Robin Hood's Bay

We took the kids for a day out at the seaside. We went to Robin Hood's Bay and had a fantastic day. Both Jay and I are continually amazed at how far Ben has come. He was the first one in the water. He was absolutely terrified of the beach in Italy and still won't swim in a pool. Also, he followed our little mountain goat Mary, scrambling up the rocks. He would have NEVER done this a year ago. I absolutely love to see his confidence grow.

We picked a pub for lunch and as luck would have it, there was a group of singers, singing Irish and American folk songs. Mary and Ben were both unsure of it initially, but, as you can see, the started to really enjoy it.

Traditional English seaside treat "Rock".

My Heart

Mary is not a sentimental child. She doesn't like hugs or kisses. She's independent, which I love, but sometimes I worry that she doesn't realize how much we love her, how much she means to us. I want to demonstrate it to her with kisses and hugs and squishes and snuggles, but she doesn't like them. Even as a tiny girl, when anyone would try and kiss her she'd say, "Hey! Hey! Nooooo!"

So you'll understand that when tonight, she came back from swimming and said, "I'm glad you're my Mom and Dad. I think we're meant to be together." It absolutely melted my heart. I don't know what caused her to think of it, or the reasoning behind it, but I'm not asking. Just loving, loving this from my little daughter.

Aaaaannnnd...

THIS is how Ben watches T.V. Jay lets him sit like this for hours. Such a patient Dad.

This is how Mary watches T.V. Mary is a watcher, and has always been. In every aspect of her life, she sits back, observes, and then acts. I love this about her and I think it's what makes her so creative. You can almost hear her little brain processing information before she acts on it. I love, love, love this face.

Ben Learns To Ride a Bike

Our Ben's learning to ride his bike!!!

He can ride a looooooong straight line. He just needs a little more confidence and he'll have it. He knows to brake before he wants to stop though, so, um, he's pretty much a genius.

Mary's Random Dance

Mary performed this dance for no apparent reason. It came out of the blue, as in a random note sent home from school that was all, "Please give permission for your child___________ to dance blah blah blah.... So, it was a cute surprise and here it is!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h16vD-Kencg

Easter

First, these pictures are blurry because it was stupid o' clock in the morning and if I had to get up that early to super crazy children, well, your eyes are just going to have to suffer for it. It's only fair.

Here, instead of baskets, they give children a giant chocolate egg. I think some people do Easter egg hunts, but they don't dye eggs, etc. Jay and I and the Easter bunny all worked together to make it a multicultural Easter. That's right. Multicultural. Not because the Easter bunny forgot to sufficiently plan ahead and the Easter bunny's kinda lazy.

This is Ben's "egg" from the Bunny. A big, chocolate Car.

And Mary's was a little bear with three little eggs in with it.

Baskets(ish) from Mama and Daddy and Chocolate eggs from our neighbors.

Nom nom nom. (These pictures really are terrible. Gah!)

I totally made these. How cute are they and how amazing and creative am I? I completely agree.
So, the eggs. You can only get brown eggs here, so I was a little worried about how they would turn out. Jay and the kids dyed them while the Easter bunny shopped for Easter bunny things in the not Easter-ish heat, which made the Easter bunny irritable (all that fur is hot) and snap at the person working at Starbucks, but that's neither here nor there. The eggs! I think they look really great. I like the different colors made by the brown eggs.