Festival at the Park

Oxford is having festivals (fetes) all over----schools, churches, parks all have their own to celebrate Oxford's 1000 years (wow!). This one was in Cutteslowe park near us. It was totally free (we were shocked) and was lots of fun. Luke had a blast in the tea cup talking the entire time about who was going to drink him up.
Then he helped drive this 'recovery truck,' which was pure heaven for him.
Then we had a picnic. Here Chris is doling out 'crisps' and teaching the boys about deep philosophical matters. It went something like this:

Luke: "I want to pet those animals."

Chris: "Yep, as soon as we're done eating."

Luke: "We don't eat animals."

Chris: "I wasn't saying that, but, actually, we do eat animals."

Luke: "Mama?"

Stacy: "He's right."

Chris: "We eat cows and pigs and lambs."

Luke: "Mama?"

Stacy: "He's right."

Luke: "What about horses and dogs?"

Chris: "No, we don't eat horses or dogs. Pretty much we don't eat anything that we would treat like a pet."

Luke: "Are spiders pets?"

And I'll stop here, but you can imagine it went on and on from spiders to birds and on and on until finally all the crisps were gone and we went to pet the animals.

The lamb eats Caleb....

What started as sweet and gentle petting.....
ended with the lamb literally poking its head all the way out of the fence to get to Caleb to nibble on his hand. It led to a whole new discussion about what animals eat. :)

Rainy mornings inside.....

They actually sat still like this for a whole minute watching Baby Einstein, but then Caleb was off crawling and Luke was crashing various things into him.

Then Caleb went down for a nap and Luke and I played Sesame Street games on the computer. It's amazing how 3 year olds these days can actually manage a web-site on their own. He has learned how to click what he needs to click to work the games he wants to play. Check out that left hand----will he be a lefty? It's hard to say. He definitely brushes his teeth with his left, but he holds a crayon with his right, and he eats with both. (still working on using a fork!!!)

Rainy afternoons inside....

It's been hard with all this rain continuously coming up with indoor activities so I've started being proactive and trying to teach them certain things. We had a very productive day today.....Luke has mastered finding the L, U, K, and E scrambled in the alphabet and putting them in the right order. He was so proud to do it all by himself.

Meanwhile, Caleb and I have had long sessions on, "Where is your tongue?" He's almost 100% but is a little reluctant to be a performing monkey.....so unlike his brother! :)

Thankfully, the forecast for tomorrow is a little bit of sunshine so we will definitely get out and enjoy it!!!

Saturday in London

We got to London around 11:00 this morning and walked through Kensington Gardens until we were ready for our picnic. We stopped and ate, then Chris and I walked (while both boys slept AT THE SAME TIME!!! That's probably only the 2nd time that has EVER happened.)
Then we headed to the Natural History Museum which was really great. We saw skeletons of alligator snapping turtles (native to southeast US, according to the sign) but amazingly their bones were in tact.......they must not have come from Homewood, AL because Lord knows back in the day we ran over all the ones we could catch with the trusty old 2-toned pick up truck until we were sure they were flattened. (For those not familiar with this story---they ate all the ducks in the pond next to my grandmother's house. We felt compelled to squash them once we found out the zoo wouldn't take them because they were notoriously violent.)

Luke did FABULOUSLY in the museum....we are really trying to cultivate this newfound interest in animals.

In the museum.....

It's a bird......it's a plane.....it's LUKE!!
A tired Luke, Chris, and the mid-section of the diplodocus.

After the museum......

Luke ate ice cream
and Caleb played ball with Daddy.

Truly a perfect day.....

We laughed; we chased bubbles; no one threw up on the bus; Chris and I got to drink tea and eat a pastry while Luke slept and Caleb charmed all in the cafe; the museum was fun and interesting; Luke was happy and pleasant the whole day (oh, the difference a nap makes for him!!); and it rained when we were INSIDE not outside. Truly it was a perfect day.

Snakes and Ladders

Allison, Mason, Carter, and Luke getting ready to go down the slide at Snakes and Ladders. It was a perfect rainy Friday morning to be at a cool indoors place like this.

A visit to Luke's future school

Luke will start nursery school (5 days a week, 2 1/2 hours a day) in mid-September. The school asks that a parent come with the child for one day the term before the child is to start. So, today was our day......



Chris kept Caleb while Luke and I went to school together. They have "free play" for the first 30 minutes or so during which Luke played with the killer whales, humfbacks (as he says), and sharks. He dipped them into a tub-like thing and filled them with water. Once several others got interested in this, he moved on and found the cars and trucks. Another little boy came over and crashed with him for a while, then they both got bored of that. So, Luke started exploring. He discovered the class snail (yes, alive) and the not-alive, stuffed Clifford, the big red dog. He loved the freedom and the wide variety of choices. I just tried to keep my head down so he wouldn't notice me too much and I colored snakes with a cute little girl named Phoebe who taught me much about pink and red striped snakes. (Luke had asked me, in advance, not to play with him. He did not want mom looking over his shoulder, so I did my best in that regard.)



Then, it was circle time. They counted from 1 to 10, then from 10 to 1; they sang a song about the days of the week; and then it was time for a snack. Here is where I noticed an area we need to work on with Luke......they passed around a bowl of strawberries and everyone took one. Luke tried to take THE BOWL from the little girl doing the sharing. Something to work on this summer, for sure....

Next, we went outside and they played for a good hour and a half. Luke spent most of his time with some twin boys taking turns driving a tricycle attached to a trailer. When they got stuck one time, Luke came and got me for help. But as soon as I'd pulled it back upright he reminded me to "play with someone else now, please." I played with Fireman Sacha (our Australian neighbor downstairs) the rest of the time.

Then we went inside for 2 stories and a few songs and it was time to go. The head teacher let Luke pick the song and he chose "The Wheels on the Bus." After that, we walked back home, ate lunch, and he went immediately to sleep. (I can't wait til this is an everyday event!!!!)

It was a lot of fun and definitely solidified in my mind that Luke is absolutely ready to move on to this next phase of his life......we all are! :)

Sharing the new toy....

Pre-Fathers' Day Picnic

We went for a drive weaving through roads in the middle of nowhere to villages and towns with lots of dashes in their names (East-Wantage-upon-the-Thames, etc.). Once we were all hungry enough, we stopped and had a nice picnic in the back of the trusty old station wagon. It was good pre-Father's Day bonding.

After the picnic, Luke and Chris had a great time with their new toy......a rocket shooter. I've decided to start a Fathers' Day tradition---each year, Luke, Caleb, and I will pick out a toy Daddy would like to play with---with them (i.e., NO CARS!!! Sorry, Luke). You stomp on the orange ball thing and it shoots the rocket up in the air. This picture represents the highest shot of the day (we had to let Chris win on his special day!!!) :)

Last day in the Wycliffe creche.....

Ann Croft is in charge of the Wycliffe creche, and she leads a playgroup every Friday morning for Luke, Carter, and 3 other two to three year olds. She has 4 children of her own (now 16-23 years old) and somehow, she still loves hanging out with toddlers!!! Here she is with Luke (who busted up his nose on Wednesday) and Carter. As I was taking this picture, Luke was telling me not to say "Carter" but rather "Cah-tah," like Ann says. Every Friday he goes to creche, and every Friday he corrects my American English by telling me the proper British pronunciation. (ba-nah-nah, Petah and Pohl----Peter and Paul----being my favorite ones)
Caleb and Mason in the creche. It's a shame Ann doesn't have more time to mold these two into the blossoming toddlers their big brothers are.

7 teeth and 2 chins

I was trying to get a picture of his teeth and ended up with more chin than anything!!

I like feeding myself!

Little brothers get their knocks in too.....

While Caleb is deservedly earning the reputation as the "sweet" one, he certainly gets in his punches. After several focused minutes of building this alien, poor Luke turned around just in time to watch it go down.

Caleb rejoices, and Luke vows revenge.

Cuppers Champions

The Regent's Park - Somerville Basketball team prevailed. It was an intense 40 minutes of basketball, but our guys pulled through in the end. The final score was 63-62; and Luke was definitely voted best fan in the crowd. He yelled, "Way to go, Jack Bauer!" each time our team scored, and he is credited for making the other team miss EVERY free throw but one.

From left to right: Tim, Chris, Brad, Mike, Ed, and Jacob.

Luke & Ella

New wheels, a trampoline, and a gorgeous little lady by his side......it was a perfect afternoon for Luke. We had a great time hanging out with Ella at her house while her parents went to the Leavers' Service. They will be in Milton Keynes next year which is about 45 minutes away.

The Barnett Boys

Luke & Samuel

This is Luke & Samuel at the picnic. It will be hard to say good-bye to the good friends that we've made here, but thankfully many of them won't be too far away just yet.

Two different personalities

We went to a picnic in the park today to say good-bye to lots of the good friends we've made here. Many people were doing a 2-year degree so it's time for them to move on. Luke knew just who to buddy up to in order to get the chocolate. While he was begging food off of everyone at the picnic......
Caleb sat and people-watched for an hour. Everyone said he looked like a little buddha sitting so peacefully in his sweatsuit.

Two handsome guys

Luke and Carter

The only way to get these 2 to sit still long enough to take a picture of them is to give them brownies. And then, that still didn't work very well!!!

The Twist family moves back to the US on July 10th....we will all miss them very much.

Chris and Jason in Germany

Chris and Jason had a great time in Germany. They had many adventures----from drinking tall beers, to trying not to steal gas, to driving the autobahn in an old station wagon, to reading dusty documents in the Herrnhut archive. I'm just thankful they made it back safely!