And the beat goes on...

So the Germany trip didn't tire my folks out...in fact...it gave them MORE energy! 

The next day we drove down to a darling coastal city that I had taken Barb and Wayne to when they were here last fall called Brighton. We didn't leave till noon, so we just

 had a few nice hours walking around this great city. 

I took them to the Royal Pavillon Palace - George IV's summer house. 

It is such an impressive building.

We walked along the coast and the clouds were absolutely breathtaking. 

The "Lanes" as they're known are narrow streets with lots of shops, just for pedestrians to go down and we ate at a great restaurant called, "Street Thai". It was such a fun evening. 

Greenwich

On Monday we got the kids off to school and went into London for a "Discovering Greenwich" walking tour and Alyson came with us. Although it was a rather cold day, we all enjoyed learning more about the history of this coastal area of London. 

We started off with a river cruise down the Thames and ended Greenwich.

We visited the Old Royal naval College,

 and saw the National Maritime Museum atop the hill. We learned about that bright red ball that sits on the top of the observatory. This ball is one of the world's earliest public time signals, distributing time to ships on the Thames and many Londoners of the correct time.  It drops precisely at 1300 hours every day and the famous "keep your eye on the ball" saying came from this signal.

We stood on the Prime Meridian, zero degrees longitude, where every place on Earth is measured in terms of its distance east or west from the Greenwich Meridian.

 and finished the afternoon off with a great lunch at what an elderly local gentleman referred to as "the greatest pub in town!" It was called the Plume and Feathers.

I took this picture of my parents riding on the top of a double-decker bus because my mom was not quite settled until she and my dad had gotten to do this! She is SO funny! 
Nottingham

My parents took the next two days to take the train up to Nottingham 

where ancestors from both sides of my family came from. They said they 

had the greatest time and really enjoyed the village. 

 They went straight to the cemetery in Nottingham and looked and looked for any sign of our DaBell family name. They said it was a HUGE cemetery and when they had just about given up, my mom was resting next to a gravesite and as she lifted her hand, there was one of our family members - Fred DaBell. They were pretty thrilled and honored to find him.

You shouldn't leave Nottingham without visiting Robin Hood's Sherwood Forest!

They walked through many of the city's underground caves and tunnels and 

 found our family pub! 

"The Bell Inn" 

National History Museum Grade 3 Field-trip

I was able to go Ty and his class on their field trip into London and visit the 

Earthquake and Volcano area of the National History Museum. 

This is Ty with his buddy Max, his teacher Miss Wilson and two cute girls. 

I met up with my parents in London to see the broadway musical Matilda. 

Oh my goodness! It was AMAZING! I had no idea it would be this fantastic. 

I've decided I'm going to save my money, read this book to my 

children and take themto see it! It's that good! 

The opening staging of Matilda 

Ike was asked by the JV coach to play in a tournament in London on Saturday.

Their team was able to win the tournament. 

We took the kids from the game and walked through Trafalgar Square and 

Papa and Mimi treated us to a delicious Italian dinner. Oh my goodness are we 

ever going to miss them, their love, support and energy!

Papa playing Tenzie with the kids!

Japan

Yep you guessed it! Spence was back in Asia this week- this time in Japan.

He visited Tokyo and took the bullet train to Osaka and Kyoto for meetings and trainings. 

He and I both can't believe what an amazing opportunity it has been for him

to travel to Asia now five time in five months! Unbelievably cool.

 Bullet Train

Tokyo Tower

 Spencer and Richard Clarke

Kyoto Temple site

Spencer saw this amazing shrine in Kyoto on Mt. Inari on their hiking tour.

Washing hand sites

Spencer brought this wrap home for me. It's beautiful- In Kyoto, they use this tie-dye, wrapping technique to create this wonderful effect on silk cloth. 

The kids enjoying their new Japanese souveniers

Sunday Dinner!

Spencer's friend Kymball and Heidi Lacey, from the Cardston area, have been living and touring around Europe for the past six months. We were able to have them over Sunday dinner before they left. It was so much fun getting to know this darling family. We just sat and laughed and laughed about all the experiences they were having and relating to some of the differences in cultures we were all experiencing. It was a really great afternoon.  

GEEK SQUAD!

 This is Ty at the Senior living center close to our home. His Geek Squad team taught the elderly how to use their i-pads better. He absolutely loved it and said he'd like to go back. 

He commented, "Mom, I wasn't that clear at first, but I started to explain it better as I taught it a few times. I should go back and teach them a few more things." 

So great!

 Shout out to my darling nephew's Jackson and Lincoln Holt! 

They got baptized this past week. They are SO dang handsome! Congratulations!

 Happy 94th Birthday Nanny!

Our beautiful, talented, smart, incredibly loving Nanny celebrated her 94th birthday with my family in Idaho last week. Nanny, we love you so much and are so grateful for the example of love, service, loyalty and happiness that you continue to share with all of us.

We love you so much xoxoxo

Check out this stunning cake my family had made for her! 

Unbelievably gorgeous~ 

Anne's entire 5th grade had to create a logo for their Grade 5 "Sharing the Planet" exhibition coming up in May. It's a culminating event where the kids are assigned partners to work on a specific project for the next 7 weeks. Their first assignment was to design a logo for the fair. And...Anne's won! 

 Anne and her friends Eleanor and Lara entered a Bake Off at the school.

They had to create a dessert that made people laugh. 

They did a great job! 

 A day a Monkey Mates play arena

 Spencer and Ike were invited to Bas's paint balling birthday party. (Spence was asked to be another supervising adult.) This party started at 9:30 and didn't finish till 4:30pm. They came home exhausted and SORE! They had welts all over their bodies. 

(I guess that's fun???...)

 Ike and Bas Hoencamp

British Museum

 So...Mother's Day is celebrated in the UK in March. 

 I have been really wanting to see Swan Lake ballet at the 

Royal Opera/Ballet House in London. I knew it was ending this weekend so

I went online and found ONE ticket left. It was a sold out show. So on Friday, (as my Mother's Day gift!) I took the train into London by myself and spent about three hours wondering around the British Museum. Wow! How incredible. 

Then I walked over to the ballet for the show. 

 Easter Island Statue

 Egyptian mummy's and sarcophagus 

 Rosetta Stone

 Opera House - this is where they ask you to wait and eat or have a drink before they open the theatre for people to go into. It was really magnificent- very chic.

 Inside the opera house

 My "seat" wasn't actually a seat...who knew! It was a 'standing only' seat. (Probably why it came available). That being said, I had an perfect view of the show and I cannot say enough about how unbelievably amazing the performance was. Who said, "white men can't jump?" Umm people who haven't seen a professional ballet dancer! It was INCREDIBLE! And ballet fans are awesome! They stay perfectly quiet during a masterful number, then erupt into applause after they finish, yelling "Bravo!" I loved it! 

Mother's Day morning! Filled with flowers, french toast and 

love notes from my kids and Spence. 

Corrine and Olive (Ellsworth) Beaumont came over for Sunday dinner and 

we had the best time with them. Olive is SO cute!

Spencer made salmon, potatoes, BBQ beef, veggies 

and Anne topped it with a chocolate cake!