Christmas in Ohio, part 2

We drove them across Ohio on Christmas day so that we could share our time with my own family, too!

 Aunt Sarah and Phoebe (which, Noelle insists, is pronounced "Foe--be").

 Marky with his new electric toothbrush and his Grandma.

Piano man.

So, where are the rest of the Christmas pictures? Where are the rest of the loved ones we visited? What about all the other things in London, like a trip to Paris, and a visit from Amma? I don't know. If I find them, I'll share.

Sometimes I wonder if we're putting them through too much...

I'm not sure Christmas afternoon is supposed to look like this, but it did this year. 

I am also tired.

Get No Rest--Cousinfest!

My friend-in-law Tara and I cooked up "Cousinfest" for the 7 Rankin kids then in NE Ohio to enjoy each other, celebrate the holiday, and consume copious amounts of sugar. So, the kids watched the Grinch, ran around and played, and decorated gingerbread houses as best they could. Tara and I drank coffee. I had fun, and the kids did too; even though I failed to read the directions about letting the icing set for several hours, which led to complete design collapse and everyone just eating everything where it lay. 

The last week in London

The last week in London, we moved to a flat that was a block from the British Museum. Oh, the sound of a two-year-old shrieking, "I DON'T WAN TO GO TO THE RITISH MUSEUM!!" And of the older children saying, "Oh, not again!" Bwahaha! Yes, again! Because we can. I loved being able to pop over there for a few minutes, then pop home again. I much prefer that to having to invest an hour or more in travel to get somewhere.

 Don't forget the gift shop! We want ALL these bears! 

The other thing we did at this flat was play legos. 

Our flights home were smooth and generally peaceful. Joel had had it by the time we arrived in Cleveland, but it was something like 6 hours past his bedtime, poor kid. Jet lag was killer for the next week, with the kids waking up at 3 and wanting to go to sleep for the night at 3. Throw in a little desire for Christmas festivities, and you have an exciting time....(next) 

We also...

We also...

went to Oxford with the students for a day trip. This is the Chaledonian Theatre. I could tell you more about it, but...I couldn't hear our guide. So it goes. We went to the Pitt-Rivers Museum also on our own, which was pretty bizaare. 

 Noelle and I went down to St Paul's Cathedral. St Paul's was my one must-see destination for the entire trip, so I was glad to make it happen. The mosaics inside on the ceiling are phenomenal.

 We found a big map nearby.

 I got flowers.

 We struck out one weekend in search of Hampstead Heath, which (I think) we found. The boys went off running down this hill while Noelle sketched the vista. You can't see it in the photo, but the London skyline is visible over the trees and far away.

 The park is right next to an estate called Kenilworth. The attractive grounds made me wish we had found this place sooner.

 With Jenny and Roy, we went to London Zoo.

 Paintings in an underpass at the zoo.

 Giraffes!

 Ok, this was the best part of the visit for me. This woman showed the kids this alligator skull, snakeskin, turtle shell, etc. in the reptile house. Ask me privately if you want to hear a funny story about Joel and the alligator skull.

A good time was had by all.

December

The blogging got away from me there for a while, but I wanted to go back and fill in a bit. 

 On Thursday afternoons throughout the whole term, we trucked down to MusicBugs class at a local restaurant for fun and singing nursery rhymes with Ms. Chaemil. This picture is from the Christmas party on the last week of the term. Noelle always liked pampering "Bugsy" the bear mascot. Joel says, "I liked it, because we never heard so much music, and we never knew about the music that our teacher taught us. I like it because you always get stickers. We practiced playing songs; we played, and we liked the teacher. We have something to remember that class with--our little bears, our tiny little ones [of Bugsy]." While the class itself was probably geared more to Marky's age, the big kids enjoyed it more than he did--probably because it was unfortunately right at nap time, and he was exhausted, unruly, or asleep most of the weeks. Oh well.

 Noelle held on to this tooth in her mouth for....a...very....long...time. When it finally started discoloring, I insisted it be removed. The other one came out at New Year's to much fanfare.

 We tried to get the kids going on some chores. Here, Mark is teaching Noelle to wash the dishes.

 My sister Jenny and her husband Roy blessed us with a visit at Thanksgiving. I did my best to train my lovely nephew, Dayspring, to drink tea. :) I thought it was only fitting for a trip to England. They also joined us, along with about 10 of the students, for a Thanksgiving feast! I was in luck that Christmas turkeys became available at just the right time for an American Thanksgiving. I invited everyone to put their 'thankful' thing on paper, which has become a bit of a tradition for us. Some of the students brought along desserts, and yumminess was had by all.

 Roy patiently taught the kids some chess fundamentals.

Joel may have passed out up here on the way home from a playground visit, but he emphatically wants everyone to know that he was not tired. Because he does not sleep.