4th of July Celebration 2009

The base celebrates the 4th of July on a Saturday before or after the actual 4th, but not on it. So this year we celebrated a week early, and Aunt Janet was with us. She must have been crafty through, because she was only in a couple of our pictures from the day, and always with her back to the camera, so you will just have to imagine her there having a great time. The base really went all out this year. They had more rides and more activities than last year by a wide margin. The kids LOVED the military obstacle courses, there were two on offer.
We started the day at the Fishing Derby and although Enoch had "the one that got away", Hilde actually caught a 14 1/2 inch trout, her first catch ever. They thought the maggots used for bait were gross, but really enjoyed the whole experience. Well, all except the part where Enoch fell into the marsh.... It was catch and release and the kids competed for most fish caught and biggest fish caught. We didn't win anything, but we will definitely take the kids fishing again in the near future.
This year was the first annual soap box derby and we enjoyed watching it. The 421 ABS car looked good, but was completely uncontrollable and took a really long time to hobble its way down the hill. The winner was the baracuda car, which Enoch insisted on calling a shark. The guy driving had to be duck taped into it without shoes, it was such a tight fit. But it really hauled down the hill and none of the other entries stood a chance. Very fun.

Captain America made an appearance through face paints. Guess if Enoch liked it.







Don't mess with this little girl or boy, they are tough cookies.

Knaresborough Bed Races 2009

Despite being 9 months pregnant, and realizing how crowded Knaresborough would be, we decided that we couldn't pass up the bed races. We got a later start than we had planned, and so by the time we reached the train station, it was crazy busy and we saw a mean side of English people that we hadn't seen before. Normally they are so polite and reserved with each other, even in times of difficulty, but trains too full to pick up passengers, and too many people crammed into too small spaces seemed to cause a few of the English to come undone. But we won't dwell on the negative, the positives were great. This year we staked out a spot at the starting line, it was one of the few places still open, and it turned out to be a great place to take pictures and see all of the teams. Then behind us was the river. It was too packed for us to see any of the crossings, but Dave climbed up on a van, lifted his camera up and took a ton of pictures, some of them turned out great, others were of arms and shoulders. There were 80 teams this year of all different ages and make-ups.
Here we are waiting for the races to begin. Since the teams cannot all start at once, it is a timed trial where they start about a minute apart and they race agains the clock. They seed the teams so the ones they anticipate to finish first start first and so on. As we saw teams run by us, you could really tell which "beds" were built better than others. Some were already falling apart or having wheel problems by the time they reached us, maybe 150 feet from the starting line, and it is a 5K race!



In the picture above I can totally picture my nephews Thompson and Forrest putting together a team and running this. Wouldn't that be fun? And get a cute girl to sit in the bed for extra good measure.
All of the teams march in a parade and the beds and participants are all dressed up. For the actual race they pair down to running outfits and the beds, but the Alpine team really kept up their theme and looked totally awesome.
Below are some of the good pictures Dave got of the river crossing. Note that their is a scuba diver in the river to save any unlucky team members. Also, the river is very deep, this isn't like crossing a stream.



Now, time for our kids to have some fun of their own. It was a hot day in the sun and they were begging to go on the bouncy castle (what they call moon bounces here). They had a great time.


Then we made our way through the crowds and back home. All in all a pretty good day.

Happy Birthday to Me - 2 months later

I turned 34 this year, mom and dad - you are so old. My birthday was great, Dave and Hilde had just got back from the States and we were all together again. And Dave surprised me with a fancy dinner to Rudding Park - a high end restaurant/hotel near us. Hilde told me that I needed to dress fancy and so I scrambled to find anything in my ever shrinking stack of maternity clothes that fit and are "fancy" at 8 months pregnant. Then we enjoyed a date night of Rudding Park and then Star Trek at our local movie theater in the smallest theater I have ever been in. The theater was full (there were only about 50 seats) and it was hot and the chairs were tiny and crammed together. We were both so incredibly uncomfortable that I honestly thought about walking out. But it was a date night with Dave, and we were in no rush to go home, so we stuck it out.

I am not a huge birthday person, I like them, but don't get wrapped up in the celebration part of it. All I need is a cake and people I love, and I had that this year. Birthdays do bring about a time of reflection for me, as I suppose it does for a lot of people. I tend to think about all of the things I have accomplished, and the many more I haven't. The places I have been, and the places I want to visit. This year, I just want to spend more time enjoying the best gift I have, my family. And as we have added Phineas, I really look forward to watching our family change and each of us grow in talent, love and hopefully, happiness.

H Family Visit - York

Dave, Enoch, Kari, Ed, Hazel and Ginger head in to York for a day out. Ginger plans the route and everyone enjoys the National Railway Museum, the York Minster and walking around York. Too bad the rest of us missed it.

H Family Visit - Whitby

One nice crisp spring day Dave, Enoch, Kari, Ed, Hazel and Ginger headed out to the seaside town of Whitby. It is on the Northeastern coast of England and about an hour and a half drive from our house. I have yet to be there, but Hilde has gone there with school and wants to go to the Seaside on her birthday. From the pictures below, you can see why it is so enticing. Enoch and Hazel played in the water for hours, and got in their exercise quotient for the week with all the running. Ginger gives some awesome attitude in her pictures and everyone looks like they had a great time.

H Family Visit - Betty's & Fountains Abbey

Today's catch up blog focuses on our visit to Betty's Tea Rooms and then Fountains Abbey. These are two stand bys we use for guests, but they never get old. I just love the look on the kids faces as they peer into the windowfront of Betty's. Such yumminess is hard to ignore, so we don't even try. It is nice that this place is within walking distance of our house. Delicious.

Fountains Abbey with the cousins was a lot of fun for our kids. Hilde and Enoch love going there, and to have someone their ages to share it with was fantastic. A lot of running, playing, and picture taking ensued.