Morrison Family Chronicle

2011-12-19T03:38:00.000-08:00

Morrison Family Christmas Wishes!

We wish all of you a very merry holiday season! Although we have decided to conserve resources both economical and environmental and refrain from paper cards this year, it does not diminish our love and joy at having all of you in our lives at this time and throughout the rest of the year. This is the season for spending time with the people we care about, if not in person, then at least digitally or virtually over the technology available.

We send our most sincere wishes of joy, peace and love for all of you !


Assembling the tree!

Decorating gingerbread cookies

Result

2011-12-19T03:15:00.000-08:00

Pre-Christmas Catch-up!

It's been an eventful 10 weeks since our last post. We have had Halloween, Guy Fawkes, Enya's Birthday, Thanksgiving, various school activities and the first tender flakes of winter snow.

If a picture is worth 1000 words, then I will let a few pictures save you from my literary ramblings...

Our amazing Jack o'lanterns

Enya is 7!

GUY FAWKES NIGHT!

Thanksgiving with friends and family

It's a Heat Wave!

2011-10-01T04:11:00.000-07:00

Well for us it's a heat wave. Just two weeks ago I could see my breath in the morning and today it will reach 81 F / 27 C.

There has been quite a bit going on. Gareth is studying for his exams and attending Pegasus Theatre, Bronwyn received her red belt in Shaolin Kung Fu (although traditionally they don't use a belt ranking system) and playing football (soccer for you unenlightened) , Enya is attending Pegasus Theatre, and lots has been going on with our Fiona.

Fiona just went on a two day school trip to Hill End. She said she had a lot of fun. She is also taking Hockey, that is Hockey NOT Ice Hockey, there is a difference. Most importantly we have been getting some progress done on Fiona's Growth Hormone Deficiency. A normal girl at her age should be producing 6 units of growth hormone. Our little Fiona only produces 2 units.

Fiona waiting for MRI scan

We had the Growth Hormone check done in April and then she had to have an MRI scan done. The first attempt did not go so well so we got another appointment and she was sedated for the scan. The scan showed that her pituitary gland is normal, no abnormal growths or tumours. Two weeks ago Fiona selected the Easy Pod Growth Hormone Injection system.

Easy Pod Growth Hormone Injections

Now we are getting the last of the paper work out of the way so Fiona can start her treatments. We will have a nurse come every night until Fiona feels secure enough to either let us give her the injections or for her to do it herself.

In other news Wendy has picked up a stray kitten and after waiting for her owners for several weeks we have decided to keep her. She has not been microchiped, no collar, and she has not been fixed. Wendy has named her Tessa and our older cat Bootsy is not thrilled at all.

Tessa

Tonight is the season finale of Doctor Who and the first episode of the season for Merlin so the kids are pretty excited for tonight.

11th Wedding Anniversary!

2011-08-19T11:55:00.000-07:00

It is amazing to think that just a mere eleven years ago Wendy and I got married in Macrory Gardens. This is the first time in three year that Wendy has not had to be away for excavation season so we took advantage of the beautiful day by taking a walk to The Trout Inn, a place that was frequently filmed in the detective series "Inspector Morse" for its scenic location.

It was a long but beautiful walk taking the Thames (pronounced tehmz) River tow path. We started around Noon and took the tow path into town where Wendy had a Chai Tea and I had a Coffee. We then set out at a leisurely pace to The Trout Inn in Wolvercote.

The walk was really beautiful. It is the first time either Wendy or I had been up this way on foot.

We had an amazing lunch at The Trout Inn then took a stroll through the ruins of Godstow Nunnery.

The abbey became the final burial place of the famed beauty Rosamund Clifford (died circa 1176), a long-term mistress of Henry II. Henry's liaison with Rosamund became public knowledge in 1174; it ended when she retired to the nunnery at Godstow in 1176, shortly before her death. (from Wikipedia)

We then walked back the way we came until Fiddlers Island where we took a different route

It was a great day and we walked a long ways. I've added a map of our route.

18.76 km/11.66 mi

<a href="http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/46819158">A run mapped on 08/19/2011</a> and more runs in Oxford, United Kingdom on MapMyRUN. <a href="http://www.mapmyrun.com">Find run</a>

And a 3D view of our walk (if your really bored).

Darn iPhone

2011-08-08T10:56:00.000-07:00

Sorry everyone. I tried posting from my iPhone but all I could do was add a Title and a Label. Blogger or the iPhone would not let me compose any other part of the blog update.

So Wales was Great!! We had Sun and Fun!

We spent a week in Borth, Wales and the kids had a blast swimming in the Irish Sea while I had a blast reading my Kindle!

This year we decided to take it easy and not run to a dozen different sites and just relax. We had a slight problem half way through the holiday when a dental filling fell out of my molar. It was about 20 years old. One quick call to the NHS and I had an emergency appointment the next day in Aberystwyth (bloody Welsh names!) and they patched me up for £12 ($20).

We made sure we went out to the Sea every day at the lowest tide to watch the Hermit Crabs. I have a video on my Facebook page. Fiona just loved the Hermit Crabs. I told her that her Grandpa was one (HA HA HA HA got you!).

Well I'm not much for writing today, but enjoy the pictures!

P.S. We love you Lu!

Holiday in Wales

2011-08-05T13:49:00.000-07:00

Ack! Where does time go?

2011-07-21T00:44:00.000-07:00

Well, summer is upon us, the kids finish school tomorrow. And no summer is complete without the complement of illnesses, the last hurrah of the school-borne diseases trundled home by the kids. This weeks special, two for the price of one! We have been visitied with both the Tummy Bug and the Flu! Only Bronwyn seems to have been immune to both of these thus far, with everyone else suffering sporadically from one, the other or both.

Nonetheless, we hope to be hale and hearty in time for our upcoming week-long holiday to Wales! We will be spending the first week of August in Borth, a few miles north of Aberystwyth (pronounced 'Abber-ist-with' for our non-UK readers) .

In other news, since the last post, Gareth finished his run of After Gilgamesh to great success and is currently reprising his role for a 10 day long summer theatre festival called MESH

Wendy has completed two excavations, both on Bronze Age sites. The most recent was finished this week and included a Beak er burial, a first for Wendy, as she removed a Beaker pot intact and excavated a very badly preserved 3700 year old skeleton! The other dig was in June on the Channel Island of Sark

Also in June, John and Gareth took a three day 'guys weekend away' to Haven Holiday park where they did archery, fencing, swimming and generally had a great time.

Also The girls's primary school held a cricket tournament. At left, Fiona is bowling out her opponenet, right is Bronwyn just before batting a few runs, and below Bronwyn and her team won the trophy, presented by local cricket heroes. Finally,Fiona and Enya console themselves with tasty marshmallows!

The following week, Bronwyn and Fiona played in the school Samba band as they toured through town, and the next day Bronwyn played in the Cowley Road festival, where she also met some interesting carnival creatures!

We got interviewed for the local paper and you can read it here, about a third of the way into the article.

well that's probably enough news and pictures for now, we'll put some stuff up after we get back from Wales. Have a great summer!

It's alive.....

2011-04-05T13:50:00.000-07:00

That's right, the blog is still going in spite of excess demands on everyone's time! Spring has come to Oxford!

OK, those pics came from a sneaky trip John and I took to the University Botanic garden one afternoon, but Spring is really here.

It's been a productive 7 weeks since the last missive. Gareth has cut his long locks and has successfully completed a full run of the world premiere of After Gilgamesh, a new play by Jenny Lewis. When the production shots are back, we'll post up some stills.

Fiona has been back to the doctor to see why she is so tiny, and they ran a growth hormone test for which she was very patient and brave. We will have results in 3 weeks, and will know then if she needs treatment to stimulate growth or if she just has Mott genes to an excess.

Bronwyn has had an amazing birthday since the last post, and besides having some special friends over for the day, received an Ironman skateboard, which she is rather good with. She is continuing to work hard on her violin playing as well and just began Shaolin Kung Fu, following in Gareth's footsteps.

Enya begins Pegasus Theatre group at the end of the month and has been actively involved in her circle of friends, attending several gatherings at various homes around Oxford. She also helped her class to raise a substantial sum of money to sponsor a child's education in Delhi.

John is, as I type this, in Corinth, Greece. He is a third of the way through his Geology fieldwork and it appears to be a much better venue than last year (Skye in a snowstorm). He will return on the 12th and I will depart on the 14th for Newcastle, Northumberland for the Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference (TRAC). I continue to be overly busy with research, teaching and organising digs, but will be heading out for two weeks in June for a ' pleasure dig' (ie, outside my particular area and time period, but good fun) on the island of Sark. It's meant to be a gorgeous location so I will try not to be too envious of John's Greek adventures.

Finally, we have a new member of the family. Exeter College said we might have a cat, and so Bootsy, a 6yr old female who needed a new home, has come to live with us. She is a little timid now about her abrupt change in circumstances, but we hope she will warm to us quickly.

That's it for now, more to follow in the near(ish) future.

What we still have a blog?

2011-02-15T23:52:00.000-08:00

I completely forgot about the blog. Things have been a bit rough for me school wise so I've been busy trying to keep up with the work load of school and home. Wendy is still hard at work with her research and the kids are all doing fine.

I've made most of my arrangements for going to Greece for my field course and I need to come up with an idea for my two year field project which I need to start this summer.

I'm also trying to decide if I'm going to switch my degree from Earth Science to Geology. Not sure what to do yet.

Wendy bought me a Kindle! What an amazing little device. I've already converted all my lecture notes and Journal Articles to the kindle format for easy access on the train and tube.

That is about it for now.

Christmas Almost Here

2010-12-18T11:12:00.001-08:00

Hello, Everyone!
We have all been very busy and thus have neglected our blogging duties! Please stay tuned for some up to date pictures as well as what's been going on with all of us for the past month, including today's blizzard.

With Christmas fast upon us, and shrinking times for Christmas card postal delivery, tomorrow's blog will serve as your virtual Christmas Card; we are thinking of all our friends and family at this festive end to the year and even if there is not a slip of paper through your door from us, please accept an e-message full of love and good wishes.

New windows and door

2010-11-17T23:00:00.000-08:00

It was a cold, damp, foggy morning (actually the fog never burned off and stayed all day) in Oxford. At eight-thirty o'clock in the morning the window guys descended on our house. Six windows and a door to be replaced. By nine-thirty Wendy and I took shelter from the cold at the Magic Cafe as they had already knocked out all the old windows and frames and had already placed a few of the frames in. After our tea and coffee we went back home to find the front door missing.

Not wanting to be in the way we went up to Cowley Road to do a bit of shopping then took refuge at a friends house for warmth and more coffee.

We came home to find them bringing in the glass and all the window frames in place. Around this time I had to leave for London and before I reached London Wendy called me on the train to let me know they had finished by twelve-thirty.

We now have double pane windows for the first time! No longer will we need to leave towels on the window sills to collect the very large amounts of water that would pool up every morning. Not to mention the amount of money that will be saved on the heat bill!

In other news Fiona went to Warwick Castle on a school trip and we let her take the digital camera with her.

Halloween and Enya's Birthday!

2010-10-31T23:43:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Enya! Happy Halloween!

I know Enya's birthday is not until the second of November, however I have a lecture on Tuesday and we told her she could celebrate her birthday either this Sunday or next Sunday. She choose to have her birthday and Halloween together.

Enya had a wonderful day! She thought it was marvellous that she got to have a costume party. Enya choose (of all things) a root vegetable soup, consisting of beet root, parsnips, carrots and some mushrooms.

She had a great day! They played musical statues and other game throughout the day, watched Harry Potter movies and painted their pumpkins!

Gareth and I carved our pumpkins as well.

From left to right, Enya the Ghost, Fiona the Evil Fairy, Bronwyn the witch and Gareth the U.N.I.T. soldier (from Doctor Who).

First day of lectures - NOT!

2010-10-04T11:14:00.000-07:00

Euston Square Tube Station

Well thanks to the London Tube strike I could not go to my lecture. It is 2 miles from the rail station to my University and even using the buses (which would be overburdened because of the lack of the tube system) I would have had to leave my lecture an hour early to get to my return train trip home.

I decided it was not worth possibly missing my train and stayed home. I purchase my tickets a week in advance so a return ticket costs me £8.00 but I have to leave at specific times (off peak). If I miss my train it will cost me £28.00 for a ticket on the day. Not worth it.

I have one 3 hour lecture on Mondays and Tuesdays. Wednesdays I have a one hour lecture in the morning and a 3 hour lecture in the evening and a one hour lecture on Fridays.

Getting ready for Autumn

2010-09-15T02:42:00.000-07:00

Well Autumn is upon us in England. The kids are back in school and Wendy and I are preparing to go back ourselves. I'm taking two extra classes this year bringing me up to full time.

Before heading back to school we took the kids to Forge Mill Needle Museum which had a small exhibit on "The Ballad of Big Al" which is Bronwyn's favourite Walking with Dinosaurs movie.

The kids enjoyed dressing up like the Monks that used to live at Bordesley Abbey before the reformation. We spent the entire day out there and we all had lots of fun!

Gareth had an audition at the Oxford Playhouse for this years Pantomime. Wish him luck! Speaking of plays Wendy and I are going to a play tonight, "House of Ghosts" which is an Inspector Morse play staring Colin Baker (6th Doctor Who) as Morse. Speaking of Inspector Morse, Wendy and I again walked onto set accidently for the new Inspector Lewis filming and we got to see Kevin Whately and Laurence Fox do a bit of acting. "Lewis" is the continuation of the Inspector Morse series with Lewis going from Morse's Sergeant to DCI (Detective Chief Inspector).

Well the washing machine is reminding me to put the wash out on the line before another bout of rain arrives.

Cheerio!

Edinburgh

2010-08-30T11:17:00.000-07:00

Just a small part of the award winning Inwood Gardens where we stayed.

The view from the top of Arthur's Seat, the remains of a 350 million old volcano. 823 ft high.

St. Antony's chapel, or the remains of it.

The LARGEST COLLECTION of Scotch Whiskey in the world! I was in love and want a room just like it!

The first view I got when I stepped off the bus, Edinburgh Castle.

Wendy and I had a great time! We stayed at a Bed & Breakfast run by Lindsay and Irvine Morrison. They are a delightful couple and a joy to stay with. Lindsay made some of the best breakfasts that I've ever had and Irvine was a library of knowledge on the local history. Their award winning garden is just beautiful!

We went to Edinburgh Castle, the National Galleries, Scotland History Museum, climbed Arthur's Seat and just walked around Edinburgh.

Wendy and I really enjoyed Edinburgh!

A day in London

2010-08-26T22:07:00.000-07:00

We spent a day out in London the other day. We went to a few museums including the Natural History Museum of London where we went to the Butterfly House. The moth in the picture above was really interesting.

I try to explain the different parts of the Ammonite to my girls and how it would have moved about in the ocean and how Palaeontologists and Palaeogeographers use their remains to build a picture of the prehistoric Earth.

If you scroll back through the blog to a few years ago you might remember or see a picture of Bronwyn standing next to this skeleton. I spent ten minutes to photoshop young Bronwyn next to older Bronwyn. My little girl sure has grown!

We went to the children's museum to see the exhibit of the 162 children from different countries that live in Britain. They only had about a dozen on display and one was Fiona!

It was a fun, however very wet day. Today Wendy and I leave for Edinburgh. I will bring the camera and my netbook so I may get a few updates posted. Thank you to Shane and Christina for watching the children for us!

Baking Cookies and Star Wars Movies

2010-08-21T01:08:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Gareth took off with his mates so the girls and I baked and decorated sugar cookies and watched Star Wars: A New Hope and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back!

It was a lot of fun.

Last week for single parenting

2010-08-18T10:20:00.000-07:00

Picture of the kids on our holiday on the Isle of Wight

Wendy should be back on Saturday, so the end is near! The weather has been slightly chilly and quite a bit of rain so we have been cooped up in the house for most of the time. Gareth has been a big help and has taken the girls to the park a few times this week so I could enjoy some silence.

I'm trying to finish up my enrolment for university. You need to keep the ball rolling otherwise they seem to forget you. The kids go back to school in two weeks. I will never get over how short their summer holiday is.

Rocket Ships from recycling

2010-08-13T11:31:00.000-07:00

NASA could learn a thing or two from Bronwyn and Enya!

Making Pizzas

2010-08-12T03:57:00.000-07:00

We had a pretty fun day today. I took the kids to the library in the morning. Gareth then left us to go swimming with a mate of his.I then took the girls to the park where Fiona made friends with a little French boy and spoke the few words of French that she knew to him.

We then headed home to prepare our pizza dough for dinner.While the bread machine made the dough the girls played the card game "Pit" and I took a nice healthy nap.

When it was time for dinner I set out all the ingredients and the kids all made their own pizzas.

Enya really enjoyed making her pizza. She not only ate hers but two slices of mine as well!

Bronwyn made a very large pizza and she finished the whole thing!

"Little Miss Maker" is sure to be a TV presenter some day! Just look at her smiley face peperoni pizza!

Really a great pizza Fiona!

Gareth and his girlfriend Holly made a deep dish pizza.

Then they all sat and watched Toy Story 2 while they ate dinner.

Brief Update

2010-08-05T09:25:00.000-07:00

Well the first week is going fairly well. I'm still trying to train the girls into cleaning their room. So far they have spent their entire summer in their room cleaning it.

I'm trying to find something to do with the kids so they will have a memorable summer. Not sure what to do yet.

I just finished cooking dinner. Porkchops, fried zucchini and slow roasted baby potatoes. The zucchini and the potatoes are from our own garden.

I'm not getting a good Damson crop this year so it looks like I will not be making jam like I did last year.

Well that is about all.

Adderbury Ensemble

2010-07-28T00:30:00.000-07:00

Wendy and I had a great treat last night. We went to see the Adderbury Ensemble at the Holywell Music Room.

The Addrbruy Ensemble at Holywell Music Room Playing "Winter"

They played

Concerto Grosso in D, Op 6 no. 4 Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713)

Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706) Canon

Concerto in D minor for oboe and violin, BWV 1060 Johann Sabastian Bach (1685-1750)

Oboe Concerto in D minor Alessandro Marcello (1669-1747)

Anonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) The Four Seasons - Srping and Summer

It was a lovely time. Wendy and I keep saying how we need to take advantage of the concerts in Oxford.

On another note I just had my computer repaired again. Hopefully for the last time.

I purchased my first school book for next year. "Looking Into the Earth: An Introduction to Geological Geophysics" by Mussett and Khan. I have not gotten too far into it as children make more noise than my study habits can tolerate, but hopefully in the evenings I will get the time.

Wendy is finishing her last day at the Dorchester site. All the digging is done, she just has to supervise the backfill and do paper work. Saturday she leaves us again to go to the Isle of Wight for the Bradding Villa excavation.

The kids are doing fine. Gareth is going on his first date this afternoon to see Toy Story 3. They grow up so fast. Did I mention he is almost as tall as I am!

Well that is all from Oxford.

Toodle Pip!

Last week of school for the kids

2010-07-17T01:31:00.000-07:00

Finally the last week of school for the kids is upon us. Fiona was in a school play titled "The Story Thief" which a story thief steals the words off of all the story books. The children then must tell their stories to get them back. It was quite enjoyable. Bronwyn won a medal for third place in the schools sports day! She is quite the active athlete. Enay has been moved up to Oxford Reading Stage 6 which is a second grade reading level. Really impressive for someone that is only five! Gareth is waiting for school to return as he knows I will put him to work over the summer break.

Wendy is home in the evenings now from the Dorchester Dig. She has one week left there, then some time off before she must go to the Isle of Wight for a month long dig at Brading Roman Villa.

I got my final marks in from school. I got three firsts, two 2.1 and one 2.2

Translated (roughly) that means

Honours Class 1 = A
Honours Class 2.1 = B/A-
Honours Class 2.2 = C
Honours Class 3 = D
Fail = F
Bad Fail = Laughed at, tarred, feathered, and ran out on a rail

I would not have gotten the 2.2 except I panicked on my first exam as I had no clue what was expected of me. That class we got marks only for the final exam, there was no course work. So between the two 3 hour exams I did horrid on the first with a low 2.2, but got a 2.1 on the second (one point away from being a first). Live and learn I guess.

I did much better than I thought, now I need to decide if I'm going back next year.

Excavation season is upon us.

2010-07-04T22:37:00.001-07:00

Wendy is now gone at Dorchester on Thames for excavation. At least she gets back one to two days out of the week. We all miss her here.

Fiona's school Samba Band (which she is apart of) got to preform for the Cowley Festival on Sunday the 4th.

School will be out for the kids in another two weeks I believe. I'm trying to organise some events for them so they don't get too board. Sometimes I wish we lived in the country so I could just let them run outside any time they wanted.

Well that is about it. Nothing exciting going on at the moment.

Cheers

Gareth's Birthday!

2010-06-28T00:05:00.000-07:00

I can hardly believe that Gareth is fourteen now! Just the other day he was such a little guy and now he is as tall as I am.

You can tell when your little one is getting older as they want more books and electronics than toys. I've asked him several times to update his blog but I'm afraid he spends more time on Facebook and listening to pop music. Oh where did I go wrong ;) At his age I was listening to Iron Maiden and Ozzy Osbourn and I could not stand mainstream music. I guess kids never turn out like their parents at that age. (I wrote that to tease Gareth)

I will try to upload some pictures. Some may have noticed we do not post many pictures any more, our camera has stopped taking good pictures and they are all grainy and poor quality. Hopefully soon we will be able to get a better camera.

We spent a week on the Isle of Wight. We had beautiful weather the entire time, the only time it rained was over night. We went to the museums, watched a working watermill make flour (bought some as well), spent time at the beach. The only thing that darkened the holiday was the fact that I had sprained my foot a week prior to leaving for holiday so I was hobbling around on a cane.

We celebrated Wendy's Birthday the first day of our holiday, we got her a new hand purse and some seeds from the Ventnor Botanical Gardens.

All my exams are done and I am now waiting for my results. I do not know when that will be.

Exams are done!

2010-06-11T00:26:00.000-07:00

Well I finished my last exam yesterday. Over all I did pretty well on my exams and I am really glad it is over. I'm looking forward to spending time with Wendy and the kids again as I have not seen much of them over the last month and a half.

Today I'm going to do some house work, read a book and generally just relax.

I will post more when I can, but I need to get the girls to school.

Long time posting, here are the reasons

2010-05-28T00:53:00.000-07:00

My hard drive failed on me a few weeks back and I've been revising for my exams. Today is my second out of six exams, Mineralogy.

I am thinking of not returning next year, there is not enough palaeontology offered at my school to make it worth my while. Also I just do not enjoy the hard science aspect of it. The amount of time taken away from the family not to mention the ridiculous foreign fees coupled with the lack of funding through student loans (not enough to cover travel costs to London three times a week plus the mandatory field work to Scotland).

So I gave it my best but in the long run geology is something that does not interest me as much as I thought it would.

No time to blog. Sorry

2010-04-24T10:14:00.000-07:00

Sorry everyone but I'm extremely busy studying for my final exams so you will not be hearing from me for the next month at least.

If your desperate for news on our mundane life then bombard Wendy for updates.

Easter and stuff

2010-04-06T05:43:00.000-07:00

Well, in spite of John being in the Western Highlands, we prepared for the springtime rituals of egg hunts and lamb consumption. Several friends of the family came over for a Feaster meal of Ham, Leg of Lamb, asparagus, potatoes and baby carrots, followed by incredible desserts brought by our guests: simnel cake and chocolate peanut butter balls. My own carrot cake made the caloric overload complete. A fine time was had by all, though John was truly missed.

The girls also concluded the school term with the traditional Easter parade. Fiona was in the Samba Band leading the procession!

John meantime amused himself with rocks, rocks, a castle and yes, more rocks. He will be back tomorrow night!

More pics from Skye

2010-04-03T02:37:00.000-07:00

John sends a few more pictures from the wilds of Scotland. Today he is heading out to map the north of the island. Here one of his coursemates films a storm rolling in off the mountains.

yet the skies cleared for this postcard-perfect photo of the rugged landscape.

And the intrepid geologist heads out for yet another day in the field!

Highland Hi-visibility

2010-04-02T03:36:00.000-07:00

Brrr it looks cold!
Neon green John proves he is indeed outstanding in his field. Or at least out, standing in his field.

Yes the white specks to the right of John are indeed falling snowflakes. But a wee dram of Scotland's finest export seems to keep him warm and cheerful in the face of a wintry exercise.

John's day starts well before 8, when the whole class breakfasts, then heads out for a full 8+ hour day trekking around looking at and mapping rocks of all description. Exhausted and frozen, they return to base (the hotel) for a clean-up and a meal, then its hours more of writing up their notes and inking out their maps. The long day ends when John turns in at 10.00pm. No days off, and (to John's great dismay) no side trips to the local distilleries!

Still, views like this tend to make it all worthwhile! I will post more when and as John texts me more stunning photos from his mobile phone camera.

Skye Blues, but no blue skies

2010-03-31T04:05:00.000-07:00

Well, as March came in like the proverbial lamb, with sunshine, flowers and happiness, so it exits the UK like a lion. Temperatures in the mild and sheltered Thames Valley were hovering above freezing this morning, but in the woolly wilds of Western Scotland, the snow was shovelin' down. John checks in twice a day from the few spots he can get a mobile signal, and this morning reported frozen bird-baths, grey mist over the loch, and a steady blanket of snow falling from the clouds, amongst which were hiding the peaks of the nearby mountains.

It will look something like this (not John in the picture).

John's big fieldtrip

2010-03-27T00:16:00.000-07:00

Put John on a train for Gatwick Airport at 5.50 this morning. He will fly to Inverness and then get bussed to the Isle of Skye for 12 days of geological mapping (and hopefully occasional whiskey tasting). He did not take the camera, so I don't know if there will be any pictures! If he takes some with his phone then we will put them up when he gets home on the 7th.

Here is where John is staying, the Balmacara Hotel.

And his view looks something like this....

Only the knowledge that it will likely be about 35F and raining most of the time keeps me from insurmountable envy!

I will post more of his adventures as he checks in from time to time.

Happy belated Birthday Bronwyn

2010-03-23T04:39:00.000-07:00

Oh I'm such a horrid blogger, I should have posted Bronwyn's birthday the next day. I've been really busy with school so I apologize.

I'm uploading the pictures from her birthday as I type. She had a really good day with her family, Shane, and her mate Baha all celebrating with her. The kids ran around then recharged their energy levels with cake and ice cream.

Bronwyn received many cards and presents and she was very polite about them all (even the clothes).

Wendy went all out on Bronwyn's birthday cake, a baby Allosaurus in its nest surrounded by chocolate eggs. Well done love!

Bronwyn was also in a school assembly called "Shen and the Magic Paintbrush" playing the role of Shen's mother.

Now for other news. I am done with my lectures and my exam dates have been set so lots of studying to do. Granted I probably won't pass but at least I gave it a shot.

I leave this Saturday for the Isle of Skye for a two week mapping practical so I will not be blogging for a while. Maybe Wendy will find the time to put in a post.

Mom in London

2010-02-27T23:57:00.001-08:00

Trafalgar Square

Mom and I took the train from Oxford to London Paddington and then the tube (subway) to Buckingham Palace. I don't think she uploaded the pictures from Buckingham Palace to my computer otherwise I would have posted them. The band played the theme song for 'Magnum P.I.' and 'A-Team' which I found amusing.

UCL Building where I have my lectures

I took Mom around London and saw St. Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Parliament, Downing Street, and all that great stuff. Half the day was good weather the other half rained (it snowed in Oxford that day).

We were both exhausted by the end of the day but a good time was had.

Big Ben

Horse Guards

Mom is in for a visit

2010-02-27T23:33:00.000-08:00

Mom came in for a visit almost a week and a half ago. I'm afraid I've been busy with studies or visiting so I did not update the blog sooner. As you can see she even brought snow with her.

I'm really jealous of Mom's Nikon camera as it takes such great shots. My Olympus has been taking grainy shots for the last year. I suppose it is time to upgrade.

Yes Gareth is about 5' 7" right now and is showing no signs of stopping! Here is is wearing the SDSU shirt Mom brought for him.

Mom brought the girls Mandy dolls and they have been constant companions to the little Morrison girls.

So Wendy picked Mom up and I stayed home with the kids. When they arrived I had the curtains closed and Wendy, using her net book, opened up an instant message with webcam. I told the kids that Grandma was online and wanted to see them before she headed into town. Fiona was the first to ask if she was still in America and as soon as the penny dropped they tore open the curtains to see their 'Granny' in the back garden. It was a nice surprise for them. Gareth had run upstairs. I think he figured it out and was trying to see her in the garden from the upstairs window.

We have shown Mom around Oxford again, and took her to the farmers market, antique market and French market.

I took her to London and we watched the changing of the guard. I will make another blog post with more pictures.

The weather has not been the greatest, we have had snow, lots of rain, hail, wind, and warmth. If you don't like the weather in Oxford just wait five minutes.

Friday we went to the Pegasus Theatre preformance of "Perpetual Motion". Both Gareth and Bronwyn had parts in the multi sketch show. Cameras are not permitted so we could not take any pictures.

Mom leaves on Wednesday so that gives me today and Tuesday for a full day visit as I have lectures on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. So Wednesday I will take Mom to the airport then head into the University Library and study until my lecture.

Guess who quit sucking her thumb?

2010-01-27T00:18:00.001-08:00

Back to school

2010-01-15T06:27:00.001-08:00

Well second week of Term 2 is over. Although 2 classes were cancelled the first week because of weather. The kids also lost a few days of school as well.

Not much going on here. It is raining today so we are loosing all the snow we got (I'm not too upset about that) so the weather is back to a typical English Winter.

Wendy is busy building a data base and I am busy learning Earth History and looking at thin sections of rocks. I love looking at thin sections! Thin sections are different rocks that have been cut and grind down to 30 microns in thickness. Thinner than a sheet of paper.
I then look at these thin sections under a polarizing or petrographic microscope. I then have to figure out what it is I'm looking at by the shape, colour, and other factors and write up a description of everything that I see and the possible reasons for it. Lots of fun!

We have a bully at the bird feeder. A Blackcap. Damn thing is chasing the Blue and Great Tits away. He does have an aversion to the colour red and he runs away from the Robin and the Gold Finches. If your interested in seeing what kind of birds we are getting on a daily basis I put up a list with links on the side bar (currently to the left of the posts) called "Birds in our Garden". Just click on the links for pictures, sound clips and information.

Christmas!

2010-01-06T06:12:00.000-08:00

So here I was at Christmas with a swollen face! However the kids still did not mind me being a traditional Scrooge! Humbug!

The kids enjoyed Christmas very much. Fiona got Carl Sagan's Cosmos for Christmas and a telescope. She enjoys it so much she put a picture of Carl Sagan on her desktop image! Bronwyn received Planet Earth with Sir David Attenborough. Gareth received many books and a Bionical movie. Enya got a bird watching kit and other toys.

Enya and Bronwyn place Father Christmas
on the top of the tree.

Wendy made a wonderful dinner with Ham, Salmon, Partridge, Roasted Parsnips and much more.

A Partridge in a Pear Tree!
Sorry I could not resist the temptation!

I changed the banner on the top. That is taken this morning. We got about six inches of snow. The bird on the left is a Blue Tit and the bird on the right is a Great Tit. I've heard all the jokes already.

Fiona's Birthday!

2010-01-06T05:41:00.001-08:00

Fiona at 30 months

Fiona turns 8! WOW!

Yes I know it is very late but I was ill the entire month of December. So better late than never here we have Fiona's Eighth Birthday!

She is such a little lady! Fiona is excited about Crafts such as sewing and knitting.

Fiona at 4 years old

Reading is also a large part of Fiona's activities. It is wonderful to watch her grow up and do more grown up activities but also sad to see her getting older. With her new found age she is allowed to stay up 30 min. later than Bronwyn and Enya. This is good for everyone as it is allowing Bronwyn and Enya to grow a bit closer. Enya is usually the odd man out.

Elly and Fiona on her eight birthday

Fiona is really excited about her first diary with a lock!
Thanks Grandpa Morrison!

Fiona designed her own cake

Fiona said it was her best birthday ever! She had Mia and Elly over for cake and recieved many good presents and cards.

Christmas Pageants!

2010-01-06T05:34:00.001-08:00

Well I am finally better and back in school. More on that later. Here is what I have neglected to blog.

Christmas Plays

Fiona's class did not have a Christmas Pageant. Bronwyn became shy and did not go on stage but she did sing a lot!

I was able to make Bronwyn's but was too ill by the time Enya's rolled around.

Happy Miserable Holidays!

2009-12-19T04:06:00.001-08:00

For those of you that don't have a facebook account you probably don't know just how miserable I've been for the last two weeks.

First Wendy and I got stomach flue. Because of this I missed my last week of term. I also lost 9 lbs (4 kg) that week. Not a good time. Then I got a full day of feeling 75% before getting a nasty ear infection.

So bad that I can not hear out of my left ear, I had to go to the clinic three time and the A&E (ER for those in N. America) once, were they placed a wick in my ear. I'm not going to go into what is coming out of my ear. So I'm not having a great holiday season.

The kids however are having a good time.

Bronwyn has lost almost all of her front teeth within a week or so.

However she still figured out how to keep her whistle!

Here is an old picture that I got from Kathy.

That is about it. Tomorrow is Fiona's birthday so I should have a bit more news for you all.

December 1st, where does the time go?

2009-12-01T12:12:00.000-08:00

Hello all.

Just want to take the time to wish everyone a wonderful holiday season. It might be a little early, but heck, it's freezing cold here (by English standards anyway!), the calendar says December, and I have of late heard old Bing crooning about a white Christmas (though we shan't see one in Oxford, only up North)

This blogpost will also have to serve as a proxy for the traditional card in the mailbox. This is difficult for me, for, as John will attest to, I LOVE doing the Christmas cards each year: selecting the right picture for the right recipient, going to the Post Office with a monstrous stack of letters. But a perfect storm of events has made not sending out cards the right, though unhappy, choice. Firstly, an incipient postal strike by the Royal Mail means they might not arrive in a timely fashion. Secondly, the falling value of the US dollar against the British pound means that postage alone is a mad extravagance, and in light of the previous factor, a foolish one since the golden postage might not even ensure the delivery of the card. Greener folk might also add the 'lower carbon footprint' of an electronic missive, though I can't honestly claim that impacted the decision in the least.

I think everyone has been hit by the credit crunch, and so perhaps this is a good choice for many. I may create a 'virtual Mantelpiece', printing out the electronic Christmas Greetings we receive and hanging them up as I would do traditional 'snail mail' ones.

At any rate, from our house in England to your homes all over, we wish you the very merriest of Christmases, all the joys of the season and a very happy and healthy New Year.

There will, of course be more blog posts before the end of the year, as John is much better than I at keeping up with this. But today marks the day I usually sit down to write the Christmas cards, and I so wanted to send my messages of love and joy to all of you at this magical and special time of year.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

Busy Autumn for the Morrison Family

2009-11-30T01:52:00.001-08:00

Well I really must apologise for the lack of updates and photos. School is going well but it has really kept my busy. My courses are accelerated so there is a lot of information given in a short amount of time. This has kept me constantly busy.

Wendy has been busy with her doctorate and about a half a dozen other projects as well.

Gareth has joined fencing club at school. Who knows maybe he will join the Olympics in the future. Also Gareth has started to shave. I taught him how this weekend, he was starting to filter feed through his moustache. My little boy is growing into a young man already, heck he is almost as tall as I am!

Fiona is doing well. She spends most of her time reading and making things with paper and cloth. She really is a clever little girl.

Bronwyn is doing phenomenal with her maths (must get it from Wendy, because I am no good at maths) and she has lost three teeth now!

Enya was praised up and down by her teachers. She is already reading and doing basic maths. Now if we can get her to stop sucking her thumb.

That is about all. Hope everyone had a good Thanks Giving!

Enya turns 5!

2009-11-04T15:22:00.000-08:00

It is very hard for me to think of my baby girl a five years old! I would love to post pictures of the event but some one in this house left the camera at her institute. However that person did take pictures with their camera so I will have to wait until those get emailed to me.

Enya is now the age that Fiona was when we first moved to England.

Enya, who is now a very good reader, got some Jill Murphy books, a light sabre, some dolls, and more books. It is very strange to have my five year old ask for books. I know the other kids never asked for them at that age. She also asked for a guitar but I thought better of that idea.

Thank you to everyone that sent birthday cards and emails.

My five seconds of fame!

2009-10-16T23:40:00.000-07:00

You may remember back in December of 2007 I posted that I was an extra in a movie Genova staring Colin Firth.

Well I actually got my head (side profile) in the shot!

You can see my face behind the man dressed as a priest. Colin Firth to the right.

There is my side profile to the right of Colin Firth.

Week three is over for school. I find myself with little or no time left now days. However I am learning lots of new things and I am enjoying myself!

The kids are all doing fine and Wendy is as busy (if not more so) than I am.

Life is hectic

2009-10-12T04:43:00.000-07:00

Well it seems all I'm doing lately is running around. I run to get the kids to school and I run home to study and clean. Then I run to pick them up again, then I run home. Then I really have to run to catch my bus to the rail station. Then I study for an hour on the train, then I run to catch the first available tube to Euston Square, then I run to class and hope I'm not late.

I'm sure things will smooth out a bit in a month. Wendy and I made a point of spending all day Saturday together. It was nice to have that quality time together.

Wendy is also running around getting her research in order. So life has been slightly hectic but we are managing.

The weather is getting colder and the morning air is very crisp indeed.

First week of school over with

2009-10-02T09:48:00.000-07:00

So I'm done with my first week of school at Birkbeck University of London. So far so good. Geochemistry went better than I thought it would.

Not much going on. The kids have a three day weekend. I suppose I will have to find something to keep them busy enough so I can study.

Fiona surprised me in liking Green Day "Know Your Enemy" of their new album 21st Century Breakdown.

Wendy has been busy with a three day exam at All Souls College. Two days down one more to go. Good Luck Love!

Good News!

2009-09-20T12:18:00.000-07:00

Starting the 28th of this month I'm going back to school! I will be going for a BSc in Earth Sciences. Because I still need to take care of the kids and Wendy needs to work on her DPhil I choose Birkbeck because they offer the classes in the evening and I can do my BSc part time. This means it will take me four years instead of three, however I think it is worth it.

So on the 28th I will start with "Invertebrate Palaeontology"!

So wish me luck everyone.

Hey! Who turned out the lights?

2009-09-16T23:37:00.001-07:00

Our longest power outage while living in England. Ten hours total so not that bad. The fun thing was watching poor Enya's reaction. Frantically flipping the light switches in a vain attempt to get some power. Our friend Chris came over and we played board games to pass the time. I feel sorry for Noor, the store across the street, as they have a small butchers shop in the back and they are stocked up for Ramadan. The power outage was a boon for the Rusty Bicycle! The place was packed with people drinking spirits and Ale. Ale, unlike lager, does not need to be chilled to retain flavour. Every table had a small candle on it.

Speaking of butchers, our local butcher shop is now closed. Stewart's was more than just a butcher shop he was part of this community. Due to personal reasons he has had to close the shop. We are going to miss him.

Bronwyn is taking Drama at Pegasus Theatre once a week, Gareth is as well. Fiona is taking traditional Indian Dance. Enya is upset as she is still too young.

I have injured myself again at the gym. I pinched a nerve cluster in my lower back causing my upper left leg to go numb. The doctors say it will be another three to four weeks before I get feeling back in. I'm also getting my knees X-Rayed on Monday as they keep hurting. I will probably go through some physical therapy to strengthen the tendons. Thanks Mom for the genetic flaw.

I hope to have some exciting news for everyone really soon.

Walking with Dinosaurs Live!

2009-08-31T06:19:00.001-07:00

This was the most fun we have had in months! If you look at the fourth picture in the lower left hand corner you can see a man (I circled him) that is a full grown man about 6' tall. These dinosaurs are really LIFE size and they moved all over the stage. They shook when it rained on them just like you would expect an elephant or other large creature to shake. The kids had a terrific time and I dare say us parents did too!

We were lucky that the weather was good and the trains and tubes kept to schedule!

Wendy at Amazon.co.uk

2009-08-20T07:37:00.000-07:00

"A Synthesis of Antiquarian Observation and Archaeological Excavation at Dorchester-on-Thames, Oxfordshire"

Wow that is a mouthful. This is Wendy's first published book!

Paperback: 71 pages
Publisher: British Archaeological Reports (1 Aug 2009)
ISBN-10: 1407305182
ISBN-13: 978-1407305189

If your having problems with the link go to Amazon.co.uk and in the search engine type in Dorchester Morrison

Fun with Damson Tree

2009-08-13T09:56:00.000-07:00

Well it is August again and that means our Damson Tree is dumping ripe Damsons on us! I asked Fiona to help me make some Damson Crumble and she ran upstairs and grabbed her Super Hero cape that Lu made for her and used it as an apron. Clever girl! I made about 9 jars of Damson Jam this morning. I hope it sets up properly!

Wendy will be home at the end of next week and the kids go back to school September 3rd. They just got out of school! The good news is they will all be going full time now so I will get the chance to get chores done at home for once.

I've been suffering with a MASSIVE headache for two days now. The kids have been really good about it. They did not even whinge when I asked for no tele today.

Nothing to report. Day in day out.

2009-08-07T00:50:00.000-07:00

Hello all. Not much to report. Fiona and Bronwyn are in Drama and Dance Workshop this week and Gareth, Enya and I have been stuck at home as it has been raining all week long.

Wendy is on the Isle of Wight at the Brading Roman Villa, if you have a facebook account you can see her in a video. She will be gone for another two weeks.

I hope this blasted weather clears up soon!

Very Busy....

2009-07-07T09:38:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of updates. Here is the quick run down of what has been going on

Got back from the Isle of Wight
Gareth's Birthday
School Fair
Fiona's Recorder Concert
Enya gets Influenza runs 101-104F temperature for a straight week (got the test results back today. It is not Swine Flu)
Wendy left for a research dig for three weeks
John goes slightly insane

I will try to finish the Summer Holiday update and everything else that has happened

Summer Holiday - Isle of Wight, Day Two

2009-06-21T10:45:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning, warm sun and kids ready for some salt water fun! We headed into the sea and spent the morning chasing waves.

Gareth was slightly reluctant to get fully immersed in the experience, so John gave him a helping hand...

Gareth was perhaps less than amused at this, but in spite of this bruise to his teenage dignity, we all had a splendid morning. With the tide rising, we decided to spend the afternoon at Dinosaur Isle, a museum just a few minutes walk down the road from our holiday house.

Bronwyn was keen to see if the palaeontologists in residence could identify the fossil we had found among the cliff rocks of Sandown Beach the day before.

Martin, a helpful staff member at the museum, identified Bronwyn's fossil as Pterotrigonia aliformis, a type of clam that lived in the warm seas of northern Europe about 120 million years ago. Bronwyn was as happy as a... well, a clam!

The architects were hoping the building would resemble a pterosaur. We think they got pretty close!

Inside there were amazing models of dinosaurs, fossil remains all found on the island and incredibly fun interactive displays. Gareth got to get in touch with the ancestors...

And the entire family got up close and personal with John's favourite dinosaur, the Iguanodon, after Fiona discovered it hiding in plain sight on the wall! After a great afternoon, we spent the evening relaxing at home.

Summer Holiday - Isle of Wight, Day One

2009-06-21T10:07:00.000-07:00

Excavation season is soon to be upon us, necessitating Wendy's prolonged absence from the family for the months of July and August, which is in fact the entire extent of the kids summer break from school! Thus, we took the we pulled the kids out of school for a week and went to the Isle of Wight.

We left on Saturday the 13th bright and early. In fact, we were so eager to go, we found ourselves all ready to leave an hour ahead of schedule. So rather than sit on our luggage for an hour, we decided to catch the earlier train. As Luck was on our side that morning, we did not have to wait more than ten minutes for any connection for bus, train or ferry! This in itself is a holiday when travelling with four children!

Since we left so early, we were all settled into our lovely holiday house by early afternoon. The people who manage the house left juice boxes for the kids and a bottle of wine for the adults, which was a lovely welcoming gift. John took a short nap, the kids explored the huge garden and the DVD collection while Wendy walked the 5 minutes to the seaside to get burgers for a late lunch. Then we spent the entire afternoon walking along the beach, collecting interesting rocks, shells and we even found a fossil! (more on that later). We had dinner in a lovely little Italian cafe where the proprietor spoiled the kids rotten, as he had 11 grandchildren and was missing them badly. Nonetheless, we decided that it would be more economical to eat at home for the duration.
That evening, as the children slept, we relaxed to the sound of lions roaring at the nearby zoo and the strains of Glenn Miller wartime favourites playing in the house while we sipped wine in the garden. Paradise, and only day one!
Our Holiday House!

Happy Birthday Wendy!

2009-06-20T23:32:00.000-07:00

It was a mad dash to get everything done for Wendy's birthday and cleaned up as we left for our Holiday on the Isle of Wight the following morning!

The next few posts will be stacked. We have Wendy's Birthday, our Holiday, Larkrise School Fair, Fathers Day and then Fiona's Concert. It has been a busy week.

So Wendy has celebrated her twenty-ninth birthday again! She got plenty of models for the game of 40k that we play and many books. I surprised her with the first book in the series of Flashman by George MacDonald Fraser. Flashman is the memoirs of the fictional character who is a liar, cheat, womaniser, and scoundrel and somehow is made to look like the illustrious Victorian soldier at the end of each story.

Wendy also recieved many other books and some period drama DVD's.

It was a good day for all and over too soon as we had to start packing for our six days on the Isle of Wight.

Summer is here

2009-06-02T00:53:00.000-07:00

Enya's picture of herself and her Papa

We have had a lovely turn of weather here. It has been bright and warm! We went without our washer for about two weeks, which meant I had to hand wash all the clothes. Not fun at all. It turns out Wendy's student ID got caught in the water pump.

I damaged my knees again and it has been slow healing this time. However I continue to watch what I eat and exercise at home. I've lost more weight and now use a notch on my belt I was never able to reach before.

THE best face ever

Bronwyn had her class assembly "Where the Wild Things Are" and she kept making faces at me. I laughed so hard that I thought they would ask me to leave! I have the above picture as my desktop wallpaper because it makes me laugh every time I see it.

The kids just finished their mid-term break and they had the last week off. If you remember me writing about Fiona having her first sleep over in the last posting, well it never happened. Fiona and Elly ate so much food they made themselves sick and Fiona came home late that night. We made sure that Fiona and Elly could get together a few times over the break.

Wendy, along with thirty other people, had dinner with Sir David Attenborough. She was very excited, having watched his nature programs her entire life. She said she had a very enjoyable time.

We are making our final arrangements for our trip to the Isle of Wight, other than that nothing much is going on.

Toodle Pip!

Happy Birthday to me

2009-05-15T20:57:00.000-07:00

Yup another year older, but I only admit to 32. My day actually started on the 14th as Wendy and I went out together. First we went to a lecture at Wolfson College. The lecture was about Darwin and given by Richard Dawkins. His wife was with him as well, Lalla Ward who played Romana in the Doctor Who series in the early 1980's.

Next was a complete surprise to me. One of my favourite movies is "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" which came out in 2000. Well one of the cinema's in Jericho was having a Cohen Brothers marathon, and on the 14th they played O Brother, Where Art Thou? I never had the chance to watch it in the cinema so it was a great surprise. Wendy had to elbow me a few time because I was being "One of THOSE", meaning I was repeating my favorite lines.

Now unfortuneately Enya got extremely ill on Friday (infact Wendy and I have been up all night with her) high fever, stomach cramps, laboured breathing, however we called up the Health Line and was assured she would be ok and that it was probably not Swine Flu so you can all relax back home.

Wendy was busy in the kitchen most of the day. She sent me out of the house around two o'clock as one of my gifts was being delivered. I went next door to the Rusty Bicycle and had a pint while I read my book. An hour later I was allowed to return. To my surprise Wendy had gotten me a new bed! Now Exeter College has been really great to us, they provided us with all the furniture we needed. However they obviously never spent a night in that bed they provided! I have been waking up with back aches for the last three years. The bed is very comfortable, although because of Enya I have yet to get a full nights sleep in it.

Wendy made me a Mech Warrior cake featuring a Mad Cat IV and the House Liao symbol. It was a Colonial Spice Cake.

Besides the new bed I recieved the Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes printed with the original newspaper pictures and in news print style. For those of you that did not know the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes was originally a serial in a newspaper.

I also got an Ab machine and a Pulse Sonic Health and Fitness Advisor. Which is a Heart Rate Belt and a watch that will inform me of my Heart Rate, BMI, Calories burned, etc. I have lost ten pounds in the last two months and I hope to loose ten more in the upcoming two months.

I also recieved a paint gun for painting my models and two framed prints of maps by John Speed, one of my favorite cartographers.

It was a good day.

The kids are doing well. Gareth is still going to Kung Fu lessons (third from the left), Fiona had the lead part in her class assembly on Thursday and goes for her first sleep over tonight. To phrase it in her words, "Three exciting days in a row! First my assembly, then Papa's birthday, and now a sleep over at Elly's!" Bronwyn is doing well and made Star of the Week for her class.

Wendy got the chance to run at the Blenheim 7k fun run and place 208th out of over 450. Way to go Wendy!

Easter Break and Bath Holiday

2009-04-17T12:33:00.000-07:00

Kids had a great Easter Holiday, they hunted for chocolate eggs and Giant Chocolate eggs which the kids called "Beaster Eggs". Then on Tuesday Shane came over to watch the kids for a few days so Wendy and I could go to Bath, England for a couple of days. Wendy and I had a blast. We checked out the Roman Baths, the shops, the River Avon, Pulteney Bridge, The Circus and Royal Crescent, amongst other things.

Bath is a really nice and clean city. All the new buildings get Georgian Style facing so everything is pretty uniformed. We would definitely go again for a vacation. It was also a nice test to see how well the kids behaved without us. Bath is only an hour and a half train ride away from Oxford.

I found this amazing map shop that sells original maps by such Cartographers as John Speed and Blaeu. The maps he offered where original not reprints and where 250+ years old. Very spendy. I would have loved any of the John Speed maps but they went for £150-£600 each.

Wendy and I also puchased Nike+. It is a little sensor that fits on our shoes and then the other sensor plugs into our Ipods. It tells us how fast we are running/walking, distance, speed, and how many calories we burn as well. Great item and I plan on getting a lot of use out of it.

Easter Break

2009-04-09T09:13:00.000-07:00

The kids are on a two week holiday for Easter and end of term. The girls had an Easter Hat Parade at school. They all made Easter Hats and they paraded around the school and neighbourhood.

The girls had some friends over the other day and we plan to go to London soon to check out the zoo or museum. Our friend Shane is going to watch the kids so Wendy and I can go to Bath (not take a bath, go to Bath)

Gareth, Wendy and I started playing some war games again and Gareth went to Games Workshop today and got a painting lesson for painting him models.

That is it really. Not much going on here.

End of Term break coming

2009-04-02T01:04:00.001-07:00

The kids get two weeks break starting Monday for the end of term break. Not sure what we will do during those two weeks but I will make sure to inform you of what we do.

I also invite my friends and family to watch my weight loss attempts over at my new blog http://morrisonweightloss.blogspot.com/

The first week I will just be posting my diet menu just to give everyone an idea on how I'm tracking my caloric intake and managing the amounts of fats and protein as well. I'm using Sparkpeople to help me track everything. Wendy has been a big help in this area. So wish me luck!

Wendy is hoping to have her first academic book finished this week then she will be hard at her research. I'm very proud of her. She made a schedule for herself and she is sticking with it.

Gareth had another play. Wendy and Fiona went to it and they said he did an amazing job! We are all very proud of him.

Well that is all for now. Nothing really going on other than that.

Ta

Google Street View

2009-03-22T07:58:00.000-07:00

Wendy showed me this. Awesome stuff here. It is right in front of my house!

So I played with it a bit and it really is hit and miss. I can see my Papa's drive but not anywhere in Brookings. I can not get to my Grandmothers house but I can see my Uncles house.

So if your really bored you can cruise around my neighbourhood!

Patrick has passed away

2009-03-16T05:20:00.000-07:00

I just received news from Sue that Patrick, our dog, has passed away this weekend. He was about nine years old (we were never positive about his age).

We went to the Animal Shelter in Sioux Falls to look at dogs and there was Patrick. That was in 2001. We could not bring him with us to England so he stayed behind on my sister's farm.

Bronwyn turns 6

2009-03-14T00:42:00.001-07:00

My little girl has turned 6! She was excited all day long! She started her day out with some breakfast then watched the E-Card that Lu and Hrothgar sent her.

Off to school with a tin of sweets to share with her class!

While the cat is away the mice will play, so Wendy and I got Bronwyn a fish and set up the tank we had bought her a few years back (this time with a filter to clean the water). Bronwyn has named it "Butterfly"

While all this is going on, Wendy is making just the coolest Dragon Cake for Bronwyn.

I picked the girls up from school as well as some of Bronwyn's class mates for tea and cakes after school. They ran around the house for a few hours and went home. We then made Bronwyn's choice of dinner. Hamburgers, Chips (French Fries), and Red and Green cabbage. After eating Bronwyn opted for presents first then cake.

Bronwyn recieved many pretty clothes, Dinosaur Puppets, Dinosaur Puzzels, Dragon Books and Cards from both sides of the Atlantic.

After all was done our poor girl was very exhausted. She said the best part about the day was having her friends over. She went to sleep clutching two Dinosaur Puppets and a Dragon Book.

Tooth Fairy update!

2009-03-04T09:34:00.001-08:00

Fiona lost another tooth today at 17:34 GMT

Spring is creeping in

2009-03-04T03:21:00.000-08:00

The trees are starting to bud, and the bulbs are flowering. My birds in the garden have grown very colourful over the last few weeks. I'm noticing the single birds that I'm used to seeing have brought new friends with them.

Even resident poet Fiona Morrison has noticed the changes as she captures in this poem...

In the Garden
by Fiona Morrison

It is spring

The flowers is growing

It is spring

The rose bush is growing

It is spring

The sun is up

It finally spring

Bless her little heart. Both Fiona and Bronwyn are dropping teeth faster than a retirement home. The tooth fairy is racking up the frequent flyer miles to Oxford! Even Gareth got into the act a couple of weeks ago with the loss of one of his few remaining milk teeth. Enya feels a little left out.

Other than that nothing has really changed here. I'm suffering from suvere ear aches and I have an appointment with our GP (General Practioner) tomorrow.

I now know what Purgatory is

2009-02-25T03:25:00.000-08:00

On the 20th of February we had to go to the Home Office in Croydon to get our Biometric Data taken for our National Identity Cards.

So we leave bright and early so we can make our 11:30 appointment.

We leave Oxford on the Oxford Tube directly for Victoria Station. After twenty minutes Enya starts vomiting and she does not stop until we reach London. That was fun.

We make our Train to East Croydon where it was just a brisk walk to the Home Office. We stand in line for about ten minutes before going through security then stand in two other lines to confirm our appointment and to make sure we are suppose to be there. Then we get our number. Number 125. We then go through a maze of stairs, cubicals, and security desks before opening up to a large waiting room with a row of counters. There are large flat panel monitors that show a number while a computer voice calls it out at the same time.

It is now 11:25

We wait for three minutes before being called to a back room where they take our pictures and scan our fingers for our prints. Eleven minutes later we are asked to wait for a discussion. At this point I made the mistake of thinking to myself how fast and smooth this is going and that we may just be able to take the kids to a museum while we are in London. BIG MISTAKE. Murphy's Law now takes affect. We leave the back rooms and sit in the waiting room.

It is now 11:38

Now we sit and wait. While we wait we listen as every eight seconds that lovely computer calls out a number. "Number 58 please proceed to counter 15" Every eight seconds.

8 seconds

"Number 103 please proceed to counter 10"

8 seconds

"Number 122 please proceed to counter 5"

8 seconds

"Number 139 please proceed to counter 11"

Every eight seconds. and soon they are calling numbers 236 and 289 and it keeps going. I expected to look at my ticket and see the symbol for infinite on it.

It is now 2:30

The kids have been behaving pretty well I might say. However by 2:30 they where REALLY HUNGRY and kept asking for food every eight seconds! Wendy found a coffee shop and got them all snacks.

It is now 3:00

"We regret to inform you that we are experiencing some difficulties and will now be one and a half hours behind. Thank you for your cooperation."

NOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!

8 seconds

"Number 63 please proceed to counter 4"

8 seconds

"Number 265 please proceed to counter 12"

8 seconds

"Number 146 please proceed to counter 10"

It is now 4:00

8 seconds

"Number 125 please proceed to counter 10"

8 seconds

"Number 125 please proceed to counter 10"

"What? 125, wait...that is us!!"

Yup we had grown so accustom to listening to the numbers being called out that after four hours we did not hear our own number.

Now you may be thinking to yourself that four hours is not that long to wait, and that many people have had to wait longer for bureaucratic paper work. But every eight seconds being reminded of where you are and the fact that you are doing nothing but waiting is enough to drive you slowly mad.

So we packed up and left, took a train back to Victoria Station, arrived at our bus stop just before it was about to leave and Enya vomited the way back up to Oxford.

Now it only takes about an hour to get to London from Oxford by the Oxford Tube. But this was a Friday night, and there was an accident on the M40. So three hours later we finally arrive home.

We order Fish and Chips, and a pizza as we are so hungry. We all sleep in the next morning.

Not a good day.

Snow Day!

2009-02-05T01:27:00.000-08:00

You have to love England. One and three-quarters inch of snow and they call off school!

A Blue Tit enjoying Berry Suet

Nothing really has been going on with us. I'm back to the gym and enjoying that, I've been making a lot of bread in my bread machine.

The kids are all doing well, Fiona has a bad cough today so it is just as well they called off school.

Wendy and I are trying to organize this shoe box sized house with better furniture. I'm shocked that the English have not taken pointers from the Japanese and have furniture that has more than one function to save space.

We started with my new computer desk. It is smaller than the one the College provided but holds more stuff due to its design. We ordered two benches that also can store things in them. We will place them against the wall for the girls to sit on at the dinner table. We never use our couch except to nap on so we are going to put that in the garage along with the old desk. Now Mom will tell you that Gareth's room is no bigger than a supply cupboard with an eclectic array of furniture. So we are looking at some modular systems for him to manage what little space he has.

The girls are pretty good. However we may get a loft bed for Bronwyn and place a desk or something under it.

Now for the bad news.

For those that did not know my sister Kathy had a house fire this week. Virtually everything was lost. You can check out her blog from the link on the right side of the Blog. For some odd reason the blog won't let me add a picture from her blog so you can see Hunter and Austin's room HERE.

It is lucky that they where at school and work when the fire started so no one was hurt.

I would like the thank the Brookings Fire Department for all their help and assistance.

Dare I say we are settling in?

2009-01-23T20:03:00.000-08:00

An odd title after living here for two and a half years but realizing that we will be here for another two to three more we have finally started to take the big plunge by purchasing our own furniture, appliances and finally some ceramic kitchenware.

It is a big step for me at least as I have been putting it off as it would be inconvenient to rid ourselves of these items when/if we leave England. The College provides us with all of our furniture but it is an eclectic style to say the least. Functional, but not always a practical use of our limited space. It is the use of space and how to organise it properly that I am most concerned about.

The big appliance is the addition of a bread maker. I enjoy this little contraption as I don't have to really do anything other than throw the ingredients in and turn it on. It costs slightly more per loaf than the stuff you purchase at the store, but considering it does not have the additional additives and preservatives in each loaf I am willing to pay the extra £0.10 per loaf. The bread maker can also be used to make jam and as we have a Damsum Tree in the backyard I think I will be making a lot of jam come autumn.

I am pleased, no, actually I am overjoyed that many of my family have started to use facebook this year. I don't normally keep up with my facebook account but will do so more now that I can keep in touch with the family.

Enya is enjoying going to school fulltime three days out of the week. She is just knackered at the end of the day but I can tell she enjoys it. It is extremely enjoyable watching her interact with the other children. She is more outgoing than the other three kids where at that age, and quite the social butterfly.

I am really enjoying the peace and quite during those days and use my time to catch up on house work, extra time in at the gym, catch up on some music as I never get to enjoy it when all the kids are home. The most exciting part of these days is I can meet Wendy in town for a lunch date!

Gareth and I are slowly getting through Babylon 5 series. We are really enjoying it. The 'Twins' Fiona and Bronwyn are both doing well.

Febuary we have to take the family in to London for our National I.D. cards. I certainly wish they had a larger office closer to Oxford, the one office that would have been easier to get to can not handle a family of our size in one appointment so we have to go to the London office instead. But we will make a day of it and take in a museum or two while there.

Wendy and I booked our tickets for Walking with Dinosaurs Live! Kathy make sure you show Austin and the boys the link! We are so looking forward to going as the dinosaur puppets/robots are life size! The Brachiosaurus is actually 72 feet tall in the show! It is amazing!

I know it will be a night the kids will never forget.

Well that is about it for now. Until the next posting.

Toodle Pip

Late Holiday Post

2009-01-11T03:21:00.001-08:00

Ok, sorry for the late posting on the holidays.

Fiona making ginger bread cookies

Placing the Santa on the top of the tree

Christmas Eve the kids made cookies and ginger bread houses. We then decorated the tree and I read the kids "The Night Before Christmas".

Ginger Bread Village complete with Train, Houses, and Men

Christmas was a blast this year! Surprisingly the kids did not wake up early in the morning! We finally woke them up around 7:30 so we could get started.

The Christmas Tree of 2008

The look on the girls' faces when they saw Kota the robotic Triceratops brought to them by Father Christmas was enough joy for Wendy and I! The kids made out like bandits getting new dressing gowns from Great Grandma Morrison, Books and Movies from Grandma DeLeeuw and Gran Wirling. Grandpa Morrison got the kids books and I am still amazed at how well Fiona reads! Grandma DeLeeuw joined us via Web Cam for some of the present opening. We always have the webcam on during holidays and Birthdays if any of you care to join us!

Other gifts where Dinosaur Skeletons buried in clay for Bronwyn. She has to excavate them herself then put the skeletons together. How come they did not have those when I was a kid!

Bronwyn excavating a Deinonychus

Dressing up clothes like Black Power Ranger, Doctors kit, and Stephanie from Lazy Town where also a big hit! Lots of arts and crafts, music and books. Fiona got a pink CD player to listen to at night. Gareth got a Wii, new clothes, some mecha (robot) building kits and books.

Enya being Stephanie

I must say I did a wonderful job getting Wendy gifts this year. Probably the first time I have done so well in at least five years. She got plenty of non-academic books to keep her sane, some CD's and Movies that she wanted and some clothing. She only had to return one item so I'm very pleased with myself!

I on the other hand will be busy with the complete Babylon 5 box set, books, and the Muddy Waters Anthology! I've also been glued to my new game Fallout 3, half the reason this post is so late!

Gareth sporting new dressing gown and necklace from Aunt Pam

Later that afternoon we where joined with Shane and his friend Muejgan for Christmas dinner. It took all day boxing day to clean up the mess from Christmas!

The kids have now been back to school for a week, except Enya who starts tomorrow. We will be paying to have her go to school all day on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. She is VERY excited. Tomorrow I finally go back to the gym as I have not gone since November.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM US TO YOU!

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally-conscious, socially-responsible, low-stress,non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday,practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2008, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is not necessarily greater than any other country, nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere, and without regard to the race, creed,color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee. By accepting these greetings you are accepting these terms. This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for herself or himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of anew wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.

Up and running, I hope

2009-01-05T11:31:00.000-08:00

Ok the new hard drive is in and most of my stuff is uploaded to it. I got a 500 gig Seagate Hard drive. Now I need to find which of the kids toys have the rechargeable batteries so I can retrieve the Christmas photos from the camera!

Dead computer again

2008-12-26T22:29:00.000-08:00

Well my computer is dead again. I will have to wait for the New Year before I can get a new Hard Drive, so it might be a while before a proper update.

The Holiday Season is Upon Us

2008-12-23T01:49:00.000-08:00

Hello one and all. It is true, hard to believe I know, but the holiday season is upon us. Well I have a hard time believing it as I only need a light coat when I go outside.

So what has been happening with the Morrison family since last month? Well we have had more computer issues, but I'm hoping they are all resolved now.

Enya had her first school Christmas Concert. She did a lovely job singing and ringing bells. Fiona and Bronwyn had their first nativity play. Bronwyn was an angel and Fiona was a narrator. Gareth had his Christmas Orchestra and he played his Violin wonderfully.

Gareth also got to be in his first on stage play! We have been sending him to drama lessons after school and on the 13th of December we went to his play "Planet Earth". The play consisted of several smaller acts dealing with environmental issues. Gareth's skit was "Planet Go Boom" where they were aliens who came to Earth because they did not take care of their planet, only to find out that Earth will be in a similar situation.

I must say I was skeptical on whether Gareth would have that 'spark' of acting. But I was very pleasantly surprised! He knew his lines, he delivered them just fine and projected his voice well. Gareth will be continuing Drama lessons at the Pegasus Theatre next year.

Sickness! I can not remember a year where the family has been so ill! Since the middle of November we have been sick with one thing right after another. Even Gareth and Bronwyn were really ill, and they have constitutions of a horse, well a stubborn mule at least. Wendy is just now getting over the last bit of plague. the kids have missed at least a week to a week and a half of school each.

Speaking of general illnesses. We bought two air purifiers for the kids room and I am pleased on the effects it is having. I have not heard Bronwyn breathe so well in her life. She has not been snoring and she is mostly waking up with a clear nose. Now to get one for my room and the downstairs.

Now for the big bit! Fiona turns SEVEN! My little girl is now seven. It is hard to believe it! That angry child that did nothing but scream the first three years of her life is now this adorable little lady. Fiona is big on making stuff. Cards, arts and craft, costumes, just anything that she can make she will do so. So she got a lot of making stuff for her birthday! She has now got a Tinker Bell Flower Press to obviously press flower to use in cards and in decorations, Clothes Pin Princesses, Farm Animal Spoons, if it requires glue, tissue paper, clothe, beads, and bits and bobs then Fiona got it! She also got several books, a book lamp, and pretty clothes.

So all the Christmas shopping is done. We went slightly overboard this year, but the last three months where hard on everyone what with the Student Loan company constantly loosing our information and being three months late on getting the student loan out to us. I would rank it in the top five most stressful times in my life. It was not fun and I'm glad it is over.

The final bit is Enya and I have become twitchers. Twitchers being the name for bird watchers. We now have four feeders in our little back garden and we are getting British Robins (not to be confused with the North American Robin), Great Tits, Blue Tits, Chaffinch, Black Birds (the black birds here have the most amazing song! They never sing the same song twice and it is amazing to listen to), Sparrows, and one North American Grey Squirrel.

Well thats it for now. I will post in the new year!

Big updates

2008-11-19T00:10:00.000-08:00

Many of you know that my computer has crashed and that is one of the primary reasons I have not updated when so much has been going on. The computer is in the repair shop and I am anxiously awaiting for it to be finished.

I guess I will start in order of events

Halloween

The girls went to the Larkrise School annual Halloween Disco and then on Halloween we had a party at the house. We played several games such as eat the doughnut off the string and I drew a design on our pumpkin and then gave Gareth the honors (for the first time) of cutting the pumpkin. We then watched Doctor Who and the Horror of Fang Rock!

The kids all had a fun time.

Enya's Birthday

My little girl turns four! Enya had a blast on her birthday. Shane, Laura and Tom came to wish her happy birthday and we all enjoyed watching Enya open her gifts. Enya requested Fish and Chips for dinner and she chose a Thomas the Tank Engine birthday cake, which Enya says was her favorite part.

The day was very exhausting for her and she slept well. The next two weeks she delighted in telling all of her teachers and class mates that she was in fact four, not three anymore.

Guy Fawkes Night a.k.a. Bonfire Night

A fun night of fireworks and a bonfire. This year they burned a 30 foot wicker spartan! It was impressive! Poor Bronwyn cried uncontrollably when the wicker man went up in flames. She kept sobbing, "My statue! My favorite statue!" We had to leave shortly after that anyways as it started to rain and with over 1,500 people their the kids where getting stepped on by inconsiderate people.

I tried posting the pictures from Guy Fawkes Night but blogger failed twice, sorry.

No guarantees that the blog will be updated on a regular basis until I get my main computer back. I'm just really glad I had backed the hard drive up a week before it died.

Halloween Disco!

2008-10-23T22:23:00.000-07:00

Halloween is not really celebrated here. Some see it as a novelty and others like a hostile invasion. However, Larkrise Primary School gives its annual Halloween Disco on the week before first term break.

The first one I took Gareth to and the last two the girls have gone. This year the Bronwyn's class mate Mia joined our troop of spooks to the Disco.

Fiona was the Fearsome Pirate

Bronwyn was the Stealthy Ninja

Enya was the Garden Pixie

Mia was the Scary Witch, however she ran about so much we never got a chance to snap a picture of her. Witches and cats were popular with the girls while pirates and skeletons were popular with the boys.

One of the greatest things was just to watch the girls interact and socialize with the other children. Thankfully they all got tired after an hour and asked to go home.

Today is school picture day. We have to go in early so the girls can get their photos taken together.

Gareth stayed home and did some chores then played on the computer, lucky boy.

Thats all for now. I will keep you updated on the half term break and if we do anything.

No Snow here! HA HA

2008-10-23T07:27:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the title but apparently Brookings received some snow. HA HA HA I do not have any and the weather people say we will probably NOT get any at all! I'm very happy about that!

So the computer is working but I seriously need to reformat the hard drive as it is running slightly slow these days.

The girls have a Halloween Disco tonight so Wendy and I will be busy with that. Note to self, take ibuprofen BEFORE heading out. Last year it was so noisy I had a headache within twenty minutes. Tomorrow is the last day of school for a week as its already half term. Now to figure out what to do with them for a week. Two of the museums are closed for renovations until next year.

Nothing else new here. I'll update as soon as something does.

Computer Problems

2008-10-12T01:28:00.000-07:00

Real quick. My computer keeps crashing so I will be off line for quite some time as we need to get it repaired. I'm currently backing up all my files then I will be reformatting the hard drive in a desperate attempt to solve this problem.

Monkee Mania!!

2008-10-09T09:06:00.000-07:00

I had to share this with everyone. I let the girls listen to The Monkees as I personally like their music and I know the kids would. Well I was cooking dinner tonight and I hear Enya singing Mary Mary by The Monkees! I was astonished! I could not believe she knew over half of the lyrics to the song.

I think it's time to start getting some Beatles and The Who for them as well. I personally do not understand why I don't have them in my music library.

Wendy is gearing up for University and she has already been busy giving talks and stuff.

Bronwyn scored two goals at football club this Wednesday! Wayne Rooney look out!

I'm making wonderful progress on my weight loss! I can actually run again without running out of breath! Big accomplishment for me!

Until next time....Good Blive inside joke

New Time line to Blog!

2008-09-28T03:31:00.000-07:00

I've added a Time line at the bottom of the blog. Just scroll down to the bottom of the blog to see some of the dates we have added. Obviously we have not added all the dates yet so it is a work in progress.

If you receive the blog in your email then you will have to actually go to the blog to view the time line. For those reading it in the email CLICK HERE FOR THE BLOG PAGE

In other news I have hired a personal trainer to help me in my fight against fat. In the last seven days I have lost two inches off my rotund middle section! Weight wise I have not lost that much but that does not surprise me as I have increased my muscle mass as well. My exercise schedule is a bit intense and my knees are feeling the crunch of it, but I'm hoping as the weight goes down my knees will hold up a bit better.

My friend Shane is settling in fine at Oxford Brookes and I'm enjoying having a friend around that I can relate to.

The weather has been fantastic this week. I've been taking the kids to the park as often as possible and today we are going down to the Iffley Lock to feed the ducks.

Exercise, injury, visitors, etc.

2008-09-21T09:07:00.000-07:00

Been really busy. Shane has been here for a week and I think we have walked all over Oxford almost every day since he got here. My feet hurt!

The kids are all doing well in school and Bronwyn got an award at her assembly for improving her attitude.

Wendy has injured her back at work and the last few days have been difficult for her.

I've been going to the gym quite often and have my first session with my personal trainer this Wednesday. My goal is to loose 15 lbs. by the end of the year. I'm sure I can loose at least 20-25 lbs by then.

Thats it. Not much of an update but better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

Enya's First Day of School!!

2008-09-09T05:40:00.000-07:00

Enya was very excited to go off to school. Equipped with Rain Jacket, Wellies and a rucksack filled with extra clothing she braved the rain in the name of education.

Enya, unlike her sisters at that age, had no problems saying good bye with a big grin when I left her at school. I'm excited to hear how her day went.

Tomorrow after I drop her off I am going to the gym to renew my membership.

This weekend Shane flies in from Minneapolis to start school at Oxford Brookes University. We are all excited to have him back in Oxford! I will take a bus down and meet him at the airport.

Fiona has her first day of Recorder lessons today. She is very excited. She wants to learn a song and play it with Gareth.

Tomorrow Gareth starts Drama classes at the Pegasus Theater and Fiona and Bronwyn start after school Football club!

Well thats it from me. Have a good day.

First Day of School!

2008-09-04T02:25:00.001-07:00

The kids all had a good day at school. Gareth did not start until later and I asked him to snap a self portrait before he left, but as usual he 'forgot'.

Fiona's teacher, Ms. Carr was nice enough to arrange to have Bronwyn brought to Fiona's class at the end of the day so I can pick up both of them at the same time. Otherwise I have to go all the way around the building and I would be late picking up one of the girls. This will also be easier as Fiona's pickup is fairly close to where I need to pick up Enya.

The day started out well for the kids, but not for me. My back is still hurting and the kids forgot their lunches so I had to run back to the school to drop off their pack lunches. then it started raining then sunny, then raining, then sunny. I was really getting tired of dragging the laundry inside then outside again.

Then it was bright blue skies and sun! So I left the laundry out and went to pick up the kids from school. By the time I reached the school it was just pouring rain. I hate England in the Autumn (yes I know Autumn has not officially started yet).

So we ran home in record time, 16 minutes. The two girls where exhausted from school and where a little weepy and crabby so they all went to bed early (except Gareth).

I will ask Gareth again to update his blog and let him tell you in his own words how his day went.

This morning went slightly smoother, it is still raining so the girls wore their rain gear.

Thats about it for now.

Oh, and Happy Birthday Papa.

Twas the day before school...

2008-09-02T08:24:00.000-07:00

Pretty good day. Exeter College got our new whirlpool washer installed today and I've done two loads of laundry already on it. I also got a chance to clean underneath where the washer goes. It was pretty disgusting!

I've discovered Last.FM and have been playing around with that. It is an internet radio station, I hope to use it to explore more Jazz, Blues and Electronic music. I added what I've been listening to on the blog. Its on the right hand side towards the bottom. It is pretty cool but when I asked it to read my itunes history it only took some of it and not all of the music in it. So my list is a bit awkward right now.

The older kids start school tomorrow and they are very excited. Enya is excited also but I have to keep reminding her she does not start until next Tuesday. Drop off should be interesting tomorrow, I hope she behaves herself.

I told the kids no tele or computers today and they have been really well behaved and playing together. Fiona got hiccups and Bronwyn rushed in as "Doctor Bronwyn" to cure her.

My back is still messed up and I've been taking a pretty strong pain medicine just to get buy. If it keeps up the next few days I will have to see a doctor, and not Doctor Bronwyn.

I will post some pictures from their first day at school tomorrow.

Back from Combe Martin

2008-08-30T08:08:00.000-07:00

We are back from North Devon and we had alot of fun. The kids enjoyed the seaside, rock and sea shell collecting and taking long walks with Wendy and myself.

We took the kids on a Pony & Trap ride, went to the Dinosaur and Animal park which all the kids enjoyed. If you ask Fiona she will tell you how much she enjoyed the Squirrel Monkey! Enya enjoyed the Penguin's, Bronwyn enjoyed the Dinosaurs, Gareth enjoyed the light show, Wendy liked the Meerkat's and I enjoyed the wolves. The light show was a spaceship leaving the planet and when it was over Enya asked if we where back on Earth!

Enya really enjoyed rock collecting. She wanted all of them. When we finally convinced her to leave the beach because the tide was coming in she called out, "Don't worry I will be back to rescue the rest of you later!" You may think it is cute but my back is out from carrying the one ton luggage of rocks!

We also took in an aquarium where the kids saw all the type of aquatic life in North Devon, from the river down to the rock pools and ocean. We explored the rock pools and we got the kids nets to catch the local rock pool life but they were experienced at avoiding tourists!

The bus, train, train, train, bus ride home was very LOOOOOOOONG! But we finally made it back home.

School starts on the third for the older kids and the ninth for Enya and they are all excited to go back (so am I!)

I have updated the blog to the current version and lost some of my links to other blogs, it should also email some of you as soon as I publish it, so if you get two emails about it (one from Blogger and one from me) I apologize.

Wendy and I will also be getting a membership to a photo sharing site and we will start mass uploading digital photo's to the site for those of you that are interested.

Off for Vacation

2008-08-24T22:58:00.000-07:00

Hello one and all. Wendy is back and we are now getting ready to leave today for our seaside holiday! The washing machine broke on Saturday, which was a bummer, but considering it has been doing 7-14 loads of laundry a week for the last two years straight it comes to no surprise.

Poor Fiona could not decide between a Care Bear or her beloved Ruffus (the third incarnation, they are getting harder to find) given to her (originally) by her Great Aunt Barb when she was a baby. The dilema was finally solved and Ruffus will be coming with us on holiday! This picture shows Fiona with Ruffus the third on the left and the original Ruffus, now called Flat Ruffus, on the right.

We should have lots of fun rain or shine as there are plenty of things to do in North Devon. There is a Animal and Dinosaur park in the area with life size animatronic Dinosaurs. This same place "Combe Martin Wildlife & Dinosaur Park" is featured in a National Geographic magazine and T.V. Documentary about Shaun Ellis who lived with wolves for a while.

When we return I will finally upgrade the Blog to the newer versions so I can just point and click instead of writing in html. Hopefully I won't loose anything when I upgrade.

I'll post again in a weeks time.

Angler Young Angler International Championship

2008-08-11T01:26:00.000-07:00

My nephews Logan and Hunter won the Arlington Angler Young Angler (AYA) tournament back in June. They are now in Canada for the International Championship!

Keep an eye out this week for how they do at AYA International Championship website!

In other news we have two more weeks until Wendy is back home. The weather had not been the kindest to us, having showers on and off the last week has made most of the parks muddy. Yesterday we got ready to take a walk just to get the kids outside and no sooner did we step into our front garden when the sky opened up and it just started to pour rain on us. I'm determined to take them out today. Bronwyn and Enya have been bickering the last few days and have been grounded from tele and computer until they behave.

I did end up taking the girls to the fair at Florence Park. They went on bouncey castles, painted pictures and played with drums. Then they all started to argue and complain so we left early.

Not much of an update

2008-08-05T13:12:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to the Friends of Brading Roman Villa where Wendy is working on the Isle of Wight.

The weather is horrid. It rained all day today. The girls played alright and Gareth was good as he usually is. We spent our evening watching Resurrection of the Daleks an old Doctor Who episode now on DVD.

Tomorrow there is suppose to be a big fair going on in Florence Park, but if the weather continues I don't belive we will be going.

*EDIT 07 August fixed the link to Brading Roman Villa

Last Day in July

2008-07-31T00:04:00.001-07:00

I have the kids firmly entrenched in a routine and it sure has done wonders for them. They are allowed to do what ever they want until 10 a.m. then every one (including me) gets up and cleans the house. By the time the girls are done its normally lunch time and I fix them a healthy lunch and then its either two hours of play time (meaning no computers or tele) or if the weather permits we go on an outing. Then they are allowed to play with a quick cleaning around 4 p.m. then I start to plan dinner. After dinner they play again and then watch Doctor Who and then bed time. It is working great. They are arguing less and playing together more.

Yesterday I took them to Iffley Lock on the Thames River. That did not go as planned as the geese where very bold that day. It ended with three little girls standing on a bench screaming as the demonic geese surrounded them. Papa and Gareth to the rescue! We then ate our lunch while watching boats go through the lock.

I was planning on taking them to the museum today but it looks like it may rain and Bronwyn woke up and her face is all swollen. She looks like a marshmellow that someone made a face into it. Her spirits are high but I'm a bit worried.

Good news is while walking home we passed the Pegasus Theatre so I stoped in and got Gareth signed up for a few Drama Workshops! I was starting to think he was just going to mope around the house all summer. Most of his friends are gone for the month. I really want to give the kids a summer to remember, as they are very short here both in school break and weather wise.

Wendy leaves us on Saturday morning for three weeks. She will be on the Isle of Wight doing a dig.

I repotted some of my house plants and I hope they live through the ordeal. I'm rubbish in the garden and I can't tell a plant from a weed but I do ok with house plants.

Thats all for now. I hope your all having a wonderful summer.

July Update

2008-07-24T01:16:00.000-07:00

Yeah almost a month since the last update but I've been busy being a single parent while Wendy is away at summer diggs. Wendy is back right now but will leave for the Isle of Wight at the end of next week and will be gone again for three weeks.

Yesterday Gareth finished up his last day of school for the year the girls had thier last day two days ago.

So now Gareth goes to 8th year, Fiona is now a 2nd year, Bronwyn a 1st year and little Enya starts at the Foundation Unit for half days! WOW all the kids in school.

July has been cold, from 50's -low 60's but this week has been nice with temperatures in the mid to upper 70's. Since its so nice today I will take the kids to the park and have a picnic.

So what has been going on this month? Well Gareth had his Orchestra Concert and that was fun. He played very well and I'm very proud of him. The girls have been next to unmanageable but I'm sure most of that is due to Wendy being here then not being here then being here again. They don't like sudden changes. But after Isle of Wight things will get back to normal (ha ha Wendy, inside joke).

Fiona has lost her top two teeth and got £1.00 for each tooth from the tooth fairy.

Dr. Brooks from SDSU was in Oxford again and we got to spend two evenings with her. It was nice to see a familiar face again.

I'd have pictures for you but some one in this house changed the settings on my computer and I no longer get the MicroSoft picture viewer program that lets me extract all the photos, and rename them to the folders I want. Now I have to do it one at a time and that's a pain when you have over 200 pictures and you don't want them named P10023569852. I have tried to do the properties->AutoStart Options and that has not gotten it to work. So if anyone reading this know how to get that working again please let me know.

Lots going on.

2008-06-29T22:43:00.000-07:00

Gareth had a wonderful Birthday getting many books, a few Video Games, and stuff. I will let you all read about it on his Blog.

Wendy has been gone alot this month with digs and trips with her friends. She has really been working hard this year and she really needed some down time. But all that hard work has paid off as she got her Masters Degree with Distinction!! She is currently off for two weeks in Dorchester on Thames but will come back for one day on the weekend to be with the family.

The kids still have one more month of school, getting the month of August off before going back to school in September. Gareth starts Year Eight, Fiona starts Year Two, Bronwyn will start First Year, and Enya will go to school for half days!! Finally the house to myself!

Enya with her friend

Speaking of school, we took the two older girls to the School Fair (Enya was still down with Chicken Pox). The girls had a blast and got their faces painted with a Butterfly and Tiger!

Bronwyn had a spring concert where they talked about nature and did a play of the Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Well thats all for now. I'm sure I will have more to say in a few more days.

Lovely Birthdays and Horrid Pox

2008-06-18T04:23:00.000-07:00

Wendy celebrated her sixth anniversary of her twenty-ninth birthday! She got herself a Doctor Who cake (for the kids of course). She had a good day and got loads of books and a skirt which Fiona picked out for her. Our friends the Browns came over, well Matt did, and watched the kids so Wendy and I could go out on her birthday.

Well Enya got the Chicken Pox and she got them BAD. Although they have not gotten infected like Fiona's did she is getting them everywhere including her lower eyelids. In two days she got covered. She has been a really good girl and has not been itching them, and she makes sure I put socks on her hands at bed time so she does not scratch them.

I don't know what I would do if the Brown's did not live a few blocks away as they are taking the two girls to school and balck again when Wendy is working. They really have been a big help to us these past few weeks.

We had a week holiday planned this week at the seaside but we had to cancel it due to the current plauge. Next week Wendy goes back to work full time and the kids will finally be out of school in three to four more weeks.

Thats all the news from Oxford, where the weather is cloudy, the kids are all sick and the parents are just slightly insane.

Chicken Pox update

2008-06-04T04:01:00.001-07:00

We had to take Fiona in to the Doctor yesterday. Even though we had her sleep with socks on her hands she still managed to scratch and tear two spots in her right ear. These got infected within twelve hours.

She is being a real trooper! The only time she itches is in her sleep. She is very upset about missing school and Bronwyn is back to school thanks to our friends the Matt and Rachel Brown who is dropping off and picking up Bronwyn from school for us.

Its a beautiful day today! First nice day in over a week. So of course I have clothes on the line and all of the windows open. Wendy is in the trenches and I'm off to Uffington this weekend for a bit of R&R.

I forgot to add that Fiona loved all of your comments and she read them all by herself. She only had problems with the word Nebraska, cartoons (they don't use that word here), and stinking. Thats a naughty word Aunt Kathy.

Chickenpox again

2008-06-01T11:09:00.000-07:00

Well Fiona has contracted chickenpox for the second time. She is so upset that she is going to miss school as she just had a week off school for term break. I hope Enya gets them so I can be done with them.

We called the NHS and they said its not unusual for children who have had chickenpox under the age of three to get them again. Bronwyn is in tears as I type this. We told her that Fiona and her could not sleep in the same bed until Fiona is better. Although they each have a bed Fiona and Bronwyn always sleep together. Even if we put them in separate beds, by morning the "twins" are cuddled together.

Fiona can read so if you all could be kind enough and leave a comment for her to read that would be lovely.

I have one of the worse coughs I have had in a long time and Enya has been sick as well. What is it with term break and everyone in the house getting sick?!?

In other news my friend Shane and I are planning our bike trip in Scotland next year. We are thinking we will be gone for a week touring the Speyside region of Scotland. I will let you know more as we get more planned.

Now for the biggest news. Wendy has finished her Thesis!! Now to start planning her DPhil.

Spring Watch

2008-05-29T02:16:00.000-07:00

Its that time of year again. The time when BBC has Spring Watch and hour long program about the Nature of the UK. They have Webcams set up in bird houses. Camera traps for other animals. Three weeks they do this and its just fantastic! I wish PBS would do the same thing State to State! For the kids they have CBeebies Spring Watch which is only 30 min. long.

The kids love it. I must say Wendy and I enjoy it as well. The girls even have membership cards!

If your outside the UK you probably won't be allowed to view the webcams. Its fun watching the baby Coal tits. They have a camera on the outside and inside of the bird box. I had taken screenshots of the live feed webcams but when I post the pictures they come out all blue on the blog, sorry!

Today is the first good day this week. A bit chilly but at least I can see the sun and blue sky! Unfortunately all the parks will be muddy, if the Thames River is not too full I may take the kids down to see the birds.

Wendy is finishing up her Thesis and has been gone for the last five days.

Papa got Rosetta Stone Latin last fall and Gareth has been learning it as he starts Latin next year. It works well so Wendy and I purchased Rosetta Stone French for him (he is taking French this year) and Rosetta Stone Hindi and Mandarin for Wendy and myself. Wendy and I are also going to try and enroll for a year of Hindi at Oxford.

Don't forget to check out Gareth's blog. He has been updating it almost daily now!

2008-05-20T06:46:00.000-07:00

Wendy will be running a 5k marathon to raise money for Cancer Research UK

Check it out HERE

In other news Bronwyn and Enya have both been pretty sick.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

2008-05-15T08:38:00.000-07:00

So here is the condensed version of our trip.

We took the hour bus trip to Heathrow Airport then waited for two hours to check in, then waited another two hours for our Gulf Air flight to leave. Once we finally departed for our first layover in Bahrain. Seven hours later we arrive in Bahrain only to find out that our one hour layover is now five as they canceled our flight. So 17 hours later we take off from Bahrain to Mumbia (Bombay) Three hours later we land in Mumbia and an hour and a half later we get out of customs and take a taxi to Central Rail Station (formally known as Victoria Station) That takes another hour. So now we have a six hour wait until our train leaves.

So far despite being long the trip has been good. Wendy and I have both seen things we have only seen in Bollywood Films.

Zeeshan's Brother met us at the station at 10 PM with our tickets. He would have met us earlier but due to our flight being canceled he had to wait until he could take time off from the Emergency Room to bring us our tickets. Zeeshan called and asked to speak to me.

"John how did my brother find you?" he asked.

"Zeeshan," I said, "Wendy and I are the only white people in the station." I replied.

"Oh, right" he answered.

Our sleeper was nice. Wendy and I had the lower bunks and two older gentlemen had the upper bunks. The man above me went straight to bed. Then Wendy layed down to read a book. The man that should have had the bunk above her stayed sitting on my bunk (the lower bunks double for seats from 6 AM - 11 PM). It was past midnight and hear is me and this guy just sitting up almost falling asleep. I finally tell him I'm going to sleep so he helps me fold the seat into the bed. I make the bed and curl up to go to bed and he is still just sitting at the edge of what is now my bed. Wendy had to disquise her laughter under coughs she was giggling so hard. He did not go to his bunk until after Wendy went to sleep. Must have been embarrassed to share the sleeper with a strange female "Ferengi" (a derogatory term for foreigners).

I slept good the rest of the night and we arrived in Solapur in the morning. Zeeshan met us at the station and I took a rickshaw to the Hotel while Wendy rode on the back of his bike. 30.5 Hours latter we are at the Hotel! YEAH!

The next couple of days is spent shopping and visiting with Zeeshan and his entire family. They are all so nice and treated us like family as well. There were so many new faces and names I had a really hard time remembering them!

In one of the shops, where Wendy got her blue dress, one of the women working there asked Zeeshan's father if we where Chinese! So with a straight face he tells her, "Yes they are from China." When he told me this I laughed so hard!

Wendy had Mendi put on her hands while I talked to Zeeshans cousins and Uncles.

Zeeshans house is beautiful! I would have loved to had pictures but every time we bought "new" batteries they would take one or two pictures (if even that) then the batteries would go dead! Towards the end of our visit we found some Duracell and no longer had any problems but most of the good things to take pictures off where done, gone and over. Live and learn.

Right from the first reception (the brides family gives the first reception) we had to leave to catch the train. We said our good byes to everyone got right on the train in our good clothes back to Mumbia waited five more hours to check in to find out our Gulf Air flight back to London had been canceled. That's the second Gulf Air flight this trip to be canceled.

I would like to add that the people of Gulf Air got us a direct flight from Mumbia to London with Jet Air right away. Our flight left earlier (we had to run in fact to catch it) and since we did not have to stop again in Bahrain we got home much earlier then we expected.

I will add more later (like the beautiful Wedding ceremony) but its my Birthday and I'm going to eat some cake.

Off to India we go

2008-05-06T23:01:00.000-07:00

Well we leave for India today! We got ahold of Zeeshan yesterday and got his contact number. His brother will meet us at the train station with our tickets.

We have yet to pack but we are only taking one carry on bag apiece and we will get anything we need while in India.

So on our list today is to pack, pick up supplies for mom and leave to catch our flight in London.

Yesterday we went into town with Mom, Wendy, and Enya. It felt wierd walking around without a little hand holding on to my hand or finger. I kept being paranoid because Mom or Wendy would be between me and Enya and I kept looking around them so I could see her. I think I really need this trip! I know Wendy needs a break from her Thesis!

Wendy and I have not been by ourselves for any lenght of time since our honeymoon almost eight years ago!

Gareth and I agreed that he will updat his blog once a day while we are gone so be sure to check it out, HERE there is a link on your right hand side as well that is called Gareth's World

Next stop India!!

Grandma is in town

2008-05-03T23:56:00.001-07:00

Well you can tell by the title that my mom made it safely to Oxford. She has has a lovely time so far and the kids love having her here. We asked some friends of ours to take the girls home from school for us and I would collect them at their house.

Well Mom and I where walking up Hurst Street while the kids where coming down towards us. It was perfect timing. Bronwyn screamed "GRANDMA" and took off like a bullet on her scooter! Just seconds after meeting the girls, Gareth came down Leopold Street and met us. I could not have planned it better!

We all left and took Mom to the house and then I left again to go to the Brown's to pick up Enya. On the way back Enya saw Grandma in the front yard and that three foot mouth opened up and yelled and screamed! I'm glad we have been using the web cams because it has been almost two years since Enya has seen Mom.

The next day Mom came with and took the girls to school with me. Then we checked out Cowley Road and some of the Churches. We met up with Wendy back at home then went to a park. At the park I started to not feel so well so I went home and Mom and Wendy picked the girls up.
I spent the next thirty-three hours with severe gut pain so Wendy took Mom down town to see the historic covered market, High Street and some of the churches, including the chapel at Exeter College. When Gareth came back from Kung Fu lessons they went on a walk down the Thames River and up through Iffley Village and back home. We then watched the new episode of Doctor Who and then Gareth and Wendy had to leave as Gareth was preforming with the other kids in his Kung Fu class at Keeble College for their ball which was a "Forbidden City" Theme. They are the "Little Dragons" I'm still waiting for him to wake up and tell me how it went as I fell asleep last night before they came home.

I'm not sure what we are going to do today as the weather does not look to be the best.
Next week INDIA!