Monday, September 21, 2009

New Posts

I finally got caught up on all that has been going on with us the past few months. I posted quite a few new posts so make sure you scroll all the way down to get the full story :-)

What we have been up to

Look how cute I am!




8 Months!



Me and my handsome guy at 8 months




Quinn is a great helper. He loves helping with the laundry


Our little guy is crawling all over the place. We have fun crawling through this box and all over the apartment.




Bath time is by far the most exciting time of day. Quinn is fascinated by the tub and can't wait to get in. Sadly, I haven't a picture of this, but he always tries to lift one leg and climb in. So cute!


We made cookies and cream ice cream. It was delicious!


I walked into Quinn's room one day and there he was just standing in his crib. I didn't know he could do that! I grabbed the camera and look at the grin he is giving me!


My boys are so goofy!





And a sweet video of Quinn playing peak a boo!

One last picture and goodbyes

One last picture I forgot to post was this one. Bexhill is close to Hastings where the Battle of 1066 happened. We tried to get close the field but you have to pay but we did get to see this abbey right in front of the field.


We traveled all over the south of England, spent time with family, ate fish and chips, saw a lot of sights but eventually it was time to go home. I miss my family so much and it was great to see everyone. I hope we get to go again soon!

Castle #2

So my brother really was on this vacation with us but we didn't get many pictures with him. This one was taken in front of Bodium castle. The castle was beautiful, complete with moat and all.




I had to post this picture of my dad. Its just one of the images that come to mind when I think about him: Relaxing with a cup of tea/coffee

My Dad and Quinn on the grounds of Bodium castle


Our little moose was such a trooper on our trip but he did get tuckered out. He was crawling around on our bed and just fell asleep.

We found a deli named after our little cutie. Well, I am assuming it was named before he was born but ya know.

Quinn and Granddad, July 2009







Water Fun

Back in Bexhill we got to spend a lot of time with my Dad. We also got lots of chances to play in the water. Quinn got to go swimming for the first time. We went to this great pool that was shallow at one end and had a wave machine, plus spouts of water that were lots of fun. Quinn was a little apprehensive at first but ended up having a great time. He loves the water!
This was my Dad's first time to meet his grandson. They had a lot of fun together and Quinn even got a bath from his Granddad.

We went to visit a family friend at Sovereign Harbour and ended up taking a boat tour around the harbour. There were a ton of jelly fish in the water. If you make the picture above bigger you can see them better.






We were lucky enough to stay at a hotel about a two minute walk from the beach. We got to make sand castles and play in the water. We even got to get ice cream. Two of my top favourite activities.

The bright glare you see is just my white skin, but if you ignore that you can see Quinn playing in the Atlantic Ocean for the first time :-)

We had some down time at the hotel one evening and decided to play bananagrams. In honor of us loving Harry Potter AND being in England we decided to play using only words related to Harry Potter. We just had to show of how well we did...even if we did have to share a few tiles in the process.

Arundle Castle

Sunday we had a big family dinner and Monday we had a relaxing day with an evening of shopping in Winchester which is a beautiful town. The next day we headed back to Bexhill but on the way stopped by Arundle Castle. We looked around a little and then had some delicious Chinese food.
Don't worry, its not a TARDIS.

Stone Henge

Saturday morning my Uncle Jerry drove Peter, David and I to Stonehenge. Even though I lived England for the first half of my life this is a site I had never been to before. It was really neat to see.
We learnt lots of interesting new things such as there were actually three stages to Stonehenge. The first one was just a trench, the second one was made out of wood and the third was stone. The bumps you can see on top of some of the stones fit into notches on the horizontal stones would stay in place.
That night we got to see to my cousin Felicia perform twice. She was fantastic. First we saw her in Stage Coach where she did some drama and singing, and then in a choir performance. It was a great evening.

The New Forrest

Thursday we went to the London temple. It was a spectacular day! Then on Friday we went to the New Forrest to have a picnic and play some cricket. The New Forrest is a huge expanse of land that consists of woodlands and villages. The neatest thing about it is that there is a lot of free roaming wild life especially cows and horses.
These horses were at our picnic spot when we pulled up and hung out for a while. They also snuck up right behind us when we were on a walk. So friendly!

For those of you who don't know cricket is played between two wickets. The goal for the batter is to protect the wickets and to score runs in between the wickets. The fielders job is to knock over the wickets and to stop the batter from scoring runs.


My Grandpa pitching....In cricket you pitch with a straight arm



My grandma even joined in and got a hit and a run


Also in cricket you hold onto the bat when you run
Going to the New Forrest for a picnic is a fun family tradition and I am so glad we got to go this year. hopefully next time my cousins will be able to come with us.

The day we had tea with the Queen

Wednesday we took the train down to London. Grandma Jen, Papi and Quinn
And sadly enough we didn't have tea with the Queen. We didn't even get close to Buckingham Palace. Our day went by so fast and we didn't get to see everything we wanted to do but I guess that just means we have to go back sometime soon :-) However we did get to see
A Bobby

Big Ben....By the way, Big Ben is the name of the bell. The tower is Saint Mary's tower


Parliament



And the statue of Richard the Lion Heart in front of Parliament
Other things we saw but didn't get pictures of include the London eye (though we didn't go on it), the river Thames, Westminster Abbey and the O2. So much fun!

England I

Our first few days in England were tons of fun and filled with celebrations. My Grandma (Dad's mom) turned 90! And so there was a big party to celebrate. Family from everywhere including England, Texas, Luxembourg, New Jersey and Connecticut gathered together to celebrate. My Grandma always jokes that she has a 'jet setting' family and my cousin Amanda came up with the great idea to make a map showing where all of Granny's family were now living.The second celebration was for my Granddad and Grandma Ings. It was their 50th wedding anniversary! My Auntie Sue and Uncle Jerry hosted an amazing party at their home. They are pro's at hosting the best get togethers. One fun aspect was that G+G didn't know that Peter, Quinn and I were coming. Nor that they were having a party. My dad dropped us off at A. Sue's and as he was leaving my grandparents were driving up. The roads are really narrow out in the country so they couldn't help but see each other. So they were pretty suspicious but still a bit of a surprise all the same. After a while we decided we should probably inform them that they would be having a party so they were given an invitation. My granddad was hurriedly looking for his "goggles" so he could see while my Grandma read the invitation. She suddenly looked up and said" but that's today!" And was pretty speechless. Her facial expression was priceless. I regret not taking a picture. At this point my Granddad still didn't know what was going on! Well he was finally informed and soon friends and family were arriving to celebrate 50 years of marriage. Quite an accomplishment!
Tuesday we decided to go down to Portsmouth Harbour to see some of the ships. We toured the HMS Victory which was the ship on which Lord Nelson died. We also got to see the HMS warrior which was the first Iron clad ship built in England and the Mary Rose. They are still in the process of trying to preserve the Mary Rose and so we were able to view it through a viewing gallery as they sprayed it with a wax solution. Half of the ship which was exposed had rotted away but the other half was burried in the ocean floor so it was preserved. because of this you can see a cross section of the ship.