Hand surgery

Today was another busy day with school closed due to snow and Rhiannon scheduled for hand surgery starting at 7:30 am.  Sounds like Rhodri, Tryfan and Rhiannon just did what they had to do and they spent nearly the whole day at the East Grinstead Peanut Gallery (medical ward for kids). By all accounts it sounds like they were very well cared for and had nothing but good things to say about the staff and the experience itself.

Rhiannon had broken two bones in her 3rd metatarsil on her left hand (i.e. some of the small bones inside her 'ring finger' part of the hand had broken), and she needed surgery to put some kind of wire in there to help it grow back together. She woke up really grumpy because she wanted to have a white cast that people could sign their names on, but apparently they don't really do that anymore for this type of injury. She did get a cool purple foam sling to help protect the arm. Anyway, she will get lots of special treatment from Rhods and Tryfan I'm sure, and I can't wait to get home this weekend!

Snow day in the hood

... and what a crazy day this ended up being! Fortunately, it went as well as it possibly could have, given all the unusual things going on. First of all, Tuesday morning it started snowing and schools immediately announced they were going to be closed for the day. Normally this is great news! But today, I was in Houston and Rhodri had to fly to Dublin, Rhiannon had just broken her hand and now both kids were off school. Thank goodness for friends!

Emma ended up looking after her two plus our two all day and most of the evening while Rhodri flew to Dublin for a meeting and then was also able to fly back. While nearly all other flights to the UK were canceled on this day, most flights in/out of Gatwick were fine because Gatwick airport had invested in snow removal equipment several years ago after a couple of snowy winters (2010-2011).

Simon, Rhiannon, Charles, Margo, Emma, Sophie, Oscar and Tryfs out in the snow

I was monitoring the situation via text with Rhodri and Emma, but it was awful to not be able to help!
Looks like they were able to have some fun though. And most importantly, it all went according to plan with Rhods picking up the kids from Emma and getting home around 10:30pm.

Bad news on a Monday!

I made it to Houston last night and then this morning at breakfast I got a text from Rhodri which said that Rhiannon had broken her hand at school!

I can't believe she is smiling in this picture. Poor thing. But she is a tough girl..

She will need to have surgery on Wednesday, and Rhodri is supposed to fly to Dublin tomorrow for the day, and its supposed to snow(!!) and all this crazy stuff that I am not home for.  Boo

Weekend on Peaks Island

We got the news that Aunt Carol passed away last Monday (Feb 12th) and it was nice that my Mom and Aunt Kim could be there for some of her final days and to keep Jackie company. Since I needed to go to Houston for a week at the end of Feb anyway, I ended up being able to detour for a few days to Maine on my way.
I flew London to Boston on Thurs Feb 22nd, then got right onto the Concord Coach Lines bus up to Portland, then a quick taxi to the ferry terminal, then the 5:35pm ferry to Peaks Island where I was met by Val who drove me to Jackie's house! A very smooth journey indeed. 

Jackie and I had a quiet but special weekend together. We just talked and hung out, and went for the occasional drive around the island or to pick up bits and pieces from Hannigan's market. I got to meet some of the characters that have been a big part of her & Carol's life - Val and Macey primarily. And although it is late February, the weather was quite mild and beautiful.

 The morning I left it was starting to snow, and Macey gave me a lift to the 10:00am ferry so I could be met by dear Kara on the Portland side, then driven to the airport for my 12:25 flight. That flight ended up being delayed by 2 hours which meant I missed my connection in Detroit and had to be rebooked onto another flight, but I got to Houston eventually!

The Long Man of Wilmington

We went on a nice family pub walk today. We parked at the Plough and Harrow pub near Litlington and then set off on a 5 km circuit walk to see the Long Man.

 Then we arrived back to the car and the pub in perfect time to sit for our 3:30 reservation for lunch/dinner. It was a really cozy pub with excellent food, and felt really great to be there after our good hike.

 The whole point of the hike was to go back the "Long Man of Wilmington", but of course when you are walking on the ridge above it or even the paths next to it. you don't really see the Long Man very well! Here is a photo from the car as we were passing on our drive home.

Garden work

Today was a rather glorious day, and we gently worked in the back garden. Sam came over for a little bit, too, and Rhodri showed the three how to use certain tools in a proper way. They were building some shelves for the shed, and it all went fairly well.

In the meantime, I decided to rake. It felt good to be outside in the cool fresh air, but was a bit difficult to not overdo it!

Last night we went to see 'Black Panther' in the cinema, and that was pretty good actually. Afterwards we had dinner at the Cinema restaurant across the road.

 Later in the day, the troops cleaned out the footwell of the BMW where poor little Alfie had barfed his meal up the day he came to us last week. Fair play to the kids for putting on brave faces and cleaning it up.

Half term

We had fairly low key half term. No grand adventures, no travel, no out of town visitors, nuthin. In fact, after Rhodri arrived back home on Monday, I started feeling really crappy and ended up staying in bed for all of Tuesday and Wednesday. But the kids had some fun with a few of their friends, and actually we also ended up dog-sitting all week.

The kids made forts and relaxed, and generally took it easy. They are reaally great kids, I have to say. So easy going and undemanding. We are really lucky to have them!

Aunt Carol

A couple of weeks ago, Aunt Carol moved into hospice in Portland, Maine near her and Jackie's home on Peaks Island. This is a sad time for everyone as we prepare to say goodbye. She has been so dearly loved and admired by so many people around the world in the communities she has been a part of.  Now, today, we got word that she has passed away.
Here are some photos that Mom and Kim scanned and shared.

In our own stomping grounds

Today was a stunning day to wake up to.
Tryfan went for a bike ride with Blythe to the Cat Center while I went to pick up Rhiannon from her sleep over, then we all went for a walk with the Mills family. The ol' Ashdown Forest is not very photogenic, but we had a gorgeous time out together - boys walking together, girls walking together, and Mamas walking together with dog running amongst the 3 pairs of us.

We finished off at our house for cups of tea and then called it a day.

Start of half term

We had kind of a funny start to half term yesterday. Normally there is Friday Football at Cumnor House School, but since Rhodri is away and Gordon is busy with other stuff, it ended up being cancelled. But since the main mode of communication right now seems to be Facebook and not all of us do Facebook, Cat and Bruno didn't get the message. Poor Bruno ended up running nearly all the way home in the dark and cold, and Cat happened to see him on her way to our house! Poor thing. Anyway, they both came in and had some dinner and drinks and we got the half term off to a good start.

Our real fun happened today when all 5 of us went to Crawley to go shopping, then I took Rhiannon to a birthday sleepover, then reunited with Cat and the boys to watch a football (soccer) match: Crawley Town vs Grimsby. This was Tryfan's first live football game ever and the first I'd been to in this country. It was very exciting! It was also very cold - 3 degrees C (37 F) and sleeting rain and wind!

It was a pretty exciting game and Crawley ended up winning 3-0. I think we will be back to watch another game later in the season - hopefully on a slightly less miserable day. Tryfan ended up buying a warm-up jacket with the Crawley Town Red Devils logo on it which I think he will be wearing a lot in future weeks and months.

After the game, we went bowling and then out to dinner at Chiquito's, a Mexican restaurant. These two were being super annoying and obnoxious boys, but we let them get away with it since they don't get out much and were having the Best Day Ever! 

Eventually we left the restaurant and I drove us all home. 

The annual trip

Right now Rhodri is on his annual trip to Norway/ Sweden to go assist in the Arctic Training and Expedition course with Petter. He left yesterday and will be back next Monday. Hope he has a good trip! In the mean time, I am holding down the fort by doing the school runs and working from home. Fine by me!

Crazy Czech family

Over the past year, we have gotten to know a family from Prague when they moved nearby and their son Tomas started playing rugby on Tryfan's team in Haywards Heath.

Martine, Tomas, Ema and Lukasz

Then when Rhodri and I went to visit Prague last year, we were kindly provided a city tour by Lukasz the dad. Now they are heading back to Prague. They had to be out of their house by Jan 31st but needed to stay in the area until Feb 9th, so they have been staying with various friends and driving around with all their possessions in their van. They stayed with us last night and we had a really nice evening with them. We said goodbye this morning, but I'm sure we will see them again.

What makes them crazy (in a good way) is the fact that they just up and moved to England (picking a spot on the map and committing to a house to rent without having ever seen it) without knowing anyone here, purely so that their kids could learn English. Martine was/is a lawyer back in Prague but of course couldn't practice that in England so she just did volunteer work in a charity shop while Lukasz traveled back and forth. Anyway, we had some good times with them and I'm sure we will reunite one of these days soon.