Nicola and Jeremy

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Sophia's First Camping Trip!

It's been way too long since I posted some updated photos. Two weekends ago, we took Sophia on her first camping trip to Flagstaff. (She apparently told everyone at her school on Friday before we left that she was going camping to see wild giraffes...sorry to disappoint little one!) On Friday evening, we drove up to Flagstaff and promptly got stuck in a 4 hour traffic jam on the freeway... Sigh... Not the best way to start the trip. Thankfully, Alicia and Max (our friends who live in Flagstaff) graciously stayed up late for us to arrive at their house. The next morning, we headed out to our camping site, about 20 minutes from their house, where Justine and Andrew met up with us. We had a pretty relaxing day, absorbing nature and just disconnecting (well, except for Sophia, who did get about 30 minutes of iPad time when we sat down to eat dinner... no judging - campfires and toddlers do not mix well ;) Justine and Andrew made a pretty delicious dinner, which we followed with smores (p.s. you have got to try a York Peppermint Patty in place of the Hershey's chocolate). The next morning, Alicia and Max made us a yummy breakfast, while we tried to all wake up. Our sleep had been fairly rudely interrupted overnight by another group of campers who decided that midnight was an appropriate time to ride ATVs and large trucks through a mud puddle near our campsite...we contemplated waiting until Sophia had a tantrum and promptly whisking her by their sleeping accommodations the next morning.... Overall, we had a fantastic trip and it was great to catch up with some good friends! Photos to follow :)

Sophia, Alicia and Napali

Justine helping Sophia blow bubbles (Jayne was supervising)

Still blowing bubbles (sorry Justine!)

We took a little hike up to the top of the hill to catch the sunset - beautiful views!

Alicia and Justine

Eclipse didn't like the noise of the boys trying out the rifle...

Family hug :)

Max and Jayne :)

Sunday, February 16, 2014

The Farm at South Mountain

I had a bit of a lapse in posts over the last few months, as life has been extremely busy. I'll try to post updates more frequently!

Sophia is growing like a weed and we have noticed that she's speaking more and more every week. She's started linking words together to create phrases. Favourites right now include "Self" (as in, I want to do it myself and don't even think of helping me), "More pwease" (especially referring to chocolate - big surprise with half of my DNA), and then counting to ten (often in no particular order - i.e. one, two, four, seven, eight, nine, ten).

This past Thursday, we met up with our friends Charlie and Rachel, with their little girl Clara, and went to breakfast at The Farm at South Mountain. After we ate, we explored the grounds a little, where Clara and Sophia met a goat (she loved the goat) and some chickens. We're lucky to have this weather (in the 70s that day), while most of the rest of the country is under heaps of snow. I can't complain, though I probably will bemoan the heat come July!

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Newcastle

Our last official stop (besides London) was Newcastle, which is where we journeyed to after the Lake District. By this time, Sophia was getting sick of long car rides, which made the approximately two hour trip not so much fun (nothing in comparison, however, to our five hour trip from Newcastle to London a few days later... we literally almost cried with happiness when we arrived at our hotel near the airport because it meant we could get Sophia out of the car). I digress. Visiting Newcastle was lovely - Lyndsey and I have been going to Beecroft, my grandparents' house in Woolsington, since we were very little and it has lots of sentimental value. Sadly, this was likely to be our last visit to the house, as it recently went on the market. My grandparents made the difficult decision to sell the house so that they can downsize to a smaller, more manageable house. We really enjoyed our time at Beecroft, taking nice walks along the lane, letting Sophia explore the garden, and taking day trips nearby.

Some of our mini-trips included a visit to Belsay Hall, where an exhibition of Jane Austen movie costumes were on display - yes, including the infamous shirt worn by THE Mr. Darcy, Colin Firth, in Pride and Prejudice. Swoon... We also visited Alnwick Gardens and Boulmer (the beach where we always went every summer with my family). Phoebe, Helen, Selma and Chris came by one afternoon, and Sophia loved showing Phoebe around the front garden at Beecroft. Again, so thankful for such amazing weather during our time in England - not sure what we would have done if it were pouring rain!

Warning, this blog contains the most photos of any prior blogs and may take some time to peruse!