summer boys

We've enjoyed two sushi related play dates in the last eight days.  YoSushi has a special on every Thursday all summer long, so we'll probably have one more when we get back from Colorado.  Tim eats chicken, of course.

Left front: Oli.  Left rear: Daniel.  Right front: Polly, Daniel's sister.  Right middle: Jonny, Oli's brother.  Left rear: Tim. Behind Polly with his back to us, is none other than Lord Crowley of Downton Abbey!

The bouncy castle at Kris and Paul's new home in Guildford on a gorgeous English summer day.

Oli, Tim and Jonny enjoying a popsicle after their bouncing adventures.

science fair

Tim's class has been learning all about the five senses. This culminated in a science fair.  I was able to attend, and Tim took me to all the stations to do experiments in taste, touch, sight, sound and smell.  They had roses that they had feed garlic.  The roses smelled like garlic!  

We had to color them pink because we don't have crayons that match our skin.

Rose colored glasses

We listened to sounds and identified them on a card.

dinosaurs

Tim and I braved the miserable weather and went to London today.  

waiting for the tube

We went to where Paul works and got to experience the wind tunnel that the cityscape has created in that square.  I was too miserable to bother with a picture outside and recovered in the lobby while Paul took Tim to his floor to show him his work area.  Most of the building is open space with a roof-high atrium in the middle, so it's impressive.

This is the tunnel at Waterloo to get to the Northern line.  It's long enough that it has a moving walkway.

I like the tiles in this tube stop, so we got out for a picture on our way from Warren Street where Paul works to South Kennsington where the Museum of Natural History is located.

As interesting as the things inside the museum are, I like this place best because the building is so beautiful.

Tim, not a fan of dinosaurs in general, was fittingly impressed and walked through both the mammal and dinosaur exhibits before getting tired.  That was when I got tired as well.  Perfect timing.

We made it back to Waterloo with time to kill and were both pleased to sit in a pub with a drink and our devices.

six years old

Tim was very involved with the preparations for his party this year.  Along with coloring the bags and writing names on them, he also spent a lot of time examining every goody that went into each one.

birthday party

Tim turns six on Friday and celebrated his birthday with what he calls his 'science office friends' at school yesterday.  Three of his classmates are sons of my colleagues and all of them are science teachers.    Another science teacher who started this year has two sons that are also Tim's friends.  One is a year older than Tim and the other is a year younger.   The adults take turns collecting all five of them at the end of the day.   The science department is on the ground floor of the high school, beside a side entrance, so whichever adult has pick-up duty takes them to the science office to wait for the parents to collect them and take them home.

This is the first year that he seemed to actually enjoy being the center of attention and stood smiling by his cake for the entire "happy birthday" song.

All of the boys are fans of the video game called Minecraft, so when Tim requested it for the theme of his party, it was easy to agree.  Paul drew the creeper faces.  Tim colored them in and wrote the names of each boy on their bag.

I got my cake idea from Pinterest.   These are brownies cut into 1 inch squares.  The figures are plastic characters from the game.

A local company printed the banner.  Each triangle has his name and age on it.

They watched and listened to youtube videos of song parodies that have been set to Minecraft.

Tim is behind the humongous card.  Daniel is in the striped shirt and Jack is beside Daniel.  Ginger is Jack's mom (in the background).  Ginger teaches English and her husband Rich teaches physics.  They are from Texas.

Tim and Daniel.

Tim was happy with his party and Paul and I were pleased with how involved he got with the preparations: coloring the bags and choosing each toy/candy to put inside them.  Tonight, I'm making more brownies - no theme - for Tim to take for his whole class on Friday.  We'll celebrate his birthday with Luke this weekend as a family.  I've got some video to put on but technical difficulties mean it will have to wait for now.