Caden's 6th Birthday Party at Summit Gymnastics

 

Ready for some games

In the foam pit with cousin Wyatt

Little Ethan climbing out

Even Daddy is in the pit!

Bubba and Patty are having a baby!

It was an Angry Birds extravaganza!

Blowing out the candles!

Present time

Ready for soccer season!

Karlynn isn't even on a team this year, but she is ready for soccer season.  She has worn one of Caden's old uniforms two days in a row!  Keeping her off the field this summer is going to be tough!

Meanwhile, back at home...

Building Lincoln Logs

Lunch at Beaver Street Brewery

Fishing

Bubble baths in the kitchen sink!

Being cute and getting a new bike out of it.

Baking with Nana

Catching baseballs at a Diamondbacks game!

Celebrating 10 Years: The Last Day

On our last day, we decided to return our rental car and take the train back out to London for the day. We spent a good bit of time strolling and lunching in China Town...

 

 

After some more walking, we went to see "After Earth" (Jake's request... it was better than I had anticipated) at one of the large theatres in Leicester Square.  Many movie premieres take place in these theatres and they are HUGE!  We snacked on sweet popcorn (one of my favorites treats in British cinemas) -- yum yum!

 

See how big!?!

 

We had dinner at Hard Rock again. This time it was a lot more enjoyable since I was not sick and we were no longer jetlag! After dinner we took the train back to Weybridge to pack and get a good night's sleep before our 26 hour journey back home! We had such a wonderful time, but we were SO ready to get home and see our kiddos again!

 

 





 

Celebrating 10 Years: Day 6, Part II

After walking back from the edge of the Thames, we strolled through the shopping area of Walton a little bit more. I couldn't believe the new buildings. Everything had been rebuilt and modernized. We popped into Sainbury's for a minute. Looking at all the British grocery brands took me down memory lane yet again. Jake was so patient with me and my state of "memory-overload".

 

That evening we ate dinner and enjoyed a couple complimentary drinks at the hotel bar. We even tried out the hot tub, which ended up being a horrible idea -- it was cold! At least the beer was good!

 

Celebrating 10 Years: Day 6, Part I

Today we spent the majority of our time in Walton-on-Thames.  Even though my house was in Weybridge during HS, downtown Walton was only about 5 minutes away.  We went to lunch at what is probably my family's favorite restaurant anywhere in the world, Zio's (used to be Zio Toto until they moved across the street to a new location a few years ago).

The road between Hilton Cobham and the Weybridge/Walton area.  This road has lots of memories for me and is super fun to drive on (it actually has seven hills!).

Zio's Menu

Spaghetti Boscaiola!  Jake ate it in honor of my dad.  He absolutely loved it!

Zio Toto's old location... spent a lot of time there in the 90s!

Zio's new location across the street.  The building used to be a pub.

High Street in Walton-on-Thames

We walked down to the Thames for a stroll.  Lots of swans!

So beautiful!  It started to rain on us not long after this, so we headed back towards our car.

Celebrating 10 Years: Day 5, Part III

We ended the day with driving to Esher and going to one of my most favorite Chinese restaurant on the planet, Good Earth.  :)

Eating prawn crackers.  Why don't they serve these in American Chinese restaurants?  They are super yummy!

Fried Seaweed.  Incredibly delicious!  Again, why don't we have this in American Chinese restaurants?

 

Taking some selfies...

Another one

Hey, look, we are in the mirror! ;-)
 

We ended the meal with fried bananas.  Tasted exactly the same more than a decade later!  Yummmm!!!

Celebrating 10 Years: Day 5, Part II

After lunch we ventured into Cobham and stopped by my old school... what used to be the American Community School of Cobham, but is now officially called "International" (which, of course, it always was anyway).  It was completely surreal to be back on campus and to share memories with Jake.  If it wouldn't have bored my poor husband silly, I could have sat on campus for hours just soaking it all in.

Middle School on left, High School on right

Celebration Fountation which was built while I was a student

Note on Senior Lounge door.  Some things don't change!

Outside of the "Cafetorium"

The old gym

Dormitory

Pool inside the new sport center that was built after I graduated.  **Insert jealousy here**