Following the Leader

Right when I think that parenting isn't the job for me, I do something like I did tonight.  Something that makes me want to open my windows and shout, "I am a parenting genius! I should be named mother of the year!"  Why, you might ask, would I declare such strong statements?  I gave the girls chocolate popsicles in the tub tonight.  It was brilliant, if I do say so myself.  The mess just washed away and they came out chocolate free when they were done.  Because of this, all the talking too loudly and being lazy when I should be productive have been over ruled!  Popsicles in the tub, one of the best decisions of my day, maybe my life.  Maybe it wasn't as good as I made it sound.

Moving right along, I'm going to try my best not to point out that this blog is back to pictures taken in my back yard and not on lovely seaside cliffs, but there you go I mentioned it anyway.  

In my back yard there is almost always two little girls playing with very creative imaginations.  The little one is always always at the bigger one's heels. The bigger one knows that the little one can't talk much so she asks her questions that only require a yes or no answer.  Libby will say "Maggie, do you want a baby doll" and Maggie will say "no" or Libby will say, "hey Mags do you want to ride my bike," and of course even though Maggie probably would love to ride her bike, she still answers "no" because "no" is one of the words she says really well. 

My Little for sometime now has had an on going relationship with Buzz Lightyear.  At least I think it is Buzz Lightyear.  Whenever she gets in trouble she tends to say that Buzz did it.  She tells me that Buzz did it after the fact, like today when she wouldn't stay near me in a parking lot, I told her how dangerous they were and that she could be hit by a car...About 5 minutes after that, she told that when Buzz was little he got hit by a car because he wouldn't stay close to her and she had to take him to the doctors..  .

Sometimes when we get home from shopping or eating out she'll say something like "Oh no, Mom, I left Buzz on the shelf" or "I put Buzz in the salt shaker b/c he was bad and I forgot to bring him home."  It is definitely on the weird side.  However, when the day comes that Buzz leaves her for good, I'm sure I'll miss hearing about him.
That being said, I'm going to go make sure my lovelies and Buzz :) are tucked in their beds snug and warm....
Grace and Peace

Top 10

As previously mentioned, I am still suffering from the being back at home blues.  In fact as we speak I am watching Doc Martin, an English mini series that is filmed in Cornwall.

I've been drinking more tea and every night I flick through our 800 or so pictures from our trip and try to convince myself to write something on the this blog that is a bit more interesting than ......it is just so beautiful.

 Really though, it is just so beautiful, that everything else seems so ordinary.

So to remind myself that it is good to be home I have come up with my top ten reasons why we're glad to be back the good ole US
#1.  Free refills.  In the US if you're drinking iced tea, coke, or water your waiter is sure to keep  your cup over flowing.

#2.  Our local Mexican restaurant.  They almost know our names.  Our children love quesadillas.  Plus, if we could all remember to order just water to drink we could eat there as a family of four for under  $20.

#3.  Gus and Trouble.  It is true that sometimes they make me feel like we live in a zoo. Currently, Gus smells worse than your average dog, and Trouble brings dead animals to me as presents on a daily basis.  Still, they are our pets, and we missed them.

#4.  Flavored coffee creamer.  I've never seen it on the shelves in England and while most good people in England can serve up a lovely hot drink whether it be tea or coffee, in this house we like vanilla creamer in coffee.  It is comforting to us both.

#5.  The price of gas.  Gas is always an issue.  It's up, it's down, it will never be as low as it was the first time I filled up my turquoise Chevy Cavalier in 1997, but it will always be lower than the cost of British petrol. 

#6.  Sleeping in our own room free from wiggly girls.  Really that is enough said, but Maggie pretended she was a newborn while we were in England.  Some nights she tried to sleep with me all night and then other nights both girls wanted to sleep with me. By "with me," I mean on me, not touching Kev at all.  
That was fun.  
Welcome back sleep.

#7.  While I'm talking about sleep, our bed.  We slept in some really comfortable beds while we were in England, but Kev and I have an extremely cozy bed.  It is always good to crawl back into our bed.

#8.  We missed our friends, all two of them that are left in Richmond.  All of friends keep moving away from Richmond.  We have good friends in England.  They are all easy company.  This is supposed to be a reason why we are glad to be home though.

#9.  It is summertime here.  It is summertime in England also, but unlike England in Richmond we can almost always be sure that we will have summer like temperatures.  In England you just hod your breath and hope that clouds will part long enough to call it a partially sunny day.

#10.  Home sweet home.  There is nothing of real value in our home(besides the fact that it is our home), if it gets broken by curious little hands the chances are it can be replaced or it does not have a need to be replaced.  In England, I never really sat still while visiting.  I was sure that at any given moment calamity would strike and something of great importance would break.

There you have it, my top ten reasons why it is good to be back at our home.  Don't take them too seriously, because the truth is, it was better to be holiday with my family.  Best trip to UK yet.  I'm just trying to make myself feel better.

Grace and Peace

Wishing You

I've been debating on whether or not to post one more giant England post or to just let it go and accept the fact that our lovely vacation is over and we are back to real life.

Maybe one last post....but not tonight.

Until then, I wish you this kind of day...dancing on the beach in your underwear.

Grace and peace

Spekes Mill

Tonight Kev asked me if I was going to blog anymore about our trip.  He said that if I let too much time pass it might not make sense anymore.  I told him it that the time didn't matter, that it was more for my memory than anything else and that my blog rarely made sense anyway.  Case and point the previous "Freckle" post.  Now as long as blogs exist, I will always remember that in 2012 Libby's first freckles came to be.

In 2001, I made my very first trip to England.  I had only met Kev twice before.  He took me to all his favorite places in his country on that first trip.  I had planned on staying for 2 weeks  and when it came time for me to leave he asked me not to go, so I changed my ticket and stayed longer.  I know that part of the reason I love going to England so much is that it reminds of that time in my life.  We were so young and falling in love.  Now, I don't want you to throw up on your key board while I talk about falling in love, but it should be noted  that mine and Kev's love story is one of the greatest I have ever heard.  I will never get tired of telling it.
He took me to a secret place called Spekes Mill.  It is a hidden beach that is nestled between two high rocky cliffs.  We spent a day there together and besides a vagabond, we saw not one other person the whole time we were there.  I loved that day. Of all the places that I claim as beautiful or magical or stunning in this part of the world, it has remained the most breath taking .  I have asked many times if he would take me back there, but for one reason or another we've never gone back.

This was the trip!  We parked our car at the end of a lane and trudged through the muck and the mud sure that at any moment rain was going to pour down on us.

The lane opened up into a field and there in all its beauty was Spekes Mill just like I remembered it.  Breath taken away again.

We carried our babies down the path, past water falls that plummeted to the beach, and let them run and explore this almost other worldly place.  They hopped from rock to rock, from rock pool, to rock pool.

  Before we knew it, the rain clouds went away and  the sun came out as if to welcome us back.  With the entrance of the sun of course my girls lost their ability to stay dry and their cloths came off and the giggling started.  We stayed until we couldn't stay anymore.

I never know how to end post like this....How many times can  use the same adjectives?
 Beautiful, magical, stunning,
Over and over again.

Grace and Peace

Freckles

(I wrote this over a week ago...I'm sure I intended to add more words to it, but now I'm not sure what they were)

 

Among all the other wonderful things that have happened on this trip, one thing stands out as spectacular.  After a day of too much sun, I looked down at my Little's nose and there sprinkled in perfect randomness were the appearance of her first freckles!  I tried many times to get her to slow down enough to get a picture of them, but alas not a one.

I know that she is not smiling in this picture, but it is so honest that I love it anyway.

Grace and Peace