New Year's Eve!

Our neighbors invited us over for a New Year's Eve party and at first we declined, but she said no, we had to come, there would be other families and children and there and we could not miss out on the fireworks at midnight.  Gasp!  Up at midnight with the kids!  I don't think so!  But after talking it over, we decided that we would all take a nap and stay up until midnight seeing that it is New Year's Eve and there would be fireworks!  So after the model village we all had a nap and then we headed over around 8:30 for good food and lot's of fun with friends.  We took the kids games and even our small portable DVD player to let them watch a movie.  It worked out great and everyone had a good time!

Ethan Jay, enjoying his game.

Robert and one of our neighbors, Mel.

Emma Ann enjoying dancing to the music!

Ethan Jay of course loved playing with Scone.

Our hosts, Amber and Andy

Amber and I

The kids found some big kids to play with!

Ethan Jay had the best time trying to get Phil with the party popper!

But, poor Mel was the recipient of it!

Evie Kaye enjoying a yummy frozen banana treat!

Every one out on the Downs waiting for the New Year and the fireworks!

Happy New Year and a sweet kiss from a sweet girl!

Oddly enough though, they don't do a ball drop or a count down here like in the states.  I really missed it and someone just turned around and said, Oh it's here, Happy New Year!

The kids playing tag up on the grass.

And there they are!  I definitely need to learn how to take pictures of fireworks!  Not a single one of mine turned out!

Just after that picture, it started pouring down rain!  The fireworks continued for a minute, but we were all running inside and then straight to bed!

A great year behind us and one full of adventures on our door step.  Can't wait to see what this one has in store for us!  Moving to England was not even on our radar a year ago, and look at us now.  The idea born, wheels put into motion,  the move complete and we have already enjoyed a month and a half in England!  Amazing!

Happy New Year!

Babbacombe Model Village

Apparently there are two things that Babbacombe (the village of sorts that we live in is called) is known for, the Model village and the Cliff Railway.  The railway is a little train (i think, not really sure) that you can take from the beach below to the cliffs on which we live.  The Model Village has dozen's of minature scenes that are typical in England.  There are little villages, famous buildings, area attractions and even some movie scenes.  Really, really cool!  During the winter months they dust the whole model village with snow.  Amazingly enough, they have a crew that use little dust pans and brooms that cleanup all of the snow by hand sometime in January!  I must say, I'm glad that I don't have that job!  Well, we were amazed at everything to see and the kids ran from scene to scene to see what was next.  Most scenes had lights and moving parts and there was even a really cool train that ran through it all!

We found a letter!

Really cool mountain climbers!

I loved the gardens with people even tending them!

There was a fish pond with the hungriest fish I have ever seen!

Of course there was a football field, what that doesn't look like football, well not to Americans!

Ethan Jay enjoying the snow!  Well it wasn't real snow, but every 15 minutes or so, snow would fall down over the village, pretty neat!

And a fire breathing dragon at the castle, AWESOME!

They also had a skiing and sledding area set up.  The kids all came down the "slopes" on little sleds.  They had a blast!

We also got to watch a short 3-D movie about Santa and his reindeer which we all loved and enjoyed a yummy lunch in their cafe!  What a great day and can't wait to come back for their Easter Egg Hunt in the spring, i've heard it's amazing!

Oh My!

Yep, this is how I found Emma Ann!  She thought it was hilarious and I didn't have to think very long about who loves tape this much in our house, any guesses, yep, that would be my Ethan Jay!  Oh the imagination and craziness of these little ones!

And do you see our sofa in the corner of the photo.  When our things showed up we noticed that the tops of two of our cushions were all cracked.  A few days later the peeling started and it just keeps getting bigger and bigger.  Gotta Love it!   I guess that what happens when your leather sofa sits in storage and then crosses the ocean in wooden crates for two months.

Mad Marley's

There is a pub just up the hill from our house that put in a play place for the kids.  The best thing is that as long as you order something (even just a coke) the kids can play for free!!!!  Our neighbors invited to go along with them and we were glad to have something for the kids to do indoors.  I had been quite sick for a few days with a cold and it did me good to actually take a bath and put on real people clothes!      The kids had already eaten lunch so Robert and I did enjoy a burger while we watched the kids play.  They loved it and it sure did fit the bill for letting them get some energy out!  Also there were only one other family in there that left shortly after we got there so we had the whole place to ourselves!

I heard Evie Kaye kind of whining and went to go see what was going on and found Ethan Jay helping her up over the wall.  She couldn't quite get over it by herself but with big brother anything is possible! It was so sweet, he waited for her and threw her up over that wall every time!  

Sweet Jayce!

Robert on the whirly twirly!

And of course everyone else needed a ride too and ALL loved it!

Emma Ann was hilarious! She went round and round and was going soooo fast!  I told Robert to slow down and just as I said it this poor little girl came flying off and across the play area.  Good thing it's padded!

Ethan Jay's Car

Ethan Jay had a great time putting his car together and decorating it.  I tried to give him some paint to use, but markers he said was what he wanted!  He diligently worked on it for quite some time until he had it just right and then asked if he could take a picture of it.  I didn't know just how many he had in mind though!

Notice the tape on the back fender.  Of course, ever car needs tape, well at least Ethan Jay's cars need tape!  The boy loves tape!

Yep, 12 pictures of his car.  He must be proud!!!

Oh, and his cup tower.  Pretty impressive, I must say.  Is that all you see in this photo though, to the trained eye of a Mommy it is 11 dirty cups to wash!!! Oh well, he had fun with this for 30 minutes!