Day in the Life - Spring 2017 (Easter Edition)

It's time again for a quarterly glimpse into day to day life. Thanks to Julia for hosting the roundup. I know this type of post isn't for everyone, so feel free to skip it (or just look through the pictures).

We have lived in the UK for nearly 8 months.

Sunday, 16th April

Why did I choose Easter to record my entire day? Honestly, I was running out of time to get it finished, and we only had very loose plans for the day. Easy, right? Huh.


6:20 Miles wakes up, excited to see if the Easter Bunny has come. We convince him to climb in bed with us, and he actually lays semi-still and quiet, waiting for his sisters to wake up.

6:40 Clara and Lily both wake up, and the bigger kids cannot contain themselves. We brush teeth and do loo breaks.

7:08 We head down to the living room so the kids can hunt eggs. Miles and Lily are really good about letting Clara find the super easy eggs. The rest of the eggs were well hidden to be a bit of a challenge, but not too hard. Everyone looks in the Easter basket and gets excited over the candy. Miles reads a note left by the Bunny (I love hearing this kid read!). The kids each got a small toy, too. Lily eats one piece of candy and says that her belly hurts. Uh oh.

They each got their own Chapstick. We won't regret that, right?

I got chocolate too!

7:20 Matt goes into the kitchen to make pancakes. The kids have a tea party, and play very nicely for a while.

8:00 I put on a movie for the kids to watch while they wait for breakfast.

8:25 Pancakes! So, on Saturday night, Matt noticed that we barely had any pancake mix, so he ran to our little local store to get more. But here, pancakes are more like crepes instead of the fluffy, cakey goodness we are used to. So our cakes were a little thin and dense, but they still tasted good. We also had turkey bacon, and I'm convinced that the kids thought we were playing a trick on them with that.

9:20 Time to shower and get the kids dressed for the day (they had baths the night before). We don't have anything fancy planned, but I like having an excuse to dress the kids up a little. They don't seem to mind. Miles wants to sell our eggs so he can make money.

11:00 Wow, everything is taking much longer than usual today. But we don't mind, so far it's a relaxing day. We leave for the nearby park, which is having an egg hunt. It's really more of a scavenger hunt, where you fill in the clues and turn in the completed paper for a treat at the end. It starts out as great fun, but halfway through Lily starts feeling poorly. We rush through the last few clues and get her home. I'm sure the chilly and rainy weather didn't help.

Clara discovers puddles. She stomps in each one, saying, "Puddle! Step!"

Cherry blossoms

12:30 We get home, and put Lily on the couch in jammies. I resume the movie they had started earlier. Clara fell asleep on the way home, and magically stays asleep as we transfer her to our bed.

12:45 Lunch time for the kids. Lily has toast (which she barely nibbles on), and Miles has peanut butter and jam. Matt and I both have leftover salmon with lemon butter and steamed vegetables.

1:00 Clara wakes up, and she is really cranky.

1:30 Matt makes deviled eggs (a great recipe from the Joy of Cooking). I get Clara's lunch ready - cheese and turkey bacon. After Miles and Clara eat, they have a chocolate egg. Lily requests one, too, and I give it to her against my better judgement.

1:50 I have a bacon wrapped chunk of turkey to cook for dinner. It goes into the oven, and I sit with the kids for a bit while they relax.

2:30 Matt goes for a walk. I start another movie for the kids. They choose Hop, and even Clara is into it.

4:00 The kids are still watching TV. Miles plays every now and then. Matt gets back home; on his way he had stopped at a local ice cream shop we all love. They make the ice cream in house out of local ingredients, and it is so good!
I start making side dishes to go with our meal.

4:30 Time for dinner. Turkey, pigs in blankets, broccoli, Yorkshire puddings, and deviled eggs. Lily doesn't feel well, and leaves the table to fall asleep on the couch.

A baby needs a hat for a formal holiday dinner

5:15 Miles is still eating. Lily gets sick in the living room. Matt and I get her taken care of, and for the 3000th time we thank ourselves for getting wipeable furniture.

5:45 Miles finally finishes his food. He and I eat the ice cream Matt brought back earlier. Miles has vanilla, and Clara and I share rhubarb and forest fruit crumble.
After pudding, we watch a little more TV before bed. I swear we don't always have this much screen time.

7:20 Miles and Clara want a snack before bed. Matt takes Lily upstairs and puts her to bed.

7:42 Lily is fast asleep, so we take the other kids upstairs.

7:52 Everyone now has clean teeth. I take Clara, and Matt takes Miles.

8:20 Clara is asleep, and Matt comes into our room. We play on our phones for a while.

9:18 I'm exhausted. Why does doing nothing all day make me so tired? Matt goes downstairs to get things ready for work, and I go to bed.

Roller Derby

We tried something completely new this weekend and went to watch roller derby.

A friend who plays invited us to watch her game, and we thought it would be interesting to check it out. The first several minutes, we had no idea what was going on, and Matt had to look up the basic rules. After that it was so much easier to follow.

Here's the lineup of the team we were supporting. I like the clever names.

Now, I had seen bits about roller derby on tv, in shows like CSI. And the reality was high competition, but not nearly as violent as I'd expected. It was really interesting to watch, even only knowing the basics. Miles and Lily ate cupcakes and sat with their friends (who had electronics!), so they were happy. Clara actually paid attention, and she loved it. She clapped and cheered, and said, "Haha, funny!" several times.

Sorry for the blurry pictures

When Matt saw the following merchandise, he had to buy a couple of stickers (sorry Kat). Granite City is another name for Aberdeen, we were told.

Hometown shoutout

Overall, it was a fun time, and I'm glad we gave it a go!

A Short Trip to York

Last week, a friend (G) and I had a quick trip to nearby York. Her son is in the same class as Lily, so we had limited time to get there and sightsee before heading back for school pickup.

After dropping off the kids in the morning, we walked to the train station in the town center. The train ride was fairly short, and G shared interesting bits of information about some of the stops and areas in between.

York train station

Once we arrived in York, we made the short journey inside the old city walls. The city was established in 71 AD by the Romans, although most of the walls that are standing now are from the 12th-14th centuries. In fact, no other city in England has more miles of intact wall.

Here are views from the Lendal Bridge crossing the River Ouse.

Once we crossed the bridge, we stopped for a cup of coffee and a snack for the babies. Then G took me to York Minster Cathedral.

Although this location has been home to places of worship since 627 AD, construction of the current building began in 1220. I wonder if I'll ever cease to be amazed by just how old anything can be here. The entire cathedral is intricate and breathtaking. Inside, the ground floor holds church services, and you can wander around to see various artifacts. Downstairs, a museum with an historical timeline,contains items from when the Romans and the Vikings ruled the area, as well as much more. You can also climb the central tower, but there are restrictions due to health, mobility, and age.

Anyway, here are my random photos.

Statues of several of the first kings...

starting with William the Conqueror

These are seats for the high ranking church officials of the country

There are several tombs to see, although I was unfamiliar with the names I saw

There's a nice memorial dedicated to the women who lost their lives in the Great War. They have different panels to represent different countries.

We were allowed to take photos (without flash) downstairs, but the few I took didn't turn out very well. I think if we'd had more time, we may have opted for a guided tour, which I think would have been even more interesting.

After leaving the Cathedral, we stopped in a pub to have a quick bite before catching our return train.  Overall, I had a great visit, and it definitely left me wanting to see and learn more. It feels like we barely saw anything, but we didn't have much time or a structured plan (which allowed for a nice, relaxed pace). With such a short train ride, though, I'll definitely have the opportunity to return.