Following the Fewells

Put Your Dancin' Shoes On....

2010-04-14T01:29:00.000-07:00

See these two cute kiddos? Want to know why they’re all dressed up? It’s Disco time!

Our school has two Discos each year, the first of which was a Christmas disco. The only dances Peyton has been to in the past were the Father/Daughter dances in Virginia and this was a first for Cameron. Both of them were very excited. Cameron was thrilled to have an excuse to wear his suit (he seriously loves to wear it because then he looks like Daddy all dressed for work).

Peyton didn’t want me to stay, but Cameron did. So I stayed and got to witness the cuteness. They both had a blast, but Cameron discovered the downside to wearing a suit: it got in the way of his mad break-dancing skillz in a major way. But, let me tell you. Little boy + suit + break-dancing = Priceless.

Peyton hung out with her friends in the way ten year-old girls do. And also had fun dancing with the little girls from reception (pre-kindergarten). She is such a little mommy. She can’t wait to be old enough to baby sit and I think she will be fabulous when the time comes.

These two are so sweet and I thoroughly enjoy watching them as they go through this most fascinating process called growing up.

Christmas Festival

2010-03-09T14:38:00.000-08:00

In the beginning of December, the base hosted a Christmas Party for the kids complete with one of Santa’s helpers! It was so much fun. There were games to play, breakfast with Santa, face painting and arts and crafts to do.

Cameron was very excited and never passes up an opportunity to let Santa or one of his helpers know what he wants. He waited very patiently in line to tell this helper that he really, really, really wanted a red light saber. And that was pretty much it. The helper kept trying to get more out of him, but that was about all Cameron wanted.

(And this was the best picture I got of these two!)

He then very happily moved on to a couple of games and then the main event: face painting! Seriously, this line was even longer than the line for Santa’s helper. Cameron has never had his face completely painted before and he was so excited. As the line was so long, my job was to hold his place while Cameron and Jeff went off in search of games to play and candy to win. When it was finally his turn, Cameron very carefully went through all his options and settled on a Wolfman. Check him out.

Before.

He was very good at being still even though it tickled to be treated like a canvas!

He looks kinda scary, huh?

But he's really just a sweetie!

Major Dad

2010-02-21T14:17:00.000-08:00

Let me tell you about my husband…

Jeff and I got married almost fifteen(!) years ago. He had been in the Air Force for almost a year and had completed a couple of years of college before he joined. After we had been married for a year, we both went back to complete our degrees. Jeff worked all day and then went to school at night. He was also quite frequently on call at night as he worked in the CT department of the hospital and would get called out of class when he was needed. We didn’t see a lot of each other and would often joke that we would get to know each other again when we both graduated.

Within a year, Jeff applied for and was accepted to the commissioning program for the Medical Service Corps in the Air Force. He knew that as he advanced in his career, it would be necessary for him to get his Masters Degree. Jeff took some time off from school while we were in Colorado (had to have time to refine those snow boarding skills!). But then we were very fortunate in getting stationed in Virginia where he had the opportunity to attend the College of William and Mary. Again, we went through a time where we did not see him very much. Jeff had a very demanding job and would generally make it home in time to change clothes and head off to class. During the spring and fall, it was two nights a week, but during the summer session this schedule would carry on four nights a week. I remember one week he had to be at a conference in Washington D.C., but he also needed to be in class. He woke up super early in the morning, drove the 2.5 hours to D.C., do the conference all day, drive back for class that night, go to bed and do it all again the next day. All the while trying to keep his sanity and maintain his role as husband and father. He not only did it, he excelled! He graduated with a great GPA and built some wonderful relationships at work as well.

Shortly after he graduated we learned Jeff had been selected for promotion to Major. In the military, you don’t get the immediate satisfaction of a promotion, but have to wait a bit (sometimes a long while!). This promotion ceremony had an extra special feel because it fell on Peyton’s birthday. (A quick side story: when he was promoted to Captain, Peyton was thrilled because she thought that meant he would get his own ship. She was a little let down when that didn’t happen. We told the kids about the TV show quite a few years ago called “Major Dad” and of course that was super cool. Unfortunately, he doesn’t get his own TV show!)

Jeff works incredibly hard to take care of us and provide for us. We are so thankful for all he does and proud of him for all he has accomplished!

Taking the Oath of Office

Jeff had to bend down so I could pin his Major badge on.

I am so proud of this man!

Double Digits

2010-02-08T12:59:00.000-08:00

So I have been trying to put this off as long as possible. I have written and re-written this post. Even though we’ve already celebrated quietly with our little family and had the big birthday party. And two months have passed. I didn’t want to acknowledge this event in writing and put it out in the world as having really happened. Only because I’m still not ready.

Our girl, this girl, turned 10.

T.E.N.

One decade ago on Thanksgiving Day, this precious girl joined our little family of two and made us a family of three. And we were so blessed. That first year with all the milestones flew by. As fun and sweet and amazing as she was in the beginning, she just kept getting better. And still, everyday just keeps getting better. And so this is for her.

Peyton,

This was a big year for you; you’ve learned a lot about what it means to be growing up. You got your first orthodontic appliance. It looks like glasses are on the horizon. We’ve moved to a new country on a new continent! Lots of changes, lots of adjusting, lots of new. It hasn’t been easy. You had to leave friends you love, a school you adore, and activities that you so enjoyed. But you’ve done it splendidly.

Your daddy and I continue to fall in love with you more each day. And the things we love about you today are the characteristics we have seen in you since you were so small, but they grow and change with you. We love to watch you grow more and more into who you are and we eagerly watch and wait to see what will come next.

We love how you are so adventurous, wanting to try new things. I don’t think there is an activity that you haven’t wanted to try! So far you have experienced dance, gymnastics, swimming, soccer, t-ball, field hockey, basketball, tennis and golf. Some you enjoy more than others, but I love that you at least try them! And you are fearless! Sometimes I’ve had quite a scare (climbing the big tree at Grandmom’s house), but I love the fact that you just go!

You have an incredible sense of who you are for someone so young. I love that you know who you are and what you want to do, regardless of what everyone else is doing. You are your own person.

I love that you are so encouraging to your friends. You are very good at recognizing when someone is talented or good at something and telling them that. Hold onto that, it is only part of what makes you a very good friend!

You are so nurturing! It is so precious to see you with the little ones at school, how they love you and how you are so patient and caring with them.

I love that you are so strong willed. You know what you want and you go after it. You can talk your way into or out of anything. This is another gift that will serve you well for a long time!

I love reading with you. I know that you can read just about anything that we can read to you, but I love reading our books together. I really enjoy that quiet time just for us, snuggling and reading. And I love that you still love to snuggle.

Peyton, these are just a few things that we love so much about you. And, oh how we do love you. But we also like you. Even if you weren’t our daughter, we would still think you were pretty incredible. We would still want to know you and have you in our lives. You are just that special.

Happy tenth birthday, we can’t wait to see what the next ten bring!

You make our hearts happy and we love you,

Mommy and Daddy

"Wi Bother and Who Cares?"

2010-01-03T14:21:00.000-08:00

So, if you’ve had the pleasure of meeting our Peyton, you know that she has a flair for the dramatics. She likes to sing. She loves to dance. She quite enjoys writing and directing. And she has her very own one-person play virtually every night (usually when it is time to brush teeth; wonder where she gets that from?) So when she found out that her school offered a Drama Club, she was all over it!

Drama club met every Tuesday for half an hour after lunch with their fantastic sponsor, Mrs. Prescott (who also happens to be Cameron’s teacher). They worked on developing a musical around an anti-bullying theme. Mrs. Prescott came up with the first half of the play and then the entire lot of them brainstormed for the direction of the second half. After polishing it up and sorting out the music, the script was complete.

The plot involved both cyber-bullying and face-to-face bullying and was set mostly inside a computer (thus the title). They talked about how to deal with and report bullying and even had the steps of what you should do included in the program. Peyton played the role of the Red Wire as the parts of the computer struggled with having to deliver mean e-mail to the human they all enjoy so much. The computer components also had to address the bullying behavior of the Zip Wire who did not treat his "friends" very nicely, but learned how to by the end.

I was so impressed with the work this crew put into set and costume design as well as developing the script all in a matter of a few short weeks. (It is hard to tell by the pictures as I was focusing on getting Peyton, but there was a huge computer screen frame on the stage and also a miniature bedroom for the boy beside it.) They did an incredible job and we are very excited to see what the next production will be!

Our shiny red wire.

Cameron had to get in the giant computer once the play was done.

Lori Came to Visit. Because it was November.

2009-12-03T15:02:00.000-08:00

I grew up in the middle of Missouri in a small town that had an odd little name. It was a great place to grow up and there I met my husband and made some friends that I will treasure for the rest of my life. One of whom is my friend Lori. We have been friends since high school, were apartment mates for a year in college and she was my maid-of-honor in our wedding. We have both moved on from that little town, but our friendship has grown over the miles and I am so thankful for her. For the last few years, Lori and I have taken turns visiting each other every six months. We really enjoy our girl time and we are so blessed with amazing husbands who really step up and indulge us during our visits. Lori is very adventurous and I knew without a doubt that she would make good on her promise to visit us here in England. And she did! The second week in November, Lori hopped on an airplane and became our very first visitor from the States!

My sweet husband woke up crazy early to pick her up from the airport, and due to busy, busy traffic I saw them early in the afternoon. We have learned that really the best way to and from the airport is via the train. We love the train!

The first day Lori was here, we stayed close to home and enjoyed some coffee together and let her recover from her long flight. The next day, the two of us girls went to London all by ourselves. The morning was beautiful with a bright shining sun, but by the time we got to the city the clouds had started to roll in. The rain held off until the evening though so we got to walk around and see all the touristy sites. We were quite impressed with our ability to get around the tube system without my tube guide (Jeff!). We rode the Big Red Bus, on the upper deck in the rain (because the inside was packed for once)until we were the last people on and we were asked to get off; we thought that was hilarious! We had yummy Italian food and shared some great laughs.

Getting ready to head to London and in the rain on the Big Red Bus.

But our visits aren't just about girl time. One of the things that we love about Lori is that she always wants to make sure to get some good quality fun in with the whole family. So, on Saturday we all went to the London Aquarium. It is the perfect size for short attention spans and has some really nice displays of big sharks, rays and tropical fish. And also, a really cool touching tank with crabs and sea stars.

We were loving the touch tank and especially the stingrays. They would put their snouts up out of the water and swim right up to us. (And check out Cameron's Saints Jersey!)

That Shark looks just a bit unfriendly to me.........

but the jellyfish are so pretty.

Sunday we all went back to London to the British Library and the London Tower. Both of these places are huge and it would take days to see all of them. The original literature in the Library is truly remarkable. DaVinci’s handwritten notes, which are written backward and left to right (mirror image) in Italian. The handwritten and illustrated Alice in Wonderland. And Shakespeare. And so much more and we only toured one room!

Thought I'd share a couple of good pics Miss Lori got of the kids....

before Sunday's adventures began.

Then there is the Tower of London. Right in middle of London is this huge castle where so much history has occurred. It is essentially a walled city within a city. We walked through rooms where prisoners were held and we could see where they had etched their names, dates, and drawn pictures into the cement walls. We saw the Crown Jewels, coronation robes and all of the accessories that are used in the coronations of kings and queens for centuries. (I do have to admit, after watching “National Treasure”, we were a bit skeptical and wonder if these were just really good replicas and the real ones are guarded heavily underground somewhere!) The jewels we saw were massive. We are learning so much; London is truly an incredible city to visit and we learn so much more every time we go.

London Tower from outside the gates, this is just a small fraction of it!

The Tower Bridge

A Beefeater standing at the gate to the Tower.

Our sweet friend with our precious kids.

We all thoroughly enjoyed our time with Lori. In between our trips to London, a local village and fun, quality time with the family, she and I shared some good wine, coffee and lots of laughs. I hope that somewhere along their journey to adulthood, Peyton and Cameron are blessed with a friend just like her!

Bonfire Night

2009-11-24T13:25:00.000-08:00

Every November 5, the British celebrate Guy Fawkes Day in rememberance of the discovery of a secret plan to blow up parliament and overthrow the government in 1605. These celebrations go on for a period of days before and after the 5^th and include a bonfire and fireworks. Well, we got to attend our first Bonfire Night that was put on by the PTA of Peyton’s and Cameron’s school as a fundraiser!

One of the families from school offered up their home to host the event and there was a huge bonfire (it was in the middle of a large field and roped off so no little ones could get to it) and a beautiful fireworks display. We weren’t quite sure what to expect, but it was awesome! One of the dads from school owns a professional fireworks company and they put on the display. We were so impressed with the quality of the display and how long it lasted.

Peyton and Cameron loved it! There were games for them to play, prizes to win, desserts to eat, and friends to play with. Doesn’t get better than that, does it?

The bonfire was huge in the beginning!

Peyton made a halo out of her glow sticks.

Cameron is not really very happy to have his picture made lately. But, he did take a break from his fun to sit still for just a moment. See how low the fire is now?

Even a year ago, Cameron was not very keen on fireworks because of the noise they make. Thankfully, he loves them now and just covers his ears if they get too loud.

Trick-or-Treat

2009-11-19T14:39:00.000-08:00

Our Punk Rock Dancer and Megatron

Knock-Knock.

Who’s There?

Phillip.

Phillip Who?

Phillip my bag with candy, it’s Halloween you know!

The Halloween tradition of dressing up in fun costumes and getting together with friends to go from house to house trick-or-treating is one Peyton and Cameron have loved since they could barely get the words out. We weren’t quite sure what we would do this year as I don’t think any other culture celebrates Halloween quite the way we Americans do! But the military community wasn’t about to let these children miss out. The base threw a great Halloween Festival complete with games, a costume contest, and a hayride followed by trick-or-treating. We had been collecting candy for weeks to donate to the homes on base so those few homes would not have the entire burden of the whole lot of these kiddos. The highlight of trick-or-treating were two homes that were side-by-side decorated like Willie Wonka's Chocolate Factory! They even had Oompah Loompahs! It was great fun and the kids got puh-lenty of sugary goodness to keep them happy for quite some time. Well, until Christmas at least!

Willy Wonka's House

London (Part Deux, Also known as two)*

2009-11-19T14:05:00.000-08:00

*Cameron and his Daddy speak in code and whenever one of them says this, they both crack-up laughing; I love it!

On the last day of half-term break, we went back to London. We got up early, packed some snacks, caught an earlier train with less stops and away we went. The first thing we did was hop on the Big Bus. You know the one that’s double decker with an open top? Oh was it fun! It took us on a tour all through London, past all the major landmarks and over the Tower Bridge. This is a fantastic way to see the city because once you get your ticket, you can hop on and hop off as many times as you want to for the rest of the day.

We had a lot of fun walking around continuing to see the sites and exploring. We ate lunch at the Hard Rock (and found out that it actually was started over here!) and then we went to the Natural History Museum. It is huge and we didn’t get to see nearly all of it. Also, we have discovered that to try to see these places on term break is very silly. They were packed! But, we did get to see some really awesome displays on the planets (fit right in with the kids’ first half-term unit of study: Space). But the part we were all the most excited about: The Dinosaur Hall! There were big dinosaurs, small dinos and of course the massive T-Rex! And, not included in the Dinosaur Hall, but still kind of cool: Ted Danson! He was deep in conversation with someone I think was a museum official and they walked this close to us. All I could think was, “There goes Sam Malone!”

After the Museum, we did a little window shopping and oohed and ahhed at the beautiful decorations going up in preparation for the new “Christmas Carol” movie premier. It doesn’t sound like we did much writing it down, but by this time we were all exhausted, ready to head home and rest up for Halloween. But first, some pictures!

Waiting in line for the Dinosaur Hall--keeping themselves entertained!

Animated T-rex T-rex and Triceratops

Look kids: Big Ben! Parliament!

2009-11-04T13:37:00.000-08:00

After spending Monday in the country at the castle, we decided to hop on a train and head into the city. That is seriously the best way to go. No traffic, no stress, no congestion fee, an hour later and you're there. We stocked Jeff's backpack with books and music and away we went to London. Knowing that it will take us a couple of visits to really know our way around, our goal was to be relaxed, explore and have fun with the kids.

The first thing we did was get on the London Eye. It is a huge ferris-wheel type structure that has capsules big enough for about 30 people, all glass and gives you wonderful views of the city all around. Cameron was a little anxious about how high it was before we got on, but he quickly decided it wasn't scary at all. It moves very slowly and we were so busy checking out all the cool buildings, we kind of forgot how high we were.

After we got off the Eye, we let the kids play in the park right beside it while we planned our next event. We knew we wanted to go to either the Natural History Museum or the London Aquarium and lucky us the Aquarium was right next door! Unlucky us, after waiting in line a bit for tickets, the emergency alarm sounded and we had to evacuate. It was getting late and we didn't think we'd have enough time to get across town to the Museum and see very much of it so we went exploring instead. I have got to say that these kids are such good sports. They will walk with us anywhere and as long as we keep their bellies full, they are happy. It is so fun to take them new places!

We wound our way around the city past Westminster Abbey to Regent's Park where the kids played and fed the squirrels and all manner of ducks and swans. We discovered we were right in front of Buckingham Palace, so of course we had to go look. It was beautiful but dark, so no good pictures. The Queen was not in and we found out when we went back on Friday that the Queen does not like Buckingham Palace at all and prefers to do as much business as possible at Windsor Castle.

Tummies were starting to grumble at this point, so we rode the tube across town for supper at Benihana's (P and C loved the hibachi chef!) and then one final destination: Hamley's Toy Store where Peyton and Cameron each got to pick out a small surprise. We all left completely infatuated with the city and decided we would make our way back up on Friday. There is so much we want to do there (The Theater! Musueums! Shopping! Zoo! Aquarium!) and since it is so close, we intend to make frequent trips.

*As I've looked through our pictures to post, I've realized that I'm not getting the best ones of the children! I'll get better, I promise*

The train ride into London

Big Ben and Parliament from the Eye

The Eye of London

Regents Park

If you click on the picture and look directly down the middle of the trees you can see Buckingham Palace.

Framlingham Castle

2009-11-01T16:13:00.000-08:00

Do you know what Monday was? Monday was the first day of Fall Half-Term Break! And do you know what that means? No alarm clocks, a bit of travel and Lots-O-Fun!

We kicked the week off with a road trip to Framlingham Castle, which is tucked on a hillside in Suffolk close to the Eastern shore of the UK. Jeff and I were excited to go explore the history of the castle and the kiddos got very excited when we got there and discovered that there was a Halloween themed scavenger hunt just for them! Little black and orange pails were hidden all over the castle and the grounds with questions in them. The kids had to find all the pails in order and answer the questions correctly. At the end they could turn their answer sheets in to the gift shop for some yummy chocolate. We made it through the castle in record time!

A little about the castle (just because I don’t want to forget!): It was built over 800 years ago and looked almost like a walled city instead of a home. The walls are 13 meters high, it has 13 towers with many ornate, red brick chimneys (most of which were for show; only three were ever functional) and surrounded by a moat that remained dry but was still quite intimidating. The views from the castle over the city are stunning!

After our adventure through the castle, we headed to a nearby pub for a homemade English supper. Then it was back to the castle to walk the grounds outside and the let the kids roll down the hills while squealing with delight! (How do they do that? And right after eating!?!) We walked and they rolled, ran, skipped and fought invisible dragons with Kung Fu. We had beautiful weather, a wonderfully fun day and a great start to making new family memories!

Getting ready to go explore the castle.

Rolling down the hill, so much fun!

Looking down inside the

castle walls.

The outside walls and kids running

back up the hill to roll some more.