10 August Sprout

Sprout has not sprouted yet, thank goodness, but for those of you interested to see...Sprout is definitely 'packing on the pounds.' Only 13 days to hang on until the due date, let's see how Sprout's (and mama's) patience is!

2 August 08 - Ed and Vicky's Wedding

At 2 1/2 years old, Max has been Paige in his first wedding!! Our good friends Ed and Vicky tied the knot in a lovely ceremony at St Mary's Church. Ed arrived in grand style with the Victory motocycle group, who then went back to Vicky's to escort her in the luxury car to the ceremony.
Afterwards we all toasted the bride and groom at Highbury Manor with a wonderful wedding breakfast.
Max had a great time and was so good walking down the aisle with Jenny and Becky; and he thoroughly enjoyed being dressed up in his little suit.

Wimbledon - not an event, an experience

On approaching the hotel car park lined with vehicles that appeared to be from a line-up of Jeremy Clarkson's next television programme, my sister Bre (visiting from the USA) smiled and said, “This is going to be good.” What an understatement!!!

We won the EPC annual Wimbledon raffle prize…and this is an unembellished recap of our experience.

Saturday we arrived early to get in and enjoy our all-inclusive lunch at the Wingfield Restaurant attached to Centre Court. We then took our seats and spent the next two hours watching some amazing tennis from the Williams sisters, in both the singles and doubles finals. Positioned directly behind Serena in the doubles match, it was quite a thrill.

The BMW whisked us back to the hotel where we enjoyed our evening at the Canizzaro House’s pool, Jacuzzi and gym.

Sunday we awoke hoping to see the bright sunshine, WRONG! Rain dampened our arrival but not our spirits. Sitting in the food court under Centre Court we had to protect our seats for 3 ½ hours until the rain-soaked crowds were told that play would begin in 20 minutes. The tennis was amazing as most of you watched: first Nadal powered forward, then Federer systematically worked himself back into the game with his powerful serves. Once again the heavens opened and tarps were rushed across the grass. People filed out of their seats to try and find some shelter or something warm to drink.

Play resumed with Federer mounting an impressive attack and the crowd seemed to migrate their allegiance towards the man from Switzerland. He truly proved why he is the world's #1. Until yet again RAIN stopped all play.
I was quite fortunate being an avid Real Madrid fan, because as we wandered around the grounds we happened to cross paths with Ramon Calderon the president of the world famous club. I was able to persuade him to take a photo with me! Of course we all know he was never here to sign Cristiano Ronaldo!

With the pain of a 2 hour journey ahead and the late hour, Bre and I wavered back and forth about calling the driver to have him take us home. Luckily we made the right decision to stay, and were rewarded with the best sporting event I have ever seen outside of the 2002 Ryder Cup final (which being a Yankee was bittersweet).

Thanks to the Edgbaston Priory this was an AMAZING experience my sister and I will never forget!

13 July - Bre's visit

The week of spending time with Tia Bre has come to an end, and we were all very sad to see her go (although we know Joe is anxious to have her back home). We had such a great week...here are a couple of pictures of the four (I mean 6) of us!!

12 July - Max's first dance recital

The Oaks Day Nursery presents The Wizard of Oz...a very, very cute dance production by a bunch of 2-5 year olds!! This was Max's first public performance, and he proved he is definitely Michelle and B.D.'s kid - no stage freight whatsoever. He was a little tired, though, as his nap was cut a little short by the early afternoon start. And with so many parents in the room it was difficult to get good pictures, but we hope you enjoy these few and the video.

12 July - Max's First Dance Recital

Video of the final dance - boy can that kid get down!!

7 July - Max's School Trip to Conkers

After arriving in town on 4 July, then spending the weekend at Wimbledon watching amazing tennis, Bre joined me for Max's second ever school outing. The venue was Conkers, a local (1 hour away) forest adventureland, where we spent a couple of hours doing a nature walk, riding on a short train, playing in the playground and visiting stuffed animal snakes at the gift shop (one of the highlights of the day for Max).

The kids paired off for the nature walk and were given a bag to collect leaves, flowers and twigs in. Max and Bethany started off with a bang collecting several items right away, but then Max tired of that and let Bethany carry the bag herself (seemed he thought girls LIKE to carry bags) and wandered off to pick flowers!

While most of the kids were making pictures with the items they collected, Max bored of the whole thing and went with Tia Bre to look at the ducks.

Enjoy a couple of pictures!

xo Michelle