Category Archives: Maddox

Weekend Letter: ‘Never Want to Leave’

‘I Know I say this every time we go out (on a country walk). But I  never want to leave.” – Ryan, my husband
My letter for this weekend is getting out much later than I would have liked, 
but we were out most of the afternoon.  
If you read my blog you will know that my family loves 
to go on country walks in our home of Bath, England.  
Today was supposed to be a short walk followed by a play at the park.  
However yesterday we got poured on 
and it made trekking through the mud today hard to resist.
With hunter wellies on and coats for the chilly air,
my family of four enjoyed being outside and getting a little dirty.
The quote above was spoken by my husband to me while we started our journey.
I love seeing him so happy.
I cannot remember him every being this in love with a place before.
When you ask your love to move out of country for you,
you just cross your fingers and hope it is going to work.
Even though the two of us will have been in country two years this coming May
we find ourselves in a continual honeymoon state.
Maybe this is what happiness and contentment feels like
when you are not having to move every couple of years.
I like learning new things about life like that. 
Like how my husband now has a new fondness for crossword puzzles.
How working in England has trained him to spell things the ‘English’ way.
For example adding that extra ‘u’ or using an ‘s’ instead of a ‘z’.
My boys are assimilating too.
I have to admit its hard to get cross at your son at dinner
when instead of stating ‘i hate ______’
he says politely ‘I am not keen of ______’
To which I will return with, 
‘Thats nice, but finish your food.’
It has been a lovely weekend with my family and I look forward
to all the weekends to follow.
From my family to yours, 
have a great Sunday!
xx
B.

Mothering Sunday

Today is Mothering Sunday in England.  
Let me wish all the new mums in England a wonderful first Mum’s Day!  
(Shout out to Lauren at Aspring Kennedy
This morning we had a delicious paleo breakfast of eggs, bacon and avocado with our tea.
In the typical rush fashion of getting the four of us ready for Church,
we arrived late fashionably on time.  
I do love walking briskly up the road as the church bells beckon us near.
Ronan and Maddox were asked to be in the morning procession, 
with Ronan carrying the cross towards the front.  
Maddox, in younger brother mode, made some sort of silly face 
as he followed up behind.
I was really touched seeing Ronan, my eight year old, pass out all the flower bouquets
to the mums in church today.  He is growing up to be such a sweet gentleman.
Its hard to believe that I’ve been a mum for eight years now.
So many friends of mine are having babies and my youngest is nearly six.
I would be lying if I said I did not have baby on the brain. 
Children are such a blessing and I cannot imagine life without my boys. 
A little shout out also to my mum (aka ‘Nonna’) who gave birth to me thirty years ago
in Oxford, England and paved the way for this expat living abroad. 
My mum is spoiled.  She gets Mothering Sunday with me
and Mother’s Day with my sister Zoë.
Love you mum. 
<3 


Meet Zia Zoë

A con to living the expat life is being many miles and many more miles away from family.  
In my life my family is already quite small and scattered across the United States already.  
My mother lives in Arizona, her father lives in Arkansas, 
my father’s brother lives in New Jersey, and my sister lives in Washing DC.  
Thats my family. 

Zia Zoë with her nephew Maddox 
My sister Zoë and I are five and half years apart in age…to the day.  
Our half birthday’s land on each other’s birthdays.  
She was still just in elementary school when we moved from Italy to the United States.  
I was on the verge of graduating high school  and ‘too cool’ to hang out with my younger sister.  
In University I was ready to build that relationship and she was busy growing up in high school.  
Since  her graduation from Uni we have finally met on the same plane, but now separated by distance.
  I really look forward to the short moments of time we get to spend together. 
 I was fortunate to have a week last summer and a busy week at Christmas with my sister. 

Zia Zoë with her nephews Ronan and Maddox.

My boys having special time with her means a lot more to me now that our dad is no longer with us.
  When its the two of us with Ronan & Maddox 
I see us filling our dad’s shoes so they can experience his life through us.  
Loss is hard and distance can equally be challenging.  
It is why I really enjoy having Google Hangouts, 
especially since many people can join in with no charge, compared to Skype.  
Video chats are a luxury my sister and I did not have 
when we were growing up as a military family living abroad.  
It makes me quite interested to know what technology will be available 
when my own children have children.

Zia Zoë with her nephews superhero and villian. 
Side note: My boys call my sister Zoë, Zia, which is ‘Aunt’ in Italian. 
My mum is called ‘Nonna’, Italian for grandmother.  
The six years my family spent in Italy alone has impacted our family culture. 
With my little sister Zoë and my two sons.

Hastings, England

I have lived near the coast for the majority of my life.  Somewhere between living in Naples, Italy and on the island of Oahu I have realized that the ocean is like a home to me.  Its vast stretches of blue becoming a calming element for a nomadic wanderlust person.  While I am not partial to cruises, traveling to towns that reside on the coast  are definitely my thing.  On this month last year we decided to take our boys to see a castle. Our bus connection fail through and it led to an unexpected detour into the town of Hastings.  Although the castle there was also closed, we enjoyed a beautiful day exploring the narrow streets and hidden treasures Hastings had to offer.  This day trip reminded me that sometimes its best not to focus on plans, but enjoy the voyage and the experiences that happen along the way.  It ended up being one of my favourite Valentines Days spent with my family. 
Photography by Bonnie Rose Photography © 2012 – All Rights Reserved | http://www.bonnie-rose.co.uk
Photography by Bonnie Rose Photography © 2012 – All Rights Reserved | http://www.bonnie-rose.co.uk
Photography by Bonnie Rose Photography © 2012 – All Rights Reserved | http://www.bonnie-rose.co.uk
Photography by Bonnie Rose Photography © 2012 – All Rights Reserved | http://www.bonnie-rose.co.uk
Photography by Bonnie Rose Photography © 2012 – All Rights Reserved | http://www.bonnie-rose.co.uk
Photography by Bonnie Rose Photography © 2012 – All Rights Reserved | http://www.bonnie-rose.co.uk
Photography by Bonnie Rose Photography © 2012 – All Rights Reserved | http://www.bonnie-rose.co.uk
Photography by Bonnie Rose Photography © 2012 – All Rights Reserved | http://www.bonnie-rose.co.uk
Photography by Bonnie Rose Photography © 2012 – All Rights Reserved | http://www.bonnie-rose.co.uk 
We enjoyed a delicious meal at the Ye Olde Pumphouse.  
64 George St  Town Centre, Hastings TN34 3EE
I definitely reccomend this place if your feet take you to Hastings.

Welcome to 2013

A new year and we began ours with a move, a new job, and new house.  This is our first house to live in since my husband and I got married almost ten years ago.  It has been really nice to get out of the small flat and into a place with lots of storage space and room to enjoy family time.  What I love the most is where we are situated in Bath, in the town of Batheaston.  It is like being in the shire and my favourite aspect are the sheep we can see from our windows. It is a great place to call home and I feel so blessed to be here with my family. 
The view of the rolling patchwork quilt hills dotted with white sheep from our windows.
My husband, +Ryan Aherin looking very English and just needing a sheep dog to complete the look.
We took a country walk with the boys on New Years day to see the sheep on the hill. 
The boys and watching the sheep on our Country walk through the Bath countryside. 
My English gentleman. 
The church in town with the English flag flying from above.  
Walking through the town with my three men. 
I love all the details on the buildings and the originality of each door.  
The sunlight breaking through the grey english skies. 
The last of the holiday decorations on the door.  
The winding roads leading us into 2013.
Instagram: thebonnierose

Our first Christmas in Bath

We moved just a couple of days before Christmas to Bath, England and we able to celebrate the holidays with Nonna (my mum +Teresa Nystrom ) and Zia Zoë (my younger sister +Zoe Nystrom ) at our new place.  It had been a little stressful, but nothing could make our Christmas better than having our family here for the Holidays.  I have not spent a holiday back in Europe with my mum and sister yet, and it was an amazing sense of ‘home’ to break in our life in Bath.  Although my dad could not be here with us in person, he was definitely felt here with us in spirit.  What great memories +Ryan Aherin and I to share to end our 2012.

My family (from L to R): Bonnie, Ryan, Zoë
, Teresa, Ronan, and Maddox)
Making snowflakes on Christmas Eve with roasted chestnuts and mulled cider prepared by my husband. 
After getting their new Arsenal christmas pyjamas, the boys opened the stockings on Christmas morning that Nonna brought for us from the USA.
Maddox asked Father Christmas for a spy kit and looks like he listened!
Nonna brought the boys full Science kits including lab coats!
Ronan ‘trying’ to look sad because it was not a metal detector. But really he was and is still very excited about his Meccano kit.

My husband and I brought back these Roman gladiator sets from our trip to Italy for Father Christmas to bring on Christmas day.  Looks like they can both play ‘Rory’ now. 
We took my mum and sister, Zoë, to the Abbey in Bath on December 27th.
Zia Zoë and my sons lit a candle for my dad on his birthday, who would have been 59 on December 27th.
The view of Bath at night time is equally as beautiful and I loved seeing the water lit up by the lights and bridge under the moonlight.  There were a group of swans that you cannot see in the photo but that added to the ambience of the moment. 
Instagram: thebonnierose

Halloween 2013

October is flying by fast and November will be here after Halloween has come and gone. This is the first Halloween that I will not be with my boys and so I made sure we got costumes and photos before I had to leave back home to England.  Halloween is not really my favourite holiday but I have carried a rule from my mum, ‘Nothing scary’ in regards to the costume selection.  We originally had decided on Doctor Who, but since my husband and I cannot celebrate with the boys, my sons chose the Avengers as their back up plan.  Ronan chose to be Thor and Maddox chose to be Captain America.  I took them out to Allerton Park last week and we had a Halloween photo shoot.  Here are my favourites.  I wish my boys a fun (and safe!) Halloween on Wednesday.  Look forward to seeing my two favourite heroes very soon! xx

Thor & Captain America
Captain America 
Thor
Captain America
Ronan as Thor
Maddox as Captain America
Thor

    All photographs are owned by Bonnie Rose Photography © 2012 All rights reserved

Instagram: thebonnierose