October

So here it is October 27th...I have finally caught the blog up to date after eight months of not posting! I am feeling very accomplished!!

On October 6th, Keith ran in the 10k through Greenwich Park. We decided to make a day of it and check out the area. We were so lucky to have a beautiful, sunny day to take in the sights! Keith did great in his race and had a personal best despite the hilly terrain of the park!

Greenwich is known for being the home of the Greenwich Mean Time and the Meridian Line. Famous landmarks include Cutty Sark, the National Maritime Museum, the Royal Observatory and Sir Christopher Wren's Old Royal Naval College.

We spent the entire afternoon exploring the park by climbing trees, playing on the playground, enjoying the view of London from the Royal Observatory hill, riding paddle boats in the pond and taking a look at the Cutty Sark. A great family day out!

Hello London!

View of the Royal Observatory
Where we took the photos of the City

The Cutty Sark is a British clipper ship built in 1869. It was one of the last tea clippers built and also one of the fastest.  The ship was badly damaged by fire in 2007 while undergoing conservation. It was reopened to the public in 2012.

We had some excitement this month...our first trip to the emergency room! Ryan was at the park after school and hit his head on the climbing structure while playing a game of tag. I was on the other side of the playground and by the time I reached him he was covered in blood. A pretty scary moment. The paramedics were called and by the time they arrived we had cleaned him up enough to realise that is was a deep cut on the top of his head. Ryan and I took the ride to the hospital in the ambulance and were seen within 5 minutes of arrival. The hospital staff were very kind, cleaned the area and glued it shut. Ryan was very brave and surprisingly we were in and out in about 25 minutes! Quite an event!

The kids have been very busy with sports and activities this fall. Aiden is enrolled in gymnastics and swimming lessons, Mandy has tennis, gymnastics, choir and orchestra and Ryan is doing gymnastics and swimming lessons.

Ryan has been afraid to swim since we first introduced him to the water at one year of age. This summer he was disappointed that he couldn't join his friends in the pool because he was unable to swim. We signed Ryan up for 6 private lessons with an amazing instructor. The first three sessions were tough. He cried through much of it but by session 4, something clicked. He has now completed all 6 sessions and is going underwater, swimming with only a noodle or kick board and most importantly, having fun! Way to go Ryan!! So proud of how far you have come.

Keith had to go to Minnesota for a week long conference. During that time he had to do a presentation and wanted a photo of the four of us to end with. I took the kids into London to get the perfect backdrop. Here are a few shots!

Friday the 25th the kids had a Halloween Mufti Day at school as a way to raise money for the PSA and ring in the start of half term. Mandy truly embraced her character and Ryan was in his glory as Aniken Skywalker. Aiden thought he was pretty cute as he strut his stuff all over the school playground!! 

I mentioned in a previous post that our time in London would be coming to an end in December however we didn't have a plan as to what was coming next. This month, Keith accepted the position being offered by his company. He will be changing hats and moving from the Sales Division to the Marketing Division which is a huge opportunity for him. With this comes a move to headquarters based just outside of Minneapolis. While this was not the first place we thought to move, it is the right choice for our family. We are hoping that our new adventures in Minnesota, though much different from London, will continue.

Tomorrow morning we head to Italy for a week long holiday! We are being very ambitious in our last big trip by taking in Venice, Florence and Rome in 7 days! Very excited to see the sights of Italy!!