Author: Mom&Dad

Trike-a-thon

Harry had to work hard on his tricycling skills to keep up with his classmates (he might be the youngest in his class.) Here are some pictures from the event!

December

In December we went to Big Sky, Montana to ski and also stopped at the Museum of the Rockies which is part of the Smithsonian to check out their amazing dinosaur exhibits.

We then went on to San Diego to visit family but have few pictures to show for it as the trip was cut short by Omicron. 🙁

Lots of picture of the Museum of the Rockies with a final photo in San Diego
Harry skiing
Harry skiing
Harry skiing
Museum of the Rockies
Lisbeth’s family plus ours
All of the cousins together in San Diego
Stop action claymation by Penelope…..hotdogs roasting on a fire pit

November

November included Freya losing her two front teeth and a trip to Universal Studios.

Note says “Dear tooth fairy, can I keep my tooth but still get money? And on the back of this note can you please draw a picture of yourself?”

Harry’s preschool Thanksgiving performance

The Thanksgiving performances are underway! Here’s Harry’s class dressed as pilgrims and Native Americans performing sign language to Raffi’s “Thanks A Lot” He was so energetic he nearly fell over twice. He is second row, second from the left. The school will be putting out a professionally recoded video soon and I’ll add a link to it.

Halloween 2021

This year we met up with so many new friends and families to go trick-or-treating. We had a ton of fun and the kids collected a lot of candy!

Several pictures above are from the school parade. Naveen and a classmate had matching T. rex costumes.

Here is a link to the preschool parade -Harry is dressed as Godzilla: https://youtu.be/bDZ3ALLDmBQ

I will try to post a link to the elementary parade. Just need to find it!

1st Day of School

We finally moved in to our house a week ago and had a very successful first day of school. I picked Harry up first and asked “What was your favorite part of the day?” I thought he might say the playground time or something like that. He just said “school!” He loved it even though he had to wear a mask which he is not at all used to wearing. Here are some photos of the kids in their new Benjamin School uniforms. I wasn’t sure which photo was best so posted them all.

Week 2…Happy Birthday Saahil!

Saahil’s birthday was Sunday and we spent the day by the pool and dinner at Cafe Sole where we enjoyed delicious French food. We forgot to take photos until after dessert when Harry’s patience was low and his messiness high…. oops!

On Monday Saahil and the 3 older kids went on a half day sailing and snorkel trip where they saw some amazing fish. Harry and I went to get him a haircut and check out some shops. That night we went to our favorite Cuban restaurant.

The 4 sailors
Penelope at sea
After our Cuban dinner
A walk one evening on the pier near our house in Key West. Note the rainbow overhead.

On Tuesday the kids and I visited the US Coast Guard Cutter Ingham a retired coast guard ship that is now a maritime museum and national landmark. (https://www.uscgcingham.org) It was a spectacular experience enjoyed by all!

  • Laundry room
  • Captain’s dining room
  • Lounge on the ship
  • One of the many kitchens
  • Chapel on the ship, Penelope reading from the Bible
  • Cafeteria for the crew
  • Barber shop on the ship
  • Lots of potato peeling on this ship!
  • Freya on the deck
  • Ready, aim…
  • Fire!
  • Vietnam vet who volunteers on the ship
  • Ship’s hospital, this is one of two coastguard ships at the time equipped with an X-ray
Ship’s armory
Bunks for the crew
On one of the many decks
Impressive knots! Penelope was very interested due to her sailing experience.

A final photo of a pillow fort….with a cute little inhabitant.

Week 1 in Key West

After a busy few days in Jupiter running around checking out our new house, the plot of land where we are building, and swapping out and purchasing clothes at the school bookstore we embarked on our drive to Key West. The drive out here is literally like driving through the Caribbean. It’s amazing. The heat here is another story! 90+ every day with a real feel of 100 or more. Fortunately our rental house has a pool. After being on the road for 6 weeks and staying in 7 places we are ready to stop moving around and will stay here for a few weeks before we move in right before school starts (regretting that timing but it was out of our control!)

  • The Overseas Highway though the Keys.
  • Creating a float in the pool
  • Great park we found
  • …with a splash pad
  • Crazy truck!
  • At the Hogfish Bar & Grill
  • Ready to snorkel
  • 3 snorkelers
  • Hemingway’s house
  • Balcony at Hemingway’s House
  • Six toed cat… cats have their own houses too!
  • Hemmingway’s cat graveyard
  • Note the cats’ names…
  • Freya: “can we get a cat?”
  • The end of Route 1!
  • Butterfly Conservatory
  • A bird at the conservatory
  • Flamingos at the Conservatory
A few butterflies flying over Penelope’s head.
Waterspout at Fort Zachary Taylor beach
Videos of the waterspout. The water is really churning at the bottom.
Another video of the waterspout
Harry and Naveen on the slide. Naveen was a reluctant participant as he wouldn’t take my word for it that this water was clean, but Harry’s enthusiasm won him over.
Slow motion video of water dumping
Harry inspired after watching Olympics gymnastics!
Slow motion slam dunk
Once one kid has done it….
…they all have to have a slow-mo video made.

A quick jaunt to Jupiter

We left St. Augustine and went for a quick 3 night stay in Jupiter to see our new temporary house and check out the plot of land where we are building our next “forever house.” I hate to even use that term… but here’s hoping we are done moving for at least a decade. Check out the video on the website version.

Eating shaved ice at Bahama Bucks near our new house.
Playground in Jupiter
Rocking chairs next to a great New England seafood restaurant near our new home!

Hola St. Augustine

Next we arrived in America’s oldest continually inhabited city, St. Augustine, founded by Spanish explorers in 1564.

  • Visiting the Lightner Museum (former home of the Alcazar Hotel)
  • Courtyard of museum/hotel
  • Vilano Beach – this was across the street from our house in St. Augustine
  • Admiring a truck….

Kiawah, SC

After departing Carolina Beach, NC we drove about 4.5 hours south to Kiawah, SC which is a very beautiful island off the coast of SC in the low country. We made it into Charleston for a day but it was so hot that we didn’t do a lot of sightseeing but decided to come back any other season except summer!

  • Very old cemetery we stumbled upon in Charleston
  • At a shopping area in Kiawah
  • Looking for Alligators….
  • Still haven’t seen a single one!
  • Harry’s way of playing corn hole
  • Looking for alligators again on our walk to the beach.
  • At the pool

Harry’s 3rd birthday— at a sushi restrain Kiawah had had a tempura coated ice cream with 3 candles. He blew the candles out before we could even sing!
Jet/plane we saw at the beach
Harry jumping into the pool. Lots of talk of Humpty Dumpty before he jumps in (hard to hear him)
Birthday cake number 2 a few days later… forgot to buy the candles.

Harry’s newly created contraction is “amn’t” am not. Ha!

Carolina Beach Y’all

We’ve made it halfway to Jupiter, Florida with our current stop in Carolina Beach, NC. We still have a full month to kill so we are staying here for a week before we continue to head south eventually reaching the southernmost point in the continental USA (Key West, Fl.) We are officially in the South. Country music is playing on the radio in restaurants and shops, and Y’all is heard multiple times a day. Penelope even dropped a “dang it” the other day.

Sunday we hit up the beach but Monday was a stormy day so we went to the aquarium a few miles down the road. Then later that day we went to the nearby state park and the kids found some little crabs. Tuesday the weather was great and the kids got some good boogie boarding in. Tonight (Wednesday) we hit up the Carolina Beach Boardwalk and took some funny photos! Freya made some priceless faces….

  • Inside a Megalodon model
  • Looking at the crabs
  • Trying to catch them
  • Harry’s got a tiny crab
  • Boogie boarding
  • Just acting! I see a career for Freya! Look at that expression!

Busch Gardens….

We spent six nights in Williamsburg and went to Busch Gardens five of those nights! It’s truly a beautiful and magical place (I can’t believe I’m writing this!) I was not at all excited to go there but after the first visit I was a convert! The grounds are stunning and the buildings do not look at all like a typical amusement park. Each area of the park is based on a European village (except for Canada.) Evenings were best because it was relatively uncrowded, not so hot, and a fireworks display every night.

  • “Germany”
  • Merry Old England
  • Giddyup!
  • Teacups!
  • Rollercoaster check!
  • Captain Harry
  • Waiting out a rainstorm with some cotton candy
  • Watching fireworks
  • Some of the coasters P and N went on!
A wonderful time was had by all!

Some videos of the fun. Harry loved all of the rides. Freya discovered she loves roller coasters. Naveen went on every coaster at the park. Penelope went on all but one (headache got the best of her.) Dad went on a few, too. Naveen and Penelope happily took Harry on some of the toddler rides. Freya went on many rides with Harry and mom also accompanied them on a few.

Worth every penny!
Little hot air balloons -Freya and Harry
Escape from Pompeii—Penelope, Naveen and Freya are near the back of the boat.

Just to show you how beautiful this place is….. and the music and food served is matched to the country! Does it get any better than this!? It’s hard to imagine Disney topping this place.

  • France
  • Ireland
  • England
  • England
  • Nightly fireworks
  • England
  • Canada
  • Canada