Horton House

Cami has become "pen friends" with Claire & Delaney Horton -- daughters of college friends. When we were in Montana, the Hortons sent us a care package with goodies for me & Cami. This nifty house-in-a-box kept Cami happy during a snowy afternoon.

THANK YOU, Claire & Delaney!

Rievaulx Abbey

We haven't been out adventuring as much this summer as we were last. Jason's work commitments have increased, Cami's social calendar is booked, & I still haven't gotten a British driver's license. But we spent one special day in May driving through North Yorkshire to go to Rievaulx Abbey.

It's a gorgeous ruin and there were historical re-enactors showing what abbey life was like. After walking the labyrinth that had been created in a courtyard, Cami & I chatted with a "monk" from York.

I thought that the labyrinth layout looked very familiar -- and with good reason. It was modeled on the labyrinth in Chartres, France, which is the labyrinth my uncle Robert has studied & recreated many times.

Snip, Snip

My babies take a while to grow hair. So, all of them have been a little over two years old when they finally get a trip to see a stylist. Rosie's first (and so far only) trip to meet Claire came in April.

Doesn't she look thrilled?

Since I was holding Rose, Cami was in charge of the camera.

I lifted this image from a video Cami took. That's why it's blurry.

Procedure complete. I thought all her sweet baby curls would disappear, but within a day her hair was bouncing again.

Rosie is 2!

10 April 2010: Leave Montana on a 6 a.m. flight.

11 April 2010: Arrive in Amsterdam. Wait three hours. Fly home.

12 April 2010: Wake up at 2 a.m. with jet lag & sing "Happy Birthday" to Rosie.

Later on (during daylight hours): Sing some more. Have cake. And love my sweet, happy girl.

Easter Eggs

Easter Eggs are not a traditional bit of English life. Actually, I take that back. Dyeing Easter eggs is not a traditional bit of English life. When a Brit uses that term, they are talking about a giant hollow chocolate egg filled with other candies.

Colored eggs don't happen, because regular chicken eggs are generally brown. If you want white eggs, you either buy duck eggs or know someone who keeps "rare breed" chickens. So, Grandma Fehr helped us a bit while we used the dye tablets Grandma Jeanne had bought to help the kids have a good ole' American Easter egg dye fest. Cami was overjoyed -- she'd missed that bit of Easter in 2009.

The treasures found in the backyard during the hunt with Cousin Angie.

We are Family

As I mentioned in the previous post, the trip to Montana defied expectations. So I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked. But are a few of the fam.

The night before we left to head home, I didn't have the focus to get the kids to bed. So Sabriand (the newest uncle for my crew) took little Rosie to the family room & tried to read her to sleep -- it was almost a success.

The day before we left, we went down to Polson to see Great Grandma Gessaman. Jason was looking over family photos with his grandmother & Rosie wanted to see too.

More family photos to look at with Sharilyn, the cool aunt who brought Sabriand into the family, & Great Grandma.

Getting a lesson on how vintage clock-toys work.

Cami loves Cousin Angie. Angie is only two days older than Graham, but Cami co-opted her (I think because they have the same hair color & the same shoes.)

Grandpa melted my heart when he took Rosie for a walk to get the mail.

Guess what's on TV? (Hint: my father-in-law is from Canada.) Does your guess involve ice & sticks?

Big Sky Country

Cami was catching snow on her tongue.

We flew to Montana over the Easter holidays. Through the generosity of the grandparents, we were able to get together one last time before Rose requires a seat of her own. Just a few pretty views to remember.

Not Symmetric Relations

Cami & Jason were just expressing a difference of opinion on whether or not having a cold (and thus missing school tomorrow) required that she spend the day in bed. After several parlays of "yes, you will," "no, I won't" Jason asked, "Why do you have to argue with me about this?"

Her response was pure Cami, "I'm not arguing with you. You are arguing with me."

Graham's Playground

I haven't downloaded my camera in over four months. No wonder I haven't written much on the blog lately. Despite evidence to the contrary -- Cami's activity schedule turning me into a soccer mom, Jason's busy work life, etc. -- we have been on a few adventures this glorious spring. One of the best was going to Brimham Rocks in North Yorkshire. It was pretty spontaneous. A just-get-in-the-car-and-go sort of event (well, after Jason organized our picnic supplies).

Anyway, Brimham Rocks is Graham's perfect playground. It's a National Trust site where these naturally formed sandstone formations are preserved. But not in the look-and-don't-touch sense of preservation. In the climb & explore sense. And climb & explore is just what we did on a gorgeously sunny day.

I haven't got any really good shots of Graham by himself, sadly. But he loved it. His fearlessness has been tempered by self-awareness, so he would walk up to the edge of a big drop, realize that it was too high, and back up. Seeing that he's finally gaining some self-preservation skills, we felt pretty confident letting him roam (as long as we could see him). So, climbing, jumping, pretending with Cami. Happiness for the boy & happiness for his mommy.

Giggle at the Robot

Cami is wandering around pretending to be a robot. When this mood strikes, I usually end up ignoring her. I must not be the only one, because she just told Graham (in her normal voice), "Pretend that got your attention."