The Red Dragonfly

He stood next to Sophia during the program.  This is post-program when he had already removed his headgear.  He still looks sort of like a dragonfly, though, right?

This costume caused us to violate a very serious rule:  no red pants.  I figure he can have everything else red and not go too astray, but this here outfit is a bit much for his mom (yes, I know that's a comment on my own ego but there it is, I care about my kids' outfits).  

Anyway, the whole show was really great and we took some movies but they were pretty far away and frankly, aren't blog material.  So, I offer you this picture.  (It's enough, really, and I understand that.)

I was the classroom helper today and had a great time.  I got to play outside (we love the outdoor area at Tommy's school; it was a huge factor in choosing the school), read stories and help with handwriting.  (Tommy's least favorite subject.)  The kids all do workbooks and write the same sentence each day, and I noted while flipping through the book that recently the sentence was 'Tommy likes Sophia.'  Miss Anna explained that she got the idea because they were working on capital T and capital S.  

Tommy's teacher Miss Jo is pregnant and has been put on bedrest for the rest of the term.  So that's sad!

And I'll be back tomorrow with a report of Tommy's birthday party, which is this afternoon at Gambado!!  Also, with some comments on Chief Justice Roberts (you didn't think I could resist, did you?).  Happy Friday!

The Best Dad EVER

So on Tuesday, I received an email from the room mother.  It was an email only to me.  (Usually, she emails all the other mothers, but not this time.  She knows, perhaps, that I am in a bit over my head lately?)

This is what it said:

Just a quick reminder to bring Tommy's costume in for the assembly on friday by tomorrow!

So I quickly forwarded it to Eli, with this message:  shit, shit, shit.  If you focus on the wings, I'll look for red pants?

Now I know you're wondering so I'll tell you that he's going to be a red dragonfly.

Anyway, I had a very busy week again so this whole thing tipped our household over the edge.  And then, when Eli got home and began work on the very complicated set of dragonfly wings, Tommy came down the stairs and vomited.  The good news about that is that he couldn't go to school so we got an extra day to finish the wings.

A(nother) random one...

I have three topics to cover today:  Ascot, Gabon, and a cute Lulu story.

Ascot

As I went to work on Wednesday morning (or was it Thursday? the days all blend into one), I noticed a lot of ladies in hats.  You know, the pretty kind that look like a little bit of pretty material that happens to be shaped like a bird or a flower just happened to land on a lady's head, in the perfect spot to compliment her updo.  I do not spend enough time watching the news each day, and so I wondered to myself what in the world could be going on?  Were we wearing hats in honor of the first day of summer perhaps?  But then I luckily ran into one of the IT guys at my firm and walked into the office with me.  He explained that these ladies were all Ascot-bound and that how one gets to Ascot is to take a big bus.  There are many locations at which people wait for these buses, and now you all know that Temple Tube station is one of them.  After John explained the situation to me, I was sorry I hadn't just asked if I could take a photo of them (for this here blog).  Anyway, they all looked lovely and glamorous and it made me wish I were going with them and wearing something pretty and a well-placed bird on my head (not a real one OBVIOUSLY).

Gabon

Nothing is sure in my life pretty much ever, but the likelihood of going to Gabon has increased now that Eli's boss has signed up to go.  (I suppose he is technically no longer Eli's boss, as he is going to Gabon and Eli is still on the Gatwick project.)  Anyway, I have an anonymous guest blogger who went to Gabon and reported back to me.  I thought that my readers (this is another topic but my page views have skyrocketed lately and so perhaps it's a nice time to thank you all for reading!?) may find her perspective interesting and so with her permission I include a bit of her description.

I have met some of the wives; all very nice ladies.  They have all seemed to find activities. Some are working and/or have joined gyms, beach club, take french lessons, horseback riding lessons, book clubs and golfing.  They get together for lunch, coffee and organize small dinner parties.  Some of the women offered to pass along email addresses and I will follow up on this.

The anonymous guest blogger intrigued me by mentioning a beach club, but mostly she makes me certain that I'll need to find a job in Gabon.  But perhaps during the six-month period I've reserved to settled in the kids and to learn a little French (I have started -- have I mentioned this? I am lucky enough to have a tutor already and she is tres dynamic and teaches me all sorts of funny phrases I'll never say) I shall join a beach club.  The funny thing I learned about the beach club after talking to my anonymous guest blogger is that the beach is across the street from the beach club.  

I am told that taxis are easy to flag down; however here, drivers will pick up other passengers who are travelling in the same direction unless you ask them not to.  They will expect you to pay a little more for this "private" service, but will generally accommodate your request if you negotiate it up front.  However, they are still cheap.

Do any of you think it would be sort of awesome to share a cab with strangers and stop along the way? I am intrigued, to say the least.  (I will not likely have the guts to do it.)  Anyway, we probably have to get a car as I would imagine I won't be able to stomach having my littles in cars in Gabon without car seats.  And the taxi drivers plus other patrons probably won't want to wait for me to install them as it takes a very long time and I usually end up swearing. 

There are very good restaurants - Chinese, Morocan, Pizza, French, Lebanese, Italian, etc.  They do not have home delivery of food, but you can go to any restaurant and get your order to take away.  Shockingly (or perhaps thankfully) they do not have any McDonald's, Burger King or Kentucky Fried Chicken!

This one makes me happy AND sad at the same time.  Obviously, if Tommy never eats (again) at McDonald's, I will be happy.  Also nice is a variety of good (even just decent would be okay) food.  BUT if you can't get restaurant food delivered, what is the chance would you guess at grocery delivery?  I am so in love with Ocado and I will miss it so so so much.

There are some big supermarkets similar to Tesco/Sainsbury (but French style - Carrefour) that sell food and household goods.  The selection is not huge, but has everything one would need.  There are other smaller food supermarkets that import more western style products, have a good selection of meat products, vegetables, fruits, etc., basically anything you would need.  Markets and Street Vendors sell lots of pineapple and coconut along with lots of other fruits and vegetables.  I am told these items are slightly cheaper if you buy from the vendors.  Some food items (especially those that are imported) are quite expensive (cucumber $9.00 US).

And to this I say only that it's a good thing our family isn't head-over-heels for cucumber.  I mean, we eat them, but can easily do with out.  (Also good - but secondarily - is the food allowance we will receive if we go.)

My anonymous guest blogger wrote more and so if I receive a positive response to this post, perhaps next time she will tell you about accommodations, schools and gyms!

LULU

When Lulu woke up from her nap on Friday, I brought her downstairs to finish my computer business.  By which I mean my internet shopping.

Since we arrived back from Florida, I have been unable to find the kids' crocs.  This is upsetting as I know I didn't lose or leave four crocs, but still, I can't find them.  And I waited for a while but since Lulu needs hers for school, I finally bought them some replacements last week.  Not crocs, a new kind of shoe that I read about on one of my favorite blogs (they're here).  I bought Tommy red and Lulu navy and they both love them.

Or did until Lulu came down from her nap and pink ones were open on the screen.

She screamed, "OH!  Pink ones!  Love 'em!  Buy 'em" and then climbed off the couch, went into the kitchen and returned with a euro.  To pay for them.

I'm back again

This morning was one of those infuriating mornings that you have when you are part of a family and people need to be places other than your house.  This is not a work-at-home vs work-out-of-home issue -- I had these mornings when I was home with my kids and I still have them now.

Today, Tommy needed to be dropped off at a park instead of at school.  He needed to have sunscreen applied.  He needed a bottle of water. All this on top of the normal morning routine which roughly consists of breakfast, teeth brushing, face washing, clothes and shoes.

Most critical to this story, he needed all of these things and he needed me to fold him a paper airplane.  After 15 minutes of pestering me about the airplane, it became a dire need.

The first thing I must say is that he has a book with 28 different paper airplanes in it but he only ever wants a Space Dart.  My point to you is this:  if he only wants one type of airplane, ever, then you would think after watching me fold 50 of them and Eli fold 50 of them and Mandy fold 50 of them that he would be able to fold them himself.

The second thing I should admit is that I was running late this morning.  I went to the gym late, the cleaning lady came (so I had to tidy the house), I didn't know what I was going to wear, and I hadn't prepared my lunch the night before.  And we had to walk farther than normal to school.

I had to get ready for work, and so the kids followed me into my bedroom still calling for the space dart.  (Lulu was mostly asking for toast because she had rejected the first breakfast I offered to her.)

So.  Mandy arrived while I am blow-drying my hair.

And thank GOD, she sat down on my bedroom floor and folded the freaking space dart.

At which point Tommy changes course.  He realized that the space dart needed tape on some part of it, and so he started whining for tape.  And unless Mandy bought some today, we do not have any.

So I lost it, and spent the whole walk to the park explaining that he is a BIG BOY and needs to help in the mornings, not come up with his own agenda.

Sigh.

Save it for the kids

Here's one for you:  Today, I've seen two adults (one on the Tube in the morning; one on a bench at lunchtime) drinking juice boxes.

The younger half of my household would be unimpressed -- perhaps even disgusted -- if they'd seen grown ups drinking juice boxes.  I mean, I think we would all agree that grown ups can drink juice (Tommy would point out that grown ups can drink as much juice as they want).  My issue is purely with the boxes.

Perhaps its a British thing?

Also, today I bought an ugly pair of sandals.  Obviously I think they are a little bit cute.  The kicker is:  this is the second pair of ugly-but-cute-to-me pair of shoes I have purchased this summer.  What is the matter with me?

Father's Day

Tonight before he finally went to bed, Tommy said:  'this is the worst end to father's day ever!'

And I'll be honest, it wasn't a great day or a great weekend.  Our kids were very badly behaved.  Very.  Whiny and tired and not at all nice to either of their parents.  

So, I'll tell you the nice parts rather than focus on the fact that I have only a two-day weekend (I know, I know) and my kids semi-ruined it:

* They are still jet lagged a bit so they slept until 7:30 each morning and it was just so nice.  

* We got really good coffee today to drink while we walked in Kensington Gardens.  (So that's two good parts, except for when Lulu got mud all over my yellow pants (trousers).)

* We each got to read a lot of the New Yorker (me, while my hair was colored on Saturday morning and Eli while he waited around for the guy working on our boiler on Saturday afternoon) and it has really interesting articles in it.

* We watched a funny 'Modern Family' in which Phil says Claire is like a Border Collie because she has to run every day, and I felt like someone finally explained me and I got excited and Eli looked at me like I was crazy.  (I am.  But we both laughed.)

* It didn't rain very much at all.

* This sweet card (he's working on his lower case letters):

I hope all of you had lovely weekends! 

This is a very random post

As a starter:  do any of you find Fox News so upsetting that you can't even watch the clips on Jon Stewart? How oh how do people actually watch it?

So I've been working some long hours the past couple of days, and they've been pretty bad days (work-wise), but here is a list of the lovely parts of the week:

* When I've left work late twice in a row, there has been a Wimbledon train awaiting me when I reach the platform (and I haven't missed it which does happen sometimes because I'm scared of getting caught in the door).

* I regularly hear people say things like this one (from this afternoon):  "Shall I just pop round?"  It still kills me.  The way these English people speak is just so charming.

* My kids are still jetlagged and have been sleeping late so I've have to wake them up in the morning which is just so so so sweet.  Then, because I've had enough time to get ready before they wake up, we sit down with our breakfasts and eat together and have conversations which are 85% sweet and 15% grumpy because I woke them up.  But, by and large, they're morning people and once I help them realize that it's morning, they are happy to wake up and start the day.

* We all missed each other this week because our vacation ended.  (The good part is the missing, not the vacation ending.)

* We had another week without people telling us we have to leave London.

Sorry for the post without a picture.  I'll be back later this weekend!

Oh dear god the jet lag

We landed in London on Sunday at noon, after sleeping somewhere between two (Eli) and six (me, the kids) hours en route.  We arrived home and talked all afternoon about our strategy for dealing with our children throughout the night but somehow, all the talk was wasted and we just put on a movie around six o'clock and then tossed Lulu into bed when she fell asleep shortly thereafter.

She was up and ready to go at midnight.  As Eli had to work this morning (I switched Friday for Monday this week, thank god), I carried her down to the couch, put on a 'Diego' and cut up an apple for her to eat (the only food they are technically permitted to eat in the living room).  Anyway, Tommy joined us after a while, and I just kept playing 'Diego.' (We have about ten of them and I have seen them all multiple times in the past week what with airplanes and jet lag.  I guess my only comment about that is I don't really understand what they love so much about 'Diego' but it does appear to be somewhat educational.  We have a serious TV detox coming up in this house.)

Finally at three I told them they had to go to bed and dumped Lulu in her crib without stories and fell asleep in Tommy's bed with him.  At seven Eli woke me up and I was disoriented as he was all dressed for work.  My question for the universe is this:  if one family member is going to have an easy time with jet lag (indeed, avoid it all together), why should it be the person best equipped to deal with horrible jet lag? The rest of us are far crankier when we're exhausted.

I know, this post is so interesting.

The cute part of the story (you knew I'd get there) is that I woke the kids up at 10 and around 11, Tommy looked at me and said, 'is it school today?' and I said 'well, for some kids, but not you.'  To which he replied, 'what kind of day is it? Is it sport day?' When I admitted that it was actually sport day, he ran up, put on his uniform and told me he 'must go to school, Mummy!'

So I took him.

Katherine's sister Charlotte found and gave to Tommy some sharks teeth one day at the beach -- and he marched into class holding them.  Thank goodness Miss Jo agreed to let Tommy show them all what he had brought immediately.

******

Here's a picture from the wedding.  I like how the rest of my family is looking in a different direction -- like there is one joke for everyone else (it likely included 'chicken butt', I'll be honest) but I need a special one off to the side to make me laugh.

Why I Am Depressed

This is the second post in a new series of "Why I" posts in which I shall explain myself.  Many of my readers appreciate this -- perhaps most of all my father-in-law who thinks I am charmingly crazy (Ollie, do not protest, you know it's true except maybe the 'charmingly' part).

Friends, I HATE the end of vacation.  This is especially true when I am forced to tear myself and my children away from our families and return to a place without any family (but with very lovely friends).  The worst part of this problem is that I let my distress at the end of vacation wreck the last 36-48 hours of said vacation so that I am not only not enjoying time off with good weather and junk food, I am also already focused on the end.  Living in London makes the end a bit worse as we face an eight-hour flight scheduled to depart at 10:45pm.

COME ON, I say to myself, just buck up and enjoy the fact that you saw a pelican on the dock this morning and just heard a fish jump (or was it a gator?!?) in the canal behind you...

(This photo is actually from Wakulla Springs, not the canal behind our house.  Sadly.)

Why I Don't Like My Hair

This is on the evening of the wedding about forty-five seconds after we left the house.  I spent approximately 20 minutes on my hair which for me is a very, very long time.  Despite the kissy lips I was directing to the camera, I am happy with how my hair looks in this photo.

Behold, 35 minutes later.  Curly and ridiculous looking.  I did use two products (when I complain about my hair, Eli always suggests more or different product which I think is about the least helpful idea ever).  They did not help, obviously.

(It looks like my daughter someday may have similar complaints about her own hair.)

The Wedding!!!

The first moment they spent in their wedding clothes:

 Walking to the wedding (keeping Lulu out of puddles):

 Millie, Lizzie, Lexy and Tommy:

 All the kids -- Tommy & Clem, Lexy & Eliza, Alex & Millie, Theo, Lizzie & Adeline, and Claire:

 Lexy & Tommy (don't they look alike here?):

 Sid, Nancy, Bob & Ollie:

 The flower girls who threw sand (and it wasn't against the rules):

 The Bride!

My kid is cute

While we waited for Daddy to run into the Wal-Mart, Tommy prepared for the beach.

Round and round

We have settled into a beach pace.  Yesterday's focus was an outing to Wakulla Springs which was AMAZING -- we saw alligators (this after Dad and I saw one on our morning walk!), manatees, turtles and quite a few birds.  My favorite birds were the morehens because we had one of our own back in London and I learned that here they are called (lovingly, I'm sure) water chickens.  They had babies which were so cute!  Anyway, if the photos are good, I'll come back and post a few of them.

In the meantime, I thought you all would like to see how Uncle Andy has been forced to spend the bulk of the week (Lulu of course has no idea that he has other, better things to do).  He puts her down and she doesn't even stop to get her bearings -- she throws her hands up and begs for "round and round."  Though it goes without saying, I'll say anyway that Uncle Andy is very, very popular.

More Beach Photos...

Just some I think are cute.

Cousins at the Marine Center

Yesterday we went to a marine center with lots of touch tanks and even an injured sea turtle.  We had lots of fun, except that it was a bit sad to see the sick sea turtle in a tank...(So I didn't put a picture of her here partially because the pictures of the sea turtle are made sadder by my scowling face which happens to be in all of them, thank you very much honey.)

 This one is my favorite picture of the whole trip so far: