Isaac's 8th birthday

My middle one celebrated his birthday last weekend.  His birthday fell on a friday.  His presents were not as numerous as they were in the States, though he did not seem to notice or care. 

Isaac is difficult, yet easy to buy for.  He likes pretty much everything, and didn't give us much of an idea of what he wanted, other than Lego

I think he was pleased with what we got him.  He had a 'Secret Life of Pets' birthday cake from Tesco (big supermarket chain).

It wasn't the best of cakes.  Lesson learned.

Isaac had initially wanted a birthday party, but luckily for us he changed his mind about a month ago. When we discovered there was a Lego store opening in Leicester Square, London, we thought about going, especially as that was what hew wanted for his birthday.  So I started investigating.

Trains are always a good experience for boys, and there are plenty of train stations in the UK.  But there are 5 of us, and travelling to London and around London can be expensive on public transport.  But it beats sitting in traffic.  I came across this Friends and Family Railcard.  Using this, you can get up to a third off train fares.  I was able to use my Tesco Clubcard Points to purchase the rail card at 50% off (Note to US friends: Tesco Clubcard points are a bit like Bi Lo fuel perks, except you can use them in many different ways, not just on fuel.  For every pound you spend in the grocery store, you get 1 point.  These accumulate, and then different organisations offer different schemes to redeem your points).  We were able to get 5 train tickets, plus one day travel cards for each of us for 60 pounds.  Thats 12 each! A one day travel card gives you unlimited travel on the underground all day too.  The card is valid for a year, so I can see a few more trips to London occurring. 

Isaac wanted to go to the Imperial War Museum (IWM).  Paul and I went pre-kids and we were a little uncertain, but went for it anyway.  We got the train to Victoria, then the underground across to Waterloo, then walked the short distance to the museum.

The IWM had a refit in 2014, so was completely different from what we remember.  It is over 4 floors, with a large central atrium. Typically, It covers World War 2, World War 2 and lots of other, more recent conflicts.

The museum is free to get in, though you can give a donation if you wish.  It was really interesting going over the levels.  They had members of staff giving talks in very places, but ours are still a little young to stand and listen.

The IWM is definitely worth a visit.  Paul and I would like to go back again in the future to actually take our time.  We didn't take the kids to the Holocaust area.  We are not sure they would understand (or behave).  In the future, we will.  It is important for them to learn about.

From the IWM we walked towards the London Eye, in search of some lunch. I spotted a row of restaurants nestled by London County Hall, near the river.  Fortunately, they all seemed to hav loads of kids in them.  We chose Troia restaurant.  Very glad we did.  A Mediterranean style restaurant, they had mini chairs and tables for everyone. The service was, good, customers were coming and going constantly.  It was a very busy saturday lunchtime! The food was delicious.  The boys had nuggets and burgers from the kids menu.  Paul and I indulged in kebab style meals.  It was a great little stop, I would highly recommend to anyone passing by. 

Next stop: The Coca Cola London Eye. Again, planning in advance I was able to use the Clubcard vouchers again.  Per person, I used a 2.50 voucher, then paid 10 per person, so effectively we rode the London Eye for half price.  We booked our flight tickets for 2.30pm. 

We arrived about 1.45, and a good job we were early.  The queue was a good size, though it was moving.  We to into our pod about 2.20

This was an awesome experience.  Paul is not the best with heights, so spent the first half sitting in the middle.  Towards the top he got brave, and started venturing nearer the edge. We were lucky to have a beautiful semi cloudy day, so we were able to see for miles.  The pods have helpful screens in them which you can use to find land marks 

The pods could do with a little bit of a clean.  From the Eye, we got the tube to Leicester Square.  That was busy.  Getting out of the tube station was crazy, super, super busy.  Keeping track of 3 boys was tricky, but at least we did it with our wallets intact too.  We headed towards the Lego store.  Then we saw the queue. They had been open 5 days, it was Leicester Square, there were going to be queues. But we joined the queue.  We had to wait about 30 minutes.  I think it was worth it.  The boys were able to pick something each.  It was very busy, but the staff were very helpful.  We had a quick look in the Nickelodeon store, but it was no way as good!

Then it was time to head back for our train.  We had a good 90 minutes before our schedule train back to the coast.  We got to Victoria, looked at the departure boards, and noticed there was one leaving in 5 minutes.  So we ran for it.  And made it.  The train was really busy, but we were able to all get seats after about 4 stops.

It was a great day out.  Everything ran really smoothly.  The boys were really well behaved.  It is good to know we can do London with the boys. I look forward to doing it again (and I don't even like London!)

Bad blogger

Ok, so I may be the worst blogger ever.  I seem to have forgotten how to do it.  That's not strictly true. I have found a new hobby / passion, and I don't feel like I have much to say at the moment.  But it has been nearly a month, so I thought I best get things up to date with what we have been doing.

                                

We took a trip to the zoo at the beginning of the month.  It was cold, hence Sebastian's attire.  Our membership expired at the end of the month.  We will not be renewing it I don't think.  We only have 5 months left, so it may not be worth it, especially as everyone is in school or work full time, and we have so much more to see and do befor we go.

I took a little trip down to Blythwood on the out skirts of Columbia.  It is about 90 minutes away.  There was a Zumba Glo party being held there.  The instructor was a lady called Lo.  She is a bit of a YouTube sensation, and loads of my instructor friends had recommended her

                               

I really enjoyed my self! It was almost like being in a night club, and was almost better, as no one knew me.  I really enjoyed getting some different choreography and hearing some different Zumba songs.  Zumba has been running for so long now, there are so many song and choreo choices.  I need to get as much experience from different instructors as I can before I head back to the UK and try and start teaching.  Speaking of which, I am doing Zumba Toning training next month.  I am very excited! 

Isaac was invited to a birthday party at Monkey Joes.  It wasn't an official party as such, the birthday boys parents paid Isaac in. The rest of us chose to go anyway.  Glad we did.  Out of the whole class, only Isaac and one other boy showed up.  It did remind us how awful monkey joes is.  The place was ridiculously busy, people everywhere.

                               

That same weekend was the South Carolina International Auto Show at the TD convention centre.  Not quite sure what made it international, maybe it was the Toyotas...... Anyway, they had family day on the Sunday, where the kids got in free. 

The boys had a great time trying out all the cars.  They weren't the only ones.  It was nice to be able to give them free for all on cars. It very rarely happens.

We took Isaacs training wheels / stabilizers off his bike.  He is finally down to 2 wheels.  Typically he took to it like a duck to water.  He was even slowing down and crashing off on purpose.  I just hope he has the confidence next time he gets on his bike

                               

Sebastian turned 5 this month.  He is not a baby or even a toddler anymore.  He had a good day, got most of the presents he wanted and enjoyed himself.  We went out for dinner at Chuckee Cheese (his choice). Because it was a Monday, it was lovely and quiet! He then had a delicious cake.

I can't believe he is 5.  He is turning into a proper little boy. His speech has come on leaps and bounds, and he has a lovely little personality.  He is a social monkey, who loves making people laugh, though his brothers wind him up something terrible! He is still in speech therapy, and it has helped a lot.  We have stopped the occupational therapy for now.  Insurance decided they weren't going to pay for it, so we got left with a very big bill.  We paid it, and are currently arguing the toss with them about reimbursing us / paying for more.  They need a diagnosis.  Both Isaac and Seb are down to be assessed by the behavioral psychologists, then they may have a diagnosis, but may not? We will have to wait and see.....

Isaac has had kindness week at school this week.  He wanted to walk the neighbors dog

                                 

The boys so badly want a dog.  It is a very firm NO. It's hard enough being responsible for these 3, and they can toilet themselves.....

That's pretty much it for the month. We had an ice / snow storm, the kids were off for a Friday and Monday.  They really didn't need the Monday..... I am doing a course on teaching English as a second language online.  It is going well...... I have made some drastic changes to my diet by going low carb.  I aim to eat no more than 50 grams of carbs a day.  That's about the same as what is in a sandwich.  I don't always succeed.  Eating out still gets me, but a lot of the time I am less than 100grams, and that is with eating out.  If I am at home, 50 grams on average a day.  That's is good for me.  It has made a big difference in my insulin use.  I have a diabetic appointment in 2 weeks, so watch this space.

My hobby / love at the moment is crafting. Crafts can be anything, but right now it is bead embroidery.  I love it!  Check out this I made recently

                  

In case you missed it, we have set up a little etsy shop.  Check it out here.  It has all the social media to go with it too: Facebook page, Twitter and Instagram.  Please find them and follow

That takes most of my time at the moment.  I would love to be able to work for myself eventually, with the crafting and the Zumba, and bring in enough to cover supplies/cost and groceries for the month.

That's my goal for this year 

General catch up, Oliver is 9

Ok, so this is going to be more of a photo drop than anything else.  It's been a while.....

Here are 3 monkeys looking lovely in their 80 cent hats.  Yes, 80 cents.  Thats about 50 pence in English terms.  They are Angry Bird Star Wars baseball caps, and brand spanking new.  Thanks K-Mart!

The fair came to Heritage Park in Simpsonville. It was there for like 10 days.  Of course, the boys wanted to go.  They had special offers running pretty much every day, but we didn't really take any notice of them.  We chose to go one saturday morning, just as it opened.  We were fortunate, all the rides were FREE for the first hour. Couldn't have done that any better.... What could have been exceedingly expensive ended up being really good value.  Typically Isaac wanted to feed the butterflies, and that cost money ($4 for him and me), but he loved it.

The pool opened a couple of weekends ago, hurrah!!!!  We have already had Isaac swimming without his armbands.  Think he surprised himself as to how well he did.  Sebastian also wanted to try.  He sank a lot, but we gave him an A* for his efforts.  He has been having swimming lessons 2 times a week, which he loves.  Not sure his teacher does though..... We have not been given a form for re enrollment.  Wonder if it has got something to do with him wanting to jump in consistently.....

Look at my adorable boys.  Their school has been clearing out all their bookstore clothing, so I managed to pick these t-shirts up for $5 each.  So lovely.  Ignore the fact thats this posing session turned into a fight 20 seconds later....

Oliver has been in a school play! Isaac got to see it in the day, and I went a long in the evening.  He had to audition and everything.  He ended up being chosen to play a Furman football (Thats a college American Football team, for those in Europe) fan, and had lines too!  He did very well.  The play was entitled 'A Salute to South Caroliona' and was very informative to an outsider like me, I would highly recommend it!

It was Oliver's birthday on saturday just gone.  Can't believe he is 9..... So scary, and so big.  We were initially going to throw him a party, but his ENT doc said no to bouncing, so that idea went out of the window.  But we wanted to do something.  Last year we went to the NASCAR Hall of Fame.  He wanted to do that again, but we said no.  There is a local NASCAR race on at Charlotte over his birthday weekend, but it was the Coca-Cola 600, a 4 hour evening race. The younger 2 just wouldn't have had the stamina.  Instead, we decided to go to the NASCAR Xfinity series race.  This is the second tier of the NASCAR sport, and has many up and coming drivers, plus a few of the pros take part too.  It was in the afternoon, and was called the Hisense 300. It was even on the day of his birthday, and half the distance of the full race.  

Because it was a full racing weekend at Charlotte, NASCAR had set up camp.  The fan zone out the front was tremendous, and because it was the Xfinity race, the crowds were less, and there was a more laid back environment.  The seats cost us less also, and were pretty good, on the start finish straight.

Because I am the best mum ever, I emailed Charlotte Motor Speedway and informed them it was my sons birthday.  During the race they text me to ask where we were sitting.  They managed to get the people behind us on the big screen.  They then asked who his favorite driver was.  Unfortunately he picked a Sprint driver, not an Xfinity driver!!! Not to worry though, as they came and presented him with an American Football.  So awesome!!!

We all really enjoyed the day.  The seats started in the sun, then went into the shade which helped a lot.  Charlotte is an awesome speedway.

We travelled home, and enjoyed some cake.  The rest of Memorial Day weekend was spent relaxing.  We are fortunate to have our kids birthdays fall over American holidays.  Isaacs is the day before Thanksgiving this year, and Seb's fell on Martin Luthur King Day!

Now the fun begins..... I wanted to get this done now, as Oliver and Isaac have a half day tomorrow, and then they are done for the summer.  Yes that's right, for the SUMMER.....

Luckily we are going away this weekend, and again in July, and hopefully in August.  They have 3 weeks of camp each too, though those are half days and 1 week of full days.  They are in for lots of fun with all the school work and chores I have planned.  I am going to let them get as bored as possible, so they relish the thought of going back to school next year....Their orientation for 1st and 4th grade respectively is 21st August. 

Only 86 days to go.......

Wasn't meant to be a photo drop

So I am now the proud (!!!) parent of an eight year old.  Oliver had a good birthday, with a trip to Frankie's Fun Park, where he and Isaac raced each other in the go karts.  Isaac could barely see over the steering wheel, bless him.  We had dinner there also, which was very nice.

Here is Oliver with his cake.  I may have ordered one that was slightly too big....

Saturday morning we went to Cars and Coffee up at the Michelin headquarters on Pelham Road.  This is only the second one we have been to, they are on every month.  The boys loved it, and there was even a Ferrari, which Seb had kittens over.  It is one of his new words, except he calls it a 'errari'.  Thanks mum for the t-shirt, Oliver loves it.

We had a BBQ on Sunday, or as it was known in this house, race day.  What with the Monaco Grand Prix in the morning, the Indy 500 in the afternoon and the Nascar Charlotte race in the evening, there was no shortage of racing (I have 3 car mad boys, when is there ever a shortage of racing?!?).  We attempted ribs on the BBQ for the first time, and they were delicious.  Definitely something we will do again.

It was Memorial day Monday, which meant everyone was off.  We were able to see the hot air balloons from Aloft fly over the house every morning, which was lovely.  one day we will make that event, but at $20 each, it is not cheap, then there is the additional costs.... Maybe one day!

Instead, Oliver built his Millenium Falcon.  I was surprised how quickly he did it, it is a very complex set.  We got him some Technic Lego also, to possibly prepare him for the next step in his Lego career.

Another of Oliver's presents was a slot car set.  Scalectrix brand is not really rated over here, and difficult to get, so Paul found a Nascar Carrera set for a bargain price from a local independant toy store, OP Taylor's in Greenville.  This is the set Oliver got.  He then found a slightly different set on Craigslist even cheaper, from an expat who is on the move, so we ended up with that too.  Works well though, as the boys are able to have epic tracks.  Paul has download a track design app, so he is having great fun too!

Tuesday afternoon Seb and I spent some quality time at the pool.  I realized it would be our last afternoon just the 2 of us for about 12 weeks.  This photo was taken about 5 minutes before he toppled over from the same pose, and went head first under the water.  Didn't phase him, he just got out and jumped in again.  We are loving the pool this year, especially as it has now got really hot and humid.

Today was Oliver's beach day at school.  A half day, followed by another half day tomorrow, then he is done till the end of August.  Isaac chose to wear a shirt also today.  He now picks his own clothes in the morning.  He has some firm favorites, and some interesting combination.

Isaac has been having a hard time at school the last couple of weeks.  He is very emotional when things don't go as he expects, and is lashing out a lot.  Not sure what we are going to do about it yet, I have his conference in about 10 days time, so I will get a good chance to chat to his teacher then.  He is like it at home, but I have a feeling he may be getting bored/growing out of the Montessori way of learning.  We will see....

Thank you auntie Jen for Oliver's sticker album, he loves it. He has even managed to figure out how to do the stickers on his own.  If anyone has any Panini World Cup stickers spare/swaps, let me know and I will give you our address!  We already have some swaps from the many packets Jen sent!

Last but not least, I got my car back today after the deer incident.  Paul reckons the rear quater panel looks a bit different than it should but I can't tell.....I am just glad to have it back in time for our trip.  I will keep using the mini this week, then swap back to the X5.  I have missed my heads up display....

Obviously, the summer holidays are upon us, I hope to do a blog post in the next few days about what our rough plans are...…

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