O Sole Mia!!

Last weekend Tom and I left the boys at home to be spoiled by my parents, while we went for a weekend away to be spoiled in Venice. The treats started early - a 2 hour flight spent reading without being interrupted by a child wanting something; not having to wait for checked bags since we both took only a backpack; and finally stepping foot onto the streets of Venice relaxed!

First things first, finding our hotel in the midst of the winding streets and canals. We stood on a small bridge for five minutes trying to get our bearings, only to walk the other way while our hotel was on the other side of the bridge. That is how easy it is to get lost in Venice and that is probably the best part of Venice - getting lost and finding a small pizza joint where they make the pizza three feet away. Yum. Or getting lost only to find a some great shops or one of many amazing views. Yep, that is the best part of Venice. But, there is more...

San Marco Square. We visited here on Sunday. The sun was out and it was beautiful. We climbed up Campanile to see the city from above and see just how crowded this place is! Then on to Doge Palace with so much extravagance. We walked through with our mouths wide open - gold, gold and more gold. So Venice. Then we walked through the Bridge of Sighs, which leads to the prison - the exact opposite of the palace that it is attached to. Barren and dark, I wouldn't want to spend an hour in those cells! The final 'major' sight was St. Marc's Basilica. Since it was Sunday, church was on, so we sat and listened to the choir in this mammoth church. Amazing.

A stop for lunch at a local sandwich spot and then we wandered to the local side of the island. You must remember that we are severely sun deprived living in rainy England, so with the sun beating down we sat on a bench in a square and just soaked it up! We only moved to get a cappuccino at a nearby cafe. Ahh, the sun. How we have missed you!

We needed to do one last thing before we left. A gondola ride. We got on close to our hotel and were whisked around for the next half hour. We even lucked out to have our gondolier sing to us!
We left the next morning after walking through the local side of Venice. We watched the town come alive with shop keepers sweeping off the sidewalks and the locals heading to the cafe for a quick espresso. Tom and I decided that while the sights were amazing, it was more about experiencing the culture. There are a lot of places that we have visited to 'see', but Italy is definitely one to 'feel.'

View over Venice

Bridge of Sighs

Entry to the Palace

Over the Grand Canal

Our Gondolier by the Rialto Bridge

View from our hotel

A Surprise Visit

Back in December, my mom and dad called to see if we'd be okay with another visit since it was feeling like a long time since they had seen the kids. The bigger news was that they wanted to bring our niece, Halle. We didn't tell the boys and today was the day that we picked them up at the airport.

I thought Jacob would be screaming, but he just stood there in shock. And after a minute, it was like no time had passed at all. That is the magic of a special friend...

Shocked!!

Finally a hug.

Pancake Day!

Shrove Tuesday is also known as Pancake Day here in England. Since the boys are out of school, they decided to go to church for their annual pancake races. But, a sickness got in the way.

Aiden complained of a headache all day and at 5 oclock I finally had to hand him off to Tom so I could get ready for a girls night out. I was away from him less than a minute when I heard it...Aiden puked all over Tom. My first reaction was feeling so bad for Aiden, my second, was that I was soooo glad it wasn't me he had puked on! Sorry Tom. Anyway, that is what led to Pancake Day festivities being postponed.

Ash Wednesday turned into Pancake Day. We had races outside after dinner. It's not just racing with the pancake, it's flipping it while running. Aiden was the fastest, but no flips. I, as the mum, won. Of course, I'm the only one who can multitask!!!

Cadbury Chocolate Visit

Last week Saturday we finally went to CadburyWorld, a thing that has been on my list of things to do for the past two years! It wasn't exactly 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,' but we had the best time! Aiden is still saying that it was the best part of his day, even though it was 7 days ago! As a big fan of the Cadbury egg, I was just as excited. We saw how it was made via video - too top secret to show first hand! But, it was still fulfilling the big dream! We walked out with bags full of chocolate and tummies full of warm chocolate straight from the tap. And, yes, we crashed on the way home after coming down from our sugar highs!

All the flavors of dairy milk (the sugar high has begun)

Watching the real thing (his eyes are beginning to glaze over...)

Chocolate straight from the tap! (full on sugar high & time to brush teeth)

30 Year Record for Snow...

Two weeks ago the boys came home from school with a note saying they probably wouldn't have school tomorrow because it was supposed to snow. I didn't think much of it since it never snows here and we'd already had snow this school year. But, when I got up the next morning I saw 8 inches of fresh snow. Yep, no school. And the next day? No more snow, but no school. And the same for the next day. We have maybe one or two snow plows in the county and the grit (aka salt) was cut in half this year, so only major roads were getting it, making it impossible to get anywhere. People here freaked out. It's the equivalent to a place like North Carolina getting snow. Here are some of the SNOW highlights.

1. The night before the "storm" a friend went to three food stores to find no bread and no milk.

2. No such things as snow shovels here. I saw someone using a leaf blower to move the snow, a sign, and a lot of cardboard taped to wooden sticks.

3. Biking to the train station is popular here. If you ever want a good laugh, watch someone try to bike in the snow...in a suit. It doesn't work and people get really frustrated and slightly embarrassed.

4. Strollers don't work in snow. We all began walking to town with toddlers in sleds behind. Kind of fun, but you must make sure that the toddler doesn't roll out when you turn a corner. (Like mine did several times - always into the hedge and not the road!)

5. Cars don't work well when roads aren't plowed or gritted. And we live in a hilly area. I came down a hill on a road I shouldn't have been on only to see a car sliding down sideways on the next hill that I was meant to go up. I told the boys to pray and I floored it. The van just made it to the top - barely and I think she was smoking for the next thirty minutes!

What did we do? Here are some of OUR highlights:

1. The first day we were so excited, so we decided to go sledding. We drove halfway and then walked the rest. Which went fairly well. Once at the hill it all went down hill. Jacob didn't want to do it after a few gos and Aiden was sick of walking up the hill. Sorry, this isn't Austria and there is no magic carpet! Jeb was in heaven, so I focused on him. I should have kept focused on all. I looked up to see Aiden take his mitten that was attached to his wrist with elastic and swing it right into Jacob's face. What happened next is priceless. I could see the rage come into Jacob's face and then he body tackled Aiden to the ground like a linebacker. Long story short - Jacob stood at the bottom of the hill and Aiden at the top. I had just witnessed the first of many fights that are sure to happen in our house. And the walk home? I don't even want to discuss it. It wasn't pretty.

2. That same day my friend called to alert me there was homework. What? I remember snowdays being fun. Not so. Thanks to the internet, kids now have to work during snow days. And when I say kids, I really mean moms. I'm not meant to home school my children. Again, it wasn't pretty.

3. Aiden's homework was to build a snowman. So we went out and he refused. I wasn't putting on all the clothes for nothing! So guess who built it? ME. Guess who didn't like it? HIM. We still took a picture for school.

Alas, the rain has come. I usually hate rain in January because it rains every day. I have never been so happy. And within 8 hours, the snow was gone. A distant memory, until tomorrow. Flurries are forecasted. We could get an inch. Sounds crazy, but school could be off. And it won't be pretty.

Jacob is SEVEN!!!

It's hard to believe it, as I say every year! We started the countdown to Jacob's birthday back in November, I think and it finally arrived, along with a ton of snow! Jacob's first present was no school - SNOW DAY for the third day in a row. He was excited. So, we had our family party at breakfast. Lots of fun things, easy enough to get for Jacob whose only request was, "just get me what you want and I'll like it." Wish I was more like him! He got to choose his cereal for breakfast and he chose Lucky Charms, at a cool £7.00 (bout $11) a box. The lady at the check out couldn't believe it once again!

Three o'clock rolled around and we headed out into the snowy streets of Beaconsfield. Almost everyone could make it to the party despite the snow and most parents had a look of glee on their faces as they were finally getting rid of their boys for a couple of hours after three days at home! The pizza party went great - the boys made their own pizzas, we told jokes while they cooked, we ate (and no one complained!) and then cut the cake. The pizza cake was super sweet due to the amount of marzipan needed to make the toppings. Not sure any of the boys really liked it and one even flew to the bathroom, faking getting sick. Oh well, it really wasn't about the taste, but the look!! Tom and I left feeling not too exhausted, the boys must have matured from last year because we swore never to do it again after last year's party!

Back home for the sleepover. Jacob had his two best mates over, Fraser and Joe Harris (three boys named Joe in class, so Joe is never called Joe!) They watched Star Wars and ate popcorn til 9:30, then chatted until 10:00. Tom told them lights out and of course they listened. Not sure if they would have if it was me! They were up again at 7:00 for American pancakes, which they ate. I was worried that they'd miss their eggs and baked beans!

I'm feeling a bit sad about this birthday as it's the last that Jacob will have in England. He has such great friends and I don't even want to think about leaving them. I just have to wonder who will be at his party next year???

The boys enjoying their pizzas

Making the pizzas

With Joe and Fraser

They don't look to tired do they?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We had a great time ringing in our last New Year in England. We went to a friends house and were lucky enough to have a couple of pre-teen girls there that love Jeb, so I was free for the night! In fact, Jeb walked in to super-star status. No one really said hello to us when we walked in, all we heard was, "JEB! Ahh, he is SO cute!" So funny to hear when you have only boys and don't experience the pure emotion of a girl!

Anyway, we had a great night with the Bryants and the Konings. Lots of game playing and laughing. At one point the words "Do you think he's going to throw up?" were spoken (and he did - not my child! )

So, for the last time we watched the fireworks go off over the London Eye and heard Big Ben toll his midnight chimes. I'll miss that sound!Jacob and Aiden thought it was so great because they stayed up until 12:45am! (And, no, of course they didn't sleep in!).

The next day Aiden asked if we could do a popcorn prayer. Here is what he said, "Dear God, please help us to celebrate 2010 again!" I think he enjoyed it!