Celebrating 10 Beautiful Years

**I was trying to keep these blog posts in chronological order…. somehow that idea got steamrolled and now they are all over the place (time wise). I think getting out-of-order had something to do with crappy “spotty” internet access and wanting to get Shea’s Harry Potter Birthday Post up right after his birthday and Zoli’s Eiffel Tower post up in time to share with his classmates before the end of the school year. Now that we are all out of chronological order, watch out things could get really crazy and just for background information, our 10 year anniversary was on May 18th 2012**

You may now kiss the bride!

Wow, It really has been ten years since the “Great” Rent-A- Reverend, (AKA Revrend Love Joy) officially pronounced us husband and wife, at the beautiful Peaceful Valley Ranch and Chapel outside of Boulder Colorado. Over the last ten years we have survived the birth and first nine years of being parents to three handsome,most of the time well-behaved little men, as well as surviving at least 5 moves, and countless travel adventures together! ~Shea keeps saying to me, but mom can’t we spend a summer at home. I think there is a good possibility the boys may grow up to live in a quiet little suburb and never go further than their own drive way since we are dragging them all over the place. Or I guess they could grow up to all live in different countries around the world……but then I would miss them sooooo much I would have to follow them everywhere and their future wives/girlfriends would think wow, you have a crazy mom (AKA too much baggage, and I mean emotional baggage that the kids will have not, my bags filled with all my shoes)

Thanks my love for all the great memories thus far, I can’t wait to see what we do with the next ten years!

Although we didn’t get a moment away from our three little men on our anniversary we did get to spend it in the English Countryside.

I woke up in our lovely stone cottage,

Of course it has one of the adorable half doors, it’s a stone cottage in the English Countryside!

to a bouquet of  beautiful spring flowers that Matt had purchased  at the neighboring Hartley Farm Shop & Cafe

Why Yes, I Do Have a Fabulous Husband

Of course I can’t pass up an opportunity to explore a farm shop before we headed into the town of Bath, Matt took us all back to the farm shop. While I ogled over the fresh produce the boys spent some time with Norbert & Jeremy  the guinea pigs.

But mom, why can’t I have a guinea pig for a pet?

and said ‘allo (trying to sound British while saying hello) to the horse

‘allo horse.

We may not look quite as good as we did in our wedding picture but, I wanted to have a photo of Matt and I together on our anniversary. Quinn was our photographer of the moment. I think for only being 4 years old he didn’t do too bad… or at least it is better than the other shot he took of us, from our waist to our knees…….

Oh, what a cute couple

Of course no ones tenth anniversary is complete with out a rousing game of mini golf with the kids. (Matt had a meeting for work so he had to head back to the cottage) Yup, mini golf is as “awesome” in England as it is in the US…. hmmm…. I wonder if mini golf in Holland has extra windmills on the course…..

The flag is a very important job in mini golf. Zoli is taking his position very seriously.

A hush falls over the crowd as Shea prepares for his final putt at the third hole.

Even though my mom hadn’t given me a bath in days she still thinks I look adorable in this pic

Then the boys and I checked out the traditional English phone booth, I mean really no trip to the UK is complete with out two things, riding a double-decker bus, (checked that off our list in London) and checking out the red phone booths. Of course first I had to explain to the kids what a phone booth is and why they have them when people could just use their cell phones to make a phone call, and were penny loafers really made so you could carry two dimes to make a phone call if you needed to? – OK, getting off topic, quick insert a picture and stop typing…..

hmmm… is this a time machine?

Our chauffeur for the day, oh, I’m sorry, I mean Matt, picked us up and we headed back to the cottage. Before I made dinner, with groceries from the farm store  I was able to got out for a run on this amazing country lane. It was distracting, every few minutes I had to stop and gaze at the beauty around me, stone fences covered in ivy and raspberry bushes, fields with sheep. Amazing!

This is my happy look how beautiful it is here pre run pose.

Wow, I sure do look blazing fast in this picture (yes this is dripping heavy with sarcasm)

So, there we go, a beautiful way to celebrate 10 beautiful years.

Play Date At Pointe du Hoc

The boys running wild through Pointe du Hoc, up and down crater holes carved by the fierce bombardment from years ago, and in and out of what is left of the damaged German bunkers. The boys may always remember this as the greatest play date ever!

**A little history behind this play date, the boys go to school with two brothers, one in Zoli’s class, one is Shea’s class, and we seem to always be vacationing in or around the same area as their family, our travel plans so randomly cross paths that I think in a past life we must have traveled in a covered wagon caravan together across the great plains. Needless to say when I found out they were going to be in France not far from us, I was not all that surprised, very happy about it, but not totally surprised!**

This morning, we left our serene country cottage, or Gite as they say in here, in the heart of Frances Brittany Peninsula and drove up to Normandy where we would meet up with the Hanson Family.

All I can say is this place was Awesome!

First stop Pointe du Hoc. Of course in true Brady fashion we were late…. I would like to blame it on the kids, but I’m not really sure I can this time around! We easily found our friends, remember I told you we have this weird travel connection thing.

**Quick little history lesson, see how educational this blog is , Pointe du Hoc is the location where the newly formed United States Army Ranger Group had to scale 100 feet cliffs in order to destroy the German guns that were in striking distance of both Omaha & Utah Beach, and would threaten the landing of allied forces on these beaches.**  

Of course much of this history was lost on the boys, but they loved running around with their friends. I think it was their best day of our trip/move so far!

I’ve got my eye on you, no funny business in there!

After the boys ran around for a while, we left Pointe du Hoc so that we could stop by the Omaha Beach Memorial Museum. Once again I am sure much of the significance of the museum was lost on the boys. However, they were pretty enamored by the “big guns” that they saw, I don’t know what it is about boys, we are certainly not a “gun loving” household and yet they are still in awe of tanks, and canyons and anything that blows up or causes a big boom. It’s possible I will just never understand this fascination.   I will admit that I thought the museum was really well put together and to be honest very moving. Reading the stories and reflecting on the sacrifices made by so many men, I couldn’t think about it too much or I would have been a crying mess. It is a place where it is easy to let your emotions overcome you!

WOW, that cannon is a LOT bigger then I am!

After the museum we took the boys down to Omaha Beach where they had a blast playing in the sand,the surf, building sand castles (that were being defended by plastic army guys, thanks museum gift shop) and they even had their first glimpse of “Naked Girl On French Beach”

Just having a play date in France

Why yes, this photo does show off my true photographic skills…. it showcases five boys that are all looking at the camera with smiles or near smiles on their faces. I am not sure this has ever before happened in all of the photographic world ! ~Thanks boys for putting up with “just one more picture”

Much too quickly, our play date in Normandy had come to an end. Thanks so much Hanson Family, it was great to see you guys and get a little “taste of home”! Enjoy the rest of your vacation!

Au Revoir Mes Amis

Zoli’s Travel Journal – The Eiffel Tower

*** mom’s note. In Kindergarten this year Zoli learned about the Eiffel tower. When we told the boys we were going to Europe, one of his first questions was, can we see the Eiffel Tower…. turns out it was as awesome as he hoped it would be. Here is Zoli’s version of our visit to the Eiffel Tower. ***

Ready To Explore Paris With My Mom & Brothers!

My first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower was from the train going across the Seine River, My brother Quinn was the first to spot it. I looked up and couldn’t believe it was really the real Eiffel Tower. WOW!

LOOK Mom! The Eiffel Tower!

The train stopped at the train station, we got off and followed the signs. There were guys trying to sell mini Eiffel Towers. These guys were talking really loud & fast. My mom told me and Shea and Quinn we had to wait until we were at the official Eiffel Tower gift shop. We kept walking and got closer and closer to the Eiffel Tower, The first thing I noticed was the arch was bigger then I thought it would be and that the color was different then I thought it would be. I thought it would be a darker black. At night it is all lit up, I didn’t see it lit up but I would like to go back at night so that I could.  Even the ground it was on was also bigger. I thought there was enough space to play a really big game of tag with my dad brothers and all my friends!

I was really excited to go to the top, the elevator line was super-duper long (2.5 hour wait) ! So we decided to climb the stairs to the second floor,  We walked to the second level and it was 669 steps! I was passing people, my mom called me and my brothers mountain goats!

669 Steps, No Problem For A Colorado Kid!

After we walked the stairs up to the second level, we got to take an elevator the rest of the way to the very top! The view from the top was really cool, the It people looked like little toy army men! My brother thought the boats on the river looked like the size of a ruler from the top of the Eiffel tower!

I’m At The Top Of The Eiffel Tower!

View from the top of the Eiffel Tower

Looking Down From The Eiffel Tower!

 

I thought there was going to be a pizza restaurant on the top, but I didn’t see one. but I did get to share some Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream with my brothers. Yum!

Yup, Ice Cream Does Taste Great On The Eiffel Tower!

Did you know in the winter they have an ice rink on the Eiffel Tower! Maybe I will go back around Christmas time and skate there!

Zoli has a friend going to Paris soon and I asked if he had any tips for his friend when they visit the Eiffel Tower, he said, “Bring a sweater is’s cold here, and try to get Ben & Jerry’s ice cream when you are visiting the Eiffel Tower – beg your mom for some if you have to”

Me & My Brothers At The Eiffel Tower!

 

Bleep Bleep @@$*&^@^ Bleep Bleep!

Yes, it was one of those kind of days…. Usually I love traveling with the kids and I take the bumps in stride, today the bumps kicked my A**! It started out smooth enough, we dropped our luggage off at St. Pancras, we had checked out of the hotel and would be taking the Eurostar from London to Paris at 7:01 PM and needed somewhere to leave our luggage. At the time the 8 pounds 50 (American Dollar equivalent would be around $13.50) per bag (we had 5 bags) seemed outrageous, if we had known at the time how the rest of the day would unfold I think I would have just sat with all my luggage at the train station until our train left, it would have saved a lot of trouble (and money)

It kept going smoothly, the boys and I walked across to Kings Cross station to see platform 9 3/4 where Harry Potter would leave to catch the Hogwarts Express to school every fall.

Off To Wizzarding School You Go!

Following Shea to Wizzarding School.

 

Then we easily found Chipotle for lunch, perfect for Shea and the other boys didn’t even moan and groan that much about food they don’t really like.

Sometimes you just need a taste of home!

 

We had a few hours to spend before we had to get back to the train station, so we started walking around looking for a way to pass the time. Apparently everything in London that we saw today cost a small fortune, so we walked for an hour then decided to just get a snack from a coffee shop, the boys started arguing about snacks….. not a big deal, that happens…… the real headache came when it was time to return to St Pancras to catch the train. We had to walk down many many flights of stairs to catch the tube, with the stroller that was PACKED with as much as we could to avoid checking it at the really expensive luggage storage place, so things were spilling out of the sides of the stroller, literally falling off the stroller as I am carrying it down these stairs, Also,it was rush hour and people were frantically pushing me and the boys out-of-the-way. We finally get to the train, get on no problem  and take it to our stop…. the stop that I thought had an underground walkway/connection to the St. Pancras station, turns out I was wrong, needed to switch trains to do that, so down more flights of stairs, spilling things out of the stroller along the way trying not to get to frustrated as the kids doubted my every move and questioned everything thing I did…. ahhh…. the joys of parenting…. so we get down to the new train platform, to take a train one stop. The train we needed is packed during rush hour, we couldn’t fit on the first train, waited another 4 minutes (there was a digital sign that displayed the timing of the trains… so I knew it was 4 minutes) train arrived absolutely no room on that train, waited another 4 minutes absolutely no room on that one…. and at this point in time it was 5;45, we were supposed to meet Matt at 5:30, after the boys and I had collected the luggage he would meet us, or at least that was the plan. So after 3 or 4 trains went by with no space for 4 people and a stroller I realized we were going to have to walk/run to St. Pancras if we wanted to meet Matt and catch our train to Paris (and by this time I was ready to leave London) So up many many levels of stairs with things falling out of the stroller and people pushing me and the kids out-of-the-way, apparently no one in London has ever had children, or children in London must walk much much faster then my do….. or maybe everyone was having a very very bad day…. hmmm… We get out of the station, run/walk a million blocks enter St. Pancras at the opposite end we need to be, run/walk all the way to the luggage area, where we find Matt in a near state of panic since we are SOOOOOO late, (sorry love!) We don’t have cellphones that work here so I couldn’t get in touch with him. We collect our bags, run/walk back across the train station to print out our tickets, easy self kiosk to print tickets, the kiosk wouldn’t read my credit card so then we had to wait in a LOOOOONGGGGG line, (only 30 min at this time until the train leaves) Finally get our tickets straightened out RUN (no more run/walkining, by now we are sprinting) back to the other end of the station where you board the train, go through security, empty the crazy full stroller etc…. get passports stamped, Quinn actually RUNS full speed past the passport control people! yikes!. EVERYONE has all ready boarded the train, the kids are in panic mode from Matt and I being in Panic mode, we are in the last train car so they just start running, get very far ahead of us, we get stopped by some train people trying to help, but we can’t even see the kids at this point… the train people put our luggage on car 16, we run luggage free to train 18, hop on as they close the doors behind us and start to pull out of the station, seriously any longer and we would have had to jump from the platform onto the train! Needless to say we are totally frazzled at this point, sit down and the kids are being totally loud, and for some reason we are in the quietest train car in the world so every noise the kids make we get all these evil (bad American Parents) stares from the people around us…yikes! What do I do in crummy super stressful situations, the only thing that makes sense, eat pounds and pounds of chocolate…. it didn’t make me feel any better but at least the stress was replaced by the slightly nauseous feeling in my stomach giving me something else to think about for a bit. Oh, and the cries from the children that they were starving, they made it sound like it had been days since they last ate, no time for dinner before we got on the train.  Lucky we had rice cakes and peanut butter in the corner of a backpack….. yum…… Not sure the kids felt there was any luck when I told them that was all we had to eat. When they finally resigned themselves to the rice cakes and peanut butter, and we  started a Harry Potter DVD for them the rest of the ride went totally smooth.

We LOVE when mom is so frazzled that we get to watch a movie!

 

Ahhhhh…. tomorrow the Eifel Tower then the French Countryside for a week!

First Steps In France!

PS. The Eurostar was an awesome way to get between London and Paris, other then our experience with getting there on time, the train was quick, quiet, clean and it wasn’t even weird to go through the Chunnel!

 

Shea’s Travel Journal – Harry Potter Studio Tour

For my 9th birthday my mom and dad took me and my brothers to the Harry Potter Studio Tour just outside of London, it was really cool!

There was a long line, while we were waiting I saw pictures of the characters in the Harry Potter Films, and there was a flying car,with one blinking headlight, hanging from the ceiling.

hmmm… I wonder if I can take a flying car to school some day… then maybe I won’t be late like I am when my mom drives me!

The line also went by Harry’s cupboard under the stairs. It didn’t look comfortable, and I learned that a cupboard in England is what I would call a closet at home in the States. I would hate to have my bedroom be in a closet!

Well, at least it wouldn’t take to long to clean a bedroom this size!

After we got through the line (or queue as they call it here) we went into a room where it showed some scenes from the making of Harry Potter. Then it was time to enter the great hall. The doors looked just like the doors to Hogwarts in the movie. I heard some one call my name and I found out that because it was my birthday they chose me to open the doors into the Great Hall!! It was a little bit embarrassing to be in front of that many people. It was also a little bit cool, the doors were surprisingly light, but at first I thought you were supposed to pull the doors (in the movie I remember them opening out) it turns out at the studio tour they pushed in!

When my mom told me I was going to be going to a new school when we move, I never thought it would be Wizarding School!

WOW, the Great Hall!

The tour was split into three sections, two indoor and one outdoor.

The Great Hall can fit 28 double-decker buses of people! Wow that’s a lot of people. In the Great Hall there were the 4 house tables and some of the original costumes from the movies. The Gryffindor Common room and Harry’s Broom were my favorite things in the first section.

Then we went out side, where we had our first ever taste of  butter bear. My brothers loved it and I thought it tasted horrible and way too fizzy!

ICK! That is nasty!

My crazy brother actually likes this stuff! Weirdo on Wheels

Quinn also thinks this fizzy butter beer is good, both my brothers are Weirdo’s! Thank god I am the normal one in the family!

After drinking butter bear I got to drive the flying car – hmmmm maybe that was the wrong order, I always see signs that say don’t drink and drive…… what were my parents thinking!

Drinking Butter beer and driving a flying car… what a birthday! I wonder what it will be like when I turn 16 or 21!

In the last section of the tour we went through Diagon Alley, that was my favorite part. I loved to see where Harry, Ron and Hermionie would go and buy their school supplies, their wands and their pets.

Mom, can I get an owl PLEASE………

At the end of the tour we got to see a huge model of Hogwarts, it was so cool!

On the way out there was a gift shop. I wanted to get a Harry Potter broom as a birthday present, but then I decided not to, it might be hard to take with me on the train to Paris.

**My mom said since it was my birthday I had to add a couple of pictures of me as a baby, she is so weird **

Don’t mess with me, I have extra oxygen and I’m wearing clothes with bugs on them, the true sign of a tough guy!

 

The Proof Is In the Pictures

**The internet connection at our cottage near Bath is (as the owners put it) “Spotty” what that really means is it only works in 5 minute increments. So I am sitting at the adorable Caffe Nero in the town of Bath to write this post. Matt has the boys, I am alone in a beautiful coffee shop in a beautiful town… I need to take my time writing this post**

If I didn’t have all the photos for visual proof that we are actually in England, I’m not sure I would belive it! This experience feels very surreal. Shea and I have been talking about how strange it is that we are not going “home” at the end of a vacation. I know that we will find a new “home” but there are times when knowing that we won’t be back in Colorado soon makes me feel homesick. However, that has not hampered us enjoying ourselves…. and this post is a little picture heavy, a little proof to myself that we really are here and wow, what a great time we are having!

On Tuesday, the boys were really into the guards at Buckingham Palace. On Wednesday we took them to the Royal Guard museum, One of the most interesting things I found there, was to read the British version on the American War of Independence. Same outcome but certainly with a twist from what I have learned at school. At the end of our visit, the boys got to try on a Bearskin (the tall fur hats, that the British Royal Guards typically wear as part of a ceremonial uniform). Although Quinn has adamantly decided he wants to be a member of the Royal Guard for Halloween he would not try the hat on for a photo.

Do You Like My Hat?

We couldn’t find any guards to get up close to and make funny faces at, but we did come across this guy….

This Guard (Statue) Wouldn’t Crack A Smile!

Near the Guard Museum we got to see rows and rows of guards practicing for Trooping The Color & The Queens Birthday on June 16th. ~The Queen is going to be busy in June, on the 5th of the month is the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee  celebrating her 60 years as monarch. They have all ready closed down many of the streets around Buckingham Palace in order to prepare. I hope to see some of the celebration on TV, I think it will be fun to know that we were there just before it happened.

Practice Makes Perfect – Preparing for the Queens Birthday Parade

The boys legs were getting tired from all the walking so we had to double up in the stroller:

Doubling Up In The Stroller On The Streets Of London

When we were leaving on Sunday, it felt crazy  to bring a big jog stroller with us when we had so, so, so much other luggage, it turns out the big jog stroller has been one of the best things we have with us! (and to date, I have only crashed into one really old Abby door… not too bad considering)

The crappy ten dollar stroller we bought last summer at a drug store in Montreal would never hold two kids, or roll over cobblestone like the Urban Mountain Buggy does! ~best stroller EVER~

A little time spent feeding the ducks in St. James Park:

And a few from the bridge looking back at the London Eye and some other awesome building that is probably very historic and important but I have no idea what it is

For us, a golden rule of travel is to remember that after about two days of activity the boys need to have a “down” day. Time for them to unwind and not be running around a –lot. We didn’t even  make it to the end of the second day when it was more then evident that Quinn was ready for some down time…..

Serious pouting in Hyde Park….. mom I can’t walk another step

So we knew this was the perfect time to pack the car up and head to the English Countryside…. Yes Matt is driving on the “wrong” side of the road/”wrong” side of the car, with a stick shift, OMG it is crazy, I am trying to remain calm in the passenger seat and I am not doing a very good job…

WTF this is all on the “wrong” side!

Although London is amazing and there are so many more things we could have done there, I think a wave of calmness came over all of us to be in the countryside. The boys certainly look happy playing tag in front of the stunningly beautiful Bath Abbey

Tag – your IT

Mom – this is way more fun then all that walking you made me do in London!

I love this photo, you can just sense how happy Zoli is!

Run Matt Run! Don’t let Shea outrun you!

And one more picture, look at the love of a daddy and his big kid.

Love This Picture!

We found out that the Olympic flame arrived last night from Athens, and is only a few hours away from where we are. There was some serious consideration of going and seeing the running of the Olympic torch, but then we realized that it would be too much driving for the boys. Ahh well… I guess we can’t do it all! If you want to follow the Olympic Torch, here is a map of its route

Well, I am sure Matt is ready for a break from wrangling the boys on his own! I better leave this cozy coffee shop and head out into the rain.

Battling Jetlag

We are seeing a lot more sunsets then we are sunrises these days!

I keep feeling great about how well we are all handling the jet lag, and then this morning when we woke up at 11:00 for the third day in a row, I realized maybe we haven’t quite adjusted yet! I feel so bad for the cleaning women at the hotel every morning she opens the door to clean our room and then starts apologizing profusely when she realizes we are all still asleep. Although it is probably a good thing that she is opening the door or we would sleep until the middle of the afternoon!

Last night we picked up our rental car and headed out into the countryside. Matt impressed me with his ability to drive a manual transmission car on the wrong side of the road, I don’t think we have broken too many traffic laws just yet….. and I am doing my best not to utter small screams from the passenger side when I think another car is going to careen into us from what I think is the wrong side of the road!

We are about an hour from the town of Bath and we are  staying at the Church Farm Cottages just outside of the town. It looks stunning and I can’t wait to get there.

The First 36 Hours

Pre Flight, Checking Out The Plane

The move/vacation started off great the boys did AWESOME on the flight, British Airways was great, everyone was really friendly and they even have pre-boarding for the kids. Not a lot of sleep that night, but NO complaining at all, they tried the food that was served……. tried being the important word, as not much was actually eaten! We landed and easily got our bags, found a shuttle to the hotel, we thought it was a free shuttle, turns out we were supposed to pay whoops!

Took our “First Steps In London”

First Steps In London

Up until this point everything was going relatively easy, and then it became a comedy of errors. Before we left I had googled Gluten Free, Vegetarian Friendly restaurants for us to try. Thinking we were all tired but needed to eat and excited to get into London a bit we would take the tube a few stops and go to one of the restaurants, 222 Veggie Vegan Restaurant, for a good healthy meal and then right back to the hotel to get to bed early. So this is what not to do with three tired and hungry kids.

1. Take the tube and get off at the wrong station, thinking that it was between two stops we would be fine getting off at either one

2. Looking at a map and then taking a “shortcut”

3. After walking lost for over an hour with three hungry jet-lagged kids finally get to the street we were looking for only to find that we were at #14  North End Road and we needed to end up at #222 North End Road.

4. Decide to take a bus, get off the bus at the wrong stop. Walk a few blocks, realize we are on the wrong block, pay another $9.00 to ride the bus the rest of the way.

5. FINALLY have a delicious meal – Yeah!

6. Easily find the tube station back in the direction of the hotel, Quinn needs to use the bathroom at the station, do that only to miss the bus to the hotel by 1 minute, it must have arrived while we were in the bathroom, and see that the next bus was running in 30 minutes, ouch!

lesson learned, next time just get a meal in the hotel and then go to sleep !!

After that interesting introduction to London the kids all slept 15 hours and woke up around noon London time the next day! We took the tube into Piccadilly Circus Matt had read there was a Whole Foods there, and we had it totally mapped out so it would be easy to find. We thought we would get an easy lunch and then start exploring. As we were riding the escalator up from the tube I started to notice all these posters on the wall for the NEW Whole Foods that is opening on May 22nd! And we thought we were prepared! Not to worry, we turned a corner and then we saw:

Big Ben

It was totally cool to see Big Ben! Here is a little Big Ben trivia:

• First quarter bell creates the musical note G Sharp when struck
• Second quarter bell creates the musical note F sharp when struck
• Third quarter bell creates the musical note E when struck
• Fourth quarter bell creates the musical note B when struck

Then we walked across the River Thames and got a great view of Big Ben and The House of Parelement:

By this time the boys were so tired of getting their pictures taken!

Checking out the River Thames

We also saw the London Eye:

The London Eye

It looks so cool, we haven’t ridden on it yet. Maybe a different day, it does take about 30 minutes to complete one circle and travels 26 cm per second.

The boys LOVED the guards at Buckingham Palace, and tomorrow we might go to the Guard Museum,

Guarding Buckingham Palace

The weather is a bit different then Colorado, where I heard it was 80 degreese and sunny today:

Why yes, I am wearing mittens and we are using (for the first time ever) the rain cover on the stroller!!

For those of you counting down the days until the Summer Olympics, The Official Olympic Countdown in Trafalgar Square:

73 Days Until The Olympics

And if you made it all the way to the end of this really long post, you will be rewarded with an adorable picture of two of the boys

How Handsome Are These Boys

Last Day Of School

So today was the boys last day of school! It was certainly bittersweet. We are all very excited for this great opportunity, but we all feel a little bit sad at leaving our friends behind. As we were cleaning out his desk Shea said, “mom I’m going to miss my friends, I kind of wish I had one more day of school”

The Wold Celebration Day in Zoil’s class was so much fun, the best class event I have been to this year, and what a perfect last day for Zoli. Then I hopped over to Shea’s class for a mother’s day tea and poetry reading. It was really special to listen to the poems the kids wrote and to think back over the last three years that Shea has been at school there and remember what some of the kids were like when they were only 1st graders. They have all grown up so much and all their personalities really come out in their poetry books.

There have been so many good bye’s that I have started to become either really strong, or maybe an emotional ice princess just so I can make it through all of this without becoming a wreck… either way I was doing really well of not breaking down and crying too much, until I saw Erica (Erica if you are reading this you made me cry!!!) and then Shea’s first grade teacher gave me a hug and I lost it again, and then one of Shea’s good friends came running up to say good bye with a present and said how much he was going to miss him…. man the emotional ice princess cracked! Tears everywhere

Two more days here filled with last-minute packing, soccer, baseball a lacrosse game in Denver and then Mothers Day and then we are out of here off to London for vacation and on to a big adventure!

Two Days Until We Leave!

I can’t believe it, only two days until we leave. It has been such a crazy, sad, wonderful last few weeks, wonderful to see so many friends and family, and sad to be saying good-bye to all of them!! It has been so sweet how friends have really found the time to see us before we leave. Thank You!

Shea had some perfect “good-bye” play dates at the park with friends,  getting ice cream, bowling, eating at Chipotle (favorite restaurant) and a Birthday Party at the Denver Outlaws Lacrosse game on Saturday….. was that crazy to plan on having a birthday party  the day before we leave? I think it will actually be a really nice way to spend our last (for a while)  evening in Colorado. Today in his class at school they had a going away party for him and his student teacher Ms. Spencer. It was so sweet and he loves the scrapbook his class made for him…. although one of the cute girls in the class must have been gone the day they made it, he noticed that her page was not in there

Tomorrow will be his last day of being a third grader and it is also the mother’s day tea! I can’t wait the kids will present their moms with the poetry books they have been working on all week, it will be the perfect last day….. if I can make it through without being an emotional wreck!

Zoli has gotten to see many of his friends at the same play dates that Shea has had, and had a wonderful birthday party at the YMCA Ice rink. That was the first time we did a party out of the house for one of the kids birthdays and it was amazing, I couldn’t believe how helpful the staff at the Y was! We got a chance to ice skate and visit with our friends from hockey and from Zoli’s class it was the perfect going away birthday party. Tomorrow at school they are doing their class world celebration, what a perfect event for Zoli’s last day of school before his own world adventure! I can’t believe that he will be a “first grader” after tomorrow, crazy!

I think the boys are excited, nervous and not really sure of what to expect!

My mom and sister were rock stars with getting the house packed and cleaned, It would have been painful to do it with out their help! Many of the details have been taken care of, international health insurance, mail forwarding, packing cleaning…… there are still bits and pieces left, but I hope we are in pretty good shape, fingers crossed that it won’t be a mad dash on Sunday !

I have had some perfect hikes with friends, a great dinner with  friends, and lots of fun with family when they were in town. The good byes are really hard, but I have discovered that my coping mechanism is to just try to shut of the emotions as much as possible. If I don’t I spend just about every moment of the day with tears in my eyes. A few weeks ago I went for a run and was crying because I only had a few more weeks to run “my route”….. I think that was when I told my self I really needed to just pull it together or else I would never be able to make it. I know in my heart that this opportunity will truly be a “trip of a lifetime” and hopefully lots of our friends and family will be able to come and visit

A few weeks ago I was talking with an amazing person that I know, she just happens to be a teacher at the boys school. I was telling her that it was starting to get hard to be thinking about all that we are leaving behind, she very gently reminded me that it will all be here when we are ready to come back…… That was exactly what I needed to hear. It really helps to give me the strength to make it through the good byes and to look ahead to the adventure and possibilities in front of us.