A Fun and Beautiful Weekend

Happy Memorial Day! It just so happens that the UK Bank Holiday fell on the US Memorial Day Holiday, so Cody was off work today. We have had a wonderful weekend full of much sunshine and absolutely perfect weather. Here are some pictures we took after church yesterday right in our front yard and driveway garden.


And then today, we drove down to Edinburgh (apparently with the rest of Scotland!) to the zoo. This was Jackson's first time to the zoo. Other than a splat on the asphalt (no permanent damage done...and amazingly, no scrapes!), he seemed to enjoy every minute of it. Cody and I discovered that the zoo really is more fun when you have kids. Some things we learned from Jackson at the zoo today:
-Half of the animals in the zoo say "meow" (did you know that??) It was incredibly funny while looking at one of those huge ugly warthogs, that he said, "meow" quite audibly...everyone around laughed.
-Penguins look like airplanes when they are swimming in the water...oh, and birds. But, apparently, according to Jackson, they say, "woof woof" like a dog.
-Jackson fits right in with the monkeys...he was constantly saying, "oooaaa" with a nice open mouth on the "aaa"...it was too cute!!
-After watching the chimpanzees (yes, chimpanzees in a zoo) slide down the rope and saying "wee" to Jackson...it appears that chimpanzees now say, "wee".
We had a blast and couldn't believe that we spent about 4 1/2 hours at the zoo!! We thought there was no way we could ever do that! It was a fun time had by all.



Last but not least...this was a picture of one of the outside of the restaurants at the zoo...yes, at the zoo!! Only in Scotland. It, however, was closed today. And, later in the day we found out why as we heard and saw bagpipes being played and then a lovely bride stepping out of a car. My comment (which, in retrospect was probably very judgemental and slightly rude) to Cody was, "I do not think I'd want to get married at the zoo." However, it did look like a beautiful building!

Having this beautiful weather this weekend and then being at the zoo and seeing all of the marvelous, intricately and uniquely created animals and plants made me think of how truly amazing God is. So, I flipped open to Genesis and read some verses. I have posted one under the God's Word column to the top right to share with you. How awesome is our God!!

We're Home from Home

A sincere apology goes out to all of you who check this blog regularly...obviously, it hasn't been updated in a while. And, in an effort to update with pictures, I am trying this new photoshow thing (thanks, Jenn!!), so we'll see if it actually works. These are pictures from our wonderful trip to the states...one in which my wonderful husband surprised me and flew out to be with us from Mother's day until the end, flying back to Edinburgh with us (such a blessing!). Jackson did well on all of the airplane rides and was a joy to travel with. I will say, however, in the future, if I have the option to travel with or without Cody, I will choose with. Carrying all of that "gear" that a toddler requires and luggage, is, well, possible, but not desireable by me!! Enjoy the pictures. And to all the family and friends that we saw on our trip...it was so great to see you! What a blessing all of you are in our lives!!

Hee Haw!!

I'm off to Texas, Ya'll!!



See you in two weeks. I will miss you, Daddy!! "I luf lou!"

First Haircut

At 18 months old, Jackson finally had enough hair that it needed a trim. So, we took him down into St. Andrews yesterday to one of the places that Cody goes to get his hair cut. The lady was great...I mean REALLY GREAT because, Jackson, well, we discovered, was not very fond of the barber shop. Here are some pictures of his "haircutting experience."


If you look in the mirror in the picture, you can see how pleased he was to be there!


This picture was taken after the haircut...poor little guy, still not very happy.

He looks like such a big boy now. And, amazingly enough, the haircut looks great! The lady that cut it must have done this before, because for the amount that Jackson moved his head, it was hard for me to believe that it would be straight at all. But alas, she did an awesome job.

On another note, after church today, we went to lunch in downtown St. Andrews and then spent some time out by the beautiful flower gardens overlooking St. Andrews Bay (where "The Chariots of Fire" was filmed). Here are some of the pictures. The flowers around here are just gorgeous right now!! And, we have reached the upper 50's this past week! It is absolutely beautiful here now!





It's been a great weekend here. And, because of the bank holiday (they have these here...and they're great because Cody gets them off!!), Cody will be home Monday and Tuesday. Jackson and I leave on Wednesday for a two week holiday to the states. Hope your weeks are good!! We'll catch up with you after our holiday if I don't get a chance to blog while I'm in the states.

Clean Sweep

Alright, so I walked into our bedroom just now to make the bed and immediately thought of the show on TLC called "Clean Sweep!" For those of you who are not TLC junkies, like I used to be when we had American television programming, this is a show where a sweet couple or family are chosen to have someone come "clean out" their INCREDIBLY CLUTTERED AND MESSY rooms and/or house and then redecorate and reorganize (or, rather, organize) the rooms! The show usually stresses me out so much that I must go clean after watching it! How can people live in a place where they cannot walk???!!! Well, let me tell you how, by walking on, over, around, under and every which way to get to whatever they are heading for. I know...I just did it!

Praise God, however, we did get our last shipment. Funny story...they arrived half a day early!! Now, in Japan, half an hour early was considered standard...here, usually "late" is considered standard. I was cleaning on Tuesday afternoon about 2:00pm to prepare for the movers on Wednesday morning when the doorbell rings. I open it up and see the shirts of the guys standing there...my thoughts..."I must have the wrong day!" Then they tell me they are here and, because it was a beautiful day, they wondered if they could start unloading our stuff. Sure!! So, about 6:30pm, they are done and we have everything. Good ideas on their part, it was pouring the next morning and day!! Cody, on the other hand, had no idea they were here. Blessings abound in the Blake household, though...as, at about 4pm, he came home early...and was COMPLETELY SHOCKED that there was a moving truck in front of our house!



Paul and Mansell were great. In fact, I would venture to say they are the best moving team we have ever had. As pieces came out, they let me know what the damage was (details in the next paragraph). And were so so kind and courteous as they moved everything in, being very meticulous and careful with everything.

So, the answer that everyone wants to know...our stuff was in relatively good shape. As expected, it was poorly packed by the US side (even Paul and Mansell informed me of this after everything was moved in...smart of them to wait!), and we had some broken things in one box (uh, why would anyone put an antique pitcher on the VERY BOTTOM of a double dish pack?!?), a glass side broken on a Curio cabinet (yes, the same one that broke before on our move to Florida...however, if you put a car jack and couch on top of a glass piece of furniture, broken glass is bound to occur...uh...hello?!!), and some mold on some pieces of furniture...but all in all, so far so good. And, there's not quite as much junk as I thought (of course, I've blocked out of my mind that there are about 2 dozen boxes in the garage that I had them put there because I didn't know what to do with it inside the house)!

In case you want to know what mold on furniture looks like, here it is:



This is our small wine cabinet. It's probably the worst piece, inside and out. I have managed to get the mildew/mold off of the other pieces of furniture with natural beeswax polish (suggested by Mansell...apparently, he sees mold on furniture all the time doing these overseas moves). The wine cabinet, however, will need more than beeswax...straight bleach possibly! I thought the beeswax got it...and then I looked a few hours later. Nope. So, tonight I have a date with the bleach, vinegar and water!

The best find, a small photo album just randomly stuck in a wicker basket. It was an album of my grandpa who passed away last October. To look through it brought a smile to my face and tears to my eyes. What a fabulous man! I leaned down, and explained to Jackson who it was...and then he took it and this is what happened...



He was completely interested in the album and the pictures. We will see my grandma in two weeks when we are in Florida, and have talked about her. He says, "Ganma" every time we talk about her. He really enjoyed looking at these pictures. It was so so sweet!

Well, I'm off to "Clean Sweep" our bedroom! Too bad I don't have a team to help me haul it out and then redecorate the room! Oh well!!