Wednesday, July 20, 2016

July Came in With a Bang!

Our kids are crazy!  That’s why we love them! Noah and Kristi had driven from California in their big Sprinter to meet their friends for a reunion at Bear Lake at the end of June. After that they packed everyone in again and headed for Washington D.C. with their five kids ages 10 to 2. The kids had been singing in a large and extraordinary Children’s Choir in Orange County and they were headed for the Nation’s Capital so the kids could perform in three concerts there in large concert halls and on the Mall outside of the Lincoln Memorial.

In the meantime, Saydi, who lives in Boston loaded their four kids in their van and started across the country for their first ever drive-rather-than-fly adventure to the Shumway Family Reunion in California. Jeff was out of town, working and would meet them in Salt Lake several days later.
On Noah and Kristi’s way back, they met the Shumways in Nauvoo and caravanned the rest of the way to Salt Lake with them. Here they are, gathered at our house before they each went their separate ways. Great to have them all together for a few hours just before I took off for London to welcome our new grand baby.

Notice the Carving that Richard has started on our front door. It’s eventually going to say Eyrealm. I’d be panicked except that he loves carving and has a set of expert carving tools. He thinks he has genetic memory from his Grandfather, who was in charge of the woodworking department at USU many years ago.

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So great to see this little cherub below, who just recovered from open heart surgery, adored by her siblings (choke hold style).

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On the 4th of July, I took off for London with great anticipation and just a little sorrow that I was going to miss the onslaught of family that were about to arrive prior to our annual reunion. The moms and kids stay at the lake most of July but the actual reunion is from the 20-24th. I’ll be arriving home on the 18th so it’s all good!

Charity came to meet me at the airport on the tube since Ian is working 12-14 hours a day in preparation for his paternity leave.  It was such a delight to see my baby just about to give birth to her baby any day. Her due date is July 11, so we’ll see  how that works out!

The first thing we did after we left my bags at her flat was to head for the Summer Exhibition at The Royal Academy of Art. This is our idea of a good time!

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One of my favorite pieces was this:

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You've got to have a closer look at this thing! Imagine doing this!

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Another one I really like was this little ink drawing on a wood board:

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And closer…..cool huh?
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There were so many incredible pieces!

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And closer on this one:

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And closer…..

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Thousands of strands of copper are strung horizontally below:

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The exhibit before we entered the building was fascinating too. It moved around constantly like a snake and had a camera for an “eye” that rotated as it showed the scene below from a panoramic 360 degree angle.

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Everything in London is decked with beautiful food and flowers at this time of year!

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We saw all the fun things we could within walking distance of their flat, which was a lot of places because they are live in Central London. We wanted to get as much fun in as possible before the real fun started with a new baby!  Here we are at the famous shop called LIberty.

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That night we went to hear a gorgeous concert with a small group performing an amazing selection from Bach at St. Martin in the Fields. During the intermission we walked across the street and heard the most amazing guitar player I’ve ever heard. He played the promenade from Pictures at an Exhibition. It was as good as the concert I think!

The next day we walked to St. James Park which is a short walk from their flat and ran into some beautiful scenes, astonishing flowers and ponds and incredible trees!
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The next morning we walked a short distance the other way to an incredible estate with stunning art from several eras, but what we found most fascinating was the art by a woman who was “a medium” and said that her hand was directed by people from the “other side” including dead poets and historians. I must say the works were quite amazing!

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There were at least thirty remarkable prints like this including this explanation:

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And here is a rarely seen painting by Picasso!

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By the end of the  day we had walked about 9000 steps (new fitbit). It had been four days since I had landed and  Charity was becoming a bit anxious about when the baby would arrive so that I would have a time to help her for at last a week before I had to leave.

That night we sat down and found some good recipes for the week and then we went ahead and planned six more things we’d like to see together before I left. That did the trick!  The next morning Charity new she was in labor.

The exciting deails on that coming next!  

1 comment:

Shawni said...

Oh man I want to go to that exhibit in London, looks so fabulous! And I love this whole update. Love you!