Park, Park, Park & Park

C has read all of the Harry Potter books with his best friend Taro, so it was a real treat when Taro invited him to Harry Potter Land last Sunday. HPL is actually the old film studio for the HP movies.  It has huge warehouses that hold the sets and props that were used in the filming.  I think it was really enjoyable to match up the pictures they had generated in their heads from reading the books and then seeing the visual manifestations.  I should add that they haven't seen much of the movies yet- a treat for later. Here they are in the Great Hall: Here they are in front of The Owl Lectern: And here they are sampling the ButterBeer: And then on famous Privet Drive:

Dorothy's birthday is on the 28th of June; Bella's father, Michael, has his on the 30th. We did a bit of a joint toast earlier this week, and all shared a bit of chocolate cake.

We celebrated a joint 5th birthday this past weekend with Dorothy and her best friend Amber (her birthday is 2 days after D's).   They decided on a gymnastics party at the local secondary school.  All 30 (!) kids had a riot. There were trampolines, vaults, uneven bars, balance beams and lots of mats everywhere.

A few weeks back, we all hopped on the car ferry and went to the Isle of Wight- off the south coast of England.  Usually the weather is pretty idyllic- the ocean keeps the southern point of IoW very moderate. We got a lot of wind and some clouds for our weekend, but the kids still had a great time.  Here they are chasing the waves on Sunday morning.

It's a late Friday evening and I'm watching C at cricket practice. He seems to enjoy it and embraces the opportunity more than some of the others.  The kids come from all over- C didn't know anybody when he started here last week.  Since it goes from 6:30 to 8:30, it makes for a long evening for C and usually a chilly evening for his older escort. While watching, I happened to listen to a podcast interview with Sir Mervyn King (the 72 year old Head of the Bank of England) on Desert Island Disks talking about how he plays cricket here himself regularly (this is the club for the staff of the Bank of England).  

As I picked up D from school today, her teacher Miss Stanley pulled me aside and told me about D's achievement.  She has been practicing her writing at home recent and the effort has paid off. D wrote a (very) short story about aliens (?!), which she then had the opportunity to read to Mr Hogston, the school principal/Head Master. Both were impressed enough that she received an award.  It brought a small tear to my eye.

Grandma came over for the kids half term holidays.  A high point was the science experiments concocted at the kitchen table.  Things like- Rubber eggs Volcanos Dyed flowers Rock candy has been saved for the next trip.