File this one under, What was I thinking?

Easter Monday here is an official bank Holiday, so Danny had off work. After being cooped up in the house all weekend due to the sucktastic weather, we decided to take an outing to the Science Museum.

First of all, heading to a location that is sure to be rife with children while they are out of school is a bad idea. Especially when it is 30 degrees outside so everyone is looking for indoor things to do.
Secondly, heading out with a 2.75 year old who has been hopped up on sugar for two days and not napping for three days is just a bad, bad idea.

We only made it through one floor of the 5 before deciding to throw in the towel and head back home.

Kate did have some fun before the meltdowns started.




Here, she learns about how the womenfolk used to wash their clothes.




This exhibit shows the mechanisms for different types of locks. Perfect to prepare your child for life as a cat-burgler.



Listening to the radio addresses that were broadcast during the War. We take history very seriously in this family.



And Dad trying to comfort his two weary offspring.

Feels like Home..

For all our Aggie Friends:

This is just down the street from our house. It makes us feel like home. Except there are no cute Corps boys, cheap beer, Tijuana fries, dominoes or good music.





Oh well. I won't even mention the misspelling of "Dixie".

Off to see the Queen

We went to Buckingham Palace to try to see the changing of the guard while Charlene was here. We made the mistake of going on a Sunday morning, and even though we arrived half hour early, it was still too mobbed to see anything.

Kate had the best vantage point.



The bobbies on the horses were very effective crowd control. He would simply march through the middle of the throng of people shouting "If you don't want to be stomped on by the horse, MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!"


The sun made a rare appearance, and Kate had left her shades at home. Lucky for her, I was prepared with mine, which she quickly seized for herself.



Look, Michael was there too! And he was awake!




We made the mistake of telling Kate that the palace was where the Queen lives. After the crowd thinned out, she squeezed her way to the front. She was clinging to the gate, saying "I want to go see the Queen! Let me in!" It was really amusing.




So the lesson for us is that next time we have out of town guests, we'll take you to see the Changing of the Guard during the weekday. Surely the crowd will be less then.

Meet Buddy

You all may know him as Michael, but he is now only referred to as "Buddy" by one almost-three year old member of our family. I think she picked it up from me (unconsciously) saying "Hold on buddy..." when he is crying to be picked up/fed, etc.
It drives Danny nuts, but she will not call him by his name. When pressed, she calls him as "Michael Daisy". I think she got that from me singing a made-up song to "Michael David".

She also takes great joy in telling him things that are dangerous (streets, knives, scissors, tigers) and things that are not (socks, spoons, drums, diapers).

I'm Dreaming...of a White Easter?

That's right. While you were all enjoying a balmy weekend in your Easter finery, we were cooped up in the house with snow and below freezing temps. I think my body is starting to shut down. I can't take much more of this weather!

So we made the best of the weekend by doing various Easter activities.
First, you start by dressing up in your best Easter bunny/fairy/doctor outfit.


Then, we decided to dye eggs. Egg dying is not a traditional activity here, so we went retro and used the old food coloring and vinegar method. We even used brown eggs, since they don't sell white eggs here.



Now, we wait. And wait. Getting those brown eggs to turn colors took a long time!


A little rustic looking, but not too bad.




Kate had smurf hands by the time we were done. She thought it was hilarious, until it didn't wash off. Then the crocodile tears started. Her hands were blue for 3 days (and mine too, but I didn't cry about it).





We also baked a plethora of cookies. Just in case you were wondering, I clearly don't have a future as a baker. They tasted yummy, but weren't exactly Martha-worthy.
And yeah, there is one cookie that looks like it was iced with the blood of the easter bunny. It was supposed to be pink. oops.

The mess when we were done. I was going to post on here that it was Kate's fault, but what kind of jerk blames things on their 2 year old? With the exception of her knocking over the box of sugar, the rest of the mess was mine.

Luck of the Irish

Happy St. Patrick's Day from the O'Saevas!

Apparently we missed the Papal Decree moving St. Patrick's Day celebrations to Friday, 3/14 this year. Benedict needs to update his distribution list so that we can avoid such missteps in the future. Under the Catholic Church's rules, the saint's feast day does not rank as high as the Monday before Easter and had to be moved. The last time Saint Patrick's Day had to be moved was in 1940 when it was changed to April 3 rd because it coincided with Palm Sunday, the first day of Holy Week.

Did you know that St. Patrick wasn't even Irish? He was British. When he was a child, raiders from Ireland came and took him from Britain.

In Ireland, he was sold as a slave, and spent about six years tending sheep and pigs around Slemish.

As a stowaway, he returned to his parents, but felt called by God to return to preach to the people of Ireland.

Kate may be too young for a Guinness, but she was still in the spirit of the Irish yesterday.



We celebrated by having a green dinner: spinach salad, curried zucchini soup (or courgettes, as they are known here), and of course, some Irish water.

Right after I snapped that photo, kate snatched all the gorgonzola off my salad.

Hope you all had a wonderful day!

Just a Wee Bit of time in Scotland

Charlene, Michael & I took a quick trip up to Edinburgh while she was here. It is about a 4.5 hour journey via train, and it was very scenic.

We were only there for one evening, which was just enough time to hike all around the castle, check out the National Gallery, and eat at the friendliest Italian restaurant in the UK. The waiters there could not get enough of Michael, and took turns holding him while we ate our dinner. The free babysitting service was awesome, as was my dinner.