LIFE with the Lovells: May 2012

Sunday, May 27, 2012

our little entrepreneurs

Letty has been asking to have a lemonade stand... and since we weren't really enthusiastic about it so she and her dad came up with growing tomato plants instead. After purchasing some seeds from the pound store they were planted and she dutifully took care of them, naming them and all (sprout, leafy tiny etc.). She was so excited to go out on the street and sell her plants. After an hour and a half she was sold out and very excited! T-man then had fun teaching her about business fundamentals of costs and profits etc. I'm wondering what she is going to want to sell next?

Leeds Castle and Canterbury

At the beginning of the month we took an excursion to Leeds Castle and then when on to Canterbury. I'm not going to take the time to go into a history here but in case you want to learn more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leeds_Castle help yourself.

Leeds has amazing grounds and plenty of space. It is also full of birds.

We had fun in the hedge maze.

Canterbury has been the center of Christian worship in England for over a thousand years.

quite extraordinary inside

I had to take a picture of this picture to show what a presence this cathedral is.

She really wanted some of the noodles as you can see. She was pretty proud of her skills. She seems to be able to use these joined chop sticks pretty sell.

Yum yum

Sunday, May 6, 2012

local happenings

In between our guests we've had a couple of things going on around here. Gracie started going to preschool two days a week. She was very excited. This is her on her first day. A lovely thing about England is that they provide three and four-year-olds 15 hours a week of free preschool. I'm only using about half of my hours. She really likes it, and its great for her to be able to do something on her own and not e depend on her big sister.

The Brighton Festival started yesterday with a kick off of the Children's Parade. There were about 75 schools that marched in the parade with the theme of "Stories through the Ages." It was cold but the kids liked it and we enjoyed seeing the creative floats and unique way of making them.

an example of the art work

I think this one was part of Peter Pan

A posing for the picture. Her posing reminds me how Letty used to pose, always ready for a picture.

Letty's class did Romulus and Remus. A legend of how Rome was founded. The story goes something like this: Romulus and Remus were twin brothers abandoned by their parents put into a basket in the River Tiber. A wolf found the babies, nursed them until they were found by a shepard who raised them. When grown, the brothers wanted to build a city where the wolf found them. They quarreled and Romulus killed Remus. Romulus then decided on the place for the city which is now know and Rome. So there you have it a story I certainly didn't learn in the second grade (or year 3 as the call it here).

visitors and excursions

We have been very fortunate to have had family come and see us. It's been a lovely treat. Pika came on my birthday. It was very nice to celebrate with her and she allowed Tim and I to go on a little date that afternoon. Shortly after she returned to her stay in Germany, my sister, her husband and mother-in-law came for a week. They stayed very busy as they toured London, Paris, and some English sites. It was really nice to have them here even though it was short.

Eating dinner at our local pub. They have awesome pizza.

T-man went to a lot of work to make me this birthday dessert, it was great! The picture was an after thought as it would have looked nicer before we dug into it. It was very sweet of him to make something instead of the easier buying it. A true labor of love.