A Visit to Virginia Horse Country

This week Dad went out of town to North Carolina for work, so we decided it would be the perfect time to go visit Grandma! And we thought since we'd taken Charmin to visit Grandma last summer, it was only fair to take Koko for a visit as well.

We are at A and Grandma is at B.

Grandma lives about 3 hours north of us in a town called Lovettsville. It is a beautiful area of Virginia, about an hour outside of our nation's capital, Washington, D.C. Grandpa actually works in Washington, D.C. and commutes by train. He works at NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Headquarters there (and he may have given us some souvenirs for Koko to take home with him).

We didn't stay for too long, but we thought Koko might enjoy a riding lesson. He got to meet Chase, one of Grandma's horses.

Audrey gave him some cuddles before she mounted up.

Koko was a little nervous to ride so Teeny koala-sat while they watched Audrey's lesson from the safety of the ground.

Artsy shot. :-)

This is Audrey brushing Chase the next morning.

Another artsy shot as Audrey gives Bear some love. He's a very recently retired racehorse (my mom was his breeder but bought him back from his owner straight off the racetrack a few weeks ago right after he'd placed 4th in a race- he'd won the race before!)

One morning Grandma and Audrey picked blueberries and Teeny and I picked daisies. Here's Koko and Tyson posing with our little harvest.

What is THIS? Why, it's a giant Australian flag! My brother had actually gotten this as a gift from an Australian exchange student he dated in high school. He passed it on to my sister and she has it hanging in her apartment at my mom's. As you can probably tell, Koko was very pleased to see it.

Charlotte was with us on this trip too, but for some reason I didn't get any photos with her! Oh, well. It's a long summer. Plenty more opportunities. :-)

We hope that Tag arrives soon!

Our New Aussie Visitor for the Summer!

We had just arrived home from Audrey's gymnastics class on Tuesday when we saw something peeking out of our mailbox...what could it be?

When we pulled it out and saw the return address we knew right away- it was our Australian teddy bear! Or, to be more specific, Koko the Koala! 

We were all very excited to welcome him into our home. Here he is with Tyson (11), Audrey (9), Charlotte (5), and Christine (aka Teeny, 2- almost 3).

Fortunately, his arrival overlapped with Tag's departure, so they were able to meet. 

They seemed to have really hit it off! Koko told Tag he was going to a wonderful home and wished him a safe journey. He let Tag try some of his eucalyptus leaves, but Tag wasn't a fan (he prefers chocolate). Koko assured him there is plenty of chocolate in Australia. 

This is the last week of school for the kids, and we can't wait to start taking Koko on all sorts of fun summer adventures with us!

You might have noticed that Tag got a new addition- we figure that since it is winter in Australia he might need a little extra clothing to keep him warm, so we found him a shirt. ;-) Hopefully between that and his fur coat he will be fine.

Bon voyage, Tag!

To find out more about Tag's adventures in England last summer, click here.

Welcome Home, Tag!

Look who showed up back in Richmond, Virginia USA today! We were so happy to welcome our little traveling teddy home, and we were so excited to see all of the wonderful souvenirs he brought with him! (We will be eating our Galaxy bar for dessert tonight!)

As you could probably guess, Teeny was the first to hug him- well, she hasn’t let go yet! I think she’s our official International Teddy Bear Guardian. Tag will get 7 months of snuggles before he’s on the road again next summer! 

Thanks again to our British hostesses for taking such good care of our bear and showing him everything England has to offer. :-)

Bon Voyage, Little Charmin!

The chill of fall is in the air, which means that yes, it’s finally time to bid farewell to our beloved summer guest, little Charmin. But not without a sweet sendoff from his biggest fan, Teeny!

First a big kiss...

Then an EXTRA big hug (it’s gotta last him all the way across the Atlantic!)

And off he went. (and I blurred the address for security purposes- don’t worry, it’s nice and clear on the package!)

We have loved having that sweet bear come along on all of our adventures, and we are happy he will get to go home to his family! 

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.