Yoohoo!!!

Ladies and gentlemen, introducing....

roblin — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 11:38:00 GMT

Arlo William Pisel Davis *
*super special brother name: Cloud
(Forrest insists that this is the Real Name and only calls him this)

Little baby Arlo whispered his name in our ears just in time to fill out the paperwork for leaving the hospital.

We are home now, and our first night went well. We are all a bit tired, but in the best way.

Thank you for all your messages of well wishes! It was lovely to read them while recovering in the hospital.

Love and Kisses,
Ellie, Roblin, Maya, Forrest and Arlo

BORN!

roblin — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

At 10:15pm, September 10, 2008, a big 8lb 15.6oz, 20 inches long, boy was born in Seattle, WA, USA! We are all doing well after a long and arduous labor.

If you want more pictures: http://photos.roblingray.net

Love,
Elizabeth, Roblin, Maya, Forrest and Baby

Good morning!

roblin — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:55:00 GMT

Hi

No baby yet....they let us sleep through the night, all hooked up to the machine. Baby is doing great, my contractions are regular but i slept through them, and we are taking it slow. that is the preferred way to do it with a vbac (vaginal birth after ces.) as long as baby is fine (hence the monitor on all the time).

at one point the nurse came in and commented how cozy we looked all curled up together on this little bed. nice to both be smallish!

latest word is that some time later this morning they'll take us over to labor and delivery and if the balloon inside me hasn't fallen out by then they'll take it out and then get things going.

we're are in good spirits and doing great!

xoxox
ellie

On the way to hospital

roblin — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:52:00 GMT

Hi All...

We are on our way over to the hospital!
I am not actually in labor, but after an ultrasound showing low amniotic fluid (not a huge deal, but needs to be noticed) they are going to help things along gently.

They guess that that i'll be in labor around midnight, so sometime tomorrow we'll be able to meet this latest edition to the Pisel-Davis family!

Maya and Forrest will be with friends and family and can answer the 206-774-0870 number if you want to call and say hi to them.

Hooray!

Ellie and Roblin

Hello from sunny Seattle...

roblin — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 15:03:00 GMT

Sept. 5 has gone by and no bebe davis yet...but doctors give 2 weeks
after that date until they insist on getting the baby out, so we are
amusing ourselves as best we can and trying to be patient. Roblin did a
plaster cast of my belly, we spend lots of time in parks and
playgrounds enjoying the warm weather, we've spent some lovely time
with good friends and uncle scott here in seattle, Forrest got a real
haircut at a barbershop, I've been walking as much as i can and also
engaging in cheap retail therapy at the massive goodwill outlet nearby
(the hugest of huge charity shops where clothing is sold by weight, not
by item!). Maya is the only one with a real schedule at the moment; she
began her last year of high school YIPPEE last week and her life has
quickly become busy with school, homework, activities and friends.

our bag for the hospital is packed, the plans for the kids in place
with carol and andrew "on call" for pizza duty, uncle scott excited to
be the driver, the tiny little nappies are sitting on the shelf, the
car seat is hanging out in the back seat of the car looking very shiny
and new...

We'll let you know if anything starts happening!

keep in touch, we'd love to hear from you.

xoxoxo
ellie, roblin, forrest, maya and bebe

Hello from London

ellie — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 13:08:36 GMT

Hello everyone! here are a couple of photos of Roblin and I during the recent run of the "Best of The Year" show at our college- these are some backstage photos a friend took, but you can see Bebe Danger Davis (the most common nickname for my bump), which a lot of you have been requesting! The show (which ran 3 nights) went really well- we were both in several pieces and had a lot of fun. our work was really well received and it was gratifying to work so hard on theatre that means something to us. We are now recuperating and enjoying a few days off before starting our independent projects. We graduate the end of July.

Maya arrived a couple of days ago (as exhausted as us from her last two weeks of school). It is glorious to have her here, and Forrest has big plans for all the fun stuff they'll be doing together. She finished off her school year on a high, doing well in projects and exams, as well as taking the SAT II's and attending all the functions that come with the end of a school year. She received an award for her work in her community and her dedication to social justice- we are very proud of her! She will be spending her summer here with us, helping with Forrest and writing her university essays.

We are heading back to the states in the first weeks of August- planning to have Bebe in Seattle at this point. I've had a fairly easy pregnancy, so although traveling 5-6 weeks before my due date is not great, the dr. will approve it if I'm still doing okay. Women all around the world due much more difficult things when they are pregnant than sit on an airplane! We are having the baby there because we'd like to try for a natural birth, and since Forrest was a cesarean we have to go to a hospital with the staff that will allow us to do this- has less to do with real dangers to me/baby and more to do with malpractice insurance. But that is how it is, so we'll work with it. We'll stay in Seattle for the first weeks after the birth so that Maya can snuggle all she wants with her new brother/sister and we can remember how to change a nappy before traveling on.

After that....well, you'll have to wait to hear. We're keeping it hush hush for now until we hear about a couple of possible job opportunities. But we will be in the states, romping about and creating theatre, playing with our 3 fabulous kids, reconnecting with good friends, and learning to say "excuse me" instead of "sorry" and "cookie" instead of "biscuit." I can't believe it is only 7 weeks away...anyone want to come help us pack?!

cheers, and blessings, and lots and lots of love,
Ellie, Roblin, Maya, Forrest, and Bebe Davis

Expecting Great Things

roblin — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 21:10:00 GMT

Our last bit of news (this is a BIG reward if you have read this far) is that we are PREGNANT! I am 14 1/2 weeks now, and determined to end the whole queasy phase any day now. The official due date is 10/September, but I don't put too much faith in those as both of my kids completely ignored them by at least a week. I have been able to participate in everything at school so far. I do have to give up much of acrobatics, but I hope to still go to class and participate in whatever way I can. My teacher, Ken, said I could always come and roll around (you have to imagine a big burly motorcyle south london wise ass saying this and it is much funnier). My tummy is getting quite big now (causing the midwife to ask me, "do you have twins in your family?") and I am wearing my last pair of what were once incredibly baggy jeans. I also had the glorious experience of going to buy cup size C bras!! This was a big deal for me as a former barely AA girl.
I'll try to answer the most frequently asked questions:

1. Forrest and Maya are both thrilled- they are both hoping for a little sister. Forrest insists that he can hear her singing to him when he puts his ear on my belly. Maya has Naming Rights, although Roblin and I get final approval.

2. We have no idea where we will have this baby. We are waiting to hear back from all the university jobs Roblin has applied to (all over the USA) and there are also some possibilities here. And there is a chance we may be back in Juneau. We'll be sure to keep you posted!
**I won't be back teaching, however. I have to turn in my letter of resignation- I asked for an additional year of leave (since the baby is due in September and I can't imagine working, then stopping, then having to go back when the little one is only 2 weeks old as that is all the leave i would have accrued) but was turned down so I must resign.

3. We are going to have a "surprise." We have our ultrasound appointment Monday 17/March, but don't plan on finding out if it is a boy or a girl. We will find out if there is more than one in there though! Oh goodness...

4. We decided this past summer that we really wanted one more child. We've been blessed by two fantastic kids and we really love being parents, so we thought, since we can, let's have one more little person join our family.

5. Everything has been going well- I have been feeling pretty morning sick in both the mornings and evenings, but try to remember that this means the baby is healthy and growing. I now qualify as an "older pregnancy" but certainly not that old- i'm only 38! And I'm definitely more fit than I've been in several years, so we're hoping for another fairly easy pregnancy and hoping for a VBAC (vaginal birth after caesarean-- forrest was an emergency caesarean). That does rule out having the baby in Juneau, however, as they don't allow that there (arg!).

6. My classmates have been great- very supportive and super excited.

I hope that you are all well, and, as always, I love hearing from you and catching up on your news.
I'll leave you with some photos...Love to you all!

Cheers,
Ellie

Big Baby Scan

roblin — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 16:31:00 GMT

Well, we were going to wait but the scan reveals a little too much between the legs!

Yes, we are alive and well and in London...

ellie — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 08:40:12 GMT

Hello friends and family!

I have been an incredibly terrible blogger. Not good at consistency, I suppose, which is why I was never a big success at teaching spelling. However, I eventually pick up where I left off, and I never expect from others what I can't do myself

So, first things first-- yes, Forrest, Roblin and I are still in London. We are happily nesting in The Roost (our name for the flat we share with Miguel, Isla and Cecile because it has four wonderful flights of stairs and lovely views) in Hackney, East London, and working hard at school. Forrest is also now in school. He began Reception class (sort of like pre-kindergarten) at the state school up the street (Shacklewell Primary School www.shacklewell.hackney.sch.uk/ ). His teacher's name is Jim and he is a super nice guy and Forrest really likes him. When I asked him what I should tell you about his school he said that you should know about the fox den in the playground (I suspect this is a fictitious fox) and that he gets school dinners and they are yummy, and that he and his friends play outside a lot.

Roblin and I have completed two terms- we are now on break for a few more days before term 3 begins. So far we've studied telling big stories in a small space, epic stories, the grotesque, butoh, the tragic space, chorus, and construction of puppets and costumes from our "abyss." There is other stuff as well, but that is what i remember at the moment! It has been, as always, incredibly challenging and also extremely fun- life changing and enriching. Can't think of anything else I'd rather be doing right now. This term in particular was challenging for me as in one piece i took some big personal risks with both content (rape by a trusted person) and being in my undies on stage. Term 3 will be all about comedy- clown and such (phew) but no less challenging, I'm sure, as we're not talking about "circus clowns." Then term 4 will be for a reworking and presentation of the "best of" work from the year and then working on our individual projects and the public presentations of that work. Our presentation at the end of this term was special for us as my mom, Jan, was able to be there to watch. She got off the airplane in the afternoon and bravely came to the presentation that night!

This Christmas we also had visitors. Maya came, of course, and we were lucky to have her here for nearly a month. It was a special time for us and she got to come and watch our presentations at the end of that term, which was great. Then Roblin's brother, Scott, arrived on Christmas day- delayed a bit by the snow in Minneapolis- and his parents, Bill and Nancy, arrived a few days later. We were able to do several lovely London holiday events with them all, including seeing a Panto (a very silly kind of musical that is traditional holiday fare here) and going in the London Eye at dusk(a giant ferris wheel on the Thames).

Maya and Forrest at Christmas in London:

Maya's big news is that she has happily moved out of the dorm at Annie Wright High School. She is living with an Annie Wright family and really enjoying it. She also spent several weeks with our good friends Carol and Andrew up in Seattle and still sees them about one weekend each month.

Maya and some of her classmates at one of the universities they visited- she is the one in the middle with the orange bag in her lap:

She is busy with school, as usual, but also really working hard on a project with World Vision. She is also on the board of directors for Make the Dash Count ( www.makethedashcount.com/South-Sound.html ). I am really proud of her dedication to work in her community to make a difference for teens who live with the realities of gangs, poverty, and racism. She helps keep us informed on the Presidential race, and one highlight recently was that she got to go and see Barack Obama speak in Seattle- she was one of the 3,000 that couldn't fit into the Seattle Stadium, but he came out and spoke to the group outside and "was standing really really close to where she was." Very cool. She said it was inspiring to hear him speak. She recently came back from a college trip with her entire jr. class; they saw something like 12 schools in 10 days. They went to different types of schools on the West Coast, not to necessarily promote those particular schools but to look at the differences between a small liberal arts school and a large state university. She said she had a fantastic time, and that the trip gave her a lot to think about. She'll be coming over here when her school let's out in June to be Forrest's Nanny while we are in our last busy term of school. That way she can also come to our graduation, which I am super excited about.

During this break Roblin took a trip to the East Coast to see some good friends and also to help remount a show he worked on in Juneau (The Tides and The Tempest, for those of you who saw it) at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. Forrest, my Mom and I hired a car and drove to Northwest Wales to a little village on the Lelyn Peninsula (the tale of the dragon) called Pwllheli. We stayed in a self catering cottage on an organic dairy farm. It was exactly the break we needed from the city- we fed the animals, watched the cows getting milked, played on the windy beach, and visited some amazing castles. Did you know that Wales has more castles than anywhere else in the UK? On the drive back to London we took a little detour to a village in mid-Wales called Montgomery. This is where my great-great-great grandparents on my mom's side were born, grew up and got married before they came to America. We walked the streets, which are still the same layout as they were in the 1200's when the village was founded, and poked about in the graveyard looking for relatives. We went into the church where they got married and then had a lovely tea in the old tea house on the town square. Everyone we met we told about why were there and people were so friendly and excited for us. Forrest now wears his Welsh Flag tee shirt with pride and his new favorite game is to play "Welsh Prince."

Cheers,
Ellie

Forrest and Ellie atop Castle Harlech in Wales:

London Eye

roblin — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 22:43:00 GMT

Advanced Course Term Schedule

roblin — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 17:59:00 GMT

Our schedule this year is as follows:

First Term: October 22, 2007 - December 14, 2007
Second Term: January 7, 2008 - February 29, 2008
Third Term: March 17, 2008 - May 9, 2008
Fourth Term: May 26, 2008 - July 18, 2008

We are usually at school from 9am to 3pm.

Photo Gallery

roblin — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 11:04:00 GMT

Finally, I have managed to blog photographs.

In addition, you can view galleries of photos at photos.roblingray.net
Some galleries may require a password to view. Send me an email if you need one.

Hackney

roblin — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 09:11:00 GMT

Here is our new flat in Hackney:

24A Saint Mark's Rise
London E8 2NL
U.K.

Seattle phone still rings us in London! 206-774-0870

We are in the borough of Hackney, in East London, in the neighborhood of Dalston.

Our door is the black one, on the far left of the photo. The big bay window is the first floor flat, which belongs to Colin. The ground floor below him is where Darren, Phillippa, and Cooper (who is 3) live. the two big windows above the bay window are in our kitchen/dining room. The little box to the left is cecile's room. The top window is our room. We also have 2 skylights! Xiomara's room is in the back of the house, so it doesn't show in this photo. We have a huge common space, with an open plan kitchen/dining room/living room. It is quite a luxury. We've nicknamed our flat The Tower, as it is all stairs!

It is a fairly quiet street, but not too far from essentials, like the market, a grocery store, the high street...and forrest's new nursery is up the street just 3 blocks!

Just up the rise from St. Mark's, Dalston:

Inside the flat

roblin — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 11:20:00 GMT

So we share the entry hall with colin, and come in our door, which you can barely see at the bottom of the first photo. then up a half flight of stairs, and you are at the laundry room, which you see the door of in the second photo. A laundry room is a LUXURY in this city (at least for people at our rent rates!) and it is nice to not have laundry drying all about the house all the time.

Then up another flight of stairs and you arrive on the main floor.

To the back of the house is the living room, a nice big long room, in the first photo below. It has great built in shelves (4 sets, you can see two) and is a great hang out space. Through the door way (no door) is the dining room/kitchen, which is the second photo below. It is also a nice big space...plenty of room for a desk, an art table, the eating table, and then the kitchen. you can't see the desk and art table in the photo. just couldn't get it all in. see the BIG WINDOWS?! they are amazing. so much light. We all love them and they are good windows that keep in the heat and keep out the cold and noise.

This is the view from the living room, out at the garden, which belongs to the folks in the ground floor flat. We met them the other day, and they were super friendly (for londoners) and invited us to come play. hopefully cooper and forrest will become buddies and we can have play dates.

This is cecile's train room. it is loooong and narrow, just wide enough for her bed. but has two nice windows! it is pretty tiny, but she likes fine and spends lots of time outside of her room with our family.

This is what you encounter when you go up the half stairs from the livingroom/diningroom/kitchen/cecile room floor. it is a little landing which we call Cecile's Annex. it is her desk and overflow area.

New flat - our room

HobGobRob — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 05:06:31 GMT

This is the Davis' Bedroom. All 3 of us share this giant room. This is the view from the door.

This is our bed nook - nice sky light! We sometimes see a star or two.

This is Forrest's bed nook.

This is the view from our window.

But that is it! Come visit! We have a great space for visitors. We've been lucky and tried it out with 2 families so far (Sarah and Clare from Juneau and Emily, Chris and Ruby from PA)

XOXOXO ellie, roblin and forrest

London in June

roblin — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 12:16:00 GMT

June has been a busy and full month here in London! Of course, we still do our fair share of the ordinary, but living in a city offers a million ways to be expanded and provoked every day if you have the energy and time.
It is definitely summer time now, and with that comes The Fun Fairs, which are mini carnivals that drive about from green space to green space in London and set up their mini roller coaster, spinny things, bumper cars, and houses of fun. There is always one guy on a microphone yelling random invitations to be thrilled, take a risk, come have fun. Often the accent is so think it is difficult to understand exactly what the words are, but the enthusiasm is quite impressive. Our very own Acton Park was overtaken by one at the beginning of the month, and every time we anywhere forrest was "reading" the poster Fun Fair! Fun Fair! so one day roblin and he went on up and had a blast. One big hit of the day was the ginormous sweety, shown below, with my two handsome men.

The real BIG EVENT of June was the Wiggles coming to London. We saw the advert months ago, and got tickets right away. then we had to wait for what seemed like forever, but then, suddenly, it was The Day. We got out of school early and went to Hammersmith to see them Live in concert! it was truly amazing! We saw the new wiggle, sam, for those of you in-the-know. He is a fantastic singer and performer, but it was hard to not miss the original yellow wiggle, greg. They sang all our favorites and we danced along with the other 1400 people there. It was an extremely special day because Murray, the red wiggle, came up to the balcony and he shook Forrest's hand. We were all a bit breathless after that. i had dreams of being the first woman wiggle for a few days after the concert...but as i'm not australian and haven't mastered the accent, i don't think i have much hope. I'll have to come up with my own gig, but they are certainly inspiring.

On June 17th I cemented my position as the Eldest Woman at LISPA when i turned 38 (i was in a tie for a bit with Katja who turned 37 a few weeks before my birthday). Roblin engineered a wonderful birthday picnic at hyde park with loads of yummy snacks and guinness. I had the full gamut of birthday traditions: i was sung to and blew out a candle and ate delicious cake made by roblin, i also had the french birthday song sung to me, i got the spanish song as well which comes with (you guessed it) lots of kissing, then i had the lispa birthday spanking tunnel, and, the big Finale, was the english "bumps" tradition. I still think they made it up. Below is a photo of me being TOSSED up in the air by the braver attendees of the picnic party. they did it 16 times. it was unbelievable! 38 doesn't feel much different than the last 10 years. Although i do notice that my body is a little less forgiving than it used to be.

On solstice i had the unique experience of being one of 100 artists to paint for 3 hours in Trafalgar square. This was an event for solstice sponsored by the national gallery and expedia...i applied on a whim and was super surprised when i got the call to show up! they supplied everything and we just painted whatever we wanted. standing in the middle of 100 people focused and creating put a hum through my body. what a gorgeous way to celebrate the solstice! and i got to keep my painting, my neato blue apron, my brushes and a gigantic blue umbrella! also there will be an exhibit with video and photos from the event in the gallery and on line. when it is up i'll forward it to you as i may be in there somewhere. i painted a song called When David Heard (a choral piece).

June also brought roblin and my 7th wedding anniversary...which is also the 9th year that we have been a pair and the 25th year we have known each other. crazy. wonderful. a gift. couldn't imagine living this life with anyone else.

June is also sending Maya to The Hill in DC to get support for the work that she and her cohorts are trying to do for young people in Tacoma. I have a feeling this will not be her only trip to the hill, and i am wondering if one day we'll be visiting her there... and today we had a visit from Margie & Peter and their 3 great kids from Juneau! Margie was forrest's childcare teacher last year. It was fantastic to see them and have a little slice of Juneau in our london home.

Tomorrow brings the beginning of week 7 in our last term at school...

keep in touch

cheers,
elizabeth

things you shouldn't do when you are ill

roblin — Tue, 29 May 2007 12:24:00 GMT

I have the dreaded London Spring Consumption and am feeling pathetic, angry about missing school, and trying to get something accomplished so I don't feel so pathetic. This is not a good idea when you are sick. I picked up the Guide for Parents to London's Primary Schools, as we need to apply for Forrest. Actually, we were supposed to apply in February, but since we knew we were moving we didn't because what is the use of getting a spot in a school in a neighborhood that will be 2 hours away? Now that we have a signed lease in our new 'hood in Hackney (East London) I thought, righto, I'll fill out the paperwork and get a spot for my boy.

Ha. could it be so easy. never. Seems to be that here places are awarded the first of May and they don't base it on something as simple as what neighborhood you live in. And if you apply late then you just hope you aren't assigned to a school 4 bus rides away. Does this seem incredibly child-unfriendly to anyone else? Why can't schools just take the kids in their 'hood? But, I thought, Okay, all schools are good, really, at the heart of it. I'll just check out the ones closest to us in hopes that one of them will have an empty slot. So I go, dutifully, to the Ofsted (who knows what that means...) reports to look them over, thinking, Hey, I'm a teacher. I know about stanines and percentiles and achievement scores. Ya, well. I'm an Alaskan teacher and it is so so so different here. It gives me some perspective on all the parents who bother to read these silly reports we take so much time and money to create. IF i go back to teaching when we return I will never think of it the same again. Or try to explain them. Or even give my tax dollars to creating them. Is that legal? hmmm.

No wonder people get skitterish and defensive about schools. What they (I) really want to know is, I"s this school full of friendly teachers who will take time to get to know my son and appreciate his love of nail polish and cowboy suits? will their be time for him to play football and run and jump? Will someone step in if he is being bullied? Will I be greeted with a smile when i drop him off? Will you teach him how to read? love maths? be curious about the world and all it wonders?" Not sure why it all has to be so difficult. I tell ya, if I ran the zoo....

see why you shouldn't do these things while you are sick? and alone in the house, as now I am worked up into a perfect froth and am ready to homeschool my boy next year. In the end it will all sort out, and I am thankful that I know enough about schools and I am confident enough to step in when things don't seem right- even though I fulfill the stereotypes of the Loud Pushy American Lady With A Deep Voice when I do (yes, i never thought i had a deep voice either until i moved to London where most of the women speak at least 2 octave higher than i).

My mum is probably laughing her head off as I was completely freaked about sending Maya to kindergarten as well.

And now look at her. She's practically finished with school! Although, probably from her perspective 2 more years seems like a lot longer. I am going to brag on her, again, so if you have read this far, Maya, you may want to stop. She recently interviewed for and was selected as a board member for a completely youth run Philanthropic foundation called Make The Dash Count. Their focus is on funding projects that help Youth at Risk . I was reading about it this morning and it sounds pretty amazing. here is the website: www.makethedashcount.com/index2.html The group maya is specifically in is : www.makethedashcount.com/hope-fund.html If you are a wine lover, you can order some wine from the foundation (100% of the profits from the wine goes to the foundation). Pretty fantastic. She'll be on the Board for 2 years. She also recently was selected by the upper school student body to be on The Honor Board, which means that she will be part of the team of young women who deal with honor code offenses at her school; when she explained it to me it seemed like being a judge and jury all in one. A huge responsibility, but I know she is the kind of person who can be trusted with such complex stuff.

I think I'll go escape my reality now by watching as many episodes of The West Wing as I can before the boys come home (maya graciously lent us her boxed sets).

Bretagne with good friend Pierre

roblin — Tue, 22 May 2007 12:58:00 GMT

Hello!
a calming purple sunset is peeking out over the chimney pots of my neighbors (of which there are many many). Chimney pots are such a distinctive London image, creating the classic mary poppins skyline. they add a soft edge to the rectangular chimneys.

We arrived back from Bretagne (or, in English, Brittany) a little more than a week ago. Of course, between now and then we've had a week and 2 days of school so it feels like nearly a month ago we were staring at the ocean that stretches between France and New York. I love the photo below of Forrest staring out at the water and waves, contemplating the distance. the less poetic reality is that he is also watching the surfers wipe out.

Our trip was the most heavenly holiday- the weather was like going home and it did make me miss Juneau, which I find ironic as the weather is the last thing someone should miss about SE Alaska! But the way sea winds feel and smell is unique and, to me, the most gratifying wind in the world. and the continuous misty rain that happens on the coast, it is a different kind of being wet. we spent most days walking along beach paths, going up and over rocks, exploring tide pools. Since at some deep cellular level my body hasn't quite given up being a Juneau School District Teacher I was having some serious May Sea Week flashbacks while we were exploring the French beaches.

The tide pools in Bretagne were disappointing in comparison to the bounty of the tide pools in Juneau; we did find lots of limpets and a few anemones, but that was about it.
It seems like the main events of our holiday were eating and sleeping, which we did in glorious abundance. We ate traditional french meals and some foods that are specific to the region we were staying in like Buckwheat crepes with ham, egg, and goat cheese inside. Also these amazing half prawn, half lobster shellfish that can only be found there and in dublin bay. it is difficult to get them outside of these two areas as they go bad so quickly that it is hard to ship them. and the bread. and roblin fell head over heels for the french butter with chunks of sea salt in it. forrest was partial to the honey and the after dinner chocolate.

We stayed in a farm house, at least 200 years old, that has been renovated beautifully by Pierre's father. There is a photo below. The simplicity of the buildings and the way the land, trees, and buildings were set up was very calming.

all of this was juxtaposed with a big hubbub with our living situation. Our landlady gave us one months notice to move out on may 1, sending our whole household into mayhem. our school term doesn't end until the end of July, and neither does Forrest's, so we were incredibly anxious about moving. To add more complications, we know we have to move in August to the East side of London (at least an hour and a half by public transport) because the advanced course for our school meets over there...we all started looking for places, working out schemes, and then our landlady changed her mind! then we had to see which flatmates were going to move anyway, leaving us with the prospect of finding new people to rent those rooms. Thankfully, they all decided to stay. The silver lining is that I found us a fantastic new flat in the east that isn't available until aug 1 anyway, and it is smack in the middle of the neighborhood that we were hoping to live in! we'll be living with cecile (from france), who is one of our flatmates now, and xiomara from puerto rico, so we'll have a very multinational household with 3 languages (4 if you include Forrest's language of fakfa). The landlady is an artist and she is excited to have a family living in there again, as it is where she raised her kids. The flat is super sunny with huge windows, the top floor of a maisonette (which is the fancy london word for a row house). it is just around the corner from ridley street market, which is a compressed version of any great london market. also Mr Bagel, which forrest is super excited about. We will be just a few blocks away from some mates from school, and the Hackney Downs (a park) is just a few blocks away as well. Very exciting is that there is a school just a few blocks away for forrest and one of our school friends knows the librarian there and says it is a good school. It is MUCH more urban than we are living now, but the east side is that way in general. we will be, however, on a much quieter street and i certianly won't miss the bus stop that is outside our bedroom window here in Acton.

Maya update: she is busy with final projects and getting ready with finals, also with all the special events that happen in May. She is also quite busy arranging her summer plans and looking for a job in the federal way/tacoma area.

The big news from Forrest: Fisker, of Fisker and Whisker the tadpoles, has gotten his back legs and teeny tiny feet!

Happy May to all of you...

Love, Elizabeth

end of the term

roblin — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 13:06:00 GMT

Yeehaw, we are DONE!
we had a great last day of term, a nice breath out after all those days of hard work.

The very end was a parade of the animal masks we made. Our good friend Camille, from Portland, Roblin and I found that our masks played well together so we did a little scene at the end of the parade. (see below...i'm the giraffe, roblin the turtle, camille the hippo)

Camille and I came in to the music of every eighth grade dance, looking the shy and unsure girls at the dance. Then in comes Roblin as the Guy, asking me to dance, and we begin to slow dance, which means of course that his head is straight on with my chest. Such a classic joke but the enormous, genuine belly laugh we got from the audience was so gratifying! Hopefully these 3 will find more stories to tell. I received a wonderful complement from one of the teachers about my giraffe and our play together, which set me all a twitter. so nice when that happens, especially this school is not one to complement often.

Sophie (from Yorkshire) had a fun mad hatter party friday night, so Roblin and I splurged on a childminder (what babysitters are called here) and both of us went. We had a blast chatting, dancing, and being generally wild. Traveling back through London at 1.30 am is always an adventure- we had to go from the east to the west. Last night was a wonderful BBQ at Miguel and Isla's (from Spain). I made corn bread (doesn't everyone eat cornbread at a BBQ?) and hardly anyone had ever had it before, so that was loads of fun. Forrest brought his football (soccerball) and had 7 grownups playing footy with him at one point. He wouldn't let anyone play that didn't have the right kind of shoes on, though, which was pretty hilarious.

Have a wonderful Sunday
Ciao!
E

end of april already?

roblin — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 21:58:00 GMT

so, how did it get to be the end of april already?
the best thing about april is that it is both of my kids' birthdays. this year forrest turned 4 and my turned 4-squared. pretty cool.

as most of you know, forrest has been five since he turned 3, which was for him, his 5th birthday. we made one of those parental decisions and decided not to fight it so we threw a fifth birthday party. but it got a little confusing at times. and then with nursery it got complicated. he was going to turn 6 this year and that was that. but his teachers weren't so sure about that and i think they sensed we were not going to take it on. so they did the most amazing thing. they made a whole week about the number 4, with the ultra cool culminating event being that forrest was turning 4. what a great coincidence... and forrest was so pleased to be 4. on his birthday he woke up and said, Mummy, today i am 4, and that is a pretty big boy thing to be. now we just need to work on his idea that he wants to go to high school next year like maya.

maya was able to visit for a very short time during her spring break. it was fantastic to see her and catch up in person. she was able to come to our school and check out what we do as we weren't on break. it was fantastic to share that with her. also it proved to everyone that i really do have a daughter who is 16 and taller than me. she is super busy and involved at school and with her new project with World Vision. It looks like she'll be spending a good chunk of the summer in tacoma working with this project so we won't get to see her as much. i'm trying to be brave. she is reading this so i can't get too mushy. i am incredibly proud of her, and so in awe of the work she is doing. i'm trying to think of her stay at a fellow Annie Wright student's house for the summer as an exchange student trip to federal way.

we are nearing the end of term 3...this term was focusing on masks and animals. i found my inner chicken (who knew i had a talent there) and i've made a couple of masks i am really proud of. i'll get photos of these and roblin's as well in the next email. after a 2 week break we go back for our last, and longest term, which promises to be wonderfully challenging in new ways. a big question lurking around the corners of our house this term is what i am going to do next year. it still depends on a few things, but i am looking towards attending the advanced course and i am looking towards it with an open heart. of course, practical things like time commitments may complicate matters, but it seems to all work out somehow if you want it to. i am starting to find the pieces coming together of what i want to do when we leave here...trying to pull the strands of what i am intrigued by together into some sort of clear picture. i miss kids, so i know that working with children in theatre must be in there somewhere. i also love performing for kids. it is so clear, so honest. none of this analyzing the deeper meaning of a show. that makes my brains hurt. so that is as far as i've gotten.

roblin is blazing ahead with his masters. and i get such a crush on him when i watch him perform. the last two weeks we have been in the same creation group which has been so much fun. hopefully this will be a part of our life as well, performing together and playing together.

did i tell you i got a job? i'm going to be a sitter for kids with complex disabilities. i meet my first family next week. it has been nice to meet some other folk through the training, and sitting back and having little moments of "wow, i guess i am quite knowledgeable about kids." of course, this is all my voice in my head...not aloud! that would be rude!

we have 22 frogs and at least 100 tadpoles in our garden in the pond. crazy. we scooped up 2, forrest dubbed them Fisker and Whisker, and now they live in a jar on our table. they are still all head and tail, but he watches them intently during tea after school and when he wakes up. we are taking in some frogs and tads to his nursery tomorrow for them to watch. these are city frogs, i think, as i've yet to hear them ribbit (or, as forrest says, "frogget"). we also have a black cat that frequents our yard and forrest has named cauldron. he convinced us to buy some cat food at the 99 pence store with the money in his piggy bank which he regularly pickpockets from our change jar. so now we have a cat friend in the garden from time to time. life is good.

i plan to write another email during our 2 week break to catch you all up on some other things. spring has sprung! hoorah! i have a tan!
take care
ellie