Playing at the Park

Today the kids and I went to the Glinton park for a little get together that Min's friend set up for all the kids to play together before they moved. Addison had so much fun with all the older kids and Harrison got to play a lot with Danny and I. There were tons of kids running around and a lot of them were all over my two little ones wanting Addie and Harry to follow them or they wanted to hold my kids or push them in the swings...these are kids that I haven't met before but some how they know my kids. Needless to say the weather was a bit rough but we had a great time playing with our friends.

Min's Going Away Get Together

Tonight some of the ISE girls got together for a farewell dinner for our dear friend Min. Of course the best place to celebrate a going away party in England for a friend moving back to Southeast Asia is East Restaurant where you can get a very large variety of Asian. We all got to reminisce about all the amazing things Min had done to touch our lives and how much we were going to miss her and her amazing Chinese cooking. So of course we cried a lot, but we laughed a lot as well. Min even cracked a joke that the only other person who could tear up faster than her was Amy Manwaring...(love you Amy!).

Me and my friend, my sister, the second mother of my children, soul mate for life!!!!

Since Min hosted lots of wonderful get-togethers for us all we thought it would be fitting to get her a very English serving dish and plates so she could carry on the same hospitality back in Singapore.

Lana, in all her craftiness, sewed Min a new apron for her to wear around her new kitchen. We poked a few jokes at Min on how she could model her new gift for Danny...hee hee!!!

We all also wrote down a few of our favorite recipes so that she could take them back with her. I actually had an entire book that I wrote out for her and she could add the rest of the girls' to it. Silly Min made me sign the book so that when I become famous, she has the first copy of my cookbook.

What a special friend to us all and she will be greatly missed.

On the River in Stamford

Today we took a couple hours to just relax. We drove up to Stamford and fed the ducks along the river in the park. It's such a beautiful place to go. Addison befriended another little girl and played hide and seek with. Not to many places to hide other than one tree and a rubbish bin but they had lots of fun.

Birthday BBQ for Harry

Since the weather was supposed to be BEAUTIFUL this Saturday we decided to have a BBQ with the neighbors and with since we were going to be gone the weekend of Harrison's birthday I made a little cake for him to celebrate his birthday with our friends. Harrison got a little ride on car from the Wong's which he hopped right on. He also got a super cute shorts outfit from the Beales' and they brought over this awesome collapsable tunnel that they had gotten Gemma for her 1st birthday day.

Addison started to get a bit jealous of Harry's new car so we had to get out the little fire truck so she had something to putz around on as well.

Min looking super-modelish while helping Harry stuff his face full of BBQ goodies.

The girls and I took our positions at the picnic table to eat up all the dips and goodies. As always we had taco dip and I mixed it up a bit and made spinach artichoke dip...a recipe that claims to be just like the stuff at Olive Garden.

Since this was a spur of the moment BBQ plan and I didn't decide to make a cake until that morning, I didn't get to dig very much for the number 1 birthday candle and my birthday boy pin. I didn't even have any candles other than the 3 and 0 I had for Kevin's birthday. So Emily had to dash home quick so we could have Addison blow out Harry's candle for him.

Our happy little family. I can't believe that my little boy is already a year old. A year ago this weekend we were praying that he would come with no luck...had to wait one more week while we having a BBQ to welcome the Dobberfuhl's into town.

Addison LOVES chocolate cake and from the looks of it so does Yi Hong!

Harrison really likes the cake as well, but eats about anything now days. We set the high chair on the ground outside so that he could be as messy as he wanted and I wouldn't have to clean all of it up.

The kids all had fun playing together. This would be Yi Hong and Yi Xuen's last BBQ at our house. They all had fun dressing themselves up in Mr. Potato Head gear.

Mike got a new camera which has an amazingly high ISO setting so he capture this group picture with it almost being twilight. We did get the old fire pit out for the first time this year so that we could make s'mores and enjoy a good old late summer fire.

Yi Hong came up with a magic trick to make people disappear and reappear in Harry's new tunnel. They were very tricky!!!

Gemma was so excited that we got to have s'mores that she asked for a second one. I had been saving some of the big marshmallows from last year's bonfire night sales of them so they were a little tough but the s'mores still tasted amazing with the Hershey's bars and graham crackers I brought back from the States.

Addie was so sad when everyone left...I think she was over tired since it was 10PM, but the next day Min told me that Yi Hong got really sad and upset after they left as well because they he was sad that Addison was sad to see them go. It's all starting to become real now that they are going to be leaving. I still haven't explained it all to Addison, but I don't know if she would really understand it anyways. We'll see how the next week plays out.

How Do they Know How to Do That???

Harrison has discovered my car keys and is doing the same miraculous act that his sister did at this age. They never see us lock to door from the inside but somehow they both have figured out that a key goes in the door lock. Must be a natural instinct or something.... It is truly fun to see Harrison doing all the little things that Addison amazed us with for her first times, but amongst all the news for her I need to make sure I document all his firsts as well. Sorry little buddy if I forget something!!!

Castle Howard

Because it was a three day weekend with the Bank Holiday on Monday we thought we would do a long overnight trip up in Yorkshire. We learned of Castle Howard from the brochures we got at Leeds Castle and having a 2-for-1 voucher we thought we would check it out. And what a surprise we got. This house and grounds are amazing. Home of the Howard Family, Earls of Carlisle, this elaborate house is full beautiful treasures and well preserved antiques. I thought the china cabinet was quite remarkable and it was only the first thing we got to see.

Next we moved into some of the bedroom quarters and eventhough things were very old they seemed so beautiful and warm. I loved this canopy bed. In this room there was the Lady Carlisle's traveling vanity, full of her favorite personal items that was all crafted in wood, but folded up nicely to travel with her.

This dresser was from either the 17th or 18th century, but it looks brand new. Pay careful attention to the glass figurines on the dresser though. These were often filled with guests favorite drink so that they could pour themselves a little night cap before going to bed.

There were a ton of marble statues throughout the house and this was the entry into a long hallway filled with them. They were so beautiful and Addison kept introducing herself to them all. One thing Kevin and I noticed is that you can see where they have repaired all the times that the heads have fallen off all the statue

I caught Addison imitating the little devil knob on this dresser. What a funny little girl!


This was a lot down in the main hall of the house. Marble statues and floors with an unbelievable domed ceiling above with paintings all over the place. Part of the house actually sustained a fire several years back and they worked to restore most of the paintings but now there are signs all over the place asking you not to touch the walls in order to preserve what is left. It's also kind of funny but in most of the houses we go to the family has current pictures of the family set up all over and no exception here. It's weird to think that this really is a home that people live in day to day...

















There was an exhibition called "Sing a Song of Sixpence" which highlights illustrated childrens' books..lots of really, really old books.
















This looked to be a music room. The piano in the far end of the room and loads of paintings.

This was a gift given to the Earl...a wine chest. It would be filled with ice and then several bottles of wine and/champagne would be stuck into it. It was decorated with intricate metal carvings of all the shields of the local towns in the area. It was really beautiful.


Quite a dining room...

Addison in the long Great Hall. While checking out all the paintings, books and other bits and bobs in this room, we noticed a couple with what we assumed was a wedding planner. How amazing would it be to be able to have your wedding reception in this room...I'm sure that costs a pretty penny.






The kids had a fun time running around the outside of the house. Our stroller sprung a leak (again) so we had to load Harrison up in the backpack carrier for the whole day. He's getting to be a pretty heavy little guy so it was nice to get him off Kevin's back for a while and let the little guy stretch his legs. Addison and Kevin played hide and seek with the statues and hedges in the courtyard.

















What a cutie...she's got a great smile! We took a nice walk up the hill from the house and through the woods and then came back down a hill to see this beautiful view of the garden's.
















The house is beautiful and very ornate...kind of reminded me of buildings we saw in Paris.


After Kevin and I got to see what we wanted to see, we let Addison have some fun as well. The estate has a huge adventure playground that she had a complete blast playing at. There was actually one huge slide that scared even me as I was getting ready to go down with her, but she has no fear. Her and Kevin had a really great time swinging in this huge disc swing together.



Of course, we spoil our children horribly or we just give in way to easy because ice cream seems to be on the order every afternoon while on holiday. Addison ordered up some Yorkshire Dales raspberry ice cream for her and Harry to share.

It was a really great adventure and now it was time to find our B&B in Harrogate.

Leeds Castle

Day 2 of our weekend adventure down south. Our destination today was Leeds Castle which isn't anywhere near Leeds (the city). This 900+ year old castle is beautiful and the grounds are massive. The actual castle is settled on two islands in the River Len in the heart of the county of Kent. It used house widowed queens once their king husbands passed away and over 150 years it was home to 6 different queens of England. Henry the VIII used to visit here with Catherine of Aragon (his first wife) it has been said that this is where Henry retreated to while the plaque took over London.

The gardens around the castle were massive and Addison befriended a albino peacock. She kept asking it what its name was...how sweet!

I had made comment that I thought this looked like giant rhubarb, but Kevin wouldn't believe me when I told him and even after I looked at the sign to confirm it he still thought I was full of it. Since everyone was getting their picture taken with it I thought it would be cool to do a little pose in front of.

We walked through the house and got to see how the rooms have been updated over the past 900 years and learned that the house is still used to provide rooms for guests that stay for weddings held at the castle. Also some international peace talks have taken place in one of the conference type room there as well. This room used to be the bedroom for Catherine of Aragon when she stayed at the castle but the current lady used it for her room and this is how she decorated it. She must have liked blue.

This room was called the Thorpe Room and was designed in honor of Thorpe Hall in Peterborough. We thought that was so amazing so we took a picture of the room which really looked like a large study and a nice gathering place.

After Addison searched all the day before for her "good knight", she finally found him at Leeds Castle. But this time he was really quiet and wouldn't talk to her so she told me that he was sleeping.

Here we are on one of the islands in the middle of the River Len which is home to the main part of the castle and the court yard.

I just always get a kick out of the "push chair parking." For once there were a ton of people with the same kind that we had so we didn't get five hundred stares and points like we usually do.

We ate our lunch on the hill over looking the castle. Kevin and I grabbed the world's worst sandwich to share and a couple bags of crisps, but the kids munched on a bunch of fruit and goodies we had left over from the day before.

After going through the castle and eating lunch we took a walk around the grounds making our way out to the playground for Addie and Harry to get a little steam blown before we headed home. I had to take a picture of these gals walking in front of us because I wanted to remember how random some outfits are here and that I guess you can get away wearing anything. I really think the long, black socks make these outfits. I have a bunch of them myself from my working days...can't wait to go home and get mine on.

Like always when you are in a playground with other fellow parents pushing your kids on the swings next to each other you end up starting some kind of conversation. For us more so it seems because people are curious with our American accents. Today Kevin visited with a guy who he and his wife and kids live in southern London and they often come out to the castle and grounds to get out to the "country." With your admission to the castle you can use your tickets over and over again for an entire year. Not a bad deal at all if you live close enough to use it a lot.

On our drive home we got the drive in the tunnel underneath the River Thames as we had driven over it on the bridge. The bridge was huge and poor Addison was sleeping when we went through the biggest tunnel she would have ever seen (she LOVES going through tunnels right now).