First Race

Yesterday morning we all left the house early (for a Sunday) and headed out to the 2018 Weston Reservoir Run. Emily ran the 5K, while Bluet and Ilona both ran the kids fun run, once around the track and they'd completed their first race. Wilder did not run as he needs to learn to walk first (he is getting close, a couple of steps at a time).

School Photos 2018

Here are Bluet and Ilona's school photos for 2018:

Wilder talking and showing his tongue

Delivery girls

We are almost every day getting deliveries of household essentials like lawnmowers, shown here. When this arrived Bluet and Ilona decided they needed to move the box from just outside the garage, where the postman left it, to just outside the front door. This they managed despite the immense weight. Unfortunately, the postman had a better idea of where I wanted it than Bluet and Ilona, and we had to move it back.

They also enjoyed the novelty of watching a lawnmower being filled with petrol and started up, then they went off and played in the garden while I cut the grass

Woods near where we live

Redding is full of nature trails, and some are even within walking distance of the house. Of course, the kids did not want to go, but once they got there they loved it

Wilder loves to play in the dirt wherever he can find it, which is everywhere

A new career in a new town

I think that the thing that made the biggest impression on Bluet and Ilona about New York was those street artists who draw (almost good) pictures of tourists (that look a bit like the subject) in Central Park. When we got back they took turns of posing for and being drawn by each other. Here is Bluet's picture of Ilona, I will update with Ilona's picture of Bluet if/when I find it






While drawing they had a discussion of future careers. Ilona says she wants to be an artist while Bluet wants to be a scientist as she thinks that is more fun, for some reason

New York

This weekend we took Bluet and Ilona for an overnight trip to New York. First stop, the Upper East Side, where we ate lunch then took a walk to the apartment we used to live in on 79th Street.



Onwards, to Rainbow Hardware, where we used to buy our DIY supplies (they also stock more or less everything else you could think of for your home), where we also took a look at paint colours for our new house.

We then walked further downtown to the hospital where Bluet was born, then took a taxi down to our hotel near Grand Central. After dumping our bags, we headed up to Central Park via Bloomingdales, where Ilona got a new pair of shoes



And then Central Park, the kids favourite, where they ate ice cream and climbed big rocks.




There was time to visit Whole Foods Market for refreshments



And then for dinner, then bed





Sunday we headed downtown to get the best view (land based) of Bluet's current obsession, the Statue of Liberty




Then the train home