Bury St. Edmonds

Tuesday, August 11 we took our first real sightseeing tour to the nearby town of Bury St. Edmonds. It was about a half-hour drive through the Suffolk countryside. The town is fairly large with a large center with pedestrian-only streets full of shopping and restaurants. We walked through town to the Abbey gardens and through the gate and into the area that was once the town abbey. When we heard about the "ruins" we expected a dug out area of one building, but these were spread out over a couple acres and were very extensive. The abbey dates from the 11th century and the more modern (14th century) cathedral stands next to it. The kids had a fabulous time running all through what were once all the buildings which made up the abbey and climbing the walls. This was once a fairly prominent Abbey; Kent and Ethan read the plaque which explains that it was here that several barons committed in 1214 to coercing King John to sign the Magna Carta. It was a beautiful day, made even more fun by the happy coincidence of a Children's Fair being run on the grounds. Madeleine, Bronwyn, and Colin all took turns "jousting." We ended with a walk through the stunning gardens while we slurped our ice cream cones with Cadbury Flake bars stuck in them. Now we are just trying to figure out what to do next...

The Eagle (aka United Airlines Flight 918) Has Landed...

We left Dulles Airport in DC at about 6 pm on Saturday, August 1st. On boarding, we were delighted to discover that we had been put in "Economy Plus" but then less delighted to find that that was most likely because Kent's seat was missing a tv screen and Alyson's audio was overruled by whatever he was listening to in his seat. But those extra few inches of legroom more than made up for any technical difficulties. The kids enjoyed their movie, hated their dinner, and hardly slept at all. Colin finally fell asleep across my lap, mostly immobilizing me, but since he did get a few hours of sleep, it was worth it! We landed just after 6 am London time (five hour time difference and a seven hour flight). Here we are in the London Airport waiting for our shuttle to Lakenheath Royal Air Force Base. We met up with the Norcrosses; she is the new nurse midwife and Kent and Christie knew eachother at Travis. We just happened to be on the same flight and made fast friends. The shuttle arrived around 10 am, and we all hopped aboard for the two and a half hour ride to base. I really tried to stay awake to see the countryside, but I (and I think everyone else on the bus) zonked out. We arrived at base close to 1 pm and were met by CJ Snow, who is Kent's "sponsor," another OB/GYN, and a member of the ward. We checked into our TLF (thankfully, a four bedroom townhouse type room) and got a little settled. Then, we headed off on our first adventure. Not having the energy (or a car) to go far, we just walked around base, checking things out and stopping at a park where the girls climbed to the top of the "spiderweb." We headed home, had some dinner, and went to BED! Everyone slept for about 14 hours--definitely a Meldrum family record!