Back in the US of A

Its been a whirlwind week for the four of us, but we are all very happy to be back in the good old US of A. Here are the highlights since we left the UK:

- In the past week, we've been to Heathrow, LAX, the Vegas Airport, Atlanta's Hartsfield, and Birmingham's Airport

- The kids have been great traveler's so far

- Risby did really well on the flight and we are really happy to have her with us

- The customs folks took our dog food, so I "had" to walk to the nearby Target to pick up food for the Riz. Good thing for Tim that I was on foot!

-Edwards really is in the middle of nowhere, but the sun shines 350 days a year. Its all about the positive spin.

- We have a four bedroom house on base, and Ollie is VERY happy with all of the dirt and rocks. Its all dirt, except for a small patch of grass in the backyard

- We are in Alabama for Thanksgiving, and Charlotte's Baptism is next Saturday. We are very excited to share this time with good friends and family.

- We have new cell numbers and a new address, so look out for a mass e-mail from either Tim or I : )

- We're shopping for living room furniture...time to get adult furniture!

Hope you are all doing well and we're excited to see you soon!

Four years, two kids, and a dog

We are six weeks shy of a four year stay here in the UK, and we board a plane tomorrow for Los Angeles. Our family has grown to two children and a dog, we've survived two deployments, and we've made so many great friends. We are truly going to miss this island. Instead of a wordy recap, here's a list of some of the things that I'll miss most:

Good friends

Ollie's friends

Creamed Tea at Harriet's

A two hour flight to central Europe

PG Tips

Our tiny and cozy, but wonderful house across from a duck pond

Walking into Bury for dinner

Walking to the Abbey Gardens through the market on a Saturday with a cup of Cafe Nero coffee in my hands

The Rose Garden

Lunch with the girls

The Green Wellie

The RAF Club in London

Riding the train

Great travel

We don't yet have a forwarding address, but we expect one soon. The housing office at Edwards is one of our first stops next week! We'll keep you posted via e-mail.

If you find yourself in the LA area and want to see the middle of the desert, give us a buzz!

Remembrance Sunday

Off to a lay a wreath at the site of RAF North Pickenham tomorrow, visited the American cemetery in Cambridge this afternoon.

From the chapel at the American cemetery:

IN PROUD AND GRATEFUL MEMORY OF THOSE MEN OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY AIR FORCE WHO FROM THESE FRIENDLY ISLES FLEW THEIR FINAL FLIGHT AND MET THEIR GOD. THEY KNEW NOT THE HOUR THE DAY NOR THE MANNER OF THEIR PASSING. WHEN FAR FROM HOME THEY WERE CALLED TO JOIN THAT HEROIC BAND OF AIRMEN WHO HAD GONE BEFORE. MAY THEY REST IN PEACE.

Fall Colors

I didn't take this picture(credit: lowfly.net), but I wanted to post it for the nice Fall colors. And the jet.

Won't be posting many of my own pictures for awhile here since I just realized that although I managed to keep my camera out of the household goods shipment, I failed to do so with the battery charger or the USB cord. Oh well.

Cheers,

Tim

Rubber Neck or Bleeding Heart?

Why, when you hear about a tragedy, do you feel the need to turn and stare? Is my desire to help those hurting and grieving or do I just want to be close to the action?

The 16 Community has suffered some major losses in just the past month and they sting all the more because they are a part of our AF community. While I feel a little like I'm paying too much attention to someone else's drama, my heart aches for these families and I will continue to pray for them. What else can we do?

There was a crash at Shaw AFB (in South Carolina) and one pilot has not been found. Really, this is every spouse's greatest fear (its mine, at least). Last night Tim came to bed telling me that he had just heard about the saddest story. Just a few hours after giving birth to her second child, a mother passed away. This makes TWO moms that we know of that have passed within the past month. And just after bringing their babies into the world. TWO!!!

Instead of rubber necking and learning all of the gory details, I will hug my family just a little tighter and I will be ever so thankful for all of the blessings in my life. And in an odd way, I will grieve for those who must now raise a family without their partner. My heart aches for you.

Sign on the line?

Sign on the line?
Originally uploaded by spauldingtj

Ollie is trying to write letters these days. "O" is natural enough, but the rest are a bit of a challenge. He did apparently manage to get all of the letters for "Ollie" down on the page the other day though. $5 to the first person who can find them all! (and no, the example doesn't count).

Capitalism and financial crashes: newyorker.com

Non-standard for the blog, but here's a really good article from the New Yorker, describing the way in which rational people, acting rationally, can produce terrible results. Perhaps a good phenomenon to keep in the cross check when tempted with the desire to 'let the market work it out.'

Capitalism and financial crashes: newyorker.com

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Redstone rocket re-enactment??

MVI_9015
Originally uploaded by spauldingtj

Ollie made a rocket at daycare today.

When I got home from work, I asked him if he could show me how it flew...

Looks like there might be some glitches in the flight control software.

Seriously?

Gotta read the fine print. I guess we were out of luck.

Total loss of bacon control

...and I set the stupid fire alarm off again this morning. Ridiculous.

Alas, poor York, we knew it well...

York! We should have gone there before. What a great town. Before we hit the road O and I established a couple more MAN LAWS:

MAN LAW 1: GLASSES ARE OPTIONAL

MAN LAW 2: TOILET SEATS SHOULD REMAIN IN THEIR MOST EFFICIENT POSITIONS.

After lunch in the park, we made our way to the National Rail Museum. Great museum, though why did the Thomas merchandise have to be some close to the entrance? Anyway, Ollie almost passed out when he saw the main hall. I dragged him away from the caboose that you could climb into (I thought 1 hour was a bit excessive). We then discovered that we could climb through a bunch of the engines.

O was the engineer, picking up the coal from the tender:

And putting it in the fire:

Great day over all, capped off by hanging by the river Ouse and finishing off lunch leftovers while watching the boat races.

I won't tell you what time Ollie fell asleep in order to protect the innocent!

no inner ear?

vernazza playground
Originally uploaded by spauldingtj

OK, random thought:

I have successfully divined the source of 'old man strength' [it springs from the repeated practice of picking up your squirming kids and their accouterments at a moment's notice and hauling them across all manner of obstacles like Magnus ver Magnussen carrying the Atlas Stone] but I haven't figured out how kids can continually spin around on playground equipment without making themselves hurl. I fly for a living, and shortly after taking this picture on the merry go round, I had to sit down so that I wouldn't spew espresso all across the only playground in the Cinque Terre. Ollie demanded to keeping spinning around for another 20 minutes.

Man Law

Dunno if Dori is checking her internet on the SW coast of Italy or not. A lot of sun and wine and shopping to do/see, and possible Fabio sightings, so maybe not.

Anyway, O and I started our boys weekend this morning:

O: Good morning daddy! Its wake up time!

Me: [barely awake] Yeah...I guess.

O: Don't close your eyes...Its wake up time! The sun is up! [not necessarily true in the UK, although he was right this time]

Me: OK, I'm waking up.

O: Where's mommy? Does she sleep in this bed?

Me: Yes, usually.

O: Then where is she?

Me: She's in in Italy. [actually, probably in the ultra-painful Ryan Air "Cattle queue," but never mind the simplification]

O: Italy? Does she live there?

Me: Lately, yes, but permanently, no.

I made some bacon for us...a duty that -- no exaggeration -- I have performed 100 times before, each time without incident. This time, on "Daddy runs the house day," in keeping with what appears to be a genetic anomaly passed through my dad's side, I set off the smoke alarm this time. We cleared the smoke and enjoyed reading and eating breakfast.

O's at the nursery this morning. I convince him it would be cool if I picked him up afterwards with the bike trailer, so we'll see how that goes. I'm not sure if he quite understood what I was offering -- there stands a good chance that he thinks he's going to get to ride his tricycle back home. Maybe we should just try that instead?

I did the shopping for the weekend today. Sorry Dori, I didn't use your list. I'm pretty sure I got what we needed though:

2 cans chili

2 packets tunafish

1 packet hotdogs

1 Red Bull

1 Bag of Doritos (not the baked ones)

Man Law: I guess I'm done shopping for the weekend! :)

Thomas and Training

Thomas 1
Originally uploaded by spauldingtj

While Tim enjoyed answering all kinds of questions about his work on a "business trip" to Norway, I had a GREAT time taking the kids to see Thomas the Tank Engine. As you might imagine, Ollie is quite in love with the big blue engine. We couldn't miss the chance to see Thomas when he was visiting so close to our house. It was a very successful trip, mostly because our good friends met us there. Thanks to Julie, Matt, Will, and baby Abigail for meeting us there : ) The boys really had a great day.

In other news, Charlotte is "sort of" on a schedule. She's learning how to sooth herself to sleep. Don't worry, Mom. I'm not letting her cry any more than a baby with an older brother cries : )

O man has taken some big steps forward towards the potty (woo hoo!). He wore some real underpants the past few days. In school, they always told you that peer pressure was a very bad thing. Now that my two year old wants to wear underpants like his friends...I've got a different perspective!! We're not accident free, but we're both learning a lot. Next week is vacation, so we might have to push the pause button. I'm still confident that he won't go away to college in diapers : )

Welcome to the world, Rory Abigail Basel and Summer Stiles!! I can't wait to meet you both : )

Hope all is well and I can't wait to meet the next round of babies : )

Two Months

Our smiley girl

Big brother hugs

Sorry for the huge gaps between updates, but better late than never right? Charlotte had her two month check up last week, and she's up to 11 pounds and 14 ounces. She likes to eat!! She's on the tail end of a growth spurt, so she's put on even more over the past few days. We have mostly good days, but here and there she's fussy in the evenings. The great part of having two kids is that Tim and I both know that this phase will pass soon. When she's not sleeping, C loves to smile and coo. She also loves to hear the lullabies that I sang to Ollie while I was pregnant with her. She's a love.

Ollie continues to be a great big brother and a constant source of entertainment. He loves to ask all kinds of questions and you can see the wheels turning as he works out the ways of the world in his head. He's also taken to treating his lamb as his baby, even calling his lamb Charlotte the other day. He likes to feed Charlotte the same way that I feed his sister. Its too cute! Feeding lamb is a better idea than feeding Charlotte. He climbed onto the sofa one day, lifted his shirt, and asked me to hand him Charlotte so that he could feed her. I don't remember how I explained it to him, but he seems to understand now that only Mommies can feed babies : ) O man is also into role playing, which gives us a great insight into his psyche - especially when he sends us to time out!

Tim continues to be a rock star and kept both kids while I went to a coffee on Thursday night. He's currently at an air show in Norway, living the good life with the single guys.

Life is still busy for me, but its good. Its much better today, because I recently employed a house keeper. Today was her first visit and she'll come every week until we move. Its nice not to feel overwhelmed with a new baby in the house : ) Its the best money that I've spent in a very long time!

As a family, we've planned a trip to the Cinque Terre, Italy for a week in September. We're staying in the village of Corniglia, which sits atop a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean. Rough life, I know. Espresso, red wine, pesto, pasta, and pizza...here we come!

Alright...I'm off to bed. O man has decided that 6 am is now "wake up time" and I'm on single ops until Monday. I've got to get an alarm clock for his room and teach him that he can't leave until the alarm goes off at 7 am!!! We have an exciting day planned for the three of us. Thomas the Tank Engine is visiting a local Steam Garden, so O man won't know what to do with himself! I'll let you know how it goes : )

A Normal Life

My good friend Kate Mills recently welcomed her daughter and third child into her family. She described her life this way, "When I had two kids, I thought one was easy and two were busy. Now two seem easy and three are busy!" Busy is a great description of life at the Spaulding household and we love it! Charlotte has been with us six weeks and man have they flown by!

Ollie's Alabama Grandma is here for another week and man will we be sad when she leaves. I might have forgotten how the washing machine works! Charlotte is a sweet baby, so Mom and I ventured to Stoke-on-Trent to visit the factory shops at Wedgewood, Angsley, and Portmerion. After six years of marriage, Tim and I are now the proud owners of Wedgewood's Nature pattern. Can't wait to serve Easter brunch in California : )

Oliver has been an amazing big brother. He loves to kiss her goodnight, lay next to her, and Charlotte has even held lamb (his formerly white, beloved lovey) a few times!

Tim is back at the grinding stone and has been able to be home for many dinners, which is a rare treat around here.

I don't know if I've ever been happier. Who knew that motherhood was so great ?!? I end every day wishing that I had more time to finish my tasks, but that's life isn't it?

Sorry for the short post, but I'm off to put C back down for a nap. She's a joy and a treasure to hold, but her crib is calling her name!

Love to you all,

Dori

She's done it again!!

The wonderful Shanna of S. Russel Photography has captured some memorable moments for our family. Please follow the link for a preview : )

s.russell photography

Thanks Shanna! We LOVE them!!!

Quality Time

Quality Time.JPG
Originally uploaded by spauldingtj

Two of Tim's favorite things...his daughter and a book about Winston Churchill : )

This Little Piggie

Piggies
Originally uploaded by spauldingtj

O man playing with his little sister on one of her first days home. He's been a GREAT big brother so far. Here's hoping that it lasts!!