Easter

Easter morning! After discovering the clues and prizes that the Easter Bunny left for the kids, we had a nice breakfast and then Rhodri took Rhiannon to the emergency room at the East Grinstead hospital to get an x-ray of her ankle. Not a great way to spend Easter morning, but it seemed like the right thing to do. And it was, because we established that she didn't break anything and just needed crutches for a few days. 

In the meantime, Tryfan and I met Lou, Steve and Arnie for a dog walk in the forest on their side of the forest. It was a glorious morning for us and the dogs were very happy too!

Easter Egg Hunting

Easter isn't Easter without a massive egg hunt! So we invited several families to the Jubilee Green this morning and I hid all the eggs before people arrived. Everyone brought food and drink contributions and we had a brunch of sorts.

 The only sad part - and it was a really sad part - is that Rhiannon sprained her ankle just before the hunt when everyone was running around playing tag on the green. So she didn't get to do much hunting, although Rhodri carried her around on his back for a bit.

So then we went back home where there was another set of eggs hidden round the garden, but this time only for our kids and Sophie & Oscar. In this hunt, we set up a little nest for Rhiannon in the wheelbarrow and she got wheeled round the garden with a keen assistant egg spotter pushing her.

The Easter Rug

We have this tradition of decorating Easter eggs and then using the leftover egg dye to refresh our dining table rug. Somehow we missed it last year but we made up for it this year! First, the decorating...

 Then, the decorating...

Now we are all set for a fresh year of dining over the happy and beautiful rug!

Extra hours

In fact, we got back with enough daylight left in the day from our outing in London that we could do a bit more work on the deck. You can see the excitement in their little faces!

Day out in London

Today we had to get Rhiannon's US passport renewed, so we had to all venture into the big city together for the day. We left the house at 06:30 to catch the 07:02 train to London Victoria, arrive at 08:05 and then make our way to the Embassy without stress for our 09:00 appointment. All went according to plan, and we even got the top front seats on Bus 71 from Victoria to Hyde Park. Awesome start!

In fact, we got there closer to 08:30 and were out of there by 09:15 with the whole day to play with!
First we had breakfast at a nearby cafe in Mayfair, then went into a few shops on Oxford Street. London was pretty empty at this time with fair skies. Ideal!
We took the Tube to London Bridge and went to Borough Market which is ideal for a lunch time visit, but it wasn't quite lunchtime and none of us were hungry, so we just walked around. We crossed the London Bridge at sat on a bench by the river for awhile.

After all this walking, we were starting to get quite hungry but as it was a nice day, many of the desirable looking cafes were full with long wait times. We stumbled upon the Gourmet Burger Kitchen, which totally completely perfectly hit the spot! We sat in a row by the windows and thoroughly enjoyed our meal.


Then we were going to take the water taxi from the Tower of London back to Westminster and then London Victoria to get the train back home, but the wait time was so long we decided to hop on a bus instead. Hurrah for bus journeys! We crept along in traffic on the top deck of a double decker bus and enjoyed the slowness of it. Then we made our train back to East Grinstead and called it a day. It's always exhausting doing a "day out" in London but its cool to be able to do it, especially on a gorgeous spring day in April.

Flat Pack Queen

We finally bought Rhiannon a chest of drawers from Argos, and it arrived in a flat pack!

I had planned to building this for her, but she wanted to do it herself.
She ended up delegating some tasks to Tryfan, but he didn't seem to mind. So the two of them were upstairs banging and then using the powerdrill to put in screws, music blaring the whole time. It did take a couple of days in the end, and there is one section that might need to be painted over because it got installed backwards so looks a bit funny, but it was Rhiannon's project and she saw it through. Hopefully the pride and satisfaction that she must feel now will be enough to use it to keep her clothes nicely folded and put away every day :-).

More deck, then some playtime

We worked all day on the deck, then went to the Coach and Horses for a drink with Bettina, Ole, Casper and Anna Louisa. It was a really hot day today (around 75 F in a sheltered sun lit spot, probably more like 65 F in the wind or shade) and we spent it digging holes for the beam posts and then starting to drill out the old concrete/ brick steps. Hard work!

 Casper came over and 3 of them went to play football at the village green, then Bettina came round and offered to take them all down to the Coach and we could meet them there. Great idea! It was just coming to the end of the day and starting to cool off a bit, and it felt so indulgent to ride our bikes down the lane to the pub and enjoy the garden with our friends.

 Meanwhile the kids were drawn to the sand box, as always! We rode bikes home, which is always a bit of a struggle since it is uphill going home. So there was a bit of grumbling but we made it.

A great day, all in all.

Long lost friends

My long lost friend Polly and her two kids came to visit us this afternoon on their way to a ski holiday in France! They fly out early tomorrow morning so will stay at a hotel in Gatwick tonight, but they made time to stay a few hours with us and it was sooo good to see them. Its been 5 years since the last time we saw them!

 Joe (7) was especially keen to use the hammer to help out on the deck while Rhiannon was in her element looking after Florence (4).

 They stayed for dinner and then headed off in their awesome van.

I really hope its not another 5 years before we see them again!

Day 4 of Operation Deck

Today we got a lot done in the morning under gorgeous sunny skies.

Football camp

Rhiannon has been working every day at Burnt Wood, and then yesterday and today Tryfan has gone to a football camp at Uckfield College which was hosted by the Brighton football team. It has been gorgeous weather - perfect for deck building, horse work and football! Now its the weekend and I don't have to juggle work and decking for a couple of days. Nice.

Operation Deck

We decided to not going anywhere interesting or fun, and instead to Build a Deck at home! And when I say "we", I mean actually all of us 4 Lewises in the house. Work started yesterday when Rhodri and the kids did the measuring of the space and then Rhodri ordered a bunch of supplies. Then today a load of wood arrived, the kids transported it all around to the rear of the house, Rhodri went out and bought a new tool (referred to now as his "new best friend" but which is actually a Makita SDS drill), I did some sweeping and prep work, and then the first bits of ledger board went up against the house.

The way it is supposed to go is that you just put one big long piece of wood and that becomes the ledger board, but in our case there are quite a few complexities - like the air vents, the breeze blocks, and the water outlet - which mean that we have to do several small ledger boards and they all need to be level with each other. A good start to the project, anyway!

18 years

Today was our 18 year wedding anniversary!
It was a fairly normal Monday except that Rhodri was up north in the Peak District all of yesterday afternoon and also all day today. We picked him up from Gatwick airport (where he was returning the rental car) and then drove straight out to dinner to celebrate our anniversary.

We went to the Old House Inn, where I have been a few times before but none of the rest of us have. Decent food, cozy atmosphere, a bit pricey but it was a special occasion after all.

Burnt Wood Farm

A couple weeks ago I met a lady called Jacqui who runs a livery / farm down Tanyard Lane near us, and she said that Rhiannon could come and "muck out" on weekend mornings and through the holidays, so we will be taking her up on that!

Yesterday and today she went down there by herself on her bike (J and I texting each other to confirm arrivals and departures of Rhi). So far so good! 

G-Buck at the rodeo

Right now Grandma Bucky (G-Buck) is visiting Aunt Judy in Arizona for a little change of scene, and I received this great photo of her sitting in the bleachers watching Uncle Joe and cousin Molly compete in a rodeo event!

Apparently Molly won $100 at this event - well done, Cousin.

Clothing boutique

Today was the last day of school for two weeks and now the kids are off on Easter holiday. Woohoo! But first, this evening, there was a clothing boutique sale put on by the PTA at Mary's house. Everyone had been donated clothes for months before the event, so there were a lot of nice items for sale on racks scattered around her house. Entry fee was 5 pounds, and included a glass of prosecco. It was a fun evening which lasted 7:30 - 10pm. I came away with quite a few items and in fact was even wearing many of those items as we left so I didn't have to carry them. It was a great way to end the month. And although I had planned on walking to/from the event, I did manage to get a lift both ways from Claire who I never really see, so that was fun as well. 

Trip to Paris

My new manager is based in Paris, so I went to see him this week - out Wednesday morning, back Thursday night - very civilized! I stayed in a strange but nice little "boutique" hotel near the office which was very close to the Eiffel Tower. In fact on my one night there, I took a stroll to to see it after dinner. It was a relatively warm evening after a really beautiful day, and there were loads of people just sitting around on the grass and on benches near the tower in small groups, hanging out and enjoying life. I enjoyed being able to just wander on my own, though it would have been wonderful to be there with loved ones in a little huddle on the grass as well.


In the actual office where I've been working these two days, there is an historic part of the building which has an old photo of the Schlumberger brothers making some downhole measurements, and next to the photo are the actual holes in the ground which are shown in the photo! Pretty cool.

So tonight I took the Eurostar train back from Paris to London, except that there were a lot of delays along the way which meant that I wouldn't get back home until after 11pm. I made the extremely spontaneous decision to grab my stuff and run off the train when we arrived into Ashford! It hadn't even occurred to me to do this until the train was slowing to a stop already at the platform. I figured I could take a taxi from here straight home and still shave an hour off my travel time. It was exhilarating to do this! And the taxi driver that I found who would take me turned out to be this interesting self-proclaimed "odd jobs man" called DAZ. When I said where I wanted to do and asked if it was too far for him, he didn't flinch and said that he regularly took people as far as they wanted to do - including northern England and even Spain! He drove a mini-bus that he had kitted out to be more of a disco party bus with a big sound system and disco lights in the back. Awesome! This was a nice way to end the trip, and what makes it even better is that tomorrow is the last day of school before Easter holidays and the last day of the month as well. Bring it on.

Mother's Day

This morning Rhodri and Tryfan had to go a rugby festival all morning, but they still brought me coffee and toast in bed along with some gifts. I got an orchid and also some onion bulbs to plant. Then Rhiannon made me a proper breakfast and gave me her present, which was an aromatherapy set and flowers.

Around 11 am, Rhiannon and got the bikes out with the intention of riding down to Burnt Wood Farm on Tanyard Lane. However, it started out not all that great because when we tried to pump the tires up a little bit more, we couldn't get the needle out properly and totally deflated the tire. We spent about 10 minutes thrashing around, and then it was Rhiannon who said, "Hang on, let's think about this." And then she took the pump and needle and figured out a way to get air into the tire without letting air out. Result!

We rode down the road til we got the farm, then turned around and rode back. We mainly were seeing how long it took to ride there and back. It was a gorgeous morning and we had a really nice outing.

In the afternoon the boys came back and we worked in the back garden. In fact, today was the first mow of the year! So exciting. I tried to mow the lawn last weekend and the mower wasn't working so I was extra happy to be able to mow.

It was a great day all in all.

Happy faces

24 hr Survival Event

Rhiannon's class have been studying  Shackleton's journey and Antarctica
Today was a long awaited "Survival Event" that her teacher organized. It started with a morning of bushcraft skills with "Bushcraft Buddha". They lit fires and ate crickets and had a grand time!

Then during lunch I helped Rhodri set up the lavvo and some expedition training equipment at the Danehill Recreation ground across from the school. Then after lunch the class came to learn about proper survival skills with Rhods!

Next up: the whole class is going to spend the night at the school!

Bible art

This week there was an art challenge to create something that represented something from the Bible. It was open to both children and adults actually, but I didn't participate (and neither did Rhodri). My girl Rhiannon, on the other hand, had a very specific vision. Can you tell what this scene is from the Bible?

The rules of the competition were that the submitted entries couldn't be degradable over time. So although Rhiannon's entry was made of cake and marzipan, she took this photo and printed it out as her submission!

Obama Llama

"Obama Llama" is the code phrase that Auntie Sions and the kids made up last year when she was looking after them for a weekend. It means: I'm stressed and I need your cooperation!

So today after swimming when I was frantically trying to hang up laundry, help Rhiannon with her art project, make dinner, and tidy the house in preparation for some girlfriends that I had invited over that evening, I was being a little bit snappy and stressed. Tryfan came up to me and said, "Mom, is this an Obama Llama situation?". I had completely forgotten about this phrase and what it meant, so he reminded me of it and I said YES, it is!  And then Tryfan (bless his heart) said, "What can I do right now that would be the most helpful for you?"  Seriously. Those exact words. It brought tears to my eyes, I tell you. And even now as I am recounting the moment my eyes are welling up. I have such thoughtful, sensitive, sweet children. And although in this particular moment it was Tryfan who stepped up in this way, there have been plenty of occasions when Rhiannon sees that someone needs help or that something is amiss and she takes the initiative to help the person or sort the problem without being asked. 

Netball tournament

Today Danehill played in the finals of the regional netball competition. I wasn't able to attend the match, but apparently they played well enough to place 2nd overall!

Zoey, Rhiannon, Sophie, Agnes, Jed; Iris, Georgia and Amelia

Breakfast science

Rhodri is away this week, having left yesterday and due to return next Monday night (March 20th).

This morning we kicked things off by having pancakes for breakfast! Normally unheard of during the school week but since today is Pancake Day (Shrove Tuesday), we went for it.

But when we got the Nutella out to be one of the selections for topping our pancakes, Rhiannon discovered that there were weird little white bumps on the Nutella. We decided to not eat it, but instead to get out our investigation materials! First the hand lens that Uncle Phil gave to them for Christmas 2015, which proved interesting but didn't answer any questions. So then we busted out the microscope that Grandma gave us for Christmas 2014 (i think!). We put the weird white blobs onto slides and had a look. They were definitely some kind of bacteria and probably not a good kind to eat! Then we had to go to school, but it was fun to kick the day off with some breakfast science.

Hockey girls

On Sundays Rhiannon goes to play hockey (field hockey) at Ardingly College.
Rhodri and Tryfan leave for rugby and we girls leave for hockey at the same time, then we reunite back at the house around 1-2 pm.  Rhiannon just started playing in September and then moved up to the big kids pitch in January. We had several sessions that were canceled due to poor weather this season, but when it is on, she does have a good time. Normally I either go for a walk with Bentley and our neighbor Jane (whose son Mark also does hockey), or else I go for a run by myself. The woods and countryside around Ardingly are lovely. Then I get back to the pitch in order to catch the final 15 minutes or so of the practice.

Here is Rhiannon with Aggie (Agnes), her friend from school who also goes to hockey.

Quiz night

Tonight was the annual quiz night hosted by the Nutley Squash and Tennis Club, where we are members. In recent years, Rhodri has gone to represent the family at this event but this year I went instead. And guess what?! We came in 1st place out of 13 teams.