Friday, March 14, 2014

Rainy Days Indoors, Visits, and a Big Birthday

While our friends and family back in America were suffering through yet another month of "polar vortex," here in Wigston we had our own kind of extreme weather activity: incessant heavy rain and hurricane force winds. The meteorologists claim that it has been the wettest winter on record in England. At least you don't need to shovel rain!


When the sun did come out, there were rainbows everywhere. Here's one out our back sun room.

Maya likes what she sees.

Old Pete.


Creations

Playing with legos just "clicked" with Maya this month (no pun intended).  Here she is at her "workshop."


Craig and I also taught her how to watercolor this month. We got a lot of scrap paper out and drew our own scenes, and Maya added the color. She loved it!

The artiste

So serious!


Playing Dress-up

Maya found a couple of baseball hats in the toy box and just knew that it was time for a little dress-up. She put one on my head and one on hers, and then I took a picture.

Switch! Maya wears the big brown hat now.

Sunglasses!
With the hair, the eyewear, and that expression, I'm pretty sure Maya is channeling a little bit of Macy Grey in this picture.

Oops. Almost.

Trip to the New Walk Museum

For us, there is pretty much only one "exhibit" in this museum these days: the kid zone. It has a wheelchair ramp that Maya could, very literally, run up and down for hours. In this picture, I watch as she runs down the ramp.

Me and Maya.

Second only to the ramp is the foam blocks wall. This is no game, there is  no logic to it, but it resonates with kids because they love busyness. You can take the blocks down, put them back, repeat...



Craig's Birthday

For Craig's birthday, Maya and I made him a special request dinner. Baked Macaroni and Cheese with Apple Crumble and Ice Cream dessert. Maya wasn't too sure of the ice cream at first, but once she figured out that it was sweet, she kept asking for more more more.

Maya doesn't care whose birthday it is. She is going to be involved in candle extinguishing if you like it or not.

Luckily Craig was a good sport.

...and we re-lit them so he could blow them out too.


Our Visit with Baby Ben

Our friends Adam and Jess and their five-month-old son Ben took the train up from London, where they were on a short work trip and spent the day with us in Wigston. We had a great fun time just hanging around and exploring the "family zone" of the William Wyggeston pub. (Side note: nothing says "family friendly" like lugging your stroller up a set of stairs and sitting next to a live, roaring fire, but that's the kind of quirkiness and survival-of-the-fittest mentality that is so essentially British). All but one of these pictures I shamelessly stole from Adam and Jess because they take better pictures than I do.

Here he is. So sweet, so smiley!

Ben, Me, Adam


Mini jam sesh. Ben's on the castanets.
A Visit to U. Leicester

Now that we live across town from the University, we don't get to visit very often. It was a treat, then, one Friday when Craig had to go into work for a short meeting, for Maya and me to tag along.  Maya says, "Your swivel chair gets an A plus. So does your computer's wallpaper."