Weekend in Wales

6 August 2012

 A weekend away from England to 1.) See another Olympic event, this time Football. 

Great seats we scored before we knew GB was in! 
Great Britain vs. South Korea

Unfortunately they lost in added extra time, 2-1.

Cardiff Castle with the Olympic Logo

2.) Give B his first dip in a swimming pool.





 

 3.) Take in the sights of Cardiff.

Cardiff Bay

I have no idea what this says because it's in Welsh, but my friend Kelcey and I saw Mama Mia here one  night and now I have a beautiful picture of it during the day!

We didn't get a picture of the Millenium Stadium where the football was played, but the library had the same graphic, so I guess it will do! 

Not a bad weekend.

Look at this chunky monkey! 

 B, you absolutely love the water and although you were quite confused, wondering why everyone was joining you during bath time, you soon started splashing around with excitement!  We are amazed at how fast you are growing and how much you eat!  You love your orange veggies-sweet potatoes, carrots, and pumpkin.  As of last Thursday you have been sleeping up to 10 hours a night, straight through. Which makes for one happy momma!

A Little Late.

30 July 2012

This post is a week overdue, but hey, better late than never.  

Tiger taking some practice shots.

 So the previous post was about our weekend in Blackpool.  While we were there, several locals were asking us if we were in town for golf. To which we replied, "No, just a family getaway."  At the time we weren't sure what they were talking about, and Darren said he thought The Open was being played in Manchester, which was on the way to Blackpool.  As we were leaving, we noticed a long line of traffic, so Darren quickly used his iPhone to search directions for the tournament. Sure enough, it was in Blackpool! Not even 2 miles from where we were staying. What luck! So I whipped the car around and followed the signs to parking, which was a lousy 15 pounds.  I decided to drive around until we found some cheaper parking in the city center of St. Annes. We had to walk a bit, but no  biggie, we're used to walking. When we finally found the grounds, tickets were 70 pounds a piece-B was free.  It was the final day of the tournament, so we expected it to be expensive. When an opportunity like this presents itself, money doesn't matter that much.  Tiger Woods was playing and we were pumped! Neither one of us had ever seen a professional golf tournament and didn't know what to expect. Not really the scene for a baby since we had to be extremely quiet, but once again B was well-behaved and didn't make a sound. Having him along saved me from waiting in line for the ladies room. Gotta love those baby changes! The day was beautiful start to finish. We got some much needed vitamin D and once again witnessed something pretty great in England.

Darren and B at the 18th Hole.

Tiger on hole 3.

We ♥ BPL

24 July 2012
(Happy Birthday, Danielle!)

Blackpool (BPL) in pictures.

Pleasure Beach

Mirror Ball

Blackpool Tower

Madame Tussads

The Chipleys

   You are getting to see a lot already, lil B man! Unfortunately you got the bird's eye view of the Irish Sea since you were snoozing when we actually walked in it.  You are very tolerant of traveling long distances in the car and sleeping in unfamiliar places, which works out in our favor. 

          

                                       

   Today we monitored your mobility and Miss Sue said you are right on track developmentally.  She is very proud of your progress.  You are starting to mimic my motions and laugh when I laugh, which I love.  I am so impressed with how alert and responsive you are.  Already you are so in tune with your surroundings and are such a smart little boy.   You enjoy watching Baby Einstein and listening to the classical music they play with British commentary. I just pop you in your walker and you can watch an entire 30 minute episode.  You prefer to be on your feet and kick constantly, however you are enjoying tummy time much more than before.  We find you on the opposite side of the room when we leave the room for just a moment.  You are currently performing one of your stutnts on the couch and don't even realize that you could find yourself on your head in a second!  I pulled you back up and now you are using your feet as hands to hold up your bottle. You are so silly, don't ever change.

Power Outage

14 July 2012

What do you do with a baby when there's no electricity for 6 hours? Well, I tell ya, we discovered we could do a lot.  I think Bradyn's favorite thing was going outside, soaking up some sun, and rolling around in the grass! We live for sunny days in England. Thank goodness one of them just happened to be the day of a scheduled a power outage. Something we knew nothing about! We didn't let it stop us from having a good time outdoors though. I could have spent all day out there, but Lil B has such fair skin. :)

Look at those Baby Legs-baby leg warmers. To die!

Dandelion by the face, not cute. I mowed soon after! LOL!

   I'm starting something new.  I decided with each post I am going to write a little note to Bradyn. Just whatever comes to mind when I think about how he is constantly growing and changing. I always want to remember him at every stage of life and I hope some day we'll be able to read these posts to him.  Or better yet, he'll be able to read them to us and get a good laugh.  So here it goes.

   Recently Bradyn, you have developed quite the personality. Although I think your teeth are trying to make their appearance, you are cranky and refuse to take naps or go to sleep at night. You love that bottle and can even bring it up to your mouth now. Man do you get excited when you see it!  You get very upset when your needs are not met or you run out of milk. We've let you cry a little bit more than we did before, but you are stubborn and won't let up! Just like your parents. I'm sorry you inherited that trait!

 

   You also have been doing the funniest thing to me lately. You knaw on my face like it's a delicious ice cream cone, and before I know it, my face is covered with baby drool. I know I kiss you 100 times a day-maybe more-so I like to think you're just returning the favor! I'm sorry, I just can't help myself.  I don't plan on stopping anytime soon either, so you better get used to it! I can deal with your kisses if you can deal with mine!

History In The Making

9 July 2012

History breezed through Bury St. Edmunds Saturday and we had front row seats!

  

  

   We witnessed the Olympic Torch being carried by this guy. I'm not sure who he is, but he's one of 8,000 inspirational people who were nominated by family and friends to carry the torch. Hopefully he's done something great to better this world! I'm sure he felt a great deal of pride, as did we.

 





  Just by chance we decided to stop for lunch at a pub we had never been to and noticed some signs and markers along the road for the relay. It was our lucky day and a great way to spend our 11th year wedding anniversary.

  We feel so blessed to be living in England right now and will be taking part of the Olympic Games in three weeks when we venture down to London to see women's sand volleyball. Darren also has tickets to see boxing, which I'm not so interested in, so he's taking his friend Patrick.  We also hope to travel to Wales and watch football in August, babysitter pending. 

2 in 1

28 June 2012

 

Two blog posts in one week, say WHAAT!?  Ok, so I have a lot more time on my hands than usual.  B and D are snoozin', dishes are done, workout 1 is done, class work for today- done! All by 10:00 a.m.   I've had 3 cups of coffee, so that may have helped some. The only thing left on the list is the blizog!

So last time I tried to post a video of lil B in his Johnny Jump Up and couldn't get it to work. So here it is now in all its glory...

The lil munchkin has hops! And this isn't even half of what he can do now.

This past week I gave B some apples and managed to use my iPad to take some pictures. Check out this sequence...

 

PRICELESS.

 

Side note, I picked up this high chair from a neighbor who was moving, cleaned it up, and it looks brand new. The best part is, I got it for FREE!

TGIS!

23 June 2012

Hello, Summer!

Thank goodness you're here because now I get to spend the entire day with my favorite bald person. 

We bought Bradyn a Johnny Jump up and he absolutely loves it. In fact, he's in it right now.

Money. Well. Spent.

21 Weeks

It's hard to believe he's 5 months already!

     P.S.-A very happy birthday to my dad and friend J.B. tomorrow!

P.P.S.-Here are some pictures from the past four weeks that I was too busy to blog about.

2 June 2012

Ahh, Paris. We definitely didn't stay in the classiest of neighborhoods, but hey, that's Europe for ya. We took the chunnel two hours from London St. Pancras to the heart of Paris. It was a great trip filled with  a river cruise along the Seine, sunshine, historical landmarks, and croissants. Those Parisians love their bread!

Darren was our main photographer and of course B was loungin' for most of the trip.

Jack wasn't too happy this day from all the walking, but we were happy to finally catch a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower.


View more of our trip here. 

Abbey Gardens-Bury St. Edumunds U.S.Air Force and Army Memorial

 My dear friend, Becca stopped through London to see us on her work trip. Wish I could keep her around. We had such a great time in the short amount time she was here.

Animal Action visited our school and let some of the kids hold this guy.

I was pretty excited when I got to hold a meerkat. He had an interesting smell and  freakishly long claws.  The last couple weeks of school are always my favorite because 1. )The year is almost over and 2.) I find activities that consume a lot of time so I don't have to teach as much. :0)

HAPPY SUMMER!