Where in the World are the de Waards?!

It has been too long since my last posting to our family blog.  I guess I will attempt to go back and fill everyone in on what has been going on over here.  I see that the last post was the day before the Olympics began in London.  That is when our August got really interesting.  We did not go back to the U.S. this past summer, but rather took the opportunity to take advantage of all that living in England can offer.  Besides lots of rain and plenty of gray dreary days, we were able to bask in the glow of the Olympic Spirit!  Who can't smile when they are entering the stands to watch an Olympic event; even if it is Sprint Canoe and you have no idea who is competing?!

Here are some photos of the events that we were very lucky to attend.

First we all went to see Team Archery!  Each team has a limited amount of time to get off their nine arrows in a round.  It was a very tight competition yet one where the svelt were not necessarily the best up!  The Italian team looked like they had not cut back on carbs or beer and were running past the competition.  Besides seeing olympic action we were able to get in the doors of one of the most iconic sporting grounds in London: Lord's Cricket Ground.  The Cricket Grounds had been reset for the archery competition.  I con honestly say that after a day at Lord's I still have no idea what a whicket is or why the bowl the ball.  Someday I may attempt to learn cricket but for this day it was all about the bow, the arrow and a target 70 meters away. 

In Trafalgar Square

Our next event was Beach Volleyball.  We saw two men's and two women's matches.  We managed to see a Dutch women's and men's team compete and wore our Orange to cheer them on.  There was a lot of orange in the stands!  Unfortunately it meant that we had to do a lot of explaining to those around us why we couldn't speak Dutch!  It was a great event in another iconic location in London:  Horseguards Parade grounds.  This is just across St. James' Park from Buckingham Palace and you could see the London Eye in the distance.  It was great fun.

One day I took the kids to see Sprint Canoe and Sprint Kayak.  This was held at Eton Dorney which is near the ground of Eton, the school where many royals attend.  I was able to get tickets for a crazy cheap price and the location is only about 20 minutes from our house.  We had no idea who we were routing for but would pick a country in each heat and cheer along with all of those around us.  It is a sport dominated by the Eastern European countries.  Having grown up in a family that canoed, I thought is was a fun event. 

We also managed to catch some Women's Football action (Soccer).  Steve took Katie and Jacob to see a semifinal match which had France against Japan.  Later in the week, the whole family managed to catch the Women's Gold Medal match where we were able to cheer the American women to victory over Japan.  It was very exciting and I really felt bad for the Japanese fans behind us who were crying at the end.  Katie was so amazing; at the end of the match, she turned around, shook their hands and said, "Good game."  I had not even thought to do that.

FINALS!

Katie and I are somewhere under the bottom of the second 2!

 

SEMIFINALS!

Wow, you might think that we are spoiled to have been able to be such a big part of the 2012 Olympics, but we go on!  We actually continued to support the athletes when we went to a 6 a side Paralympic Football match in early September.  This event was held in the Riverside Arena in the Olympic Park.  It was fun to actually get into the Olympic Park and to have lunch at what is for now the largest McDonalds.  Other than having to talk our way back into the Arena to collect the jacket that Jacob left behind, it was a great day.  It was also impressive to see how many people were in the Olympic Park to support the Paralympics.  In the future we may try to catch a wheelchair basketball game.  Or a blind football match. 

London was an amazing host to the Olympics, and Rio has their work cut out for them.  As much as there were warning from March 2012 through the Olympics warning you about possible travel delays on the trains and tubes, we never had one glitch.  They even provided us with train and tube travel cards to get to the events.  The volunteers who were everywhere to point you in the right direction were always happy and helpful.  In addition, the military who came in to help with the security at events were pleasant and it was nice to say thank you to them for all they do to keep us safe.  Great Job London and it's too bad that more people couldn't come to be a part of it all.

What an Amazing Day!!!

I had an Incredible day today and wanted to tell someone about it, so I'm blogging!  On Tuesday, the parents of kids at TASIS in England received an email inviting us to a "Let's Move" event being hosted by Michelle Obama and the US Ambassador in London.  The event was today!  With only a few days to get ready, it was looking like the boys would go to the event without me.

This week Katie took part in a Theater Camp.  The goal of the program was to work on singing, dancing and acting and to pull together a production to be performed on Friday afternoon at 3pm.  The production was Grease and Katie was already casted at Sandy!  As the lead of the play, there was no way that on Wednesday morning she could go in and say she would miss Friday!  A friend was also in the program and it was decided that I would juggle the girls and my friend Anita would take the boys to London to the event.  I had a few ideas to help juggle Friday so I would be able to go to London too.  We had to be in Regent's Park by 9:30am (it takes about an hour and half with all the trains and walking to get there) and would be done by 1:30.  The camp program started at 10am.  We needed a babysitter from 7:30-10:00 who could drive the girls to the program.  Every call I made was a dead end.  I was losing all hope until I called a friend for names of her babysitters.  Her daughter was too young to go to the event and she just offered to help.  I was overjoyed.

At 6am the alarm startled me from a very deep sleep.  After a moment's hesitation, I managed to remember where I was and turn the alarm off.  There were few grumbles from the kids.  They managed to get dressed, eat breakfast and get ready at the door by 7am - 10 minutes early!  I walked the dog and we jumped in the car.  The drive to drop off Katie was uneventful as was the quick drive to park at another friend's house for a walk to the train.  I really LOVE that this expat community is so friendly!  Really, just one year ago I was crying in my wine as we were preparing for our move to England and here I am referring to several friends who keep my life bright and sunny in this generally dismal English countryside. 

Our group was assembled and we were able to actually jump onto a train that left 5 minutes earlier than the one we had planned to take!  With little trouble organizing with the greater TASIS group and then through security, we were on the event grounds by 10am and there was a serious Backyard Party going on!  Nickelodeon was one of the hosts.  NBC Today show had a set up and Al Roker was reporting!  Apollo Ohno was the NBC Sports interviewer walking around and talking to athletes.  There were areas set up for kids to try out sports.  Manchester United had a soccer area.  Hoops for Heroes had a basketball skills area.  USA Track and Field was running relay races and Tug-0-War contests.  There were field hockey and tennis areas as well.  Since Nickelodeon was there, Spongebob was on hand for lots of photos!  The boys really enjoyed the Field Hockey area.  We may have some players there!

Since the event was hosted by Mrs. Obama, she was sure to be on hand as well and we all flocked around her like flies on honey!  It didn't hurt that she was being escorted by David Beckham...eye-candy for all the moms!!!  There was a delegation of olympic embassadors on hand.  I knew that Brandi Chastain would be there and pushed Cameron up to her to sign a photo card for Katie (It was a 4x6 Cheerful Print card from the Creative Memories collection with a wallet sized photo of Katie in her soccer kit...yeah, I'm still a scrapbooking nut!!!  But she has it hanging in her room already!).  I met Bart Conner (gymnast) and Sarah and Emily Hughes (Ice Skaters). 

Apolo Ohno interviewing Dikembe Mutombo

Jacob getting Mutombo's autograph

The Wanted were there to sing a few songs!

David Beckham being interviewed by Al Roker

Brandi Chastain walking in with David Beckham and Dominique Dawes in pink!

Mrs. Obama runs in!

Michelle Obama addresses the group.  Jacob isn't so happy about her comment to turn off the TV and eat healthy foods!

Grant Hill is here too (oh, that's the Ambassador's house inthe background)

Brandi Chastain takes on Mrs. Obama

Brandi Chastain takes on Becks!

Sister Olympians!  Sarah and Emily Hughes! (figure skating)

At the end of the event, Mrs Obama was being interviewed by Al Roker for the Today show and Cameron was right behind them and was aparently on air the whole time!  A few friends in the US and in England (with "sling box" technology) saw him!  Jacob was behind Mrs. Obama when she was being filmed for a few TV spots on Nickelodeon for the DAY OF FUN (which I think is tomorrow).  He is wearing a Captain America T-shirt, so you should watch Nickelodeon and look for him. 

As much as we wanted to hang out and try to shake hands with Michelle Obama, my friend Anita and I realized we really had to get going to be on time to see the girls girls in the summertime production.  We walked swiftly and managed to catch a tube with no trouble to Waterloo station.  (This is important as we have been warned since April that the Underground will be packed and have waits due to capacity crowding during the Olympic Games and today is the real start yet we had no issues at all.  Let's hope that continues.)  In Waterloo, a quick check of the board and there was a train leaving in 3 minutes.  Yes...we RAN!  And we made it!!!  Even got some seats though not together.  Cameron was on my lap and a woman next to me got up from her window seat and moved to a middle seat in the row ahead of us so he could sit.  Then a man across from him gave him an extra popsicle he had!  Cameron declared it to be the best train ever!  We arrived at the school for the performance 15 minutes early...even with a stop for take-out at McDonalds. 

Mrs. Obama was actually asking us to STOP taking photos for the interview time!!

Steve met me to see the show and we were both really impressed with Katie's performance.  I am afraid that our little soccer star will have to choose between the pitch and the stage at some point!  For now she is having lots of fun on both venues.

Summer Lovin'

"You're a Fake and A Phoney Danny Zucko!"

"Tell Me About It Stud!"

Catching Olympic Fever!

It has been a quiet week.  We shipped Jacob off to Boy Scout camp on Saturday morning which might be the reason for the relative calm and peace in our house!  Sunday Katie played in another "football" tournament and her team took second place.  Not as exciting as first, but a well fought trophy nevertheless.

The weather in England is not the summer weather we are accustomed to in the U.S. so the rain and gray skies had me feeling blue rather than seeing blue, so we spent two days at home running errands.  With June flying by and the expected appearance of the sun or at least a hold off on rain for Wednesday, we took the opportunity to head to Legoland in Windsor.  We met up with friends and had fun on the rollercoasters for the morning.  But we had to get home to get ready for a two day outing to Nottingham!

As a good Scout parent, I felt the need to help out with summer camp in some way and going camping for a few nights was not really what I was hoping to do.  Consequently, when the request for drivers to and from camp came through, I jumped at that chance.  On Friday morning, we need to pick up 4 scouts from camp and drive them back to Surrey.  Unfortunately, the camp is 3 hours away from home and I did not fancy getting on the road by 6:30am for the drive up; so we found a hotel not far away in Nottigham that had a pool.  Remember the comments about the weather here! 

Katie, Cameron and I arrived into Nottingham at about 1pm after driving north through the rain and doing our best to avoid hydroplaning up the M1.  Frazzled by the one way streets and the tight spots in the parking garage, I was not excited to hear that the room would not be ready until 3pm.  They saw my panic and took me straight to the pool.  I read and the kids swam for two hours.  I felt bad for the guests trying to actually swim laps! But not that bad.  I was happy to have a chair to just watch.

The excitement was that the Olympic Torch Relay was entering Nottingham that evening!  I had no idea when I had volunteered to pick up the scouts or when we made the reservation.  It appears that there was a bonus for doing a good turn!  The powers that be continued to smile on our altruism by blowing away the clouds and bringing out the sun for the evening celebration.  By the time the kids and I made our way to the Old Market Square there was a blue sky overhead.  We found a spot along the railings just as the crowds were starting to fill in.  We would have to wait two hours for the torch, but the entertainment on the stage and the milkshakes I got the kids for "dinner" would help us through. 

We were rewarded by an amazing view of Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean (Ice Dancing Gold Medal winners 1984) as they ran into the square with the torch and lit the flame on stage.  Even the kids were getting Olympic Fever!

Here are the photos!

Waiting Patiently

Entertainment on the Stage

Keeping us Safe...and in the way for photos!  They moved!

Here come the Olympic Flame!

Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean!

My mother is always surprised how close I get for photos!

Lighting the Flame on Stage!  Party Time!  (or dinner for us...TGI Fridays)

School's Out!

School let out on June 6th for the kids at TASIS England.  The past two weeks have flown by!  The weather has dampened many days, but that is typical for England, so I guess I shouldn't complain.  However, after viewing so many sunny photos of friends back in the U.S. who post happy pictures on Facebook, I actually became a bit depressed by the first weekend with the kids at home.  How was I going to make it through the whole summer?!

End of Year Party

Music Award!

The end of school program at TASIS is a lot like school's back in the U.S.: choral concerts, instruments concerts, class parties, exams, and award ceremonies.  We were lucky to have Steve's parents, Aartje and Klaas, visiting us during some of those big events.  My cousin, Kaitlin, also got a little taste of the performances.  I was very fortunate to get to the Middle School award ceremony where Jacob received the 6th Grade Music Award.  I was thrilled!  The only blemish to that sunny Friday was when later that evening as we were heading out to the car to take Jacob and his two friends to the Middle School Semi-formal mixer, Jacob ended up putting his arm through the window of our front door.  I didn't see it happen, and it sounds like a crazy fluke accident.  Apparently the original glass from the 1960's when the house was built is not safety glass.  Jacob ended up in the emergency room rather than at the dance with his friends, but he will have a scar to always remember the day.  (The NHS doctors glued the wound, which two weeks later is still not healing.  I am thinking it really did need stitches, but what do I know, I'm an accountant.)

Our first big outing for the school holidays was a soccer tournament for Katie.  Her team actually was split in two to enter two girl's teams in the division.  The two teams ended playing each other for 1st and 2nd place!  It was very tough to watch the girls have to play against each other.  Steve missed this tournament because he had to fly to the Netherlands for his Oma's funeral.  As tough a time as I had watching Katie play against her mates, Steve had a much more trying weekend as he said good-bye to his Oma.  She will be truly missed.

Rain over the next few days kept us close to home, only heading to the park to walk the dog.  When we saw that the sun would make an appearance on Wednesday, my friend Anita and I quick rearranged our schedules to get the kids to Chessington World of Adventure, an amusement park not far from us.  The day was perfect: warm, sunny and crowd free!  The British kids are still in school until mid July, so the park was almost empty.  The kids found their favorite roller coaster and went on 12 times!!!  Fortunately for Anita and I, they were all tall enough to ride without an adult with them! 

The BEST rollercoaster!

Friday morning, I picked up our babysitter, Elaine.  She had agreed to come and stay for the weekend so Steve and I could get away to Wales.  Our plan was to climb Mount Snowdon, the tallest peak in Great Britain south of the Scottish Highlands.  The forecast for the weekend was making that plan a bit problematic.  Saturday was set to be a complete rainout and Sunday was looking questionable.  We tried to keep positive.  After a great pub dinner on Friday night and then an amazing breakfast cooked by Tim, the B&B owner, we were ready for an assault on the mountain.  Dressed as best we could for the rain from hats down to waterproof boots, pants and jackets, we made our way over to the base of the mountain trail that we had chosen as our route.  There are several ways to go, and we had actually chosen an easier since it was our first time to the mountain.  As we drove through the valleys of the Snowdonia mountains, we were aware that the rain that was falling as we ate breakfast had not let up but had actually seemed to strengthen.  The roads were lakes in some places and you could see ribbons of white cursing down the sides of the mountains around us as the rain streamed down the rocky slopes.  We laughed out loud at the absurdity of our adventure, but continued to reamin optimistic even as we paid the parking fee and the attendant told us that the steam train was not running because of the weather which included 60mph wind gusts.  Still optimistic, we felt we were properly "kitted out" and we made out way to the base.  Around us you could hear the rushing water of the full river near the road.  There were a few other people who also thought this wasn't the most foolish decision that could ever be made who were on the trail ahead of us and behind us.  The rain continued and dripped off the brim of my baseball cap.  Water just ran down the sleeves of my coat and then dripped from the tips of my fingers.  Steve and I would hesitate and ask each other if we should go on any further.  We kept thinking that the rain had to let up a bit and we could go just a little further.  Unfortunately, after about a mile, the rain had not subsided and we were only getting wetter.  The winds and the overwhelming amount of rain seemed to penetrate our jackets.  After agreeing we were not having fun, we turned and made our way back down.  We didn't let ourselves feel defeated; we were smart to turn back and try again when the climb would be fun and I would actually be able to photograph mountains rather than rain and clouds.  It was also nice to just relax for the afternoon with our books and hot tea to recover.  As we headed out for dinner, we found that there were emergency vehicles in the road that were only just clearing away as a kayaker who had perished in the rough waters had just been retrieved and taken to the morgue while his two buddies had to watch nearby.  It was not a day for high adventure. 

A very full, river

Near our hotel, a rainy walk in a copse of Douglas Fir trees

Sunday morning the sun warmed the conservatory where Tim served us a great breakfast on our final day in Wales.  The weather reports all smiled on us for a chance to attempt Mount Snowdon again.  We packed up our car, stopped to pick up sandwiches for lunch and drove back to the base.  We were wowed by the views before us.  We could actually see the mountains and the roads were dry.  Our smiles broadened.  Our second try was a complete success.  We saw some families and groups making their way along with us.  The trail is well maintained and easy to follow, especially in the glorious sun.  As we made our way the clouds were burning off; however, as we reached the top, the summit was still foggy.  I did turn around as we made our way back down to photograph it out of the clouds.  We made it up and back in exactly four hours, which I think is pretty good for a first attempt.  We were lucky to not have to cajole the kids as we went!  If only our legs weren't so sore for that long drive home!

Photo of the same river on Sunday morning

Snowdon in the clouds behind us

The summit!

After resting on Monday with only an outing to the park with the dog, we had to take advantage of the sun in England.  I piled the kids and the dog into the car and we drove to the beach! I found a beach maintained by the National Trust that allowed dogs, so that's where we headed.  As we got closer, I suddenly found myself in a lane to get on a ferry.  A ferry?!  It was actually a chain link ferry across a small inlet and it was totally fun.  We found the beach and set ourselves up for some relaxing in the sun.  It wasn't warm enough to go in the water, but the kids enjoyed playing at the water's edge and in the sand.  Rupert was not such a good beach dog.  He drank the water (I really tried to stop him, but at 110 pounds, I sometimes lose the tug-o-war game we play) and ended up a bit intestinally challenged (the easiest way I could put it...).  After almost three hours we packed up our things and threw them in the car.  Then we took Rupert on a long walk to help clear him out.  I think that was helpful!  My car is thanking me, I'm sure.  The kids were tired and since it was summer, we found ice cream at the National Trust shop on the beach. 

From there, I wasn't ready to go home.  I didn't tell the kids, but set the GPS (SatNav) for Corfe Castle.  This ruin is managed by the National Trust and allows dogs!  It would be Rupert's first castle!  As we pulled into the parking lot, I heard a lot of negative comments from the back of the mini-van.  I pulled the "I'm the Mom and I want to go!" card and made them all get out and climp up the road to the entrance of the castle.  The village of Corfe is the sweetest little place and I will have to go back and explore it sometime without the dog!  Katie was the only one who actually wanted to see the castle of the three and eagerly took on the kids challenge offered by the guard.  As we entered the grassy outskirts there were a few tents set up and one of them had some dress up clothes.  Before I knew it the boys were deep in battle.  They actually didn't want to go any further!  They were actually having fun!  Don't remind them, they don't like being wrong (I have no idea where they get that trait from).  We did go on and prowl through the ruins.  There were a few school groups on field trips.  The kids liked seeing Rupert!  After the castle we found some cold drinks in the village and made our way back to the road for our two hour ride home...we still had to get Katie to soccer practice by 6:30!  She napped in the car for extra energy.

This morning was the start of another sunny day and a bit of craziness for me!  I had to get Katie to the other side of Surrey to go to Chessington with one of her soccer mates.  Then I had to get the boys to Ascot to meet up with our friends, the Catao's, to see the Queen!  Surprisingly, we managed to all of that driving (even though my fuel light went on as we were on our way to Katie's friend's house) done with time to spare.  I picked up the Catao's and we got to a small parking lot in Ascot from where we walked into Windsor Great park to see the Royal Procession.  The Queen take a carriage ride from the park to the racetrack at Royal Ascot before each day's meeting.  After getting the scoop on where to go, we made our way up the road and found other TASIS friends already picnicing.  We joined them and were not disappointed with our view as the Queen came by about an hour later in her carriage.  Jacob was able to get a great video of the whole thing.  She even waved at us!  Or maybe she was waving at Rupert!  Yep, he saw the Queen too.  After that excitement, we actually headed further into the park for some geocaching.  We found two caches and walked too many miles.  By the time I got Jacob to soccer practice at 6:30, he was complaining that his legs were sore!  Bah!  I climed Mount Snowdon on Sunday and I didn't have sore legs.  Young kids today!