Goodbye England

Arrival - 2 September 2004 

Departure - 12 August 2012

Ice Lollies

Any time is ice lolly time when you you are defrosting the freezer - 10 am and 60 degrees farenheit!

Olympic Experience

Charles and Jack went to Wembley last night to watch the Olympics semi-final football match. Theo didn't go, but he was happy to dress the part leading up to the departure: 

A day at the Olympics

We were fortunate to get some Olympic tickets. It was a lottery system and the majority of our friends who applied did not get any so we felt really privileged to get tickets to two events: volleyball and football. Charles and I went to the volleyball match today. We watched Japan vs. Dominican Republic in the first match and Russia vs. Algeria in the second match. The first match was fairly close with Japan winning. The second match was completely lop-sided. Russia crushed Algeria. It was close to embarrassing at times. The crowd really got behind Algeria and cheered really loudly whenever they got a point, which really wasn't that often. There were times when I thought my high school volleyball team could have beaten them. But overall, it was a really fun experience. We have never seen London before more efficient or friendly in our time here. Here are some pictures:

The Earls Court Venue:

Ready to go in (the stewards were so friendly they were offering to take people's pictures!): 

Pretty high up but still in the arena so we were happy:

Eliot was a star. At one point we laid him on the ground on a blanket and he had a fun little kick about. We got a couple of funny looks, but mostly smiles from those around us. We wondered if we looked negligent or laid back, thoughts?

A close up of Eliot which is both cute (with the smile) and kind of scary (with the red eyes!). 

All in all, it was a great day. A big thanks to Charis for watching the older three kids. We will do the same for her next week as she and Seulgi have the same tickets for next Monday. There was part of us who felt bad for not taking the older kids, but we are confident they were more excited about going for a long playdate at the Byuns than they would have watching the volleyball. :)

Happy Birthday Theo!

Today we had the privilege of celebrating Theo's fourth birthday. We went to Bekonscot Model Village as a family and allowed Theo to bring one friend with him. He chose his good friend Josiah. It was a really fun day with viewing the village, playing on the fun playground, having a picnic, and riding a little train. A fun fact about this village was that the Queen celebrated her tenth birthday there. Theo liked that fact.

 We then ended the day as a family with our traditional pizza celebration at Pizza Hut. While at Pizza Hut we made a list of things that Theo had learned in the last twelve months or had accomplished. We came up with the following:

•  to count to thirty
• to recognize his name
• to dress himself
• to put his shoes on
• graduated from St. Paul's Pre-School
• to ride a bike with stabilizers 
• to be a good big brother to Eliot 

 We then decided that we should all go around the table and say what we appreiated most about Theo. Here are the results:

•  Charles: His imaginative play and how he creates so many fun things to play 
• Erin: How he has made progress on working hard and doesn't quit when things are hard 
• Addie: How he colours (there were crayons in front of her so it may have just been the power of suggestion as Theo is not a big colourer) 
• Eliot (as spoken by Mom): How he talks to me after breakfast every morning and makes me smile
• Jack: How he lies on my bed with me and reads books 

 We are very blessed by this little boy and thank God he is part of our family.

 Kids the morning of Theo's birthday:

Theo on his birthday:

Theo receiving Miles Axelrod his present from Jack, Addie, and Eliot:

Picture of model village:

Having fun in the phone booth:

On the train at the model village:

Theo and his friend Josiah:

Theo blowing out his candles:

Family at Pizza Hut: