England Adventures: The Lake District

At the beginning of our time here in England we all drove 4 hours to the Lake District to stay in an amazing house and explore the countryside. The weather was great and the rolling green hills around the house were dotted with sheep and amazing stone walls.

view from our bedroom

 

 Joy is not used to being cold on walks...usually in HK she is SWEATING when in the Ergo :)

We were able to do a family picture and if you will believe it....we ddin't color code, that is how we all looked at the breakfast table.

The whole family together at last

 

Christensen Family 

 

Hale Family 

 

Condie Family 

We made Ruthie pose for some pictures, she protested greatly but let us have our way. 

We went on a fun boat tour of the lake one day.

The next day we explored Hadrian's wall. Brad, Julie and Tyler trudged through the bog to the Sycimore gap in Hadrian's wall.

On the way home the traffice was TERRIBLE and the trip ended up being 9 hours. Surprisingly Joy did GREAT in the car seat for the whole 9 hours. She is proving to be a great traveler.

Rolling over

We were able to capture Joy rolling over. I didn't mean to talk to her like she is our dog Rudy. I guess when I am trying to get small creatures to do tricks I think I am talking to Rudy :-) 

Uncle Tyler

Dear Uncle Tyler, 

Sorry the last post had no pictures of you. I think it is funny how grossed out you get by my diapers and spit up. I do love to sit with you and watch you eat your breakfast...and am mesmerized by your interpretive dance. 

love, Joy

A lot to celebrate....

On June 17th there was a lot to celebrate in our household; Brad's 32rd birthday, my parents 34th wedding anniversary, Father's day (Brad's first and my dad's 30th) and Joy turned 4 months. 

Brad's first Father's day

Brad's birthday cake 

My dad and his girls 

What is Joy doing: Joy just figured out how to roll from her tummy to her back! She is also enjoying tummy time much more now that she has some more muscles in her neck to hold up her head. She is a very smiley baby.
** I decided to replace the "who does she look like" with "what Joy is doing" because now that she is getting older she is doing so many cute things and looking pretty much like herself :-) 

Look how high I can lift my head guys! 

Gearing up to roll over....

Eats: I finally got Joy to eat stretch her feeding to every 3 hours, which was a difficult feat! The girl loves to eat.

Sleeps: Jet lag has messed up Joy's sleeping a bit. After a week here in England Joy is sleeping for 7hour stretches, eating and then going back to sleep for 4 hours (she did that once last night, so hopefully again tonight). Naps are still short but she is going down without much fussing now that she has a friend.....THE PACI. 

Weighs: almost 14 lbs

Likes: Joy really likes this new brand of paci (MAM) and I am very thankful that a friend in Hong Kong recommended them. She also likes to take a bottle (Tommee Tippee brand). She is a social little butterfly and likes to be around people. She is getting better about the stroller too, which is nice because she is getting heavy to carry around. Although her favorite mode of transportation is still the Ergo (it is much nicer to

Dislikes: Joy does not like being alone. Joy dislikes getting out of a bath and pretty much screams until she is all dressed in her jammies.

Favorite event:  Going on the airplane for her first international flight to see Grammie and Grandpa Condie, Aunt Ruthie and Aunt Julie and Uncle Tyler.  She did great on the flight and didn't cry at all. Why would she cry; since she basically ate and was held the whole flight :-) The bassinet made a great diaper changing station and a place for all our baby accessories. 

Anniversary and packing!

June 4th was our 7th anniversary. It is amazing how time flies. It seems like just yesterday I was walking down the aisle to marry my best friend. We have packed in a lot of adventures in the past 7 years  (2 MAs, 3 countries, 3 jobs each, 30 countries by Brad's 30th b-day and 1 perfect little baby). It was fun to have Joy with us as we ate brunch together and reminisced about the past 7 years. Of course we forgot our camera and Brad's iPhone (which takes most of the pictures while we are out and about).  The day was really fun and Joy was great at brunch, she sat in her stroller the whole time we ate.

Summer vacation is just a few days away and the blog will probably go on a summer vacation too (mainly because we will be with my mom and sisters, who are my main readers :-)

 Brad getting Joy ready for her bath, hoping that a bath will help her wait a little longer before she "dies of starvation". She doesn't look convinced.

 A little snooze in the swing (shhh don't tell the Babywise people)

 The suitcases are out....and the packing is in full swing. Joy really does take up a lot of space, good thing she gets a suitcase and a carry on!

Joy's first "lucky money"

It is customary in Hong Kong to give money on special occasions in red packets called "lycee" or lucky money. Joy met our landlady for the first time  yesterday (our landlady spends most of the year in England) and got a cute stuffed toy and lycee money.

Mommy put the money directly into her Starbucks fund (a place that Joy loves to nurse ha) and bought a new type of bottle for Joy. We are very excited because Joy finally TOOK A BOTTLE.....it was amazing. Just in time for us to leave her  for a couple hours alone with her grandmas this summer :-)

Little blue eyes and her first lycee. She looks a little concerned because she is in the car seat and she has decided that she is not the biggest fan of it. She better start to love the car seat because this summer she will be in it a lot!