London

We wanted to take the kids to see Santa, because they were worried he might not bring presents to the ranch and instead leave them in London.  It evidently wasn’t sufficient that we had written him a letter and called him on the phone and had received a video for each kid confirming he would deliver the much anticipated gifts to ranch.  So we set off…

We ended up going to LapLandUK after the kids received personalized invitations from Santa’s elves to come assist in the building of toys due to a shortfall of toys for the high percentage of children that had been good this year.  They couldn’t wait.  Once we arrived, we were greeted by elves, taught elf songs and elf waves, and went off to build toys in Santa’s workshop.  Sadly they didn’t get to keep the teddy bears they built since the toys were to be passed out to good children on Christmas eve.  After that, decorating gingerbread men and ice skating kept them busy.  The huskies that were roaming around were good fun and a favorite as well. Both kids wrote new letters to Santa and then we were off to meet him.  The kids were so happy that he knew all about them (best friends, class year, favorite lovely’s name, etc).  He assured them he would bring them their presents to the ranch and all the world became a better place instantaneously.

As soon as we returned from the trip, we went and bought some pumpkins.  The kids spent about a half hour designing what their pumpkins would look like.  Here’s the final outcomes:

We had loads of kids come to trick or treat.  Our kids of course hit the jackpot with candy and then they had fun passing out the candy to the late-comers.  Michelle also had her first Halloween.  I think she enjoyed it as much as the kids!

September was a very busy month for us. The kids kept us running all over the place and the weather, for the most part, was absolutely beautiful.

The Falcons School started back the first week of September. After a good summer break, the kids were eager to go back to school. Weekends were quite busy. We had Saturday mornings at football practice and horseback riding lessons in Richmond Park. The kids have also able to take piano lessons and chess lessons at school which I love! Scott was able to secure a small keyboard for the family until we move so the kids could practice at home as well. I really hope to continue the music lessons once we return to the states. I must admit, one of the biggest things I miss from Houston is our piano and the music playing throughout the house during the day.

The football lessons have demonstrated that probably our children (at least one of our children) will not be athletically gifted. (That’s the nicest way I could think to say that Caden would rather pick the grass out in the field than run after the ball…) However, they are both really good at chess and math. Caden can almost beat me in chess already.  (I’m uncertain if that means he is really good or I am really bad?!)

Scott and I also had some fun.  We went and saw a band at Shephard’s Bush, and we had multiple delicious dinners on date nights.

At the end of September, a friend of ours Ashley Allen came over from Houston for several days. It was great to see a fellow American/Texan. We had a good time while she was here. That same weekend, we went and saw even more sights, but unfortunately I didn’t take my camera. However, in the video, you can see the pictures from Postman’s Park. This particular park is one of my favorite places in the city. It is a small green space hidden between some buildings behind St Paul’s Cathedral. It is a peaceful but also somewhat sad place. The park is a memorial to those who have died while saving the lives of other people. Many of them are children that are memorialized through small but tasteful plaques. Ashley took several pictures of the kids there so I am hoping that they turn out well. It is such a special place…

While we have been quite busy exploring this year, we haven’t taken off more than a day or two at a time of holiday since February (I took off four days to go to Lanzarote with the fam). So we went all out and took off another four days and strategically scheduled a week away around a bank holiday weekend.

The kids had been dying to go to Center Parcs. Center Parks (or as the Brits would say: Centre Parcs) is a giant park where there are more activities to choose from than anyone would ever possibly have time to do. When you arrive, you park your vehicle at the front and the remainder of the time to move around the camp, you must walk, bike or take the land train. Let me summarize by saying we had a blast, even though it rained for four of the five days we were there.

We lost a half day due to a eye issue with Caden where we had to take him to the doctor, but aside from that, we were extremely busy having fun. Activities including: swimming in the sub-tropical swimming paradise (paradise is an understatement), cross-bow practice for the kids, rock wall climbing, playing in the woods, biking, fishing, playing on the sandy beach, chef school for the kids, and (possibly the favorite amongst the little people) wizard and fairy university. And just for clarification, the fishing really should’ve been called catching. The kids caught more fish by running the net through the water than using the fishing pole and bait! The squeals of delight made it extremely fun…

The video highlights:

Honorable mention:

Scott and I went to the Olympics. While I will admit dreading the Olympics because of the expected crowds, traffic, and even possible danger it posed from terrorists, I must say it has proven so far to be an amazing experience.

Evidently London overpriced their hotel rooms to the degree that now the hotels are virtually empty in the city. Because of that, there are lots of special deals, so Scott reserved a cheap hotel a couple of blocks from the event we were going to see on Saturday morning. Then on Saturday, Scott and I went to see the beach volleyball. Aside from the roads closed and detours that were necessary to arrive to the venue, the event was good fun. To simply get into Horseguards Parade (our event was not in the Olympic village), we had to show our tickets several times. Once up close to the stadium, we had to clear security very much like airport security, only more difficult. Once we were into the arena area though, it was amazing! The mood was fantastic and the crowd was lively and happy.

The matches we watched were exciting but not very closely matched teams in terms of ability. The Chinese women smashed their Russian competitors and the Brazil men did the same to the Germans. The winners of those matches went on to play in the quarter finals. We had fun though watching the crowds. There were lots of activities throughout the events with cheerleaders and games for the audience.

We would both like to attend the Paralympics which are in a couple of weeks here in London, but the tickets are really difficult to get ahold of. If we are able to go, we hope the kids will appreciate what they are watching when they see those determined athletes overcome disabilities to compete in a world competition. Stay tuned!