This summer I am...

This weeks question from Katie:


Are you already making plans for summer? Do you have any great trips planned or special events to attend? What will your kids be doing over the summer?


We are happily going to the States to visit my family in June for.  We are flying from Bradford to Amsterdam and then Amsterdam to Seattle.  This is the best way to go with a baby because you don't have to go through customs when you connect in the middle of the U.S.  I hate having to pick up my bags, go through customs and then re-check the bags.  Too much hassle.  So we are going to be on the plane for 10 hours.  Luckily the Sprout has his own seat.  Although this was expensive (70% of the adult ticket), it will be worth it.


When we are in the States, we will be going camping with my dad and then attending a family reunion/memorial service for my great aunt who died in November (I think it was November).  I haven't decided if Richard and I will be going on a mini vacation without the Sprout.  We will see.

My favourite room

Project Blog: Question Two.

What is your favorite part of your home and why?  Interpret as you may- it could be your favorite room or a piece of furniture or a feature of your actual house.  

There are so many areas of my house that I really like.  Our kitchen/dinning room somehow feels like you have cut yourself off from the rest of the world because it is at the back of the house.  The square footage is the same as Richard and my first apartment in Bradford.  And the lighting is so nice.  It also has a beautiful view of the back yard and park.

Dining room

View from the dining room

I also love our spare room.  Because it is also at the back of the house, it is quiet and has the awesome view.  I also love the blue that we painted it.

Spare room, which doubles as the computer room.

View from the spare room

But my all time favourite room in the house is my Sprout's room.  I love the walls.  It is so calming and it is the only room that isn't shared with our neighbour's.  I wish the room was in the back of the house and it had a bigger window, but I do love that room.

Now that it is being Spring and almost Summer like outside, I have to say my favourite place in my house is our back garden.  I love it.  It's only downfall is that 3 houses have a view of what we are doing, so we  are thinking of some hedges at the bottom.  Also when the neighbours are outside, I feel as if we should all be doing something together, I at least feel the need to acknowledge their presence.  But other than that, I love it.  It is big and gets tons of sun.  I love that I can watch the Sprout from the house.  I love that because the park is next to it and there are no roads, it is quiet and you hear birds chirping.  I also love the grass and that my cat has a real boundary.

Where would I go?

I will bite and wrote about the Project Blog question of the week.

Project Blog: Question One.

Where would you chose to live if you had to leave this country?

Well let's just get this out of the way...we all know that if I am getting out of England, I am going home to the US, but let's just say that I don't have to worry about American family or English family and I am just leaving it all behind.  It is really hard to choose a country that I haven't been too.  I have so many romantic ideas of places like Thiland and Spain, So really I am limited to places I have been...Holland, Australia, Antigua/Barbuda, Ireland, Scotland and Canada.  

I really loved Antigua and I wasn't there for a holiday either.  I was working hard on the beach digging up a skeleton.  Gotta love the laid back "Island time" and the fact that their money is worth less than ours.  So if I wanted to treat the rest of my life as an island getaway, I would go with the Caribbean.

 These were taken in 2001 way before I had a digital camera, 

so these were all scanned in.  

This is of 2 ft bay in Barbuda, where we found the skeleton I was excavating.

This is the terrain inside the island.  

Wonderful tropical desert, that is the only way to describe it.

 However, if I wanted to pick up sticks to start again, I would go with Australia.  Many English people have a thing for Australia, and I know why.  The people are so friendly and, like the States, they have all of the climates you could ask for, sun, surf, desert, jungle and they have winters in the southern end.

My brother and I in Sidney 2003 (we were having a better time than it looks). 

Bondi Beach

 These were the only pictures I had scanned on my computer of Australia. 

 I have tons of animal pictures spread throughout the house.