THE QUEEN OF QUIRK

today's adventure

The kiddos have today off from school for some kind of teacher workday. It was nice for them to sleep in til 7:30 instead of waking them up at 5:30. They are very happy bunnies right now.

In anticipation of them having today off (and honestly to kind of bribe them to be good for me...) I told them we would go to the Frankfurt Children's Museum and if they were very, very good I would take them out to lunch. They can't decide between sushi and Italian. 

So we're all getting dressed and then we'll walk downtown and spend the day hanging out. For the past 3 weeks Lara and Mia have done nothing but school, homework and errands. It's been sad, but we've had no extra time in our lives for fun family days out. So we're taking advantage of their day off today.

Later this evening we're taking the train down to where Colin works to meet him. Then we're going shopping for light fixtures for the new house and also the new slipcover we want. I'm hoping there will be a trip to a hardware store so I can grab some paint samples but who knows if we'll have enough time.

I hope everyone is having a great day! We've only had one minor catfight/scuffle so I think we're off to a pretty good start! Off to have some much needed fun! Ciao! :)

at it again

Picnicking, that is.

By now I'm sure the whole world has heard of the "heatwave" we had here in most parts of England. A heatwave here means that it has been above 75 everyday and it only rained once in a week.

Don't get me wrong. We loved it. The weather had been absolutely fantastic and we'd been eating outside and just enjoying our little village. What we're not excited for...the fact that this weather will probably be very short-lived. sigh...

It's just not fair. In the meantime, though, we plan to make the very best of it.

I hope there's a picnic on the horizon for you, wherever you are! :)

tudor day

I just love the days that Lara and Mia's schools have planned for them. Victorian Day was fun, but I'm especially pleased that the kiddos get to partake in Tudor Day. Over the course of a couple of months, the kids learn a ton about the way people lived in the time of Henry VIII and then they get to go on a fantastic day out with authentic food, lessons and demonstrations on this particular way of life.

Here's Lara with her buddies that she walks to school with.

I can't wait til they get back this afternoon. I'm sure our dinner talk will be taken over by talk of Henry VIII and his wives and how 16th century people lived. Yay! Just my kind of dinner conversation! :)

legoland for father's day

We took off Friday night for some much needed down time/family time. We'd been planning a trip to Legoland Windsor for weeks and the kiddos were so excited to finally be on the road! Colin is a big kid himself and Legos are his absolute favorite toys, so we knew we were going to have a blast. I'm a big Lego fan myself, but the rest of my family? Absolutely bonkers for them.

They say that getting there is half the fun. Well, it is if you have the Doots along for the ride.

This would be called: Sponge Bop Square Doots, Norah's impression of Sponge Bob Square Pants.

Doots then insisted on playing with the camera, so I showed her how to use it and she took a photo of me. This one came out considerably better than the one she took of Mia.

Considering just how much Mia is drooling in this photo, that may not be such a bad thing...

At last! Now the fun part begins...trying to please 3 princesses who all have very different ideas of how these two days are going to play out. Everyone wants to be first to do everything.

So we told them that if they fought over anything as ridiculous as who gets to what with whom, when and where, then we would feed them to the dinosaur.

It didn't work...but hey, we tried.

We rode the Space Tower first since it was closest.

The sun kept playing hide and seek with us, so all our shots have wonky sunlight. This is Lara trying to pull herself up while being blinded by the sudden rays of sunshine.

Mia and I took a turn on the monorail together. Love that we got this shot. Yay! One of my kids looks like me!!

A shot of miniland as seen from our ride.

YOU can dance!!! YOU can JI-IVE!

I think this one of the first highlights of our trip. ABBA, immortalized in LEGO.

Groovy.

The English seaside, complete with windbreaks. It looks just like Hunstanton!

Doots, completely ice-creamerific, having the time of her life, sooo wanting to go Godzilla on miniland. I could tell.

More shots of miniland.

I forget which castle this is...I think it's here in England, though.

One thing we didn't take a photo of was the model of Minack Theatre. However, I was so impressed with the model, that I made it a point to look it up when we got home.

We are so going here. 

photo courtesy of falmouth-cottage.co.uk

The model of Sacre Coeur, one of my favorite spots in Paris.

A rare treat...a family photo in which I do not look barfilicious! SCORE!

We watched the Johnny Thunder Adventure Show and the kids were tickled pink. These guys were having a good time jumping off this tower, you could just tell.

After a full day, we made our way back to our hotel. Colin set up the entire trip and we were pleasantly surprised when we arrived at our hotel, St. Anne's Manor. It really was beautiful, inside and out, and the staff was super friendly and talked to the kiddos endlessly about Legoland.

photo courtesy of hilton.co.uk/stannesmanor 

The Doots crashed pretty hard that night and we had a hard time waking her up the next day. She looked so peaceful that we didn't really want to disturb her. But, hey, we had another fun-filled day waiting for us!

Besides, it was Father's Day and we needed to have some very important Daddy time before we headed to the park!

Wakey wakey!! :)

I so want this at the front door of our dream house. Everyone would be so jealous.

Next up: driving school. Mia was absolutely hopeless on the track. Lara, on the other hand, kept a very cool head about her. She was just so dang excited to be behind the wheel of a car!

We then went on a fairytale boat ride.

Look! A fairy godmother!! I made the kids stop asking for wishes and I asked her for a $500 gift certificate to Anthropologie. I know she heard me because her little animatronic arm swung her clear lego encrusted wand right down on my head. And then she winked. She loves me.

By the end of the second day we were all a little bit tired. Lara and Mia were still all smiles and rarin' to go. The Doots, however, was full of stink and bile. Little stinker. She's supposed to be having fun!! 

That's normally how she looks at me. Don't let all these smiley pictures fool you!

But kids never act how they're supposed to, right? So, with a sulky, cranky Doots, we stopped one last time at the gift shop/blackhole and then we headed home.

Goodbye, dear Legoland. Thank you for entertaining our punks and lifting the burden of all that cash we had in our wallets. What would we do without you?

(((HUGS)))

wicksteed park

We didn't realize this, but we have a fairly large amusement park just an hour from our house. How awesome is that? So, we packed the kiddos up and headed to Wicksteed Park for a fun day filled with sunshine and roller coasters!

The best part about this park? We arrived right at lunchtime and went straight to the restaurant that sold beer. Baked potatoes and Carlsberg. We felt so English! ;)

Now it's time for some rides!

First, Colin took Lara on the pirate ship thing that's basically a big swing. Lara was looking forward to it, but once it started going, she lost her mind. She cried and freaked out the whole time and absolutely refused to look up. Once the ride stopped she and Colin started walking towards me and I could tell she was really freaked out. So I knelt down and held my arms out and she came running to me and just broke down. Poor thing. I rubbed her back for a minute and told her it was going to be ok and that she needed to stop crying because there were even bigger rides out there just waiting for her. I am evil.

We then took a turn on the merry go round to calm Lara down a bit and bring her heart rate down to a healthy pace. You can even tell she's just gotten finished crying. Norah is yelling about the next ride she already has her heart set on.

Me and Mia sharing a horsie. Mia's only disappointment on this particular ride was that the carousel horses weren't going to take off on their own into a chalk picture a la Mary Poppins. Such a cutie. I then asked her if she wanted to go on the pirate boat swing and she ran away from me. Smart girl. ;)

Colin was brave enough to take the Doots (her nickname used to be Noodle, but it has evolved to "the Doots" now, so that's how she'll be referred to from now on) on the motorcycles. He was all smiles and sunshine for the first half of it.

Then I think as soon as the Doots realized that she actually had control over this thing on wheels, she just stopped caring and started running into the barriers. Colin loved it, as you can see here.

I think he is secretly counting the days til her driving test because he's just that excited.

After seeing this, I also now know why my Dad screamed his ever-living head off when he taught me how to drive. It can be scary putting your life into your child's hands.

In my defense, however, the man did put me at the bottom of a hill and made me drive up it on my very first go. So, yeah, what was he expecting!?!? ;) It worked, though. I can drive any stickshift. And if my dad's doctor gives him the OK in 15 years, I'm gonna have him teach my girls how to drive stick so I can laugh my butt off and take lots and lots of photos of them crying. ;)

My experience with our kids "driving" was a bit more controlled. God bless the person who thought of these kinds of rides.

Next, just because we really had not laughed at our kids enough that day, we put Lara and Mia on a canoe/kayak thing and let them go. It was absolutely hilarious. And some of those kids were taking this ride very seriously. So, when Lara and Mia would bump into them, they'd push our kiddos as far away from them as they could with their paddles. And then they'd glare. Too funny. At one point, these 2 were paddling backwards to get out of a corner because they didn't know how to turn around. hahahahahaha
They had such a good time, though, and we practically had to drag them away from the boats. 
We put all 3 of them on this coaster because the Doots was tall enough. They had such a good time and we enjoyed every single one of those screams because they had nothing to do with not sharing toys or kicking each other or the Nintendo DS. Ah, bliss.

I absolutely hate log rides. I have issues with amusement park water...I know. I'm a freak. But I think it is some of the nastiest stuff on Earth and the thought of getting doused in it....shudder...So I was a total stick-in-the-mud/party pooper and I refused to go on the ride. But, if I had, then we wouldn't have this gem of a shot. Look at Mia.

I don't think she went on too many rides after this. ;)

church fete

At the church up the hill from us, there is a church fete every year at the rectory. We'd never been up there, but Lara's country dancing (folk dancing) class was asked to participate along with a bunch of other dance groups during the fete. Lara was so darn excited about performing for a bunch of people. She is a complete spotlight junkie!

She did such a good job, though!! All of the girls messed up at least once or twice and every time they did, the whole audience giggled along with the girls. It was so sweet. They really were just happy to be there, having a good time. We, of course, had to have a bit of tea and cake, too. Then we rummaged through some of the thrift tables and found a couple of goodies to bring home.


Just on the other side of that big hedge on the left, there was a fire engine that the local volunteers brought out so the kids could climb on. I had a hard time getting any shots of the kids because they were literally flying all over this thing. 
That's Mia getting into the truck.

Of course, that last statement does not include the fact that the youngest piglet ADORES having her picture taken. When the fireman put this helmet on her, she started screaming for me because I just HAD to look at her. And then it was all:

"Take a picture!! MUMMY!!! Take a PICTURE!!!! Look at ME!!!"
Yes, I see you, you little stinker.
Dag, she's cute.

sawtry carnival

Every year our little village has a carnival. All the local vendors, crafters and organizations come out and it's a really big deal. There is a big parade of all the groups such as cheerleading, the schools, the pre-schools, etc. to kick off the carnival. The Infants' school (grades K-2) were asked to dress up as the 101 Dalmations. Mia held hands with her friend Tuesday throughout the parade. They were so cute!

Noodle and I walked with her pre-school. Their theme was TV, so Noodle dressed up as her all-time favorite superhero, Sportacus. Complete with a mustache that Maria painted on her. She just couldn't get over herself. She was absolutely obsessed with her painted face.

The parade was led by a local bagpipe group...not really sure who they were, but it was so much fun to have live music in the parade. And get a load of their socks!! I want a pair! :)

Maria was getting absolutely swamped at her face-painting booth, so I offered to pitch in and help. Thank goodness there was a book I could reference! We both sat like this for about 2 hours that afternoon and our backs were absolutely killing us. Ouch!

It was so fun to get to talk to the kiddos, though. They were so sweet and shy and I think my American accent threw them off a bit, too, which is always fun. ;)

During a bit of downtime, Norah asked to have her face painted and she picked this aquarium looking thing from the book. I have to admit that I really liked the way it turned out and Norah was completely in love with herself. She kept stealing the mirror we used to show the kids how they looked so she could stare at her "FISHIES!!!". Little stinker.

All in all, it was a really fun day. Although, I didn't get to see the actual carnival very much. Colin did as he was chasing 3 rowdy girlies around the place. :)

daddy daughter day

Colin took Mia to London for a Daddy/Daughter day and they had a wonderful time. Although, Mia was a bit soggy at the end of the day. Soggy is the term we use in our family for when your legs get all shaky and tired. I believe Lara came up with that one. :)
On the itinerary for the day was the HMS Belfast and The Natural History Museum. Let's see what they got up to.

Mia at the HMS Belfast. :)

Tower bridge

Mia in the Captian's chair. So sweet. :)

On to the Natural History Museum.

Mia's worst nightmare, come to life.

Hello Darwin.

They made a last stop at the butterfly exhibit. I'm pretty sure Mia did not stop smiling the entire time she was in here.

I love that Colin and I take the girls for "alone" trips. It really helps us. With 3 little kids running around, it's hard to do anything but referee. When it's just the one, though, it's so much smoother. Love that. And I'm so glad these two had a good day. :)

up to my knees in HSM

We had Lara's party a week before her actual birthday because her birthday fell during half term (spring break). It worked out perfectly because we had a very low-key birthday for her on the actual day which was nice because there was no running around.

I can't believe I have an 8 year old. Where does the time go???

It's been all about High School Musical around here. I've put it off for as long as I could,but there's just no stopping it now. I'm not big into brands and I really do not like my kids wearing clothes with logos and such on them. I don't know why I'm supposed to it. I guess I just don't like walking around like a giant billboard. Unless it's for Mr. T or the Beatles or something especially important. ;)

Lara absolutely loved her cake. The girlier the better in her opinion.

The pinata was a big hit as you can see by Noodle's face.

We still can't believe that Lara is 8, but she rang it in in style! When she was allowed to open her gifts on Thursday, she was completely overwhelmed by HSM stuff. Hopefully that will keep her happy since I've so -called "deprived" her of it for the past few years. :)

Ah, kids.

picnicking

It's actually been sunny for quite a few days here and we are soaking up every minute of it. I don't really consider myself a hot weather kind of person. I get hot very easily. I also cannot stand to be cold. I like it somewhere right in the middle.

But living in England has made me realize that I never want to live somewhere so rainy. I absolutely love it here, but the weather can be a drag. So, we've been soaking up every single bit of sunshine we can get around here. Summer only lasts a few weeks, so we have to enjoy it while we've got it.

Lunch outside has become daily routine around here. And with out new picnics blankets, it feels all vintage and English. I know...I wish I lived in a Jane Austen novel. Since I can't, I just pretend. And the picnic blankets help. :)