Stephenson Family

Did you know that?  It is.  I tend to gravitate more towards even numbers.  But, as soon as you get settled on an even number, an odd one is sure to come next.  That is where I am . . . one year older at 33.  I’m hoping this will be a good year.

It has started out on a good note.  Chris and I were able to go out by ourselves the night before to see Avatar in 3-D.  It was amazing (the date and the movie)!  The one disappointment we had was with the movie theater popcorn.  Perhaps we should have known it would be different as we ordered and they asked “salty or sweet?”  Huh?  Just the nicely buttered popcorn, please.  Don’t have it.  In case you are ever asked that question, the salty is just way too salty.  Go for the ‘pick your own’ candy selection instead.

Sunday, my actual birthday was a nice quiet day.  I had some sweet birthday wishes at church.  It seems it was announced in Primary by four certain children.  I think they forgot I’m not in Primary anymore.  At home I was able to attempt to take a nap.  I think I must be out of practice because I just laid there and listened to everything the kids were doing - eyes closed, ears open.

Chris and the kids prepared the frozen strawberry tart I had picked out, we opened gifts, and then Chris made me some delicious baked potato soup.  It was perfect!

Thirty-three is going to be a good year - I can feel it.  A double-odd number only comes around once in a while so it must be good!

For the last couple months I have had the opportunity to get to know the MOST amazing women.

After shortly moving into our ward here, it became known that I had previously had callings in music and playing the organ.  For some reason, some assumed that since I can read music, I can also sing.  I have never really had the opportunity to sing with a good choir and always felt this is a talent I want to develop at some point of my life.  So, I took a leap of faith (or perhaps they did in asking me) and committed myself to doing “The Parable of the Ten Virgins” for a Relief Society Meeting.

Our three initial practices turned into multiples of that; the promise that we could use scripts turned into ‘memorize your lines and music’; the thought I had of a standard Relief Society program turned into a massive production with costumes, props, lights and a sound system.

Having known this beforehand, I may have been more inclined to turn down the invitation to participate, but I am thankful I stepped WAY out of my comfort zone and tried to develop a new talent.

Aside from anything else, I feel I have a special friendship with each of these women I have gotten to know through this production.  Our director has been on Broadway (as Glenda in Wicked and Eponine in Les Misérables as well as others) and one of the other women has been on West End here in London (as Mary Poppins in Mary Poppins).  Needless to say, this was an amazing experience for all of us to work with these two amazing women.

I love this parable more than I did before.  It has such a beautiful message.  I think I always looked down on those ‘foolish’ virgins for not being prepared, but put in different lights of using it up in service of others, being rushed to do everyday tasks, and wanting to protect something you care about rather than using it carelessly - really made me feel sorrow and love for them.  I hope I will be prepared for whatever comes, whenever it comes and be a ‘wise’ virgin.

We have pretty much always had our Family Scripture Study at night before bedtime.  Lately, that hasn’t worked out very well because someone is always gone.  Chris decided we need to start having it in the morning before he left for work.  I agreed this was a great idea, but internally I groaned knowing my days of waking up without an alarm clock were over.

We are into Week 2 of this new schedule and I think this morning had a different effect on everyone than other days -

no one seemed to have brought their scriptures to the table and they could barely keep their heads up.  Reminds me of those early morning seminary days!  Just wait guys . . . a few more years and you’ll really know how fun it is to get up early to study your scriptures!

Our latest Saturday wanderings took us back to the Tower of London.

Last time we ventured that way, the queues were really long so we only made it to the Tower Bridge.  This time we planned it well as we got there shortly after they opened and bought our tickets beforehand on-line.

We were able to be in the first tour group of the morning, led by one of the yeomen warders or ‘Beefeaters’.

Our tour guide was hilarious and very informative.  Our kids (that’s Emma just to the right of the picture) hung on his every word . . . as well as his coat-tails every time we moved to a different location.  We started not to worry about where they were every minute, because we knew wherever our guide was, they were there.

We learned how the castle was protected from attacks from the outside . . .

and inside.

It was interesting for all of us to learn how the Tower of London was really the center of everything back in its day.  Some of the highlights we took in were:

the Traitor’s Gate,

‘graffiti’ left behind by tower prisoners,

as well as the Crown Jewels and Bloody Tower (where many people were tortured by various methods).  The kids walked out of the Bloody Tower very wide-eyed and amazed that people could be so cruel.  Seeing those pictures and displays was eye-opening for them.

There is a legend that says the kingdom and the Tower will fall if the six resident ravens ever leave the fortress.  So, they have ravens roaming around the grounds and a couple locked up, just in case any of the others decide to take off.  I never realized how big these birds actually are!  They are huge!

We had pretty much seen what we needed to see before 11:30 a.m. and were ready for lunch before we had to head back to the gym.  This seemed to be a problem as none of the near-by restaurants opened until at least noon!  So, we visited the gift shop where we heard a few cries about not getting any souvenirs.  Cami was happy to get her picture taken with the two items she really wanted -

a princess wand

and a princess doll.  If only it could always be that easy.

Still, we waited . .

and waited some more . . .

until we were finally even allowed into the restaurant.  By then, we were truly hungry and thoroughly enjoyed our burgers.

We are glad to have gotten this checked off our list as the kids have been wanting to go ever since we arrived.  One great thing about homeschooling is that we all learn the same events in history at the same time and we are able to explore them together.  We had studied about the Tower of London awhile ago but everything we studied seemed to come back to them.  I loved seeing the kids get excited to realize this is where those things we studied about happened . . . and it was real, not just a story.

Our Valentine’s Day was a busy one this year, since it fell on a Sunday.  Leaving enough time to take public transportation to church, our Sunday mornings are quite hurried.

So, our ‘gift giving’ had to wait until after lunch this year, but the kids were still excited . . . and surprised.  However, we really missed American Valentine heart candies.  These are good as they taste like ‘fizzy drinks’ but they just aren’t the same.

One of the greatest joys of giving a gift is to see the kids’ reactions.  They are always so excited and I LOVE it!

Emma received two new church movies - “Rigoletto” and “My Turn on Earth” - two of my favorites!  These are right down her alley with her drama interests.  We’ve seen these a number of times since she opened them.

Caleb was beyond thrilled to receive ankle weights - 3 sets of them!  He needed them for his gym workouts and we had the hardest time finding them . . . so he may just have been more relieved than anything.

Hannah seemed a little bit less excited as she opened her “Capital Mystery” books, but she is enjoying them.

Cami got a jewelry box for all her dress up jewelry.  She was happy!

Chris was excited about this one.  Having had to leave all his electric-based tools in the states, he was going through withdrawals.  Too bad all our Ikea furniture is all put together now.

I was not forgotten - I told Chris not to get me anything as we had just gotten my iPhone, but he still got me some white chocolates.  I do admit I let the kids eat most of them but they were really good!

We rounded off the excitement of the day by spending time with some friends from our ward.  A great day to feel the love of those around us!

We have decided that we need to not forget to be tourists in our own city.  London has so much to offer, it’s hard to get it all in so we figure little by little, we may get a little bit of everything.  Thus, our Saturday outings . . .

A couple weeks ago, we drove out to Windsor Castle, where it is said the queen spends many weekends.  However, one look at the flag on top of the tower and we were disappointed to once again see we had missed the Queen.  Not to be deterred, we toured the grounds and had a great time.

We were each given free audio-tour headsets.

Cami thought she was pretty hot stuff with her earpiece and ‘necklace.’

As we went along and listened, Chris and I would point out certain items as they were mentioned on the recording so the kids could follow along.  Each time we did, we noticed the kids were all looking in the opposite direction, looking quite intent on learning.  We soon discovered the kids had their own recording catered to them . . in story form.  They LOVED it!  I think they would have gone through the castle again just to listen to the story again!

We got to watch a performance by the band and watch the soldiers march around the square.

We had an extensive tour of St. George’s Chapel.  We saw the marker for the vault where Henry VIII and his third wife, Jane Seymour, were buried.  There were many statues erected for different people that were quite interesting.  In part of the chapel were seats for all the knights and ladies with their crests.  It is amazing to see the many different crests to represent each one.

The Quadrangle is quite pretty, although blocked off from the public.

This is where many ceremonies take place, especially that of the changing of the guard when the Queen is there.

The inside of the apartments were amazing as well.  It reminded me a lot of Versailles for some reason.  Maybe once you see one castle, you feel like you’ve seen them all.  More than anything I was impressed with the attention to detail.  Look at the lampposts:

Cami pointed this out to me and said the king had thrown his crown down - until she realized there was a little crown on each and every lamppost.

Before leaving the castle, we made sure to get up close and personal with one of the guards.  He reminded me a lot of the guards from “The Wizard of Oz”, don’t you think?  Not sure if he liked having tourists get that close to him but he didn’t move so we figured we were good.

Before having to run Caleb to his gymnastics workout, we caught a quick bite to eat at Pizza Express, which was just across the street from the castle.

It was a little surreal to sit eating pizza while gazing out the window at the castle . . . a mixture of two worlds.

Cami has been able to spell her name for a long time.  If you ask her, “Cami, how do you spell your name?”  She will very readily reply, “C-A-M-I ‘Cami’.”  But, I don’t really think she knew what those letters she was saying meant.

A few weeks ago, I had one of those ‘wake-up!’ mother moments - you know, the ones where we realize your child is at an age that they should know how to do something . . and they don’t.  So, I made the concentrated effort to set aside school time for Cami to work on her name.  We worked on each letter and she did a great job.  The ‘C’ had a hard time facing the right way some times, but she did a great job.  Her favorite letter to write is the “m” as she says ‘up down, up down’.

Everyday after that, Cami sat down at the table armed with papers and a pencil to practice writing her name.  She did this on her own and was quite determined to get it right.  She would then stick them up on the refrigerator to ’show Daddy when he gets home from work.’  I think she was proud of herself as well.

I now feel much better that she has perfected this milestone.  Now, on to the next one . . .

In lieu of a birthday party, our kids usually opt to have a family outing.  Caleb chose an outing to the London Aquarium so we headed downtown the day after his birthday.  We hit many ‘hot spots’ on the way, like . . .

. . . a walk through Harrod’s,

. . . scoping out the London Eye,

. . . and gazing up at Big Ben.

The London Aquarium is actually situtated right below the London Eye so while we were in the queue to get in, we had a great close-up view.  MAYBE someday you’ll get us up in that big rotating observation deck . . . MAYBE.

The kids were so excited to go to the aquarium and see “350 different species from the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans” (as they had read on their website).  As soon as we entered the dim-lit aquarium, it was a different story.  They gripped our arms and wanted to find the fastest way possible through the displays.

They must have felt a little claustrophobic or something being there.  Once you enter the “Thames Walk” you have to follow the crowd back and forth through aisles and past tanks - you can’t choose your own path.  I think that was a little unnerving for them.  But, after awhile they seemed to loosen up and enjoy themselves.

We walked through the tunnel and saw the sharks up close and personal.

Divers usually hand feed the sharks, but we missed their feeding time, which was sad because I think that is what the kids were looking forward to the most.

This ‘little’ turtle was probably my favorite of the day.  He looked so peaceful swimming around and in no hurry to get anywhere.

In an hour and a half we had worked our way to the exit of the aquarium.  Of course, on our way out, we had to stock up on a few treats for the ride home . . . and a few souvenir items for the kids (postcards, pens, notebooks).

We enjoyed the treats as we rode the overground train home.  The kids were excited to try a different mode of transportation.  We’ve done the taxis, tube, and bus, and now the overground.  The next popular mode of transportation in London is the motorbike.  I think it will be awhile before we attempt that one . . .

Caleb turned one year older on January 29th.  We celebrated by giving him the day off of school, which he chose to spend playing with Lego’s and reading.  We were also able to celebrate by getting our internet connected and receiving our big Ikea furniture order.

So, not only could we be connected to the rest of the world, but we could sit down to do it!  What a great day!

Caleb was quite nervous that he wouldn’t get any gifts for his birthday because he didn’t see us going out to get any and hadn’t seen any packages delivered with his name on them.  Needless to say, he was very happy to see that he did indeed have gifts and this was his expression upon opening each . and . every . one:

I think it is safe to say he was happy with the gifts he received.  Everyone seemed to know just what he likes.

Have you noticed Caleb’s ‘wild hair day’?  He is going through a phase where he likes to experiment with his hair.  Most times this means spiking it up with a strange concoction in the morning and then by midday, he is “Mr. Fluff Head.”  Just for future references, this isn’t usually how we let him leave the house . . .

Happy 9th birthday, Caleb!

More adventures to come as we venture out for a birthday outing to the London Aquarium . . . .

is definitely not how we have been through our blog lately.  We’ve been preoccupied with getting settled into our new home.  When we feel a little more settled and less embarrassed about boxes and just ’stuff’ laying around, we may give you a tour.

When we first found out we would be moving to London, Emma gave us a list of her requirements:

• Must be new
• Nice neighborhood
• Kids on block my age
• Near school
• Near church
• Near gymnastics (for Caleb)

Let’s take those one by one and see how we did.

Must be new:  This request must stem from our previous home in New Jersey that was so poorly insulated that in the winter we had to wear gloves and jackets just to empty the dishwasher (until we fixed that problem ourselves).  No, we don’t live in a new house now and it is quite cold inside still, but maybe we’re just used to it as we haven’t heard any complaints yet.

Nice neighborhood:  We live in a nice town outside of London.  Colin Firth lives here for goodness sakes!  Granted, we have been in this house for 3 weeks and only one neighbor has introduced themselves to us.  But, it’s a short walk to the doctor’s office, the dentist, the train, and the bus to get to the tube.  It is also close to a major road so we can get places quickly if we HAVE to drive (remember, we are steering on the opposite side of the car and on the opposite side of the road).

Kids on block my age:  We have heard a number of kids coming and going.  Although, from what we’ve been told, all of them go to different schools so not many know each other.  Perhaps more friends on the block will be made as the weather warms up and we venture out more.  There is a large park between our house and the Thames River that will be enjoyed in the warmer seasons, I’m sure.

Near school:  There is a school down the block and around the corner from us, but, much to Emma’s dismay, we decided we want to continue homeschooling.  She is holding out for private school next year.  We’ll see what happens - but it wouldn’t be close to our house.

Near church:  Well, we didn’t even come close with this one.  We are on the edge of the ward’s boundaries (again).  It’s a 20 minute drive into the city for church (if we could ever find parking) or, as we have been doing, 40/45 minute ride in by walking/bus/tube/walking.  With 9:00 a.m. church, we definitely feel we leave the house while the rest of the town is sleeping.

Near gymnastics:  Compared to our New Jersey gym route, I think we are closer.  We can make it to the gym without any traffic in 15 minutes.  With traffic, give it a good half an hour.  Give us some more time to get familiar with the route, with all it’s roundabouts, and we may shave some more minutes off.

So, let’s see - I don’t think we did a great job meeting all the requirements but Emma hasn’t complained about anything other than not meeting our neighbors.  She is our social butterfly of the family.  Apparently she spent the first few days anxiously awaiting knocks on the door from neighbors who wanted to welcome us to the neighborhood with open arms.  The one time that happened, she didn’t hear the door, but still got one of the cupcakes they brought over.  Days on end, while the rest of us were unpacking boxes, where was Emma?  Sitting on the window seat in her room trying to catch our neighbors outside to wave to them.  I’m surprised none of them knocked on the door just to see if we were keeping someone locked upstairs in the attic.

Today we had a knock on the door.  It was the postman making a package delivery to our next door neighbors who weren’t home.  Would we mind holding on to the package for them until they arrived home?  We’d be happy to.  As soon as the postman left, Emma jumped up and down, “It’s fate!!  Now, they HAVE to come knock on our door!”  It looks like we will be social with our neighbors after all . . . .

as well as being more social through our blog.