Over the River and Through the Woods...

...to grandmother’s house we go! 

On Saturday, Chad and I wanted to make our quarterly temple trip, and we decided to leave the kids with my mom. They (my mom and stepdad) will be moving soon (closer to us! Williamsburg! Yay!) and we wanted to visit their house least one more time before they moved. They live in Lovettsville, 3 hours from us, but they’re only an hour from the temple, so that’s nice too. :-) 

They live on a 10-acre horse farm (Everland Farm) and it’s absolutely beautiful out there (I know you love the real estate- here’s the listing for their house- click here). Even with as far away as they live, my stepfather can still take the train into Washington, D.C. for his work at NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration). We had hoped to take Charmin into D.C. sometime this summer, but it didn’t happen. Oh, well!

Charmin relaxes in a rocking chair with Grandma on the front porch.

Charlotte takes him for a ride on the porch swing.

Tyson lets his teddy bear Bobby sit on his lap and Bobby lets Charmin sit on his lap. Bobby and Charmin have become great teddy-pals this summer.

Audrey found a dandelion for Charmin to blow. So fun!

Grandma gets Charmin settled for a quick ride on Chase. 

Bareback can be tricky, so she makes sure he doesn’t fall.

Charmin loved seeing the horses! They’ve pared down to just the two horses now- Charm and Chase.

Charmin checks out Charm’s stall. Her full name is “Charm My Heart.” 

This curious bear took a jump in the hay!

Charmin checks out the beautiful view of their road as we travel home. 

It has been a WONDERFULLY fun summer, and it’s finally time for Charmin to go back to HIS home  in the U.K.! We have loved having him as a part of our family and we are missing him already! Thanks for loaning us such a sweet bear! :-)

Farewell, Summer! Hello, School!

Monday was Labor Day here in the States, and then on Tuesday SCHOOL started! Charlotte is starting elementary school this year and she will be in kindergarten. Audrey will be in 3rd grade and Tyson will be in 5th.

Charmin and Teeny knew they had to stick together, since they were the only ones not going to school.

When I was taking individual shots somebody decided he wanted to photo bomb. Can you spot that bear?

Teeny and Charmin finally convinced me they needed a First Day of School photo too.

Tyson was kind enough to share his First Day photo. 

Everyone lines up at the bus stop...wait, where does Charmin think he’s going?

Charlotte gets ready for her first school bus ride!

Charmin waves farewell as the bus leaves for school. He’s sad to know our time with us is almost at an end, but the excitement of a new school year is contagious!

We have one more little adventure with Charmin this weekend before he returns home to you, so stay tuned...

Tag meets Dippy

We wanted to squeeze in just one more adventure before the end of the Summer holidays, so we jumped on a train and headed back to London again with our friends the Edey family to visit the Natural History Museum. Here's Tag on the train with his ticket. We offered him some chewing gum to make him feel at home.

Here are Ceri, Gregory, Tag and Peter outside the museum. It's a very grand and imposing building.

Dippy the Diplodocus  is in the main hall. It was very crowded and busy in there so Ceri kept tight hold of Tag so that he didn't get lost and end up in a dinosaur.

The children really liked the Imagination area. There were lots of specimens and things they were allowed to touch and examine. 

 In the basement is a picnic area. After an exhausting day of looking at interesting things, the children were hungry!

That day trip to London was the last adventure of our Summer with Tag. There are so many things we could have done, but didn't manage to squeeze in. We wanted to visit the Secret Nuclear Bunker at Kelvedon Hatch,  or have a lemon Rossi and freshly-fried doughnut on the longest pier in the world at Southend, our nearest big town. We could even have taken Tag to visit Audley End, a stately home just an hour away, which also has a miniature railway to enjoy - perfect for litte bears.

But the children are back at school, and it's probably time for Tag to go home. Thanks Tag, we enjoyed the adventures we had with you, and it's wonderful to have this record of everything we got up to in Summer 2014. And thanks to the wonderful Tross family for making Charmin so welcome, and giving us the opportunity to be involved in the Great International Teddy Bear Exchange.