Three Foot People Festival

 
The kids loved this festival so much last year that I felt it my motherly duty to take Andrew and Brooke out of school for the last year they could attend.
Face painting (a scorpion, lion and Batman), play-dough cupcakes, enormous sand pit, coloring, crafts, petting zoo, mad-science show, puppet and musical performances.
Another successful year for our little people under 3 Ft!     

Double Pacifier

 
Completely addicted.

Little Golfers

 
The kids love to join Anthony at the driving range.  Andrew is especially showing interest and loves to wear his hat, glove and favorite "woosh" shirt.  His favorite part is playing in the sand. 

Hampstead Heath

 
A fun day at an amazing park in London. 

Matthew's 4th Birthday

 

Matthew's 4th birthday party was a success with movie making, movie trivia, and popcorn goodie bags. Happy Birthday Matthew!

Colchester Zoo

Madrid, Spain

 
A short business trip for Anthony turned into a no-kids weekend getaway.  

Volcano

 
A great father/son Sunday afternoon activity.  Andrew declares, "Daddy, let's do some science" and this is what Anthony comes up with.  Andrew LOVED it!

Royal Wedding Weekend in Bath

A four-day weekend gave us a great excuse to explore a bit of England.  We headed to Bath and nearby areas and had a perfect getaway.

Friday:

 

Watching the wedding at Windsor Castle (the Queen's weekend home) 

 
Avebury Stone Circle 

 
Castle Combe

Saturday:

 
Roman and Medieval Baths 

 
Bath Abbey, Royal Crescent, Old Town Bath and the Pulteney Bridge

Sunday:  Longleat Safari & Adventure Park

 
The Safari Park:
Even though the monkeys used our car as a trampoline and ate our windshield wipers and  we accidentally opened our sliding car door right in front of a lion, this was one of the highlights of the entire trip. 

 
The Hedge Maze

 
The Animals 

 
The Adventure Park 

Monday:

 
Stonehenge 

 
Salisbury Cathedral:
UK's tallest spire and home of one of the four original copies of the Magna Carta 

Easter Break

We had summer-like weather for our two-week Easter Break this year, and we (along with the rest of England) were happy to trade the clouds for the sun and go outside!!

 

Discovery Centre

 
Backyard fun
(Brooke had a hard time deciding between staying warm and playing in the water.  The compromise:  swimsuit over her clothes) 

 
Marsh Farms
(The kids loved coming back this year!) 

 
Easter eve:  Dying eggs and backyard camping with Daddy 

 

We were really spoiled this year with 3 Easter Egg Hunts:  first: our friends Sarah & Simon's garden on Saturday, second: finding the Easter Bunny's basket of goodies on Sunday, and third: our Ward's Primary egg hunt on Easter Monday.

For the first year Andrew enjoyed finding all eggs (not just non-chocolate ones), then trading for the non-chocolate ones.  And also, for the first year, Will enjoyed chocolate! 

 
Easter Sunday
(Having a "blossom-fight" after church) 

 
Scooter rides, bubbles, blowies, and one of the hundreds of rapeseed fields back for Spring  

Serfaus, Austria

Anthony took Andrew and Brooke to Austria for a weekend ski trip:

Colchester Zoo

 
While Anthony skied with Andrew and Brooke, Ashley enjoyed a day out with 2 moms and 5 boys.  Thanks, Katie...we loved it! 

Boys Update

 

Andrew now wears glasses (mainly for school).  He picked out his cool blue frames all by himself and loves how they make "everything bigger!"

 
Matthew caught his pinkie finger in the door hinge on April Fools Day.  He broke the tip of his finger and almost completely severed the tip at the bed of the nail.  1 ambulance ride, 7 hours in the ER, 10 hours in the Children's ward,  1 X-Ray, general anesthetics, a good finger sewing and 13 doctors later...he now wears this nice boxing glove for 6 weeks.   

 
Will is officially 18 months.  He hates nursery and won't go anywhere without his pacifier or little blanket (deet-deet).  He plays the harmonica like a pro and loves to jump on the trampoline. 

Will, 17 Months

Our baby somehow turned into a toddler this winter:

 

 

  

And now that there is an occasional sunshiny day, there is a whole new world to explore!

World Book Day

For World Book Day, Andrew and Brooke dressed up as their favorite book characters:
Captain Jack Sparrow (we're sure he appears in a book somewhere) and Camilla Cream (A Bad Case of the Stripes)

Ski Weekend

Anthony got two boys' weekends in one month. What a lucky guy. Must have a wonderful wife. 

This is how the group got from the chalet up to the lifts every morning

Judging from these photos, it doesn't look like there was very much actual skiing taking place

Big air and big crashes on a kicker built near the chalet

You know it has been a good ski trip if you have to dig your cars out to get home 

Riding Bikes

Boys' Weekend

Visiting the USA, being with family, playing golf. Is there any better way to spend Super Bowl weekend?