Where In the World?

Where have we been?  Well, you might say we have been half way around the world.   It's been a busy two months with visitors, parties and travel.  Fisher had a birthday and we had a visit from Fisher's sister and family - Ry, Ba and LE came for a week to enjoy the beautiful AZ spring before they very kindly took our children back to Utah while Fisher and I went to Europe (we owe them big time).

LE and Berry ready for a ride

 We enjoyed bikes rides, hiking, and a visit to the Science Center during their visit.

Bathtime bums

After sending the girls off to their kind grandmothers, Fisher and I boarded a plane bound for London - our first stop on a whirlwind two week tour of England, France, and Italy.

St Pauls Cathedral

"Feed the birds, toppins a bag"

Big Ben

Westminster Abbey

Got a kick out of this

The Brittish Museum

The inspiration for this trip was my brother T-man who is living near Brighton with his family.  We enjoyed several days sight-seeing with them in Southern England.  Shar posted about it here.

T-man and family at the Stonehenge

Our cute nieces - Curly & Lou wanted so badly to come along to see them!

Shar and Baby A at  the ancient Roman hot spring "spa" in Bath

Fisher & Baby A over the looking the hot mineral pool

Sampling the "healing" mineral water - yuk!

Letty spent all Sunday afternoon making this monster to scare Fisher

Arundel Castle

I thought this door was cool

Arundel Castle

A very old graveyard (1500AD) at a Parish Church  in Arundel

Royal Pavilion in Brighton

King George IV built the Royal Pavilion as his "summer home."  The whole exterior and interior are decorated in a faux oriental style complete with faux bamboo trim.  The kitchen was state of the art at the time and is still pretty impressive.  King George loved to eat and have parties and this was the place for them.

Gracie on the beach by the Brighton Pier

Fish and Chips on the pier

The best fresh donuts!  Oh so yummy!

Prawn Cocktail Potato "crisps"

A ride on the Brighton Eye

Kipling Gardens

This beautiful, classic English Garden was on the grounds of a house where Rudyard Kipling lived for a time.  We happened upon it while strolling through Rottingdean.

White cliffs of Rottingdean

We had a wonderful time visiting T-man, Shar, Lettie, Gracie and Baby A and wished we could stay a lot longer!  It was so nice to start our trip with familiar faces in a comfortable home. 

Next stop - Paris.

Quite Possibly the Best

This year was a big birthday for me.  The dreaded 3-0, though I am not sure why so dreaded?  I wasn't expecting much - just a quiet family birthday dinner with cake.  We knew Fisher's family was gathering in Utah and I was feeling a bit sad that we couldn't join them.  Fisher has been busy studying for a BIG, hairy specialty board exam which has taken up most of the little spare time he has - so like I said, I wasn't expecting much.  My low expectations were met and exceeded by an eventful, memorable birthday weekend!

The weekend started great with a Friday night "Sweetheart Dinner" that my cooking club plans each year.  Spouses are invited and this year the menu was French with a full 20 courses - or at least it seemed that way.  I guess there were more like ten courses.  It was all so delicious with good company and an evening of great conversation.  On Saturday night, Fisher surprised me with a special date to the Art Museum and then dinner at a very nice restaurant.  An even more delicious night with wonderful company and conversation.

On Sunday morning I slept in to my hearts desire and finally dragged myself out of bed at 7:30 because the girls were "ready" for me to see my birthday decor and display.  I walked into the family room and two cute giggly girls hopped out and said "Happy Birthday!"  Then I headed toward the kitchen to see the traditional Birthday display when an equally cute beautiful, but much older girl popped up from behind my counter and said "Happy Birthday!"  I can't even describe how completely confused and speechless I was to see my little sister standing in my kitchen early on a Sunday morning.  I think I just stared at her for 30 seconds trying to figure out how in the world she got from Washington DC to Peoria, AZ in a few hours and without me knowing!  But K-Rae did - It was the best birthday surprise!  I was so happy to see her!

Birthday Surprises

We had a nice, low-key day.  After church Fisher and K-Rae made a delicious Birthday dinner of Chicken Piccata, Sauteed snow peas, rolls, and Key Lime Pie.  K-Rae is a great cook and she and Warren made a very impressive and delicious meal.  Now that I think about it - I ate a lot of really good food in the course of three days! 

Birthday Dinner

Key Lime Pie -  A favorite!

We enjoyed a some evening games, the birthday treasure hunt and then went to bed early as we were all pretty worn out.  My whole day was peppered with phone calls and emails from family and friends wishing me a happy birthday and sharing favorite memories with me.  It was so lovely to read the emails and talk to people.   I felt so loved and I really could not have asked for a better day!

On Monday we headed to the Children's Museum.  The girls have been asking to go for months and they had a blast.  I was very glad that K-Rae was with me to talk with and have an extra set of hands!

Hiding out in the noodle forest

Ice cream for sale

The bike "car wash"

As if flying across the country to surprise me wasn't enough, K-Rae gave me a pedicure for my b-day and so we spent Monday evening talking while she rubbed my feet and Fisher dozed on the couch.  Her trip was far too short and after a Tuesday morning walk and quick shopping trip, it was time to head to the airport.  While we were waiting for Curly's bus, she and Lou traced each other on the sidewalk.  Lou completed the picture by connecting their hands.  We are so glad K-Rae came.  I am grateful for wonderful family and friends who took time to make it a special birthday weekend!

Beautiful February

 February is a great month in Arizona!  We always have visitors in February.  The weather is beautiful.  And February is the month of my birthday.  This year was no exception - maybe even one of the best Februarys ever! 

Life is always fun with cute and creative little girls around. Usually Saturday lunches are pretty low key - leftovers or quesadillas and tomato soup or maybe fried rice.  A few weeks ago, I was not home in the morning and Fisher was busy in the yard, so he told the girls that they were in charge of lunch.  We sat down to plates set with dried mangos, chicken nuggets, granola bars, and bunny crackers.  They even remembered their fruits and veggies and washed some strawberries and even picked some lettuce from the garden.

 My parents visited early in the month.  We had them for a few short days before they headed to a sibling meeting in Gilbert with my dad's family.  We enjoyed a visit to the Desert Botanical Garden.  The garden was really interesting and I learned a lot about plants in AZ.   We also enjoyed some quality playing time at home and outside in the lovely weather.

Botanical Garden

Stories with Grandma

Tickle time with Grandpa

Lou roaring in Grandpa's face.

 We love Lou's preschool teacher this year and this is just one of the many cute learning crafts they have completed.  Lou is sporting her anatomy with a brain hat and a vest displaying her inner workings.  The day I took this picture, the poor girl had a yucky cold that left her face puffy and nose raw.

 I think our girls would be happy if the only toy in our house was the box of dress-ups!

Dress-up time!

Yuck

This week can be summed up in a few words -
gatorade, laundry, gingerale, laundry, soda crackers... you guessed it, laundry
I feel like a time warp place took place and I lost a week of my life.
We have all had the flu that keeps on giving :)
Here's to a healthy week ahead

Belated

The problem is that I have good intentions to blog so I sit down, open my blog url, and see all these posts from friends and family that I haven't read for days or weeks.  "I'll just quickly read that one," I think to myself and a half an hour later I have read 10 blogs and I am out of time to post on my own.   But, at least I know what my family and friends are up to.

January has been a lovely month.  To Curly's delight, the leaves finally fell off the trees and there was enough to make piles for playing.  Fisher blew all the leaves into a corner of the yard and the girls have spent several happy afternoons out there.

We had a nice weekend visit from Oma and Grandpa last weekend.  It was beautiful weather, so we enjoyed walks and playing at the park.   We went to dinner at a Korean BBQ one night and we all tried something new (even the girls)!  Fisher and his dad were bold enough to try the octopus and the kimchi soup.  The octopus felt like a chunk of bouncy ball in your mouth and Fisher was tired of chewing before he was full.  Aside from the texture, most of what we tried was actually quite good. 

Fisher and his dad fixed our broken (for a year) doorbell.  Now we have a doorbell that sounds like a church bell tower.  I feel like we live in mansion and the girls love to sneak out and ring it... I am not sure that fixing the doorbell was such a great idea :)

We were lucky to be able to celebrate Oma's birthday while they were here.  The girls made sure that we did in true Lake family tradition with the "birthday hat" and a treasure hunt for her gift.

We enjoyed the relaxing weekend visit before returning to the business of normal life.  Fisher is studying hard for his specialty boards in a few weeks.  I have picked up a few shifts at the hospital while he is home studying.  Lou thinks this is great...dad doesn't care how much makeup she wears :)

Berry couldn't be more thrilled that dad lets her play in the mud!

My friends and I were the planners of our cooking club's German dinner last week.  It all turned out quite delicious and I enjoyed an evening out with the wonderful ladies in our group!