carter was really entertained on the way to Cockfosters!

I made it to Cockfosters!

Amy went to Cockfosters too!

YUMMY!!

THIS is how Carter entertained himself on the way home!

Flipping over the seats until...

he fell on the floor!

And this is what his hands looked like after he was finished! Come to think of it, this is how every child's hands look after riding the tube... nasty!

Lost Teeth

Trinity has lost her 6th tooth! 

The tooth fairy is loosing some money over this mouth. She has brought a 2 pound coin for each tooth except for one. The American tooth fairy visited when she lost #4 in Texas on Christmas Eve. She brought a silver dollar and a paper dollar. Trinity wrote the tooth fairy a note this time asking her what her name is and if she can keep her tooth. Our tooth fairy's name is Lizzie and she was planning on bringing back all 6 teeth, but lost one somewhere along the way. So, she only left #6. Here's Trinity's tooth journey so far...

Tooth #1

April 26, 2008

Tooth #2

Sept. 8, 2008

Tooth #3

Nov. 21, 2008

Tooth #4

Dec. 24, 2008

Tooth #5

April 12, 2009

Tooth #6

May 24, 2009

Last Day of School in England

Friday was the kids' last day of school here in England. We were blessed to find such wonderful schools for Trinity and Trenton. I got Trinity to school and took some pictures in front of the school. At this point I started getting a lump in my throat. As we walked onto the playground, girls were running up and hugging her, very sad that it was her last day of school. Parents were wishing us well too. 

The teachers have frowned upon us going into the classroom to take pictures, but I guess we've loosened them up a bit. Trinity's teachers let us come in and take pictures of her classroom!

Doesn't Trinity look smart or "clever" as her teacher called her?

At the end of the day I went to pick up Trinity. Several of the parents had gathered there and we were asked to come into the classroom. (This had never been done before either!) My sweet friend, Bela, who is also the class rep, put together a photo album each to help Trinity and Ashlyn remember their class. They had a picture and a note from each of the girls in her class and her teachers. It was such a sweet surprise. Of course, I was a crying mess by then!

Here's Trenton going into his school, Cavendish Montessori.

He has loved his school. The teachers have been so sweet to him. They have taught him and loved him. We were so sad to leave them too. This is where the waterworks started. The teachers hugged and kissed Amy and I and we both started crying like babies!

Here are our sweet Indian teachers. (The first one is an aide I think. I don't know her.)

Ms. Pritti, Ms. Janani & Ms. Fatima (Ms. Karmali was not there that day.)

Our kids' schools have helped make our experience "real". We have interacted with the English people in every day life. It would have been easy to stick to the people we know, but the kids going to school really helped us meet lots of people and get engrossed in the culture. Our kids made friends and we did too! It is sad to say goodbye!

Dancing Around the Maypole

One of the last activities Trinity participated in at her school is the Maypole Dance. I'm glad she got to do it again this year. I loved watching her last year! It's such a beautiful British tradition which celebrates the beginning of Spring (and hopefully brings the sunny weather). 

Each girl holds a ribbon and the dance they perform wraps the ribbons around the pole.

After they get to a certain point, they do the dance backwards, retracing their steps to unwrap the pole.

Here's one of the designs called a spider web.

Trinity and Ashlyn were partners this year. They skip into the room and around the maypole to music holding hands. They grab a ribbon and the dance starts. 

Wrapping the barber pole.

Trinity & Ashlyn in action!

Getting ready to weave the ribbons.

Maypole is one of the English traditions I'm really going to miss!

HOME SWEET HOME!!!!

After 5 extensions and 8 months later than originally planned, we are moving back home!! Raytheon booked the kids' & my tickets yesterday for June 12! Mark's actual end date is June 30, so he isn't flying home with us. My mom is coming over in a couple of weeks and we are going to do some last minute traveling and to help with the kids and sorting out the house here. She is going to fly back with us on the 12th. I'll have a couple of weeks to set up the house and then I'll fly back to Europe (kid free!) for a wonderful trip with my honey!! 

I am very excited, but I do have mixed feelings. The kids and I have really enjoyed our time here. We are in the swing of a routine and the kids like their schools. We have made some friends and will be sad to leave them behind. I will also miss the traveling. England is a beautiful country, rich with history, and I will be sad to leave that too. On the other hand, Mark has not enjoyed his time here. He will remember a crazy project, working long hours and weekends and not seeing his family very often. I am sad that he wasn't able to enjoy it like we did. 

So, I'm off to plan our trip. Where should we go? I've always dreamed of a Mediterranean cruise, which is what I'm looking at right now. I really want to go to Greece and the Greek Islands. Mark wants to see more than one area. So, I'm actually trying to find a cruise that touches in Spain, France, Italy, Greece & Turkey!! We'll see what I come up with. 

In the mean time, I have our Scotland and Ireland trip to blog. I have so many pictures to go through that any time I begin, I give up quickly because of this process!! Does anyone have a suggestion for uploading lots of pictures quickly? I'm working on it slowly but surely though. I may have to post it one day at a time!!

The Gnome Garden

I guess everyone's sick of looking at Trinity's Easter Bonnet, so here's something new...

THE GNOME GARDEN

The kids had a 3 week Spring/Easter break starting April 1. Since we had a long trip to Scotland and Ireland scheduled beginning on the 9th (more about that to come), I had about a week of free days to fill. The weather was chilly, but halfway decent, so the kids enjoyed playing in the back garden (yard).  It's usually standing with water, so they put on their Wellies and tromped around for several hours. While playing, they discovered a bunch of garden gnomes some previous renters had stashed under the stairs. Trinity begged for us to plant a garden and use the gnomes. They are really faded, so she actually wanted to paint them, but I had to say no to that one. We headed to our local Homebase store (kind of like Home Depot, but smaller) and loaded up on ivy, pansies and fuscia. Mark had brought me a hydrangea bush for "Mum's Day" that was dying in the pot, so we used that too. 

The kids loved digging the holes and putting in the plants. I think our little garden turned out great! Too bad we won't be here much longer to see it really fill out!

Notice the trailing greenery hanging on the wall. I didn't plant that. It just naturally grows there. A couple of weeks after the garden was planted, these plants on the wall sprouted purple flowers! It was so pretty. I love that I didn't have to do a thing to make that happen. I also love that, although we have seen some really nice days lately, I haven't had to water at all!!! That's one thing I LOVE about England. It's true that their English gardens are really beautiful.