Be More | April

Goodbye, April, you were awesome!
We continued to be more.
Spring Concert.

The fabulous guys at London Underground.
Overnight guests.
Family to stay.
End of term.

New York, New York.
Signs of Spring.

Fabulous days with fabulous friends.
And oh, so much more.

April has whizzed by.

Hello, May and all that you can offer.

Do you have a word for 2014 that you want to keep at the forefront of your mind during your daily life?

Zoom In | Zoom Out

The Boy Child heard me snap the first shot (the Zoom Out) and actually scooted round before I could take the next shot (the Zoom In).
"No pictures, Mummy.  I'm reading." 

Zoom In | Zoom Out is Helena's idea and you can see more here.

The Final Day

Of the Easter holidays, that is.
And we kept it fairly low-key.
This morning, I declared homework was finished and sent The Boy Child off to the park with Dad and the pooch.  (That's been a wrench, hearing The Boy Child switch from using Daddy to Dad.)
After lunch, we played badminton in the garden and then went to the bookshop to buy a gift for him to take to his friend's party on Saturday.

We browsed and then headed to the coffee shop, where I checked out our purchases (more on that in a later post this week) and The Boy Child read the football news in the Standard.

It's been an extremely busy three weeks.

We've loved it.

But everyone is ready for the usual routine to resume in the morning. 

A Playdate of the Large Kind

Some friends of ours are members of a very smart Health Club in West London and issued an invitation for a crowd of us to join them for the day at the Club.
We didn't need asking twice.
There was tennis.

There was a huge amount of bouncing.

There was swimming, where The Boy Child opted for armbands because he said the water was too deep.  It wasn't.

And there was friendship of the very best kind.

It was a wonderful day.

Sharing a Cuppa

Hi, hi, c'mon in.  Your timing is perfect, as the boys are still at the cinema (watching Rio 2) and I've just made lunch and the teapot's still hot.

How are you and yours?  We're all fine and ready for the Easter holidays to be over. We've packed a lot in, but I do feel that three weeks off is a week too long.  Especially when you consider that we have a Bank Holiday in just over a week's time and half-term in a month's time.
How was your Easter?  Were you away or did you stay home and perhaps have visitors?  The Boy Child and I were in the US, as you probably know, and he was thoroughly spoiled by the American Easter Bunny. A whole bucket of stuff from his friends' mum and another bag full from their Nana.  (But, funnily enough, no Easter egg.)

He's going to be very disappointed next year!
Do you like chocolate or are you one of those strange rare people that can take it or leave it?  I've noticed that as I've got older, I've no time for designer chocolate; give me Cadbury's Fruit and Nut and I'll be a happy bunny, if you'll excuse the pun.
Would you like anything else to eat?  Let me refill your mug, it won't take me a moment.
What's that?  What was the outcome of The Boy Child's Review?  I wish I knew.  It seems that the Panel needed some questions answered by the school in early April. Then, of course, they don't sit in the school holidays.  If we're lucky, his Review may be looked at again tomorrow.  But I'm not holding my breath.  The whole thing is demoralising.
Let's change the subject.  Let's talk about scrapbooking, you know it's my favourite past time.  I have some lovely paper from October Afternoon called Travel Girl and I'm itching to start using it.  No prizes for what I'll be scrapping in the next few weeks.  Do you have any projects on the go? Did I mention my dabbling with making a quilt square?  No?  Never mind, I'll save it for next time.

This post has been brought to you in association with Abi's invitation to share a cup of tea.

Right Now ...

I'm still appreciative of sunshine and blue skies.  There is a lot of rain forecast.
I'm looking to forward to making a few pages about our trip.

I'm fed up arguing with The Boy Child about the amount of homework he needs to still do.
I'm looking forward to one last hurrah of the holidays; a huge all day play date with around ten kids and their parents.

I'm ready for May and for all that is already in the calendar; Afternoon Tea, birthday parties and a Scavenger Hunt/BBQ at school.
I'm already planning activities for a week-long half-term.
I'm feeling excited about some huge changes happening within my family.
I'm already blocking off weekends in the summer of 2015 for numerous weddings; whether subsequent invitations actually arrive remains to be seen.
I'm listening to The Boy Child tell me where he'd like to go next on holiday; Dubai and Australia are currently hot favourites.

What are you thinking about, feeling, hoping for, struggling with, watching, listening to, celebrating right now? 
 

Five on Friday

1) We've been busy sending Red Cross parcels to The Boy Child's American friends.  (Red Cross parcels are the parcel equivalent of Happy Mail).

It isn't something we'll be doing too often, as the postage was high.
2) I've been working on completing my New York journal.

3) The Boy Child has been writing in his holiday diary every day (even while we were away).

4) I've been filling the house with flowers.

5) I've been tackling the ironing mountain.

How does your Friday look?

Normality

There's always a few days, I find, after trans-Atlantic travel where the urge to not do much is strong.
Tuesday was pretty much a write-off.
Yesterday we made it to the park.

Today we made it as far as Chelsea to visit our friend.

This evening saw me tidy up some of the flower beds.

How do you cope with jet lag/post-holiday tiredness?

Zoom In | Zoom Out

Zoom In | Zoom Out is Helena's idea and you can see more here.

New York City | Day 6

One last morning with our friends.

Before the drive to the airport.

And an overnight flight back to London.

New York City | Day 5

(For continuity's sake, I'm calling all the posts relating to our trip, New York City | Day X.)
Sunday also happened to be Easter Sunday.
We attended church.

 The children were completely spoiled by the American Easter Bunny.

He's set the bar rather high for future years.
There was delicious lunch, with the adults in the dining room and the children in the kitchen.

With delicious Italian desserts.

And I nagged persuaded them to have a group photo.

A wonderful day.

New York City | Day 4

This was the day we left New York City for Connecticut.
The Boy Child was thrilled with the idea of going on an American train.

Mum and I were glad of a morning where we could slow the pace down and do nothing except look out at the scenery.
An hour and a half later, we were looking at this.

And five minutes after that, these three had picked up where they'd left off last summer.

The boys' school has an ambitious PTA.
Look at their Easter fundraiser.

 Makes your average coffee morning seem very dull.

New York City | Day 3

The day one part of our family history came full circle.

My mum and her cousin met for the first time.

We're here with hearts that are full.

New York City | Days 1 and 2

I love New York City.

I like to travel on an early morning flight. 

It makes for an incredibly long day, but it's worth it to, as The Boy Child said so eloquently, go back in time.

We flew out of London at 09.05 hrs and flew into New York City at 12.30 hrs.

On our itinerary yesterday afternoon were a horse and carriage ride around Central Park and visit to Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Plaza. The Boy Child was not happy at being out on the Observation Deck, but liked the lift with the glass roof.

Today turned out differently to what we'd originally planned, because our friends from Connecticut came in to town to surprise us. And a lovely surprise it was, too.

We managed to get tickets for the 9/11 Memorial this afternoon.

The Boy Child ate his first ever hot dog.

We rode the Staten Island Ferry on what turned out to be a cold and chilly day.

The Boy Child coped very well with over 6 hours on the go, as did my mum. 

Neither of them moaned.  

Well, TBC may have a little, but not enough to warrant a full-blown melt down.

As I type this, The Boy Child is fast asleep and has been from the moment he put himself to bed a little before 8pm.  Mum is sitting so quietly in the armchair, I suspect she may have nodded off.

New York, New York, the city that never sleeps.