30Aug2008: Day 97: Windsor Castle

We did decide to go to Windsor Castle today. It took us about 45 minutes longer than planned to get there because traffic was backed up so badly. We never figured out why it was backed up. The only thing that we thought was that it could be because of so many people going to LegoLand which is right along the path to the castle. Anyway, we got there and circled around looking for a parking lot and after going down several dead ends we found one.

Windsor is a nice little town dominated by the Castle, which is absolutely massive. Some 480,000 square feet. (Teri will have to put some pictures up I hope) It was nice that the audio guide was included in the entrance fee which was $60 US. I would have preferred Disney land, but eh, we were there and all. Actually, none of the maintenance of any of the Royal estates is covered by government or public funding, just entrance fees. Except I heard somewhere that the Queen still gets some stipend from the government, so I guess she just uses that for food and clothes and maybe postage or something. Anyway, for all the amazing art they have hanging in this Castle everything from Leonardo Da Vinci to Rembrandt to snapshots from the Queen herself of Charles as a baby she could probably sell one of those if she ever didn't have cash to keep the heat on.

The Castle was amazing though, very beautiful. The Chapel in there called the Chapel of St. George in the burial place of many kings including King Henry VIII, founding monarch of my Church. It's funny he has a stone plate in the floor in the center of the Church where he is interred along with one of his Queen's he didn't behead Jane Seymour (sorry if I spelled that wrong). His burial place is only notable by its location, but others were quite a bit more stunning. The daughter of George IV who died in child birth (apparently one of the most mourned royal to pass before Dianna) had this amazing statue made in mourning of her passing. I wish we could have taken pictures in there because it was an utterly amazing carving out of solid marble. It had her lying on an alter covered with a sheet such that you could not see anything by a bit of her hand peaking out from under, there were several mourners around her covered in sheets as well and her soul rising out of the body with angels on either side with one holding her still born child. I found this snapshot. What is amazing about it is how well the artist carved the sheets and fabric, you would believe it was real and not carved of marble. Amazing.

It is quite a nice Chapel besides, really it was a mini-Cathedral in its layout and it wasn't that much smaller. It had some amazing architecture and stone carvings of the highest quality mounted in the ceiling at heights of 60+ feet. It is amazing that they could get massive stones up in the air before modern scaffolding and such.

We saw the royal apartments, but again were not able to take pictures. There was a giant doll house as well that was given to queen Mary I believe that was impressive for its detail, apparently many of the artist, authors, and sculptors of the time made miniature versions of their most famous art for the doll house. It was not something Makenna would be allowed to play with (nor did any child).
We saw the royal china collection which was sort of ho-hum for me, but the collection of weapons and armor was quite impressive with items captured from India, Napoleon, and various other conquered peoples and military victories. There was a massive hall that they do dinners in seating 160 people along this room that goes on forever with the various knights armor and breastplates mounted along the walls. There were rooms where they hold the meetings of the order of the Garter or some such thing, it is apparently the oldest Chivalric order and still meets today.

In the end it was well worth the money, the grounds are absolutely stunning as well, but they didn't let you really walk on the grass at all, which Makenna put up a fuss about. The Queen actually lives there on weekends, but we weren't allowed around where she is. We really only saw a small part of the Castle. It is really a fortified town in its size.

Makenna enjoyed running away from us and falling down in the way of people inside the castle. She would just all of a sudden fake a fainting spell and splay herself out on the ornate carpet. I ended up throwing her up on my shoulders form most of the tour, she seems to enjoy messing up my hair and slapping my bald spot, so that keeps her calm. When we got home, we found she had a fever, not sure why. I was a bit nervous because she had managed to get a spit and snot covered hand into my mouth during one of her fits at the castle, so I'm not looking forward to this week if she is really sick.

29Aug2008: Day 96: Chris?, Chris?

This morning was absolutely hilarious. I woke Makenna up and she asked for daddy. I said that daddy was downstairs and that she better get up before he goes to work. So she ran to the top of the stairs and started yelling down...."Chris?, Chris?, Chris?" like five times. I just started laughing. I had heard her yell his name once before like a week or so ago and chuckled then, but again, another "glimpse of the future" moment for when she's a teenager. Chris of course told her, "you're supposed to call me daddy."

The past couple of mornings, Makenna has been waking up earlier than normal. Yesterday and the day before, she woke up around 6:30am. This morning she woke up around 5:30am. I tried ignoring her so that she would go back to sleep, but Chris got up and stuck his head in her room. Big mistake. She started crying. He went in and changed her and put blankets over her and she fell right back to sleep. He thinks that she was just cold.

We had a couple of visitors at the house today. One was to check the security system on the house. Which was a good thing as anytime we went away and turned the house alarm on, and then came back it would go off, waking up the whole neighborhood. Not to mention deafen Chris in the process. So they fixed that (we hope). We also had an electrician come to give an estimate on placing an outlet outside the house. The owner requested the quote so that his son could just plug the mower outside instead of dragging an extension cord through the house.

I have to also mention, as her birthday is getting closer, that there is this book that I read her at night sometimes (lately), of Curious George. It's a before & after book. One part in the book talks about "cake galore" - "cake no more". There's birthday balloons, and a gift on the next page. Every time I turn to that part of the book, Makenna starts singing Happy Birthday. She gets out "Happy" and then kind of mumbles birthday, but she wants me to sing it to her. I've been practicing with her that she's turning two and tonight when I asked her how old she's going to be on her birthday, she did say 2. She also, on occasion starts singing twinkle twinkle little star, today being one of them.

Chris also came home early, for once, on a Friday. Early being around 3pm, but that is really good for him. We just planned what our adventure will be tomorrow and I believe we settled on Windsor Castle. You'll have to "tune in tomorrow" to see if that's where we end up or not.

28Aug2008: Day 95: Hints of the Future?

Makenna and I had a fairly busy day. We walked up the road to get Chris's watch a new battery. Plus stop at the bank and stop at the post office. We then walked to the park where she got to do some climbing - outside - and also watched a bunch of dogs running around. The park has a huge field and a path that people use to walk their dogs or let them run around. Plus, she had a couple of dogs come up to her again. We then walked to the doctor's office so that I could show them her immunization record as they sent me mail requesting that she comes in for shots.

They don't have anything on record for her - which I don't understand because that care worker came to the house a couple of weeks ago but I guess they are not related. So they took a copy of her immunizations but I have to figure out what a couple of them are as they don't know them or don't need them here, but want to have the proper immunization record here in their system. Plus, I had to set up an appointment for myself as they also sent a letter for Chris and I to come in for a general health overview.

We got home and then after lunch went swimming for close to an hour and then when we got home, Chris called and Makenna and I had to walk back down to the doctor's office to pick up a prescription for him. As we were walking, Makenna was happily waving and saying hello to people and dogs that were walking at us. It was quite funny to see how people stopped or responded to her. Maybe she'll be the first woman president!??

Other things that Makenna does that give me hints of what the future may hold is, lately when Chris goes into the bathroom, and I tell her wait until daddy finishes in the bathroom, she'll stand at the bathroom door and yell..."FINISH!" It cracks me up! Maybe I've said this one before, but when I go to wake her up from naps, instead of her waking up on her own, she'll usually say, "night, night". Meaning that she wants to still sleep. She'll even pull the blanket over her head and say it. So I think I'll have a teenager who will be hard to get out of bed. Maybe that might be a good thing - at least I'll know where she's at.

Today, she also, on her own, would climb up on furniture and yell "get down". Even before I said anything - she'd yell it out on her own. Like to take away my thunder. Of course, she had her giggles in doing things she knows we don't want her to. Now she's at least climbing on some furniture and falling onto the couch from her perch. Hopefully she won't roll off. Tonight alone we had to take her off this coffee table that she kept climbing on and then standing and hopping. It's not the sturdiest of tables in that if she gets too close to an end it will easily tip. I don't want to even think of table dancing as being a hint of the future!

27Aug2008: Day 94: 2 More months

I can't believe my little baby is 22 months old today! Time really does fly when you're trying to get an almost 2 year old to bend to your will when she's trying so hard to exert her own.

She's getting more daring in her climbing. She climbs up onto chairs and reaches for thing that places her in a precarious position. She also climbs up onto chairs to get on top of the dining room table. Plus, she climbs up both flights of stairs, up to the third floor, to look at the books that the previous owners have up there. I take 5-10 minutes to vacuum a room and I turn around and she's "MIA". I know we've been very diligent about closing the bathroom doors so I pretty much know where she's at. I get up there and she says "books". I say, "I know they're books, but they are not our books and we need to ask permission to look at these books." She says, "books" - like she's trying to say, "but mom, they're different books."

Plus the whole driving thing. She constantly is saying, "home, home" which means, I want to drive. Anytime we're going to the car or leaving the car, "home, home". So today, I sat in the car with her for 5 minutes to let her play.

Tonight, my church had an "enrichment night". Which basically means that the women get together to do something. They called it an "abstract night", so we got to paint and also create interesting sandwiches. They actually had sardines, vegemite, different fruits, chocolate sauce, garlic mayonnaise, sliced meats, and a red onion. I have to admit, the most adventurous I got was eating a mango with smoked cheese, which was pretty good. Other than that, I stuck with apples and cheese, and chocolate on bananas. Things I knew would not be re-visiting in a bad way later tonight.

26Aug2008: Day 93: Spoon and Fork

Well, the time is getting closer, and messier. Makenna is starting to use a spoon and fork more on her own. It makes it very hard for me not to intervene as things start tumbling off the utensils onto the front of her clothes or on the table or elsewhere. She's also starting to ask for her own utensils. If she sees that I have a fork, then she wants one.

What is it about a spoon that kids can't seem to keep it level with their mouth? Milk and cereal end up more on the front of her than in her mouth. I'm trying to teach her this method of scoop (not stab,) at the food so now the word is "soup" instead of scoop.

She's also starting to scream her displeasure with things. So if we don't give in to her whims, demands, etc., screams start coming. Along with the throwing. So here we go head on into the terrible twos. Luckily the screaming only lasts about 10 seconds or so while I re-direct her or tell her that throwing things is going to get her onto the naughty step.

I did feel bad today as I planned on taking her swimming but when the time came to get dressed, I realized I had forgotten her swimmers. So I apologized and we went home and went to the park. She enjoyed the dogs that came up to her as she started squealing with delight, but was all of a sudden shy about petting them. We so need to get a dog at some point.

25Aug2008: Day 92: Bank Holiday? What bank is worth celebrating?

Today was a bank holiday. Yes, a bank holiday. No banks are open and everyone gets off from work. (apparently, Teri thinks she gets a day off from the blog as well, since I, Chris, am doing it today) A Bank Holiday is not in celebration of anything I can figure out, but it is a holiday. This is the epitome of where the world is going, soon Christmas will no longer be Christmas, but Winter Bank Holiday. I guess they are forgetting to be sensitive to all the people out there who don't use banks...maybe it will one day be just "don't go to work day", no...no...no...that isn't sensitive to those people who don't work. How about just "breathe day", yes, that works, everyone has to breathe. That should be inclusive enough, but it might be insensitive to those people who live in smoggy cities, who really shouldn't be thinking so hard about the quality of their breath. So, I guess we are left with, sit, they'll call it " sit on it " day. Ugh, what about people without butts. It's a small minority, but there are probably some out there who got shot their butts shot off during the war...it would truly be insensitive to forget about the buttless.

Ok, so, bottom line, and all that really matters in the end: I didn't have to work today. So, we had a day together as a family. Teri's Church was having a picnic at a park down by the river, aptly named: Riverside park. So, we went to that after having a leisurely morning around the house picking up and me doing some paper work.

I had received a box of mail last week and found that my bank had determined that I didn't have collision insurance on my cars and they had decided, after sending me three letters (all of which were in the box), that they would add on a $3300 insurance fee (for one year) onto my car loan. I had talked with my insurance company before we left and they had told me that I can "withdraw the cars from use" for the year we will be gone and not driving them to save some money. I didn't realize this meant taking of collision coverage, nor did I realize that my loans required this coverage. So my Bank (Visions Credit Union) decided that I was being naughty and graciously sent me three warning letters and then put this insurance on my car.

I immediately called the bank insurance office and the lady on the line told me to call the loan office and see if they would let me have an exemption. (Apparently, this is pretty common with sports cars and what not that people put in storage for the winter). Before I hung up I asked her: "you know, I have my phone setup so that I can receive calls on my local number here in the UK, I never received a call." I couldn't believe her response: "We never called you." I asked her somewhat incredulously, "Why not?!". She said in a defiant tone: "Do you know how many calls I would have to make if I had to call everyone who is having problems with their insurance? I would be on the phone all day!". My response to her was: "So your one minute of time calling me is worth more than the $3300 you are trying to take from me!" Click! Don't be stupid with me lady. To be honest, I was actually much kinder than this, but I wish I had said that...

So, after calling the bank loan office, I have to write a letter now to request the exemption. Ah well, easily done, hopefully, it is a no brainer for them and everything will work out fine. But, I am putting a bit of "I can't believe your system works this way!" in the letter. Funny thing is, they send my bank statements through on e-mail, which I did to at their request to save them money, but they send me 4 regular mail letters when it is going to cost me money, send me e-mail! Save your stupid $0.41 x 4. Stupid. Who's that comedian that says: "Here's your stupid sign!" I feel like I've been writing jokes for him lately.

Back to the picnic. It was fun enough. The burgers were good, not like the meat we have back home, but still good enough. Makenna ate chips, that's it. She ate a whole burger at the zoo the other day, but today she would have nothing to do with it. She ran around kicking a ball and smiling like the cutest thing that ever lived, so, I had fun watching her. She is really just a joy to watch, I have never in my life enjoyed watching someone like I like watching her. Like tonight, she was sitting on this "stop and go, stop and go, hear the school bus whistle blow" or whatever it says...a plastic bus...and she was scooting around on it. She was just hamming it up for her Mom and Dad and it was just so impossibly cute that it just makes me forget about any other thing going on. It feels good to just study her and realize how incredibly blessed we are to have her.

I was away this last week up in Bedford again, maybe Teri mentioned it, and I can actually see changes in Makenna over this week. She is much more verbal and communicating than she was just a week prior. I think she is less frustrated as well because we are actually understanding her. If we just repeat what she says and put a "no" after it, she says "ok. ok. ok." because she knows that we understand. We say the "no" again and she realizes that we are not going to let her do it, so then she gets upset, but it is not the same kind of upset that she used to have, the frustrated upset. Now, it is "gator" tears upset, where she is faking crying. She is quite an actress as well, her whole faces gets into the cry, she should give acting lessons, I'm serious...academy award.

24Aug2008: Day 91: Flashcards

I bought Makenna these flashcards quite some time ago when we were back in the states, probably shortly after she was a year old. She also got some more as a going away gift from her one babysitter Erin. We've worked on them at various times and she's just remembering more and more of what the pictures on the cards are. She was working on them with her daddy today. He would hold them up and ask her what the picture was of and if she got it right, it went into one pile, and if she didn't know, into another.

Another thing she did today that was funny was that we've been telling her to cover her mouth when she coughs. She will usually stick her fist in her mouth or cover it, or ignore us. Today, I had to cough and I used the crook of my arm. She actually took my hand and put it up to my mouth, as if to say, "cover your mouth!"

She also loves talking to her grandma and grandpa Jones through Skype. She laughs and dances around and then as time goes on, loses interest. But her excitement in the beginning is funny to watch. We wish all the family had web-cams to see them. We miss you all!

23Aug2008: Day 90: Whipsnade Zoo

After much debating, we decided to go to a zoo so that Makenna could enjoy a day instead of being dragged around to see things she could care less about. The Woburn Safari was right there--the one that Makenna and I went to a couple of weeks ago when we were up this way, but we decided to see something different, and went to the Whipsnade Zoo. It's run by the same group that runs the London Zoo.

It is definitely a big zoo. Things were spread out all over the place and we had a hard time getting from one thing to the next. There were a lot of different demonstrations with different animals throughout the day and for some reason, they scheduled the elephant demonstration and then you only had 15 minutes to get all the way over to the penguins. Unfortunately, we saw that some people were allowed to drive cars throughout the zoo. Not sure how they got to be so special, but we're guessing that they might have purchased a year pass.

Makenna wanted to touch a lot of the animals she saw, but unfortunately, they didn't have any petting area, that we found. There might have been one, but like I said, things were so scattered, and not much explanation of what some of the areas were. There was one area that was like a playground and it has bounce house and a big bouncy slide. Makenna went into the bounce house and wanted to do the slide, but obviously couldn't. She also got to ride one of those rides that you see outside of grocery stores that you put in 50 cents. She really is into driving. Every time we go to the car she starts saying "home, home" which means that she wants to drive. When we give her a few minutes to play with the steering wheel and other instruments, she gets extremely upset when we tell her, her time is up.

She did fairly well but we weren't' sure if she could really see all of the animals. She seemed to really like the sea lions, especially when she could go underneath to see them swim from below. She finally fell asleep by the time we got to the giraffes.

I wish we had more of an idea of what some of the other areas had, such as a petting zoo area, or not, and there was a building that said Discovery Center, which we never got to. We did find it trying to get to the penguin area, an awesome view which you can see below

We left, expecting lots of heavy traffic, but it wasn't too bad, of course, I fell asleep as Chris drove us to Costco. We seem to get to stores with about 10 minutes before they close. So Chris rushed around to get us some of the things we needed. We headed home, but the Tom-Tom all of a sudden had a glitch and against Chris's better judgement, followed it, which then took us back the other way and back across a toll bridge, and about 9 miles out of the way before we could turn back around and pay the toll for the third time to then get home. We're now trying to decide what to do for Monday as it's a holiday, Bank Holiday they call it. I guess it's like our Labor Day, in a sense, and they call it Bank Holiday because the banks are closed.

22Aug2008: Day 89: No She Didn't!

Yes...she....did! Teri drove over 2 hours to meet Chris where he's been all week - up in Woburn. It wasn't too bad really. Being that it's a holiday weekend the traffic was going to be bad, but there were only a few spots where traffic slowed down to 15 mph. It was mostly highway so it wasn't all the crazy roads that make me nervous. We still made pretty good time.

We stayed in a hotel that needs updating. It was alright, and the people were very nice but the room was small which gave wandering hands too much access to everything. It was constantly us saying, "Makenna don't touch," "No Makenna, leave that alone," "Makenna! We said no."

Dinner was another issue. We ended up ordering three adult meals, of which Makenna ate....the fries. We just can't gauge this girl when it comes to food. We can only hope that her tastes evolves and she gets over this "texture" issue. If something doesn't feel right in her mouth, out it comes.

21Aug2008: Day 88: What's the Deal?

Well, today was a bit frustrating. I seriously don't know how people handle more than one child sometimes. I truly admire those who do and I know many who do have more than one under the age of 6 currently.

I just wanted a haircut and took her to shopping center as I knew they had a walk-in hair place. Well, the place was moving incredibly slow, in fact one girl was just standing around for some reason and I felt like yelling - "don't you see I have a child screaming on the floor?" She wanted to leave the place and I was keeping her hostage inside. So she started picking up hairspray cans and throwing them on the floor. She has this thing that when she's scolded or mad, she picks things up and throws them or knocks things over. So I of course, started to lose my patience at this behavior, which made me more mad at the girl standing around fixing her own hair. Needless to say, I finally got it cut, but the price! About 25 pounds. So like $50 - I never in my life would pay that much for a wash and a trim unless it was by some high-end stylist - but what are you going to do? Makenna was at least calm during the haircut, but I had her in the stroller and she was enamoured by the things around her.

Before hand, when she was trying to escape, she kept screaming "walk, walk" meaning that she wanted to leave and walk somewhere. After, we ran another errand in the shopping center and then left and I had her walk to the next place we were going. Wouldn't you know it, she wanted to be carried. So I asked her, "What's the deal?" she said..."What deal?" I said "I don't know" she said "I don know". We repeated this a few times. It truly amazes me what she picks up in just a day.

One final note....my condolences go out to my good friend Chris Waters in the passing of his father. We're thinking and praying for you and hope that you know we wish we could be there for you.

20Aug2008: Day 87: Kisses

Another typical day for us here at home. The new thing is kisses. Makenna, when asked for kisses, would only do the kind where you blow them. Now, she's actually giving kisses. She gave me one on Sunday and I was excited but figured it might be a one time thing. But I've asked for them since then and she either ignores me, or gives them to me.

She has this blanket/bear thing that was given to her by her Great Aunt Sue (Chris's aunt) when she was a baby. We found that today, and she, on her own, started giving it lots of kisses. It was very cute. We're still working on hugs. She just typically lays her head down on your shoulder and says "ohhhh".

The other thing that amazes me is the thing she'll put in her mouth, except when I want her to - like food. She puts the most disgusting things in her mouth like her shoes, water from the bathtub, and baby lotion. I ask her to try a piece of cucumber or celery and she won't even try it. Maybe if I covered it in lotion or chocolate, it would work.

19Aug2008: Day 86: That's It

Life as usual at the homestead. The only difference is that I've gone to the gym in the afternoon as there hasn't been any morning openings for the nursery. I find that I'm more productive for the day if I get to the gym in the morning, in the way of getting housework done. At least we were able to go swimming today and little by little, Makenna's getting more daring in swimming.

I also took Makenna to the doctor's today as she's had this persistent congested cough, but only in the mornings mostly. I didn't really feel it's anything to worry about but Chris insisted that I take her. The doctor said it's nothing to worry about. I think Chris really wanted to know what she had so that he didn't have to go to the doctor's for his hacking cough and take the same stuff.

Makenna has picked up this new thing that she started doing this past weekend of "that's it". So she'll wipe her hands together and say "that's it" like in the mode of being finished. Tonight I offered her a cookie and then she asked for another and I said one more and...she said..."that's it" She got it out before I did. With the hand gestures and everything. It's quite funny to see what she picks up from us. Plus, it's funny to see what things she finds funny. We were reading a book last night and in it, it has the word "thump". She thought this was the funniest thing and she's been saying it on and off all day. I just put her to bed and she started saying it again and laughing.

18Aug2008: Day 85: Other things about France

Something I didn't put in the post from the past two days was how beautiful the country of France is. I'm talking about the country side that we drove through to get to Paris and back. It had these huge windmills, more modern looking than what they looked like in the past. I guess they're really wind turbines. In looking it up on the net, they are for energy (serving about 8,000 people it said), and saves 8,100 tonnes of CO2 from going into the atmosphere. They are just very amazing to see on the landscape and are very large.

The land itself it just so green and not over-populated looking. Chris said it reminded him of home. This, I think, was even less populated looking though, then even back home. You couldn't see anything but hills of green and lots of hay, which was already cut and rolled. Hay, at least along this route, is a huge commodity.

I wish I had taken French in high school now as it seems like such a "pretty" language but oh well, we were able to get by. We did drive along the road that has all the big name shops like Louis Vuitton, and all the other high end shops. I would like to just go into one of those shops and by something small but even something small is probably way more than I would feel comfortable spending.

The roads in Paris were nuts! It's like a free for all. You go to a round-about (again, like our JC circle) but there's no rules. You just have to pay attention as their may be a stop light all of a sudden somewhere during the circle. A lot of the roads didn't have lines either, so there were no defined lanes. The circle in this one area was so huge that cars could all of a sudden be coming at you from one of the sides. Chris did really well though. I just sat and cringed, kind of like how it was when we first got to England.

There was also very well equipped military looking people. What I mean by that is that they were in fatigues, and carried very large guns. While we were at the Eiffel Tower, they would walk among the crowds of people. That wasn't at all intimidating. On Sunday, we had pulled along the side of a road to get our bearings and a guy dressed in fatigues, minus a gun, walked up to us and told us we couldn't park where we were. What was interesting at the Eiffel Tower, even with these gun-toting people around, was that there were signs posted on the elevators going up the tower, to be aware of pick-pockets.

Today I was nervous that I was a victim of one because I couldn't find my house keys. I looked all over and tried remembering what I had done with them. I thought I had put them in a drawer at the hotel in France, so I actually called the hotel and asked, but they said they didn't find any. Much later in the day, as I was taking care of things, I finally thought to look in this one bag, and there they were - Thank goodness! It's not like if they were stolen, that someone would know where they go to.

17Aug2008: Day 84: Louvre

We got up, checked out and went straight to the Louvre. We figured since it was just after 10am we'd have about 7.5 hours to spend in this GINOURMOUS place. What puzzled me was that when we got our parking slip it said that it was after 11am. We went to the restaurant areas first to find some breakfast and we asked someone what time it was...it was after 11am! Somewhere in crossing the English Channel...Yesterday....we lost an hour and had no idea until today! It was a good thing we found out as we would've missed our train through the Euro Tunnel back to England.

The restaurant area had many different cuisines to choose from and we ended up getting brunch type food (quiche and salad) and some muffins. Then we decided a plan of action..which was basically to at least see the most well-known works of art. We saw the Mona Lisa, which by the way, is a lot smaller of a painting than I expected, then to the Venus De Milo (Aphrodite), Nike (Winged Victory of Samothrace), The Wedding Feast at Cana, and many more. We rented audio tours and you could either put in numbers to give you information on the pictures or you can put in a tour. So we tried following a tour and found that frustrating. The place is so darn huge that we couldn't figure out where to start for the longest time. Then we couldn't follow it after we did find it. So we somewhat followed it to the best of our ability. We barely saw a third of the things in this museum. Some of the most amazing things besides the statues were the rooms that they were in. The ceilings had paintings and were very ornate or they were extremely long.

One nice thing that happened was that one of the "ushers" for lack of a better word, saw that we were in a bit of distress and he came up to see what we needed. We were only really looking to get out of where we were to get water for Makenna and he started to tell us where we could go to get some, but then he took us over to this cabinet and gave us a bottle of water, mind you, you're not supposed to eat or drink while in the museum section. We expressed our appreciation many times. Later, this same man saw us and he offered to take a picture of just Chris and I in front of Venus De Milo. He saw us yet again and said how we should make sure we see the Crown Jewels before we leave for the day.

Here on the right is one of the hallways that held a lot of the paintings

The painting above was from a ceiling. This place was just absolutely amazing. I was never a huge art-lover type of person but this was just all very awe inspiring. To be able to hear about some of the stories behind the paintings and to understand the meaning of them at the time they were done gave them a whole new light besides just being a painting.

We also saw many antiquities such as sarcophagus's, and a mummy, and Egyptian writing on tablets and that was just for that area. They also had roman artifacts and stuff from Iran, Iraq, etc. Like I said, we barely saw a third of the place, and we never got outside in the yards. If we get back here, which Chris says we plan on doing, we know we'll be coming back here for sure. The price alone was well worth it. Only 9 Euros and if you were 18 or younger, it was free!

We then debated/argued over dinner and hit the road to start heading back to the tunnel. We stopped for dinner along the way and it was Makenna's first Happy Meal. One of very few I hope. She rather enjoyed it though. We actually got to the train early enough to take an earlier train back so we got home by 10pm. All in all, it was a great trip and Makenna did really well. She only had one semi-melt down at the top of the Eiffel Tower yesterday, that I forgot to add, and the only reason I mention it is because she was flat down on her stomach on the platform (imagine walked on by all types of feet), and it was pretty gross and I had to drag her to get back up. But we knew she was tired and it was time for us to go anyways.

16Aug2008: Day 83: Eiffel Tower

We woke up way to early to get going but had to get to the Euro tunnel on time. Chris drove and we got to the tunnel and you get herded onto a very big box-car train, in your car. Then it takes about 25 minutes for it to take you into France. Then you drive out and you're on your way. It's really quite interesting that within an hour and a half (including the time to drive to the Euro tunnel,) we're now in a different country that drives on the right again! BUT....we still have a car that you sit on the right to drive...no biggie.

Chris then drove about another 3 hours to our hotel in Paris. They let us check in early and then we went down the street to find a place to eat. We found a small cafe and looked at the menu and said hmmm....we have no idea what it says. The waiter came over and asked if we wanted two chickens and we said okay. Good choice, as it was two BBQ chickens with fries and a salad and Makenna was agreeable to eating all but the salad. We were then off to the Eiffel tower and we were debating whether to walk or not, but we figured we'd drive and see if we could find any parking. Good thing as it was much farther away then we realized.

It was very crowded and very long lines to be able to get up the tower. We had the option of going up by using stairs or by elevator. We obviously did NOT take the stairs. We had to wait then for over an hour in order to get on the elevator. Makenna was very patient, at this point and there was actually another couple behind us that were very talkative with her, who had a small baby, not yet one.

Plus, there were entertainers, mostly break-dancers, while we waited. There was this one guy who had on a long rubber nose and a rubber head piece who was going up behind people and copying their movements or sneaking up behind them and grabbing their arms and scaring them half to death. It was quite entertaining for the rest of us but I was glad I was in line and not one of the people being mimicked or scared. Although, on the way back from our lunch, before going to the Eiffel Tower, a woman came up to us with a small baby and was saying something, to which we understood, she was begging. Chris didn't notice that she was with her husband (we assume her husband,) and another child, as they kept walking on, but all we could give her was a bottle of our water. What really bothered me later, was that while we were in line for the tower, another woman came up to me specifically, and asked if I speak English. I replied that I did and she shoved a postcard in my face to read which basically said she's from Bosnia and has a father in a hospital back in Bosnia that needs care and she needs money. I replied I had no Euros only plastic and she "demanded" that I give her dollars then. I said again how I had no money only plastic and that I was sorry. But after I was really upset and mad that she was very demanding like I was expected to give it to her. Plus, I don't know how she picked me out of a crowd of people as being English speaking. I kept asking Chris if it was something about how I looked. He said he didn't like how she had a bunch of "gold teeth", like how much did she really need the money to begin with?

Anyways, the good thing about the wait was that it gave time for the top-most part of the tower to open back up. While we were in line we noticed that it was closed due to inclement weather but as time went on, it opened back up.

The views were obviously spectacular. To see so far into the distance and to see such interesting buildings that we have no idea what are but that look grand and spectacular. They had telescopes that you could look through, which Makenna liked playing with, but it cost Euros, of which we had none at this point. She was very upset every time we left the telescopes and this was the start of her showing that she was getting tired. To go up different levels, (of which there are 3,) you had to stand in another line for another elevator. So at one point, we gave her an apple which she ate and people seemed to enjoy watching her eat it. I think that's because she was trying to eat the bottom and stem on occasion.

While trying to decide whether to do the Eiffel Tower today or tomorrow, when we first got to the there, we were walking around the area of the tower and found a carousel. Makenna is enthralled with "horsies" lately and I figured this would be a great opportunity to get her on one. So we hopped on the carousel and picked a horse, which of course she wanted to go on a different one before the ride started but I convinced her to stay on this one so we were on the outside and Chris could get pictures. She loved it! She again was upset when it was time to go, but as we were riding it, they came around asking for a ticket, which I didn't have. I said I'd get one after, but again, we had no Euros and they didn't accept debit. So I felt very bad that we didn't pay for the ride and we walked away.

We figured we'd come back tomorrow as we were initially planning on doing the tower tomorrow, but then we figured we were here and it would give us more time at the Louvre tomorrow if we just did the tower today.

After the tower we went back to the hotel room and Chris went out and found us food, and found a bank to get some Euros. We ate and then it was a bit of a battle to get Makenna to stay in bed as it was a cot. We had to push one side against the window (which gave you a view of the Eiffel Tower), and put a blanket on the floor in case she rolled off in the middle of the night. I had to lay down with her until she fell asleep as she was to tempted to get out of it repeatedly as our bed was right their too. She finally settled down a good half-hour after Chris had already fallen asleep. Another big day tomorrow is ahead of us and we need all the sleep we can get.

15Aug2008: Day 82: Stinker

Again, a double meaning for the title. The first is that Makenna is getting more defiant in that she purposely does things that we tell her not to, and then laughs when we have to go get her or get her to stop doing what we've asked her not to.

The second is that she has found the ability, to pass gas from her mouth and other regions, on purpose. She seems to especially enjoy the latter while she's in the bath tub. She starts giggling at her new discovery. She is getting quite proficient at burping during meals and we don't make a big deal of it but just try to tell her to say "excuse me". Which she will say more than half of the time. This ability to burp, really fulfills her middle name of "Jean", for those of you who knew my grandmother on my mother's side.

Other than that it was just a day of swimming, and going to the park. She again was a stinker at the park in that she kept trying to go up the big kids jungle gym and go on parts that she can't do alone. I helped her the best I could but at one point she went into a section where I couldn't get her and had to climb into things to get to her. Of course, she's laughing the whole time I'm telling her to "come here" and she's going the other direction. Luckily some bigger kids held her back until I could get to her.

Hopefully, we'll have some interesting posts from our exciting trip to France this weekend.

14Aug2008: Day 81: Purple

We got Makenna to say her name again - twice. Of course it still comes out "Makemma" but we think that's pretty darn good. But today she actually said "purple" when I asked her what color something was....and she was right! I don't know if it was a lucky guess or if she really knew.

We tried asking her colors of other things and she either wasn't interested (which seemed to be the case) or didn't know. She did take a few guesses at things but it's obvious we need to work on colors still.

She also is showing empathy. When she watches movies, she'll see parts, and turn to me and quietly say "sad". She's usually right...it's a sad part in the movie. I think it's the music that she keys in on.

Other than that, we just went to play group, the one that's a 1/2 hour away. I'm thinking about not going anymore because she's just not into it until the toys come out and the cookies come out. So for the first 40 minutes or so, she just whines, and wants me to carry her, and keeps saying "toys" or "cookie". I can occasionally get her to join in the singing or dancing but not for very long. Plus, I enjoy taking her to the park near by after as they have a kids swing that she likes, but again, I'm not sure it's worth all the trouble. I'll have to see if there's something else closer that we can get into.

Daddy brought home a punching balloon thing. You know, the kind that has a rubber band at the end of the balloon so you can punch it. She loved it. She's always asking for balloons when she sees them and I almost bought her one today but decided against it. So she had a lot of fun bouncing it around tonight.

13Aug2008: Day 80: Mamma Mia

I just came back from going to see the movie Mamma Mia with a couple of girls from church. Definitely a chick-flick but great to hear old Abba songs put to a movie. There was this one part that got me a bit teary-eyed where the mother (Meryl Streep) was helping her daughter get ready for her wedding. All of a sudden I flashed to it being Makenna and just can't imagine that day. It made me again really appreciate the opportunity to be here while she's young and spend time with her. Not to mention, it was great to get out and see a move in a theater, I can't even remember the last movie I saw in a theater.

We also had a "health visitor" come to the house to get a medical record on Makenna and tell me about services available for myself and for Makenna. Mostly parent/toddler groups but some groups for parents focusing on tantrums, etc. I might look into those. Not that she throws many tantrums but when she has what Chris calls "melt-downs" they can last up to a half-hour.

She also tried to measure and weight Makenna. She was able to get the weight of 30 lbs! But her height was a bit sketchy since Makenna wouldn't stay still. She said around 87 cm (I believe). She did say how she was tall for her age (as all do), and that they can do a developmental check between 2 - 2.5 years of age. She'll be sending me a letter to set that up. She mentioned how Makenna seemed to be a "clever" girl and probably gets into a lot of electronics (as she had my cell phone) and I said, "Oh definitely" and at the same time, I swear to you, Makenna looked at the lady and said "shup" (Like shut up). Even the lady commented how she understood that Makenna was telling her "off" for telling on her. Now "shut up" is not something we say around here so again, I wonder if she's getting it from nursery. She might of not even said that, it just sounded that way.

It's also been extremely windy here the past couple of days. I swear, I almost thought a tornado was coming as things were creaking around the house and I'm not familiar with all the sounds of this house. Our clothes got a triple wash today - once by me and at least twice out on the line. But it would get so windy that it would practically dry in between rain storms. So I just left them out there. Can't hurt - right?

12Aug2008: Day 79: What's Your Name?

Today was exciting - Makenna said her name! She said "Makemma" but we were so excited. She was looking at a calendar of pictures of herself that I had made and I asked her who that was, pointing to her, and she said it. She hasn't said it since, and we've tried, but I guess we say it so much she figures we already know. Now we're trying to get her to say that she'll be two. She keeps saying three because I always count when we're doing things, "one, two, three" so she knows three.

I can hardly believe she'll be two already! She's grown so fast and I'm really blessed to have this opportunity to watch her grow and learn during this period of her life. Since this is the time she learns the most in her life. Even though, some days, I'd rather be working.

We got to go swimming today, but Makenna was tired so we only stayed in the pool for about 20 minutes, and she wanted to get out. She had a hard time going back to the nursery at the gym too. I think because we were together all last week every day that she either forgot about going to nursery or maybe she actually likes being with me instead.

One last thing, is we saw a very big red fox in the back yard tonight. We heard they were around, but had yet to see one.

11Aug2008: Day 78: Olympics

The nursery was all booked up at the gym today so I ended up cleaning. I figured that's a good work out. Plus, it's hard to tear myself away from the Olympics since I'm home to watch them.

It's kind of neat here because the BBC (British Broadcasting Co.) will show you up to 6 different events on different channels. You just have to press a button to see what events they are showing and then press the corresponding number to see that event. Unfortunately, they haven't shown any of the volleyball, that I've seen at least. They just show you the results of the different events for the day and that's where I usually catch if the Americans are still in it.

One other cute thing about Makenna is that she is a child who loves to be lightly massaged. She loves if you run your fingers lightly over her belly, legs, face, arms, and most of all, her hands. Once you start doing it, and then stop, you'll here "Mo Mo" with a finger pointing - meaning 1 more.

Plus now, she's starting to put more than one word together. Words that we understand. It's so exciting to see her grow every day. Not to mention she loves phones and tries to grab daddy's Blackberry every day.

10Aug2008: Day 77: Musings of the Past Week

I finally put up some pictures to go with the past week at Bedford plus for yesterday's trip to St. Mary's Church and Warwick Castle.

As for the day, it was a typical Sunday with us going to church. Then we talked to my Aunt Lori via Skype on webcam and then later to Chris's parents.

I wanted to mention a few things that I had forgotten on Friday on the way to and back from the Safari Park - there was a sign along the road that said "High Casualty Route" - now that was nerve racking!

Plus, there was another sign that said "Large Plant Crossing". I wanted Chris to ask the guys he works with what the heck that means. As far as I could see, there was nothing around, like buildings or factories, etc. So all I could picture was like a big palm tree all of a sudden popping out and needing to get to the other side.

When we returned on Saturday night we needed to stop at the store and get some milk for the next day. Well we decided to go to the Tesco's (grocery store) that's right near our house as it's a 24 hour store - Except we found out - it's not. So then we drove up to the gas station that's also a Tesco figuring we could pick it up there - well - that closes too. After church today, we again stopped at Tesco's to pick up a few things and as it's was closing at 4pm (again confusing us as to why it says 24 hours), I asked the cashier why they are closing and why they were closed last night. He said that Mon-Fri they are open 24 hours, but on weekends the British rules dictate that they are to close. Ahhh - okay we get it...but then....shouldn't your sign say Open 24 hours except weekends?

9Aug2008: Day 76: Wawick Castle and St. Mary's

It's me again (Chris). Apparently, Teri and I made this agreement that I would write on the weekends.

We started off the day at Bedford and me taking 4 trips down to the car to drop off all of our stuff. Once that was done we took a quick walk up the road to get some money from the bank and also get some water. They had a nice Farmer's market and such going on in the main church square. This is a nice little town and homey. It's a nice place to visit and do some shopping. I really didn't get much time to do any site seeing, but I will hopefully be up this way again in the near future. My work here was pretty successful (on the last day) and I think we should be back again to do more testing on the bus again.

So, we headed off to Warwick to see the Castle there and also a Church, St. Mary's that I heard was nice as well. I was pouring rain when we arrived and we had to drive around quite a bit to find the church. We just kept looking for towers and finally found it. I got out of the car and went down alone to see if it was worth it. The umbrella I had completely inverted trying to get into the Church because the wind was so bad. We decided to go in and it was a very old Church. There were some tombs that we have some pictures of that were from the 1400's. It again amazed us how we could touch them if we wanted. I resisted, but I won't say if Teri could or not. The Crypt was the oldest portion with a tomb that is where the earls are buried that was sealed in the 1700's and a new tomb setup with these pair of big wood doors which was started to be used in the mid 1700's. It is so strange to be walking around with so many dead people around. Even the floor stones are carved with the names of people you are walking over. It is the same in the Cathedrals...lots of the floor stones are actually grave stone covers and you just walk on them, some are really worn to the point they could not be read.

Next we went to Warwick Castle, which has been turned into a real commercial trap. Apparently, it was bought by the Tussuad's, of the Wax museum fame. I didn't like it very much. Most of the other castles we have gone to are not so fixed up and commercialized with gimmicks and such. An example of what I mean is they had this 1471 Kingmaker attraction, which you went in and it showed you two video's which are about some kid dreaming (totally disjointed) and then after that you walk through several rooms that have wax figures in it. They only thing I liked about it was that it only took us 10minutes. There were some signs that said "40 minute" wait from this point and I was a bit worried. Overall, the attractions were worthless and for the 17.95GBP($36)/person we paid to get in there I was very disappointed. Also, they ripped you off for food and water as well. Leeds Castle was 14GBP/person ($28), but you can come back for a whole year and it was amazing. This was just a place made to separate you from your money.

The Castle itself was nice though, we climbed up a tower and I had to carry Makenna the whole way. We eventually made it a saw a good view of History Warwick. It also had an amazing collection of armor including a child's suit, of which there are only 3 in the world. I saw one other back at the Tower of London. Apparently, the suit was for ceremonial use and it was the armor of the "Noble Imp" who was a child of about 7 years old who was a child of an Earl. He died young and he had a tomb in St. Mary's. Makenna was in a good mood all day and was singing as we climbed the stairs.

We headed back home around 6:30, when the place closed...(pretty early for getting there at 3:00, but oh well). The ride home was uneventful, except for the fact that it took us a couple of tries to find a place to eat. When we finally found a place, we ordered Makenna Pizza and all she wanted was Teri's chicken, which frustrated Teri because she "never guesses right".

8Aug2008: Day 75: Woburn Safari Park

Chris convinced me that I had to venture farther out of the main Bedford area, which meant taking the car. Being that I don't know the area I was extremely nervous about the idea but felt that he was right. Thank God for GPS otherwise, we'd go no where but by foot.

So after our morning swim and nap, off we went to Woburn Safari Park. It's only about a half-hour away so it wasn't too far and thank goodness it wasn't on any crazy winding roads. Makenna and I had a blast! I've wanted to take her to see animals since we've been here and this was a good opportunity. Unfortunately, I forgot the camera - both the digital and video! We had to drive through the Safari grounds but I think she saw the lions, rhinoceros, giraffes, and definitely the monkeys as one got on our car. She thought that was pretty funny. I'm not sure if she saw the elephants or zebras, and the one lone tiger that we saw our second trip through. There were many other animals too.

Then we made it to the "foot safari" where she actually got to pet a lemur, a goat, and a wallaby. Before I even said anything, she started saying "nice, nice" because that's what I've always said to her when petting a dog or cat. So she remembered and verbally said it, and actually did a very nice job petting them. She also got to see penguins which she loved, especially when she saw one swimming from underneath. (We've been watching "Happy Feet" lately so she related it to that, plus I kept saying it). We saw squirrel monkeys, which I could've watched all day, they were very animated and playful with each other and really could leap and jump pretty far. Plus she saw peacocks, which she wanted to touch but obviously couldn't. We saw Sea Lions, Hogs, marmosets, a cobra snake which was shedding it's skin and Lynx. I'm not sure if she really saw anything of those but the Sea Lions and Hogs. The Hogs were of the kind that sniff out truffles.

There was an "ark" which had a big inflatable play area but it was full of big kids so I steered away from that and she wasn't too happy. But then I found a area for kids 5 and under which was made up of three inflatable bounce houses. She had to go in the area herself and I was nervous about that, but she actually did very well. I was so proud and impressed. She climbed up the inflatable step into two of the bounce houses. She kept trying to go up the slide of one of them but couldn't do it, obviously. But the one bounce house, she would get into and I couldn't really see her and that made me nervous as anything but she did very well and I could catch glimpses of her and she got in and out on her own. I don't think I would've every gotten her out of there if it wasn't for her remembering I said we could get ice cream. But right after ice cream she wanted to go back to the bounce houses. But by that time it was getting late and I wanted to go through the safari park one last time.

On our way out, I had totally forgotten about the Woburn Abbey House and it was already closed, but I think I would've had to pay extra for that from looking at the brochure. Plus, Makenna may have not behaved as well there, and I really enjoyed seeing something that she would be enthralled with such as this. Hopefully we'll get another chance to go some place like this again before we go, like the London Zoo.

7Aug2008: Day 74: You Never Know

Today was pretty much like the past days in that we went swimming, went shopping, fed the swans and waited for daddy who never came home at a decent hour.

We swam in the morning and we had the whole pool to ourselves. We mostly stayed in the jacuzzi as it wasn't really on (temperature wise) so it was like a warm bath that I would put Makenna in. We did go down the slide about a half dozen times and she actually went down backwards a few times (feet first).

We got back to our room and they hadn't cleaned it yet, and since the missed doing it yesterday, as Makenna was taking her nap, I insisted that they do our room next - once I found a cleaning lady. This hotel definitely has its ups and downs to it. Well then it was off to Pizza Hut for their lunch buffet as I knew she would eat that. It's funny because to watch Makenna eat she is very particular most of the time. She wouldn't eat pieces that had cheese dangling off of it. So I had to rip those dangling pieces off. Then, to skip ahead to dinner, we were again on our own and I tried the chicken place that is right next to the hotel again, and she didn't eat one bight of chicken, but she ate all of my Spanish rice without a second thought. I ordered her garlic bread (for the second time this week), since she did so well with it on Sunday, but she hasn't touched the stuff since. You Never know what this kid is going to do when it comes to meals - unless it's Chinese buffet (and even that is getting to be different every time we go as to what she'll eat), or pizza.

Anyways, after lunch we went to another shopping center and I finally found a coat. It was within the price range Chris was hoping for which was right around 25 pounds. Then we bought some more crackers to feed the swans. I forgot to mention yesterday that while we were feeding them, that her sippy cup fell right into the river. It was an accident and I was about to say oh well, but then I realized I could reach it. So I did grab it out, and it's waiting for a thorough washing treatment from the dishwasher back at home. I also forgot to mention that there are lots of rowing boats (sculls I think they're called) along the river. Every day I've seen kids being coached on how to row in these boats. There's usually at least 3 or 4 of them (boat fulls) being taught at a time. Along with older people who are going up and down the river. The trainers just run along the path of the park or bike and yell directions to the kids.

So that was our typical day. Hopefully things will go better for Chris tomorrow so we can actually see him for more than 5 minutes. Plus, we're running out of things to do besides shop. That's one of Makenna's words now besides, daddy, walk, pizza, now it also includes Shop!

6Aug2008: Day 73: Farmer's Market

Just another day walking around the river, feeding the swans and ducks and geese. Then we walked down into town where there was a Farmer's Market taking place. There were a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables and even vendor's selling meat. I wish I was better at eating a variety of fruits and vegetables as a lot of them looked really good. I'm trying to get Makenna to branch out, but we're lucky if we can get her to eat anything but cereal and Chinese food while we're here.

We went back to the hotel room for our usual nap and then in the afternoon went back onto High St. and did some shopping. I bought a few blouses from a store that was having a sale and then as I kept walking I noticed more "market tents" set up with clothes and other odds and ends like luggage to cleaning supplies for the house to pots and pans. There were a couple of really pretty skirts that I ended up buying as they were 2 for 10 pounds. Makenna and I shared an ice cream cone and then went back to the room to wait for Chris to come home to eat dinner.

As usual, that didn't pan out. They were making progress at work and didn't want to quit so Makenna and I had to walk around and find something to eat. Unfortunately, like I stated above, it's hard to find something that she'll eat and I hate going to restaurants and buying food that she then just stares at and says "no" to. So as we were wandering, I found a Chinese Buffet for 10 pounds. Now the thing I was hesitant about was that we just had gone to one last night and I'm really getting sick of these buffets but I knew she would eat and that's what mattered most. She's only really eating the chicken which are on skewers - so then why won't she eat chicken fingers? Got me!

Hopefully Chris is making real progress on this bus and we can spend time together as a family besides the quick breakfasts or dinners that it's been. I guess it's better than Makenna and I being back at the house in Gillingham and not seeing him at all for a week. Plus, I got to shop!

5Aug2008: Day 72: Bedford Museum

Makenna woke up with a horrible guttural cough so the pool was definitely out for today. Unfortunately, it was raining all morning too, so most of the day until after her nap, was spent in our hotel room. She kept wanting to go out and "walk, walk". So we did leave the room while it was being cleaned. She also missed her daddy who had to get up early for work this morning and as always, asked for him all day long.

In the afternoon, we walked up High St. again to some other shops (still looking for a coat), and then down to feed the swans. I have some pictures which I'll let you know when I post them. Makenna loves feeding the birds crackers. She gets such a kick out of it. The only problem was she can't get all that close to the edge and her throwing arm isn't the best - yet. So some of the swans had to actually reach up to us and get the crackers. No matter - Makenna still found it funny and the birds were fed.

Then I found the museum which is coincidentally, right next door to our hotel. It was interesting to see some of the history of Bedford, along with history of English life and some of the things they've found around the area in the way of archaeological digs. I noticed information about a castle a few times around the museum so I finally asked a gentleman working at the museum, where the castle was located. He pointed me to a window and said, "see that hill?" "That's what's left." Again, right next to our hotel! He gave told me the story of how it was given to a mercenary to take care of and the guy just "pillaged and plundered" around the area, making King Henry III very mad. So in 1224, the King set out to destroy the castle and was obviously successful as all that remains is the hill. He said that local people took the stones from the castle to build other buildings, such as a church right in the area. He also said that some of High street and surrounding streets, are basically where the keep and bailey were of the castle. I thought that was pretty cool to think of how I've been walking on the built up remains of the inner court of a castle from the 1200's. When we left the museum, I let Makenna out of the stroller and we walked up the hill to get a view. It still has a door underneath the hill that they believed was used for cold food storage.

I also have to say that Makenna was very well behaved during this whole trip out. She was probably ecstatic to get out of the room. Unfortunately, I wish I could say she was just as good during dinner (or even breakfast for that matter). But she had some melt-downs but we got through them. Chris came home to take us out to eat, but had to go right back to work. We're praying very hard that things go better for him the rest of this week so that we can spend more time together in the area as a family.

One more thing I forgot to add yesterday was - why the heck would they put a bidet in a bathroom anymore? It's all I can do to keep Makenna from trying to use it as a sink!

4Aug2008: Day 71: Bedford

Makenna and I went walking out and about in Bedford while Chris had to work. There's a nice walk along the river Great Ouse. It goes quite a ways and Makenna and I went down one way and over a bridge and up the other. We definitely didn't cover the whole distance. It had many, many swans which was nice to see. They immediately came swimming up to us expecting to be fed but I had forgotten to bring anything. There were also many benches all of which were donated in the name of some loved one who loved the park or that part of the river, etc.

We then walked up High St (the main shopping area of any town is always called High St.), and I found a store that had buy 1 get 1 free for bottled water at 49 pence. That was a true bargain! Then I walked around the store some more when I realized that Makenna had conked out. So I rushed back to the hotel room so I could also take a nap. She woke up shortly after getting back to the room but asked for her bed and went back to sleep. Thank you God for a child who loves to sleep!

After we went back to High St. to find some lunch. There was a place called Nando's and I thought perfect - she'll love some pizza. Well, this Nando's only sells chicken. She did eat a small bit of her chicken, after sitting there staring at it for a half hour. Then we walked around some more so I could find a coat. No luck. We went back to our room and watched a bit of Nemo and then decided it was time to swim ourselves.

They have an indoor pool here that has a small slide into it, with a jacuzzi tub near that. There were also 3 small girls (probably 5 - 10 years of age range), and Makenna enjoyed watching them slide. She actually did it about 5 or 6 times but then wanted me to stay in the jacuzzi as she went swimming with the girls. At least that's how it seemed. She kept pushing me back towards the jacuzzi as she kept trying to make for the pool. I told her that I was her mommy and that she couldn't swim without me. I found another area of the pool that was small and enclosed and perfect for her, so that's where we went. She had fun splashing around and kicking.
I'll have to try and get a picture to show you this pool, it's different.

Then we just went back up to the room to finish watching Nemo, another short nap for Makenna and waited for Chris to come back so that we could get some dinner. Then we ate dinner and he went back to work.

There is a museum around here and hopefully I'll find it tomorrow.

3Aug2008: Day 70: Let them Eat Bread

Today was very frustrating for both myself and Chris. Neither of us made it to church as we had plans to go up North to Bedford. Chris unfortunately got called into work and hoped it would only take an hour or two. Seven plus hours later he finally got home. Needless to say, I was not in a good mood. So we grabbed our stuff and went to TGI Fridays for dinner. That was good at least as I have been wanting to go here since we saw it. A "taste of home" so to say. As soon as we got in the car and started driving, Makenna, was saying "food, food". As Chris says, at least now, we can understand her (usually).

We were nervous about Makenna and how she would be but she was actually very good. She had a balloon to play with which made her very happy. Plus some crayons and pencils to write with that they gave her. The problem came when it was time to eat. She didn't want the pasta and sauce that I ordered (even though at home she kept saying "fetti, fetti"). So she ate Garlic Bread. Am I a bad mom for just letting her eat bread and water? I hope not. And I certainly hope this is not a "hint" of things to come in a future jail sentence.

So off we were again and from the backseat we here "food, food". Sorry kid, you had your chance. We finally made it to Bedford and checked into our hotel. The first room we had, was not what we expected. It had a small bed on the floor for Makenna, but no working fan, and no 'fridge like we were told we would have. So Chris went back and checked with the front desk and sure enough, they had given us the wrong room. Unfortunately for them I had already changed and thrown away Makenna's diaper in the room.

Our next room was a bit bigger and had what we expected. They porter went and got a pack-n-play crib for Makenna to sleep in. She surprisingly, did well with that too. She kept standing up in it on and off but finally settled down. So hopefully tomorrow we'll be able to see some of this area of England.

2Aug2008: Day 69: Setup to go to Paris and Bluewater

Today I (Chris) spent about an hour and a half getting us setup for a weekend overnight into Paris. We are setup now and found a free hotel even using some holiday inn points I had saved up. The Eurotunnel will take us under the English Channel and into France and it is about a 4 hour drive from home to Paris. It is really just a scouting trip for us to get familiar with the lay of the land. We'd like to see the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre, but we shall see. We'll be there in a couple of weeks so we'll let you know when.

Today we went to the Bluewater mall. It is very big, and busy. We didn't really buy anything, I can't bring myself to spend the money on things I may want. Teri really needs a thin spring jacket, but the only one we could find was 50 GBP (Great Britain Pounds), which is $100. Teri and I just couldn't see spending that much for the thing. We'll look around some more. Teri wears this ripped up old nylon jacket that I bought probably 18years ago on a rafting trip. It is horrible looking, but she likes it. I just can't stand seeing her in it, so we need to find something soon.

Makenna decided she only wanted to be carried by me and I couldn't do it for long (she is getting so big), so I gave her the option of walking or being in the cart. She didn't want to walk, just fell to the floor over and over. so she went into the cart and BAM, neuclear meltdown! We could not bring her out of it no matter how we tried. We just had to push her with everyone staring at the crazed girl. She eventually calmed down, but it was a good half hour.

We got some good evidence of how big she is getting when we went into this toy store and there was this rocking zebra thing that we have in our living room, that I think Mark and Jennifer gave us. She never really liked it all that much, but it was like seeing an old friend for her here and she jumped on it and went nuts with it. She had never done that at home because it was always too high off the ground. Here, now, she towers over it. We really were amazed how much she must have grown.

1Aug2008: Day 68: Did I hear you correctly?

While I'm at the gym, I occasionally watch Sky News and I hear the most interesting things. Wednesday I heard that BP Gas made in effect 27 million a day! Well today they were talking about the price of food and how it's gone up. They said that farmers in Afghanistan stopped growing Heroin and replaced it with Wheat as they get a better price. Okay, well that's what I swore I heard them say. I realized that they couldn't have just really said that. For one, last I knew, Heroin wasn't something that grows in fields, or anywhere for that matter. They must have said corn but it really did not sound like that at all.

Other than that, Makenna and I went swimming. I swear she's becoming a fish. She constantly says "fish" when she's looking in her drink cup, or in her cereal bowl, or in a water planter we have here at the house. She learned the word "squeeze" today. I took a pool toy that absorbs water and then I'd squeeze it and show her how the water came out and she thought that was funny. So she kept say "sweeze" and doing it (clenching her hands shut).

I'm also glad that she really, really, really enjoys books. So much so that she ate one today! Unfortunately, it was one of daddy's and he doesn't know yet. (It's 10 pm and he's not home from work yet - some things just don't change no matter what country your in!) But she will now sometimes get her books from a shelf near her bed and read them when she's supposed to be taking a nap. And this morning, she actually read some before yelling "mommy, mommy" for me to come get her. Which I really appreciate as it gives me more time to sleep.