Olympic Marathon

We had a spectacular day in London yesterday.  We left on one of the first trains out of Norwich so that we could stake out a place to watch the marathon.  Even better?  Our friends, Kat and Tom, who had just moved to London, came to watch with us.  We had so much fun.  We started with the marathon, went to the Natural History Museum and then finished with lunch and Covent Garden.  It was the perfect end to a great weekend!

We had to make sure there was a bathroom nearby...hence our spot near McDonalds...

In true Parker form, he talked about Tom and Kat the entire trip to
London and then acted shy when we finally saw them.

Thirty minutes!

The front runners...

U-S-A!

U-S-A!!

Parker got pretty excited every time they ran by.

We actually watched around mile 7, but we forgot to take a picture until I saw the 15 mile marker.

Natural History Museum. This was our first time and it was awesome!

DINOSAURS!!!  P was so excited!

I have no pictures of P with T-Rex because he was pretty scared.

Yeah...we're cool.

Parker loved imitating the elephant noises.

This looked as freaky in person as it does in the picture.

The best Mexican food we've had since we've moved here...to say we overate would be an understatement.

Cricket Ball

A few months ago Brady bought us tickets to the Wyndmonham Cricket Ball.  It is a black tie event that is held every three years and we were invited to sit at Tom and Kat's table.  I think buying tickets was really Brady's way of forcing me to call the babysitter that Tom recommended.  Apparently, he thinks 3 to 5 years is too long to go without a date night (who am I kidding 1 year was too long)....smart guy.  

Fran came over for the first time two weeks ago to meet Parker...then again last Friday while Brady and I went to Tratoria Rustica (the first place that told me they didn't have high chairs)...then again on Wednesday just for an hour (I got to go on a run mid day:)...then on Saturday night for the Cricket Ball.  Parker loves Fran and usually can't wait for us to get out the door.  It is harder on me than it is him.  I can't lie, I was so nervous to have someone else put P to bed.  That sounds silly, but it has always been either us or a grandparent and I was worried about someone else going through our routine.  I had to laugh because I had put Parker in his jersey to sleep and Fran texted me to see where his trousers were for bed.  I told her that he didn't need any (don't worry, he was wearing his boxer briefs), but when we got home, he had on sweat pants.  Apparently, trousers are important bedtime apparel:).  

Anyway, we had a great time...getting to dress up was definitely a bonus...so glad we went!

Just so you know...we had P in his suit for about 10 seconds five minutes  before this picture was taken...he stripped and put the jersey on before we could have proof!

Jubilee weekend

 We have had an amazing Jubilee weekend.  Everywhere we go, people have been bubbling with excitement.  I love it!  Plus, Brady got Monday and Tuesday off...wahoo!  We spent Saturday at the beach in Southwold, Sunday at church and then a bbq with Matt and Mandy and their girls, Monday at the church block party, and today just relaxing around town.  Unfortunately, I only took pictures on Saturday in Southwold...shoot.

I love watching P at the beach...let's be clear, it was like 50 degrees here (beach weather in the UK:), but we still had a great time!

P with our sandcastle!  It was much more impressive in person...;)

Brady bought a kite and it was a perfect day to fly it!

Seriously, red, white and blue was everywhere! 

This was my favorite picture...Parker loves Katie and you can totally see it in his face here...precious!

Oh, and my favorite part of the day...Brady was pulled out the crowd to participate in the street show...hilarious...I thought I was going to pee my pants...seriously...

Jaime

How lucky am I?  Seriously, in the last 6 months, my good friend, Jaime, has had to come to London for work...twice.  I can't tell you how nice it has been to see her!  She had a free day yesterday so P and I took the train to London to hang out for the afternoon...it was fantastic!  She made my whole year!

A few realizations...

So, we're back!!  We had an amazing, exhausting, emotional, and fulfilling trip back to good 'ol Kansas.  One of my oldest and best friends, Wendy, got married and P and I were both in the wedding. I can't tell you how blessed I felt to be a part of her day.  

As always, I came to a few realizations while we were home...

1.  Have 'gator' will travel.  P loves his 'gator' at my parents' house (I am not really sure why we started calling it this).  He could ride on it every day, all day.  He even convinced my mom to push him all the way to the park once.

2.  Seeing my whole family does my heart good.  My brother came home for a few days...unfortunately, it was the same weekend as the wedding and our time was limited, but definitely better than nothing.  He also brought his beautiful girlfriend home and I am so glad I was able to meet her!!

3.  Sometimes it is necessary to refuel on friendship.  I never get to see everyone I want to see when I am home...it just gets too hard to spend time with family and see friends when you aren't home very often.  However, my best friend, Jamie, drove down from KC (yeah, I know...she is an AMAZING friend)  for a quick girls lunch with one of my other good friends, Heather.  I didn't realize how much I needed to be around friends who knew me before I was Brady's wife or Parker's mom.  I know it sounds silly, but just going to lunch re-charged my spirit.

4.  P loves salad...and ketchup...especially together

5.  P finally tamed the beast (my parents' dog, millie)...she actually let him pet her...numerous times...crazy

6.  I have definitely missed this other little man, Greyson.  He is Lindsey's son...she is one of my absolute favorite people which makes him one of my favorite little guys.  I swear we did not mean to dress them alike!

7.  P should not see his cousins on less than 8 hours of sleep.  As you can tell from the picture below, he was not exactly awake and totally missed out on the fun because he was a walking zombie.  Too bad...he woke up the next morning asking to see Kyler and Kamden...shoot!!

8.  We need to see cows more often...P loves animals...Papa Marvin even waited to herd the heffers and their calves until we got there...it was pretty awesome, but P thought they were too loud, ha.

9.  P loves goats...seriously.  Last year at this time he was terrified and this year, he saw them on three different occasions and loved it.  My favorite 'P' quote from the petting zoo, surrounded by goats, was, 'hey guys, excuse me...excuse me guys.'

10.  All a boy needs is a club...my dad took P golfing...he even found a putter that could be either right or left (because P swings with his left and throws with his right so we're still not sure) and cut it down to size.  P was in heaven.  This was G-Dawg/ Parker time and I don't have any pictures...shoot.

11.  Never underestimate the power of 'baseball socks'...P was growing a little weary of shopping and I when I had to open a pair of black socks to try on some black shoes for the wedding, his mood instantly lifted...'baseball socks, yay!'

 12.  A good neighbor is hard to find...luckily the bride and groom are also good friends with our old neighbors, Cate and Brian.  This means I got to see a lot of them while we were home.  I seriously miss them so much!!

13.  Old friends never get old...I had the pleasure of hanging out with my two best friends from high school for almost three days straight.  It always amazes me how quickly we can pick up where we left off and always reminds me of how lucky I am to have them in my life.

14.  When your date is wearing a three-piece suit, it doesn't matter how tall he is...seriously, how cute is he!!

15.  Watching a good friend find the love of her life never gets old...so happy!!

16.  If you agree to let your son have a Woody (the toy)...always ask if it talks first!

17.  It takes a village...it never fails, every time we come back, I wonder if we've done the right thing.  I see how P is with our parents and I wonder how we can possibly raise him without them.  They are so amazing and always seem to think of something to teach him that I have forgotten.  I love that he is so close to them and that there is never any time lost between them.  I am so grateful for all they do.

18.  Home is sweet...even though being far away is hard and I love going back to see family and friends, I love coming home to see Brady even more (it doesn't hurt when the house is clean and flowers are on the table:).  I know that I am so lucky that he lets P and I come back without him and I am so grateful.  We are so very blessed.

Best Shower Ever!!!

So....I have the best best friend in the world! Jamie and Heather threw me an incredible baby shower complete with "bug" mementos everywhere! I just feel so blessed to have such great friends. We had such a fun weekend because some of the girls came down from KC on Saturday to celebrate Heather's birthday so I had a party at my house. It was so good to see everyone! Jamie, Meg, Katy and Allie definitely rocked it out on guitar hero (I got booed off the stage three times, I swear the buttons are weird), and everyone else just hung around and ate lots of food (thank goodness, I was afraid I would have lots of leftovers).

I have to also thank everyone for wearing out Piper! My cute little dog has more energy than anything I have ever seen, but luckily after everyone was there keeping her occupied, she slept through the night--wahoo!! I have to especially thank Wendy and Corbin, they had her running from one end of the house to the other like a madwoman (ok, so this isn't that far because my house is tiny)!

Sunday was my shower and it was awesome!! Jamie and Heather came up with an idea to have everyone write down advice and to bring a bead to string. Now, I have a whole book full of great advice and quotes as well as a string of bead that I can use to relieve stress during labor. They told me that it is to remind me of all the strong women who are a part of my life--isn't that awesome?!?

I have such good friends and they helped prepare Brady and I by getting us stuff we will definitely need after the bug is born. I can't lie, I was sort of afraid I wouldn't even know how to use most of it, but I think we figured it out! I am also slightly-but not really-embarrassed to admit that brady and I played with one of the toys for quite a while after I got home. Seriously, you have to try some of these things in the store and you will know why!