Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Back to reality
Well, the clothes are all washed and put away, the suitcases back where they belong and all the film developed or pics downloaded so I guess the vacation is well and truely over. We had such a great time and enjoyed visiting with everyone so much that getting back into the swing of things isn't easy. We also miss the california sunshine!! Life is always better when it is sunny. I don't miss the bay area traffic though, it makes leicester at rush hour look deserted. Don't know how they are going to solve the traffic problem, everytime we go home it gets worse. Give everyone one a segway!! that would make it less crowded and more fun.
Back to normal today with only a minimum of fuss. I think we will carry on over the summer, it gives some structure to our day if nothing else. Sam is very keen to start his scrapbook of the trip. My aunt who is very into scrapbooking gave us two beautiful albums and lots of cool paper and stickers. If only we had taken pic of him at the ball game to put in there!
Today we went to find the latest edition to our menagerie-you guessed, the long anticipated snake. It is a grey rat snake and very cute. We have reserved it and will go pick him up later in the week, once we have made space for him in sam's room. Not sure who is more excited, Sam or M. I am not thrilled about what it eats but am trying not to think about that. Sam hasn't decided on a name yet, suppose it depends on if it is a boy or a girl.
Have found a few more ideas for friday, just have to give them a test run tomorrow and make sure we have all the supplies. Sam and I looked at the Declaration of Independence today as well as the Constition. I hadn't read them since high school and had forgotten how elequent they are. Jefferson was a genius. This is going to sound really corny but it made me feel proud to be american-despite all its faults and problems.
Back to normal today with only a minimum of fuss. I think we will carry on over the summer, it gives some structure to our day if nothing else. Sam is very keen to start his scrapbook of the trip. My aunt who is very into scrapbooking gave us two beautiful albums and lots of cool paper and stickers. If only we had taken pic of him at the ball game to put in there!
Today we went to find the latest edition to our menagerie-you guessed, the long anticipated snake. It is a grey rat snake and very cute. We have reserved it and will go pick him up later in the week, once we have made space for him in sam's room. Not sure who is more excited, Sam or M. I am not thrilled about what it eats but am trying not to think about that. Sam hasn't decided on a name yet, suppose it depends on if it is a boy or a girl.
Have found a few more ideas for friday, just have to give them a test run tomorrow and make sure we have all the supplies. Sam and I looked at the Declaration of Independence today as well as the Constition. I hadn't read them since high school and had forgotten how elequent they are. Jefferson was a genius. This is going to sound really corny but it made me feel proud to be american-despite all its faults and problems.
Sunday, June 25, 2006
We're back....
from our globe trotting. We all had a fantastic time, especially sam who fell in love with every dog he met and delighted in playing with cousins and making new friends. We had a busy time so have come home shattered. Still not quite sure what time or day this is. Poor sam is so out of sync that he didn't get up until 12:30 today, I was beginning to wonder if he would ever wake up.
Everything about our trip was so great that it is hard to say what the highlight was. Yosemite was breathtakingly beautiful and we would have gladly spent the whole trip there if we could have. The camping facilities weren't brilliant but the scenery more than made up for it. Lots of wildlife, though we didn't see any bears. We saw deer, chipmonks, ground squirrels and a coyote. Sam got into hiking and managed a couple 5 mile hikes. My dad and stepmom camped a short drive away from us so we got to spend time with them in the park. Sam was thrilled at seeing them again and so were we.
From Yosemite we drove to the santa cruz/monterey area where the highlight for sam was undoubtedly the monterey bay aquarium. It really is outstanding and we spent the better part of a day there. We also spent time in santa cruz and carmel and went to a state park to see some giant redwoods. Sam was delighted as we had a gopher take up residence next to our tent and whenever we were eating it would pop up. There were also lots of tree frogs around and sam couldn't believe his luck when one jumped in his shower one morning!
Next it was up to the wine country to camp with my dad and do a little wine tasting. we also met up with my uncle. We stayed at an excellent campsite-complete with petting zoo, pool and playground and dad and amy watched sam for us while we hit the wine trail. M did the tasting while I did the driving. We bbqed with dad everynight and he even did a proper breakfast for us in the morning. Oh the joys of having a motorhome! It was so wonderful to see them and sam adored spending time with them. We were all very sad when we had to say goodbye. They headed up north whie we went down to the bay area.
Took sam to his first baseball game and he had a blast. He was really keen to catch a foul ball but unfortunatey we were sitting in the wrong part of the stadium. Next time we will get tickets behind home plate. He is now a confirmed As fan and was gutted when is baseball cap was stolen out of the rental car. We spent two days playing in SF-dad came down on the first day to go with us to exploratorium. It is a hands on science museum and sam was well and truly in his element. Not sure he understood all the experiments but he had fun doing them. I think we all did. We also go to spend time with my cousin medea and her family. They kindly took us out to dinner and sam fell in love with her boys all over again. Her sons are 15 and 10 and talk about hero worship. Sam was enthralled and spent the whole evening playing with them (we brought lego!) and was gutted when we had to go. I was impressed at how patient max and dylan were with sam, they didn't seem to mind the fact that he was 5. they all got on so well that we adults were able to catch up on everything.
We said goodby to M on father's day as he had to return home, while we went to spend a few days with my aunt and uncle. It was so nice to see them. we had a pool party the first day, my cousin and her 5 year old son came as did a friend of my aunt who had 3 children. We were in the pool all afternoon and you have never heard so much laughter. I think sam drank half the pool between giggles. The children all got on really well, no squabbles or tantrums at all. The next day we went to the Jelly belly factory, where they make jelly belly jelly beans. We did a tour of the factory and then headed off to the shop for lots of free samples. I think that sam had more jelly beans in one morning than he has had in his whole life! His fav were the root beer ones.
we were also able to spend the day with an old school friend and her husband. I hadn't seen her for many years so it was nice to be able to visit in person. Sam loved playing with her cats and dogs, though not sure they felt the same. We visited a ghost town and the local zoo with them, but had to call it a day when temps climbed over 100. I love the heat but it felt like we were baking in an oven. At least it was not humid. We had a wonderful visit with my aunt and uncle and were so sad when we had to go. I hope that we will be able to go back and visit soon.
So now we are back to reality and all that entails. This week is pretty quiet-my main job is to plan the 4th of July session I in charge of for our home ed group. Am distinctly short of ideas-except maybe for a game of softball. Sam thinks we should make a giant paper mache model of the US but I think that is was too ambitious for one session. I will do some posters about the flag, the national anthem, the declaration and so forth but am short on things for the kids to actually do. Off to trawl the internet for inspiration.
Everything about our trip was so great that it is hard to say what the highlight was. Yosemite was breathtakingly beautiful and we would have gladly spent the whole trip there if we could have. The camping facilities weren't brilliant but the scenery more than made up for it. Lots of wildlife, though we didn't see any bears. We saw deer, chipmonks, ground squirrels and a coyote. Sam got into hiking and managed a couple 5 mile hikes. My dad and stepmom camped a short drive away from us so we got to spend time with them in the park. Sam was thrilled at seeing them again and so were we.
From Yosemite we drove to the santa cruz/monterey area where the highlight for sam was undoubtedly the monterey bay aquarium. It really is outstanding and we spent the better part of a day there. We also spent time in santa cruz and carmel and went to a state park to see some giant redwoods. Sam was delighted as we had a gopher take up residence next to our tent and whenever we were eating it would pop up. There were also lots of tree frogs around and sam couldn't believe his luck when one jumped in his shower one morning!
Next it was up to the wine country to camp with my dad and do a little wine tasting. we also met up with my uncle. We stayed at an excellent campsite-complete with petting zoo, pool and playground and dad and amy watched sam for us while we hit the wine trail. M did the tasting while I did the driving. We bbqed with dad everynight and he even did a proper breakfast for us in the morning. Oh the joys of having a motorhome! It was so wonderful to see them and sam adored spending time with them. We were all very sad when we had to say goodbye. They headed up north whie we went down to the bay area.
Took sam to his first baseball game and he had a blast. He was really keen to catch a foul ball but unfortunatey we were sitting in the wrong part of the stadium. Next time we will get tickets behind home plate. He is now a confirmed As fan and was gutted when is baseball cap was stolen out of the rental car. We spent two days playing in SF-dad came down on the first day to go with us to exploratorium. It is a hands on science museum and sam was well and truly in his element. Not sure he understood all the experiments but he had fun doing them. I think we all did. We also go to spend time with my cousin medea and her family. They kindly took us out to dinner and sam fell in love with her boys all over again. Her sons are 15 and 10 and talk about hero worship. Sam was enthralled and spent the whole evening playing with them (we brought lego!) and was gutted when we had to go. I was impressed at how patient max and dylan were with sam, they didn't seem to mind the fact that he was 5. they all got on so well that we adults were able to catch up on everything.
We said goodby to M on father's day as he had to return home, while we went to spend a few days with my aunt and uncle. It was so nice to see them. we had a pool party the first day, my cousin and her 5 year old son came as did a friend of my aunt who had 3 children. We were in the pool all afternoon and you have never heard so much laughter. I think sam drank half the pool between giggles. The children all got on really well, no squabbles or tantrums at all. The next day we went to the Jelly belly factory, where they make jelly belly jelly beans. We did a tour of the factory and then headed off to the shop for lots of free samples. I think that sam had more jelly beans in one morning than he has had in his whole life! His fav were the root beer ones.
we were also able to spend the day with an old school friend and her husband. I hadn't seen her for many years so it was nice to be able to visit in person. Sam loved playing with her cats and dogs, though not sure they felt the same. We visited a ghost town and the local zoo with them, but had to call it a day when temps climbed over 100. I love the heat but it felt like we were baking in an oven. At least it was not humid. We had a wonderful visit with my aunt and uncle and were so sad when we had to go. I hope that we will be able to go back and visit soon.
So now we are back to reality and all that entails. This week is pretty quiet-my main job is to plan the 4th of July session I in charge of for our home ed group. Am distinctly short of ideas-except maybe for a game of softball. Sam thinks we should make a giant paper mache model of the US but I think that is was too ambitious for one session. I will do some posters about the flag, the national anthem, the declaration and so forth but am short on things for the kids to actually do. Off to trawl the internet for inspiration.
Friday, June 02, 2006
sunshine at last
what a glorious day, shame we spent most of it running around doing jobs. We did manage to get back in the afternoon and the garden really came into its own. sam spent ages in the sand box creating a dino excavation site for his playmobil people while I was a very lazy mom and sat and read the paper in the sunshine. Even the cats were out enjoying the nice weather. Marquesa couldn't understand why the birds did not want to be friends with her!
Sam picked out a few lego toys and knex for the plane with money very kindly sent by M's aunt. He has been very good about saving them until the day, though he complained bitterly about it to the tesco's lady and to M's aunt when he phoned to thank her. I have squirrled them into his carry on so hopefully out of site out of mind. One of my overwhelming memories of childhood holidays was the excitement of picking out books and toys for the trip. Mom and I would go to the bookstore on base and I would be allowed to choose a few titles for the trip. Waiting to read them was so hard and once or twice when I read them before the trip I was so disapointed because I then had nothing new for the long drive or plane trip. Sam is equally excited about his books and toys and hopefully they will keep him amused for 11 hours as the movies on board look dire.
We have had a good week, most of our friends from pborough have been over for a visit so we haven't done much formal work. Instead we have both had a ball catching up with friends. In fact sam was so disapointed when I reminded him that no one would be coming over to play today that I had to remind him that we would be seeing lots of friends over the weekend.
M's family is coming for a bbq tomorrow (fingers crossed for nice weather) and we are going to my goddaughter's christening on sunday. There will be lots of children at both events so hopefully he will be so tuckered out that he will have a nice long sleep on the plane!
Sam picked out a few lego toys and knex for the plane with money very kindly sent by M's aunt. He has been very good about saving them until the day, though he complained bitterly about it to the tesco's lady and to M's aunt when he phoned to thank her. I have squirrled them into his carry on so hopefully out of site out of mind. One of my overwhelming memories of childhood holidays was the excitement of picking out books and toys for the trip. Mom and I would go to the bookstore on base and I would be allowed to choose a few titles for the trip. Waiting to read them was so hard and once or twice when I read them before the trip I was so disapointed because I then had nothing new for the long drive or plane trip. Sam is equally excited about his books and toys and hopefully they will keep him amused for 11 hours as the movies on board look dire.
We have had a good week, most of our friends from pborough have been over for a visit so we haven't done much formal work. Instead we have both had a ball catching up with friends. In fact sam was so disapointed when I reminded him that no one would be coming over to play today that I had to remind him that we would be seeing lots of friends over the weekend.
M's family is coming for a bbq tomorrow (fingers crossed for nice weather) and we are going to my goddaughter's christening on sunday. There will be lots of children at both events so hopefully he will be so tuckered out that he will have a nice long sleep on the plane!
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