The Wilders

England #5

2011-04-14T13:07:00.001-07:00

Well we are back in London tonight which means that the family history tour is officially over. It has been such a great experience meeting everyone and learning about where the people I know and love come from. I have been asked many times over the past week or so "is it what you expected?". Well if I am being honest the answer is no! That is neither a good or bad thing, it is just different. I have learned that just because someone has an opinion of something (or someone) that you will probably not share the same one. I have learned that although the two countries seem very similar they are in fact 2 different worlds and although we both speak English we speak 2 completely different languages. I have always had a picture in my head, created by me over the years from hearing stories and seeing pictures, about what England (and my family over here) would be like. It is so nice to finally have an accurate picture to go off of from now on.

I am also so thankful that I was able to take this trip with my grandpa (and just the two of us). We have always been close, that is no secret, but I feel like we are much closer now on a whole different level. I will always be thankful for the information and stories he has given me and I am thankful that I will be able to pass it along to Tiana to keep the stories alive.

Anyway that is about as deep as I am going to go tonight. Here are some pics from the last few days.

Church in Long Eaton where my mom would attend as a kid

House in Long Eaton where they lived before moving to the US

Me being a dork

On the beach at Mablethorpe

Rupert bear!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Grandparents cutting the wedding cake!

With Aunt Edna and Uncle John

Peterborough Cathedral

Well that's it for tonight. Tomorrow it is off for some more exploring of London.

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England #4

2011-04-11T15:47:00.001-07:00

We have been very busy the past few days. Lots of time spent with family and seeing sights. It has been a wonderful time. It is very late here so this will be a short one with lots of pictures.

The highlights of the past few days: Loughborough Market, Lunch with family, visit with Aunt Jean, visit to Long Eaton (where my mom grew up), Bradgate Park, dinner with family friends, Nottingham and Sunday dinner (on a Monday) with family.

Janet and Peter

Uncle Eric and Georgina

Steve, Jenny, Chris

Aunt Jean (love this woman) So good to see her again

Steve, Jenny and Andy

At Bradgate Park

Dinner with the Lavre's

Nottingham Castle

Major Oak in Sherwood Forrest

Haha oops!!!!

Anyway that is it for tonight. Tomorrow it's off to the coast. Mablethorpe and then down to Skegness.

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England #3

2011-04-08T13:27:00.001-07:00

I was so exhausted last night that I went straight to bed. So this one will be about the last 2 days (Thurs and Fri)

Our driver, Pete, picked us up at our hotel in London Wednesday morning. We then headed to Northampton and Kingsthorpe where Nan-nan grew up and where she married Grandpa. I was able to get a quick look at where she lived and the pub that her Grandfather owned. The Highlight of the area is the church where they got married. We arrived at the church to find it locked. But Grandpa, being Grandpa, found someone to come open it for us. So we also got to go in which I did not think we would be able to do. Very awesome.

We then drove into Brixworth where my Great Uncle Les and Great Aunt Anthea own The Coach and Horses Pub and Inn. We took a look around the area and then met up with Les' son Ricky and his Brother Steven. It was a very fun night and the rooms there were great!

Tis morning we drove to Burton Latimer to meet with John wo I think we decided is my second cousin and his family.

We then drove into Leicester where my grandparents went to college. We also explored the local market, which they used to go to when they were there.

We then drove to Loughborough where we are staying for 4 nights.

Tomorrow's plan........ Morning at the Loughborough market, then meeting more family and finally off to see Aunt Jean :)

On a funny note the waitress messed up and put salt I. The sugar dish this morning so my coffee tasted wonderful. Also I had to go see the "Chemist" to get some Zyrtec (spelled Zirtek here). This place has way too much vegetation!

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England #2

2011-04-06T15:15:00.001-07:00

Today was another busy day spent exploring London. Today we saw the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, St Paul's Cathedral and Kensington Palace. We also spent quite a lot of time on the underground.

The Tower and Tower Bridge were the 2 things I had my heart on seeing in London and they did not disappoint! They are both massive structures and all around very cool to see. The pictures do not do it justice but here are a couple anyway.

St Paul's is also amazing! You cannot take pictures inside and words cannot do it justice. It is absolutely beautiful inside. From all of the hand carvings to the paintings on the ceilings to the stained glass everything is so detailed there is also a crypt in the basement (similar to Westminster Abbey) where "important people" including the architect and builder of St Paul's are buried. This place is so big I could not get it in one camera shot!

Last a fun picture from the underground where you hear "mind the gap" about 100 times a minute :)

That's it for tonight. Tomorrow is going to be an awesome day. We leave London fir Northampton, Kingsthorpe, and Brixworth.

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England #1

2011-04-05T13:50:00.001-07:00

Well..... I have been having the worst time with the wifi at our hotel so I haven't been able to post anything. But I have been having a ton of fun and staying out of trouble for the most part :)

Yesterday (Monday) we got a late start because our flight was delayed (we had to de-ice before leaving Denver) but we took a nice walk through Kensington Gardens. Then we went for a pint (on an empty stomach of course) and then for some authentic fish and chips.

Today (Tuesday) we started the day with a trip on the underground. So this thing is like the light rail but on steroids! Seriously crazy! But Grandpa made me navigate and by the second time I think I got the hang of it. Of course by about 11:00 we were done with the underground and I think we walked about 20 miles AT LEAST! We toured pretty much the entire city of Westminster. We actually went into Westminster Abbey, a beautiful and creepy place all at the same time. We also saw major sights like Big Ben, The Houses of Parliament, and Buckingham Palace. The Queen wouldn't see us but what can you do right?

We had dinner in a pub and now it is time for bed. Anyway hopefully I can post again soon and they figure out their wifi issues. Tomorrow we go to Tower Bridge, Tower of London, and St Paul's.

A Few Memories Before My Trip............

2011-04-01T15:06:00.000-07:00

So it is Friday and I leave Sunday night. We pick Grandpa up from the airport tomorrow night. While he is here I was hoping to look at some old pictures with him so Tiana and I looked through a bunch the other night. I pulled out these 4 because they brought back such special memories.

I am so thankful I get to take this trip with Grandpa and wish Nan-nan was here to join us. But I know she will be there in spirit. I love and miss you Nan-nan!

Video of Tiana's Piano Recital

2010-04-10T20:23:00.000-07:00

She got flowers!

With her Teacher Amanda

She did such a great job! We are very proud of her!

Tiana's Soccer Games

2009-06-21T11:29:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from Tiana's first 2 soccer games. She decided a while ago that she wanted to play soccer like her cousin Allie so we signed her up. She seems to enjoy it so far.

SNOW DAYS!

2009-04-30T19:47:00.000-07:00

After a very dry winter we finally got some much needed snow. Tiana was so excited to go play in it.

Shanook also loves the snow........ A lot!

Bowling

2009-04-30T19:43:00.001-07:00

We took Tiana bowling for the first time in March. She actually did pretty well for her first time.

She finally decided to use the ramp.

She is happy here because she got a strike!

Little Princess

2009-04-30T18:52:00.001-07:00

Thought these were cute.... She was modeling her new jewelry.

Tiana's Birthday

2009-04-30T18:37:00.000-07:00

So I know it is about 2 1/2 months late but here are some pictures from Tiana's 3rd Birthday.

Every year we take her to Build-A-Bear

This year she chose the pink monkey. Here she is giving him a bath.

She had a princess shirt, a jean skirt and white socks with ruffles. She was very excited that this year she could push the buttons on the computer.

When she was done she was ready to go to the Disney Store.... I know big surprise!

Then, as we do every year, we went to Chuck-E-Cheese for Lunch

Here are some pics from her Birthday Party.

She was very excited about her shoes (She got 3 pairs)

And she enjoyed her cake very much!

The Stock Show

2009-01-24T15:34:00.001-08:00

Today we took Tiana to the Stock Show. She has such a good time and loved looking at all of the animals. Here are some pictures from our day............

She got to feed the animals in the petting zoo. She preferred the smaller goats to the Llama's. I guess they were closer to her size.

She got to ride the pony's. This was her first time on a horse. She was showing us her token to ride them.

Daddy walked around with her just in case......

We finally found her a pink cowboy hat. The only color she wanted.

Yee Haw!!!!

Walking to the car after a fun day.

This is a video of Tiana riding the horse. She asked if we could get one for our house. And it starts...... "Daddy I want a pony!" :)

Why Common Sense Should Be A Job Requirement For Construction Workers..............

2009-01-16T10:14:00.000-08:00

The story begins on a nice day in Michigan. Some construction workers decide to install some trusses on a building despite the high wind warnings for that night. That night, all of the trusses blow off of the building and are destroyed. So, the truss fabricator re-builds the trusses and ships them to the job site. It is decided that to save time they would unload the trusses from the truck all at once instead of one bundle at a time like they are supposed to............

OOPS!!!!!!!!!!!!

They bent all of the bottom chords.............

and pretty much folded the trusses in half.........

These are 60' trusses. They should be straight, not bent!

So instead of fixing them or replacing the damaged material, they decide it would be a good idea to install them on the building.

So yeah, that was a fun repair! We ended up repairing a total of 35 trusses! Hopefully they told us about all of the damage! My advice.......... never go into this building! NEVER!

Happy New Year

2009-01-02T08:01:00.001-08:00

We hope that everyone had a fun and safe New Years! Chris had to work New Years Day so our New Years Eve was pretty low key.

But, we thought we would post some pictures from Christmas.

These are Tiana's professional pictures we had done in her Christmas Dress. She is such a diva. The first one is her naughty picture and the second is her nice one!

We celebrated Christmas many times this year, and this was probably the most nontraditional Christmas I have ever had. Chris had to work Christmas day, so we had to work around that.

We went to 4 work Christmas Parties, 2 for Chris and 2 for me. Both had one with kids and one without. I have to say that my "Adult" party at work was much more mellow than the one Chris had. But that is all I will say about that! Tiana had a great time playing with all of the other kids at both parties she was allowed to attend.

Tiana and Chris at his Fire Department Party. We actually got her to sit still long enough to get a quick picture.

Santa showed up at that party so this was her first opportunity to give him her never ending list. She would add something new every day. I think at this point it included: Princess toys, Barbie toys, Jungle Book toys, and Tinkerbell toys.

Here is a picture of Chris and me at my work Christmas Party.

We celebrated our first Christmas with the Kloers. They are pretty much my adoptive family. Tiana got a bunch of Moon Sand. We had seen it but never actually played with it. It is pretty cool stuff. Tiana loves playing with it and it really isn't as messy as you would think.

Tiana by their Christmas Tree doing her signature pose.

Tiana playing with her moon sand. She got it all over her dress, but thankfully it brushed right off.

We took Tiana to visit Chris's Great-Aunt Eleanor. We try to get over there around Christmas time every year. She of course thought Tiana was so cute.

That same night we had our friends Kyle, Reenie and their 1 year old son Carter over for dinner and for a visit from Santa. Carter got Tiana a small Ballerina Barbie doll, and Santa brought her a Ken doll and some Ken Clothes. This was her last chance to get any last minute requests in before Santa came on Christmas Eve.

Chris had to work on Christmas this year so we celebrated with his family on Christmas Eve. We had dinner with his parents and siblings and their families, opened gifts and played some games. Tiana had a great time playing with her cousins.

Tiana just loves to get dressed up. She was so excited to wear her dress and she got to wear one of her nice necklaces. You can't see it in this picture but it is a cross with a small diamond. Everyone would ask her if it was a cross and she would reply: "No, it is a diamond!" I also curled her hair and it stayed in so well. She looked so cute!

Tiana with her cousin Dougie

Brooke, Jordan, Tiana and Dougie. All of the girls got some animal pillows so we were taking pictures of all the girls with them, but Dougie wanted in too.

We let Tiana open all of her gifts from us that night when we got home so we wouldn't have to get up quite as early Christmas morning in order to get it all done before Chris had to leave for work.

The next morning we got up super early to see what Santa brought. I don't know if Tiana quite knew what to think. I think she was a little bit overwhelmed. Santa brought her a ton of Barbie toys, A princess carriage with a Sleeping Beauty and a Snow White doll, Jungle Book toys (Santa Delivered on that one. We weren't sure if he was going to be able to!), and a ton of stuff in her stocking.

Tiana checking out all of her toys. It was 5:30 am and she was so tired. (Look at the branch of the Christmas tree and the cluster of ornaments. That is how our whole tree looked. She did such a good job of decorating it!)

Tiana and I spent Christmas morning at my Grandma's house. My parents came by her house too, and we had a nice relaxing morning. We went to the firehouse for dinner with all of the families of the firefighters that were working that day.

The day after Christmas was a relaxing one. Tiana finally got to play with all of her new toys. She got a pair of roller skates and she wanted to try them out. It was really windy so we let her try them out in the kitchen. She did pretty well for her first time. We of course held her hands, but she was doing the hard part of making herself go.

Saturday we celebrated Christmas with my family at my sisters house in Colorado Springs. Tiana got to play with her cousins that she doesn't get to see very much. We had brunch and pretty much just hung out. My nephew got Guitar Hero from Santa and had been practicing all week so he could beat Chris. Of course Chris didn't let that happen. But I do think he may have beaten my dad!

(Yes my family takes a lot of pictures! We also had gotten a new camera the day before so we were trying to figure it out!)

Tiana with her Great-Grandma and Aunt Wendy

With her Cousin Austin

I love this one of us

The three of us

Tiana with all of her cousins and her Great Grandma

They have the same facial expression

With cousin Allie

With her Christmas Cracker hat on. She is like her Dad, hates wearing it. But I managed to get her to wear it long enough for a picture.

Me and my Sisters (Yes that is a glass of wine in my hand. Yes I had one sip and gave the rest to my sister.)

Tiana loves her Baby Belle doll

Tiana playing Wii with her had on her hip (this is how she always stands)

Anyway, that was our Christmas. We hope everyone had a great one too!

Happy New Year Everyone!

Tiana's Christmas Dress

2008-12-31T08:12:00.000-08:00

Well here is Tiana's dress that Pam made. It turned out so pretty and Tiana just loves wearing it. If you look at the christmas tree in the back you can see how Tiana put all of the ornaments on the lights all by each other.