Happy Birthday Will!

School

 

Brooke & Andrew's first day at Reception (full time Kindergarten).  They were really excited, but laughing they pretended to be sad.

 

"While the cat's away, the mice will..." go grocery shopping!  So easy with just 2 kids!

 

Matthew's first day back at Pre-School

 

Ready to ride

 

All dolled up in uniforms

Birthday

The Pool

(We rented out the kid's favorite swimming pool and had the run of it for just us, Andrew & Brooke's friends and each of their families.  It was a blast!  In between back flips and corkscrews Andrew said, "Thank you so much for bringing me here! This is the best party!")

The Cakes

 
"Pass the Parcel"
(A British party game my kids have quickly grown to love)
 

Opening presents

(Photos couldn't really capture the sheer craziness of these few minutes.  All the girls seemed to naturally gravitate to Brooke's presents and all the boys circled around Andrew.  Two kids opening at the same time, present after present, wrapping paper everywhere, kids everywhere...I'm lucky I was able to keep a list!)   


Although we celebrated almost an entire month early, it was great to spoil our cute almost 5 year-olds.  Happy Birthday Kiddos!

Cambridge

Punting, Kings College, Trinity Street, and Sir Isaac Newton's apple tree.  A very relaxing town with a highly intellectual feel.  We loved Cambridge, and hope this was the first of many visits.  

USA Trip 2010

USA Trip: St George, N. Carolina, E. Coast

St George, UT

Playing with cousins, beating the heat by sheer nakedness, and getting tiny fingerprints all over Grandma & Grandpa's house.

Everyday included a trip to Grandma & Grandpa's pool.  All fear of water subsides when it's over 100F and the water is as warm as a bath (plus having 6 flotation devices helped Brooke's confidence).

Climbing the Red Rocks, now a St. George tradition.  We were lucky enough to have Grandma Marlene join us this time!

Outer Banks, North Carolina

Woodbury Family Reunion: 12 adults, 2 teenagers, 2 pre-teens, 3 "big" kids, 8 kids five years old and under, 3 babies, 30 people total.  It was amazing (stats stolen from my sister-in-law's blog, many more fun pictures found there).

Cousins were without a doubt the highlight of the entire trip for Andrew, Brooke & Matthew.  All of a sudden they had 15  best friends that were fun, cool and wanted to play with them all time.

More swimming everyday

Sand Dunes in Kitty Hawk

Duck Beach

Family Photos

More highlights:  building forts, Baldie's Burgers, Kitty Hawk Kites, Wright Museum, BBQing, being with Grandma & Grandpa, Lucy's Baby Blessing (the youngest Woodbury grandchild) and a great beach house.

New York, New Jersey, Connecticut

We spent our last week in the Tri-State Area having more cousin fun, visiting all of Mommy's old hangouts in New Canaan and even getting a dose of Uncle Aaron in the Big Apple. 

24 days, 3 airplanes, 5 cars, 4 houses, 1 hotel, 4 time zones, 7 states, 2 countries and 4 very little well seasoned travelers.
It was a perfect trip.  Until next time USA!

Pre-School Graduation

Summer

Summer days in the backyard: Slip 'N Sliding, sandbox-ing, trampoline jumping and no shirt-ing (don't ask about the gloves though, I think they may have been part of some spy costume?)

Berry picking (29.06.10)

Camping in the backyard and celebrating 4th July (03.07.10)

3' Festival (07.07.10)  An enormous fair in Chelmsford for kids under 5 years old (and smaller than 3 Ft!).  We were there right at opening and stayed past closing; the kids had a ball.  (If you can't tell, Matthew wanted his face painted like the Avatar movie.)

A Saturday in London

Ever since we moved to England, the kiddies have been asking to visit Daddy's office (something we could do weekly in Switzerland.)  So we took off to London to show them where Daddy disappears to everyday.  Highlights:  picking out their favorite skyscrapers, playing hide and seek, raiding the pantry for cookies and apples and video conferencing each other.  We spent almost 2 hours there and they had no intention of leaving until we mentioned Hyde Park and ice cream.  Needless to say, they think Daddy has a great job.

I wish I had taken a picture of them on the Tube.  They love the train and make friends with everyone around them, that is unless they are openly discussing how "stinky" it smells.  

We spent the rest of the day at Kensington Garden's Princes Diana Memorial Playground.  It was great.  We were so busy enjoying the park that we didn't take many pictures.  However we did document Will's first taste of sand.

Portugal

Anthony and I escaped to Algarve, Portugal for 4 days to celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary.  We did a whole lot of this:  beaches, pools, napping, tennis, surfing, massages and golfing.  It was amazing, just what a vacation for two should be.  

Marsh Farm

We took the kids to a really great petting zoo while Chelsi was with us(a great au pair with a too short visit to London).  We all had a ball and enjoyed a near-empty park on an overcast day.

Three

Matthew's first "friends" birthday party was a complete success:  kiddie pool, trampoline, sand pit, bubble machine, "pass the parcel," cupcakes and presents.  Anthony made fabulous BBQ for the parents and our friends Sam and Sam even brought their pet gerbils for added kiddie entertainment.  And we couldn't have asked for better sunny weather, the famous English rain held off until at least 2 hours after the party ended!

Our "Little Bear" isn't so little anymore.  And as if the natural growing up wasn't enough for a mom to cope with, he has officially told me not to call him Bear anymore, he is now "Big-kid Monkey."

Chicken Pox

It was the season for Chicken Pox at our pre-school and Matthew brought it home and shared it with his best buddy.  Thankfully Matthew finished it before his birthday party, and Will, although 10x worse than Matthew's, wasn't bothered at all.  We are happy to be a spot-free house now!

Dressing Up