Fourth in a series of catch-up blogs...
One of the best things about joining the sailing club is it's a family membership, and the clubhouse is open to all the family. At the end of the summer and throughout Autumn we went out to the clubhouse a lot. The clubhouse ("William Wall") is a two story floating bar moored between Ellis Island and Liberty park. When it's open the launch boat leaves every 30mins from North Cove out to the boat. Sam, Max and Leo love going out there. The launch captain knows them and salutes them and they salute him back, and then we speed out across the harbour for a few drinks, snacks and maybe a bedtime story, before taking the boat back and putting the boys to sleep. The view looking back to Manhattan is fabulous and it's a great place to watch the sunset over Jersey.
Sam turned 6 at the end of August and loves his new bike. He also managed to make $100 by painting and selling stones and used the money to buy a second hand blackberry playbook from one of my colleagues. He uses his playbook to play angry birds and tetris, take photos and videos, check the weather and has read emails. At the beginning of September we had his birthday party in the local park with 20+ six year old boys running around like nutters. It was hard to control at times, but a lot of fun and he got some great presents from his friends.
In September his football league started and for his age group the team are named after Premier League teams. I had managed to persuade the league coordinator to give us Arsenal and I coached the team along with my friend Victor who is also an Arsenal season ticket holder abroad. Seeing Sam score on his Arsenal debut was a very proud day for me! We weren't the best team in the league but Sam scored a lot of goals and it was a lot of fun. Unfortunately the Hurricane damaged the football pitches and brought an early end to the season. We have now started up an indoor six a side team at Chelsea piers, where they have indoor astroturf pitches.
Another highlight of my year was seeing Andy Murray win the US Open. When rain on Saturday meant the final would be moved to Monday I managed to buy tickets for about £50 and I went to the game with Caroline. It was an incredible match which lasted five hours. The first set tie break alone lasted 25 minutes, the same time as Serena took to win the first set of her quarter-final. It was the first men's British grand slam win for 76 years and being there to watch British tennis history was great.
In October Lyn and I got a chance to sail on the club's flagship America II, which had sailed in the Americas Cup 25 years ago. It was a lot of fun and completely different sailing - the sail is so big that you have to use a grinder and gears to pull it across the boat to tack. We also got a babysitter a different day and were able to sail together on the normal club boats (J24s) and were lucky with the weather getting a windy day with glorious blue skies.
Hurricane Sandy hit New York pretty badly. We were in the evacuation zone but decided to stay put as we decided we were high enough we wouldn't get flooded and a storm with a 400 mile radius wasn't really worth running from. The basement of our building flooded and we lost power and running water for five days, but we couldn't really complain. The devastation for many people was terrible and probably half of the world's population live without power and running water. We were pretty well prepared with torches, jugs, bottles and pots full of drinking water and the bath full to use to flush toilets. After a few days things got a bit grim but fortunately our area wasn't badly hit - we are on a different grid from the rest of Downtown Manhattan so most buildings had power - and once our friends came back from evacuation they invited us round for food and showers. There is already quite a strong community feeling where we live, and Sandy really strengthened it, with buildings close by having food and drink in their lobbies for neighbours without power.
My mum has come to stay with us in December for Christmas and she was also here for Max's birthday which was really nice for them both. He had a lovely day and a great party, which we had in our apartment and was a lot calmer than Sam's. Max was so tired at the end of the day that he had taken himself to bed before 7pm! I had to work really hard in December doing the capital stress testing for the Government and this year they greatly increased the scope and number of variables, so until this weekend I didn't see my mum much, or Lyn and the boys. It is now so nice us just all relaxing at home and enjoying each other's company. We are having a lovely Christmas break and the boys are really looking forward to tomorrow. Merry Christmas everybody!
Photos from the autumn and winter are here, and here's a link to our Christmas video.
Best wishes for a wonderful Christmas from all of us to all of you!
Love from Tom, Lyn, Sam, Max and Leo. XXXXX
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Family, friends, weddings, rain and the olympics
Hi everyone,
This is the third 2012 blog. This one is about our trip to UK from end of June to the beginning of August. We went to 2 weddings, saw the Olympics and saw lots of friends and family. It was definitely my favourite trip yet, despite a quite staggering amount of rain!
We flew into Heathrow in the morning of the 29th June, met Bob and Sue, had a wonderful well missed greasy spoon breakfast with proper tea and then to the park and played in the freezing rain. The we drive down to Exeter ready for Ben and Teren's wedding the next day. It was a beautiful, gloriously happy wedding and we met loads of Tom's friends from University that we had not seen for ages. We were still pretty jet lagged which luckily worked in our favour. The boys were still dancing the night away at 2 in the morning.
Next, we drove to Stroud, Tom flew back to New York and the boys and I spent a relaxing few days with Tom's Mum, Margaret. Then, the boys and I drove up to Lower Wallop farm, Shropshire where my sister Mandy lives with her partner and children. Sam and Ben were so so so excited to see each other and were inseparable pretty much the whole time we were in Wallop as well as getting up to all kinds of mischief together. Sam went to Ben's school for a week which he enjoyed. It must have been such a different experience for him compared to his school in Lower Manhattan.
It rained every day at least once while we were there. It made the farm look so green, luscious and beautiful. The leaves on the trees glistened and twinkled. My boys love mud, rain, rural pusuits and playing with their cousins. It was great for me to spend so much time with my sister. We had a brilliant time. They loved the cows, climbing trees, collecting sticks and stones, eating grains, playing with the dog, playing in castles, playing on the trampoline... Sam went pony riding for the first time and Leo started walking! One dryish day we even went to the beach in Aberdovey and had a wonderful day. Also, my friends Olivia and Anna came to stay with us for a few days with was lovely. One weekend, my family all came up to Wallop for a lovely family barbequeue. It was wonderful to see everyone and I was very touched that people made so much effort to cook, put up gazebos and travel long distances so that we could all spend such a great time together.
We spent a few lovely days in Birmingham with Mum, Joe and Joanne, despite the rain! Mum is very resourceful in finding ways to entertain little boys whatever the weather.
The first sunny day of our trip without any rain at all was the day before my brother James's wedding. Tom flew back from New York. It was a beautiful lovely fun wedding - all in Baggies colours! It was great getting to spend time with family, see relatives I hadn't seen for years and see my little brother get married to a wonderful woman. James and Claire had organised a bouncy castle that the kids played on for hours and hours!
Then we drove down to Stroud and the sun shone. We had a lovely few days going for walks, playing in the stream and generally enjoying ourselves. From Stroud, we drove down to Surrey, saw our Olympians zoom past us in the Olympic road race and spent some time with Emily and her family.
Finally, we drove down to Kent. We'd rented a house for a week big enough for people to stay with us and near to my brother's family. Tom's sister and Dad stayed with us for the whole week and various other friends came for a 1 or 2 nights in the week. I still felt that I got a chance to spend quite a bit of time with my brother's family. It was a fun week. One day, Rachel, Anna, Tom and I went up to Olympic Park to watch the 10m syncronised men's diving and women's water polo. It was really impressive and I felt very proud to be British. Another day a huge group of us took the little steam train to Dungeness. It felt a bit like we were puffing along to the end of the world. We met my brother's family when we got there. I love it there. The light is amazing and the wind reminds me that I'm alive!
We had an amazing trip. It was wonderful getting a chance to spend so much time with people that we love.
Here are some of our photos of the trip. Don't feel you need to look at them all - I got a bit carried away!
This is the third 2012 blog. This one is about our trip to UK from end of June to the beginning of August. We went to 2 weddings, saw the Olympics and saw lots of friends and family. It was definitely my favourite trip yet, despite a quite staggering amount of rain!
We flew into Heathrow in the morning of the 29th June, met Bob and Sue, had a wonderful well missed greasy spoon breakfast with proper tea and then to the park and played in the freezing rain. The we drive down to Exeter ready for Ben and Teren's wedding the next day. It was a beautiful, gloriously happy wedding and we met loads of Tom's friends from University that we had not seen for ages. We were still pretty jet lagged which luckily worked in our favour. The boys were still dancing the night away at 2 in the morning.
Next, we drove to Stroud, Tom flew back to New York and the boys and I spent a relaxing few days with Tom's Mum, Margaret. Then, the boys and I drove up to Lower Wallop farm, Shropshire where my sister Mandy lives with her partner and children. Sam and Ben were so so so excited to see each other and were inseparable pretty much the whole time we were in Wallop as well as getting up to all kinds of mischief together. Sam went to Ben's school for a week which he enjoyed. It must have been such a different experience for him compared to his school in Lower Manhattan.
It rained every day at least once while we were there. It made the farm look so green, luscious and beautiful. The leaves on the trees glistened and twinkled. My boys love mud, rain, rural pusuits and playing with their cousins. It was great for me to spend so much time with my sister. We had a brilliant time. They loved the cows, climbing trees, collecting sticks and stones, eating grains, playing with the dog, playing in castles, playing on the trampoline... Sam went pony riding for the first time and Leo started walking! One dryish day we even went to the beach in Aberdovey and had a wonderful day. Also, my friends Olivia and Anna came to stay with us for a few days with was lovely. One weekend, my family all came up to Wallop for a lovely family barbequeue. It was wonderful to see everyone and I was very touched that people made so much effort to cook, put up gazebos and travel long distances so that we could all spend such a great time together.
We spent a few lovely days in Birmingham with Mum, Joe and Joanne, despite the rain! Mum is very resourceful in finding ways to entertain little boys whatever the weather.
The first sunny day of our trip without any rain at all was the day before my brother James's wedding. Tom flew back from New York. It was a beautiful lovely fun wedding - all in Baggies colours! It was great getting to spend time with family, see relatives I hadn't seen for years and see my little brother get married to a wonderful woman. James and Claire had organised a bouncy castle that the kids played on for hours and hours!
Then we drove down to Stroud and the sun shone. We had a lovely few days going for walks, playing in the stream and generally enjoying ourselves. From Stroud, we drove down to Surrey, saw our Olympians zoom past us in the Olympic road race and spent some time with Emily and her family.
Finally, we drove down to Kent. We'd rented a house for a week big enough for people to stay with us and near to my brother's family. Tom's sister and Dad stayed with us for the whole week and various other friends came for a 1 or 2 nights in the week. I still felt that I got a chance to spend quite a bit of time with my brother's family. It was a fun week. One day, Rachel, Anna, Tom and I went up to Olympic Park to watch the 10m syncronised men's diving and women's water polo. It was really impressive and I felt very proud to be British. Another day a huge group of us took the little steam train to Dungeness. It felt a bit like we were puffing along to the end of the world. We met my brother's family when we got there. I love it there. The light is amazing and the wind reminds me that I'm alive!
We had an amazing trip. It was wonderful getting a chance to spend so much time with people that we love.
Here are some of our photos of the trip. Don't feel you need to look at them all - I got a bit carried away!
Monday, December 24, 2012
Spring 2012 in New York
The second in a series of catch-up blogs...
When we got back from Florida Bob came to stay for a couple of weeks. It was lovely to see him. He really enjoyed making pottery at the community centre with Max, reading a book to Sam's class at school and playing with Leo. One day he took Sam across to Liberty Park and to the Jersey science museum. Sam loved showing him the trains at Liberty Park and climbing them. Bob also took Max to Prospect Park Zoo. They really enjoyed watching the sealions together as they jumped up, caught fish and swam around.
Bob was also here for the start of Sam's first baseball season. Sam had really good coaches and learnt a lot. He opened the batting and scored the first run for his team, and really enjoyed the season. The were some really good kids on the team and the Downtown Athletics won most of their matches. At the end of the baseball season there was a league night out at Citi Field for a NY Mets game, and before the game started Sam got to walk around the pitch with the other kids in the league.
We visited Boston for Memorial Day bank holiday weekend. It was our first visit to Boston (my second as I had been when I was five). We did a lot of tourist stuff, walking round Harvard campus, walking along the Freedom trail to see the sights, and finding playgrounds along the way. On the Saturday night I went to see the Boston Celtics in a home playoff game. The Celtics have always been the basketball team I support and I have seen them in London, New York and Jersey, but never been to a home game. It was the 7th game in a best of seven playoff series, so the atmosphere was great and the Celtics won in a noisy Boston garden.
We also went to the Boston science museum, which is really good. We watched the lightening generating machine, which made big bolts of lightening jump between pillars. There was also a kids section with lots of games and activities for the boys, including one where you could test how fast you run, which Sam and Max loved. After the museum we had dinner at the Cheers bar, which was a definite highlight for Lyn. We left Boston on Monday and broke the journey up by stopping at Mystic (of Mystic Pizza film fame) and watched their memorial day parade.
This year we joined the Manhattan sailing club, which is based in North Cove, about five minutes walk from our front door. We had wanted to for a while and finally took the plunge this year. It has been amazing. I have sailed before and Lyn did the weekend long learn to sail course and got her ASA qualification. Most weekends Lyn and I would take it in turns to look after the boys while the other had a three hour break sailing on the river Hudson and in the NYC harbour. The boats are for 3-6 people and you just put your name on the list and go and sail with a club skipper. It's a great way to wind down as it's relaxing, but you have to be aware the whole time, so it takes your mind off everything else. And it's the first time that Lyn and I have really met people as ourselves, rather than as parents or as a colleague, since we've been in New York. It's so nice going out, improving a skill, and chatting to new and interesting people. I am now on the mentor program to become a club skipper and then I'd be able to take a boat out whenever I like. Hopefully I'll pass the test in May/June next year, so come and stay and I can take you sailing past the Statue of Liberty!
Another exciting thing in the Spring was when the NASA space shuttle Enterprise came to New York. It arrived on the back of a 747 and despite it flying right past our window Sam was the only one of us who saw it as he was on a field trip in the park. A week later it sailed up the river on a barge and Lyn and the boys all saw it.
Here are some photos of our spring.
Lots of love,
Tom x
When we got back from Florida Bob came to stay for a couple of weeks. It was lovely to see him. He really enjoyed making pottery at the community centre with Max, reading a book to Sam's class at school and playing with Leo. One day he took Sam across to Liberty Park and to the Jersey science museum. Sam loved showing him the trains at Liberty Park and climbing them. Bob also took Max to Prospect Park Zoo. They really enjoyed watching the sealions together as they jumped up, caught fish and swam around.
Bob was also here for the start of Sam's first baseball season. Sam had really good coaches and learnt a lot. He opened the batting and scored the first run for his team, and really enjoyed the season. The were some really good kids on the team and the Downtown Athletics won most of their matches. At the end of the baseball season there was a league night out at Citi Field for a NY Mets game, and before the game started Sam got to walk around the pitch with the other kids in the league.
We visited Boston for Memorial Day bank holiday weekend. It was our first visit to Boston (my second as I had been when I was five). We did a lot of tourist stuff, walking round Harvard campus, walking along the Freedom trail to see the sights, and finding playgrounds along the way. On the Saturday night I went to see the Boston Celtics in a home playoff game. The Celtics have always been the basketball team I support and I have seen them in London, New York and Jersey, but never been to a home game. It was the 7th game in a best of seven playoff series, so the atmosphere was great and the Celtics won in a noisy Boston garden.
We also went to the Boston science museum, which is really good. We watched the lightening generating machine, which made big bolts of lightening jump between pillars. There was also a kids section with lots of games and activities for the boys, including one where you could test how fast you run, which Sam and Max loved. After the museum we had dinner at the Cheers bar, which was a definite highlight for Lyn. We left Boston on Monday and broke the journey up by stopping at Mystic (of Mystic Pizza film fame) and watched their memorial day parade.
This year we joined the Manhattan sailing club, which is based in North Cove, about five minutes walk from our front door. We had wanted to for a while and finally took the plunge this year. It has been amazing. I have sailed before and Lyn did the weekend long learn to sail course and got her ASA qualification. Most weekends Lyn and I would take it in turns to look after the boys while the other had a three hour break sailing on the river Hudson and in the NYC harbour. The boats are for 3-6 people and you just put your name on the list and go and sail with a club skipper. It's a great way to wind down as it's relaxing, but you have to be aware the whole time, so it takes your mind off everything else. And it's the first time that Lyn and I have really met people as ourselves, rather than as parents or as a colleague, since we've been in New York. It's so nice going out, improving a skill, and chatting to new and interesting people. I am now on the mentor program to become a club skipper and then I'd be able to take a boat out whenever I like. Hopefully I'll pass the test in May/June next year, so come and stay and I can take you sailing past the Statue of Liberty!
Another exciting thing in the Spring was when the NASA space shuttle Enterprise came to New York. It arrived on the back of a 747 and despite it flying right past our window Sam was the only one of us who saw it as he was on a field trip in the park. A week later it sailed up the river on a barge and Lyn and the boys all saw it.
Here are some photos of our spring.
Lots of love,
Tom x
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Easter in Florida
The first in a series of catch-up blogs...
We went to Florida at Easter. It was a really nice holiday and a lot of fun. Lyn's Aunt Ruth and Uncle Garry who live in Canada have a timeshare there and they had us to stay, which was just fantastic. It was lovely to see them as we hadn't seen them for three years since our trip to Canada, and so kind of them to let us use one of their condos. The resort was beautiful, with a few pools, water slides and mini golf (as well as a proper golf course through the apartments for us to laugh at people hitting it into the water). We spent the first couple of days winding down, relaxing in the pool and catching up with Ruth and Garry. Ruth cooked us some lovely food and the boys were big fans of her cakes!
It was just outside Orlando and quite close to Disney. Lyn had been to Disney before and so wasn't that bothered and we decided that Max and Leo were too young, especially as Max doesn't really like rides. So Sam and I got a combo ticket for one day at the Magic Kingdom and one day at Universal. When I was a kid a lot of my friends went to Disney and I had been jealous. It was great fun and I felt like a kid again (which to be honest, is frequent feeling!). Sam was really brave and had been growing taller especially to be able to go on Space Mountain in the complete darkness. We went straight there when the gates opened and then spent 13 hours in the park to watch the fireworks. Sam really like Splash Mountain and we got soaked a number of times through the day!
After a couple more days relaxing at the resort with Ruth and her family she looked after Leo while Lyn, Sam, Max and I went on an airboat over the everglades. It was great speeding over water and reeds and then stopping to see interesting birds and alligators. Sam fished some giant snail shells out of the water and Max tried to catch some fish. There's a link to a short video on the airboat below.
The next day Sam and I went to Universal Islands of Adventures, with Ruth, Abe, Dinah and Autumn, who was Sam's age. Our favourite ride was Spiderman which a 3d cartoon rollercoaster. I think we went on it more than 10 times. Sam enjoyed going on the Dr Suess rides with Autumn and we got soaked again on the water rides. Ruth also looked after Sam and Autumn for a bit while Abe, Dinah and I went on the huge roller coasters which were pretty amazing.
From Orlando we also went to Cape Canavaral to spend a day with the astronauts. Unfortunately the shuttle program has recently been closed down but it was really interesting to spend a day there and see the launch pads, mission controls and a shuttle in the distance.
After another couple of days at the pool we drove down to Fort Myers and stayed for a couple of nights on the beach. We had found a nice hotel on the beachfront and played on the beach but we were swimming in the sea when we saw loads of stingray swimming close by. Thanks to Octonauts the boys know more about sea creatures than we do, and apparently they have a bad sting, so we had to stop swimming! Instead we went to Sanibel island the next day which is a nature reserve and had beautiful water. Fort Myers is on the west coast so it's the Bay of Mexico which meant the water was calm and warm. Max swam in the sea for the first time and loved it.
After Fort Myers we headed to the Everglades National Park. The National Parks are probably our favourite thing about America. This one is completely different to others, but still organized really well and made brilliantly accessible. On the first day we rented a boat and drove it out through the mangroves to a tiny island called Indian Key. It had a curved sandy spit and lots of mangrove trees. When we arrived there were two other boats there but later in the day we were the only people on the island. It was amazing to beach the boat on an island and explore and play on it. We had a lovely day, and for the boys it was a real adventure. In the everglades we also went to Shark Valley to see some great wildlife - more gators, beautiful birds and turtles, but no sharks. The terrain there was meadowlands as it was the end of the dry season. As florida has become more populated there is a water shortage and less flows into the swamps and down through the peninsula. The National Park is at the southern end and they are starting a lot of projects to protect the natural environment there.
The Everglades are such a beautiful and diverse area, and with different wildlife to elsewhere in the US. After a couple of days in the National Park we headed to Miami for a night at the Savoy hotel on South Beach. We decided to treat ourselves and had a pool side room two minutes walk from the beach. We swam in the sea once but spent most of the time playing in the swimming pools at the hotel. We also had a fun night out people watching on the beautiful art deco strip, eating a nice meal while Lyn and the boys watched me drink cocktails bigger than my head. After another day at the pool we drove back to Orlando in the evening.
Back at Ruth's we had one last day with her, Gary, Rebecca and James before getting an early flight back home to NYC. A great big thanks to Ruth and her family for having us to stay and giving us the chance of a wonderful holiday in Florida!
Here are some photos and the video from the airboat.
Tom x
We went to Florida at Easter. It was a really nice holiday and a lot of fun. Lyn's Aunt Ruth and Uncle Garry who live in Canada have a timeshare there and they had us to stay, which was just fantastic. It was lovely to see them as we hadn't seen them for three years since our trip to Canada, and so kind of them to let us use one of their condos. The resort was beautiful, with a few pools, water slides and mini golf (as well as a proper golf course through the apartments for us to laugh at people hitting it into the water). We spent the first couple of days winding down, relaxing in the pool and catching up with Ruth and Garry. Ruth cooked us some lovely food and the boys were big fans of her cakes!
It was just outside Orlando and quite close to Disney. Lyn had been to Disney before and so wasn't that bothered and we decided that Max and Leo were too young, especially as Max doesn't really like rides. So Sam and I got a combo ticket for one day at the Magic Kingdom and one day at Universal. When I was a kid a lot of my friends went to Disney and I had been jealous. It was great fun and I felt like a kid again (which to be honest, is frequent feeling!). Sam was really brave and had been growing taller especially to be able to go on Space Mountain in the complete darkness. We went straight there when the gates opened and then spent 13 hours in the park to watch the fireworks. Sam really like Splash Mountain and we got soaked a number of times through the day!
After a couple more days relaxing at the resort with Ruth and her family she looked after Leo while Lyn, Sam, Max and I went on an airboat over the everglades. It was great speeding over water and reeds and then stopping to see interesting birds and alligators. Sam fished some giant snail shells out of the water and Max tried to catch some fish. There's a link to a short video on the airboat below.
The next day Sam and I went to Universal Islands of Adventures, with Ruth, Abe, Dinah and Autumn, who was Sam's age. Our favourite ride was Spiderman which a 3d cartoon rollercoaster. I think we went on it more than 10 times. Sam enjoyed going on the Dr Suess rides with Autumn and we got soaked again on the water rides. Ruth also looked after Sam and Autumn for a bit while Abe, Dinah and I went on the huge roller coasters which were pretty amazing.
From Orlando we also went to Cape Canavaral to spend a day with the astronauts. Unfortunately the shuttle program has recently been closed down but it was really interesting to spend a day there and see the launch pads, mission controls and a shuttle in the distance.
After another couple of days at the pool we drove down to Fort Myers and stayed for a couple of nights on the beach. We had found a nice hotel on the beachfront and played on the beach but we were swimming in the sea when we saw loads of stingray swimming close by. Thanks to Octonauts the boys know more about sea creatures than we do, and apparently they have a bad sting, so we had to stop swimming! Instead we went to Sanibel island the next day which is a nature reserve and had beautiful water. Fort Myers is on the west coast so it's the Bay of Mexico which meant the water was calm and warm. Max swam in the sea for the first time and loved it.
After Fort Myers we headed to the Everglades National Park. The National Parks are probably our favourite thing about America. This one is completely different to others, but still organized really well and made brilliantly accessible. On the first day we rented a boat and drove it out through the mangroves to a tiny island called Indian Key. It had a curved sandy spit and lots of mangrove trees. When we arrived there were two other boats there but later in the day we were the only people on the island. It was amazing to beach the boat on an island and explore and play on it. We had a lovely day, and for the boys it was a real adventure. In the everglades we also went to Shark Valley to see some great wildlife - more gators, beautiful birds and turtles, but no sharks. The terrain there was meadowlands as it was the end of the dry season. As florida has become more populated there is a water shortage and less flows into the swamps and down through the peninsula. The National Park is at the southern end and they are starting a lot of projects to protect the natural environment there.
The Everglades are such a beautiful and diverse area, and with different wildlife to elsewhere in the US. After a couple of days in the National Park we headed to Miami for a night at the Savoy hotel on South Beach. We decided to treat ourselves and had a pool side room two minutes walk from the beach. We swam in the sea once but spent most of the time playing in the swimming pools at the hotel. We also had a fun night out people watching on the beautiful art deco strip, eating a nice meal while Lyn and the boys watched me drink cocktails bigger than my head. After another day at the pool we drove back to Orlando in the evening.
Back at Ruth's we had one last day with her, Gary, Rebecca and James before getting an early flight back home to NYC. A great big thanks to Ruth and her family for having us to stay and giving us the chance of a wonderful holiday in Florida!
Here are some photos and the video from the airboat.
Tom x
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Early 2012
Hi everybody!
Hope you are all having a good 2012. We have been enjoying ourselves since our last blog. We had a very nice Christmas. Thanks for all the presents! It was really nice to have some time at home together. Lyn and I also celebrated being together for 10 years with a day out on the town - walking around the city, drinking a glass of Champagne, going to the cinema and having a nice meal.
Sam is now really settled into school and really enjoying it. Max has grown up a lot recently and is making friends and tearing around the playgrounds. And Leo is now crawling around and hardly ever stops smiling.
This winter was by far the mildest since we've been here. It's only snowed three times and one of those was back in October. We've been joined in New York by Caroline (one of my Sussex Uni friends) and her boyfriend Nicholas. It's really nice having them here and Lyn and I have both enjoyed nights out with them. We also all went to the circus which was great. Leo really loved the lights and music.
We also had Lyn's sister Joanne and her boyfriend Dave staying with us. It was great having them here and they crammed an enormous amount into their 9 days! We went to museums, ice skating in central park, a broadway play, an ice hockey match as well as numerous playgrounds. The boys loved playing Angry Birds and Cut the Rope with them in the mornings and they enjoyed the NYC nightlife (and beer pong)!
We've put some photos of early 2012 up on our flickr site here
You probably saw Lyn's appearance in the New York Times. She had a photographer following her around for a couple of hours and you can see a selection of the photos here
Finally here are a couple of videos on youtube:
Lots of love, Tom, Lyn, Sam, Max and Leo xxxxx
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
A long overdue blog
Hi everyone,
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
It's been ages since our last blog. This having 3 little boys lark is proving to be pretty time consuming and exhausting as well as obviously a complete joy. Leo's 6 months now and is sitting up, playing, swimming and being very very cute. Sam has started Kindergarton and is doing very well. Max is growing up fast. He's now 3 and has really embraced his role as a big brother. It's so lovely to see. We're used to Max being the little one and here he is looking after Leo.
We'll give you a summary of the last 6 months and then you can look at the photos. If you click on 'show info' on the slideshow, you can see a caption explaining the photo.
We've had loads of lovely visitors, I had my 40th birthday, we went to England, came back and had more lovely visitors, the boys have been growing up and Tom and I have been very tired. Poor Tom has been working extremely hard at work as well as doing all the home stuff.
After Leo was born, we were very lucky to have a stream of lovely visitors who came to help out. Rachel came for 3 weeks to look after the boys while I was in labour, then my Mum(Sybil) and Joe came and then Tom's Mum came and spent my birthday with us. Anna was in new york for that time as well. Then just before we came to England, my old colleagues Lynne and Brendan came for the night. It all seems like a bit of dream looking back but a very happy one. It was so nice having so many loved ones around as we were all getting used to having an extra family member and not much sleep.
My 40th birthday was lovely. Tom compiled a happy birthday video with little films from lots of people I love. I've watched it about 200 times. It's wonderful. Thanks ever so much to everyone who contributed to it. After watching my video and opening my presents, we played mini golf. I had a great day.
Photos of the summer, which you may have already seen, are here
We went to UK at the end of July. We had a fantastic time. It was great seeing people, although I wished it was for longer. It was prolonged by a couple of days, thanks to Tropical Storm Irene blowing its way through New York. It meant that Sam got the chance to spend his 5th birthday with his Granny, Grandad and Rachel, as well as having a birthday party with all his cousins a couple of days before. This made up for the fact that on his birthday most of his presents were the other side of the Atlantic! He got them a few days late when we finally got home, and then had a birthday party in New York with his friends. He managed to keep his birthday going for weeks!
Photos of our three weeks in England are here
Shortly after returning from Blighty, Doctor and Kim came to see us. It was really nice to see them and they were here for quite a historic event - the 10th anniversary of 9/11. Living a block away from the World Trade Center site means that a lot of our neighbours were extremely affected by 9/11. It obviously had a big effect on so many people and so it was an emotional time here. People were pleased that the memorial was opened and they now have somewhere to focus their grief. The security was like we've never experienced before - all the roads and pavements were closed and we weren't allowed out without proof of residence (which Doctor and Kim didn't have). There was also a warship parked outside our back garden. Never let it be said that New York don't take their policing seriously.
Sam started Kindergarten, which was a big step for him, as last year he was only at school in the afternoons. Now he's in proper school with lunch in the hall, playing in the playground and full days. He knew a few kids in his class from last year, but they split them up across the four classes, so he now has lots of new friends. There are 100 kids in his year at school and he seems to know them all! It took him a couple of weeks to settle in but now he loves it. His teacher Dahlia is really lovely and enthusiatic and they've been on four trips already, including to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which I helped on. It was lovely going on a school trip not as a teacher. We went on a proper yellow Simpsons type school bus - very exciting. The education system is a lot less academic here than in UK and I do wish that Sam was stretched more - but there's a big emphasis on community and respecting others which is more important. It would be great if they could do both though. Unfortunately he's starting to get a bit of an American accent, so it might be time to move on...!
Sam has also enjoyed his first season in the Downtown Soccer League and has been scoring goals for fun. The league is really well organised with over 100 kids in his age group. The play little five a side games, although sometime some of the kids are on the sidelines so it's 1v1, 2v2 or 3v3. Tom has been looking forward to this since Sam was born and is so proud seeing him run up the wing and put the ball in the back of the net. He has been coaching the kids alongside the professional coaches and has also played a couple of 11 a side coaches' games.
At the end of September we went to stay with for a weekend with our friends in Lancaster Pennsylvania. Daniel was in Sam's class last year and Lyn is friends with his mum Denise. They moved out of the city in the summer. It was really nice to see them and we had a lovely weekend in surburban America playing in the garden, having a barbeque and going to a theme park. Sam and Max enjoyed driving Daniel and Emma's little electric cars and both Lyn and I really enjoyed taking Sam on his first proper rollercoaster ride.
Photos of the first half of Autumn are here
Occupy Wall Street has been really interesting, especially as it was just up our street and Tom passed every day on the way to work. As far as I am aware, from talking to various people, New Yorkers don't really go in for mass protests, especially about anything American. From my perspective, New Yorkers seem far too positive, stoic and patriotic to ever complain. Also they all work so hard, I can't imagine they ever really have time. I think Occupy Wall St was a very positive step that normal New Yorkers were taking a stand. A lot of the protesters went to work every day and then came back to protest. The movement seemed very popular and teachers took kids there for school trips.
There was probably about 200 or so permanent protesters with their tents and banners and about 1000 police and several whirring police and media helicopters hovering above all day. It felt like a very peaceful community. My only real complaint was that there was such a myriad of issues being raised there was no single argument. I think that let the powers that be off the hook. The camp was eventually broken up by the police because of disruption to local residents. The only thing that disrupted us was being kept awake all night by police helicopters when they decided to evict them at 2am.
Leo is now seven months and is able to play with toys and entertain himself for a bit longer now, which is nice. He is a lovely little boy and adores his big brothers. If he could just start sleeping through the night we might be able to recover some of our sleep debt! Lyn and I are so tired at the moment that it's really hard to keep up with housework and everything else that needs doing (that's our excuse and we're sticking to it!)
Last Friday was Max's third birthday and we had a nice time. It was also family friday at Sam's school, so we got up, opened presents and then all went to Sam's classroom to be shown the fruits of their term long apple project. It's always great to go into Sam's school, which seems his own little world. Later his friend Liam came round and they had cupcakes. Lyn put candles in Max's and he freaked out - "Why did you give me the one that's on fire!" He then blew them out and felt like a heroic fireman saving us all. On Saturday Paul came round and we celebrated Max's birthday (and this time he was ready for the candles...) It's amazing to think he's now as old as Sam was when we moved here. He loves his presents, so a big thank you to those of you who sent things for him.
Photos of the second half of Autumn are here
Christmas is nearly here and we have two very excited boys. I'm really looking forward to 10 days off work and it's going to be really nice to just all be together. Sorry we didn't get around to Christmas cards this year. If you haven't already seen it we've sung you a Christmas message - the link's at the top of this blog. Also sorry that we haven't really been in touch with most of you during the last six months. Please look out for us on Skype over Christmas, it would be lovely to talk to you all.
As well as all the photos, we've also uploaded a few cute videos of the boys to youtube. They are all less than 30 seconds so won't take long to download:
Max blowing out his birthday candles last weekend
Sam and Max driving a Police Car
Leo playing peepo
Sam and Max rollerblading and scooting by the River Hudson
Max is Buzz Lightyear
Batman and Buzz at Halloween
Max loves techno and dances like his dad
Sam learnt to ride his bike on Governor's Island this year
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and lots of love from us all!
Tom, Lyn, Sam, Max and Leo xxxxx
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
It's been ages since our last blog. This having 3 little boys lark is proving to be pretty time consuming and exhausting as well as obviously a complete joy. Leo's 6 months now and is sitting up, playing, swimming and being very very cute. Sam has started Kindergarton and is doing very well. Max is growing up fast. He's now 3 and has really embraced his role as a big brother. It's so lovely to see. We're used to Max being the little one and here he is looking after Leo.
We'll give you a summary of the last 6 months and then you can look at the photos. If you click on 'show info' on the slideshow, you can see a caption explaining the photo.
We've had loads of lovely visitors, I had my 40th birthday, we went to England, came back and had more lovely visitors, the boys have been growing up and Tom and I have been very tired. Poor Tom has been working extremely hard at work as well as doing all the home stuff.
After Leo was born, we were very lucky to have a stream of lovely visitors who came to help out. Rachel came for 3 weeks to look after the boys while I was in labour, then my Mum(Sybil) and Joe came and then Tom's Mum came and spent my birthday with us. Anna was in new york for that time as well. Then just before we came to England, my old colleagues Lynne and Brendan came for the night. It all seems like a bit of dream looking back but a very happy one. It was so nice having so many loved ones around as we were all getting used to having an extra family member and not much sleep.
My 40th birthday was lovely. Tom compiled a happy birthday video with little films from lots of people I love. I've watched it about 200 times. It's wonderful. Thanks ever so much to everyone who contributed to it. After watching my video and opening my presents, we played mini golf. I had a great day.
Photos of the summer, which you may have already seen, are here
We went to UK at the end of July. We had a fantastic time. It was great seeing people, although I wished it was for longer. It was prolonged by a couple of days, thanks to Tropical Storm Irene blowing its way through New York. It meant that Sam got the chance to spend his 5th birthday with his Granny, Grandad and Rachel, as well as having a birthday party with all his cousins a couple of days before. This made up for the fact that on his birthday most of his presents were the other side of the Atlantic! He got them a few days late when we finally got home, and then had a birthday party in New York with his friends. He managed to keep his birthday going for weeks!
Photos of our three weeks in England are here
Shortly after returning from Blighty, Doctor and Kim came to see us. It was really nice to see them and they were here for quite a historic event - the 10th anniversary of 9/11. Living a block away from the World Trade Center site means that a lot of our neighbours were extremely affected by 9/11. It obviously had a big effect on so many people and so it was an emotional time here. People were pleased that the memorial was opened and they now have somewhere to focus their grief. The security was like we've never experienced before - all the roads and pavements were closed and we weren't allowed out without proof of residence (which Doctor and Kim didn't have). There was also a warship parked outside our back garden. Never let it be said that New York don't take their policing seriously.
Sam started Kindergarten, which was a big step for him, as last year he was only at school in the afternoons. Now he's in proper school with lunch in the hall, playing in the playground and full days. He knew a few kids in his class from last year, but they split them up across the four classes, so he now has lots of new friends. There are 100 kids in his year at school and he seems to know them all! It took him a couple of weeks to settle in but now he loves it. His teacher Dahlia is really lovely and enthusiatic and they've been on four trips already, including to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which I helped on. It was lovely going on a school trip not as a teacher. We went on a proper yellow Simpsons type school bus - very exciting. The education system is a lot less academic here than in UK and I do wish that Sam was stretched more - but there's a big emphasis on community and respecting others which is more important. It would be great if they could do both though. Unfortunately he's starting to get a bit of an American accent, so it might be time to move on...!
Sam has also enjoyed his first season in the Downtown Soccer League and has been scoring goals for fun. The league is really well organised with over 100 kids in his age group. The play little five a side games, although sometime some of the kids are on the sidelines so it's 1v1, 2v2 or 3v3. Tom has been looking forward to this since Sam was born and is so proud seeing him run up the wing and put the ball in the back of the net. He has been coaching the kids alongside the professional coaches and has also played a couple of 11 a side coaches' games.
At the end of September we went to stay with for a weekend with our friends in Lancaster Pennsylvania. Daniel was in Sam's class last year and Lyn is friends with his mum Denise. They moved out of the city in the summer. It was really nice to see them and we had a lovely weekend in surburban America playing in the garden, having a barbeque and going to a theme park. Sam and Max enjoyed driving Daniel and Emma's little electric cars and both Lyn and I really enjoyed taking Sam on his first proper rollercoaster ride.
Photos of the first half of Autumn are here
Occupy Wall Street has been really interesting, especially as it was just up our street and Tom passed every day on the way to work. As far as I am aware, from talking to various people, New Yorkers don't really go in for mass protests, especially about anything American. From my perspective, New Yorkers seem far too positive, stoic and patriotic to ever complain. Also they all work so hard, I can't imagine they ever really have time. I think Occupy Wall St was a very positive step that normal New Yorkers were taking a stand. A lot of the protesters went to work every day and then came back to protest. The movement seemed very popular and teachers took kids there for school trips.
There was probably about 200 or so permanent protesters with their tents and banners and about 1000 police and several whirring police and media helicopters hovering above all day. It felt like a very peaceful community. My only real complaint was that there was such a myriad of issues being raised there was no single argument. I think that let the powers that be off the hook. The camp was eventually broken up by the police because of disruption to local residents. The only thing that disrupted us was being kept awake all night by police helicopters when they decided to evict them at 2am.
Leo is now seven months and is able to play with toys and entertain himself for a bit longer now, which is nice. He is a lovely little boy and adores his big brothers. If he could just start sleeping through the night we might be able to recover some of our sleep debt! Lyn and I are so tired at the moment that it's really hard to keep up with housework and everything else that needs doing (that's our excuse and we're sticking to it!)
Last Friday was Max's third birthday and we had a nice time. It was also family friday at Sam's school, so we got up, opened presents and then all went to Sam's classroom to be shown the fruits of their term long apple project. It's always great to go into Sam's school, which seems his own little world. Later his friend Liam came round and they had cupcakes. Lyn put candles in Max's and he freaked out - "Why did you give me the one that's on fire!" He then blew them out and felt like a heroic fireman saving us all. On Saturday Paul came round and we celebrated Max's birthday (and this time he was ready for the candles...) It's amazing to think he's now as old as Sam was when we moved here. He loves his presents, so a big thank you to those of you who sent things for him.
Photos of the second half of Autumn are here
Christmas is nearly here and we have two very excited boys. I'm really looking forward to 10 days off work and it's going to be really nice to just all be together. Sorry we didn't get around to Christmas cards this year. If you haven't already seen it we've sung you a Christmas message - the link's at the top of this blog. Also sorry that we haven't really been in touch with most of you during the last six months. Please look out for us on Skype over Christmas, it would be lovely to talk to you all.
As well as all the photos, we've also uploaded a few cute videos of the boys to youtube. They are all less than 30 seconds so won't take long to download:
Max blowing out his birthday candles last weekend
Sam and Max driving a Police Car
Leo playing peepo
Sam and Max rollerblading and scooting by the River Hudson
Max is Buzz Lightyear
Batman and Buzz at Halloween
Max loves techno and dances like his dad
Sam learnt to ride his bike on Governor's Island this year
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and lots of love from us all!
Tom, Lyn, Sam, Max and Leo xxxxx
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Leo Bollen
Leo Bollen was born on Thursday 19th May at 17:10 (22:10 GMT). He weighs 8lbs 13oz and is 21 1/4" tall (what's that in cm?).
Mum and baby are both doing well. Leo has met his big brothers and they are very cute together.
There are some photos on our flickr site and we'll get some more up there soon. www.flickr.com/lyntom
Mum and baby are both doing well. Leo has met his big brothers and they are very cute together.
There are some photos on our flickr site and we'll get some more up there soon. www.flickr.com/lyntom
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