Still trying to get home & Eloise's Pageant

Olivia enjoying a snow day!

Well despite Virgin doing their best to not get us home. We are now officially booked on two flights tomorrow one down to Florida and then Florida to Gatwick so fingers crossed we will be in the UK by Thursday morning. The only good thing to come out of all this stress is Eloise did manage to perform in her Christmas Pageant which was so sweet they sang their hearts out to the reindeer-koki with antlers and red noses and little fluffy tails... too cute!

Doing the Reindeer-Koki!

Happy Hols Part 3

John Deere Collection:

The finished article.... very pretty!

Happy Hols Part 2

The weekend before last we went to the Solomons Island for a lighted boat parade and the street lights were all marine based and the some of the houses were covered in amazing lights.

Last weekend we went to a local farm who transform themselves for Christmas with... yes you guessed it.... lights! They also had a meet santa, pony rides and a huge collection of John Deere... next blog should have pic just for you big Pete.

Happy Holidays!

Well the holiday season is well and truly upon us the tree has been picked and transported in the truck (VERY important detail).

The tree itself is huge, as everything in America is big, cars, houses, ceilings... it was not until we actually got our rather sad English artifical tree out the box we realised how very majestic our Fraser Fir really was! I even needed steps to get near the top and you know how big I am!!!!

Our first thanksgiving....

It started with Eloise dressing as a native american complete with handmade necklace which said she is thankful for Olivia and Henry.... go figure.... as the americans would say! We have had a chat that her brother is called Harry.

We headed off for our road trip to NYC which was simply amazing! It has been 7 long years since Stu and I graced the pavements of the big apple at Thanksgiving and it was just as brilliant if not better with little people to share the excitement with. We had a great hotel in New Jersey looking over to Manhattan and the girls loved the swimming pool overlooking the city with all its twinkling lights.

We got up very early on Thanksgiving Day morning to get our spot on the pavement for the parade and watched in amazement at the balloons floated by.

The girls really enjoyed a visit to FAO Schwartz a huge toy shop to rival Hamleys. We toured the highlights of NYC including the many ice rinks.

We had a very interesting Thanksgiving meal that included amongst many strange things sweet potato with marshmallows!

The next day we enjoyed a really leisurely breakfast at the hotel with amazing views over Manhattan. Mum commented that maybe we were bringing up Olivia a little bit too well, when she loudly asked why her scrambled eggs did not have smoked salmon on the top!

Next stop was Radio City Music Hall for the The Christmas Spectacular which really was just that. The girls, well actually all of us, were completely enthralled in the Rockettes who did not put a foot wrong, with the flying Father Christmas, 3d sleigh ride and the end was an amazing nativity scene complete with real life cows, sheep and camels!!!!! Only in America.

But all in all an amazing break and it has completely put as in the mood for Christmas. Unfortunately for Stu when we turned into our housing estate most of the houses had taken down their pumpkins and replaced them almost immediately overnight with Christmas lights and twinkle..... I have placed our large box of outdoor icicle lights by the front door they have so far been ingnored.... I will keep you posted!

Cowboy Stu...

Well, since we last wrote Stu has been to Tex-ass (officially 2 words) and has gone all brokeback on us (he wishes to point out that is purely based on his purchase of a truck and his cooking with coca-cola rather than any man kissing).

As you can see above the girls thought it was amazing to be allowed to poor fizzy drink into dinner- and all before breakfast as it takes 11 hour to cook proper cowboy food.
As everyone knows, the road to becoming a fully fledged cowboy starts with buying a truck from a bloke on the side of the road (no exageration!). As you can see the neighbourhood kids think it makes a great climbing frame.
One of the many lakes that is on base.
It hurts a true blood cowboy to see his off spring watching 'come-dancing' on a Saturday night. It hurts even more when your 6 year old shouts every evening on return from work 'nice to se you, to see you...NICE'.
To post a letter in the States, simply pop the letter in your own post box and raise the flag, now that's magic!

Shopping at the Amish market

It was only our children that were playing with the hand made clothing on offer at the local Amish shop - think it was the first time ever a member of the Amish community had mentally sworn.