London Calling Day: 1

John and I had such a fun time playing tourist in London with our nephews and John's Sister Mimi. This is the first time that we have been able to spend an entire day in London without kids! What a blast it was. In true American tourist fashion.....we did everything we could possibly squeeze into 1 day. 

I took Mimi to "Primark," the shop where you can buy disposable London fashion for super cheap. We hit the obnoxious shoe section. These shoes were so NOT Mimi, so of course I made her model them in the shop.

What is funnier than a giant sausage with a moustache? The nephews thought it pretty hilarious, and look, my American Swede in Tweed flags. How cool is that?! As we were heading home from seeing the London Eye a couple of little darlings beckoned my nephews to come and have their picture taken with them. We laughed and laughed as the nephews were confused as to whether the girls wanted the boys to take their picture FOR them or BE in their picture. Of course the girls wanted them to BE in their picture, but the language barrier and the boys modesty created some confusion. Fear not, I could pick up what those girls were putting down and the picture was taken.

The "Appy Little Man." This drunken man who called himself the "appy little man" was the icing on the cake of a truly hilarious day. As his royal drunkeness staggered around and chatted us up we were left with me thinking he said he was from Ghana, but really he said he was a Gunner. Oh did the nephews have fun with that one. All in all today they saw someone on the sidewalk who had been hit by a car moaning and bleeding, sex education in the train station and graphic t-shirts on the tube, history, architecture, a man asking me to go out with him telling me that he could show me what a REAL man was like, the appy little man who did some air boxing and of course their celebrity like moment having their photo taken. Such a funny funny day.

They loved London during the day and thought it was AWESOME at night. We are so lucky to have such fun good nephews. 

A Day Out With the Day's

Or friends Connie and Micah live in NYC and since Micah works for the NBA and the NBA just so happened to have a game in London they were able to bring their gorgeous son Bridger to London with them for some sight seeing and a visit. We were super excited to see them and to meet Bridger who was born after we had moved to England. The kids fell instantly in love with Bridger and I must say he was so cute we wanted to steal him for our own! We met the Day's at London Bridge and wandered around through Borough Market settling on a lunch at a local Pret so that the kids could sit down and use the toilet. It was so much fun having a chat about NYC and London and comparing similarities and differences. In the US people claim that the east coast is most like the UK so we were having a good chin wag about how true we thought this was. Connie and Micah are great and their life experience and way of thinking are always interesting to learn from and exchange views and idea's. We loved seeing them and wish they could come back for another visit sooner than later.

Bridger instantly fell in love with William's scooter. I definitely could see Bridger whizzy through the streets of NYC on a scooter in a year…... definitely.

After lunch we wandered across the millennium bridge over to St. Paul's. After our walk and chat we walked back to Charing Cross where we headed toward home whilst Connie and Bridger went back to the hotel and Micah back to do some work. Such a lovely time for the grown ups and for the littles.

Snow Day with Friends

It SNOWED! Ads was busting right out of her skin anxious and eager to get out in the snow. Liam on the other hand…. not so much. I am thinking that the little master is much more of a summer recreation fellow than a winter one, the little guy HATES all things windy, wet and cold. Ads on the other hand loves nature in all of its forms. Sally offered to take Ads out with the other kids as Liam was protesting indoors. Sally took the kids to the green belt right by our house to go 'sledging' which is the term they use here for sledding. At first I felt very confused when people would say 'sledging' and referring to a sled as a 'sledge,' but I quickly realised that it was sledding they were talking about and now I am in the know. Ads didn't have a sledge of her own so she went along and played in the white stuff keen to make a snowman.

Sally and Mau

 

I loved this action shot of Sally pulling the girls and them crashing into a wooden fence post? The expression on Sally's face is priceless and the girls legs squashed against the pole…….epic.

When they had finished playing in the snow they went back over to Aparna's house for a bit of hot cocoa and indoor play. Look what William missed out on! Hopefully that boy will toughen up soon or he'll miss out on a whole lot of fun adventures in the future. Big thanks to Sally and Aparna for giving Ads such a fun day out in the snow.

Training

When you are in Marathon training, you disregard the snow. I had a very long 16 miler today, but when the going gets tough….the tough get going. I strapped on my winter leggings, my shoes, my fleece top and gloves and headed out the door. Bon Voyage! 16 miles done and if it snowed during the Marathon, by golly, I would rock that bad boy. Boo ya!

Celebrating with Aparna

Today Aparna invited me to participate in a festival that is dedicated to female friends and daughters. Aparna made a fantastic meal as usual, but before eating she held a ceremony where she blesses you and then presents you with a gift. Aparna gave me a lovely purse which I have treasured and placed in my special curio cabinet. Aparna decided that I needed to participate by eating a saree so even though I didn't have one she told me to dress in black which was the colour everyone was meant to wear for this particular festival and then when I arrived she had me wear part of one of her saree's. I love learning about Aparna's culture and festivals and have really enjoyed developing friendships with the women in her community. Ads was included in the blessings and received a gift and sweets from Aparna.

Mau performing the ceremony for Ads.

Aparna performing the ceremony on the women.

I am not going to lie, that purple colour was AMAZING! I wish that we wore colours that rich and bright every day, especially in the winter. It was the most gorgeous saree colour, ever.

As you can see I wore my black 'western' wear whilst most all of the others wore their black saree applicable for this particular celebration. I love Aparna to bits and feel like I have been blessed to have her for a friend. After the ceremony, gifts and blessings we went into the dining room where we sat on the floor and ate, with our hands. I love eating with my hands and have actually become quite good at it. I have learnt that in the Indian culture you eat only with your right hand as your left hand is used to wipe your bottom with. At first learning to tear your puri with just 1 hand is quite tricky, but after a while you really get the hang of it. I have never spent an evening in the company of Aparna, her family or her other Indian friends where I haven't felt welcomed and accepted.

Winter Walks

It's no great secret that I dislike winter. I am definitely a long days of summer sort of girl, so when winter comes I usually get mega stir crazy. Most January's I paint something blue or aqua to remind me that there is such a thing as blue skies and that the infernal world of grey skies, cold, wet, snow, rain and ice will once again leave and the gorgeous greens, blues and sunshine will pour out upon this earth again filling my soul with joy. In the meantime though, we go for winter walks. This walk was around a nature park called High Elms which is not too far from where we live and where my running club frequently runs through on our summer trail runs. Today the kids were stir crazy and it was light and dry enough to pootle around and enjoy the fresh air.

Everyone seemed much happier after having a little run around in the fresh air getting out of the house and away from each others throats! If I can't stand being trapped in doors for hours at a time you can imagine how torturous it must be for kids. We all left our winter walk feeling refreshed and rejuvenated to make it through a few more weeks of rubbish weather before we can take some time to play out of doors again. Summer PLEASE come quick, we are going crazy here, can't you tell by our faces in the pictures?

Ads Takes GOLD

Today Ads had her first ever gymnastics competition. Last year we had already committed to her attending a Birthday Party the day of the competition so she didn't participate, even still she was awarded the "Most Promising Infant" trophy which was displayed in our home until the following year. This year we really had no expectations for Ads and to be honest were dreading the entire day sitting in the Gym watching and waiting to find out how she had performed. John and I both thought Ads did really well and were really pleased with her work on all the elements. All the girls in her group looked really good so we knew that the competition would be close. Ads isn't a competitive person at all, so motivating her to push herself hard is a real challenge. John and I rack our brains trying to find ways to motivate this child, but she isn't motivated by anything materialistic and she finds the greatest amount of joy in seeing others happy. Beating someone else means that they will be unhappy so it is not uncommon for us to see her slow down in a race and let someone beat her. I know this all sound slovenly, but it is also important to do your best and not hold back at times. We are trying to embrace her natural desire to make others happy and to encourage her to also do the very best she can do, sometimes meaning that she will beat someone else, it's tricky. We truly love this child to bits, but she can rest on her laurels and it can be frustrating. 

Beam was the last event of the day and we were all tired and ready for them to announce the winners so that we could GO HOME! They announced the places and lo and behold, Ads took Gold! Not only did she take Gold, but she also took the trophy for the highest alls round score for 7 and unders in the gym. We were so so proud of Ads, but not nearly as proud as she was of herself.

Phillippa was Ads coach this year and did a fantastic job of pushing her, rehearsing her, and encouraging her. We all loved Phillippa and wish that she could be Ads coach forever.

The trophy gets to stay with us for another year and then it is returned at the years end to go to the next gymnast to win at the competition. Two trophy's in 2 years? You can imagine how pleased Ads was feeling.

On the podium feeling very official. After a long day we were surprised and thrilled to take home Gold and to celebrate with a special treat of McDonald's, the dinner of champions…

New Year's Eve Lift Off

It has become tradition in our family to write our New Year Resolutions down on a Chinese lantern and send it off to the Heaven's. The reality of the situation is that we write our resolutions on a lantern, launch it up to the Heaven's and then forget immediately what it is that we have written down. Having said that, the kids love it. So here is Ads holding our lantern with the usual lose weight, put our things away, read more, etc… resolutions written on it.

The kids watching our written commitments to becoming better individuals in the new year go floating upwards.

We aren't at all sure about what this new year will bring, but we are optimistic and determined to make it a great one.