Happy Birthday To You!

In late June Ady turned 4 years old!  It was a much anticipated birthday for her.  She spoke of it to everyone she knew months before it arrived- and had some people convinced that it was going to be a life-changing day for her.  The slightest mention of any birthday or the number 4 on TV or in random conversation would get her SO excited and would send her straight to the topic of her own birthday.  She would say things like, "Guess whose birthday is coming up? ... This girl's!" and then point to herself. "And guess how old I'm going to be? ...4! (mouth wide open in happy astonishment)"

Since we live so close, we thought it might be fun to let Ady pick out one of her birthday gifts from Hamley's Toy Store, one of the most famous toy stores in the world.  For months, Ady had been telling people all she wanted for her birthday was a little pig.  We all shrugged our shoulders and thought she was just jabbering something to answer the question.  Who just wants a little pig?- and what does that mean, anyways?  We figured she had no idea what she was talking about.  In the meantime, we had all forgotten about this and went on with our lives.  We wandered around the five or so floors of Hamleys and Ady was not feeling want for anything.  [She is much like her dad!  They are both just so happy and content with what they have that they don't crave anything new (which is wonderful- except when you are trying to get them a gift!)]  After almost leaving with nothing, I led Ady over to a wall of animal figurines, thinking she might find some great peacock or ostrich or crazy animal to add to her collection.  And do you know what Ady found?  A little pink baby pig (the size of pen lid that cost only 2 pounds)!  It all came flooding back to us.  I guess she was serious about the pig!  Our trip to Hamley's was a success after all!  And Ady's wish for a pig was granted.  It was so adorable to me that she was not wanting any of the flashy, big, button-pushing, crazy expensive toys.  She just wanted her little pig and was beaming when we found one.

                      

The night before the big day, we decorated her bedroom while she was fast asleep.  The girl LOVES Dora the Explorer- so we created a gift hunting adventure for her.  She had fun following the map and discovering her hidden presents, Dora style.  Her favorite thing, though, was finding all the birthday signs that said her name on them throughout the flat, especially the one above the loo.

One of the things Ady was anticipating most about her birthday was bringing to life her self-created recipe of the infamous "Chocolate Milk Cake."  This included: 3 apples, 5 scoops of chocolate milk,    Stir.  Cherry on top.  It sounded more like chocolate apple soup to me, but I thought it would be fun for her to actually make it according to her recipe and see if it turned out to her standards.  So we had a go.  

That day at school, Ady's class was taking a field trip to Kentish Town City Farm (and I got to go along).  We had fun seeing the animals and learning all about them.  None of the photos turned out very good- but these 2 (below) show a glimpse.

After class, Ady and I headed to the store so she could pick out a special birthday cake and some ice cream.  She chose a cake with flowers on it and some strawberry/vanilla swirl ice cream.  That night after Tyler got home, we sang "Happy Birthday" to her and scarfed down some dessert.  It had been a very eventful day!

The party continued a few days later with some friends from school.  Ady and her closest friend, Ruruko, have their birthdays only about a week apart.  We all got together at our flat to frost and decorate birthday cupcakes.

Grandmas and Grandpas from both sides of the family made Ady's birthday extra special by sending some surprises to her in the mail.  What a lucky girl!

Happy Birthday to our sweet Ady!

God Bless America!

I am still catching up on the blog- but I am getting closer...  I now present early June... 

After 9 months away, we returned to Utah (and the sunshine!) the first week of June.  Our schedule was so jam-packed that, in the end, there was much left undone and many people we weren't able to see- but we had a great time with the time that we had.  If only we could have had 1 more week!  

It was surprising to me how easy it was to plug right back in and exist in Utah as if we had never left.  It felt so natural and familiar that it seemed like more of an odd dream to think that our life, home and our belongings were waiting for us thousands of miles away across the globe.  

One thing that was instantly different and noticeable about returning to Utah was the amount of space that each person/thing could enjoy.  So much room to breathe and move!  I literally sensed all the space available per person in multiple dimensions of life.  In London, every belonging is smaller, in general, and serves multiple purposes, personal space goes as far as the inner-most layer of your own skin, and everyone/thing is allowed much less space to exist.  It made me realize how much I truly miss space -and also how much I deeply appreciate the freedom and peace of mind that extra space provides.

Here is a quick run down of some of the things we did while in town:

* I took the final test for my class

* I got surgery done on my eyes- so I can now see without contacts!  Wahoo!  I was expecting to get Lasik, but found out that I have thin corneas, so the doctors recommended I get PRK, which takes much longer to recover from.  But I went forward with it anyway- and am very happy with the result.

  

* We caught our nephew Bryson's last baseball game of the season while enjoying some greatly missed Cafe Rio and visiting with family.

* Because most EVERYTHING is much cheaper in the U.S. than here, we had to get a ton of shopping and other things done.  A couple of products we have missed the most in jolly England are good quality floss and mouthwash- the stuff there is awful and expensive.  I now understand a little more why Brits have bad teeth.  We loaded up on clothing and shoes and other necessities.

* Ady got to play with her cousins!  Seeing her play with them made me have guilt that we live so far away.  She loved so much being one of the gang.  Thank you to Jen and my parents for letting Ady stay over with you.

* We celebrated Ady's 4th Birthday early with family

* Tyler spent a couple days visiting his friends and co-workers in the Salt Lake office.

* We spent time with family playing at Tracy Aviary, making sushi, playing at the bounce house, & going to Seven Peaks.

* We stopped in to see how our house in Stansbury was holding up, to meet the couple (and their dogs :( ) living there, and to check in with a few of our friends and neighbors.

* We took a drive over Guardsman's pass to get some much longed for time in the mountains and a breath of fresh air.  We couldn't go too far past the top though, because a front was moving in and the visibility through the low clouds got poor quickly.  It was awesome to watch the clouds dropping so quickly over the mountains and down into the meadow.  The temperature at the top was a chilly 30 degrees!  We weren't expecting that.  We took a quick jaunt from the car (in our shorts and flip flops) to get out into the clouds and go touch a patch of snow.

* We loved staying at the Baron's condo in Park City.  It was so beautiful and quiet up there.  A BIG BIG thank you to Clark and Joyce for your generosity with your condo and your vehicle!!!  We had some bad luck and timing though, because the vehicle sprung a major radiator fluid leak and had to be towed away, and we discovered a leak in the plumbing at the condo that subsequently required some major (and probably expensive) repairs.  Oh dear!  I think we brought some bad luck with us.  We felt awful to leave Clark and Joyce with these problems.  So in addition to a big thank you, we want to send you a big sorry as well.  And a big sorry to my grandma and grandpa Ed who we could not go visit the night of the car trouble.

* Without a vehicle, we discovered how great the Park City bus system is!  We were genuinely impressed!  Park City really is a great place.  We had a nice time there.

*  We enjoyed visiting Swaner Nature Preserve in Park City.  We had signed up to attend an Owl Prowl hike where we would see and hear the owls there, but they misquoted the time and location, so we couldn't take a bus to the new location and we also had to leave early to get Ady to bed- so maybe we'll try another time.  Sigh...

* We had a great time eating some mexican food and chatting with friends.

It was so nice to see our family and friends again and we miss you all.  The end of our trip came way too quickly and we found it a bit difficult to leave.  Living in London has been an amazing learning and growing process for us.  It has helped us learn a lot about ourselves and things we want in our lives.  Going back to Utah after being away for 9 months brought clarity and ideas for our next phase in life.

Here are a few photos from our trip.  (We were still without a camera for much of the time- so thank you to those who shared photos with us).

The TRUE Story of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee

We were so excited that we would be in London for 2012.  It was the year of both the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics.  Queen Elizabeth celebrated 60 years on the throne this year- and a party unlike any other was in order... including a flotilla carrying thousands of people down the Thames!  This was something we needed to see.   ...Or so we thought.

Daily Show: The Queen Who Stares at Boats

Click the link above and play the video if you want to see how the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Flotilla really went down.  

Despite the BBC reporters' forced enthusiasm, trying to convince TV audiences that this was "the most amazing thing we have all ever seen!," the flotilla was a complete flop!  The weather was largely to blame, I imagine.  It was a cold and gray day with pouring rain.  I don't think the Queen was too amused either.  She did not even break a smile once.  And to add to it, her husband, Prince Phillip, was hospitalized that night.

We were just a bit embarrassed that we postponed our trip to Utah for this "amazing" event.


The day before the official flotilla, we took a walk along the Thames to see some of the boats.

This was what our Diamond Jubilee party looked like- strawberry shortcake and packing.

Barons Come to Visit, Barcelona and Cruise

Our May began with a visit from Tyler's parents.  It was great to see more family.  Almost as soon as they arrived in this crazy city, we were off on a new adventure.  We rented a car and drove out to the Cotswolds to see what the English countryside had to offer.  The bed & breakfast we stayed at had a gorgeous view of the green hills and blossoming trees and the birds were singing all around us.  Poor Joyce was understandably motion sick after being transported around for a straight 24 hours.  Some of the highlights of our overnight excursion included stops at Oxford, Stratford-on-Avon to see the Shakespeare sites, Lower & Upper Slaughter (where we popped our tire- but luckily had a spare! -and enjoyed a great lunch at a lovely little cafe situated at an old mill), and Bath (where we arrived 15 minutes too late to show Clark and Joyce the Roman bath house- so sat in on a meeting inside the incredible Bath Abbey church instead).  We returned to London Monday evening vowing to never rent a car again.  Poor Tyler, our fearless driver, did an amazing job navigating us all around in a stick shift car through the roads and highways- but we all were relieved to get back to the comfort of home and be rid of a vehicle.  I'd say we did alright- with only a flat tire and a traffic violation from driving in the bus lane.  

Before we knew it, Clark and Joyce were on a plane again, headed off to Madrid for a few days. We met them again on Saturday in Barcelona to set sail on a Mediterranean cruise with none other than the infamous Costa cruise line.  We tried to convince ourselves that OUR captain wouldn't crash US into the shore, sink OUR ship and run for the hills.

It was a 5 night, 6 day cruise: *Barcelona, Spain-  *Palma de Mallorca-  *Ajaccio, Corsica-  *Marseille, France *Savona, Italy-  *Barcelona.  I know I am sounding like a broken record by now- but the weather was a bit chilly.  We saw many great and beautiful sites.  Savona, Italy was especially exciting and quite the experience.  Upon a nice woman's recommendation, we ate at the oldest restaurant in town.  There were stone fired ovens and the people there did not speak a drop of English, or so they said.  When they brought out the fish, it was literally the whole fish on a plate, head and all.  The server spent the next 10 minutes performing the show of extracting the meat from the fish.  Since I can't eat something that is looking at me, I had the chicken- which was equally flavorful and great.  The food tasted delicious and we left with some good memories.

Once back in Barcelona, we spent a couple days seeing the city and enjoying the Gaudi sites.  Here are the highlights.  A quick note:  Unfortunately, we absent-mindedly left our backpack and our camera on the train- and lost all our pictures!!  Although the camera and pictures we took are lost for good, we were lucky that Clark and Joyce were there and have shared their pictures with us.  Most of the following pictures are from various websites- but capture the sites we saw.

The music on the train:

 The Casa Mila Apartments (click the link for more info)

Parc Guell  (Click for more info)

Sagrada Familia (Click for more info)  *This was the most AMAZING!!! and memorable man-made structure I have ever seen.  If ever I belonged to a church, I think this might be a fitting site for worship.  Gaudi, the architect, was inspired by nature- honeycomb, trees, flowers, etc. and it was beautiful beyond compare to any other building we have visited.
To see more pics, click here

Montserrat (Click for more info)
Montserrat Monastery (Click for info)

We had a great time in Barcelona.  The weather was good there, the food was amazing, and the sites were exceptionally beautiful!  Spanish style shwarmas will live in my mind forever.  The tapas were memorable too.   Before we knew it, it was time to return back to London- so we said goodbye to Clark and Joyce and headed for home.  We would see them again soon...

Learning From the Masters

My friend/neighbor from Korea taught me and a few of our other friends how to prepare authentic sushi (back in early May).  I was so excited about this.  Tyler and I love to go out for sushi.  I never feel like we order enough rolls- so now we can make our own and eat as much as we like!  Yum!

Hampton Court Palace

A day trip to Hampton Court Palace with some of Tyler's co-workers in late April.  Another cold, rainy & gray day- but the palace and gardens were beautiful! 

(I wish I could take credit for this picture, but I just found it on the Hampton Court Palace website)

We had fun splashing in the puddles and getting through this giant maze of shrubbery!

A trip to Belgium

To celebrate the end of tax season back in mid-April, we decided to take a trip to Bruges, Belgium.  Bruges (yes- the entire little city!) is a World Heritage Site and was a beautiful place to visit.  It is the "Venice of the north" with an impressive canal system running through the heart of the city.  Medieval architecture gives the city a unique feel. 

The weather, as usual, was not kind.  It was quite cold and rainy the entire time.  We tried to make the best of it, despite this (But it was really, really hard to stay optimistic at times).  

Here is our trip in pictures...  

Let me introduce you to the nectar of the Gods!  This was truly the best orange juice we have ever had!  Because we drank this, we will undoubtedly live to be 100+.  It was absolutely amazing!  This became our tradition almost twice a day while we were there.

  

The sun actually came out for a few minutes once while we went on a boat ride in the canal.

The Frites and Belgian chocolates were to die for!  Yum!

One of the days, we took our rental car and drove 2-3 hours to go see the Keukenhof Tulip Park in Holland.  It was a long and rainy drive, but well worth the wait.  The sun even came out soon after we arrived.  The sites and the smells were intoxicating.  Tulips, tulips everywhere!  So many beautiful gardens lining every walkway for acres and acres.  I will never forget the sweet smell of hyacinth.  This was one of those places that just flat out blow your mind.  Unforgettable!

There was the best petting zoo ever at the Keukenhof.  Ady had a great time there as you can see...  I have no idea what that sheep looking thing is- but I must say he was quite photogenic.

On the last day, we took a drive to a nearby coastal town and touched the ocean.  It was especially cold and windy that day- and quite frankly, we were all ready to call our trip done.  We decided to return the car early and see if we could catch an earlier train home.  Even though we knew to expect it, we were still shocked at how much it cost to refill our gas tank.  It was 60 euros, which is the equivalent of 90, or so US Dollars- for a little car.  We came to the conclusion real fast that renting a car is not at all economical.  Trains and flights are definitely the best way to go.  Cars are so stressful, too!  Oh man, we have become weaklings!

If the cold and rain hadn't worn us down yet, when we arrived back at the Brussels train station, we went to see if we could get on an earlier train.  The clerks were persistently adamant that our tickets were unchangeable.  This meant we had to wait at the dingy, dirty and scummy station for 5 hours!  Unbelievable!  We pleaded with them several times, but they didn't care that we had a 3 year old.  We decided to brave the rain and get out to see what Brussels had to offer.  Unfortunately we must have gone out the wrong side of the station into the most ghetto part of the city because it was a terrible sight.  There were several abandoned buildings, homeless people- and disgusting amounts of human waste all around.  We quickly turned around and went back into the train station to peruse the shops.  Right off the bat, I saw someone steal some headphones from one of the stores.  What was this place?!  And would we seriously be able to last 4 more hours here?!  Soon we decided it might be best to just sit and wait in the chairs right next to our ticket gates.  Luckily, the time seemed to pass by quick enough and after a meal we found ourselves on the train headed back to London. Phew!  It was nice to be back.