August Travels...

We were happy to have visitors in August - Stan's brother Joe and Stephanie, their children and her family, all came to visit us for 2 weeks. We had great time traveling around England and Scotland with them! Here we are punting on the Cam River in Cambridge. One of the nicest days we had this summer! We had 2 boats, 7 children, and 8 adults - YIKES! So much fun...the boys got to help with the punting. Good thing no one fell in!

Stan and Joe were excited to visit their "homeland" (Scotland!). We had to stop and take this picture of them at the Scottish border! We drove up from near London to Scotland, and spent a week enjoying the beautiful mountains and lakes (lochs).

We did a lot of hiking, and found a great ruined castle and lots of waterfalls. It was amazing scenery, and even more amazing, we didn't lose a single child! haha... Stan was the only one to almost fall in...

We spent a day in Edinburgh and toured the Edinburgh Castle, shopped, and lost Wade for about 10 minutes (the longest 10 mins. of my life). Luckily we found him wandering at the bottom of the hill, and he didn't leave my side the rest of the day. Here he is trying to climb up a guard shack, while Kathryn and cousins, Josie and John, pose for a photo outside the castle.

We took a tour of Dewar's Distillery which was pretty close to where we stayed in Killin. Very interesting, but no children were lost or fell in the whiskey vats. A good ending to a fun vacation!

Bodium Castle

After unpacking everything, we took some much-needed breaks to LegoLand and to see Bodium Castle. Finally beautiful weather!

July 2007

Stan finished his course at the Defence Academy on July 19, and received his certificate from the Queen's reprensentative.

This is the front of our house in Watchfield. We moved at the end of July to another house closer to London.

Blake's 10th Birthday was celebrated with a few friends at the base bowling alley.

June 2007

North American BBQ - In honor of 4th of July & Canada Day, the N. American students & families hosted a joint BBQ for the college. It was lots of work and crazy weather that day. I don't have very good photos since we were SO busy!

Buscot Park - On one of the few nice days of the summer, we went for a family outing to see a local manor house.

Royal Ascot - It was so exciting to go to the Royal Ascot horse races. We went with a group from Watchfield to experience this English tradition. I felt very "posh" with my big hat! We had a nice catered lunch outside the track, then went into watch the races while drinking champagne. Unfortunately, I couldn't see the Queen any closer than on the big screen.

Stan and I went to the Purple Ball, which was the college's end of year social event. Even though the weather was terrible (the raised flooring was under water in many areas), we stayed all night. The Ball included a wonderful dinner, entertainment in the form of a military band, singers, Cirque du Soleil, a casino, dancing, and Dodgems (bumper cars to us Americans). Another amazing night! I didn't want to go home -even when the sun was rising!

This is a photo of my Bunco group at our 4th of July Bunco right before we all moved. We are from 9 different countries, and most of the ladies had never played Bunco before. It was an amazing group, & we had a wonderful year getting to know each other!

More photos from Spring/Summer 2007

Watchfield Primary School had a Fun Run & Sports Day for the kids. They had
a great time! Kathryn's class did a relay - so cute!

Kathryn learned how to ride her bicycle without the training wheels in May. Stan removed them, and she took off without any help or falling! She was so happy. The timing was good since we rode our bikes everyday to school, and she loved the independance!

Highlights 2007

New Year's Eve 2006 - We went to Warwick Castle when Judd & Wendy & kids were out to visit. The kids went on the ice slide outside the castle, and we had a great time exploring all the towers & dungeons of this medieval castle.

Kathryn started in the Foundation Stage at Watchfield Primary School. She loved painting, gym, and especially the little group of friends she made!

In February, we had some snow. School was closed, and it was a day of snowball fights with children from all over the world many of whom had never seen snow. Kathryn went to a birthday party for a friend from India, and she got a henna tattoo. Stan and Blake went skiing in Germany for a weekend. They had a great time with a group from the Defence Academy.

Easter Holiday - We took an overnight ferry from Plymouth to Santander, Spain for a long holiday traveling through Spain. Our cabin was tiny and the kids had a great time. Unfortunately, I was VERY seasick! We spend a few days in Barcelona, rented a villa with friends, the Stowes, for a week, and finished up in Madrid before going back on the ferry to England.

On the top of Gilbralter. We had a breathtaking view, and the famous Gilbralter monkeys were fun to watch.
Easter Sunday - We watched a procession from the church in Benalmadena, Spain near our villa. The men carried these immensely heavy floats through the narrow village streets. We watched the parade, had an Easter Egg Hunt and a wonderful Easter dinner with the Stowes.

Stan played for the Defence Academy Rugby Team. He made 3 great friends - Steve D'Arcy from Australia, David Orr Ewing from Scotland, and Stephan Vales from France. They had a great time together. This is the rugby dinner after beating the French staff college in a game.

Highlights from our first year in England!

Waiting outside a friend's house for the airport shuttle for our flight to the UK. July 2006
Look at all our bags!

We did some traveling in August to see Scotland and some of the English countryside. Scotland was amazing, and we had beautiful weather for hiking up West Lomond and storming some castle ruins.

We participated in St. Martin's Lantern Walk, a German tradition. The boys made these great paper lanterns, and we walked through housing singing German songs. The night ended with a fire, hot drinks and gingerbread men. Nov. 2006

Stan and I took Scottish Reeling Dance lessons, and the classes ended with a dinner dance on St. Andrew's Night. We borrowed some Scottish dress from friends, and tried our best to remember what we learned! A very fun night!

London in December, very cold but very pretty!

We spent 5 days in Paris before Christmas and had a wonderful time. This is us in front of Notre Dame Cathedral.

Christmas morning at our house in Watchfield.