British word of the day...

Push-chair.  As in, a British man yelled at me today that my push-chair was too big and was taking up the whole sidewalk.  Anyone want to take a  guess?

Oh the jet lag...

We've arrived in the UK.  Finally.  I know it seems like forever since we left Korea, it feels that way to us too.  But after another "short" eight hour flight and six more time zones crossed, we're here.  If I'm doing my math correctly, in less than three months we have been on three different continents, crossed 16 time zones, and spent about 30 hours on commercial airplanes.  

So needless to say, we're a little jet lagged.  Our flights over were uneventful, the boys did great on the plane.  They both slept for most of the long flight.  Did I sleep? No, of course not.  So I think I'm the most wiped.  N seems to be doing the best with the jet lag, he slept for 14 hours straight last night... we'll see how tonight goes.  In our experience night number 2 is the worst for jet lag.

We're staying in a one-bedroom TLF, so we're a little crowded.  E and I have actually taken the hide-a-bed in the living room and given the boys the bedroom with the blackout shades.  We'll see if our backs allow us to do that for much longer!  What this place lacks in size, it makes up for in view.  Out the back are some more TLFs, very British looking.  We both feel like it's a little "Harry Potter" looking.  Except for there are jets flying over head.  So our view is Harry Potter with F-15s flying over.  Perfect!  

So far our favorite entertainment has come in the form of the driver's handbook.  E is studying to pass his driver's test so we can start house-hunting.  There are some really funny phrases and signs used... more in another post when I'm a little more with it!  

A trip to Minnesota

So I have a few posts from Iowa that I didn't get posted before I left.  So those will be interspersed into UK funnies!  Sorry!  This one got lost for a couple of days, but I have since located it, and it was mostly written when I was not jet lagged, so hopefully it makes sense!

When I was a kid we used to go up to a Lake in Minnesota every summer.  My whole family would go, I mean, everybody.  I looked forward to that time all year long, and has been one of my favorite spots my whole life.  This year I got to take the boys up, and we had a wonderful time!

Here the boys are having some good old fashioned fun with my grandpa.  Yes, that is an 89 year-old pushing around his two 30 pound great-grandsons.  They all three quite enjoyed it.  If you notice N is wearing his life jacket, even though we were no where near the water.  You can never be too safe!

My family plays a game every year called liars' dice.  There is a tournament at the cabin on the 4th of July.  E's claim to fame is that he was the first winner, and is very proud.  Here N is helping his Uncle T practice up for the big game.

At the actual game my cousin is about to be caught lying... by his dad!

Here is Grandpa preparing for his turn.  My Aunt is waiting to see what he will give her.  We all hate sitting next to Grandpa, because he is impossible to read!  He has one good poker face...
After the game (my Uncle was the big winner) we all headed out out side for a campfire and some fireworks.  Don't look so thrilled T!

One of my favorite stops at the lake is the Minnesota Fountain, which has awesome milkshakes.  N was very excited to have is own kid-sized milkshake.  Complete with whipped cream and a cherry!  I think he's looking forward to that!

Later that day we went mini-golfing.  Little e didn't get to play but was cracking us up.  He was Uncle T's ball holder.  When ever T's ball wasn't in use e had to hold it.  We would try to give him one of our other balls to hold, but he wanted no part of that.  He would just throw the rest away, but he was holding on tight to his uncle's.  We thought there might be trauma at the 18th hole when the ball doesn't come back, but it was surprisingly non-eventful!

Photo taking however, was not non-eventful.  N refused to be in a picture with Grandpa, so here is Uncle T, me, and the boys with our golf clubs.

My other favorite thing to do there is to ride bikes to the next little town over and get an awesome pancake breakfast.  So we loaded the boys in the burley and off we went.  They did really well in there and there was very little fighting!  Amazing.  

While waiting for a table, we hung out with the donkey at the mexican restaurant across the street.  I think there are many photos of my cousin's and I on this very donkey when we were growing up.  He used to be missing an ear, but apparently had a little plastic surgery recently.


N waiting patiently outside.  This is one of my new favorite photos of him.

On the way home the boys, T, and I made a quick stop at the playground, when did these boys get so big?  


Back on the lake, Grandpa hangs out with the boys on the dock.  Just wait until they are old enough to fish out there... they'll love it!

Little e's first boat ride.  Hmmm... I think the life jacket is making his famously chubby cheeks look even chubbier!  He looks thrilled, doesn't he?  I don't think he could really move in that thing!  N was all about the boat.  He kept saying, "go fast 'gain grandpa?"

Before we headed out I had to get some pictures on the beach, where many of my happiest childhood memories happened.  Here is e on the horse.  There is a picture of me on it at about the same age, and my brother, and my cousins, and... well, you get the point!  

N holding down the fort.
Bye, bye Minnesota.  See you next time!

Almost Wordless Wednesday

So you all know I could never pull off a truly wordless post... so here's my closest attempt!  But seriously, I just love his big brown eyes!  Where's the fire buddy?

The best day ever (in a toddler's eyes!)

Yes, I'm insane.  Let's get that right out in the open.  So when you read that I took my two, count them, two toddlers to the zoo and a baseball game on the same day, you won't be thinking, "is she nuts?"  Because you already know the answer.  Yes, yes I am.  That being said, we had a great time at both events, and only the drives home were a little frightening... and the next day when they were insanely sleep deprived... but I'm trying to block that part out.

We started out our day at the Blank Park Zoo.  It's a nice small zoo here in Des Moines.  The boys had a good time looking at all the animals.  Of course, the giraffes were a highlight.  N refused to look at the camera, but at least the giraffes were cooperating!

N and Grandma L practiced milking a cow.  It was a fake cow, so don't get all "what about the germs?" on me.  Yes, I thought it was strange that there is a fake cow at the zoo, but this is Iowa you know!  At the Iowa state fair there is a butter cow every year.  Yes, literally a life-sized cow carved entirely out of butter.  People will travel from miles around to see the butter cow, and there will be a line to get to it.  So a cow at the zoo doesn't seem so odd after all, does it?

They had a special guest at the zoo this summer.  Rosie the elephant and her baby J.P. are in town doing a show.  It wasn't like going to Thailand or anything (right Lynn?) but it was still pretty cool.  Too see the elephants my friend Lynn got to ride on in Thailand, go here... Someday... someday.

If you asked N what his favorite part of the day was, he'd probably tell you the choo-choo.  The kid does love a good choo-choo ride.  We were all pretty tuckered out by this time, as you can tell by the boys' faces!

Even though he was tired, e was still practicing his lion roar with Grandma.  He has been roaring ever since... like every couple of minutes!  Then N roars, then e roars again.  It's like we  have our own pack of scary lions in the backseat!

After we left (and had an ear piercingly loud car ride home).  We decided to go to the I-Cubs (minor league for the Chicago Cubs) game that evening.  The game starts at 7 pm, which is the boys normal bed time.  But since we went to the zoo they got really late naps, so I thought they could handle staying up a little late.  Besides, I love going to the baseball games, and this was going to be our only chance.  So I decided to throw all caution to the wind and go for it.  Recipe for disaster, I know, but they obviously enjoyed themselves!


The boys split, and ate all of, an entire foot long hot dog.  Little e was all about it.  Here he is trying to stuff it all in his mouth at once... his standard way of eating pretty much anything!

Well, it was almost time to head for home and let these boys get some much needed rest, but first we had to let N practice his batting skills.  They have this little wiffle ball game, where a stream of air holds the ball up over the cone for kids to hit.  You can see that N was very concentrated on the ball.  Little league here we come.  I can even hear my dad now, "keep your eye on the ball!"  He did manage to hit it several times... he obviously doesn't get his athletic ability from his mom!

When you're at Grandpa's house...

You get to ride a bike,

run around in the yard (trying not to trample Grandma L's flowers),

play with Mommy's old toys (love the 70's styling on the kitchen set - oooh mustard yellow),

jump on the trampoline, 

eat the best ribs ever (check out the smoker... yum!),
feed the dogs, 
and then fall in bed exhausted!

Yes, we've had a great time here, and have been super busy.  I have many more photos to share, and now that I have our computer again I can do that... so there will be more soon!

Conversations with N and e

So, no photos. I'm just not that techy to figure out how to do that here. But we have been having so much fun. I mean, like way overstimulation fun. Yesterday alone we went to the zoo and a baseball game. There will be pictures of both... eventually. Probably when E gets here and helps me! But the boys have been cracking us up as usual, so here are some of their finest from the week.

When I got N up the other morning he had pooped in his pull-up...
N: What'd I do?
me: you pooped
N: (with excitement) And I peeped!

Close buddy, so close!

Then he was talking to my step-mom and my brother before T went off to baskeball camp.
N: Where you going?
T: I'm going to basketball camp.
N: I go too.
Grandma L: It's for big boys to play.
N: I'm a big boy!

Yes you are bud, but until you're six feet tall like your uncle, maybe it's best to watch the really big boys play basketball!

Little e has some new words to his vocabulary. We think he might have lived in Korea for too long, because he often adds a syllable to words... like 'help' becomes "elp-ah." And 'up' is "up-pa". But his newest word is deffinately due to his Uncle T. Hoop, as in basketball hoop, is "oooooop!"