Around here

Time is flying by.  I blinked and like that tomorrow is the first day of April.  How is that possible?  Life has been busy with the normal routines of school, after school activities, work and daily life.  In between the mundane stuff though we had some fun adventures and milestones over the last month or so. 

During the week Olivia and Ashton had off of school in mid-February, we occupied ourselves with a few fun activities around town.  Our first destination was the Natural History Museum.  Seeing the dinosaurs was definitely the highlight of the visit.  So much so that Ashton is now a bit obsessed with dinosaurs and requires Geoff or myself to read the same dinosaur book to her every night before bed.  No matter the solicitation of other books, she will not be swayed.  Hmmm...that booked might have to become temporarily lost sometime very soon.

Am I a bad parent for having a good laugh at Ashton's expense from the look of terror on her face when she first saw this dinosaur??

As I've mentioned on here before, I love the vast amount of children's theatre that London offers.  There is always something fun on stage going on to take them to.  On this occasion, we went to see The Cat in the Hat.  Super fun!

The girls had their first trip to the dentist.  They handled it like pros.  They were fascinated with all the dental tools and the dentist did an excellent job of making them feel comfortable.  The highlight was getting to choose fun sunglasses to wear while the cleaning happened.

Speaking of teeth, Olivia lost her second tooth a few weeks ago.  The first one happened back in November.  She was so excited to put it under her pillow to see what the Tooth Fairy would deliver.  Going rate these days is £1.

In celebration of the Chinese new year, a Chinese Magical Lantern Festival was held in a part of town west of the city called Chiswick. The Festival contained hundreds of fun and creative light displays.  The weather was cold and it started raining midway through leaving us chilled to the bone, but it was still fun.  Plus, the girls got their first experience roasting marshmallows!  However, I do think more of the marshmallow ended up on their hands and hair than actually entered their mouths.

And a few photos just because...

Ashton is 3!

My middle child is 3!  Thanks to my slowness in getting this blog post together, she's technically 3 years, 1 month and 5 days.  Either way, I'm shaking my head in disbelief that Ashton Brooke arrived into our family over 3 years ago.  She is sweet, sensitive, independent and feisty.  She looks up to her big sister and is protective of her little brother.  She's chatty and has no problem letting her opinions be known. She adores her teachers at school and they equally adore her.  For being the middle child, she surprisingly plays very independent and does not need to always be by her sister's side.  She often spends big chunks of time playing by herself along with her princesses or baby dolls.  It's entertaining to eavesdrop on the "conversations" she verbalizes the princesses are having amongst themselves. 

Ashton had quite the third birthday as her big day - February 19 - occurred while we were in Morocco.  It started off with a a birthday donut and candle presented by the wait staff at our resort during breakfast.  They gathered around and sung Happy Birthday to her while she glowed under the attention. 

Breakfast was followed by adventures in Marrakech's medina and included getting up close and personal with snakes and monkeys.  

Geoff had mentioned to our resort prior to our arrival that Ashton would be celebrating her birthday during our stay there.  Wow...what a treat they left for her!  While we were out sightseeing, the staff decorated a table in our room and left the most delicious cake.  The squeals of delight from Ashton when she saw everything, especially the Frozen decorations, were priceless.

To celebrate Ashton back home in London, we had a little Hawaiian themed birthday party for her with a few of her friends.

When Olivia turned 3, I asked her with a list of questions.  I've since asked her the same 15 questions on each subsequent birthday and it's been fun to see how her answers have changed or stayed the same as each year passes.  With Ashton now reaching the age of 3, it was her turn to be interviewed.  Here are her answers:

1. What is your favorite color?  Blue
2. What is your favorite toy? Disney Princess Magiclips & Ariel's castle
3. Where do you want to go on an airplane to? Somewhere where there is sand
4. How old is Mommy?  25  (I like this answer!)
5. What is your favorite outfit to wear?  Zebra skirt & black shirt
6. What is your favorite food?  Fish fingers and chips
7. What is your favorite animal? Camel
8. What is your favorite book? Three Little Pigs
9. Who is your best friend?  Chloe
10. What does Daddy do at work?  Does a lot of things like type
11. What is your favorite thing to do outside?  Jump on the trampoline 
12. What is your favorite fruit?  Grapes
13. What do you want to be when you grow up? Someone who makes pancakes 
14.  What do you like to do at school? Eat snacks and play with puzzles
15.  What does Mommy do while you're at school? Feed Baby Quinn

Note: She started each answer with "Uhhhh...." as she thought about each response. It was pretty cute.

Destination: Morocco

In mid-February, Olivia and Ashton had a week long break from school which, of course, means a travel opportunity for us.  So back in the early fall when we spotted a British Airways fare sale to destinations around Europe during that week, we jumped on the opportunity to head to a new continent: Africa! Our destination was Marrakech, Morocco.  It's only a three hour flight from London and it offers warmth and sun, two things hard to come by in London in February.

Marrakech is comprised of the Old City and the New City.  While our resort was in the New City, the Old City and the medina is where most of the exciting or exotic things to see are and where we spent most of our time.

We had a tour guide take us around the souks, or market.  There was so much to take in.  Foods, rugs, soaps, herbs & spices, lanterns, clothing, leather goods, art, etc.  You name it!  It reminded us a lot of the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul.  

Getting a lesson in Moroccan rug making

After visiting the souks, we made our way through the square which was overflowing with people trying to get tourists' money.  Although we had to give the guys money for taking photos, we couldn't go to Morocco without seeing the snake charmers and monkeys.  I commented to Geoff afterwards that walking through the square made me feel like I had been on the set of an Indiana Jones movie.

My girls had absolutely no hesitations when it came to touching and putting snakes around their necks.  Ugh.  Just looking at the snakes again in these photos gives me the creeps.  Thank goodness for zoom functions on cameras because I was not as close it looks to snap these photos.  

After the snakes, it was time with some monkeys which they also loved.  Frankly, I thought it was sad seeing the monkeys on chains and wearing clothes and diapers but I guess I didn't help the issue by letting my girls hold the monkeys and giving the monkeys' owners money for letting us do so.  

While much warmer and sunnier than London, the weather wasn't hot yet in Marrakech and several of the pools at the resort were still closed for the season.  However, there was one pool open and despite its chilly temperature, all the girls wanted to do was swim.  Geoff took one for the team and got with them and Quinn and I contently relaxed on the nice, dry sun.

 Post visit to the resort's kid's club

Camel riding was one of the top items of our to-do list in Marrakech.  The girls loved it.  Quinn...not so much.  He cried during most of the 30 minute ride.  I am thankful that I don't live in a period of time where camel riding is the required mode of transportation.   They were uncomfortable and certainly not fast. 

On the last day of our trip, we hired a driver to take us into the foothills of the Atlas Mountains, which were about a 45 minute drive away from Marrakech.  It was interesting to get out of the city and see how more rural, village life occurs there.  It is obviously so different than the hustle and bustle of big, city life that we are accustomed to here in London.  

Berber Village

The Berber restaurants creek side

We stopped off at one village to see where they grown various herbs and then watch the process for turning the herbs into various oils, soaps and perfumes. 

In the herb garden

Family photo op at the restaurant we ate lunch at