Scentsy Convention 2012 - Las Vegas

At the end of July, I was able to attend my very first Scentsy convention in Las Vegas. It was an incredible experience!! Brian drove me to the train station early Tuesday morning and I make the long train journey to Gatwick. The train ride was rather long but so very convenient. It took me right to the terminal and after a short walk, I was at the check in counter. I flew Virgin Atlantic which was a first for me. I've decided that I judge airlines/flights based on their entertainment system. The flight over to Vegas was great! Huge movie selection and great food. We got in a little late which worried me since I knew I had go find Jocelyn at another terminal. I got through immigration, got my bags and took the shuttle to the other terminal. Once there, I discovered that Jocelyn's flight was going to be really late. I have never been more thankful for free wi-fi!! I was able to check my e-mail, Facebook and read before she landed. We had planned to do some fun things that evening but with her flight coming in super late, all we had time to do was get to the hotel, check in and grab dinner. We met up with our director and super star director and had a FUNTASTIC dinner at the Cheesecake Factory in the Forum Shops at Caesars. I so missed American food!! After dinner we headed back to the room for a much needed good night of sleep.

Our first day there was rather relaxing. We got up when we felt like it, got dressed at a leisurely pace and walked to a nearby restaurant for breakfast. After that we got all checked in for the convention. As expected, the lines were long and it took quite a long time to get all checked in. I know I didn't blog about it before but I was having a super tough time getting registered for US convention after I transferred over to the UK. In the end, they registered me "manually" and said I was good to go. Alas, I wasn't in the computer system and after getting Jocelyn checked in, we had to go to the help desk to get me registered and all set up.

I'm certain I'm not doing the trip justice but convention was full on amazing speeches not only by the speakers brought in but especially by our President, Heidi and our CEO, Orville. I think the highlight of the whole event was the reveal of our newest Scentsy Family brand - Grace Adele. All of us consultants had been waiting on the edge of our seats to find out what it would be. While several consultants weren't excited about selling purses and jewelry, the overwhelming majority of the room was overjoyed. Of course, it didn't hurt that they (Heidi and Orville) gave everyone (over 11,000 attendees) a purse and accessories.

I had a fantastic trip. I so needed a break from life as a mother of 4. It was so great to be surrounded by my Scentsy family and getting energized for the upcoming months. It was also wonderful to spend some much needed quality time with my sister who is also a new Scentsy Family Consultant. I really look forward to going again in the future.

Finally, a HUGE thank you to Jackie Kirby for watching the boys so Brian could go to work while I was away!!

Jonah's trip to the Ophthalmologist

We definitely had our first experiences with the long waiting time for appointments when it came to getting Jonah seen by the eye doctor. His first appointment was July 19th with the Orthopic department. This is the group that focuses on kids. They did a few tests to check his overall vision and said we next had to see the ophthalmologist. Thankfully there was a cancellation for the following day and I was able to get him seen. He wasn't very cooperative and the doctor wasn't able to get an accurate prescription. Thankfully I brought his prescription from Houston with me so he was able to write him a new prescription. I asked around for the best place to get glasses made for kids. Off to the optician we went and got him all fitted for glasses. They took about a week to make and our sweet Jonah was finally starting to see better again.

Sports Day

We got lucky and had field day twice this year. At the beginning of July, James and John had their Sports Days. James' was done with the Main school (Years 3-8) and John's was done with the Lower School (Reception - Year 2). The Main School sports day was quite an experience. The mom's from each year got together and put together a picnic of sorts. The year 3 mom's put on quite the spread. I have never seen so much food before. The weather is always sketchy so we put up canopies to keep everything and everyone dry during the various rain showers. Jude, Jonah and I had a great time watching James compete in his various events. By far, the most incredible thing was the House Relay. I think I posted earlier how the school is divided up into 5 houses. Well at the end of the sports day, all the kids from each house compete in a relay race. It was just incredible to see all the kids from 5 different grades run and pass the baton to one another. In the end once all the points were tallied, Welsley house (the house James belongs to) won! You should have seen all the kids jumping up and down! They were do proud of themselves. 

John's sports day was the day after James'. Unfortunately, the boys and I got there late and had the hardest time finding a place to park. Thankfully we didn't miss John's first race. It was so great to see him running and having fun. At the end, he told he that he didn't win but there wasn't a trace of disappointment on his face. I think he was just happy he made it all the way to the finish line. It was so cute to see the young kids doing their races. There were some super cute ones for the littlest kids and the mini hurdles were hilarious. They finished all of their races just before the heavens opened and it started pouring down rain. We all headed to the Performing Arts Center for a little awards ceremony. The boys and I had to duck out early because Jonah was getting restless and both boys were getting hungry. We found John and said good-bye before heading out. 

All in all, both days were loads of fun and we can't wait for next year!  

Harry Potter Studio Tour

I must admit, I had been looking forward to the Harry Potter Studio Tour since it was first announced online back at the very beginning of the year. Alas, you have to book tickets well in advance and it was extremely hard nailing down a date when there was nothing going on. We were finally able to get tickets for the evening of June 16th. Unfortunately we later found out that James and Brian were supposed to go camping that weekend so it looked like John and I might not be able to go. Brian's grad school classes had been wearing him out so he decided to skip the campout and so I was able to go on the tour and ended up taking James with me instead of John. 

First and foremost, if you love Harry Potter and you are coming to London, this tour is a MUST. It was just incredible right from the moment you pull into the car park (what they call parking lots here). James and I collected our tickets at the window and headed inside. We then walked into the lobby. Holy cow!! There were photos of the various characters around the room and the flying car hanging from the ceiling. James and I arrived in time to grab some dinner and hit the gift shop before starting our tour. We got our little headsets and made our way into the queue. While we were queueing, we got to see the cupboard under the stairs!!! The first stop was a room showing the various movie posters for all 8 movies. We watched a little film before heading into a larger auditorium to watch another film about what we were going to experience. After that, they raised the screen and we were introduced to the doors leading to the great hall. I was on cloud nine!!! Next stop was the great hall. Only one of the house tables was set up. The rest of the room was filled with costumes of the various houses and teachers. There was another tour guide in this room asking various questions and telling us all sort of interesting facts about the films. 

After this we were allowed to wander through the remainder of the tour at our own pace. It was so great to see all of the costumes, props, and sets they used to make these incredible movies. There was so much to see and do while we were there. Once of our favorite things was trying to find 15 hidden golden snitches. There was a little book that the kids got before the tour that had various things to look out for during the tour. James and I had to ask for help on a couple but for the most part, we found them on our own. 

The only complaint I had was that I felt a little rushed. We were one of the last tours of the day and as the group progressed past certain points, the staff sort of closed off the area. James wanted to do this broom riding experience that added quite a long time to our tour. When we finally finished with that, they had closed off the Burrow. :-( Thankfully all the workers were incredibly kind and pulled aside the ropes so I could take a closer look and take photos. After that, I was sort of half looking at everything and snapping as many photos as I could. The remainder of the tour was incredible. We got to see 4 Privet Drive, the Knight Bus, the Potter's house in Godric's Hollow and most importantly, Diagon Alley. James had so much fun running up and down the street looking at the various stores. We then breezed through the model section and ended at the most incredible sight of all. The model of Hogwarts Castle. It was just awe inspiring. I was brought to tears, first because it was just the most beautiful thing I've seen in a long time and second because my memory card was out of space. 

After seeing the castle, it was a quick walk through Ollivanders and back through the gift shop. We picked up just a couple more things before headed out. It was just a wonderful evening. We got home really late but it was so worth it. 

Again, photos (and loads of them) will be coming soon. 

Long overdue

It's been a very busy "summer" for the Hadley's. I put summer in quotes because there are two different summers going on. One is the traditional summer starting just at the end of May and going through the beginning of school and the second is the end of school through the start of the new school year. 

This year the traditional summer began with the boys' half term break which coincided with the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. Brian took James, John and Jude up to Scotland for the week. They had an absolute blast touring the western and southern part of Scotland. They even made it out to the Isle of Harris where Brian went crazy buying various Harris tweed items. While the boys were away, Jonah and I chilled at home. It poured down rain for 4 days straight so we were stuck indoors the first part of the break. After the rain let up, we got out and about a bit but didn't do anything adventurous as Brian had my Sat Nav with him and I don't like to get lost. 

After their week off, the boys still had an additional five weeks left of school. It was so hard to see all the posts on Facebook of our friends back home having their last days of school and getting ready for summer. Mainly it was just knowing that I had 5 more weeks of getting everyone up, fed, dressed, in the car, and on the road by 8:10. Thankfully they went by fairly quickly and the boys were out for summer vacation. 

Pictures of the boys' Scotland adventures coming soon. 

Here Comes the Sun...

Whoops! Looks like I forgot to finish this post and get it actually up on the blog.

After quite a lot of rain, we finally had a day of sunshine. We took full advantage of it and decided to hit Stonehenge and then we went on to Salisbury to see the cathedral. We must have had the same thought as most people as both places were packed with people enjoying the sun. I'll add some photos in a bit.

Happy 3rd Birthday Jude!!

I can hardly believe Jude is actually 3. It seems like he's been three for ages now and it's been hard to remember that he is still 2. His language has just exploded in the last 6 months and he's saying things and I swear James and John didn't say/ask until they were much older. I guess this comes from being the third child with two much older brothers. Potty training is going as well as can be expected. Some days are great, others not so great. He's still not pooping in the potty which is becoming frustrating. He's done it a handful of times but he's not consistent and I can never tell when he's going to go. He is very ready for school and thanks to CBeebies (Like PBS and Disney Junior) is learning his numbers and letters. He's already mastered colors and is pretty close to mastering shapes.

As I said in my previous post, we spent most of Jude's actual birthday in Oxford but when we got home, we spent some time celebrating. We ate some brownies I had made the day before and then opened presents. Jude received the plane from the movie Cars 2, his own Hot Wheels monster truck (he loves the one James has) and his very own three wheeled scooter. All the little British kids here seem to have scooters and he was always pointing to them while we were out shopping. He even asked us to look for them in the Argos catalog. Jude was super excited and wanted me to put it together right away. He's been zooming around the house and patio ever since.

Jude is such a great little boy and definitely my little buddy. He's always trying to help me no matter what I'm doing. He's very sweet to Jonah for the most part and loves to give him hugs and kisses. They definitely need to work on the sharing but they play well together most of the time. Jonah and I will definitely miss him when he goes to school next year but I know he'll have fun and will enjoy making new friends.