So how many times in a row could YOU listen to "Yoda" (by Weird Al)? :D I'm starting to feel it's a lot fewer than I originally thought. (I think as I write this we're on the 4th or 5th time. I'm actually trying not to count.)

Let me back up a little.

I've always liked the song, "Lola," by The Kinks. I absolutely love Weird Al's parody of it, "Yoda." (In fact, in a fit of whimsy, I listed it as my favorite song on my MySpace profile.) I *cough* obtained *cough* a copy of it some time ago. Larry dug it up for a mixed cd to play during Ryan's second birthday party. Since then, "Yoda" has gotten played in the car. It has subsequently become Ryan's current favorite song. Yesterday he refused to get out of the car because he wanted to listen to it (again). About half an hour ago, he ran to the front door and said both, "Car!" and "Yoda!" Hmm... so I got the cd out of the car, and popped it in the XBox (our substitute stereo system). After every play, Ryan goes, "Yoda!" wanting more. I even asked Ryan, "Do you want to listen to Yoda again? If so, say, 'Yes please Mama,'" which Ryan immediately did. (I don't think he's ever said "Yes, please" before in his life! I mean, he's said "Please" plenty of times, but not with the "yes" in front of it!)

So here I sit, wondering just how much "Yoda" I can handle, in proportion to how big a fit Ryan will pitch when I decide I've had enough. :) (I'm guessing that I will crack WAY before Ryan will tire of "Yoda.")

Here are my favorite lyrics:

"I know Darth Vadar's really got you annoyed, but remember if you kill him then you'll be unemployed."

lol

Hope everyone's having a good, Yoda-free day! :P

Ryan in March

(Please click on the above photo to view this, and the rest of the photos in my latest album.)

Insert expletive here:

I had gotten going on this entry, and hit something and lost it all. Ack!!! Oh well...

Today we had our "spring forward" time change here in the UK. Never has this been as much of an inconvenience as when you have a kiddo! Ryan's sleep patterns have been a bit out of whack anyway, so I'm hoping the lost hour won't have too big of an impact. Tonight I put him to bed only a little earlier (by his body time, not clock time), but he didn't go down until about an hour later. Oh well... I just hope he's down for the night, and doesn't wake up at a horribly early hour (which he's done twice already this last week).

Friday evening Ryan wanted to go outside, so we went for a walk around the block - make that a run around the block... three times! It's probably close to about a quarter mile down our street, around the corner, up the next street, and back to our house. I'm guessing we ran at least a half mile, if not more. Ryan's energy and endurance amazes me. The semi-ironic thing is that Larry and I didn't come to running until we were in our teens. Ryan seems to have practically popped out of the womb running!

Saturday morning I checked my e-mail to find an invite from Natasha to go to Skipton with her and her family. The Joneses (a family new to MHS) would be going as well. I'd been to Skipton a couple of times before (click here for that photo album https://hkvlayman.tripod.com/skipton/). It was a nice day out. We went to the castle first. Keeping Ryan from taking headers down spiral stone staircases was a bit of a challenge, but other than that, it was fun. I couldn't let Ryan run around as much as he would've liked, but that's life - for both of us! :)

After that, we got lunch at an American/Mexican place called, "Sam Houston's." It wasn't bad, although it's definitely not what I would think of as Mexican food. (Though I hardly expect to find authentic Mexican food over here!) The kids got ice cream cones for dessert. This was Ryan's very first ice cream cone he held and ate all on his own. It was messy, but he did pretty well!

After lunch, we walked around the market for a while, then headed home. I enjoyed getting out, hanging out with Tash and her family, and getting acquainted with the Joneses a bit.

Later that evening, Ryan went with me over to Carissa's to baby sit. Ryan hadn't napped the day before and got up early the next morning, so he took a huge nap starting in the car on the way home from Skipton. We were up late at Carissa's, so I think it all evened out. ;)

Today I took Ryan out to the Stray to run around. In the evening, we went out to dinner with Susan and her daughter Hannah, and Susan's sister and her husband. We had a really good time.

Earlier today, I gave Ryan a pretzel. Even though he didn't have his pacifier in, his hand automatically went to his mouth and went through the motion of taking it out! :P He goes without it sometimes, but then will start walking around the house looking for it saying, "Pass?" (Short for, "pacifier.")

I like to say that you never know what the day will bring. At the start of the weekend I had no plans whatsoever, then I wound up spending time with friends, having a good time. Very cool!

As gorgeous as Wednesday was, Thursday was the complete opposite. It was cold, wet, and windy all day. I didn't get out at all, except to go run with the Harrogate Harriers. That was interesting. I made a comment about the route we were taking. I pronounced it with an, "ow" sound, as opposed to saying it like, "root," (which is the British norm). My running buddies immediately began to rib me for it! One of them said, "Would that be 'rowt' 66, then?" :) Well, of course not. It got me thinking. Honestly, I use both pronunciations of the word. It's a 50/50 chance which one will pop out of my mouth. I began to really ponder why, and this is what I came up with: No American alive would say, "'Rowt' 66," however, have you ever in your life heard someone talk about their, "paper 'root'?" Americans tend to use both for different (yet very similar) things, so I think that's why I keep going back and forth myself.

Today it was sunny in the morning, but has settled into a cold, gray, occasionally windy funk of a day. Unfortunately I didn't get me and Ryan out and moving until the overcast settled in, but we did at least get out of the house. We walked to the shopping center.

I never thought England would be somewhere good avocados could be found, but I have done exactly that, at two different places (both walking distance from my house). Yum! There's a fresh produce shop on Beulah Street. They had four, "ready to eat" Haas avocados for one pound. I couldn't resist! I got excited thinking of all the yummy possibilities. (For lunch I made quesodillas with generous slices of avocado in them.) I got Ryan to actually eat a bite or two.

Ryan used to eat quesodillas all the time (with just cheese, or cheese and taco meat). Then he went on strike for a long time, and wouldn't touch them. A couple of nights ago, I made tacos, and made a quesodilla for Ryan. Lo and behold, he ate it!

A couple of days ago, Ryan did something he'd never done before: fake snoring. We were laying down on the couch together (a rarity), and Ryan said brightly, "Night night!" and began fake snoring. Why is it that all kids know about this, and where do they pick it up??? It made me laugh.

There's a new kiddie show on over here called, "In The Night Garden." I didn't think this was possible, but it is even weirder than the Teletubbies. The characters that populate this show look like bizarre, mutated cousins of the Teletubbies. What really floored me, what this show has Ryan mesmerized. Ryan is not a tv watcher. I am guilty of having it on an awful lot, but it's almost always kiddie shows, and it's pretty much just background. Ryan will watch in short bursts, but mainly just plays around the house. I'm not sure if it's a good sign or not that Ryan seems to be able to pay attention to more than one thing at a time. I'll think he's busy playing with something in the living room, his attention focused on his toys. Then, he'll react or comment on something that just happened on the tv. Imagine my surprise to see him GLUED to this show. I tried to be a responsible parent and watch what Ryan was watching, so I would know what weirdness was seeping into his brain. I confess, I could not stay focused on it. I wound up reading instead. Funny how it had opposite effects on me and Ryan!

The day before yesterday I had a wonderful, quite unexpected visit from what I dubbed, "the Trash Faerie." :P For some reason, the wind blows all the trash that's loose on the street right into our front yard. Fun. I enjoy having cigarette cartons on my doorstep, heavy smoker that I am. A few houses down, they're doing renovations. Stray construction material is the latest in our collection of trash that's not ours. Well, the other day I walked outside to see that someone had cleared all the trash (and cleaned out the gutters!) in our yard! All hail and glory to the Trash Faerie! Many thanks!!! I was extremely pleased!

Hope everyone is having a good day, and has a great weekend!

A very happy birthday to Hillary!

Last night Natasha watched Ryan so I could go run with the Harriers. I always enjoy running with them! Since Ryan didn't nap, he was falling asleep at Natasha's. I put him straight to bed as soon as we got home.

Today has been sunny all day! Yay! Ryan and I walked into town, which we hadn't been able to do for several days because of the screwy weather.

The WIC program Ryan is on requires a blood test to check for iron levels. Ryan's never had his blood drawn before. I took him in this morning. I was a wreck. Ryan was amazing! He didn't make a peep, and didn't so much as blink! (I'm sure a lot of this was due to the skill of the girl drawing the blood!) I was so proud of Ryan!

We ran errands while at MHS. Ryan was so good! It was a beautiful day, and Ryan was cooperating. I don't think I could ask for more!

I'm writing this entry from the "purple room," as I call it. It's the upstairs guest bedroom, and it actually gets a fair amount of direct sunlight in the afternoon. Much more comfortable than the kitchen floor!

As I mentioned, Sunday was Mother's Day here. A couple of the ladies I run with asked me if I had a good mother's day. I thought that was very sweet and thoughtful!

Happy Birthday Wishes to Barbara! Hope you have a great day! 

On this first day of spring, I was changing the cats' litter box, and looked out the window to see blue sky... and snow blowing in from the west. :) Today has been like the last few days: sun, snow, hail, wind (sometimes all at the same time!). The forecast today calls for "gale force" winds. Fun. (Gee, just like home!) :)

I figured that it wouldn't be healthy (mentally!) for me and Ryan to be inside all day. Since the weather was just too cold and unpredictable to be outside, I took Ryan to Winkie's. That's always fun.

I have a horrible confession: I like a Justin Timberlake song. ("What Goes Around.") It's got a cool, hypnotic hook. (It's on my MySpace profile.)

Not much else is up today. Oh, I keep forgetting to mention Sunday was Mother's Day over here.

Ryan's been napping lots the last couple of days, which has been great! Unfortunately, he napped a bit too much yesterday, resulting in his not falling asleep until late last night, then waking up at least twice in the wee hours. Ugh. Oh well. We'll get it straightened out just in time for the time change this weekend! :P

Never mind that St. Patrick's Day was two days ago! :) Today Ryan and I ran in the MHS St. Patrick's Day Fun Run 2007. (Well, I ran. Ryan rode along in his jogging stroller.) The races out at The Hill are getting increasingly casual. This time there wasn't a timer, an actual start line, or a finish line. There weren't even results. However, the course was marked (sort of) and there were enthusiastic volunteers to help point the way and cheer us all on. Most importantly, there were commemorative mugs for the finishers. :)

The sun was out most of the time, but it was extremely windy. The wind is what made it uncomfortably cold. The course was 2.8 miles long. I didn't expect to set any speed records (my time was approx. 22:50). I hadn't run pushing Ryan in the stroller for quite some time, and the wind was tough. It was fun to be out though. I'm proud to say no one passed me the whole race! There was a Navy guy who caught up to me for a while, and who tried to put a kick on at the end, but my pride wouldn't let him beat me! :P Feels good to out kick a man, especially while pushing a 30+ lb. child in a jogging stroller! (And not that it matters, but there's that Army vs. Navy thing, and being married to someone in the Army, I had to represent!) :P

We got home just in time for the hail/snow flurries to start. It was sunny the first half of the day. Now it's back to that crazy back and forth dance between spells of sun, and crazy snow and hail flurries. We're supposed to have this for the next few days.

Today Ryan is officially two and a half!

I really, really wanted to be writing this from my kitchen. (That's the only place (besides our bathroom) that gets direct sunlight in the afternoon.) I took my laptop and sat on the kitchen floor. Unfortunately, that's just not very comfortable. *sigh* Wish (for probably the 1000th time) our living room got sun! Oh well.

As I think I may have mentioned, Ryan's been having napping issues (as in, not wanting to, but desperately needing to). Thursday he didn't nap (ugh), but Friday he took a mondo nap. Woo hoo! This worked out well, since I was baby sitting for some friends, and it wound up being a late night for me and Ryan.

Yesterday, Natasha invited me and Ryan to go with her and her family down to a market in Leeds. I drove to their house, then followed them out. On the way, they needed to pick up their computer from a place that had been working on it. The business was located seemingly out in BFE (or, "the back of beyond," as Natasha calls it). The business complex is (I think) called Haggs Road Farm. It's a series of stone cottages that looks more like a Scottish farm, than business suites! That is one of the things I absolutely love about being over here. You see things like that that you would never come across in the States (or at least not any I've been to).

From there we made our way to the market. We parked in a multi-level "car park." I'd forgotten how parking can be a big pain when you're driving a left hand drive car, and are the only adult passenger. The ticket machine is, of course, on the right side, so this pretty much involves getting out of the car, getting the ticket, then hurrying back into the car, rushing like a Chinese fire drill, trying to get in and get the car through before the arm comes back down on you! (Natasha was thinking there must be some sort of sensor that would keep the arm from crashing down on the car. I certainly hope so, but I'm not taking any chances!) I was so very grateful when I saw Natasha get out of her car, and take the ticket for me! (She also put the ticket back in when we left.)

The market was pretty big. There was an indoor section and an outdoor section. We were lucky with the weather. It had started off rainy, but cleared off. We decided to walk around the outside portion first, in case the rain came back.

The market was pretty much like others I've seen over here. There are all sorts of things, from clothing to electronics. Around the perimeter were fresh fruit stands. In one corner was a merry-go-round (70 pence a ride, thank you). This is Savannah's favorite. She got right on and was ready to go. Ryan seemed somewhat interested. The merry-go-round was small and somewhat shabby. It looked thrown together from spare parts from various other kiddie rides. (It wasn't even motorized.) There were cars and boats and even a double decker bus for the kiddos to ride in. Ryan wound up with a boat. He didn't want to stay in it, though. I went ahead and rode with him, making sure he didn't try to get out and off. I'm sure that was a sight!

We went to the indoor portion of the market. The vendors there seemed a bit more permanent than the outdoor ones. It was like a big flea market. We also walked around the pedestrian area nearby. (That wonderful institution that seems the same all over Europe.)

We got some lunch at a food court in a nearby mall.

We went back and picked up some fresh fruit. Savannah wanted one more ride on the merry-go-round. I suspected that it wasn't the ride itself Ryan wasn't thrilled about, but rather the choice of vehicles. This time he got a car! (See photo at right.) This time he was happy as a clam, and rode solo on a ride for the first time ever!

Unfortunately, he did not want to get off the ride. Much crying and screaming, and kicking and flailing of limbs ensued. I think it was worse because it was about nap time. Ryan did fall asleep in the car, thank goodness!

It was fun to check out the market (I had some of the fruit for an afternoon snack, and made a smoothie for Ryan), and of course to hang out with Natasha and her family.

Later on in the evening, I dropped Ryan off at my friend Aimee's house (Aimee very kindly came over Thursday night so I could go run with the Harriers). I celebrated St. Patrick's day by attending a ceilidh. This was only the second one I'd ever been to. This one was in support of the Harrogate Theater. Dancing, and supporting the arts - what more could a person ask for? :) The venue this time was bigger and nicer - the Cairn Hotel in Harrogate. I only really knew three people there, all from the Harrogate Harriers. Apparently it's best to come to these things with a partner, since all the dances need even numbers of people. Fortunately, one of the people I knew had come alone, and volunteered to be my partner.

I only got to do about three or four dances, but they were so much fun! I love the Celtic music, and the fun steps. The last dance I did was a huge circle dance, where the inside and outside circles rotate partners. It starts off at a moderate pace, then gradually gets ridiculously fast! By the end, everyone was smiling and laughing. It was great!

I went to go get Ryan, who was still awake! He fell asleep in the car on the way home, though. The weather was awful, windy and rainy.

Speaking of weather... today's has been really wacky. It's snowed and/or hailed about half a dozen times, with sun in between, and wind all throughout. At one point there was sun AND snow at the same time, very pretty!

I haven't been out all day, because even when the sun's out, the wind is howling, and it's still very cold. When it's snowing or hailing, it's blowing horizontally, and is practically a blizzard. The precipitation moves in quickly, so it's hard to guage how much sun there'll be. All in all, not worth going out in, either walking or driving.

I've signed up for a St. Patrick's race out at Menwith Hill that takes place tomorrow. I've only run a few times in the last few weeks, and mostly without Ryan! I'm definitely not going to be setting any personal records. It should be fun though. I always get lots of fun comments when I run a race with Ryan.

Hope everyone had a good St. Patrick's Day (and great weekend)!

Happy first anniversary, Joyce and Norm! Hope you have a wonderful day!

Love,

~Holly, Larry, and Ryan

Hello. Been a long time, I know.

Ryan and I are pretty much over our colds. Seems like something's been going around the UK and the US.

I was noticing the other day how even though I'm not employed and don't attend school (and neither does Ryan yet), the weekends still feel different from weekdays. Each day of the week has its own feel, actually. Mondays still feel like the, back-to-work, need-to-get-things-done sorts of days. Tuesdays still have the freshness of the start of the week. Wednesdays still are the "hump" days. With Thursdays, the weekend's not quite here yet, but it's definitely starting to feel like the backside of the week. Fridays have an energy to them. Everyone seems to knock off early, and in the evenings the weekend has officially started. Saturday is great, because you have all day. Things seem to be both bustling and relaxed. Saturday nights in the city are hoppin', and even though I generally don't go anywhere, I still feel like staying up late. Sundays are quiet. Around here, not much is open besides Starbucks and a few of the bigger stores. Even so, the hours are limited. Sundays are family days, days for recovering from the weekend, and for gearing up for another week. Even though these rhythms are more for those in school or who work, they are so ingrained in our society, that those rhythms spill over into the lives of the rest of us.

Ryan's been killing me lately. For God knows what reason, he hasn't been napping. I NEED that time to myself! I lose my mind a bit just having a couple of hours between his bedtime and mine. I need a bit more to feel human!

Tuesday I ran with the Harrogate Harriers for the first time in two weeks. It was great to be back! I hadn't been running at all because of my cold. Running makes such a huge difference in the way I feel. I've been a bit down lately, and I think a lot of that is because I wasn't running.

Nothing really exceptional has been up lately. Life has been a blur of taking care of Ryan, running errands, etc. Saturday Susan came by and we got takeout and hung out. That was fun. Monday there was a spouse's coffee. That's really about it.

I'm thrilled to say it's mostly been sunny here lately. I've been trying to get Ryan outside as much as possible (trying to tire him out!). It's nice for me to be outside, too - even if I am chasing Ryan around the whole time! :) (The photo in this entry was taken with my phone at the Stray a couple of days ago.)

Spring does seem to be around the corner. It's still cold when the clouds cover the sun, and when the wind picks up. However, daffodils and crocuses have been blooming around town, swaths of yellow, white, purple and lavender all along the Stray's borders. Very pretty, and a nice harbinger of spring.

Happy anniversary, Jo and Mike!

Love,

~Holly and Ryan