Bunk beds

4(?) weeks ago, we headed to Ikea, and purchased a bunk bed for Bluet and Ilona, so now they share the same room. This is going well, most of the time, although now Ilona can get out of the bottom bunk by herself, every morning she comes and wakes us up.  Here they are at ikea (we've been two times already since we got back. One time we hired a car through a car sharing scheme. Bluet was very excited that we had a new red car).

Now they go to bed in the same room, they also take their bath together every night - here they are in the bath together

Bluet also started playing indoor football every Thursday. Here she is after the game, once she had 'run out of power', having some water before heading home

And here are Bluet and Ilona playing together in the basement

And finally, from last week, here they are celebrating Emily's birthday the only way they know how - with cupcakes

 

Family Colours

On our computer in the photo app is a thing where you can take interesting photos with the inbuilt camera. Bluet calls it the 'family colours' because for the last couple of years it has had photos of us in various odd colours (see above). She has finally mastered the mouse, so today asked to use the family colours. If you click on the photo above you should be able to see all the photos she took all by herself.

BLOGSTRAVAGANZA IV!

Better late than never (I hope) here is the last week of our summer trip.


Ilona, ready to hit the road (and dressed for St Louis)

Our final destination was a day in St Louis with Abatha, Scott, Lila and Nate. The highlight of this was when Scott and I got to go to the local record shops........I mean when Abatha, Scott, Emily and I got to go to the Broadway Oyster House and then the BIG Game.......Or maybe it was seeing all the cousins playing together in the sun. In any case, it was a great end to the trip and I think we were all a little sad to pack up our bags and head home......

Apparently all 4 year olds like to climb trees

Bluet, eater of raw fish

Obviously sushi (or really, sashimi, the raw fish bit) is the nicest food in the world. For a while now we have been occasionally taking the kids to sushi restaurants, and trying to get them something they will eat. We assumed they would like the rice and avocado as found in the rolls, because they eat both rice and avocado in other situations. However, add a bit of seaweed and they seem to become unappetising. However, we discovered recently that they both like raw salmon, Bluet especially. So last Saturday while on a quest to buy Bluet a jewellery box (just me and Bluet, which was fun as she talked the whole time), we stopped for lunch at the local sushi chain where I bough Bluet her own portion of salmon sashimi, and she ate it all. Here she is mastering chopsticks. And the jewellery box, decorated with stickers all the way from Nana in Missouri.

It was also almost certainly the last day of summer, so some swimming was in order

BLOGSTRAVEGANZA III!

Belatedly we come to the third instalment of our trip to Missouri. Back off the river, I think we spent the next week mainly on the Charleston farm, and were visited by various cousins. And Emily had a slightly early birthday party, which was great fun. Let's see what the photos remind me that we also did,

Ilona successfully blows bubbles

This tractor was Emily's present for her 4th(?) birthday. Still going strong

Bluet decided she wanted a cowgirl hat, so we got her one from boomland

As you can see, the weather was hot and sweaty

Meanwhile, the thing that Ilona wanted most in the world was a backpack, so Nana bought her one, and sewed on velcro so she could fasten it in front, just like Bluet's backpack

We went out for dinner for Sarah's birthday. In a nice local restaurant

Then the cousins from Missouri (Nate and Lila) arrived

Ilona has a new role model

Early morning helping Nate build a playmobil campsite

Meanwhile, Bluet also really really wanted to climb a tree

Learning to ride a trike

Wayne built an adventure playground from an old tree

This is how you hold a cat

Sometimes we played inside with play-doh

Oh, and I took Bluet to see the Minions movie, which she enjoyed, mainly the bits when the minions fall down or do something similarly slapstick.