Muthers Day

First of all, we have to start off by saying, "Ooops!" and "so sorry" to the Imperial Grandmother and Grammy Dames. Mother's Day totally crept up on us.......there is no Mother's Day here in the U.K.

Okay, there is, really; but it is celebrated sometime in March.

So the idea that Mother's Day was being celebrated in the States this past weekend was a surprise until I heard something up at The American School during the mid-week, which means not a card was sent this year!

Here is what I received from Andrew this year only because he attends the American School and they prepared these cards in the classroom.

I just love kindergarten! This is a mother's day poem written by Andrew especially for me.

Thumbprints in purple glitter paint for grapes. However, I think he decided to make his into grape jam instead.

Portrait of me on the left side, poem on the right.

MOM

Blonde hair.

Making lunch.

Makes me wait

for my brother to

finish his home-

work to watch

t.v. from-Andrew

Kew Gardens

We visited Kew Gardens a few weekends ago. It is also known as The Royal Botanical Gardens. It was a beautiful day when we started our journey.....but as it is with London weather, we got rained on towards the end.
Here are the boys scouting out the map.

Of course the boys found a great tree to climb on.....

AND, of course, they are like retreiver dogs......if there is water anywhere nearby they will find it. Here you see them (along with some other unknown boys) enjoying the sprinklers.

The azaleas are blooming now. I had never seen orange colored azaleas before.

These are the azalea gardens.......

Anniversary

We are quickly approaching our 1 year anniversary of being in London. I have been trying to piece together my past and can not come-up with my life's adventures at this time last year.

Okay, yeah. I know I was trying to sell a house. I was trying to find a place to live in London via the internet/photos taken by my husband. I was selling half of everything I own. I was completing school admission papers and signing over my children's inheritance as an "application fee". I was trying to establish what necessities had to be stockpiled, i.e. Batman bandaids, swiffer refills, and taco seasoning mixes. I was also trying to sell a house.

Oh, did I mention that one already?

Yeah, well I realized I never got my commission for that one. Hmmmm.

I have also realized that my 15 year wedding anniversary is coming up this August. Well, double hmmmmmm.

I mentioned that fact out loud while wrestling with Andrew and his cleats last weekend. I mentioned it out loud so that the other peoples (that just might be somewhere within this vast 1,000 sq ft apartment) (yes, I finally measured it for myself) could hear it. I believe I am due.

Because it really is all about me.

The only response I got was after I repeated it again while standing in front of the "other peoples".

"Oh. Well maybe we could go to dinner or something."

Come again, bloke?

"I was thinking something much bigger than that, quite honestly John," I said.

"Oh Dad! I know!" said Andrew. "You could take her to Chik-Fil-A!"

"Andrew, now your talkin!," said John.

The sad part of this scenario is that I honestly would have, at that very moment in time, settled for a Chik-Fil-A sandwhich (OR maybe even a run to "The Bell"). We are sooooooo deprived of all things artery clogging over here. Now don't get me wrong; they still have their fair share of cardiac arrest inducing foods over here.......but nothing that tastes as good. (I honestly don't understand the idea of a dish called Toad in the Hole and can only imagine the caloric count of that one) But nonetheless, 3 soft tacos with the extra 15 cents for sour cream and 2 packets of mild sauce each, would certainly have sufficed at that very moment.

I guess the Big Burrito up in the sky must have felt my pain...............'cause guess what I found this morning.

Sitting in the corner of our local Panzer market I found this:



The first thing I said to myself, "Don't look at the price. Do. Not. Look. At. Price."

Then there was the selfish side of me that said, "Maybe I should just get a couple of them." "Just in case they run out."

Because just in case you weren't aware, there is currently a shortage of Ro*Tel tomatoes-in-a-can.

Well, at least in London there is.

I think we will be having enchiladas for dinner.

That is if I can find the tortillas.

Arctic Baseball

Baseball season has started here in London. Not that there is really any season for baseball here, most of the locals don't even know what baseball is. However, there are enough Americans here in Northwest London to make up a league. And that is exactly what has been done for several years. It (the league) is called London Sports. It is the organization that we played basketball with this past winter. It is completely volunteer and almost entirely American families.
We, yes we, started baseball a few weeks ago.

Even though I am not an official player or even an official coach, I still feel that I am playing. Who makes sure the uniforms are clean? Who makes sure the mitts are not forgotten? Who makes sure the "snack" is brought on our assigned day? ME. That's who. Not that I really mind, but it just exemplifies that baseball is a team sport for sure in this house.

Here is Andrew on the first day before receiving his uniform. It was cold, no freezing, that day.

Here is Andrew running the bases.

Last week as I was helping him get dressed for his game, he was explaining his strategy to me.

"Mom. I'm thinkin' I'm gonna have to slide today."

I wish you could have seen the expression on his face. It was oh-so-serious! And it made me chuckle because we are talkin' about T-ball, not the Major Leagues. Most of the other players don't even know the difference between the pitcher's mound and first base.

Sure enough, when Andrew had his turn to run to home plate, he slid.

It makes a mother proud.

Of course we realize that he is at a great advantage having an older brother........

Here is Alex in his uniform. He is on the Pirates. That's his bud Patrick behind him on the left. They were lucky enough to be placed on the same team this season.



As you can tell by the foliage.....Spring has not quite arrived here in London. (This was the week before the snow. (see previous post) )

We play our games at Wormwood Scrubs. It is a huge open field located next to a local prison.

Lovely.

I don't know the story behind the name, but I thought it was a joke the first time I heard it. It is nothing more than a huge open field. No markings. No backstops. No dugouts. Just soccer goals placed here and there that I think were left from last Fall. I assume it is for rugby practice normally; hence the "scrubs" part of the name. I don't feel that cricket could be played here.

Cricket is the closest resemblence of baseball to the British.

I have to say that this league is sooooo not like our Richmond leagues last year. What kind of coaching do you get when you ask a lot of bankers and embassy workers to coach?

Well, you can imagine.

Anywho, I have already completed my snack duty for the season. So I feel a great deal of stress has been lifted. I have seen the outcome when snack duty is overlooked by a family.

It is not a pretty sight.

I feel as though I might have been branded with that mark anyhow because I brought sliced bananas, apples, and grapes.

What am I? Not a single piece of fruit was taken. Not even my own son would have a piece.

It just so happens one of the fathers had extra mini chocolate muffins he had purchased for his kids earlier that morning for the ride over to the fields and he threw those into the mix (so he wouldn't have to carry them home). Those went like gangbusters.

I sense my Mother of the Year nomination has been revoked.

White Stuff

I was awakened Sunday morning at 7 a.m. by a tiny whisper.

"Hey. Mom. It snowed last night."

Sure enough.........

We wasted no time getting on what little snow gear we had brought with us to London.

This kind of joy brings out an often hidden side of Alex. He is really a closet Rockette.

St. John's Wood park - which is across the street from our flat.

A special picture for A.M.

"Bath"time

I realize this blog has become alot like my thought processes recently...really scattered.

Let's go back to our day in Bath. Like I said previously, it was really cold and wet but it didn't seem to stop us or any of the other hundreds of tourists in town that Saturday.


Here is a view of the baths from the terrace above. The Bath Abbey is in the background. It is literally a stones-throw away. We also visited the Abbey but have no photos to share because they don't allow photos to be taken inside. Needless to say, it was another beautiful English cathedral.

Another view of the baths from the top terrace. Long ago this was area was covered and not exposed to the elements.

The Silly Chaps with the Bath Abbey in the background.

Statues around the perimeter of the terrace........ Unfortunately, I cant tell you anything about them but Alex says that they were not originally there and only added 200 years ago. They are statues of important people throughout British history. I guess maybe he really does listen to those audio guides.

I was blessed with a blown speaker on my audio guide and of course being stupid with regards to audio equipment I was unaware that it was actually broken until I told John that it was really hard to hear the summaries. The voices had an echoey sound about them and was practically impossible to understand.

He kept telling me "Just turn up the volume."

After turning it up to MAX I became quite worried that my hearing was really starting to decline thus reflecting my younger years of maximum jammin' with DuranDuran on my walkman.

So I quietly kept it to myself............

............. until he asked,"Why aren't you listening?"

"I told you I can't hear it."

"Well, here. Let me see it," he said.

Two seconds later......"Oh, you've just got a blown speaker. Why don't you go back and get a new one."

Which at this point was futile as we were already more than halfway through the tour. So I just participated in the tour as the official kid monitor. Which wasn't really all that bad just as long as I didn't have to answer any questions.

Lovely water. There are signs around the deck of the pool warning of natural contaminants. The younger boys never showed any interest in dipping their hands in the water. It was John I had to watch. He was just dying to get his hands in it and I told him he better not do it in front of A & A or else he would never hear the end of it and I would not rush him to the A&E either.

See the steam rising from the water surface? The water comes out of the natural spring at a temp of 46 degress C. (115 F) There are 43 minerals in the water with calcium and sulphate as the main dissolved ions. Sodium and chloride are also present. In medieval times a cure for condtions such as paralysis, colic, palsy, and gout was sought from bathing in the spa water. Eighteenth century records from Bath Mineral Water Hospital show that patients benefited from the cure. The water was taken in the morning and for most visitors a pint or two was sufficient, but as much as a gallon a day could be prescribed! (The Pump Room Bath, pg. 2)

And that is the extent of my knowledge (pretty much) with regards to the baths.

Fun with Big Rocks

We took the estate out through the English countryside for our Spring Break and we just happened to stumble across something.

Stonehenge.

No kidding.

We weren't planning on visiting Stonehenge, but found the motorway on which we were traveling went right past it. Which is kinda weird........a motorway lies right beside it, along with alot of sheep. So we decided to stop and take a look. How often do you just run into Stonehenge?!

This picture is deceiving because there were many other people there too....I don't know what happened to them in this particular picture. Spooky.

A bunch of big rocks.

Tourist John. Each of us got our own audio guides for the self-guided tour. I have become a huge fan of audio guides as it keeps the kids entertained for at least longer than 2 minutes.

"Can you hear me now?"

"Yeah, so I am standing here at Stonehenge, go figure."

My boys have discovered the art of deceptive photography. You know the typical picture where it looks like the subject is actually pushing the Leaning Tower of Pizza? Oops. Pisa? Well now everytime the opportunity presents itsself Alex and Andrew want to make a crazy picture. Here is Alex leaning against Stonehenge.

Here is Andrew pushing Stonehenge..........

"Uh, yes. I would like one pepperoni and 2 cheese please."