Life Lately

With our time here in Europe coming to a close it made me stop and think about the chapter ahead. An international move on the horizon for starters along with a slew of other exciting and life changing aspirations 

And it also made me reflect on this past year as well as our years here living abroad. And oh man, it has been one wild, fun, crazy, unpredictable ride. 

For starters, it's the longest Seth and I have ever loved under one roof together consecutively. 

Can you believe that? 

We've been married seven years and this tour overseas was our constant. 

And as funny as it sounds, I think us being stationed apart so much helped us grow to be the strong couple we are today. We spent so much time separated due to us both being in the Air Force and never stationed together until our joint assignment to England that when we were together we cherished it. Because we knew in a few days he'd go back to his house and me to mine.

England meant we were a family under one roof.

It also meant an insane work schedule for both of us. 

Long, 

long, 

long

hours. 

Which meant our kids didn't get a lot of time with us. 

This was one of my biggest challenges. I'm not a career woman at heart. I'm just not. 

I don't desire to be some high-powered exec and work 12 hour days. 

What I long for is to be home with my babies. 

I want to be at home covered in play-doh and helping with science reports. 

And I tried my best while working; I chaperoned countless field trips in uniform, I spent lunch breaks volunteering to read to my youngest's class, I made sure to leave work on time to make it to concerts and plays. I scrambled to make it to drop them off at school dances and practice on time. I tried really hard to still do it all but I never felt like I could be the mom I wanted to be while I was working.

In these last (almost) three years here, we confirmed to each other that when life gets tough we have each other's backs, because at the end of the day who do you have if not your spouse? 

No matter what, we were a team. 

And anything negative we each had to deal with only drew us closer to each other and solidified our bond.

We travelled to countries more beautiful than I ever dreamed they'd be. 

We ate the food, attempted to live as the locals do. 

Our children have seen more cultures in these threes years than most people do in a lifetime.

We've learned to slow down. England has a slower pace of living. 

You can't always be connected to the internet and you can't easily shop at midnight. 

You aren't rushed to finish your meal in a restaurant, and Sundays are for relaxing. For everyone.

I worked long hours outside the home juggling mom and wife roles. 

Then we made the huge decision for me to become a stay at home mom. It's important to me to be in the home with and raise my kids when they are not school-aged yet. It's just what feels right for me. 

When I had Ethan I knew I was meant to be a mom. That it was my purpose.  So when Seth and I decided to have a baby, getting out of the Air Force was the next step. 

Then the babe came along and we fell in love.

We made life plans and they changed. And we were okay with that because if there's one thing I've learned so far in life it's that you just gotta roll with what comes your way.

And I look back on how much our life has changed since getting here. 

I have a high chair and baby toys littering my kitchen floor. 

I no longer have combat boots in my daily wardrobe. 

I turned my hobbies into a business and I get to do it while raising my babies.

We came to England so differently than the way we are leaving. 

England helped bring us to where we are today. 

And it's not where I imagined I'd be, it's even better.  

England was a lot of things to me, if you know me well you know that to be true. 

But mostly, and perhaps most importantly, England was my saving grace. 

Ana and the Middle School Play

Ariana tried out for the school play. 

Don't worry. That's not the look of her being scared of tryouts, that's a picture of her on the tube for the first time into London. Random, though fitting.

Owen and I watched her audition. Correction: I watched, Owen ate chips. 

I was so very proud of her. I wrote her this note and left it for her to read in the morning before heading to school to find out if she landed a role in the play.

Bella,

First, I want to tell you how incredibly proud of you I am. The
bravery and courage it took for you to audition for that play in front
of so many people shows just how amazing you are. I want you to know
that no matter what, you should stand with your head held high
regardless of whether or not you land a part in the play. Second, I
want to tell you that you are one of my heroes. I have few, and you
are one of them. From the time you were in my belly you have had to
overcome obstacles but you are a fighter, you made it, you are here,
you are strong, you are alive. And I believe that one reason you are
so feisty and fearless is because perhaps unconsciously you are taking
every piece of this life and you are making the most of you. You are
being you. And that is a rare thing. A thing to be proud of. I admire
you for that. Lastly, you are beautiful. Inside and out. And you don't
even realize how physically beautiful you are which, to me, makes you
that much more stunning. You are beautiful, and smart, and brave, and
I'm proud to be your mom.

I love you princess,
Mommy

Then she came home and showed me this:

And we celebrated by doing random dance moves in the kitchen. It's how we roll. We're weird. Case in point:

Or evil. Or creepy. Or whatever you gather from the above photo. I dig it. Unless I look at it for longer than five seconds, at which point I get nervous to be alone with myself. And her. I'm sure she'd agree. 

And just to leave things on a less frightening note, take in the photo of my gangsta girl below. She's getting into character. No, seriously, she beat boxes at the end of one scene. What can I say, I make thugs...from scratch.

Bath

Last weekend we went to Bath and Amesbury. Bath has the most impressive architecture I've seen. Not that I'm a world-traveller and have been to every corner of the Earth, but seriously, it was impressive. Case in point:

The night we arrived we celebrated Seth's birthday with dinner. The kids had made him cards earlier in the week so they gave him those as well. Tres sweet

One of our first stops was to No. 1 Royal Crescent. The little two were given a "mission" that guided us through the rooms and asked them questions. It was a super cute way for them to learn about what they were looking at. 

Photography wasn't allowed in most rooms unfortunately, but I did get this photo of Ana putting on every shirt and hat possible. And I had to snap a blurry, but readable photo of the rules of the hall. I'd have been kicked out at number 1...and my children have been known to break number 7, I'll just let you simmer on that for a second...

Abbey towers was nearby. This is where we climbed 212 steps to reach the top. 'Twas entertaining coaxing my little man up the narrow winding steps of the towers. 

There is one point were you walk along a ledge (with a railing, of course) and he. was. petrified. My line to him as of late is, "Buck up, buttercup." For some reason, I come up with cheesy sayings and surprisingly they work on my brood. For instance, when waking them up I say in a sing songy voice, "Wakey wakey, Lemon Cakeeeeey!" And they pop right out of bed. Except the girl. She's the rebel. One day I simple sang, "Wakey, wakey!" Owen rolled over slowly, cracked one eye and said, "You have to say Lemon Cakey, it makes waking up better." So that's my theory on it now, if I cutesy it up, it doesn't seem as harsh and they abide by my request. And by 'they' I mean the boys. So whilst walking along the ledge, rather than saying, "Suck it up and be a man!" I threw out, "Buck up, Butter cup." and he does. And I seem like a better parent. Write that down. Implement it. Then receive a trophy in the mail for Mom of the Year. 

So he found a little courage and got across the ledge, but not without a tight grasp on my hand and leg. When we got to the top he was a bit happier, so I left him with the boyfriend so I could stalk the swimmers a few buildings over.

That's a bad joke. I promise I wasn't stalking anyone, although my telephoto lens did give me a creepily close look at a rooftop pool, the kids pointed out the pool. I thought the swimmers were bonkers because it was a chilly day - that pool was either heated or I was watching the local mental hospital's swim hour. My vote's on the latter.

On the way up we stopped at a few different places on the tower. One was behind the clock face. And I am obsessed with this shot. And it was taken on my iPhone, can you believe that? One of my favorite photos was taken with my phone. I love the silhouette. It's tough to get a good silhouette shot that speaks to me but this one does.

 

Much like this one.

Or this one.

I think maybe one reason I'm obsessed with a good silhouette shot is because they rarely catch my eye. So when they do I'm all up on it.  I love candidness when it comes to photography. Of course I still get a few shots where I say, "Okay! Look at me and smile!" But typically, I like capturing real life in photos. I like capturing people doing what they do, being natural, not staged or posing or waiting for me to count to three. Some of my favorite photos are of Owen's feet, when he's on his tippy toes trying to reach the water fountain at The Arch in Saint Louis. And the one where Ari and Ethan are sitting on the beach and she is whispering something in his ear. Or one where Seth is holding Owen and they are looking out of a window talking to each other about what they see. My favorites are the ones that tell a story. The ones that remind me of a precious moment in our lives that we might have otherwise forgotten. The real ones. The unplanned ones. And that's what silhouette photos are to me - a story. You have to catch that perfect moment to tell a story when much of the photo is black.

We sat and took a break before the trek up the towers and the kids giggled, teased each other, and ran around rather than taking a moment to rest as they were supposed to. And Owen, of course, found me trying to sneak a picture of him while he joked with Daddy. That kid loves a camera, and will find it like a cop dog will sniff out crack. Real talk, son.

I love, love, loved the stain glass windows. My love is probably thanks to my mom, she used to make stain glass when I was younger. I remember her making several pieces and me being amazed at how she did it. I thought of my mom while here, I quietly wished she was there with me in the moment, as I knew she would be able to truly appreciate it and take it all in.

After the towers we explored the city a bit, looked in shops, then we grabbed lunch. 

I don't remember the name of the place we ate at but it was delicious. I had crab cakes and Oh. My. Lord. I'm not exaggerating; food here is delicious. Because they don't just throw shit on a plate and try to get the next customer in. No. Eating here is serious business. There is no such thing as fast food. There are no drive-thrus. When you go out to eat here it is an all day event. You walk in and order a drink. And by drink I mean some sort of alcoholic beverage. What if you go in the morning, you ask? Well you order a mimosa or champagne, of course. No, seriously, you do. Then after you're done with a few drinks and about an hour of socializing you are taken to a different table in some restaurants, in others they simply bring you a menu to the table you are currently at. There you order you food. You order another drink too. When your food comes out you eat. And if you still have some on your plate once you reach a point of being full you don't ask for a to-go box. No. You sit and chat for another hour or so until you have made room to finish your food. Then you finish your food, and by now you've had another drink. After they clear your plates you won't see your waiter or waitress for at least 20 minutes. Because guess what, they are giving you a chance to get hungry again. At this point, they bring you another menu. From this menu you order dessert with either tea or coffee. It comes out and you eat it. Then you sit and chat some more. When you are ready to go you have to wave down your waiter. They give you the bill and you pay for it. Oh, and you don't leave a tip. Do. Not. Leave. A. Tip. Because 1. They will either automatically know you are an American and you don't want that, we claim Canada when at all possible but that's a post for another day or 2. They will think you are hitting on them.
They don't need tips. They don't work for tips. They get paid a normal salary unlike American waitstaff. And that is why their severice is so good - because they aren't trying to get through a million customers to get a million tips. Food here is delicious. And going to dinner/lunch/brunch is a mini-vacay... Horse. Beat.

After lunch Ana and I went to high tea at The Pump Room. It was fucking awesomesauce. We were both so giddy about going to tea. And it was amazing. Expensive, but amazing. 

You should've seen us, we were checking out the other people while trying not to be obvious about it because we had no clue what to do with half the things they gave us. We had a strainer. And a third tea pot of just boiling hot water. We got the hang of it though and it was amazing. And we were stuffed by the end of it because we had just came from lunch and then they gave us more food. Apparently high tea means not only tea but champagne, sconces, cakes, and sandwiches, oh my. 

It was the ultimate tea party. Now I want to make a handful of little girls, get dolled up, and go to high tea with them on a regular basis. Seriously. It was phenomenal. Go there if you are in Bath. Even if you don't have a daughter, just go with your spouse, or even your son to teach him some culture. It was fun stuff.

After tea we left to meet back up with the boys. But it started pouring down rain, so naturally we ran to the church for shelter. Don't judge me, it's what Jesus would've done. Plus it was a stone's throw away. The pope looking guy (I'm going to hell for not knowing his real title) let us in and informed us that mass was starting in 15 minutes. Shit. I didn't come for mass, I thought. I just wanted a break from the rain. But I couldn't tell him that. And then I felt guilty for thinking a curse word. I always feel weird and awkward in churches because I swear a lot and I'm bound to toss out at least a 'damn' during service, at which point I'm convinced my slot in Hell is sealed. I can control myself enough and not let out any F bombs or hardcore shit but simple words like 'shit' or 'damn' just flow out of this mouth of mine naturally and being in a church doens't change that. So of course I wanted to get out of that place STAT, and as I turned to plot my escape whom do mine eyes fall upon? My equally dirty-mouthed counterpart, Seth Nolan. "Great minds," I said to him. Then we were out of there before anyone could say BLESS YOU and toss holy water on us.

By dinner time we were beat and it was time to find food then head back to our hotel. And as usual, my little guy entertained us all at dinner. Tonight's show? The Biggest Paper Airplane in the World. And when we got outside he threw it, it went two inches then nosedived into the footpath.

We also went to Stonehenge. I was a bit worried the kids would think it was boring but in the end I honestly didn't care, because I knew they would eventually appreciate the experience. 

It helped that they give you individual speaker-like-things. Basically it guides you through the tour. So when you get to marker '1' you press the 1 on your device, hold it up to your ear like telephone, and listen to the recording. It's neat because it would say things like...if you look to your left you will see blah blah blah, this was used for blah, blah, blah. It was nice that it was self-guided so you could replay a part you missed or skip parts you weren't interested in. 

I caught this tiny girl taking a photo of her parents. It was adorable because the camera was as big as she was and she was holding up the lens with her knees. I cropped her folks out of the photo since their faces were showing but it was such a sweet sight; the two of them sitting on the ground smiling and their little girl capturing their moment.

Stonehenge was our last stop of the weekend. The quick getaway was a much needed break from reality.

Until our next adventure...