Celebrating Mark

Mark lived to see his 39th birthday on Dec. 9, so naturally we celebrated in style.  What does that really mean?  Well, we attempted to celebrate in style by meeting up with some friends in London who share Nov. and Dec. bdays with us, the Crane's.   It was a lot of fun getting out as adults and shopping before dinner at Selfridges, but the prices were way to high to justify spending anything (except for Mark's spiffy new scarf, see photo).  We also visited a little German-themed Christmasmarket in Hyde Park that was more Kitsch than Christmas.  The holiday lights were pretty, though, and made our little detour there worthwhile.  Our chosen restaurant, The Wallace, was set in a museum atrium area--very pretty but Mark described it best as the "British version of French food."  Not great but the company was the best part :)  

Mark's actual birthday was spent working at home so we spent the evening as a family with an assortment of birthday cheesecakes and a chocolate, cherry cake . . . no, I did not turn into the perfect wife, just bought them to try out and see which was best since I couldn't decide!  We love our dad and husband and can't count the reasons why here since 39 is not enough.  I have a friend in her 60's who often says, "the boy I married turned out to be the man of my dreams." Well, no one's perfect, but this pretty much sums up Mark!  Corny, yes, but true.

Santa's Grotto and More

Here we are with Emma and Father Christmas, Père Noel, Santa Claus, St. Nicolaas, etc. Fuzzy cell phone pic--I thought they might have a photographer taking pictures but should have known it was going to be a room with Santa all by himself, waiting for eager children to come tell them their dearest Christmas wishes. Kind of creepy, eh? Emma was very cute and brave, though, and told Santa she wanted a princess tent (as rehearsed).











Fuzzy cell phone pic #2, Mason's Drama Club production, "Fabaroony." He played a disgraced Italian chef mourning an admired American girl's poor taste in food, i.e. McD's, Wendy's, BQ, and so forth. I couldn't get his whole face as he was supposed to be emotional and only gave us a partial silhouette. It was fun to see him on stage, however, he was just glad it was over!






Guess who was so excited to finally lose his first tooth and join the toothless club in 1st grade? Nico had been downing apple after apple in hopes of forcing one out and then one day it did, painlessly. A week later the second one came out and the Tooth Fairy did her thing again.

Santa and Emma discussing what she would like for Christmas. She is ready to bolt if he asks her to sit on his lap. The only one of my children to not freak out or melt down in the big man's presence.

Gavin deGraw--The Man, the Music, the Concert

A rather grandiose title for such a modest post. In fact, it can all be blamed on bad cell phone photos. The 16 yr. olds around us were constantly flashing their cameras and it motivated me to try a few times, then I stuck to the plan of just enjoying the experience. It was at a venue in London called The Astoria. All my concert-going life I've enjoyed more initimate, smaller shows over huge stadium ones. I'll take either kind, though, if you're seeing a great artist or band--beggars can't be choosers! Anyway, Gavin rocked us like a hurricane with his incredible voice and talent (as well as the band's), audience rapport and general awesomeness. Yes, written like a true uh, 37 almost 38 yr. old.

For some reason I can't get the blogger to show another new Wales post right before this one, so if you'd like to see more pictures, check out the post after the school portraits.

Kids' School Pictures

Here are 3/4 of our children.  Mason's pic is coming as he was sick the day of photos and is getting retakes.  I love my babies, big and small!

Gower Bay, Swansea and Random Wales Locations

I realized we had more pictures from our Wales trip (the second half where we rented a seaside cottage at the end of the line, literally). A beautiful, cold place, but lots of fun. Mason was absolutely not available to pose for photos since he was rather mud-covered, like everyone else, after the quad adventure and NOT in the mood! We also went in an all-terrain vehicle called an Argocat. This way, Mom and Emma were able to enjoy the 4X4 experience as well. Later, the older kids had some quality archery time with a bit of instruction given by the Guiness Book of World Records' holder of most arrows shot in 5 hours--something like that :)














Emma, Marina, & Nico brave the chilly coast of Gower Bay

Pretty seaside cottages

Les trois petites étoiles de mer

This is Marina after faceplanting earlier in the day on her quad--she decided it wasn't worth cleaning up until she had some more muddy fun on the beach.

Nico man strikes a pose.

The three freezing, muddy musketeers. Quad mission accomplished!

Nico takes a spin on the kiddie track (he later graduated to the adult course).

Mason makes it look easy in slow mo.

Marina with very cold hands begging for my gloves . . . one minute later, my gloves are soaked in mud from her "crash." No injuries sustained.

Marina and Dad/Mark on the course.

Pretty gardens on the grounds of St. Fagans National Museum, the Welsh way of life village.

Swansea's cool performing arts venue at night.

The Swedish Church, a former church where Wales' Swedish fishermen used to gather back in the day. I think it's now a Roald Dahl museum?

Cardiff, How We Love Thee

Mark is pretending to hold up Caerphilly castle's leaning tower that is unfortunately not visible in this photo. We'll humor him, though.

The great hall (set for a Halloween wedding reception)

Watch your step . . . good for awkward tourists with children.

The glory of Caerphilly, 2nd largest castle in the UK (1st is Windsor) and still standing from the late 12 century.

Mark, Emma and the Daleks

Marina & Mason visit props from the "Dr. Who" set. That Versailles clown is downright disturbing.

Cardiff Town Hall and Ferris Wheel

We had a fun mid-term break (for the kids from school, that is) in the lovely country of Wales. The luckiest part was that it didn't rain, however, it was very nippy. We visited the sights in Cardiff and nearby (Cardiff Castle; Museum of Art-free!, Caerphilly Castle; St. Fagan's Welch Museum of Life-weird, a ghostown; the Dr. Who exhibit; the children's museum, Techniquest, and the town itself).

Cardiff Castle was right across the street from our glamorous Holiday Inn hotel and the rugby stadium, Millenium Stadium.

First Celebrity Sighting

So, it's probably not the first celebrity sighting (that I know of here in the UK), but we were in Cardiff, Wales recently.  As we awaited our seats in the fine eating establishment known as Pizza Express, I swear this man walks slowly out the door, incognito sunglasses, scruffy hair, skinny jeans, scarf and all--Welsh actor Rhys Ifans.  Rhys, it was you, yes?  The flatmate from Notting Hill and many other memorable character roles?  Please say it was because I know what I saw even though my husband thinks I'm crazy . . .