Wordless Wednesday

Tots N Toddlers

Several of you have asked about what my regular day to day life is like at home with Brooks. We have a fairly low-key week while Eric is working with few things on the calendar. I like it that way, actually, and am glad that we're not yet too "scheduled" as a family - I'm sure soccer games, homework, youth group and choir practice are coming soon enough. However, one thing that we do look forward each week is HTB's Tots N Toddlers. It's billed as "friendship and fun for you and your little one" and it has been a great way to meet other moms at church and give Brooks a chance to run around and play with other kiddos. Not at all like Park's Moms' Groups, it's less a small group bible study and more an exercise in mass controlled chaos - a large room full of toys, babies and kids, and of course moms - each wrangling their child, enjoying biscuits and tea or "proper coffee" while trying to engage in some real conversation at all the same time.

For several weeks this spring, Brooks seemed a bit overwhelmed by the chaos... There is always quite a lot of chaos. Fifty moms/nannies plus their children can make quite a noise and Brooks seemed to get flustered by the older kids zooming by him when he was still on his hands and knees. However the last two times, since he's been confidently walking, he's jumped right in and done great! Last time, I had such fun showing him what to do with playdough. Why did it take me so long to introduce him to this fun activity?! It won't kill him if he tries to lick it off his fingers (right?!) And this past week, he just ran around finding things that could be kitchen tools and brought them back to me to bang them about and play "cooking". It was so fun to watch him at the beginnings of imaginative play.

At the end of the session, one of the church workers leads a music time. She plays several songs over the stereo and we gather the kids to sing and dance along. This is where we learned the classic British children's rhyme, Jelly on a Plate. Too funny. Ask me and Brooks to give you a demonstration on that one sometime.

Generally we jump on the bus or tube and ride home after saying goodbye. Last week it was absolutely beautiful outside and I loved strolling through the park with my neighbor friend and her daughter. Brooks passed out on the way home, so when we got there, I just wheeled him into our bedroom and he slept for a couple of hours in the stroller. All that play time really tuckers a little guy out!

Here are a few photos that I snapped over the last two visits. All the balloons and stuff you see in the last photos were from last week - They hosted a tea-party in honor of the first week of spring term, so things was a bit more, um, ... festive (read: insane!) Brooks took a balloon home and practically loved it to death!

Learning about puzzles...


Lots of nannies come with their charges, but lots of moms too. It's harder to get to know the nannies, as they usually bring a nanny friend with them.


Gathering for music time


So serious, trying to figure out if we know this song or not...


Oh, we do!! Let's get up front and dance!!


The tea party was a huge success, so many new people!


These photos show only part of the room. Well more than 70 people were there last week!


Anke, I love you. Will you marry me and always sing these great songs to me!?


This balloon is so fun! If only I could get it in my mouth!!!

On the road again...

Hurray! We're back in the States... the native land! :) We'll be in the US until May 5th and are looking forward to time with family and friends, just soaking up all things familiar that we miss so much back in London.

Brooks and I arrived in Nashville on Monday night, exhausted but still smiling. We left home at 7:45am Monday, GMT and arrived at Mom and Dad's around 4:45pm Monday, CST. That's fifteen hours of straight travel time, on planes, trains, and automobiles. During all of that, Brooks slept a grand total of 45 minutes. Seriously, he napped less than an hour during the first flight, just as the plane was taking off.

While it certainly wasn't the most restful trip, and I found myself checking the trip clock and flight map just about every 15 minutes, I am so glad that it was relatively uneventful. I'd been more anxious about this flight than normal, in part because Eric would not be with us, and Brooks is now definitely more mobile and more opinionated than the last time we flew over the ocean.

I'm so glad that we're becoming more experienced in trans-atlantic travel with a small child. It CAN be survived, and it makes home seem so much closer when we're back in the UK.

Wordless Wednesday

Okay, just a few words...

"Momma, what's a milkshake?!"

Van Gogh

When we were in Amsterdam this weekend, we visited the Van Gogh museum and saw a beautiful painting that Van Gogh dedicated to his brother Theo's newborn son. It's entitled "Blossoming Almond Tree" and I just loved it. Sadly, he painted it less than six months before he committed suicide.

The next day we spent several hours at the world's largest and most beautiful spring bulb garden, and I snapped this previous photo of another blossoming tree that reminded me of Vincent's. I can certainly understand why he was inspired by spring and flowers in the sunshine. The beauty of both the painting and the tree we saw made my heart sing.

Wordless Wednesday

Guitar Lessons

I have no idea why Wednesday seems to be my blogging day of the week, but 90% of my posts either go online or are started on Wednesday... who knows?

So I have been taking a 10 week guitar class since January. Very very beginner guitar. The class is held in a tiny basement room in the HTB church house and it's been an incredible experience. A lot of credit goes to my teacher. He's a professional musician who does session work and plays out and gives private lessons. He also leads worship at one of HTB's church plants. He's got the vibe of an older cousin or young uncle that's just really quirky and cool. He's quite a good teacher, accepting any and all (stupid) questions, pacing the class well, and adding to the fun with a quote of the week and the occasional (fantastically played) classic 70s rock song sample. Another thing I enjoy is the class mixture. The class has incredible ethnic diversity, with everyone between 20 and 35 years old... We chat on the way to the Tube after class and I have actually had one of them over to our house to practice during an off week. I also really like the fact that I've had a bit of a head start with some of it, due to all the music theory I absorbed while singing and in years of piano lessons. It makes me feel like a quick learner, even if I'm already at a huge advantage!

I've told friends over the last several years that a guitar player *is* somewhere inside of me, trying to break free. Growing up in Nashville and spending hours around very talented music people in high school and college, it always seemed a shame to me that I could only lend a voice to the music, and not my own guitar. I'm certainly not ready to subject the world to my playing yet, but I can accompany myself singing about 15 or 20 worship songs and have some of the basics down.

And Eric has helped so much - meeting me early each week to take Brooks home, feed him supper and put him to bed while I'm at class. He's also listened to my (very rough) early practice sessions and found several nice ways to tell me that he doesn't have a clue what song I'm playing... :) I do hope that it's something that I can keep getting better at. I'm so proud of myself for doing this! Now I just have to practice, practice, practice.

Wordless Wednesday

Weird weekend

It's 8:30pm on Sunday night and Eric and I've decided that we're finishing a very weird weekend. Among other things in the last two days, we

~ Ate Persian food (okay, that's not so weird for us. We love Alounak! Come visit, we'll take you there.)
~ Interrupted two thieves cutting Eric's bike locks just below our window (they weren't successful, as he literally jumped out the window and chased them down the block in his socks. But still! The drama!)
~ Visited a modern art museum for our date night at 9pm (we're really not modern art fans... or night owls.)
~ Got a call from our babysitter because Brooks was completely melting down (ie, 20 minutes of hysterical crying. This never happens.)
~ Ate Moroccan food (tip, don't taste the pepper sauce without lots of water at your table!)
~ Went back to church after an unsettling experience with an usher last week (more on that later)
~ Took the bus to church because it was SNOWING! (our second snowy Sunday in three weeks. Chicago and OH friends, please take back your weather!!)
~ Again, didn't get to sit through church together, as Brooks had a melt-down in the creche, and wouldn't be soothed by any of the very sweet nursery workers... (I spent the second half of the service with him, trying to help him enjoy the toys and other kiddos.)

Other stuff happened too, including Eric having to work both Saturday and Sunday and Brooks not taking a proper nap all day today. I think I'm just going to give up and go to bed early. At least that way, I'll start the week of well-rested...

Touchdown Auburn!

Brooks will learn important things from all sorts of people in his life... His parents, grandparents, teachers, pastors, friends, girlfriends, etc.

But one of the really important things, he has already learned from his Aunt Sissy...




My favorite thing about both clips? My parents' laughter in the background! Perfect!

Wordless Wednesday

Flower stand

There is a flower stand just outside a pub near where we live. It's on the way home from my closest grocery store and I stop there sometimes to pick up fresh flowers for the house. Earlier this week, I was in the mood for tulips, so I swung by to check out what was for sale.

Two bunches the color of ripe papaya were on display, so I happily bought them and made small talk to the girl at the stand while she wrapped them for me. She's sweet, quiet, probably Eastern European descent, and is always bundled up with a big coat and gloves, scarf and hat as she huddles in her corner outside all day long. Brooks smiled at her and, with some prompting, waved and said "bye-bye" after our transaction. As I turned his stroller around to head home, she reached down and pulled out a Gerber daisy and handed it to him. Bright Auburn orange, it was like sunshine on a stem... Brooks was curious and I was enchanted. He had fun with his strange new toy all the way home, swinging it around and feeling the petals and "conducting" with it, until he eventually beat it to death and the long stem broke. We cut the stem down and it's now sitting on a bud vase on our table as a happy sunbeam from the girl at the flower stand.

I love watching my son make friends.

Here's a visual...




And here's a little clip of the action...

Easter Monday - Canterbury

Just in front of the train station and within the old city walls is a beautiful park, featuring among other things this maze playground. Looked like a lot of fun!


While there are probably other sites to enjoy in Canterbury, because we only had a couple of hours, we went straight for the medieval center of town to visit the cathedral. Standing in line waiting to buy tickets, we discovered that Brooks had fallen asleep on Eric's back! Wahoo! I love it when Brooks "sleeps through church" as his (very loud) toddler voice tends to carry extremely well in Gothic cathedrals.


Canterbury cathedral makes everyone look like a professional photographer, especially on a blue sky day!


This church is MASSIVE! Like most Gothic churches, it's built in the shape of a cross. The nave is the long main aisle coming from the back doors to the center of the church. The high altar is usually just up from the nave, and individual chapels circle the arms and head of the cross. In this photo, I'm standing where the cross intersects - The nave stretches out behind me, so everything in this photo is only a third of the church's length, just the quire area and the high altar.


This is the quire, the original choir area just in front of the high altar. Before we left that afternoon, the choir members came out and had a rehearsal here. The acoustics were gorgeous!



The stained glass in the church is also just beautiful.


The Black Prince, heir to the throne of England after Edward III, was the quintessential knight in shining armor! He was also one of the original Knights in Order of the Garter, at age 14. He pre-deceased his father the King, so he got this beautiful tomb instead of the crown.


Easter flowers and decorations were still up everywhere....



Outside, daffodils were blooming at the bottom of the cathedral's walls...


The Cathedral's history is quite interesting. The oldest church in England still in use, it officially dates back to 597AD when the Pope sent St Augustine as a Missionary here to evangelize the pagans and establish the catholic church in England. During the 10th century, it became a Benedictine abbey. In 1170 knights of King Henry II murdered the famous Archbishop Thomas Becket during evening vespers. Soon after his death, the Cathedral began attracting religious seekers who had heard stories of miraculously answered prayers - Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales describes some of those pilgrims. Beckett's shrine was removed by Henry VIII in 1540 and much of the medieval stained glass was destroyed during the unrest of the Civil War in the 1640s. But amazingly the church was not seriously damaged during World War II, thanks in part to volunteers who patrolled the roofs to deal with fire bombs dropped by the Germans. Today the church remains a powerful part of the Church of England - the Archbishop of Canterbury is the head of the church in England, is a member of Parliament in the House of Lords, and will be the one to crown the next monarch when Queen Elizabeth steps aside. Despite the rich English history in the church, I must say that it was one of the most reverent churches I've visited. Perhaps that's because Brooks was so quiet during most of our visit?!? :)

On the way home from Canterbury, Brooks was pretty wiped. In an effort to lull him to sleep, we cuddled and played the "name the face" game.... Where's momma's mouth?


Where's momma's hair?


Where's momma's nose?


Where's momma's self-respect?


I can't believe I'm posting this photo, either, but when Eric entitled it "the Indignity of Motherhood" I just couldn't resist. Fellow Mommas out there, this one's for you!

Eventually Brooks fell asleep in my arms and we enjoyed a peaceful ride back into town.


Once we hit London, we decided to eat out in our neighborhood, devouring big plates of pasta and reliving the fun of the day. Brooks made friends with a German boy Marcus who was sitting with his parents at the table behind us. We had a nice visit with them and then headed home for bath-time and stories.


We ended our long fun-filled weekend happy, tired, and feeling re-connected! What a great four days!!

Easter Monday - Dover

In the UK, Easter Monday is a bank holiday which means that almost everything that isn't tourist focused shuts down. We decided that with a bit of planning we could see Dover and Canterbury in a single (busy and long) day! We got an early start and took a two hour train ride down to the Southeastern tip of England. Brooks really enjoyed the train ride, the first time I've seen him really taking in all that we passed by.


Dover Castle doesn't usually make the rounds of American tourists, but it's really amazing! Settlements dating back to the Stone Age have been found there, the city was used as a main port for the Romans and Normans, and throughout English history it's played an important role because of its proximity to France (only 23 miles across the Channel). We visited the medieval tunnel system (deserted and creepy!), the old walls, the Roman lighthouse and the "keep" built during Henry II's era. We kept refering to LoTR Two Towers - "To The KEEEEEEP!" as we approached it from the lower walls around the tunnel system. Very impressive. This is the view from the top of the Keep. The dark bits at the horizon would be France.


Behind them is the Roman lighthouse. The outer castle walls with the keep and inner bailey are in the distance.


Under the castle hilltop, a maze of tunnels was carved during the Napoleanic wars to store supplies and house soldiers stationed in Dover. During the height of WW2 a hospital, a kitchen, soldiers' barracks and strategic planning rooms were all fitted into this spaces - just 15 meters beneath the hilltop. We took a tour of these "Secret War Tunnels" and I was really impressed with all the British did here - specifically the evacuation of Dunkirk (have you seen the movie Atonement? The main character was on the beaches of Dunkirk at one point in the film, just to give you a visual!). That entire operation was planned (in less than a week) and overseen in just nine days from these bunkers. Fascinating! Here are the boys after our tour, looking out from the tunnel balcony.


After we finished at the castle we marched down the hill to town and returned to the train station to find a taxi that could drive us over to the cliffs. We visited the eastern cliffs to see the famous "White Cliffs of Dover" up close. They are white because of the high chalk content in the ground. For those who have heard all my adventure stories, you might remember that I almost *died* (can you just hear the drama!?) on the cliffs of Dover 10 years ago while on a day trip from London. It was really fun to show Eric the site of my extremely vivid memories from that day. I was also very thankful that Brooks was content to ride on his dad's back and didn't want to walk around at that point.


(*** as an aside, I'm constantly amazed at the lack of basic safety precautions at natural parks or historic sites outside the US. I consistently think to myself things like "if we were in the States, there would be a guard-rail here or an at-your-own-risk warning sign or something!?" This cultural difference was interesting and a bit thrilling to me before I became a mom, but now I'm just terrified that my child will fall to his death while we're touring some amazing European site or something. Geez, I've made a huge mental shift in the last 18 months!)


The cab driver took us back to the train station and we jumped on the next train to Canterbury, eating our sack lunches on the way... After lunch, Brooks wanted to burn off some extra energy, so he and his Dada did laps up and down the train aisles.


Next stop, Canterbury...

Easter weekend...

The Wheelers had a great Easter weekend! This year the holiday didn't have many of the traditional "Eastery things" (egg dying, a huge home-cooked feast, egg hunts, loads of chocolate bunnies, etc) but in the UK, Easter is a four-day holiday weekend so we enjoyed having a long stretch of family time without any work.

Friday was a low key day. We'd been considering doing a long weekend trip to the country, and so we spent some time that morning trying to figure out last minute plans. Unfortunately, everyone in London was planning to do the exact same thing, so all the rental cars within a 10 mile radius of our house were gone... We took it as a sign that we were supposed to stay in London! :) So we caught up on naps, both got gym workouts in, did some small chores around the house, and cooked dinner together.

Saturday, after playing with Brooks at home for a while, we visited the Imperial War Museum. I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed a museum dedicated to the topic of War. The exhibits covered only wars from the 20th century and were all extremely well done, featuring lots of personal stories and photographs in the displays. The tanks had the names of soldiers who drove them, the uniforms described who wore them, and the photos told amazing narratives about the lives impacted by war. We spent about two and a half hours on just the WWI section, and didn't even get over to the WW2 side! We definitely plan to return to see the rest of the museum.

Brooks loved the planes hanging from the ceiling...



Dada and Brooks smiling in front of a TINY one-man German submarine. Yikes - the Claustrophobia! The operator died of carbon monoxide poisoning.



While we were checking out the gas masks exhibit (so crude - how did they think those would work?!) about an hour into our stay, I turned around and saw a very familiar face. Not wanting to be too obnoxious, I followed their party for about two or three rooms before asking a security guard (posing as a tourist, complete with large camera around his neck) if John McCain would mind taking a picture with me. Apparently he was on a European tour with his wife Cindy and one of his sons. It was exciting to shake his hand and wish him luck in November.


In another interesting little tidbit from the day, the museum itself is housed in the old Bethlem building. Bethlem is the world's old psychiatric hospital, which in the 18th century actually allowed the public to pay to tour the hospital and peer into the patients' cells. This hospital is where our word "bedlam" comes from.


We paused for a late lunch and stepped across the street to enjoy a pub lunch at the Three Stags.



Brooks was in rare form, as we were sharing a large table with two other couples - all tourists - and he had lots of new faces to smile at. He loves playing with hats of any kind, but particularly his dad's! :)


Our favorite game - Where's Brooks!?


Where's MY cheeseburger?!


After getting caught in sleet (!) on the way back and seeing a bit more of the museum, we headed home to make supper and enjoy a relaxing evening in. More to come...