Bugsy Malone in London

This evening Rhiannon and I went on a bus trip into London to watch the live performance of Bugsy Malone at the Lyric theatre in Hammersmith. One of the parents at school organized the whole thing because the Year 5/6 "Kestrels" class is also going to be performing this musical at the end of the school year. There were 56 of us that rode the bus, watched the performance, and then rode back home again. It was a long night but well worth it!

We took over the rear 4 rows in the theatre so we were right in the back, but it was so fun. Nearly the whole class was there plus quite a few parents and of course their teacher, Mr. Wilkins.

Chucks unite!

Today after work (it just so happened that I had to work at the London Victoria office today), I met up with my long lost friend from UCSB Rowing days. Her real name is Tara, but I know her as Chuck. She calls me Chuck also, and that goes back to when Thien (our coach) used to call us the Chuckleheads. It was so great to see her and also to finally meet her family: Doug and Chloe!


We tried to talk them into staying with us, but they only had a few days and wanted to be in the heart of the action rather than in deepest Sussex, so Tryfs and Rhiannon made a little video to say hi to them instead.

Anyway, it was a short evening over a Thai meal in Trafalgar Square, but much better than nothing. It's amazing how rejuvenating a short visit with an old friend can be. I'm so grateful.

Haircut for Bentley

Today Bentley got his hair cut by an up-and-coming dog groomer named Sophie.

This photo doesn't really capture it, but he looks SO funny now! He is very skinny and puppy-looking with about 10 pounds of hair shaved off. We think he looks like a shaved sheep. But even though he is a bit funny looking, he seems a whole lot happier and bouncier than he has in a long time. He must have been so hot and uncomfortable before, because now he is bounding around the yard like a real puppy (even though he is over 14 years old now!).

Lego

Tryfan is still big into Lego. Quite often he will just disappear up into his room and get immersed in the world of building stuff and staging action scenes. I came up the other day to see if he was hungry and said, "Ah, it looks there is a some kind of battle going on up here". He said, "No Mom, it's actually more of a siege." Ooookay... I'll just back slowly away then.

Hammocks

Today we worked in the garden most of the day, clearing branches and stuff like that.
We found our two hammocks and discovered that we actually have a place to hang them up now!
This is in the little tree island in the middle of the garden.

The troops hung out and read their books while Rhodri and I slaved away.

Ashdown Weekend fun run

Today was the start of the biannual (every two years) Ashdown Weekend here in the village.
This year Rhodri was roped into being one of the Officials in the 5 km Fun Run around the forest, and so I really didn't have a good excuse to not participate! I haven't done a so-called "fun" run for a long ole time, but this was a nice day for it at least, and it was on my turf. It was really hard but good, and I was stoked with my time of 29:26 in place #35/72. Well, maybe not stoked but at least not disappointed.

Down the field

For the past several weeks at Tremaine's riding stable, Rhiannon has been gearing up in preparation to ride down in the field ("down the field" is what they say here rather than "down IN the field").

She is in the Sat afternoon 3-4 pm class along with our neighbor Mark, and this class is the next level up again from the 2-3 pm class. Their instructor Heidi is really great, and Jane (Mark's mum) and I have made a weekly thing of this class now so that we hang out and chat while the kids are having their lesson. Each week Rhiannon and Mark find out who they are riding only when they arrive to the class. Today Rhiannon rode Cheyanne.

Jumping jumping

The trampoline has got loads of use the past few days. The troops have all had a really good time out there at many hours of the day! 

We were sad to see them all leave today. Boohoo.

Destination: Kew Gardens!

Grandma Bucky has been nagging me for years now to go visit Kew Gardens at the end of May.
Finally, with the extra motivation provided by Nia and her kids, we decided to go make a day of it. Today was a public holiday, and not the warmest day ever but it was perfect for visiting the fabulous Kew Gardens.

In front of the famous Rhododendrons

We took the train from East Grinstead, changed at Clapham Junction to get to Richmond, then changed again to the overground Tube to get to Kew Gardens. Phew! It was fine on our outbound journey, but then when we attempted to get home things took a turn for the worse.
It wasn't that bad, it was just that the trains from Richmond to Clapham Junction stopped running so we had to go back to Kew Gardens and then continue on the Tube all the way into central London to Victoria station, then wait for a train to take us straight to East Grinstead. Sounds worse than it was, actually, because our detour to Victoria meant we could stock up on special treats to eat and drink on the train! Plus this way we didn't need to change trains at all since East Grinstead is the end of the line. A great day

Summer evening picnic

Sometimes the air and the light in our back garden is so special, especially in the summer evenings such as the one we had tonight.

In this case, we seized the moment and took our dinner outside to the picnic blanket so we could soak it all up.

Giant's Chair

We gave the cousins a tour of our local woods and they were really happy to be able to run around and play. Here they are sitting on the Giant's Chair.

Start of the half term holiday

Today was the last day of school for a week. Rhodri hosted a football game as usual for any school kids that wanted to play from 4:30-5:30, and then other parents trickled in with stuff to BBQ and drinks to share.

The evening went on until about 9;30 pm, and it was really fun to gather as friends and neighbors in our local green. The only bummer was that I didn't feel all that well and so wasn't really in a partying state. But it was still fun. Tomorrow Nia is coming with Gabs and Valentin to spend a few days with us. Woohoo!

A near perfect Saturday

Today nothing was planned and everything turned out wonderful.
Emma and I went grocery shopping in East Grinstead during the morning, then later this afternoon we went to the Red Lion where they were serving free prosecco to celebrate a year of being open.
Tryfan and Oscar played Lego for hours while Rhiannon and Sophie went walking with Emma and her Mum.

Then we came home and watched Eurovision 2016 altogether. Fabulous!

Little detour

At short notice this week I went to France for work. It was nice to be out in the wide world.
The 2nd night, I was kindly invited out to dinner with a couple of colleagues. We went to this really cool jazz bar/ Moroccan restaurant. There were fascinating pieces of art and furnishings around the place and we had quite a funny and lively evening.

Two of my colleagues: Pierre and Mostefa

 It was a useful trip and I got to meet some people that I've been working with for a long time but never had been able to meet in person until now. That sort of thing always makes for happy times. The only bummer was that my train going back to London had some sort of problem with it and so was nearly an hour delayed. But we made it in the end and I got home this evening.

More on the green

We are so happy to have the totally usable and friendly "Jubilee Green" across the road from us to go play at whenever we want. Today our friend Bruno had his football - themed birthday party there after school and it was super.

There are picnic tables in the corner of the green, and the playing field is behind with the Jubilee Woods behind again.

Water + trampoline

...+ neighbor we haven't seen for awhile = really fun on a hot day!

Ok, it wasn't Hot, but it was warm enough to bust out the hose. 

The troops jumped and hosed each other while I mowed the lawn. Perfect recipe for a Sunday!

Lemon tart

Tryfan was flicking through the weekend newspapers and found this recipe for lemon tart that he wanted to make, so we gave it a go! The recipe called for a 5 lemons and a lot of zesting and squeezing, but we were up for the challenge!

It turned out a little TOO tart, so next time we might lay off the extra lemon, but it was still tasty. 

Preparing for big school

Now is the time that we have to start looking at options for secondary schools for Rhiannon, since she will need to submit her 1-2-3 choices in October 2016 for starting Year 7 in Sept 2017. Yikes! The nearest secondary school which about 50% of her primary school end up going to offered morning glimpses into normal school days this week, so we 3 arranged to go today to have a look.

The 4 students who took our group of 3 families around did a great job of answering questions and presenting the school. We liked what we saw, and at the moment this would be Rhiannon's first choice.

Boys are back in town

All the rugby boys came back tonight, exhausted from their weekend of playing rugby and staying in a place they normally would not choose to stay.

After hearing all the stories about the weekend, I was really glad that Rhiannon and I didn't have to go!

Bluebell bliss

Today was a gorgeous Sunday and we celebrated the new month by going for a bluebell walk in the wood between Danehill and Cumnor House schools. This particular path is the same one that both Rhiannon and Tryfan's classes walk each week to go up for a swimming session at the other school. As we were approaching the really amazing section, Rhiannon had me close my eyes and she led me to the spot with the best view. Of course, the photos don't do it justice!

This is truly the best time of year and it was such a treat to be out in the perfumed woods with my favorite girl and favorite dog!