Do you go to DoDs? No, I go on base...

August 31, 2009--First day of school! Four kids, three schools, two busses...The bus stop is about a 10-minute walk from our house. We have to leave at about 7:15, which is when the girls were waking up in Maryland, so that has been a bit of a tough adjustment. Ethan banned me from taking his picture as he got on the middle school bus, but the others let me snap a couple. They all have bus passes which allow them to get on these fancy coach busses (no big yellows around here). Ethan has to travel all the way to Feltwell RAF base which is about a 30 minute ride. Madeleine goes to Liberty Intermediate and Bronwyn and Colin at at Lakenheath Elementary, both of which are on Lakenheath Base, only about 10 minutes from here. They all have fabulous teachers and are doing really well!

Tudor Fever

August 29, 2009 We ventured with some friends (Listellos and Snows) to Kentwell Hall, a manor house about an hour from home. They were hosting a Tudor recreation

with about 100 people dressed in period costumes performing the typical tasks of this working manor home. These area all volunteers, I guess like our "Civil War Reenactors"; they love the period and are really into it: wardrobe, speech, the whole nine yards. They were preparing a huge feast for the lady of the manor who arrived on horseback. Then they sang prayers before sitting down to eat. (I want to know how you sign up to be the "Lady" instead of the scullery maid...) After touring the amazing house, filled with tapestries and furniture from the late-Tudor period (the family that owned the house were loyalists and backed Henry VIII when he decided to break with Rome, we headed to all the out buildings where Bronwyn and Madeleine got to make

bread in the bakery. They had a camera obscura, which was just a round room they could make totally dark, and then "magically" have a picture of the outside appear in color of the outside. Then we toured the extensive grounds where Ethan got talked into sampling "this tasty purple" flower by the resident gardener (he tasted onion for the rest of the day). We got to feed the fish in the moat, watch an archery training session, observe them making tools in the forge, dress up in period battle gear, and get sneezed on by a horse (this last event was unplanned). It was another perfect English summer day, and aside from being a little creeped out by the "Alchemist" who had all sorts of frightening things in jars, I wouldn't have changed a thing!

Cambridge August 15, 2009

We were two weeks into our time here in England, and we decided it was high time we ventured more than 25 minutes away from base. We were still in TLF, but since we had at least found a place to live and were scheduled to move in on the 20th, Kent said we could quit house hunting and start sightseeing. First stop: Cambridge. It is about a 45 minute drive from the base, and after being in our rural/base community, it was amazing to see such a large, vibrant town. We went with some new friends (the Listellos). After negotiating all the tiny downtown streets (thank you TomTom) we made it to the parking garage in the city center. First stop: the TI! We booked a guided walking tour through the town and a couple of the colleges. The university is made up of 31 colleges and they all have their own look and feel--and gated entrance. Here we are in the quad at Kings College (after touring the amazing King's College Chapel. I had never seen a fluted fan vaulted ceiling like that before.

We saw a couple other colleges, including one with a chapel designed by Sir Christopher Wren. We also made a stop down by the Cam River to look at the Mathematical Bridge (supposedly put together using only mathematical principles, no nails--although our tour guide was skeptical). But, we were all pretty tired and also terrified of dumping ourselves into the water, so punting would have to wait for another day. We also went down to the Fitzwilliam Museum, which has a pretty nice collection and a special exhibit on Charles Darwin, for his 200th birthday. Here Colin and his buddies-Blake, Drew, and Cole Listello have a tasty treat to finish off the day (the rest of us had pastries from Fitzbillies--Yum!