Sammie in Austria

You know how some people take little gnomes around on their travels, and photograph them in all different places? Well, I feel like Sammie was our little gnome in Vienna -- getting her picture taken all over the place, just because she's as cute as the architecture is fascinating. Well, here's Vienna, from Sammie's view...
Sam thought the bus ride was the best thing she'd ever seen. How exciting to be up on Mom and Dad's lap, instead of strapped into her carseat! Even though she'd been up since 3 a.m., she had no thoughts of sleep, but preferred banging against the window the entire drive from the airport.

Our first site-seeing expedition was Belvedere Palace. Lovely grounds and nice architecture, though the inside is a little worn. They've turned it into an art museum, which was quite interesting.

A tour of the Opera House was one of our Saturday activities. Sammie loved the balcony seats -- first tried to eat them, then tried to scoot over the balcony edge, silly girl!

The spectacular church in the background is Stephansdom Cathedral. We went inside, but managed to miss the times to go up the tower and view the city.

I think Sammie really enjoyed the marketplace. It was noisy enough for her to feel very comfortable crashing out for a snooze in her stroller. Nothing like a good afternoon nap for a sleepy baby.

Yes, we were hoping to get a good shot of us and the palace (sigh). Sometimes it's hard to get everything right when strangers take the picture. But hey, Sam's muggin' for the camera, so we can't complain!

How's that for a little bit of artistic photography? Brian thought Sam would look cute in sepia, next to the old stone monuments.

Nothin' like a hard day of touring to make a girl thirsty!! (Don't worry, the lid was on and it was nearly empty.)

Yes, Sam's wearing an authentic Austrian dress. We couldn't resist getting it at the market.

On Sunday after church we went to the rose garden across from Hofburg Palace and Brian read for awhile, while Sam and I wandered around looking at (and, in Sam's case, grabbing/eating) the flowers, and talking to other tourists. Some girls from Taiwan got their picture taken with Samantha. A little boy from Italy (also named Sam) was teasing our Sam with a pair of socks he was wearing on his hands.

Sam finished off the day with a good bath and a fit of giggles on the bed while Daddy teased her and played with her. She ended up getting a fever that night, so the next day we layed low and hung out in the hotel a lot before heading back to the airport. All in all, Brian and I really enjoyed our trip, and I think Sammie did, as well. Too bad she won't be able to remember it!

Tintern and the Cotswolds

Tuesday morning, we went to of my favorite places to visit -- an old, stone abby in ruins called Tintern Abby. It was built in the 1100s by a group of monks, and was abandoned during the 1400s and has never been restored.

The first time I visited (last summer), I wrote the following:

"Standing in the central cathedral, it was very moving to look out through what would have been the arched, stained windows to see the sun coming through the surrounding pines and aspens. Looking up to what would have been the vaulted ceiling, there was only the blue sky and clouds overhead. And green, green grass carpeted the floor of the entire premises. Enchanting. Bright pink wildflowers and ferns were growing in many of the crevasses in the stone walls and pillars, high above our heads. I really enjoyed being there, and felt a peculiar reverence for the builders and worshippers who hallowed this sacred place so long ago. Were they at peace with themselves, and with God? I hope so. The abby fell to ruins in the 1400s when King Henry VIII founded the Church of England and outlawed Catholicism in England. How crushing it must have been to those who sought this way of life."

Sammie enjoyed romping on the grass in the courtyard. Little did I know the grass was soppy wet, and muddy, and her cute little pink jumper outfit was filthy in a matter of minutes! She certainly didn't care, and went on her way, picking up little flowers, pebbles and feathers as she crawled around.


We also visited another favorite of mine -- the Cotswolds! These charming English villages are the stuff story books are made of. The thatched roof houses and cobbled streets are absolutely picture perfect, just as you'd think the lovely English countryside would be. We visited a town called Bibury this time, said to be the "loveliest village in England." It was really cute and quaint, with winding paths and stone fences. We walked along a trout farm -- a small brook with very large trout swimming in all directions.

Leslie volunteered to drive for awhile, for which I was grateful. She was nervous at first, since it had been awhile since she last drove a standard, not to mention she had never driven on the left side of the road! When she first got in, she peeled out in the parking lot and we all laughed. Then she had some close encounters with the curb for a few moments. "You're driving a bit too close to the edge of the road," I told her as I clutched the edge of my seat.

"No I'm not!" she responded. "You were driving WAY too close to the middle, Kam! You were scaring me half to death."

"Well, you are hitting bushes on the side!" I told her. It's true: she was. We had a good laugh as she straightened out and got the car centered better. I have to applaud her for giving it a try -- one of our few guests who have actually dared! It only took her a few minutes before she was a natural.

I'm including a few more shots of the Cotswolds from some previous trips, just because I love the charm and the peace there. I'll also include some descriptions I wrote the first time I visited, as my wording was much more poetic than it is right now.



From my first visit (June 2005):

"We drove down narrow, winding roads lined with neatly trimmed hedges and centuries-old stone fences. Sheep ready for sheering dotted the pastures around us, and the distant fields were filled with the bright yellow blossoms of rapeseed – used for making canola oil. We stopped the car to take a photo beside a beautifully manicured pasture lined with a stone fence. A large, stately stone house was set off the road in the trees behind the pasture, and little lambs next to the fence were sneaking their way close to us to investigate. So picturesque and peaceful, so different and quaint, and yet so much like home. Just standing there for the picture, I felt the gentle and welcome pangs of homesickness."

Day in Bath

Last Monday we started a little driving tour of some of the sites of Southern England, showing L, S, and P around. We stopped at the cutest little tavern for lunch, where I had the most delicious potato and leek soup (I still dream of it). Then we spent the afternoon in Bath, which is quite the charming city. I get a little more attached every time I visit. Maybe next time, I'll actually go on a tour of the Roman Bath House -- the city's claim to fame. I've still never been inside, despite the many visitors I've taken there.
The Royal Crescent (below) is one of the architectural highlights of Bath. These row houses were built sometime in the 1700s, in a perfect semi-circle that somehow lines up with the sun at winter solstice. I saw a great documentary about it once. (It's much more fascinating in person.)
We stayed at a cute little B&B in Wales for the night. L, S, and P generously put up Sammie and me in our own room which was very comfortable and nice. We woke up to a beautiful morning and a full English breakfast (minus the black pudding and broiled tomatoes).

Visitors to Londontown

Last week we had such a fun time! I've been wanting to write about it all, but I've just been too busy running everywhere. So now it's catch-up time. My cousins, Leslie and Stephen, came for a visit, along with their friend Patti. It was sooo fun to have them here with us, and to get all the latest details from their lives. It made me feel a little less homesick, which is always a good thing.

While they were here, we took them to some of our favorite places, including Camden Market. It was a hit!! They took to the market more readily than any of our other guests ever have... bought bracelets, handbags, looked at jewelry, coats and shirts, and of course, indulged in good market foods. Here's a picture of some handbags we didn't buy...


Brian suggested a walk along the canal, which turned out to be a nice quiet stroll after the busy market. Leslie and I found it amusing that they had named one of the canal-facing buildings the "Pirates Close." It was a cool building, though I'm not sure what the pirate thing is about.

Sammie enjoyed all the adventures from her stroller... little cutie.
While Les, Stephen and Patti were touring downtown in the evening, Brian, Sam and I took a trip to visit a nice cathedral I'd been wanting to see for awhile now. It has a very cool tower that I've always wanted to climb, but it had just closed when we arrived. I include it because it was a fun little touristy thing for us.

Standing Ovation

Gone are the days of calmly sitting in one spot playing with toys. Gone are the days of slowly scooting and rolling with great effort to investigate a new item of interest. Samantha has left the simple life behind. Our girl is MOBILE!! She's crawling fast enough for me to wonder where she's gone every time I turn my back for two seconds. It's quite an accomplishment, considering she could barely even roll over when we took her to the US in June.

Her latest big news is that practically over night she's learned to STAND UP! Well, not all by herself, of course. But she'll stand up next to anything she can grab hold of (most dangerously the coffee table or Dad's twisty office chair). You can tell she really thinks she's cool by the grin on her face, little show off. She climbs up to the couch and has started taking steps to walk around it. She also loves the bookshelf, for all the fun books (aka. toys) at her disposal. And the fireplace -- she enjoys sucking the metal grate, even though I discourage it.

Her favorite stance is in the corner of her crib. She grabs the bars and pulls up, then yells with proud confidence, announcing her achievement. It's really cute, except when it happens to be three in the morning. Since we've had guests, Sam's been staying in our room the past few nights. The first night in there, she was awake five different times between 1 and 7 a.m., standing up and yelling at us --just because she could. Then last night she upped the ante and decided to stand up every time I tried to lay her down. We played this game of up and down for over an hour -- at 1 a.m. She was tired enough to be crying almost the entire time, but apparently not tired enough to sleep, when she could be standing!?? Funny girl.




Sam is scared of the vacuum cleaner. Terrified, actually. I turned it on the other day, thinking she'd be fascinated by the fun noise. Instead, she screamed and started shaking, with huge tears just streaming down her face. I tried to hold her while I vacuumed, to show her it's okay and it wouldn't hurt her. That was even worse, poor thing. After five seconds of that she was in hysterics so badly I had to rock her a full five minutes before her breathing was normal again. Later, I even tried vacuuming upstairs while she was downstairs. More hysteria. I guess we just won't vacuum anymore?? She also reacted the same way to the mixer a few days ago, so maybe we won't mix anything anymore either?


She's really starting to enjoy music, it seems. She smiles and gets so excited when her dad sings to her in the mornings. And I've started clapping and singing, which she thinks is funny. Today I let her play the piano for awhile. She was "singing along" loudly and even occasionally using her feet to keep the melody going. Do we have a musician on our hands, then?

Update with highlights

It's been awhile. I guess sometimes life just happens too quickly to document it. We've been keeping busy here this past week. Here's a list of highlights...

• Brian's aunt and cousins have been staying with us, seeing the sites. It's been great to finally have some company again. They left this morning for a few days in Paris, ooh la lah!
• More visitors! My cousins (Les and Stephen) and a friend are coming for a visit, arriving on Saturday morning. We really do love hosting people and look forward to their trip.
• Our Primary children sang in Sacrament meeting this past Sunday. I was so nervous about it all week, and it turned out really nicely! They all sang and could be heard even from the back of the chapel. I played the piano and didn't make too many mistakes. Victory!
• Brian and I have joined a gym. After four weeks of working out, I finally lost 3 pounds. Only 15 more to go to pre-baby weight! It feels good to be more active.
• We have a trip planned to Vienna at the end of the month. I just booked our hotel and got a good deal on a nice Marriott with a pool. Time to start getting excited for a mini holiday.
• Sammie is growing too fast for me to believe it. I'm adding a separate entry about her (with picts). So here I'll just say she's now crawling like crazy; standing against anything she can pull up on; eating little bits of pasta, potatoes, veggies, etc.; and she gets a little frightened and clingy lately.
• I cooked my first lasagna EVER last week. It was so easy. I just never made it before because I thought it was really hard, but this was simple and tasty.

Okay, that's enough for now. I'll see if I can get Sam's pictures to load.

More Sammie pictures and update

I thought it’d be fun to share some cute pictures of Samantha we’ve taken during the past few weeks…

Apparently she either disagrees with the Economist slant on things, or she has a personal dislike of Israeli politics… she holds half of Arial Sharon’s face in her hand (and later her mouth). Those other magazines you see under the coffee table no longer reside there.

Some of Sammie’s favorite toys – keys, belts and bags. She was entertained for hours one day last week, just sitting on the rug playing while I did laundry (hence the mess in the picture). This morning she actually figured out how to UNZIP that purse!! Clever girl!

Here’s another picture from our first walk in the country. Samantha really seems to enjoy being out (much like her parents), especially when Brian puts her in the carrier with him. She loves the freedom!

I thought I’d try making my own baby food last week, rather than using the bottles and jars. I cooked some peas and pureed them in the blender. They weren’t her favorite, evidently. But she enjoyed rubbing them all over her face.

I then tried a spinach/potato bake, once again from a bottle. She liked it best when I let HER hold the jar. When it was empty, she REALLY had a fun time, waving it around and slopping the leftovers on her head and in her ears.

I also gave her half an orange that I had just juiced. I’ve never seen her so engaged in eating for such a long time. She silently sucked it for nearly half an hour!

Airshow

A few weeks ago, Brian and I (and Sam) decided to go see the Farnborough Airshow, where the British military was showcasing their planes. It was quite a trip getting out there. Among other things, we had some heavy-duty traffic to deal with, and rain, and we forgot Sam's stroller. But against all odds, we persisted and enjoyed the trip. They put on a pretty good show, including some great stunts by helicopters and fighter jets. They also had a new plane on display -- the Airbus 380. It was massive!! Anyway, since I don't really know any of the techincal details, I'll just put up a fewof tthea (Sammie's helping mrtr me type). a few pictures I thought were cool. Enjoy!

English A&E

You know how in the US we call the Emergency Room the ER? Well, in England the official name is the Accident and Emergency centre, and everyone calls it the A&E. We had our first A&E experience here on Sunday night...

I guess it actually started Saturday morning, when I woke up with a weird cramp in the back of my right knee. It was painful enough throughout the day that I was limping during our stroll in the country, and I felt quite nauseated from the pain. I tried stretching and rubbing it and moving different directions and finally keeping still. It didn't subside or change, no matter what I did. I took some aspirin before bed and woke up with the same pain Sunday morning. Weird. All through church and all afternoon it continued to ache and throb without subsiding much.

By evening, Brian and I were both quite concerned. Our main worry was that it might be a blood clot. We read online about clot symptoms and were further concerned. Then, I happened to talk to my brother, Blaine, who actually HAD a blood clot on Friday night and was treated in his local ER! He described his symptoms and that was enough to convince us we better get mine checked out. So, at 10.45pm we woke up Sammie and headed off to our local A&E. What an experience!

As you probably know, health care in the UK is free -- even the A&E, thanks to heavy taxes that fund the national health system (NHS). I can't draw a direct correlation, but I am personally biased toward the belief that the "free" system encourages some less favorable people and circumstances to attend the A&E on a Sunday night, at least that was our case. We were surrounded by stench and filth. The whole room felt more like a crowded bus terminal than a hospital. Hard metal chairs, dirty floors, and unfriendly staff were a few of the less pleasant items. There was a crowd of four or five middle-aged men waiting to be treated who were obviously fully inebriated; one had a very disgusting carpenter's crack, two others were tattooed and shirtless, all were muttering unintelligible comments about their various needs and the lack of service. Poor Sammie who was awake waaay past her bed time, kept squirming in her car seat, struggling to get out and crawl around on a less-than-clean floor; we didn't let her, so she got even more frustrated.

After waiting for about 45 minutes, a male nurse brought me into a back room, where he took my temperature, pulse and blood pressure. He then told me a doctor would eventually have a look at my leg and if they thought it was blood clot, they'd probably arranged to run a scan in the morning. In the MORNING?? Then what in the WORLD were we doing there at midnight??! We waited a further forty minutes, being entertained by the drunk crew and a little girl who had succeeded in crawling around in the filth despite her mother's and fellow onlookers' comments about how dirty it was. Still no doctor. I finally got fed up and told Brian to take us home.

Instead we drove to another hospital with a different A&E, where a much more attentive nurse gave me an initial examination -- including feeling my leg and asking me questions about my pain and my general health-- and assured me she didn't think it was blood clot. She said I could wait to be seen by a doctor there, but it would be a couple of hours, as they were very busy that night. Since it was already 2 a.m., I opted to go home and let Brian and Sammie (and me) get a few hours of sleep. First thing Monday morning, I went to the doctor's office and got an official diagnosis from the doctor on call. No, it's not a blood clot. It looks as though I've strained the ligaments on the back of knee. One of the doctor's first questions to me was, "Have you recently walked up and down a lot of stairs, carrying Samantha?" Ahhh... the stairs, once again.

Anyway, that whole A&E experience was something interesting, and something I don't wish to repeat!

Sharing Time

Our second counselor in the Primary, Sister Shah, is from the Philipines. She has one little boy in nursery whom she would like to be with, rather than in Primary, most of the time. It's a bit of a struggle for her to work with the kids because it's sometimes hard for them to understand her accent. Also, she has a hard time getting on their level sometimes.

I asked her to do the sharing time this Sunday, and thought it best to give her some explicit instructions what to do. She was very appreciative and agreed that I should send her an email with some "ideas." So... I looked online for some ideas, then gave her three very good suggestions that would go well together. One idea was a treasure hunt for some scriptures that were wrapped to look like a treasure, then we'd talk about why the scriptures are a treasure for us. The instructions mentioned preparing a large word strip with the word "treasure" to help us think about the things we treasure.

Well, the kids enjoyed the treasure hunt alright, and found the scriptures nicely wrapped with a big ribbon in the back of the room. As one of the children picked up the package, Sister Shah got quite enthusiastic and encouraged, "Now, STRIP the treasure!" I was a bit puzzled by her wording, as were most of the children. Strip?? The girl holding the package hesitated, so Sister Shah further prompted her, "strip off the paper, unwrap it." The girl unwrapped it and (ah ha!) it was the scriptures. It was about that time that I noticed Sister Shah's poster up on the board -- a bright yellow sign with the word "STRIP" written in bright yellow letters. Ooops. I guess I just assumed she'd know what a word strip was, but instead, she thought I meant to write the word "STRIP" on a poster. Ahh... the nuances of language. Oh well, the kids just ignored it, and we had a good laugh about it later.

Happy Anniversary

Yesterday was our two year wedding anniversary! Hard to believe it's passed so quickly, and also hard to believe we've only been married for two years. We celebrated last night with flowers, cards and dinner at a little Italian restaurant close to home. We feel very blessed in our marriage. Or maybe I should just speak for myself and say that I feel very blessed to have such a wonderful, tender, loving husband as Brian always is. He brings such peace and excitement to my life.

Anyway, we decided to take advantage of Saturday to have a pre-celebration time. I told Brian I wanted to surprise him with a day outing to someplace special. For months now, I've been wanting to go South, to a place call Camber Sands beach and resort. I found it on a map last summer and have been keeping it a secret as a fun surprise for us sometime. As I started making plans for us to go there, I saw on the map there's also a castle nearby called Camber Castle! How cool is that?! I think it's in ruins, but I thought it would still be so much fun to see it.

Well, before you get all excited for us, let me just tell you now that we didn't end up going. Sad, sad. Because of a tricky schedule during the week, I ended up having to move my visiting teaching to Saturday morning. Brian and I went together to visit this sister in our ward and her three kids. After an hour or so visiting and playing with the kids, we were off -- still trying to go for my surprise, even though we were getting quite a late start. We got on the highway headed out of town, and traffic was bumper to bumper. It took us 20 minutes or so just to go a couple of miles. We were just about to the exit to get to the motorway (ie. freeway) when I reached in the back seat to get a bottle out of Samantha's bag for her, only to discover we'd accidentally left her bag at home!! We turned around (it was already near 1 p.m.) and headed for home, with bumper traffic all the way back.

By the time we got home, I had shed some tears in the sweltering hot car, and Brian was wondering why I was so disappointed. I had to ruin the surprise and tell him about Camber Castle, and why it was such a big deal to me, since I'd been planning it for sooo long, waiting for just the right moment. Well, I pouted while we ate the picnic lunch we had packed on our living room couch and fed Sammie some lunch. Then I resolved to not let it ruin any more of our day, and we made a good Plan B, which turned out to be a very fun afternoon!

We first went to Costco, where we got 100+ pictures developed and I got a new shirt and Brian got two new jackets. Then we drove out in the country to go on a walk. Brian bought us a fabulous little book called "Country walks near London," which we were able to use for the first time. We parked in a little village called Berkensted and set off to see the ruins of a castle, and a huge manor house. In the book the walk encompassed a six mile loop. It sounded like fun.

The castle was easy to find -- we parked very close to it. It seems like they kind of built the town around it, actually. After taking a picture, we set off through some fields to find the mansion house. One fascinating thing about England is that they have public footpaths that cross the countryside everywhere. The one we were on crossed right through people's fields, pastures and farms. It also wound us through woods and meadows -- very lovely.

Brian put Samantha in a little backpack that he wore on his chest. She googled at all the ferns and fields for quite awhile before getting sleepy and taking a little snooze. We were amazed at how happy and good-natured she was the entire trip. She never even realized how LOST we got... According to our little map, our route wound through some lovely woods for quite awhile and then met up with a road for a bit before turning left toward the mansion house. Well, we walked and walked and walked through the woods and finally came to the road. Which way to turn? On the map it looked like we should go left, so we did. I kept telling Brian it felt like we should be heading a different way, to the point where he finally said, "I think maybe your compass is a little off today, Kam." More walking, walking, walking (like 2 or 3 miles more) and we finally ended up at a golf course. I examined our map only to discover the golf course was PAST the manor, in a weird opposite direction. How in the world?!? Well, we walked through the golf course and then walked some more and finally came to a spot that I recognized! We'd done a complete circle, without ever seeing the mansion. Oh well... so we turned around and walked back out of the woods. We never did find the manor, until we got back to our car and drove to it. We're both still puzzled about what route we'd taken! Might have to try that walk again another day.