Greetings from Esther, Sean, Avalon and bump "Rice", What a year, eh? Here's looking forward to 2010 Hope you are keeping warm and dry or, better yet, catching some of the Sun's rays in some sunny tropical place on this globe. We are having, fingers crossed, our first white Christmas holiday (Just the three of us and bump) here in Leiden. No plans other than to play, write, read, sleep, and hopefully watch some movies at home. Will get to the movie house in the new year once we've arranged babysitting (Avatar is calling!). The pace of life has slowed quite [View Full Entry]

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thanks for all the great comments Most of you may know Sean is working with ESA (EJR- Quartz) at the ESTEC facility in the Netherlands on contract for the next three years. So we have begun the adjustments that come with a new culture and country. It's a great city, with canals, boat houses, bicycles every where (and they definitely rule the roads). Seems the hierarchy is bike, pedestrian, then autos, which is the way it should be in my opinion. I also realize that my previous entry was incomplete- bit of a glich with the blog? Avalon loves the big [View Full Entry]

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And what a great day, it was such a beautiful day today, we began with breakfast then Sean set off to work with Cees for his first day. We got ready for our first outing headed to the super market in search of OJ as I mistakingly bought drinkable yogurt thinking it was orange juice... needless to say I was very surprised when I poured my first glass to discover milky looking liquid, that said it is quite tastey. I imagine so many instances like this happening in our near future. So off to the play park we went after dropping [View Full Entry]

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We have been in super sunny California for just over two weeks now. Andy boy is it HOT! It's been over a 100 degrees since we arrived. Our first outing was to Clovis water slide park which was good fun with the family as my Aunt Janie and cousin Anabel were also visiting from Texas. Mostly we have spent time indoors during the hottest part of the day , keeping hydrated and enjoying lots of laughs with the family. Sean tells me the rain is heavy in England so I guess Sunny days are better than the British weather. This past [View Full Entry]

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Wow, time has gone so quickly this year I don't know where 2008 has gone? We are all well for the most part with a bit of a sniffly nose. Having been in England now just over two years which is amazing to think it will be time to renew my UK visa - already! Family life has kept me very busy. Avalon is speaking a lot, picking up new words daily, right now my fave are "peas" (please) and " tank you (thank you) daddy" . When ever Avalon says thank you it seems to always be followed by daddy [View Full Entry]

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Hi there from Esther, Sean and Avalon, Guess technically we're not travelling anymore, it was a shock to realise that next month we'll have been settled two whole years in England, but then babies will do that to you... Avalon's doing great, 17 months next week (my birthday!), words she can say include 'high chair', 'woof woof', 'stickers' and 'Obama'! The autumn is now upon us - in England the change of seasons can be difficult to detect - it means even more rain, we bought the baby her first galoshes today but she isn't too keen as yet. We are [View Full Entry]

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Wowser, it's amazing that we've been in England now over one whole year! Having Avalon in our life is such a blessing and she is growing so quickly. She is eating three meals a day, has a fourth tooth and is now sitting up on her own... next she'll be crawling then there really won't be much time for rest just lots of playing. Which in my mind isn't too bad a deal. Sean is cycling to work four days a week his magazine is publishing on time and he is working on freelance projects while making time for his novel [View Full Entry]

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it's been awhile since I've written in this space. As you may have guessed Sean and I have been very busy enjoying our time with Avalon. If you didn't know already, Sean is working full time and freelancing, and we now live in Hitchin which is a very lovely market town. We live in a very lovely area of town in a two up two down cottage. Everything is good we are members at the local library, getting to meet other moms, and at the end of summer our community neighbors had a BBQ in the park behind ours which was [View Full Entry]

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Thank You-- Grazie! Europe » United Kingdom » England » Hampshire » Portsmouth By Ster June 18th 2007 Esther Solis A quick note to thank everyone for their cards, email, [View Full Entry]

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Avalon ("Ava") Xochitl (pronounced So-chi) Solis Blair. First is a Celtic name, the second is Aztec. Not much to add right now, Esther is in hospital a few days but is doing fine, Avalon seems a very happy little girl - so far! Esther says she's looking forward to catching up with everyone; thanks for your messages! [View Full Entry]

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