Johnsons: The Guests that COULDN'T leave!

So my first posting on the Johnson's visit wasn't even adequate. I was in the wrong mood to be writing on this thing and so I didn't do them justice. I really have to be in the right mood - with either a lot of caffeine in my blood or a glass or two of wine. Anyway, I clearly left out the best pictures of the Johnson's visit! I love photos in a series and here is a series catching Julia, Michael and me having a few drinks (and dinner!) at The Swan. Tim took this first picture, which wasn't really that flattering of gorgeous Julia for some reason. She claims it was the light, I think she was getting ready to blow out the candle on the table.

Here I wrecked the next lovely picture of Julia and Michael because I thought the first picture was so funny. My turn to look great in a photo. Also, we weren't on the first round of drinks.

Look, another great picture of the lovely visitors and me drying my eyes, trying to loook normal - quite unsuccesfully!

Now, back to the original posting!... The Johnsons and Tim and Sophie in front of Kensington Palace in Kensington Gardens/Hyde Park. What good first-day-in-London weather! Who says it rains all time here?

A rare family photo at The Round Pond in Hyde Park.

It had been since October of 2009 that we had any visitors from home so we were super excited when Tim's sister, Julia, and her family - husband Michael and son Colin decided to come for a visit right after Easter. The week-long vacation started off fantastically with warm temperatures and even some sun - a welcome improvement over the few weeks before that were filled with rain and cold temperatures. Plus Colin was a trooper, only getting airsick once at take-off and sleeping though the rest of the flight despite an ear infection.

The Johnsons had loads of fun things planned - a Hop On Hop Off bus tour, a day at The Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, nights out at The Swan (our favorite pub just down the street from our house - see above!) and even a girls' day at Kew Gardens... that's when Johnson's discovered they couldn't leave the next day like they planned. Oops! Let's just say our friend Eyjafjallajokull can take the blame. We heard the news on an announcement on the District line of The Underground on our way home - stating that Heathrow was shut down. What??!!??

So another week passed before the Johnsons could leave. After the initial shock of their forced extended vaca wore of, they got in quite a few more sites in and we got some more Johnson time in. The girls loved having extra time (except maybe Sophie with Colin - she was quite unsure about having a younger kid around here). Michael "worked" from our home. Julia helped me get ready for Kara's visit. Extra tourist destinations were explored!

Finally (for the Johnsons, not for us!) they were able to get on a Delta flight on April 23rd - one week past their originally planned departure date. Yikes! Will they ever visit again? They're still not talking... ;-) For the rest of you , Eyjafjallajokull is behaving again. For now. So hurry up!

Easter: Rainy, Muddy and Cold London!

Here are our big girls! The Easter Bunny brought them Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen in frog form - who knew they would be such big hits?

Here is the best shot with the Easter baskets I could grab. They were pretty excited about the half-eaten carrots... that Easter Bunny even likes Ranch Dressing!

Digging for loot.

Sophie having an Easter egg-shaped chocolate lollie while playing in the pinto beans.

Sophie really enjoyed her chocolate cupcakes we made the week leading up to Easter.

Abby was so proud of her creation! We had loads and loads of frosting and had a great time decorating the cupcakes. It was tempting to skip the cake (for the girls, at least) and just lick away!

Here are my pathetic attempts at cupcake decorating... good thing the girls are 4 and 2 so they were impressed!

Easter was smack in the middle of a nice rainy spell. We had plans to go early to church at a local C of E church, an Easter party at Chiswick House and then off to a yummy lunch at one of our favorite Chiswick joints: Giraffe.

I vividly remember Easter from 2009 because it was the first holiday that we celebrated in England. It definitely brought on a weird feeling to have a year pass us by, especially because I had been stuck in a homesick rut since Christmas. However, the girls were bigger and we had a bigger celebration and less stress because of it. AND - second year in a row I got away with not cooking for Easter (well, I guess I never have had to bring more than I side dish anyway...)!

Disneyland Paris!!

Frankly, I am shocked we went. I have spent much of the last year trying to talk Tim into this and I had all but given up. Suddenly our landlords announced that they'd like to replace our kitchen floor and wouldn't it be more convenient for everyone if it could be done whilst we were on holiday? Yes! Our kitchen floor is still crumbling and orange but we did make it to Disneyland. The floor sitch is TBD. Don't worry, I'll let you all know.

So, its about 2 1/2 hours by high speed train to Paris from London. The train travels under the Channel (though in a tunnel, as opposed to just in the open water like Abby guessed) and the trip goes pretty fast, particularly if you are on the Disney Express as the train drops you off right at Disneyland. They took our luggage right from the station to our hotel room for us which freed us up to go directly to the park and start spending money...

Above is a picture of the Disneyland Hotel where we stayed. It was a fantastic hotel with Disney characters around much of the time, pools and, most importantly, is right at the gates of the park!
First stop, Sleeping Beauty's castle. This building is the centerpiece of the park and the story of Aurora is told through stained glass windows and tapestries along the interior walls of the castle. Besides Sophie, Tim and Abby, our friends Charlotte and her daddy Mike are also posing in front of the evil fairy, Maleficent.

Sophie wasn't big enough to go on the Peter Pan ride. However, she was big enough to know that she was missing out on something - totally different than last summer when she was happy enough to sit in her stroller and watch Abby on all the rides at the local carnivals that rolled through town. So, to keep with the spoil-the-kids-rotten theme of the three day weekend, I bought Sophie a Minnie Mouse lollipop the size of her head. Believe me, it only caused more problems later. Did I honestly think that Abby would think that a stilly Peter Pan ride was a fair trade for the biggest lolly in the world? Hmmm... sometimes I shock myself at my stupidity.

Here is Abby and I in front of the afore mentioned Sleeping Beauty castle. We had a little time to kill while we were waiting for a princess autograph and photo opportunity. Taking pictures and eating some popcorn was our strategy to deal with the 90 minute wait. Even worse, and to Abby, far more tragic, Belle (from Beauty and The Beast) was the princess up to bat when it was finally our turn. She had been the first out there, followed by Snow White (who was substantially more exciting to Abby and Charlotte). I made the mistake of saying that surely there would be a third princess out by the time we were at the front of the line such as Cinderella or Ariel. Nope. Belle had a short break and kicked Snow White off the stage. Abby refused to meet her (something to do with a storyline on her Disney Princess Leapster) so Sophie was shoved up on stage against her will to get a picture and autograph. We were not leaving empty-handed after and hour and a half and I wasn't about to be the creepy adult getting a princess autograph by myself (and yes, we actually saw that! Yikes!)

There is our Snow White. And Dopey. If only she could have held out another 15 minutes.

Good job Sophie!

Wait! What is Mommy doing in the Disney parade?

The parade was a fantastic way to see all of our favorite characters - they even had a villain float (that's Baddies to you Brits). Maleficent was looking especially evil that day, don't you think?

Here are the kids getting ready to go out to dinner on Saturday night. Sophie had her Marie shirt on from Aristocats, Charlotte was decked out in Sleeping Beauty garb, Abby got to wear her Easter dress with some new Cinderella accessories and little James had on his manly electric guitar shirt! During dinner at the hotel we were able to meet Chip and Dale, Goofy, Pluto, Eyeore, Perla and Suzy from Cinderella (mice).

Of course Minnie and Mickey were in high demand. Sophie got to meet them both several times (Abby too!). It was just Donald and Daisy that we really didn't see. They must have been on vacation in Florida for the weekend I guess.

We got to see Minnie in her iconic polka dot dress too!

We decided to have one more go at a character meal on Sunday. We sauntered over to Frontierland for our meal at the Lucky Nugget. Mickey, Pluto and Goofy joined us. They did a great job of spending time with us. However, Mickey did traumatize Sophie briefly when he was teasing her and stole her milk cup. If that's one thing that you don't do to Sophie is screw with her milk!! She eventually forgave him though. How can you really stay mad at Mickey?

That's about as close as we got to the elusive Mary Poppins and Burt. Oh, I can't tell you how much she is loved in our house. Sophie even has a plush doll version of her. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious is ONLY Sophie's most favorite song in the ENTIRE world. At least we did get this guy's picture and autograph:

He cleverly signed the autograph book: PENGUIN

This picture is my one moment of parental lunacy at Disneyland. Princess Ariel, aka Most Beloved Of All Disney Characters And Also The Most Difficult to Hunt Down. I spotted her as we were walking to another part of the park. She was being whisked away by one of her handlers, nearing a gate, never to be seen again. I ran ahead, tried to politely block her exit and begged, along with Abby for her autograph and a picture. She had to ever so sweetly decline our request but I did snap this pic anyway. In the end, Abby and Charlotte were a bit heart broken since there is no one more exciting thatn Ariel. They did get right up to her though and as we walked away, Abby said: "Mommy, she was SO beautiful!" Off the group went with heavy hearts but the mommies went back to try to find Ariel again to ask one last time for her signature in the books. And what do you know (wink, wink) we were able to talk her into signing the books for our girls. Voila! Broken hearts were mended.

Here's our big girl waiting to change tubes at 10:30 at night on Sunday back in London. She's a pro, isn't she?

Here is what our other sweetheart was doing. She stayed awake the entire time on the train back to England and within 3 minutes of settling back in her stroller, perhaps before even clearing customs at Saint Pancras she was passed out from shear exhaustion. She had 3 napless days and short on sleep nights. How many minutes of fussing at Disneyland? Zero. What a good girl!

The trip finally wore down Tim too. Just a quick catnap while we were waiting for the District Line. Back to Chiswick and our own beds!

So I Thought This Was My Biggest Problem

I mean really... I thought this was going to be the challenge for the day. I took these pictures early in the morning last Friday (March 5th) because even I was amazed at Sophie's hair. We are used to crazy hair in the mornings here, but this was spectacular! I was gearing up for detangler, several brushes and determining my distraction method for the 20 minutes I was going to need to get through that rat's nest.

Little did I know that this would be the least of my problems! As soon as I got the kids dressed for the day, teeth brushed and, of course, hair tamed we set out for Sainsbury's. I had the car that day and so I wanted to take full advantage and drive there so I could get a good amound of groceries. It is always best to stay out of the grocery stores over the weekend and it is my personal rule to limit my trips during the week as well, since everyone knows that going shopping with two kids is akin to going to the dentist.

So we were off. I had a plan. I was going to bribe the children with sugar (a lolly from Starbuck's) and get in and out in 45 minutes. I wanted to buy things that were annoying (yet, unfortunately, not impossible, as I know too well) to get home while pushing a stroller such as toilet paper, paper towels, cat litter, cat food, a giant package of diapers. At the entrance to Sainsbury's we ran into a neighbor and a classmate of Abby's: Joe and his mom and brother. (As a sidenote, Abby mentioned to Tim last weekend that Joe was officially her boyfriend at school.) Naturally Joe and Abby wanted to hang out and Sophie was placated by the sweet fruitiness of the sucker slime drooling out of her mouth so I quickly (and calmly) shopped as fast as I could with a sticky 2 year old and two four year olds running somewhat under control through the isles. In no time I was done, found Joe's mom and dropped him off and got in the line to check out. This is where my day changed. I was bagging my groceries, listening to my kids being good, entertaining themselves (but not seeing them) and putting in my PIN for my debit card when suddenly I heard the worst noise I have ever heard: a giant crash and both my girls screaming and crying hysterically. I turned around to see that the metal and full cart had tipped over on its side and had landed on Abby's face. Sophie was also in the cart but was relatively unhurt (later we found some nasty bruises on the top of her thighs) but was completely tramatized. A woman from behind me in the line helped be lift up the cart off of Abby and I think another person helped Abby off the ground. I looked down to see blood pouring from her face. She had the beginnins of a black eye and a gash that went down to the bone. The paramedics were called, paper towels were handed to me to me to press onto Abby's face, Joe's mom took Sophie from the cart and it was all I could do to figure out how to get ahold of Tim (which I did poorly, since I wasn't fully functioning - sorry Tim!). Two sets of paramedics cleared Abby at the store to travel to the hospital by way of car versus ambulance so we decided that would be the least traumatic. After getting sorted out and my brain working again, the girls and I made it out to the car to grab Tim from work and head to the hospital. Another mom/aquaintance that was at Sainsbury's helped me get the postcode for the hospital into the navigation system while I was buckling in the girls in. After the mom went on her way, I realized that the gps had drained our severely shoddy car battery and the car was dead! The stress of the situation overcame me and I finally started crying while I called Tim to get someone to drive over to jump the car. About 30 minutes later we were soon on the way after dropping Sophie and Tim off at the house.

Abby and I went to West Middlesex Hospital in Islesworth Twickenham (West London) and were able to see a pediatric emergency doctor in a fairly short amount of time. Luckily, he agreed that a shot to numb her in the face wouldn't go over very well, so he opted to order glue and steri strips. Abby was a brave girl and only cried when the glue stung her. This is a picture of her while she was waiting to get x-rayed. No broken facial bones and it could have been substantially worse, should she have gotten hit and inch higher. Each day the bruise gets a little more nasty and the cut looks better. Sophie still talks about the trauma and hopefully will forget it someday. Probably only to be undug at some future therapy session, right?

Abby was so excited to go back to school today to see her friends that she missed on Friday (and get a new library book!) but they sent her back home with me because they didn't want to have to worry about her reinjuring herself. Oh, she was sad (I wasn't, is that bad?). I was worried too. Now her next trauma is that we have big plans to go to Disneyland in Paris this weekend and she is disturbed that the princesses will see her like this. I tell her, they'll be just glad she is ok.

London Fox Week

Here is what happens when Tim is in charge of getting the girls dressed. Pretty foxy!

Whoa! No other comment needed. Besides that I was not responsible for the posing in this picture. She thought that up on her own.

Abby is on a fox-like roll this week. Channeling her inner Elton.

Oh wait. Sophie channeled a better inner Elton.

Sorry. This one is the best Elton John. I'm telling you - its been a foxy week.

Can you spot the fox on the fence? We had two (real) foxes trotting about in our back garden. If you are around Chiswick at night, they are pretty easy to spot, but not normally during the day.

Here is a better picture. However, I was having camera issues and so its not as good as it could have been. They came right up to our windows and were sniffing around. That is, until, Charlie (our cat) can flying out of nowhere and threw himself against the glass.

There it goes. End of Fox Week!

Christmas Trip to the Midwest

One of the things the girls looked forward to most (Abby remembered this from the last two winters) was sledding! Luckily, Minnesota got snow for us just in time and we were able to go a couple of times. Sophie had never been before and she loved it too. It was nice to have the time to do something as a family of four that we all enjoyed.

Here is Hero Daddy with his girls. He was a good sport and did a lot of carrying and pulling up the hill with his girls in tow. I wasn't as generous. Typical. :) Cute picture, though!

Here we stayed closer to our house for a quick little of the snow. Thanks to Chois for some snow gear for Abby and thanks to Noni and Papa for storing the snow gear that fit Sophie, Tim and me. We have winter jackets and fleece hats and mittens for the winter here in London, but that's it. Boots and waterproof winter gear isn't needed (except for the last week, if you have been watching international weather - we have experienced the worst winter weather in 30 years here).

Two days after we arrived in MN we had a birthday party scheduled for Sophie. It wouldn't be her actual birthday for another week, but I was afraid that it is too close to Christmas for us to have a big party on her day. I am more of a planner for these events than just one giant shopping trip to Target the day before, but this time we pulled it together quickly! Here Sophie was a bit overwhelmed by the group standing around her singing "Happy Birthday" or maybe she was nervous about getting both candles out on the first try.

Our friends and family have experienced a baby boom recently: Karla has a brand new baby girl, Aliza, Julia and 8 month old Colin and Pam with almost two year old Avery!

Daddy and the birthday girl in the living room at my parents' house. They were kind enough to provide the house for several get togethers during our time in MN.

You'd think since I write this blog I might be a bit more discerning with the pictures I choose of myself. Anyway, Sophie really enjoyed opening presents this year and got pretty good at it by the end of all the birthday and Christmas festivities. Abby and Liam are helping her out here.

We were so happy that the Sieberts were able to join us from Hudson. Last year many people weren't able to make it due to a snow storm - not this year! We always love seeing Molly, Derek, Aidan and Liam. Hopefully this year their drive was a bit shorter - just to Maplewood instead of Eagan. What cute boys!

Uncles Hyung and Tones (with Baby Aliza) hanging out by the food.

Mr. and Mrs. Claus paid a visit to the girls at Noni and Papa's house. They were fantastic and gave Abby and Sophie tasty candy canes and awesome golden reindeer antlers headbands that they wore through the rest of the holidays (including a doctor office visit). We took a picture of the Claus' with the girls, but it magically disappeared from the blog posting. Apparently the someone wanted the evidence to be minimal.

Due to the snow, we had to completely reschedule the Iowa part of the trip. Instead of traveling down to Ames late on Christmas Eve and continuing down to the Quad Cities on Christmas Day, we made the entire trip down on the 23rd. This long trip made us nervous both because of the age of the girls and the fact that Sophie gets carsick. We loaded her up with her medicine and off we went! By the way, my family couldn't have been more wonderful about us completely skipping Christmas with them. We felt like if we didn't leave when we did, we may not have gotten down to Iowa at all and my sister, Hyung and my parents were very understanding.

Sophie enjoyed playing with Mommy's winter hat as a form of entertainment for awhile.

Eventually both girls were talked into a nap and Tim and I got a little peace and quiet for awhile. However, it is important to point out that they were fantastic the whole trip. In fact, as we were nearing the exit for Davenport Tim and I both praise the girls for being so nice to each other during the 6 hour car ride (Abby had just shared her beloved Baby with Sophie) and Abby piped up, with matching hand motions: "It IS a Christmas miracle!" Yes, yes it was...

The not-getting-carsick-Sophie with her beloved Otter, aka "Ah-Ya". Her only complaint throughout the day was her left ear. She'd stick her teeny finger in her ear and say "A yittle bit hurt". I brought her to urgent care that evening and she had a nasty double ear infection. Poor little monkey. Thank goodness for travel insurance!

Jennifer, Julia and Tim plus their families all went to visit Grandpa Mike on Christmas Eve. We did a few things around the house for him and opened presents too.

There was a dogpile on Grandpa Mike's couch. Sophie decided it was a good idea to stick close to Uncle Ray through the entire visit. Abby, as usual, liked Ben's lap and Ben was happy to oblige.

Grandma Anne and her grandkids: Ben (11), Sophie (2), Colin (8 mos), Katherine (8) and Abby (4)

I brought a giant box of Christmas crackers in our luggage from England and forgot to do them on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I finally remembered them on the 26 so we kept the Christmas spirit alive one more day! Auntie Jennifer and Abby thought they looked pretty cute in their crowns and so did I so I snapped a picture of the buddies.

When we returned back to MN after our time in IA/IL we were able to spend more time with Maya and Henry because they were still off school. It was cold and nasty out so the best idea was to hit the pool. Papa played dolphin and gave rides in the deeper water and I played with the kids in the shallow water.

The Chois and my parents were flexible enough to reschedule Christmas. The day before we left to go back to London Kristin and Hyung left work a bit early to come to my parent's for dinner and presents. It was a great time!

Maya and her favorite, umm... only, Auntie! Me and my favorite present from my cute niece!

Sophie was busy showing Papa her new dress from the Chois - although the little bloomers that came with it were being used for pure silliness. Oh my goodness!

Because of the snow the week before, we also had to reschedule our annual Christmas celebration with the Selbitschka family. They were kind enough to come over and have yummy Chipotle with us for our Christmas meal. Yum yum yum!

The Farrell and Selbitschka girls. Weren't Tones and Karla brave with little 3 month old Aliza? I think so!

Sophie with possibly her favorite think she received. A little baby care center with all sorts of little baby things like wipes, bottles, fake shampoo, etc. As you can see, she uses it for her otter nursery instead of a baby. We think this makes sense.

Auntie Sarah and gorgeous little Aliza. I love her hair.

Tony and Greta! Thanks for taking one of your precious days off to spend part of it with us and say good-bye. Thanks to everyone elso - all our fantastic family and friends who rearranged their schedule to spend time with us. We feel so loved. See you all soon!