Saturday, August 25, 2012

Day in the park

Not sure how summer finally came right as the Olympics started, but it did... finally!  We spent an afternoon at a neighborhood park, starting with the flying saucer swing


Hot metal slides (super fast!)


Some teeter-tottering (or see-sawing if you will)...


Playing store...

How we communicated before texting...

Self-powered merry-go-round...

And the girls even splashed around in the pool afterward... just a fun day!

Monday, August 13, 2012

2012 London Olympics... over

Hard for us to believe that the Olympics have come and gone.  We've been looking forward to these past two weeks ever since we found out that we moving to England.  The girls had fun in school throughout the past year learning about the Olympics and countries around the globe.  There's just been such an excitement in the country, and especially when you make it to London as we've done a couple of time over the past couple of weeks... we loved seeing Tower Bridge with the Olympic rings!

The weather has been surprisingly nice... it's almost felt like summer for these Summer Olympics!  I think the beach volleyball players only needed to wear clothes for one day of their competition :-)

The weather can change in a moment's notice, as evidenced by these pictures of a beautiful lunch in Cambridge... here we are after we've ordered our pizzas...
 
... and here we are after hurrying to finish our last couple of bites while getting rained on!  Where this storm came from who knows?!
We went to celebrate the Torch being run through Cambridge when it came through the beginning of July... yes, it was the beginning of July and we were bundled up!
A trip to London with little Grandma in front of Big Ben and Parliament with jackets and umbrellas in the late morning...

and sunny and beautiful by the end of the day as we returned to our parking garage...

It's been fun walking around London and feeling the excitement... seeing the international flags displayed around the city. 
And while we didn't actually attend any of the Games, it has been enjoyable nonetheless witnessing the energy of a hugely successful event... well done Team GB!

One of the random bits of fun over the last couple of weeks, while on the Tube in London, the US Men's Gymnastics team boarded our car and rode several stops... was fun to be able to chit chat with them, even if just for a brief moment.

So our run of Olympics has now come to an end... we were married in Salt Lake City in January 2002 right before the Winter Olympics, then our time in China in 2008 and these concluding games in London.  Don't think we'll be in Brazil in 2016, but if somebody has a suggestion, we're open to it!

Monday, July 23, 2012

Wimpole Farm

Little Grandma's 2 1/2 week visit came to an end too quickly... what fun we had.  Thanks for coming to our house Lil' Jigma!  The weekend before she flew back to the States we took a day trip to Wimpole Farm, an 18th century "model farm" designed to test and improve farming techniques.  It is still an active farm today.

Of course there were cows...

And milking simulators!

But nothing beats seeing the little piggies run around!

They're just so cute...

So after learning all about how a cute little piggy become a big pig...

We see the sign... BUY BRITISH PORK...

Mmm... fresh bacon!

A little play break on the see-saw...

And a tour of the massive farm home...

And it was time for us to head home!


Sunday, July 8, 2012

How to celebrate the 4th of July in the United Kingdom?  How to express joy for independence from a country that we're currently living in?!  Well, we tried to celebrate it just the same as we would if we were back in the States! :-)

There was a Fourth of July festival at one of the air force bases near us that we took the kids to:

Little Grandma took Tally and Ryann on a Scrambler...

And scramble they did...


The favorite was bumper cars...

Tim with Ryann...

Little Grandma & Adayla taking it entirely too seriously!

There's a smile...

There is surely a pacifier behind Xanthy's pacifier...

Then we went down to Bury St Edmonds...

To check out the cathedral...

Just wow...

Then into the town center...

For lunch and to check out the market...

Ryann's loving being a big sister!

Family-model bike..

Finishing up the day with patriotic face-painting!

Happy Fourth!



Sunday, July 1, 2012

It's A(nother) GIRL!!

Adayla, Tally and Ryann are excited to announce the birth of their new baby sister... Xanthy!!

Year: 2012
Make: Girl
Model: Xanthy Elizabeth
Length: 21 inches
Weight: 8 pounds even (3.64 kg)

Checking into the hospital for a scheduled induction... we still didn't know boy or girl!

Ryann is now a big sister!

Tally's turn to hold...

Adayla got to see a big yawn up close...

Mom & baby are home now, both are doing fantastic!  And as you can tell in the next pic, Morgan has a lot o f help... Xanthy has 3 little mommies as well!