Jenny Has Given Up Blogging

It was fun while it lasted, but now it feels easier to post on Facebook. :)

Long time no blog!

We had a great summer, which included visitors & a trip to Spain. It flew by! Here are the highlights:

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• In July Aaron's sister, Joelyn, visited with her family. In a short week we had them hopping from London to the town on the Thames were we live and then up to York. Unfortunately Molly got a bit sick during the week, but we still managed to have a good time. Then in early August my Mom came to watch Molly for a couple of weeks. What a treat to have dinner made in the evenings, the house picked up, etc. We were sorry to see her go!! Pics of family visits are here.

• After my Mom left we took a short visit to the Costa del Sol area in southern Spain. We had fabulous weather and clear skies the whole time. For this trip we took a more relaxed pace than usual, swimming lots & just hanging out. Still, we managed to squeeze in day trips to Gibraltar and Granada. Pics of Spain are here.

• Now we're back in our school year routine. Molly's graduated to a new school and was quite nervous before school started. The first few days went really well, and we think it's going to be a great year!

Mellow Weekends

Some pics for the families.

• A few weekends ago we went to a music / dance festival at Waddesdon Manor, where Molly had a great time at a street dance workshop.

• This week Molly's school had an open day. She graduates to the older school in the fall, and is a bit nervous about leaving her fabulous teacher from this year. We also move from red uniforms to green ones - including a tie!

• Today Molly's school had an end-of-year picnic. It was a typical British summer day (overcast with showers) but the kids didn't mind.
  
  
  
• After the picnic Molly had some friends over. After they left I went upstairs to inspect Molly's room & my jaw dropped. What a mess! They must have had a good time. :)
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Great Weekend

We are wrapping up a really fun weekend! Friday night - casual dinner at a pub, as house was a complete disaster. Saturday - left disaster of a house for Camping Night at Molly's school. The kids ran around for HOURS until finally dropping asleep around midnight. Sunday - left disaster of a house again for a live show of the 10 finalists from Britain's Got Talent (including Susan Boyle). It was the most fun, positive vibe I've experienced in a really long time. Sunday night - am still trying to ignore the disaster of a house, so am posting pics to the blog. :)

Pics: Above, Molly with friends Alfie (left) and Thomas (right). Below, program from Britain's Got Talent. Folks in the US have probably only heard about Susan Boyle, but the show was fantastic this year with tons of great amateurs. Here's a link to Molly's favorite act - a VERY cute boy called Aidan Davis. My favorite act was Stavros Flatley.

Not Much New...

Not much new to report. Gorgeous weather lately, which we've enjoyed greatly. Molly plays outdoors as much as she can, and Aaron & I sneak out of the office for short walks around lunch time whenever possible.

Aaron's spent some time out and about with his department (video games). They won this month's video games industry pub quiz (Aaron was THRILLED), and on Friday Aaron played in a day-long football (soccer) tournament. This last was really fun for him, but we think he broke his toe along the way - I guess that's what happens when a 38 yr-old tries to play soccer for the first time with a bunch of guys who have been playing it since they could walk.

Next week I have a bit of a trek to Wales for a meeting, Molly is featured on the local Marlow radio station along with 3 other kids from her class, and we all go to the live show of Britain's Got Talent to see Susan Boyle and others. Time just flies!

Rome

We took advantage of the May bank holiday last week to meet the Knopfs in Rome. Molly, the intrepid traveller, did great even in the 90 degree heat. Of course there was plenty of spaghetti and gelato to keep her going. She was in heaven with pasta for lunch and dinner everyday. We had about 3 1/2 days of sightseeing, and during the last couple of days the city began to fill with football (soccer) fans for the big Barcelona - Manchester United match. We were glad to fly out on Wednesday as the roving bands of flag-draped, chanting fans were a bit daunting. Still, Rome was fascinating. Pics are here.

Spring is here!

Wow, it's been a while since the last post - not since I started working again. Hmmm, wonder if there's a correlation there?!? Anyway, here's what we've been up to.

Jan

I started work, everything got behind. It's been a bit of a challenge getting back into working-mom mode. Aaron has been super supportive. He gets home earlier than me & starts dinner, which is completely fab.

Feb

Molly had a girl's tea party, just for fun. We also took a weekend break to Wales. The countryside was beautiful, as usual. We spent most of our time around Cardiff, and took a day trip up to Hay-on-Wye, a little village famous for having 30 or more bookshops. Just our kind of town! On the way back to Cardiff we had quite an adventure as the sat nav directed us through 20 miles of one-lane, hedge-rowed roads. Aaron also took a week off just to relax and hang out. He had a day in London & took a pilgimage to Wells, the town where Hot Fuzz was filmed. Feb pics are here.

March

Hired a cleaner, thank God. Molly kept busy with birthday parties and play dates. We were very pleased when her teacher gave glowing reviews at our teacher conference. Aaron and I continued to put off our driver's tests. Man, we are so far behind on that. We should have passed both the written & practical exams in Jan! My godmother, Pam, and her husband Harry stopped by Marlow on their way home from a trip to the middle east. We took them out for a proper English tea and had a great visit.

April

Beautiful weather in the UK - warm, sunny days. Surprising, but we'll take it! Aaron and Molly went home to St. Louis on the 8th, while I followed a few days later. Molly was quite sick the night before they left - we weren't sure if they were going to be able to make it home for Passover. Luckily she was much better in the morning. We visited Chicago with Aaron's family and then drove up to MN to be with my family. It was great to be home, and Aaron & I shopped until we dropped. I had really missed Target! When we got back to the UK, everything had exploded into bloom. Pics of the US trip are here.

May

In early May we headed back up to Wales for another Aaron pilgrimage. This time to Portmeirion, where the 1960s show the Prisoner was filmed. It was a lovely resort, but a long drive for the 3 day weekend. Now we are immersed back at work, and looking forward to a late May trip to Rome where we'll meet Aaron's parents again. Pics of Wales are here.

Hope everyone's doing well. It was great to see some folks in April, and we miss everyone else!