Hoops and date-nights

Basketball has finally started and Ike is so happy to be playing school ball again. I know he misses his Park View Panther Team, but he is excited to be a Jaguar this year. Our dear friend Yu Chen came to watch the game and took some fun shots of Ike and the game. Ike's team won the game against the American Tasis school, (the school where his buddy Tyler Frost attends). It's so fun watching them play. 

 Ike and Tyler Frost

 This is such a Spencer move - it cracked me up!

 Apparently this is how we look during Ike's games :)

 Ike running up the court with his buddy Miguel from Spain.

 And on the other side of the pond...

Here is a darling picture of my family (Mom, Nanny, Jenn, Natalie and Kerry) watching all the 

boys play ball over in Idaho - Mitch, Reggie, Robby, Mason, Will and Kaden

Nanny is 94 next month and she is still out and about being our #1 fan! We love you! 

Go Bobcats! 

 Josh is CONSTANTLY playing football in the front room. The kids have quite a competition going in here every morning before school and before bedtime. 
IN FACT...They get themselves up and ready to go so they have a few minutes to play before the bus comes at 7:45.

Anne and I visit London for our date together

If you remember, Spencer gave me "dates" with each of our children for Christmas. I took the little boys into London to see Slava's Snow Show and to visit the Science Museum. Well, Anne and I got to visit St. Paul's Cathedral and had tickets to the play "The Wind and the Willows". Okay, I have come to the realization Anne is SO fun to visit London with. She is interested in the history, the architecture and discovering whatever is suggested that we could go and see. We put on our self-guided ear phones and spent over two hours 

touring this amazing building. 

 St. Paul's staff does not allow pictures to be taken of the inside of the building but let me tell you, it is really stunning. The mosaic art work is mind-blowing! St. Paul's was first built in 604 AD! But there have been three rebuilding's because of accidents/fires. The current St. Paul's was built in the late 1600's by Sir Christopher Wren. It is an actual "working church", so services are held throughout the day. Visiting this landmark was really nice.
This is the cathedral where Lady Diana married Prince Charles.

(This picture was one I found on the internet so you could see what the inside looks like.)

 Inside the church, you are allowed to climb the 528 steps to the tippity-top dome. It was SO high (a little scary to be honest, but the view was unbelievable.) 

 Anne has NO fear! She loved it~

 By the time we got back down, my legs continued to shake for about 30 minutes! lol

On our way to Wind and the Willows-a delightful mime & dancing show with a live narrator.

 It was cleverly done and fun to watch. 

Spencer was able to take Ike, Yu Chen and Lucia to the temple for their first visit. 

Anne and Ty started their piano lessons with their new teacher Mr. Daniel Jekey. He is Hungarian and his accent is thick so sometimes I see the kids looking up at him with a very questioning look because they don't understand what he is saying.  

 Anne (and Josh) starting violin lessons. We are working on holding our wrist correctly. 

I am loving the kids playing this beautiful instrument. Maybe one day they'll be as good as their cousin Vanessa! 

Anne making her famous chocolate cupcakes.

 I bought tickets to the Royal Opera/Ballet House and called Alyson and told her she was coming with me :) It was very interesting and we got to stand and watch the ballet company practice. I think we could have stood there all day watching. 

Absolutely incredible at what these dancers can do. 

 We met up with our other good friend Stephanie Carroll, who was at physio-therapy, and we all went out to lunch at a wonderful Mexican restaurant called Wahaka. 

 Joshy and Ty at their friends Connor's house.

Funny insight by Ty: We have a lot of legos, but "theirs are WAY COOLER!" 

Isn't that the way it always goes? :)

Thriller!

 I got to take Ike and his good friend Matthew Knight, from our ward, into London for our date night to the Michael Jackson show Thriller! These young men were really delightful and funny and we laughed and cheered and had a great time. Ike was absolutely blown away at how Michael Jackson could dance and sing. The dancer who played "Michael" was spectacular! It was really fun. 

Funny Story: After the show, I asked the boys if they were hungry and they said no because of all the snacks they had during the show. So I looked at the time and said, "You know, if we really hustle, we could make it back to the next train instead of waiting for another 30 minutes." They both were ready to go home and we made a run for it. We had to make the Bakerloo train station, go three stops, run UP two long escalators, and into Waterloo Station where we jumped on the train- it left about 45 seconds later! We were so winded by the time we arrived. I was laughing and the first words out of Mathew's mouth was, "I dropped all my skittles running here!" We busted out laughing and then he said, "But Sister Holt, I was seriously impressed on how you took those stairs! That was brilliant!" Ike about died laughing. (Yes, I think I pulled a muscle - 

but they don't need to know that.)

Meanwhile...

Spencer had to fly over to NYC to get his immigration all sorted out so we can continue to work. haha But because he has meetings in DC the next week, he had to stay in the States until the meetings were all finished. He called his good buddy Bryan O'Connell and they met up in NY for a great weekend sight-seeing the city. (And going to Target for me...)

 They first visited the 911 memorial, so beautiful and very impressive.

 It's just so tragic this ever happened..

 Spencer and Bryan decided to do an "Urban Marathon". They ran and walked all over Brooklyn and Manhattan, seeing all the sites. They finished the day having gone 27 miles!

(This is SUCH a Spencer thing!) Pretty impressive though.

 He said it was a blast and can't wait to do it again in London! Funny guy..

On the pier admiring our Lady Liberty

Bryan had mapped out all the famous bakery's, pizza joints 

and historical places for them to see. 

Spencer said it was so much fun. He said to me that night, "Man, my feet are pretty sore.."

"Well, sweetheart, what do you expect after going 27 miles in one day?!" haha