Bedgebury

Today we went cycling at Bedgebury Pinetum. 

We had been there once before a long time ago without bikes, but it was fun to be just a little bit older and go back. It takes nearly an hour to get there, even though its not far as the crow flies! Its an interesting place - there is a distinct lack of maps so you have to either buy a map of the property or else nose your way around. There are 10 different play areas hidden throughout the property with cycle paths weaving around but not always within sight of them. So its extra fun to stumble upon whole new play areas! The terrain was not flat and so we did have a couple of tired kids by the end, but it was a fun day.
Then on the way home, we stopped for a pint at the Nevill Crest and Gun pub, which we have driven past several times in the past and said "Ooh, that looks like a nice pub". It was raining when we got there so kind of nice to sit inside and be cozy.

Then we went home and had a quiet Saturday evening!

Kitten Party

This afternoon we the "Kitten Party" that Rhiannon has been begging for. This was to celebrate the kittens being with us for 2 weeks. Or maybe it is 3 weeks by now? Anyway, whatever excuse. So she and I called around to the various friends she wanted to invite and we made it happen.

Thomas, Sam, Gabs, Tryfan, Oliver, Rhiannon, Sophie, Bruno and Jake (Oscar and Valentin not pictured)

We adults (i.e. Mums + Rhodri) sat around having snacks with prosecco and enjoying the scene. It was a really fun afternoon.

Nia, Cat, Rhodri and Emma with Sasha hidden somewhere while the kids play in the background

 The kittens and Bentley did get a lot of attention, and all of the kids invited seemed to genuinely want to play with them, but I don't know if the kittens themselves were quite as appreciative!

Sam with Eli and Jake & Valentin with Bentley

 The kids tried to hook Bentley up to the red sled and get him to pull them around, but Bentley is far too wise now and really does not cooperate with those sorts of activities anymore!

Sam with Eli, Bruno, Jack, Val and Gabs trying to get Bentley to pull the sled

For most of the party, all the kids were in the lower part of the garden but at one point they came marching out chanting something about pee and poo.

Chanting disgusting lyrics for our benefit

The whole gang again (minus Oscar and Val)

The party went from 4-7pm and everyone brought some food to share while Rhodri grilled sausages for the masses. Thanks to everyone for coming! It was really fun. And such a treat to have ongoing warm summer weather too!

Cousin reunion at last

We were so excited to have Nia, Gabriel and Valentin come stay with us this week!

It was really fun - as always - to have them around. True, there were a lot of loud and crazy moments but all good, as they say.  They arrived on Monday, then yesterday I worked from home and it was a bit manic but we made it through. We decided in the late afternoon that we'd have a party on Thursday, so that gave us something to prepare for.

Making Star Wars cookies

SO stoked to be served pizza dinner while watching a DVD movie

Today the troops had a big day out in Forest Row and Hartfield. I was at work so didn't get to play, but Nia and I went to yoga in the evening for the 2nd time (first was on Mon night) and that was great.

Typical scene - parallel play with Legos and building blocks.

We are all excited about our "Kitten Party" tomorrow! We've asked people to bring "kids, some food to share, and low expectations". It was Rhiannon's idea because she wanted to celebrate us having the kittens for 2 weeks. But any excuse for a party, really, is a good one in our household!

Reunion

We went into London last night while the kids had a sleepover at Sophie and Oscar's house. We took the train in and meet up with Jon Scoufield (Scoff), Rhodri & Caroline Thomas and some of their friends.

Ian, Jo, Julie, Rhodri T, Caroline, Rhodri L, me and Scoff

We had dinner in some fancy(ish) restaurant in Covent Garden

And then we took the last train home which left Victoria station at 1am. We finally got to sleep around 3 and had a quiet day today to recover. It was really fun though.

Childcare in the summer

Rhodri has taken the brunt of the child care duties this summer, though I've been working from home 2 days a week to try and help out. To be fair, the kids have been great. They are normally fine to be left to their own devices and just get on with doing whatever they want (except for the rule of no watching telly after 9am). As we live in a pretty social location, it is not uncommon for herds of kids to be seen migrating from one house to another. Our friend Ian has been on child care duty for his kids Anna and Ori and lives just down the road, so he and Rhodri have had some time together.

Evening in the back garden with Ian and Rhodri

Tryfan, Anna, Rhiannon and Ori

Unfortunately Ian is a really good ping pong player and he has been teaching Rhodri some new skills so I haven't been able to gain any ground in my mission to win at least one game against him, but Ian promised to teach me some skills too... 

Drusilla's

Today the kids and I joined our friends Liz, Max and Ollie for a day at Drusilla's. I've never actually had a hankering to come here because it seems a lot of money and its kind of far away, but Liz had a coupon for £5/ guest and they are members so come here pretty often! It was a gorgeous day and we made the most of it.

Tryfan, Max, Ollie and Rhiannon on the fun swing

Its a strange place because the first half of the park is a zoo which is really nicely laid out with varied and lush enclosures for the animals, and then the other half is a massive play area with a wading pool "Explorer's Lagoon" area. We spent plenty of time in each section, and the kids all played and ran together in a pack while Liz and I chatted.

Rhiannon in the water with Ollie, Tryfan and Max on the side squirting water at each other

 Liz and I found some prime real estate in the shade on the grass with a bench in a position where we could see all the kids, and we happily sat for awhile drinking coffee and chatting. So great!

Then we all had ice creams and had to go home because it was nearly 4pm

So it was a fabulous day all around, and that was after we'd had an early morning visit with our friends Corinne, Oriel and Arthur who came by to meet the kittens and have some breakfast. 

Springer back in action

Today we went on a family bicycle outing, and Bentley came too. We rode on the converted railway track from Forest Row to Hartfield. In Norway, we used to take Bentley for a run on the bike quite often by using the fabulous Springer bike attachment. But since moving to England 3+ years ago, we hadn't used it until today.

We were going to stop in Hartfield for a snack, but I talked everyone into riding a little further so we could check out a possible canoe launch point...

Checking out the very small stream which would have been too small for our canoe

Rhiannon did NOT want to ride further to check out the stream

Stopping for a snack in Hartfield

It was great to get some fresh air today. It's been a really tough week for me as the calendar has marched towards and finally passed the 2nd anniversary of my Dad's passing on 2 August 2011. We all miss him so much.

Adjustment period

Ever since the kittens arrived, Bentley hasn't been in very good spirits. We don't know whether he ate some of their rich kitten food and that upset his tummy or if he is resentful of the new four-legged intruders to his terrain, but he hasn't been feeling very well. Lots of laying down with his backed turned to everyone and loose bowels... not good. We've tried to give him lots of extra attention though.

 Meanwhile, the kitties are adjusting just fine. They have been sleeping in this dolly cradle that Rhiannon turned into a kitten bed.

 Rhiannon continues to be a good Mommy to them and gives them loads of attention.

 Tryfan has been playing with the kittens a lot too, but their claws seems to come out more often when he holds them!

New members of the family

This weekend we added two more members to our family: Sugar and Eli.
Sugar is the white sister kitten and Eli is the ginger and white brother kitten. I said to Rhiannon, "But she has two dark spots on her head - that's not like sugar." And she said "Yeah, but our sugar bowl looks like that sometimes when you put dirty spoons in it." Ok, fair enough.
Tryfan named "his" kitten Eli after our friend who lives in Stehekin, who Tryfan totally looks up to and considers one of his best friends.

Eli is very brave and curious, and isn't afraid of Bentley or anybody else. He is always eager to explore new terrain.

 

 Sugar is a bit more conservative, but she is very playful and social too.

Rhiannon has been an amazing little Mommy to the kittens, playing with them for hours and making sure they have everything they need.

We went to see them in Five Ashes (~30 min away) on Friday evening and then did some shopping for supplies before picking them up on Saturday to bring them home with us. They settled right in and have had the run of the laundry room as their space. They especially like playing in and around the shoe bench - batting the shoe laces, jumping through the holes in the bench, and playing hide-and-seek from each other.

Eli fell asleep with his head inside my shoe!

We are glad to have them in our family and hope they live long happy lives with us!

Car Booting adventure

Today we sold stuff at the "Mammoth Car Boot Sale" in Polegate.  What an experience that was!
We had been preparing all week for it by making piles around the house of items that we were ready to part with. Fortunately my friend Cat kindly agreed to come along and help, and our friends Paula and Ava from down the road came along to sell stuff also. They were in the car behind us so the kids were able to hang out together a little bit.  It was a really hot day with clear skies and lots of people hunting for bargains.

Cat showing off the wares with Rhiannon and Tryfan helping

We didn't do a good job of keeping a close eye on exactly how much money we made, but it was somewhere around £60. Any transaction that R or T facilitated meant that they got to keep the proceedings, so R came away with £23 and T came away with £16, and they were really stoked about it.

We decided to call it a day around 12:30pm so we loaded the car back up with the tables and unsold items. Everyone was really hot and uncomfortable by then.

A grouchy, sweaty face after getting bumped by a folding table

We stopped at a charity shop (thrift store) on our drive back and left the unsold items for them to deal with so that we could go home with a nearly empty car. Rhodri was really stoked about that!

Summertime stuff to do

It has been really hot the past few days - around 85-90 F! It is SO wonderful to have a dose of sunshine and warmth in this place.

Playing with the hose and umbrellas is a favorite activity

 On Sunday morning we went to Tulley's Farm to pick strawberries. They were pretty small berries... "not as good as Grandma's strawberries"... but it was fun picking and eating.  We feasted on berries throughout the day and then made a plan to make strawberry jam a few days later...

Because it is [finally] coming to the end of the school year, we needed to start figuring out what presents we were going to give the teachers. Voila! A perfect solution! So then last night after school I taught the kids how to make jam. They actually did the whole process themselves except for pouring the jam into some of the sterilized jars. They ended up getting into bed pretty late but it was a worthwhile effort.

This collage of photos was turned into the jam label and the thank-you card for the teachers

Cheeky jam makers

Village people

We had a 70's-80's Disco at the village hall on Friday night and it was super fun! A few of the girls came over ahead of time so we could get ready together.

Ava and Rhiannon applying eye shadow to Chris

Ava and Rhiannon got really excited about applying makeup

Chris, Sasha, me, Paula and Cat ready to party

The whole evening was really fun - Warren was the DJ again (same as the New Years Eve party) and there was a fish-n-chips van that came by at a pre-arranged time to deliver individual portions that were included with the ticket price. We were raising money for the PTA to buy some sports equipment for the school so it was a worthy cause. Originally we were going to get a babysitter but in the end, Rhodri stayed home to babysit and I had a night with the girls. 

BFF

Rhiannon and Ava are so happy to live just a few houses apart. It is extra nice that Ava has a swimming pool at her house, especially with all this gorgeous weather we have been having! And look, they both have the same exact purple leotard!

Auntie Sions, the haircut and a special birthday

Auntie Sions and Lorenzo came to visit this weekend and it was SO great to see them, even if we didn't actually see very much of them. They cooked us the most gorgeous Italian dinner on Sunday and we all enjoyed watching the Wimbledon final when Andy Murray won. 

When it was time for Sunday bath and bed, Rhiannon decided it was time that she got her hair chopped off.

Sions and Rhi

So that is what we did!

Sunday dinner with Sions and Lo

Today was also my Daddy's birthday. 

He would have been 64 today. Although we didn't bake a cake in his honor this year, he would have loved to spend the day watching Wimbledon and enjoying family and friends. And since the kids knew it was his birthday today, we talked about him and shared memories of him a lot today and that felt good. We sure do miss him.

Back to reality

We had a really great day yesterday with all my family and hanging around the pool. We had a mellow dinner altogether along with Grandma Bucky, Aunt Hobby, Judy and Joe at the hotel. And while we were eating there was a big lightning storm in the sky all around us. After dinner, my 3 siblings, their spouses, Rhodri and I just walked around the property chatting amongst ourselves and watching the spectacular lightning in the distance. It was a beautiful and special evening, and I'm grateful to my Mom for looking after Rhiannon and Tryfan so we could do these adult things.

On Monday morning, we were all straight back into the pool as early as we could get out there. Then we reluctantly got packed up and checked out of the hotel to start our journeys back home.

With Uncle Will in the back seat of the minivan

We did a bit of grocery shopping and then dropped Will, Rebecca and Phoebe at the Tucson airport before driving 2+ hours to Phoenix to go to Cabela's and then to the Phoenix airport so we could fly back to London.

Rhiannon w/ her baby Maya and her favorite baby cousin Phoebe

We had a leisurely dinner at the airport and then flew overnight to Heathrow. All of us slept a bit on the plane but then we had a bit of a problem coming through immigration because we didn't have the kids' British passports with us. That was kind of a pain and set us back about 30 minutes while we were detained. But then eventually we got home and it was all good.

Wedding aftermath

We were some of the first people to arrive at the reception. Lucky us! My thoughtful cousins had put together gift bags for all the children which was full of art supplies so they could busy themselves on the carpet while adults sipped beverages.

The scene at the start of the reception

Will, Heidi and John

me and Rhods

Heidi, me, Grandma Bucky and Kristin

John and Heidi

me next to the gorgeous bride!!!

This morning we went to Judy and Joe's house for a farewell brunch..

Tryfan, Grandma Bucky, Phoebe, Grandma, and Aunt Hobbie

Aunt Hobbie, Rebecca and Rhodri

Rebecca, me, Rhiannon and Grandma (Mom)

 ..and then we went back and spent all afternoon in the pool!

Rhodri, John, Heidi, Will, Kristin and Rhiannon