Reiman Gardens June 2009

We'd like to visit the gardens more than once a year, but at this point that's about all we've accomplished. This year they had the Dinosaur dig throughout the gardens, it was neat but not all that big of a deal to MY kids! They pretty much said "oo look" and that's it! I am pretty sure that my husband and I enjoyed the gardens more than they did.

We were really blessed that it was a beautiful day. It was 80 F with a light breeze. Fortunately, I had the sunscreen layered on so our day could be sunburn free. We were even able to get in 1/2 off (Superman is free since he's a student, Effy free since he's 2 and that leaves Keke and I to be charged). There just happened to be a wedding going on, I don't know why they don't close the gardens, seems distracting for a wedding! The flowers were not in the best season but it was still so nice to get out and walk around with the family. Of course the butterflies were beautiful!

What a silly man I have :)

Effy's First Professional Hair Cut

I've cut Effy's hair since it was 3 inches tall. But as time goes on I am less and less willing to cut it anymore. Not because I can't do a good job, but because I am tired of cleaning up the mess and the whole process of it. So somehow I managed to swing Superman's vote in for Great Clips. Now I don't go there for my hair, because I don't want to.. but I will take my 2 year old son or let Superman go there! And they did great for a great price, $15!

Not to mention that Effy was great! He didn't cry or whine, he sat as still as possible and let the lady cut away. He was even better for her than for me! (no I didn't have to bribe him to sit still with a lolly pop!) Plus the lady that cut his hair was FAST and it looked great! I will definitely be taking Efy back there.. and soon, his hair grows quickly!

Submit Your Story on Chicken Soup for the Soul

I just did.. and I thought I would share it here too..

Seeing is Believing

When I was pregnant with my first child I has severe morning sickness. It was so bad that the doctors ordered an ultrasound at 8 weeks, thinking I was pregnant with twins... I wasn't. Instead they saw that my uterus was shaped like a heart. A normal uterus is shaped like a circle. A heart shaped uterus could cause birth defects, early or preterm labor, or even miscarriage. I was of course in shock and despair. My girlfriend told me to just pray about it and wait on God. I did, I prayed and I waited. I had been ordered several ultrasounds so doctors could monitor the growth of our baby. Then at one of our many ultrasounds the nurse remarked incredibly "I don't get it.. you're fine, there's nothing wrong with your uterus!" Praise God for healing my uterus! In fact it was so great of a uterus that my daughter didn't want to leave it! She arrived safely and late March 1, 2005 weighing 8.54 lbs!


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10 Days in England, Day 8, 9 & 10

Day 8 wasn't a whole lot of fun as we were leaving Harrogate and driving to the train station back into London.

It was hard to say goodbye to my Mum, step Dad and brother. I always feel like I may never see them again. On the other hand we were on our way to visit with my lovely Grandmother.

My Grandmother is simply one of the most beautiful women I know. Not only is she still blond and lively, she is warm and kind. Her words are full of life, she holds her head high and is respected by all that know her. I happen to feel I am one lucky girl to have such a caring Grandmother, one that is not only someone I can look up to but I can also call her my friend. I wish with all my heart we were not so far away for such lengths of time.

We stayed with my Grandmother for 2 days, in Chesham. It's a little town that seems to be slowly losing some of its business, which is such a shame! I think that the Tesco's (our Walmart) has taken business away from small towns such as this. Not that I can complain as Tesco's is also the company my Aunt works for!

While in Chesham we did get to do some shopping, ate at a 500 year old pub, and helped out with the allotment one day. We also enjoyed my Grandmother's delicious cooking; roast lamb and potatoes, followed with fresh strawberries and clotted cream... mmmmm!!!!

It was just as hard to say goodbye to Grandma as it was everyone else. I will miss them all so deeply. I will be praying that I will get to see them again. This trip was a blessing, a gift from my friend and travel partner. Leaving England and my British family was harder than I thought or imagined. I wasn't as excited to see my children and husband as I had anticipated.. I wanted to hang onto the memories before they were clouded by my daily life back in Iowa. I felt like I was in mourning, trying so desperately to hear their voices, see their faces, smell the flowered air, listen to the song birds that can't be compared to. Even the feel of the atmosphere is a blanket of comfort to me. I miss it, I miss them.

There is no place like home.


I have pictures to share, however my computer is a bust and all pictures are not available right now.. will follow up with some later.

10 Days in England; DAY 7

Day 7 was spent at Brimham Rocks and Fountains Abbey. Both places are spectacular, one molded by nature and the other created by man.
Enjoy the pictures.


The view from Brigham Rock, overlooking Yorkshire.

Rocks up close, pretty.
The "turtle" and "eagle"
I believe this was once a small farm house, now a gift shop
Duncan taking a picture overlooking the Yorkshire dales



Fountains Abbey
Once there would have been a ceiling and the stone was painted white
Fountains Abbey
What's left of the "guest house"
River that passes through Fountains Abbey
Man made river & bridge
Swan
St. Mary's Church in the middle of the deer park

A Week Home....

I've been home for a week now and so far life has been anything but dull. It's certainly no vacation, but just as much fun in it's own way. Here is a list of things that have happened this week:

• Effy went from diapers to underwear within 3 days, being 98% potty trained
• 2 nightgowns and 1 dress made for Laine's Babies
• 3 sets of toes and fingers clipped
• Keke's fringe trimmed and already grown back out - time to just let it grow
  
• At least 15 meals prepared and rejected - why do I bother?
• Several walks in the park = mosquito bites
• 50+ pictures of the children taken to make up for the lost 2 weeks
• Keke tells me off on average 5x a day
  
• 1 full day of baby V crying
• 4 cards, 7 phone calls; all to England
• Loss of Superman's friend
• Keke turns back time acting like a baby; crawling on the ground, sitting in the high chair & exersaucer, refusing to wipe herself, grunting and whining.
  
• Received very nice hand-me-down summer clothes for Effy! (some still had tags!)
  
• Discovered the smell coming from the refrigerator along with 6 uneaten meals that Superman made while I was gone
• Reorganized cupboards due to empty cereal boxes and canned goods on several different shelves.
• Reorganized fabric and children's closets as everything was all muddled
• Read 4 new childrens' books at least 4x a day, including one Paddington puzzle book that Effy also tried to eat
  
• Intervened in 100 arguments over who had what toy and why they can't have it anymore
• 2 rounds of antibiotics
• Wished for a 30 second button on my microwave for the 10,000th time!
• Found Effy quietly playing with a stick of butter
• Watched WALL-E 5x since Sunday
• Kept the kids up late everyday so I could get a good nap out of them
  
• Wished I could stay in bed 4 out of 8 mornings, and am thankful for the rest at night
• Prayed for people I love, people I don't know, and for people I will someday know
• Hugged and kissed my children at least 1000x a day...
  

10 Days in England; DAY 6

On day 6 we took the bus to Skipton to visit one of the most well kept medieval castles in all of England, appropriately called Skipton Castle. It is said to be over 900 years old!




I want to show you the 300 year old Yew tree, placed in the center of the castle. You could see the roots growing under the cobble, it looked really neat!







An old fashioned kitchen, where a giant cauldron would have been placed and breads could be baked in the little windows of the fireplace. This particular fireplace was once equipped with a weight driven spit for turning meats.


It's a pretty cool castle being that they have all kinds of interesting information.. for instance take a look at this photo.Yes, it is called the "long drop", once to have been called "privies". They were placed specifically over a stream. Later they added a flush system using water from the roof tops. Moss was the typical toilet paper... told you interesting stuff here! My brother was kind enough to demonstrate what this is used for, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to take his picture! You can see why I love him so much!









The Banqueting Hall! Seriously this is HUGE! It took 2 pictures from left to right to get all of it.. and still missing the nice "solar" window seat. This would have been where the Lord and Lady Clifford would have had a little party!



The view from the lady's drawing room. A typical place for the women of the court to escape from the male ego's. They usually used the light from the large windows for needlework. (this is my take.. not necessarily the historical truth)







There are many, many more rooms but to narrow it down to the most interesting I have only selected a few.. next is the Dungeon! It is much darker once inside, I lightened the picture so it would be clear to see the size of it.. notice there aren't any "toilets" or places to sit.. just dark, cold stone! Would have been dreadful!

10 Days in England; DAY 5

Day 5 was spent in York. Just a short train ride from Harrogate we arrived ready to explore this great city!

Our first stop was the York Minster, the largest Medieval Gothic church in Northern Europe. It's beauty is breathtaking and it's size is overwhelming. On top of viewing the main rooms there is an additional Tower Tour! You must be in good shape to climb the 275 steps it takes to get there, I took a look at their site and there is a wonderful virtual tour online. I also just learned there is a Undercroft, Treasury & Crypt!!! If only I had known! In all honesty there is entirely too much to take in for one day, could have spent a few days exploring this one Minster. Interesting that church services are still held daily with all the tourism.

We continued our tour through York, exploring the streets & markets for some fish and chips (YUMMY!) and other goodies. My brother & his partner just happened to be very familiar with York (otherwise we would have been lost!) We found our way through the crowds and came to the Jorvik Viking Center, where all the gory details of vikings and conquering took place! We traveled back in time to 975 AD, even the smell was a bit appalling! It was really cool, in my opinion, to see how people thousands of years ago lived and made use of the earth the way they did. I think the most humbling realization was just how difficult it would have been without doctors or health care, people didn't live very long and if they did it was a painful life.

Next we moved onto Cliffords Tower! Here again there is much history, starting with William the Conquer in 1068. He ordered his peasants to dig a moat for protection and used the dirt to create the large "hill" that the Tower stands on today. While it doesn't look like much now, it would have been a much larger castle, this is all that remains after many reconstruction attempts. It has been built and burned down a few times, one of them being the most horrific of times. In 1190 over 15o Jews and Jewesses took their own lives after being persecuted to renounce their faith, they refused and with fear burned themselves.. anyone that survived was massacered the next day by the mob. This was not the King's wishes, he infact held a heavy fine upon the city's people as punishment and searched for the ringleader to be hanged, but never found.

As we ended our day here we took a walk around the walls of York. At one point the walls would have all connected, today they do not but are still assesable for walking around, which was great for an overall view of the rest of the city. I took some really nice pictures of the York Minster from afar and my dear brother who is sitting on the wall.

10 Days in England; DAY 4

Day 4 is not nearly as much fun as the first 3 days since we were on a bus headed north to stay with my mother who lives in Harrogate. It was a 6+ hour bus ride with a 1/2 hour stop part way, where I discovered my lost love for Digestives, they are simple and sweet and the most popular biscuit (cookie) in England. In fact they are so nice that having thought this would be the only package I would see I only ate 2 before my brother found them and finished them off! It's okay though because he replaced them with Cadbury Digestives, yum!


It had been over 5 years since I had seen my mother. I don't really want to go into detail since for me to see her in the state she was in was tragic. She has rapidly lost all the beauty she had, her weight is extremely low and she had broken her foot for the 3rd time in the past 2 years. I hope that if you are a reader, you are also a prayer- please pray for my mother.

That first evening with her was filled with it's own ups and downs. From typical mother/daughter relations to getting to know each other again conversations. I had hoped that this visit would be for the good and I believe that in the end things did go forward.

Over the next couple days we were out exploring. In the past my mum would have been the one to give us her own tour guide, she is very knowledgeable in English history and loves it there. However since she wasn't able to get out we had the fortunate pleasure to have my brother and his partner show us around.. I will give details on the future dates.. yes you will have to wait till tomorrow, for now take a look at the following pictures.


No.. this isn't my favorite picture of myself.. but I absolutely adore my brother, so be nice..

From left to right: my brother, myself, my mother, my step-father (Duncan, Elaine, Lynne, & Mark)

10 Days in England; DAY 3

On day 3 we went to one of the largest gardens in the world, Kew Gardens. This was a fantastic way to end our trip in London. By day 3, my toes had blisters and my shins were cramping, so walking around a huge garden wasn't working out well for me. However, they did have a tour explorer which we were able to hop on and off where we'd like to stop. There was so much to see, that we spent the whole day at Kew snapping pictures of all the beautiful flowers and plant life. Enjoy the pictures!




I created this collage using Picasa 3. To see the pictures individually you can visit the albumhere.

10 Days in England; DAY 2

On Day 2 we were VERY BUSY! I took so many pictures that I created a few collages and then a slide show for your viewing pleasure! Day 2 was a day of walking around the heart of London and exploring as much as possible. There was much to see, and we did the best we could but a person could easily spend a week spending everyday like we did. Enjoy!


Hamley's, one of the most famous and largest toy stores in the world. Has 5 floors jam packed with themed toys for boys, girls, the collector and much more! Hamley's has been around since 1760, surviving even the Blitz!

Hard Rock Store, not the cafe, but still just as nice. I took these pictures mostly for Michael, thought as a musician he would appreciate all they had. I did purchase a Hard Rock t-shirt for him that cost $35 (20 pounds), but worth every penny!

Highlighted and heart of London; stores, war memorials, cafe's & soldiers!!!

If you scroll over the pictures you will get a detail description.. however some of them don't come out completely due to size.. click on the "slide" it will open in a new browser with a full screen.

10 Days in England; DAY 1

Day 1: Plane trips over seas are always dreadful.. at least in my opinion. So the first day in England we slept for 5 hours at our Guest House, then took advantage of the London bus tour to sit back and take in what we would have to look forward to the next day. I did manage to take some nice pictures from the bus as you can see...


Hard Rock Cafe (LONDON).. you can see the busy queues (lines), I'm sure those people were standing there for an hour at least!


Her Majesty's Theatre; where famous musicals such as The Phantom of the Opera are held. This is the only theatre that will change it's name due to who reigns; could be His Majesty's Theatre someday.




3 pictures of different parts of Trafalgar Square. You can see just how busy it was this day, thank goodness we weren't out walking amongst the crowd in our half awake state of mind. If you look closely at the middle picture of the fountains you will see some idiots "swimming", all I could think of was how nasty that water must be since it's not meant for more than show. The tour guide said that the lions are a favorite place for the birds... yummy! It is a fantastic view though, overwhelming in size!

Big Ben.... and part of Parliment.
the rest of Parliament. Not my favorite picture, and actually you can see my friend Robin there, she did get a great shot of Parliament. Parliament has lost favor recently as I'm sure you have heard. O and you can also see a bit of Westminster Abbey, right behind the trees.