Fun at the Park

Craig took this wonderful set of photos today at the park next to our house. Jack looks so apprehensive sat at the top of the slide but then "woosh" and he wants to do it again and again and again....

Back from Canada

On Wednesday I drove to Canada to talk at a conferance in Ontario. It was a 7-hour drive and I still got lost even though I took Craig's car with the GPS system. I have trouble trusting "her" when she tells me to turn left and I know better. That would definitely bite me in the bum on the way home! After the conference I went to the University of Guelph to meet with my industry colleagues. The campus was just gorgeous....

Picture above: University of Guelph Johnston Hall.
I had a great time and I love the accent . It's near to British and in fact everyone I met had British ancestors (usually just by 1 generation). I had to revert back to metric during my talks - hard after 8 years in the states, but it came back okay.

I love Canadians because: they're fellow liberals, they sell English chocolate that I can't get in the States (Crunchies, Smarties, Lion Bars, Turkish Delight, Wagon Wheels etc), they are a Commonwealth country so have the Queen's face on money and the roads have the Royal emblem, they like a drink and have a great sense of humor and they are very curteous and good drivers. The driving thing struck me the most as I'm used to the very poor and sometimes obnoxious drivers from Ohio (me included)

Pic: Rainbow Bridge from my car

On the way there I crossed from the USA to Canada via the Peace Bridge but on the way back I got really lost (my fault as I didn't believe my GPS lady) and ended up coming over Rainbow Bridge at Niagara. I LOVE my job. Where else, on a work day, could I lift my camera and take a picture like this one I took today?

Picture: Our lad & monkey

Ahhhhhhhh, HOME to my Craig and Jack. I drove for 8 hours today and did 85 miles/hr whenever I could so I could get home before Jack went to bed at 7.30pm. I called Craig at 7pm when I was about 15 minutes away and he said he was going to give Jack a bath so I was excited about getting home.

I pulled up outside the house, leapt out, got my key in the front door and said "Hello?" I heard Craig say "it's mama!" and then I heard a big splash and a thunk and this little naked boy just RAN to me at the front door. He was soaking wet and all his hair was stuck up and he was grinning from ear to ear. He broke my heart (in a good way).

Jack's Making me Laugh

This is not new to some people but I think it got buried before my English family and friends got a chance to see.


If we're in the house and we hear a car go by and sound it's horn, Craig puts his hand up to wave, like it was meant for us. It's just one of those daft things he's always done but it makes me laugh.


Tonight I was taking some video of Jack & Cody by the front door, and I was trying to make Jack give Cody a cuddle (which he had done earlier as you can see by the photo) and a motorbike went past. Jack really made me laugh. Like father like son....

Great weekend in West Virginia

On Friday we loaded up the car and motored down to Beckley in West Virginia. It's a 4-hr drive and normally very scenic but by the time we'd stopped for tea and some essentials (i.e. breakfast food & beer) it was dark when we got to the New River Scenic rafting place. Putting up our mammoth tent in the dark is not fun, especially when you're wrestling a baby boy already two hours late for bedtime. Anyway, we got settled and had a couple of beers with Matt & Gina and Craig's friend Tomaz then we hit the hay.

Early Saturday morning, everyone's had coffee and bacon butties and ready to run the UPPER GAULEY. I love this picture. The helmets make them look very special indeed.

The Gauley River is number 2 for white water in the USA, behind the Colorado river. It has class 3 to 5 rapids and it's only open for a few weeks in the fall when they release the Summersville Dam. I didn't join my brave husband and friends for 2 very good reasons: I was taking care of Jack, and I'm too scared! I ran the New River with our friends from England 7 years ago and that was fantastic but one time is more than enough for me.

Craig gives pyjama boy a cuddle before getting on the old school bus.

So, just what DID I do for my solo 8 hours? My plan was to leave Cody in the tent with his food/water and to take Jack into Beckley for the childrens festival. Arrr, I hadn't planned on 95 degree heat & 90% humidity. Couldn't leave Cody. So plan B was to put hot baby (see above) and panting dog in the car and drive with the AC set as high as possible. We went on a meandering trip to the New River Gorge Bridge and walked for a bit and then I went on a new trail one of the rafting guides had told me about that took me down to the river bed, where I took this picture of the amazing bridge. This is where they host Bridge Day each October.

The rest of my day was spent at the campsite feeding and watering Jack & Cody or in the car with them driving around scenic West Virgina to places like Gauley Bridge and Fayetteville - it is just GORGEOUS. One place I drove by that I really wanted to go in was The Mystery Hole but it said I had to leave my pet in the car. That's the kind of place though that I need Craig with me, to enjoy the moment!

Craig & gang got back about 5pm, exhausted and sunburnt. They didn't get flipped out of the boat once and were actually a bit disappointed about that. They now want "more". Their guide was telling them about crazy rapids on the Zambezi in Africa, jokingly I hope, but no doubt Craig will be "YouTubing" it now on his computer. By the way, it seems like "Google it" has become a verb and now maybe "YouTube" will too.

Tonight we are home, tired out (Jack's been up since 6am) and got a house full of dusty grass-covered camping gear but we had a GREAT weekend. I'm so pleased we are taking Jack camping as I want him to love the outdoors.

On a side-note, it was also a good score for the Buckeyes beating Akron 20-2 yesterday, even if they did apparantly have a mediocre performance. Michigan lost again. BIG TIME. I know I should be supporting the Big 10 and not sniggering at their loss but I am. Sorry. Can't help it.

Cody gets his groove on

A couple of weeks ago I was trying, unsuccessfully, to get the house phone off Jack because he knows how to make it ring when Cody just started howling every time it rang. It was so funny I had to post a short video of it.
So, the TV is on, Jack's having a tantrum and Cody's howling like a wolf. It's a good job we have no direct neighbours....

Both boys "in the wars" this week

This is just a quick posting as I'm heading home early for the weekend. Craig is running the Gauley this weekend.
This week has been very stressful. I'm going to Canada soon to give some talks and I'm not ready. Also, both Frank & Jack have had stuff going on.

Last Monday was spent clearing out the laundry room where Frank had been peeing everywhere (ewww). Turns out he has a bladder infection so now he's on antibiotics and I have to get fluid in him, by way of tuna juice -it's a hard life for him I know.

Jack's eczema on the back of his neck got worse, so took him to the Docs last night and now we're on a strict routine of water, anti-histamine lotion and vaseline. Poor lad gets greased up 2-3 times per day. The doc had fun with him though. He looked at Craig and I and said "Jack is 50% cute and 50% ornery" - I think he was trying to be funny but it certainly sums our lad up.
Have a great weekend everyone. More soon.........

Oh, & GO BUCKEYES!

Number 33 is a Hit with the Girls

Today was the first Buckeye game of the season - first off we went to Matt & Gina's tailgate. They have an rv and tailgate the home games. They're going to sell it though - so this was the first and last "Mini-Wini" tailgate of the season!

This car was parked next to them. What an amazing tribute to the Buckeyes. I mean seriously, the person that owns this has to be just a little bit insane.

The girls! Gina (second from left) was having her bachelorette party today and started off at the tailgate. Not to be confused with my friend Gina, who's holding Jack. Another friend of ours, Christina (4th from right on back row) was in from Arizona. Bachelorette Gina had a t-shirt on listing all the things she had to do during her day. I think "getting spanked by an old man" was my particular favourite. In the picture she's wearing a veil and devil horns!

Jack in his number 33 jersey. All the girls went crazy for him! When I left for the game he spent the day with his dad and they had a GREAT time. Jack is really becomming social and fun to be around. Oh, and he's wearing his Thomas the Tank shoes that light up when he walks.

The Michigan doll. This image even more sweet after number 5 in the nation Michigan got beat today by a small team. HA HA (as Nelson would say)

And finally me at the game. And we won 38-6. And I got to see the new Buckeyes and the weather was perfect and I got to spend quality time with my boss. But it was just AWFUL seeing the plastic grass and smelling the rubber infill. There's nothing so beautiful as watching a game on natural grass. I have to get over this....

Football's Here - Wooo!

Buckeye season starts tomorrow, HURRAH!

For friends and family in England - the Buckeyes are the college football team at The Ohio State University. Last season we were unbeaten, ranked number one and had the best player in the nation. The less said about the Championship game the better. A lot of those players have now graduated or been picked up by the NFL. This season we have a young team but we have high hopes! Just today I went and spent $35 on a number 33 jersey (James Laurinaitis) for Jack. The OSU stadium holds 105,000 people and the whole city of Columbus is passionate about this team.

Craig and I went to our first game in 1998 when I was over here just for the summer, before we emigrated. We were split up because my boss took me and a graduate student, Dave, took Craig. We previously arranged to sneak out at half time - I mean, come on "American football"????? It's BORING. They stop and start and stop and start and nothing happens for AGES .... We met outside at half-time, looked at each other and said we LOVED it, wanted to stay, can we get back in (no, obviously). And so, since 1998 we've been to as many games we can. We've both been to a lot but I'm fortunate enough in my work to go to every game.

I know our friends and family will still think it's awful - I would too. You have to go to a game. My boss here thinks football (soccer) is awful. No matter how many times I tell him how wonderful it is he doesn't believe me. He doesn't like the low scores. He thinks there's nothing worse that 0-0!

Anyway, I went off on a tangent - Buckeye football starts tomorrow. My friend Emily has a really nice video posted on her blog to get us in the mood, so I thought I'd post a video of a commercial made about the Buckeye: Michigan rivalry that made me laugh - GO BUCKS!

Made in America with British Parts

Tonight we went for dinner at Char & Jan's and our dinner club friends were there. We used to be part of a dinner club group of 10 people but Craig and I bowed out this spring because basically the purpose of dinner is to enjoy cooking and serving glorious food to your friends in a relaxed atmosphere and we felt that having a baby was just not conducive to the dinner club scene. Before you think we've sold our souls to "babydom" hear me out.

Now we have Jack we have a routine and we try really hard not to break it - for his sanity and ours. Basically, if he gets to bed too late he goes bonkers, can't sleep, we don't sleep, dogs and cats don't sleep = whole household full of nutters.

Thankfully all our friends understand when we have to shovel food down in record speed and exit at or before 8pm. Tonight Jack grabbed the table cloth and did the "da-da" trick. Unfortunately, the table cloth did not miraculously come out from underneath the tableware - my full wine glass went flying!

Anyway, here's a few pictures from our lovely evening with friends that ended at 8pm ...

In the garden. Jack's main aim was to pick up acorns. After a couple of times of me telling him to give them to me (and not lodge them in his throat) he kept picking them up, looking at them like they were naughty and giving them to me. He's like a little sponge right now - just taking everything in that I say and responding. It's amazing.

Oh, his t-shirt was bought by an English friend of ours. On the back it says: "Made in America with British Parts"

Char - chief cook. Tonight we had chicken & portabello mushrooms, salad & cheesy tatties

Eric - having a smoke and holding his little belly in when I got my camera out. Hey honey - you look gorgeous!

Stephen - my best-dressed friend and one of my favourite people in life. Stephen and I have one big thing in common: our partners love cooking and we really don't. Everyone in the dinner club are great & fanatic cooks but Stephen and I are the two anarchists. We like to taste the food after it's cooked and compliment the chef.

Cheeky Monkey Extraordinaire

A couple of weeks ago Gina babysat the little fella for an hour till I got home from a road trip. She said they had a great time playing and recently she gave me these pictures that she took during their dinner time together. I love them! These pictures capture Jack's personality perfectly.

Great nephew on the way

I just found out today that my niece Gemma is having a boy! Everything is going great but not got hold of my sister yet to find out any more news. Craig's nephew Lee just turned 21 this week. He's getting married in December. All of our nieces and nephews are grown up. Looks like Jack will grow up with Gemma's son, his great cousin - is there such a title?

Jack's most recent thing is to give us something so we say "thank you". He's such a joy to play with these days although the poor little fella has at least 2 teeth coming in this week so he's in some pain.