Solar Eclipse

On Friday, March 20th we were lucky enough to witness a great solar eclipse. Here's Maya, taking a look outside before the eclipse starts. Maya is excited about the "e-kwipse" because the sun plays peek-a-boo.

Here I am in our sunroom watching the eclipse with the pinhole shadowbox Maya and I built.

Pictures of the eclipse as it looked through the shadow box. The total eclipse (full darkness) only hit the UK in northern Scotland. In Wigston we got a near-total eclipse, which means that a little crescent of the sun was still visible during the eclipse. 

Pictures of the eclipse as it looked in the sky. The sun is shrinking! It got very dark.

Maya and I were inspired by the shadow box, so we made our own shadows in the sunroom wall.
Oh yeah, I just remembered why I don't wear dangling earrings any more. 

 Around the House

It took almost a month for the birds in our back yard to find our new bird feeder. I was so excited to spot a little bird at the feeder one morning that I shot this photo. Proof! 

My other birdie. Bath time "howl."

Maya and Me

I was doing a little spring cleaning and I found Maya's temporary tattoos. I put a little star on her leg just like Daddy has.  

Then we took it one step further and dressed up completely like Daddy.

We found her Halloween costume too. Super Maya (sometimes a witch) is still going strong around our house these days.

The Slow Thaw

Snow!

We got our first snowfall in two years during February. It snowed and snowed, four times in a week, just like our American family and friends! The only difference was that our snowfall looked like this, and melted by noontime:

Craig's Birthday

Craig's birthday was on the 5th. He and Maya blow out the candles on his birthday cake.

Foxton Locks

The sun has come out but the air is still bitterly cold. The canal is nearly frozen over. Some of the canal boats have signs on them: Stopped Due to Ice.

The countryside looks very green

Maya wants to walk on her own.

Someone was gliding around in the sky with some sort of parachute and what sounded a lot like a leaf blower keeping it airborne. Can you see it?

Craig and Maya at the locks

Valentine's Day

It's hard keeping the cabin fever at bay in February. Luckily Valentine's Day came around so we had an excuse for arts and crafts. Maya and painted and cut hearts and strung up our work all over the house. You can see some of our handiwork in these pictures.

Maya and Craig

Maya and Me

Mardi Gras (Pancake Day)

As I've probably mentioned before, British folks eat Pancakes on Mardi Gras as a pre-Lent egg binge. Maya and I decided to celebrate with an afternoon pancake snack.

Yum!

That's right, forget the for and just shove it in with your hands.

Maya the Patchwork Elephant

It was Elmer the Patchwork Elephant month at the library and the capstone event was a colorful elephant parade for the kids. Maya  dressed up like Elmer and marched all over the library blowing a party noise maker. Here's her costume.

Thaw

The cold, frosty rain is starting to clear up. The sun is out every once in a while. Spring must be on it's way!

Cold Weather Fun

Christmas in England

Just like last year we took a long Christmas Eve flight back to the USA so we could spend the holiday with our families. This time we got bumped to an early morning flight out of London (which was good), requiring us to leave the house at 4 in the morning (not so good). We decided to do a little celebration at home a couple days before Christmas for English Santa. 

I had a feeling that Maya was going to eat Santa's cookies, so we set him out just an old carrot for the reindeer and some water. Clearly I underestimated Maya.

She drank up all the water and then ate the carrot. Better luck next year, Santa and company.

Alas, Santa came anyway. He doesn't hold a grudge.

Play food and a tea set!

At the airport the airline gave us all Santa hats. Here's Maya and me sharing a cup of peppermint tea at the airport.

Christmas Day

Maya climbing the stairs at my mom's house. She's wearing a dress that my grandmother made me when I was little. Still looking good!

Brenton and Sarah wearing the Santa hats.

Peek-a-boo! Maya's new pop-up playhouse. 

A moment of down time with the Christmas dog.  

Dinner at my mom's house. Reading riddles.

Bird head. 

Mom and me.

Feeding the Ducks

Mallards at the Mill Yard in Amesbury. 

Time to feed the ducks.

Tossing some bread.

Artistic day out with the Metcalf family

It was cold out while we were home. Actually, it was so cold that one day the schools were closed just because of the temperature. Needless to say we all were getting a little cabin fever, so we got together with my friend Christine and her kids to play at dress-up place called "Imagination Station." Here's firefighter Maya - taking her job very seriously.

The fashion show begins.

Lady bug.

Princess Grayson.

Three pirates.

Seacoast Science Center

First we got cabin fever, then we got real fevers. Between the three of us, we were sick in bed for over a week. Luckily Sarah came to visit and cheered us up with a trip to the Seacoast Science Center. Here's Maya and Sarah in the whale tail.

Maya's favorite part of the whole museum was fishing off the side of the boat with a magnetic hook. 

Here's a video of us fishing.

Caught one! Is that a striper?

Craig's getting into it.

Beautiful skies over the New Hampshire shoreline.

Sarah takes a spin in the underwater research station.

Maya pilots a submarine in the fishtanks.

Children's Museum of New Hampshire

Maya and I played with this big pin frame. You push the pins on one side of the frame and  you can see the impression of your hands on the other side of the farm. In this picture you can see her hand prints over and over on the frame (and my arm print).

Maya really like hanging out in the submarine. Cue the "Life Aquatic" soundtrack. 

Birthday Bowl-a-thon

Group photo from the back, Me, Kate, Sarah, Colleen, Mom, and Maya

They look serious, but don't be fooled. There was a lot of cheating and fudging numbers going on a this score table.

Goofballs.

Vogue.

Blooper reel.

Back Yard Birdwatching

Back in Wigston, we took part of a national back yard birdwatch and cataloged all the birds we saw out the window over one Saturday morning. Maya helped me log the birds on my computer.

There's one!

Here are some more. Can you see them?

Here's our grand total: 6 bird species. Not bad!