The Swing

In the forest near our house, someone put up a rope swing. Apparently this was installed back in the summer, but we only discovered it recently!

The ground slopes away from the launch point so that the swinger flies waaay above the forest floor at the height of the ride. Fortunately this spot is pretty close to our house so we can make sure that every journey in the woods involves a stop here at The Swing. 

Happy Birthday to me

I was in Asker for my birthday yesterday and it was a good excuse to round up the old friends who happened to be in the area at this time! We went for dinner at a new restaurant called Salt & Pepper, and each person arrived at a different time so that I got to have really good quality time with each person as well as fun with the whole group.

Monica, Beate, Nev, me, Kamilla, Ana and Sarah

Most of the people did not know each other, as they were all from different parts of my life, but they all got along really well and the whole evening felt very special. 

Long lost friends

I got to see some other long lost friends during this visit: Fiona and Karl-John and their twin boys Finn and Magnus. It was sooo great to see them and have dinner together at their house tonight. I just wish we could get all the kids together again like the good old days!

These 8 year old are nearly as tall as me! Magnus left, Finn right.

 We vowed to try and get together this winter - hope we can make it happen!

Such a sweet family

A little bit of magic

I flew to Oslo yesterday afternoon and stayed with our old pal Michel at his flat downtown Oslo. We always have interesting discussions about life, and it was so nice to be able to catch up with him again. As it turned out, today happened to be the day that this monthly global event was taking place and Michel was going to it so he invited me along. I was going to find a way to sneak in, but we were able to secure me a free ticket last night so I was legit.

Approaching "The Thief", a new hotel in Oslo

 Every month at these Creative Mornings, there is a topic that all the cities who participate in this share in common. November's topic is "Chance", and the speaker today turned out to be a magician called Jon Ensor. The blurb for the "Give Chance a Chance" event said this: "From his unique viewpoint, Jon discusses chance. He will talk about opening ourselves and give people and experiences the chance to influence our path, allowing chance to play a role in our careers, about coping when chance doesn’t seem to be on our side, and why life isn’t all about taking that one big “chance”! Finally, he will give us the chance to experience something special - if only we’re willing to let him.

We will also give the chance to a young talent, Hanna von Bergen to entertain the CreativeMornings Oslo crowd with her special music."

It felt really special to have coffee and morning fruit inside the cozy atmosphere of this hotel, and to simply sit and listen/ watch someone speak and interact with the crowd by showing some magic tricks. When it finished at 9am, Michel and I took the train down to Asker and went straight to the office to start work for the day, but we were both pretty light on our feet after that inspirational morning!

Home for the weekend, then off again

It was sooo nice to come home on Friday. I'm leaving again tomorrow for the better part of the week, but this time I get to go to Asker where we used to live! That is always a treat and a mixed blessing.
But anyway, it was quite a surprise to see the changes here at Chalfonts..

We had a great weekend of working around the house and visiting with friends. Macha and Rob invited us over for dinner this evening and it was such a treat.

Dubai for work

This week I was in Dubai for a week-long meeting. The content of the meeting itself wasn't all that inspiring, but I did get to have some micro-adventures with my Siberian friend Anastasia!
We went to the Spice Souk, which was really cool, although I didn't take any photos that evening for some reason.

Pool at the Rose Rayhaan hotel where I stayed.

I did go for an early morning swim on Tuesday morning, and then on Tuesday night we walked to the beach and met some nice Ethiopian girls along the way, who we ended up walking and chatting with. It was fun to have this chance encounter with exotic people in the wide world.

Anastasia

After going spending some time with our feet in the water at the beach, we made our way back towards the hotel and found this nifty place for dinner: Eat & Drink Restaurant. The people there didn't speak much English, so it definitely was not on the main Dubai tourist route! But the food was really good and we sat outside under the umbrella you can see in the photo.

 The menu had this as its centerfold - wowser! A feast for the eyes of different fresh juice concoctions! I got the "Burj Al Arab", which was mango juice on the bottom and avocado juice on the top, separated by a thin layer of chocolate. Wow! It was soooooo delicious.

 As we were walking through the residential streets, we heard the music for the call to prayers, which happens at least a couple of times a day and is broadcast from the mosque towers for all to hear. We must have been walking quite close to one because it was really loud and there was a neighborhood dog that was howling along with the chanting/ singing voice. This made us both smile.

Our friend Kay Yee picked us up to do some shopping a bit later from the hotel. We went to this place that had lots of touristy souvenir shops including one that had some fantastic dresses in the shop window! We couldn't resist going in and trying some on. The shop owner was definitely Not Impressed by us giggling and wiggling into these dresses, then modeling for Kay Yee. I was actually tempted to buy the one I was wearing, but it wasn't all that cheap and I'm not sure I would be able to conjure up an occasion to wear it anytime ever. But how cool is a dress with a sparkly horse's head on it!?! I'm thinking Ebay...

A sparkly pink unicorn and a sparkly silver horse's mane on the dresses we tried on.

We had a team-building event on the last night - a sunset cruise from the Dubai Marina.

I was glad when the week was over, but it was fun to be out in the wide world and to have these micro-adventures with my new friend and the other people on the team in Dubai. I flew back on Friday (yesterday) and was verrrrry happy to reunite with my sweet family!

More Chalfonts photos

We've been doing a lot of painting, and it is just the tip of the iceberg! The blue room is Tryfan's new room, converted from previous attic space into this fabulous new bedroom.

 

Downstairs, the chimney is long gone and we are preparing for the breakfast bar to be installed.

Meanwhile, Rhodri has been working on his shed in the back garden. We got the roof on a couple of weeks ago right as the good weather period was coming to an end and a big front was forecast to swoop in this night.

The Shed

Halloween 2014

Tonight we went over to Sophie & Oscar's house for a bit of a Halloween party and some trick-or-treating round the hood in Danehill. Rhiannon went as a witch (a Good witch) and Tryfan went as the Grim Reaper. All the kids did their own and each others make up while Emma and I chatted down in the kitchen. Everyone had some dinner first (a little something in the bellies!) and then we set off to get some sweets in the neighborhood. Iris and Agnes were there too, so there were 4 girls and 2 boys and 2 Mamas with flashlights and high-vis vests!

 I had to give Tryfan a talking-to after the first couple of houses because he was knocking on the door and then stepping INTO the houses and reaching into the bowl of sweets, then walking away without saying thank you! I was shocked and horrified, and he got a massive talking-to before changing his ways at the 3rd house. After that it was no problem.

It was actually pretty exhausting, and once we were safely back inside Emma's house the kids chilled out on the sofa eating their treasures and watching some movie. We left around 8:30pm and went home to sleep!

Chalfonts coming along

The work continues here at Chalfonts, and its starting to take shape!
Dave the floor guy came in today to install some leveling compound onto the kitchen floor ahead of laying the vinyl tiles this weekend. He was very efficient and friendly.

Auntie Sions comes to town

On Monday Auntie Sions arrived by train into Gatwick and we drove home together, then I took yesterday off so that we could play hookie, then took her back to Gatwick so she could fly off on an adventure to Monaco today.
We went into Uckfield to go to the Sing-a-long screening of Frozen, but they only had 3 seats left so Sions and the kids went to see it and I strolled up and down the high street seeing what the charity shops (thrift stores) had to offer. Then I joined them at 12:00 and we had lunch at Poppins.

It was really great to see her. We love visitors!

Painting - just the beginning

We are embarking on what looks like a pretty serious chapter of painting and more painting the walls and ceilings at Chalfonts. Fortunately I have my little helper who works really hard and is such a joy to hang out with!

Bentley is normally curled up on the floor near us too, just wanting to be in the same space that we are. He is such a sweet dog.


We've been painting Tryfan's new room first because that is the one that is going to be the first to be totally ready to move into. Since Lee did all the plastering in here, the ceiling and walls need to have several coats of white paint before we do anything drastic.

Tryfan turns 7

It seems like Tryfan has been 7 for awhile now but actually he has only just finally had his 7th birthday. I guess that's because he is so "switched on" and mature for his age, though in other ways he is still so stinkin' cute and sweet!

And so, at 7 years old, Tryfan:

• Still loves kitty cats and has added quite a few to his herd, even though he has had to spend his own money to do so.
• Is obsessed with Greek gods, demi-gods and myths. He also knows quite a bit about their Roman equivalents.
• Loves playing with Lego and also with his fleet of Skylanders.
• Loves Minecraft and prefers to play on a digital device if given a chance, but those chances are quite rare so he makes up running-around games based on Minecraft and also reads the books.
• Really enjoys mathematical challenges.
• Is impossible to talk to when he has his head in a Percy Jackson or Harry Potter book.
• Is very snuggly and cuddly, especially on the occasional early morning when he comes into our bed.
• Loves being with his big sister Rhiannon - they often wrestle like puppies and giggle hilariously at their own jokes.
• Does not tolerate injustice, disobeying rules, or unfair accusations. He is a real stickler for rules.
• Has really stinky farts and is always belching :-(

Rugby festival birthday

Today was finally Tryfan's 7th birthday and it happened to also be the day of his first rugby festival, which took place down in Eastbourne, around 45 minutes drive south of us. The event started at 9:30am and finished around 2:30pm, so it was kind of a long day with a lot of sitting around, but that's ok.

Tryfan is #1 on the "Haywards Heath Tigers" team

On the sideline with Bents

 Bentley and I spent a lot of time laying in the wet grass snuggling. That was actually the highlight of my day because although I do hang out with Bentley quite a lot, we are normally active or en route rather than just laying down in the sunshine and scattered showers cuddling together.

Me and Bents in the grass

 Each team played 5 games and they played against other Under-7 teams from Eastbourne, Crowborough, Crawley, and Heathfield. Our guys improved a lot over the course of the day and it was fun to see them experience the full range of challenges and emotions. At one point, Tryfan's teammate said something to him that really, REALLY upset Tryfan. He started crying and had to come off the pitch, then he didn't want to play again and just wanted to go home. Rhodri talked him down and helped him come round to be able to play the final game in which he scored 3 tries! He was really proud to pull off a "hat trick", especially on his birthday.

Awards gathering at the end, Tigers in red/black.

 Everyone got participation medals and the top 3 teams (of 5) got team trophies. They even got a mention in the local paper... http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/haywardsheath/m/match-centre-12311/0-2641926

Not sure who anyone is except Tryfan who is 3rd from left holding the trophy!

We ended up going to La Casa for dinner, except that we weren't allowed to say it was Tryfan's birthday. He was so horrified to have the wait staff sing to him last year, he just couldn't face it again this year! Anyway, it was still a treat to go out to dinner. We went home to have birthday cake in our studio apartment where we spend all our evenings and mealtimes these days.

Making a birthday wish

It was quite a long day but a good one as well.

Army Birthday Party

Sam and Tryfan shared a birthday party today and we invited all of the Year 2 boys plus a few others to come to this "Woodland Adventure" site for an army-themed party. The excitement of approaching this place far outweighed the actual event itself, but hey!

Getting dressed into army clothes

The sergeants split everyone into two teams, and one team did laser target shooting while the other team got a lecture and tour round the army base. After about 30 minutes they switched places. Some of the kids had been to parties here before, so its not like this was new to them, but they seemed to all enjoy it anyway.

Rhiannon and Sophie competing against each other.

To be fair, the staff were really into it and at least dressed the part and acted like real army people. We adults were more than a bit disappointed because they weren't able to participate in the "main" event, which was riding around the farm in a military vehicle while listening to a military soundtrack of machine gun fire and other exciting sounds, but we had to pay the same price. The problem was that yesterday was a very rainy day and apparently the whole venue flooded and very nearly had to cancel the whole day today. Anyway, I think Sam's parent and us felt more disappointed than any of the kids, so it didn't really matter.

Cake time for Sam and Tryfan

We had a very low maintenance birthday cake which consisted of a stack of grocery store donuts with candles stuck in the top. Classy.

Tryfan, Bruno, Sam, Harry B, Jake, Ollie, Harry A, Oscar, Harrison, Aaron, Sophie, Rhianno, Joe, Rory and Nathan.

We convoyed in 4 vehicles and dropped all the kids off home before calling an end to the day. I don't think we've done a shared birthday party before, but it was nice to share the day with our friends.

Day out in London town

Today was an Inset day, meaning the school was closed for teacher meetings, and so we all went into London for the day. We actually were a bit organised and had booked an appointment at the US Embassy so that we could get Tryfan's US passport renewed as it had expired some months ago. Because of all the restrictions and rules in life these days, we had to all be there in person at the Embassy in order to get what we needed. So anyway, I took time off work and we made a day of it.
We got up super early and caught the 06:37 train from East Grinstead, arriving into London around 07:45. We had a lovely breakfast at a cafe inside of London Victoria station and then started making our way to the US Embassy, braced for the normal aggressive tones of US security officers and bag checks and hours of waiting. First we got on a double-decker bus and were lucky to snake the front row of seats on the top deck! This is by far the best place to sit on a double-decker.

Stoked with our choice seats on the bus

 We got to the Embassy at 08:45, well ahead of our 09:30 appointment but we were not too early at all, as the people ahead of us in the line also had the 09:30 time slot. Anyway, we were very pleasantly surprised by the friendliness of the first agent we saw (still outside at this point) who checked our paperwork and confirmed our appointment. He was a long-haired, jolly chap who was making chit-chat with everyone and immediately counteracting the US security officer stance that we have come to know so well. That was a nice way to start. Eventually we got inside and spent a couple more hours waiting for the usual things, but it was nice that they had converted about 1/4 of the waiting room into a play area with cushion, puzzles, toys and books. Rhiannon gravitated towards the smallest kids in the crowd and looked after them in the "play pit", making sure the rougher and bigger kids didn't accidentally hurt the littler ones. She loves looking after the little ones!

Play area at the US Embassy, Rhiannon camouflaged in red

We got out of there at 11:30 and made a plan: we would go up to Regent Street and do some shopping, then have lunch, then take the first bus that went past us in whatever direction it was going, then see what happened next. It was going pretty well until Tryfan spit a lugie from the 2nd floor of the shop down into the escalator area and Rhodri happened to see him do it. Whoops! Don't want to get caught doing something like that again! We had lunch at a cafe and then hopped on a bus which turned out to be going in the direction of the British Museum.

Matching vests that they wore all day

The British Museum is free and has some great exhibits on Egyptians and ancient Greeks, and we spent about an hour exploring around.

Then we made our way to St. Paul's Cathedral (at Tryfan's request) before starting to make our way to London Bridge.

St. Paul's Cathedral

We walked along the Thames until we got to London Bridge, then took this photo with the Shard in the background before we crossed over the river and caught the train back to East Grinstead.

We were pretty tired of walking by the time we took this last photo, but at least then we were ready to sit on a train for a good hour. And guess what?! Our friend Emma happened to be on the same train so she came and sat with us, which made the hour fly by. And now it's the weekend with Tryfan's birthday party tomorrow! Phew! Amazing how tired one gets after a full day in the big city of London.

Beavers Camp Sleepover

This weekend Tryfan went for his first Beavers camp sleepover. Beavers is like the Cub Scouts but just slightly younger than Cubs (at least here in the UK).  Tryfan was sooooo excited about this event and he had packed his bag earlier this week in anticipation.

Dropping off Tryfan at the sleepover

His friends Ollie, Sam, Rory and Harry B were all there too and they slept in these three-tier bunkbeds in the scout cabin along with about 10 other boys.

Tryfan, Rhiannon and the bunkhouse

We got the full story the next day when Rhiannon and I picked him up, and it turns out that they did all sorts of fun scouty things like archery, ropes course climbing, staying up late watching a movie and eating treats, and eventually sleeping.

Warm bathroom floors

One of the changes we've made at Chalfonts is installing underfloor heating in the bathrooms!
Bliss! This was one of life's simple pleasures that we discovered while living in Norway and we are soooo happy to have been able to install here at the house.
The kids like to wake up early and go lay on the floor with their blankets and pillows to read their books.