April went by in a flash! The kids had their term break from March 30-April 16...We did our best to keep busy; we had an Easter egg hunt with friends, a few play-dates, a four day family get away, some time in Kew Gardens and lots of arts and crafts at home. I would say we did well considering there are three of them now and I am completely outnumbered!!
Here is a photo of the kids the day we had the egg hunt,
Molly, Mandy, Liam, Ryan, Luke and Rory.
Face Painting at Kew Gardens with Will and Kaylee
Our family get away was to Bognor Regis, West Sussex, England to family friendly resort called Butlins. (http://www.butlins.com/resorts/bognor-regis/index.aspx)
While it was a far cry from our wonderfully relaxing Portugal trip, it was a nice trip for the kids. This trip was kind of like staying in a hotel on a carnival fair ground. There were rides, games, character shows and meals, indoor water park, bowling, movie theater, classes for the kids to take, night club for adults, and 5-6 restaurants to choose from. While it might sound great...the weather and accommodations were not so great, therefore, much of the time was spent playing the arcade games and watching the shows on stage. Mandy, Ryan and Keith found their new favorite game to be the 2p "slots", drop the coins and wait for them to push the prize out. They loved it!!!
Playing their favorite game!
Mandy With Angelina Ballerina
Mandy & Aiden with Fireman Sam
Mandy with Billy and Bonnie Bear
Amusement Park Rides
The Pavilion, shows, food, arcade
Once back from our trip, Aiden had his 6 week well visit to the Dr. As you can see, we are all smiles, weighing in at 11lbs now!!
April 18th was the day we went to the US Embassy to apply for Aiden's Birth Certificate, Passport and Social Security number. Keith and I had to wait outside the Embassy in the pouring rain for close to 2 hours, just to get through security!! Once inside, the process moved along quickly and we were done in about 45 minutes! What a mug shot huh?
April 19th, Kim arrived!!!! It was so nice to have one of my best friends from home here for a visit. It meant the world to me that Kim made the trip over here to meet Aiden and check out our life over here. Though her visit was brief, we packed in as much as we could in those few short days, including a tour of Richmond, seeing the kids school and meeting some friends, a day in the city, dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant, time in Kew Gardens, a trip to the Richmond Chocolate Shop for truffles, a proper afternoon tea time, and a mellow girls night out with Clair and Nicola!! So great to see her, so sad to see her go...can't wait until next April when the whole family comes back!!!
Sights of the city!!
Kew Gardens
Tea Time at the Petersham Hotel
The must have photos!!!
Mandy had opening day for baseball on the 21st!! This year she is playing on an all girls coaches pitch team, with Keith as her coach! She is enjoying it and I think Keith is too. It is great seeing them both out on the field together!! More pics to come as the season progresses!
The month of April also brought about the realization that there is a fox den under our back shed. We had seen the mother fox coming and going throughout the month of March but it wasn't until late April that we had our first cub sighting. The mother fox is gorgeous and the cubs are so sweet. It has been lots of fun watching them play each day. The "Urban Fox" has been something that has become more talked about over here. There was an entire TV series about it. Here is a link to the website. I submitted our videos and our female fox has been named Fiona! http://foxes.channel4.com/foxes
That about wraps up April. Things here are getting pretty busy with the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics right around the corner. Her Royal Highness will actually be here in Richmond Park on Tuesday 17th May, and a few Olympic events will be passing through town in July...all very exciting!!!
I will leave you with a few random pictures from the month!!
