Happy Thanksgiving!!

This is our third Thanksgiving here in England and even though the Brits don't celebrate, we insisted that they do! Tom was traveling to Germany so we celebrated a day early, starting with the children's "tea." We had our best friends over: Fraser, Rory, Heath and baby Gregor, along with their mummy Sarah. All the boys are the same age as our boys, except baby Gregor, so it was bound to be fun.

Sarah brought the boys here after school and the turkey crafts started soon after. The boys glued on feathers and wrote what they were thankful for. Then we sat for dinner. The toughest part - making them sit while I explained what Thanksgiving was (I left out the part of the Pilgrims leaving England b/c of the tyrant King!). Then we went around the room to say what we are thankful for. The Clark boys - God and Jesus (they aren't Christians, so I was a bit blown away!). Jacob: his feathers were filled, but some of the best were: Mummy, Daddy, friends, Jeb, Aiden, beds, snow, and popcorn. Aiden: homework, brothers, school. Jeb: Cars. It was all very sweet.

Pumpkin pie - not eaten in England. So, the day before, I took all the boys to swim and there was a big discussion on eating pumpkin pie. Even my boys weren't too keen on eating it, so I gave them a back-up plan of apple pie. But when the pie was brought out, they ate it up - in fact I had to tell them to hold back so Tom could have some!

It was such a nice evening and even better when Tom and I sat down to have our dinner together. We do have so much to be thankful for.

Below is the English version of Thanksgiving - the Harvest Festival. We celebrated about a month ago. The kids bring in food to school and have a little play. This year Jacob was the star - Oliver. Very proud of him! Oh, Aiden was there too, but chose to not participate. Just depends on the day for Aiden...oh well, maybe the Christmas production!

Winter Wonderland

We started the Christmas season a bit early this year, but I guess we just needed to beat the crowds! Off we went to Hyde Park in London to "Winter Wonderland." This is London's version of the German Markets, which seemed to be few and far between this year. This year it was a bit more like a fair, with all kinds of carnival rides and greasy food. The kids were in heaven. The highlight, and reason for the visit, was seeing Father Christmas. Aiden was so shy last year, but a lot can change. He knew exactly what he wanted to say when he sat down - "A light saber, please." Jacob wants too many things, so he agreed with Aiden and added in Star Wars Lego. Jeb, who I was worried would cry, offered his usual plea - "Cars." Complete with his little British accent. A trip to Harrods followed, but was short lived when the crowds were too large to even see the candy in the huge candystore. Thank goodness for the toystore!

So, let the Christmas season begin! Well, let's give it a week.

Guy Fawkes Day/Bonfire Night

We celebrated Guy Fawkes Day on Saturday night. Ever heard of it? Neither had we until we moved here. Guy Fawkes was a man that tried to blow up Parliment years and years ago and got caught. He was hung, drawn and quartered...look that up, it's quite interesting! Anyway, from that time on, the Brits have celebrated Guy being caught - through a bonfire with a strawman being hung and burned above it.

Times have changed, no more strawman. At least not in Beaconsfield, but they have replaced it with fireworks. It's kind of nice to have the kids see the fireworks in the pitchblack darkeness of 8:00, rather than waiting until 10:30 in the summer on the fourth. The kids loved it with Jeb laughing the whole time! But, I'll still take the fourth of July. Can't give up my favorite holiday!

Crazy kids and the bonfire

Jeb loving the fireworks

On the way home with Alfie

Edinburgh, Scotland

Last weekend we took a trip up to Scotland, stopping first in York to break up the drive. We found that York was a nice little town, with a ton of history, dating back to Roman times. We headed into Yorkminster and both Tom and I agreed that we have seen one too many churches in the past two years. But, not wanting to miss anything, we decided to head into the crypt this time. We saw the first layer - Roman built in the 6th century. That was torn down and a Norman church built on that, and then Yorkminster, which took 250 years to build!! A trip through the park for the boys to run about and then lunch. It was a great morning.

On to Edinburgh! 3 hour drive and we were in this lovely city. Although the arrival wasn't so pleasant since we discovered a chocolate candy that we didn't bring with us. Aiden literally sat on that little secret ever since the stop at the gas station 2 hours earlier! We are hoping he learned his lesson!

Edinburgh is a great town and easy to get around in. We headed up to Edinburgh Castle first. A medieval castle built on an extinct volcano, with tons of treasures within to explore. Our favorite was the crown jewels of Scotland - which were hidden from the English for over a hundred years! At lunch we were highly entertained by some Japanese tourists who were in awe of the boys. As usual, they took pictures. As usual, Aiden ignored them, but Jeb ate it up.

On to walk the Royal Mile, a street filled with old Georgian buildings and loads of souvenir shops. At the bottom end, we hit the Queen's current Palace of Scotland and Scottish Parliament. We took the bus over to Princes Street Gardens and climbed 250 spiral stairs to gorgeous views of the city. It was the highlight of the day for the boys! My highlight was getting a bit of peace and quiet when Tom took them back to the apartment and I shopped and took it all in.

The following day we headed to the other extinct volcano in Edinburgh - King Arthur's seat. At the bottom we debated on which path to take. We took the one with more people, only to find out that we climbed up and back down the wrong mountain and now we were at the bottom of the right one. The kids were doing great, so we hiked up to find some stunning views as well as a gentle slope on the other side leading to a parking lot. Our hour hike could have been 15 minutes with a stoller! Oh well, it's the experience that matters.

A quick and expensive stop at a very boring aquarium followed by the beach, which the kids had wanted in the first place. Why don't we listen to them?! Rocks, shells, sand, and water - all a boy needs to be happy.

An 8 hour drive back. I won't lie. It was hard. The van was trashed. Take a look. Good times.

Halloween

Halloween - not sure I can even say that we celebrated this year. Third year in a row of not trick or treating thanks to being gone. The boys had a week off, so when that happens, we hit the road!

We did, however, do a bit of celebrating. Jacob is now in Beavers - the first stage of cub scouts and they had to dress up. So, we went out and got a Batman costume. Here is the funny thing about Halloween here - it's not about just dressing up. It's about dressing up as something scary. So, when J announced that he was going to be Batman, the usual response was: "That's not very Halloweeny." Good thing my boy is sure of himself because he stuck to it. I now know why churches here are so against Halloween - I think that I like the way we celebrate in the US!

We did carve our pumpkins. With a kit this year! Wow, makes a difference! We had two pumpkins and I got another small one with the kit - good thing because we didn't think Jeb would get into it. He did. It would have been a nightmare had he not gotten to help carve one for himself. I did Aiden's and am quite proud of my skeleton (his choice to choose the hardest one!) and Jacob designed his himself. Not bad boys, not bad.

Did I hear that right?!

This one I just need to write out so I don't forget...not that I ever will. My mouth is still hanging open.

Last Saturday, Jacob and I walked to town to grab a few items at the grocery store. We were walking back and I asked Jacob to switch sides with me on the sidewalk. My words exactly: "Jacob, you need to walk close to the hedge so that if something happens, the car will hit me and not you." (Sounds pretty morbid now that I'm writing it!) His response: "Oh no! If a car hits you we won't have any milk!" Ummm...ok. So much for mom.

Raspberries vs. LegoLand

Last weekend we decided to take a trip to the local farm, since they had advertised a pumpkin grotto. We were a bit leery considering they don't do much for pumpkins in England, but it was a beautiful day, so off we went. When we got to the farm we realized we could pick raspberries and apples - the kids were so excited! We then went to the "grotto" and they picked out their pumpkins. We drove home with such happy boys. Jacob and Aiden kept thanking us for such a great time. So, I asked them if they liked it better than going to Disney or Legoland. The answer - "About the same." Hmmm, a £20 trip to the farm vs. Disney...obviously we've been spending our money in the wrong place!!!

So, this Friday we decided to test the theory and we went to Legoland. We had an inset day at school, so we figured no one would be there. It was packed - we went on 5 rides the whole day plus I ran into at least 5 people I knew! Tom and I were a bit miserable, but the boys loved it. Of course a trip to Legoland always ends in the shop. It's more Tom's desire than the boys, but you don't often get to Legoland I guess. Funny, not as much thankfulness on the way home as the pumpkin grotto!

But, Tom and I did get our reward the next morning at 6:20 am. Both boys at our bed with Jacob announcing that Aiden had a lego stuck up his nose. You'd think he would have learned from the last time he shoved a lego up there, but I guess there was the curiousity of seeing if this one would go up further. 6:23 -Tom is up with his huge Maglite and the sharpest tweezers in the house, not to mention he is on a really short fuse. It scared me a bit, so I can only imagine the horror that Aiden was feeling. Tom would say to blow out and Aiden would suck in. 6:28 - lego still stuck. Tom, so frustrated, has walked out of the room. I'm imagining the laughter of the staff at the ER when I bring Aiden in and tell them what happened. I can't do it. 6:29 I hold one nostril and tell him to blow it out. 6:30 - Lego out after a few good blows. I don't think we'll be visiting Legoland anytime soon.

Jacob at the Lego Driving School

Jeb picking apples (he ate quite a few too!)