Category Archives: Ronan

Revisiting the Peter Pan Statue 23 Years Later

It is Tuesday and you know what that means…Travel Tuesday! Make sure to link up with us all below and then have fun hopping around to visit the other travel and wanderlust posts for the week.  Next week I will announce our theme for the first Tuesday in November.  I was feeling a little nostalgic today and wanted to show you how traveling back to places we went to before can be so much fun!  The Peter Pan Statue in London is one of those places for me. It is great to compare not just how much I have changed but the trees around the statue as well. Time keeps moving and and still so many people come every day and take their photo next to this landmark in London.  We visited this summer while my family was in town for our Vow Renewal and took photographs to remember it by:

My sister and I lived in England when we were really little.  It was my second time to living here after being born in Oxford.  I cherish this photograph of us when we were little and since moving back have been longing to recreate the photo.  I attempted in 2012 but since Zoe was not with me it was just not the same.  This year we made it a mission to both be in London together to make it happen. We also got a photograph of the boys on the statue with their Zia Zoe too.  It will be great to see how tall they become as adults to recreate this image again! 

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*photography belongs to Bonnie Rose of Bonnie Rose Photography © 2007 – 2013 | All Rights reserved – www.bonnie-rose.co.uk

Sports Day with a TCK Spotlight [VLOG]

Yesterday was one of those moments that I experience with my children that reinstates why I love raising them here in England.  As a Third Culture Kid myself, I really wanted to raise my sons as TCKs and travel with them through out the world.  I wanted their childhood to mirror my own and to give them even more than I ever experienced just as any parent would naturally feel about their children.  There is something so special as a simple school programme, like this Sports day, that can make having children so worth ever moment.  It was not about winning or losing but seeing the love of life and the joy of happiness coming from the little person you created.  
I know my son Ronan likes sports but we have not had the opportunity to have him involved in any sport teams outside of school yet.  All I knew was that he was very competitive and would be really hard on himself at school when he was not 100% amazing at something he just started learning.  Due to my work schedule last year this was my first time to see him participate in something with athletics.  I just did not realise he was so fast or that he loved running so much.  When he got home from school yesterday I swept him up in my arms, gave him a big hug and kiss.  I told him I would always love him so much and that his achievements that day did not affect my love for him but made me so proud to see him so happy.  
I have included some of the photos from yesterday below along with a special video about Third Culture Kids.  Ronan has wanted to guest post on my blog for a while now and we decided to do a VLOG format.  Thank you to all those who asked me questions on twitter and facebook for Ronan to answer.  Please let me know after you watch what you think. I know Ronan will want to read the comments so feel free to send him a shout out too. 

* Photography belongs to Bonnie Rose of Bonnie Rose Photography © 2007-2013 All Rights Reserved | http://www.bonnie-rose.co.uk 
**Video from Bonnie Rose on Vimeo.

Summer Fete in Bathford, England

Yesterday was the summer fete in Bathford, England and we had a lovely day of sunshine!  So of course we were out enjoying every moment with our boys.  There was of course a Pims tent as well as plenty of BBQ, ice cream, and candy floss.  The boys played games and even enjoyed the quad bikes before it was time to leave. The best part was getting to see my son sing and perform with his Ukulele class.  He really loves playing and has a huge heart for music.  I will let the photographs speak for themselves today as we are going out to enjoy the rest of the good weather this weekend. Cheers!

*photography belongs to Bonnie Rose Photography © 2007-2013 All Rights Reserved | www.bonnie-rose.co.uk 


Summer Fete in Batheaston

Yesterday we attended our second fete for the Summer season and it will not be our last.  Though we almost feared the weather would have ruined this gem of summers in Great Britain. It was set to begin at noon but we did arrive until three because of the pouring rain.  Miraculously the rain stopped and we were able to spend the last hour of it partaking in all our favourite fete activities.  There was drinking of Pims, letting the boys spend pocket money on activities, checking out the goods for sale, and the eating of cakes and ice cream. The only thing we missed out was on a delicious bowl of strawberries and cream.  However in its place we got to watch a Maypole dance with local school children.  If that was not enough dancing for my boys, they also got to partake in dancing to Gangnam Style.  I left with a happy family, a full belly, and a camera filled with documented memories and a nearly dead battery.  All in all it was a lovely village fete and I look forward to our next one in two weeks time. If the photos below are not enough to get you to a summer fete this year, I took two videos posted to Instagram as well.  To which I have to say is a new feature I highly love. However since they do not allow embedding of videos yet, insert shameless plug to follow me on Instagram here.
** Bonnie Rose Photography © 2013 All Rights Reserved – www.bonnie-rose.co.uk

Ukulele in the Park

I first wanted to take the time to acknowledge all of my readers who took the time to comment, tweet, and email me after my Wednesday post: Marriage, In laws, and Cross Cultural.  I was surprised by how many people reached out to me after dealing with very similar cultural issues with family.  It is not something I would wish on anyone else but it comforting to know we are not alone.  It is just another facet in our life as expats and global nomads.  Thank you also for those who reminded me why I love blogging and that we should blog for ourselves.  Thank you for the lovely comments on how the subject matter was approached.  
The one word that came up most frequently since Wednesday was the word ‘honesty‘ and how you as readers love that aspect most about coming to the blog.  Thank you, I greatly appreciate that feedback.  With being a Third Culture Kid and having to fit into to so many different cultures, situations, countries, etc it is nice to have a place where I can be me.  I hope that you reading this blog know that you too can be you.  You do not have to be living in fear of the expectations of others.  Be proud of yourself, love life, and live your life remembering how precious and beautiful it is with you in it. 
   
This semester my son Ronan has been learning to play the Ukulele in school.  I was actually tickled when we first visited his classroom and realised this was the instrument his year was learning how to play.  My youngest son was born in Hawaii, where we lived for three years.  Being the longest place my sons have lived anywhere it was a nice ‘home’ comfort to have a bit of Hawaii here with us.  We were able to get Ronan his own Ukulele in his favourite colour shade black. For a kid who always has a song humming off his lips it has been a great next step putting a musical instrument in his hands.  He is always practicing his cords, asking me to teach him new songs, and waking us up in the morning with his songs of serenade.  He recently learned how to play the beginning part of Sunshine of Your Love by Cream and I may be biased, but it is so cute to watch him play it. 
Yesterday I had the opportunity to watch him play in a multi school wide concert at the Pavilion in Bath, England.  Unfortunately my husband was not able to get away from work so I was busy taking photos with the DSLR, with my iPhone, and recording video our video recorder.  Yes I am one of those parents in the crowd.  However they do not want any photographs or film footage to be put publicly. So just imagine how cute a class of year 3 look and sound in their british school uniforms playing Yellow Submarine by the Beatles.  
Afterwards I took both my sons to the nearby Parade Park for the first time.  It is usually never crowded despite all the tourists, since you have to pay a fee to get access.  However if you are a Bath resident like me with your Discovery card you can just walk right in. This made it perfect for capturing photos of my son while he played music in the park.  I love the photograph below because Ronan looks so much like my dad especially with my dad’s hair as he had it the same length (if not longer) in the last year of his life.  I know he would have been so proud to have seen him play yesterday and is smiling down on him.  Here are the rest of my favourites from our spontaneous photo session in the park: 

*photography belongs to Bonnie Rose Photography ©2007-2013 All Rights Reserved – www.bonnie-rose.co.uk 


Browns Folly & Monkton Farleigh

This weekend we were blessed with a break in the rain and a lovely sunny Saturday.  We took the opportunity to explore a new area near our home in Bath, England.  As active participants of country walks through the English countryside, we love finding new paths to enjoy.  We begun our walk through the town of Bathford up to the woods in the area known as Browns Folly.  My eldest had come here on a school trip this year and we had heard much about the mines and the ground flora we could find in the area.  We indeed did find some of the King Alfred’s cakes and the wild garlic. We also found a lovely horse that was very friendly, got stung by nettle, and covered in pollen as our path took us through a massive yellow field of blooming rapeseed plants. It was yet another day out in England where every ten minutes one of us would exclaim either how beautiful it was or how much we never want to move.  It is hard to feel sad or stressed out when you are outside scenes that look ripped out from a storybook.  Not to mention the tower that was so Rapunzel-esque and the beautiful view of our town below.  Here are a just a few of the many photographs I took on our country walk journey through Browns Folly and Monkton Farleigh. 

 

*photographs belong to Bonnie Rose Photography © 2013 All Rights Reserved | www.bonnie-rose.co.uk 

I Miss My Daddy

Day 12, Sunday of  the Challenge: What do you miss?

 I miss my Daddy. In August 2008 he was hit on his bicycle by a young driver, Faith Quick, under the influence of drugs with a prior record. She was never official charged for his death and spent just a few days in jail for the drug use. My father served 30+ years in the USAF, was a Veteran of Foreign Wars, and until his death was a teacher at Accelerated Learning Laboratory in Tucson, AZ.  He rode his bicycle to and from work to be eco friendly.  He is one of many who have been killed on bicycles by cars or buses.  I miss him a lot, and I really wish I could get the time back that was stolen from us, and from my sons. 

This is the last photo I had the opportunity of taking of him (July 4th, 2007) and fortunately it was with both of his grandsons. He had come to Oahu for a few weeks to visit after the birth of my son Maddox. 

At our home in Ewa Beach my dad read to my son Ronan with their long hair and in their Aloha Shirts. 

Dinner at Duke’s in Waikiki my son Maddox Charles with his namesake, Grandpa Charles aka ‘Grandpa Chuckles’. 

Two years after his funeral we returned to the USAF Academy in Colorado to visit my Dad in 2010.

It was the last time I have been able to visit his final resting place at the USAF Academy in Colorado Springs. 
Diary entry from my nine year old self back on the 6th of March, 1991 about how 
much I missed my daddy who was fighting in the Gulf War with the USAF. 

“March 6, 1991: It’s been over three months since Daddy has been in the Gulf. I really miss him. I’m not sure what I’m going to do first when Daddy comes home. Right now the time is 7:51 pm. I can’t wait! Wait! Until Daddy comes home!” 

(spelling corrected so you can read to understand)
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*photographs found here either belong to Bonnie Rose of Bonnie Rose Photography © 2013 All Rights Reserved | www.bonnie-rose.co.uk