The life and wanderings of Steven, Heather, Olivia & Abby

Have you ever been to a place and thought, "wow, this would be a great place to take pictures?" We went there today, and it was gorgeous. The Rotary program has what is called the Group Study Exchange program (GSE). This year, 5 people from Argentina came to London on the GSE program for a month. The Edmonton Rotary Club has been taking them around London to the different sights that they would be interested in. 4 of the 5 were Environmental Engineers, Lawyers and something or others. The 5th was an English teacher. Being Environmentalist, Rotary took them to a horticulture school today called Capel Manor- and they were great and invited Steven and I to come along with them.

Despite being the end of the season, the Capel Manor grounds (here to for now known as CMG), were breathtaking. They have all sorts of landscaping classes that range from DIY & How To classes, as well as Floristry courses, animal care (mainly horse and reptile) courses. The grounds were separated into different areas to reflect that type of garden or geographic area. This is what makes it my favorite college grounds to have ever visited.

Red Stone Gardens

Dennis, Steven and Jon

Garden Grounds

Edmonton Rotary President Alan with Steven

I thought this bee inside the flower was picture perfect

Cactus garden in the Australian Exhibit

Fully blossomed

Japanese Gardens

Some of the Rotary Club with GSE Students and Steven

More from the Red Stone Garden

So a lot has happened, here it goes....

About the middle of July we moved from just outside of Dublin to smack dab in the middle of central London.

Click on the map to enlarge

We were here for a blissful 4 days before we packed the one suitcase we each had again and headed back to the good ol' USA. This is actually where the fun starts.

We headed back to the Seattle area where both our las familias lives. (I'm not sure if that sentence actually works, but it sounds good at 3 in the morning).

Here's the rough layout, and then I'll go into detail:

Phase one: Slaved (happily-wouldn't have had it any other way) for Sharisse and Craig's wedding which was less then a month away.

Phase Two: Monterey, California for the beach house!

Intermission: Weekend trip to Seattle for the wedding

Phase Three: Bromley Family Reunion- back to California

Intermission: At home in Seattle with las familas for a few days

Phase Four: Island Park, Idaho for Sifuentes Family Reunion.

Followed by the long flight back to London.

Steven's family has a tradition when it comes to vacations- it's called working. I'll let Steven tell you the story some other time, but in short, with just a few weeks to the wedding left, a new DIY patio was put in his parents house. Thankfully they had great weather during the rototilling of the grass, the leveling of the ground, and the laying the stone patio down. The outcome was pretty amazing, all the guys did a great job and it looked fantastic- plus Steven ended up with a pretty nice tan. And yes, Steven was pretty excited about the tan.

We also had a great time at my family's house. We were able to get back into the groove of playing board games. My youngest brother Christian would have us playing board game marathons if he could get away with it. :) He's pretty awesome like that.

After that, we headed down to California with my family. We met up with my sisters and their families and had an amazing time at the beach in Monterey. I seriously love that place. We played a lot at the beach, but we also went the Monterey Aquarium. I've never been to a cooler aquarium in my life. I may have been the oldest of the 4 that I was with- I probably acted the most excited though. (Note- I didn't take a single picture the whole trip since we didn't have a camera. So most of these are borrowed from family and other places).

Chloe, Christian and myself.

Chloe, my niece, was pretty funny. She wanted to go out into the water, but she was too cold. Her solution: get aunty Heather to carry her into the waves so I can get wet while she stays dry. Christian is a fish sometimes- like most boys, he will swim until you tell him he has to get out. Even then- the possibility of staying in the water may be negotiable.

Then came the wedding. Back to Seattle it was. The great thing about weddings, most people are able to come. So all of Steven's siblings were able to be there. The wedding was beautiful and we all had a lot of fun celebrating with Sharisse and Craig.

Then we came back to California for the reunion on my side of the family. We had a great time! It was all family topped by games, a swimming pool, a day at the ranch. One of my favorite nights was when we played Minute to Win it games. That was a hoot! My favorite was the Elephant Walk and the Whip Cream catching game.

L-R: Parker with Lucy, Tiffany with Sam, Sharon, Josh, Me with Maddie
Steven. Bottom Row: Brooklynn with Katie, Jackson, Christian

Bromley Reunion 2011

Best husband ever!

The Elephant Walk

After a very successful reunion, we headed back to Seattle. We had a few days of "down time." We went to the Seafair hydroplane races. I had never really been to one before and I really enjoyed it. The whole atmosphere of the races was super relaxed and I loved all the different activities going on around. Fair food is never really amazing, it's usually greasy and generally on the "okay" side of life. It's all about the experience of being there though. Plus we were able to watch the Blue Angels! So I give the event a 10/10.

Blue Angels at Seafair

We really were not ready to take this picture, but we spent a lot of time on
this floor playing this game: Settlers of Zarahemla. It's a version of
The Settlers of Catan.

I ended up with a random infection on my chin called cellulities. Basically it was infected and the lower left side of my face was very swollen. A few times to the ER around midnight and a boatload of antibiotics and it was down in time for Steven's family reunion. The people at the hospital were amazing! Really. It was pretty funny to see their different reactions.

I walk in with a very swollen face, clearly not doing good. At this point, I'm feeling like my problem is very visible- to the point that you can't really miss it. Nurse during trip #1: While staring at my chin, "what can we do for you tonight". Me: "Um, my face is swelling up and it really hurts, see..." as I point to my chin. Result: 2 bottles of anti-biotics and pain killers.

Visit #2. Different Nurse as we walk in: "Wow, you're face is not looking so good." Normally, at any other point, I might be offended. However, I'm just really glad at this point, I don't have to do much explaining. Result: hour long IV of anti-biotics.

Visit #3: Different Nurse: "You're back?! It's not looking so hot. I'll grab the doctor." Result: Area started to take care of it self out later the next day.

I have to say, through it all, I have an amazing husband. He was the best at taking care of me!

Then it was off to Island Park, Idaho for Steven's side reunion. Steven's sister's husband's parents (got that), have a cabin in the area. It was a great time. We went on 4 wheelers a million times, went to the lake, had fires, smores and played more Minute to Win it games. Yellowstone National Park was great! I liked the Buffalo everywhere. Although, they were sometimes a little too comfortable getting close.

On the 4 wheelers

At Yellowstone with the Buffalo.

While Steven's been gone, I've been trying to take the opportunity to get to know London a little better. Today, I went out for what should have been a couple of hours and snapped some pictures. I had a lot of fun and it was a beautiful day! I was glad I went because I was able to see a different side of London. On the opposite side of the Thames River (sounds like Tim's), is a whole different world. It's less hustle and bustle and more wharf meets the boardwalk life there. Knowing it's so close, just made the transition a lot easier. (My transition as suburbia girl transplanted into the heart of metropolitan lifestyle has not been 100% easy). Here are the picts, I hope you enjoy them.