A new chapter in our life...

Today was the day that the announcement came out about our move back to the US. While we are both excited to get back to family and friends, we are having a difficult time thinking about leaving the wonderful friends and experiences that we have had living in England. I know many of you will be shocked, but I have cried more than a few times over this move! You may never catch me in the act, but just ask Dan about the ugly cry this morning! I'm working on a list of things that we will miss but am not quite ready to do that. At this point, we are just asking for your prayers that everything goes smoothly and that we trust and believe in God's plan for us. We are heading back to IL the first 2 weeks of April to look for a house and schools. It worked out perfectly as this was already our planned home leave for the year. The move will happen around May 1st. More to come...

I just wanted to post a few pictures from the last few days...the end of our week off from school.

Wednesday was the "oh my goodness, this house is a disaster and we better clean a bit" day! Max is actually pretty slick at getting Blake to help him with his jobs. I had told Max that the next time I mopped the floor, he would need to help...due to the fact the immediately after I mopped last time, he spilled milk all over the floor!...why does that always happen. Anyway, Max asked Blake if he wanted to help because it would be so fun! Blake joined right in and they had a great time. Now only if the excitement can continue for several more years.

This was Blake on Thursday! He had swim lessons and then immediately after, it was open swimming at the Stamford pool. We stayed for a couple hours, went to McDonald's (they were out of ice cream for the 3rd week in a row!) and after 30 mins at home, this is how I found him. Right in the middle of the hallway on the hard floor! Poor guy...you can see he is completely out as his thumb has fallen out of his mouth!

Friday, we had Amy and her kids over for lunch and a last play date before she moved back to the states on Sunday. I took a couple pictures but I think Amy would kill me for posting the one of her.

That night, Holli and I decided to take Amy to the Falcon for dinner. It is one of the best pubs in the area. Amy lived about 5 mins from there and had never been. She didn't want to have a big going away dinner because she gets just a tad bit emotional and didn't want to formally say good-bye to loads of friends and have the red puffy eyes like when she said good-bye to her school friends. (I hope that doesn't happen to me!!) Her family left on Sunday morning with 15 bags! Can you imagine?! They arrived safely in Peoria and we will get to see them soon! Love you Amy and miss you already!

Saturday was a beautiful sunny day! We haven't seen much of it lately so really have to take advantage of it when it shines! Dan took Max to soccer ("football") in the morning and they just didn't get enough of it. Max and Blake wore daddy out! (That evening, Max told some friends that daddy was 61yrs old! Not too far off...) Later in the day, Max and Dan went to watch Kelly's boyfriend, Allistair, play rugby. Blake didn't want to go so he stayed home with mom.

That evening, we had a dinner date with the Tony and Sarah. Their 3 kids came over to our house and Kelly (along with some help from Allistair!) watched the kids. It was almost 10pm when we came back and this is what we found. All 5 kids were sitting around the room either watching the movie or coloring. Thanks again Kelly!

Valentine's Weekend Trip

Max and Blake have been off school this week for half-term break. We have been keeping busy and they really do just enjoy being together and playing at home. This past weekend we decided to take a quick trip to the South of England to visit a couple areas called Devon and Cornwall. They really are places to visit in the summer because there are some beautiful beaches but we have heard that the crowds are horrible! (It is sad that the last 2 summers haven't even been warm enough to enjoy the beaches. The first summer we lived here it was really hot for a couple of weeks but that has been it!) We couldn't enjoy the beaches much at all, but did have a nice time anyway. We stayed at a place near Okehampton, which is in North Devon. For some reason, we decided to leave on Friday afternoon after picking the boys up from school at 3:20p and drive for about 4 1/2 hours. We didn't get to our "self-catering" cottage until after 9:00p. The cottage was a converted barn (picture above) and honestly wasn't the most updated place we have stayed in for our travels...but it worked out fine.

Do you think this chair has had a little bit of use?!!

The people that ran the farm, which had a B&B and 4 cottages, where extremely friendly and helpful. Max and Blake both slept for awhile in the car so were wired when we arrived and not wanting to go to sleep right away!

We walked across the car park to the B&B for breakfast each morning. Max loves to take pictures these days!

Since Sat was Valentine's Day, we started it off with some presents...and I will have to give Dan and Max credit, they did an excellent job on mine this year! Max helped him pick out a locket and Dan selected a great handbag!

The boys were very excited for their gift bags and were thrilled with their "adventure" lights. (Thanks for the idea Holli!)

They wanted to go on a bear hunt every day but we just didn't find one! After a great breakfast from Margaret, our host, we decided to just tour the area a bit. Our first stop was a town called Tavistock. It had a great market but nobody has any interest in shopping but mom! Dan did purchase some bread, cheese and a new hat!

Buying fresh bread at the market...a hat picture to come later!

Blake enjoying his "hot" chocolate. We have learned to just order chocolate milk from now on because neither one of them like the "hot" part!

Our next stop was Plymouth and then Torquay (pronounced "tor-key"). We walked around both towns a bit and then decided to take the boys to the aquarium in Plymouth. They loved it! In Torquay we found a rock beach and the boys were searching for the perfect stone for Dan to throw.

A view of Plymouth...both boys were sleeping so we didn't explore this area very much.

Checking out the huge crab!

Having a great time just being together!

Getting ready for the 3D movie at the aquarium.

Searching for stones in Torquay

Not quite a bear hunt but it will do for now... We made our way back to the cottage and found a place to have a "romantic" Valentine's dinner. It ended up being at a good pub and we got the only table left in the place!

On Sunday, after another great breakfast, we decided to drive further south into Cornwall with some more recommendations of places to visit from our host. We stopped in a very unique fishing village called Clovelly. It is a village set deep in the hillside with a steep cobbled street leading down 400ft to the ocean. There are no vehicles allowed. The village has been owned by the same family since 1738. It has been owned by only 3 families since the 13th century. We had to be very careful on the walk down and we just knew it was going to be a challenge for Blake on the way up. As soon as we started up, Blake said that his legs were tired and he couldn't walk anymore! Needless to say, neither one of us were going to carry him! We started singing songs and counting to keep his mind off of it and finally made it to the top! This is how they transport all of their goods, including groceries, furniture, etc to their homes, restaurants, and hotels. I would not do very well living here!

Beautiful views!

The pictures don't really give you a great understanding of our journey up and down the cobbled street, but let me tell you, we won't be doing that again anytime soon. Our next stop was Bude, which had a beautiful beach. (What do you think of the hat!!??) There was also a fishing tournament taking place but not one person had caught a single fish! Dan and Max would have loved to sit there for hours and watch but Blake and I couldn't take it for long. Our finally stop of the day was Newquay ("new-key"). This area is extremely popular in the summer time as it has several beaches and is the best area for water sports. It was beautiful! We did a little hiking on top of the cliff. Dan is terrified of heights when there is no barrier in place so he was quite protective of the boys getting too close to the side. Except for the beaches, the area is very commercialized which was disappointing for us. It takes away from the beauty of the English countryside. On Monday, our plan was to get on the road early and stop at the Motorcycle museum in Birmingham, which we passed on our way to Devon. The GPS, which we had to borrow since mine died with the Volvo (thanks Holli and Andy!), took us on a different route home and we couldn't find it! We didn't try extremely hard to find it as we were ready to get home. Dan was able to take Max to his swim lessons, which they both enjoyed! It was a great relaxing weekend touring the beautiful English countryside.

February "tea" - Amy and Tina

Every first Tuesday of the month, the ISE (International Service Employees) wives living here with Perkins, get together for a "tea". Before I moved to England, these would rotate between different houses...that was before there were lots of little kids here. This "tea" was basically just a time to catch up, share information, and meet any new wives that have moved to the area. It was probably a lot more of a "proper" tea at some point, but now everyone drinks everything but tea and a lot of Diet Coke! The location for the tea has been moved all over the city of Peterborough. It moved from the houses, to a nice hotel in Oundle, a town about 30 mins from where we live. It was pretty difficult for me to get there since Max was only in school for about 2 hrs on Tues and I had Blake with me who wasn't too interested in being there. The next place was the Village Hall in our village just a short walk away. That was a perfect location for me, but there were starting to be more and more kids and there wasn't a lot for them to do in a big empty hall. Then came Holli!! She offered to have them at her house so that she could be there. Her little girl, Gwen, was taking naps in the early afternoon and just couldn't make it to the Village Hall without messing up the entire day from a missed nap! We all know how important those naps are! Holli has a great house to host...lives in a central location and has a great toy room filled with boy and girl toys! Most of us would never offer to have anywhere from 30-40 people (including loads of kids) at our house once a month, but Holli is just a little bit crazy like that! (I love her dearly!!) And to top it off, it has now switched from an hour or so gathering to an all afternoon affair with lunch!

These are just some of the people that attended the tea in February. Most of the kids were playing!

This last tea was not quite as much fun as the others because 2 of my closest friends are moving back to the states in the next week or so. We all went together and bought them a going away gift. We want them to remember us every time they use their gift and think about all of the great friends they have left behind! Tina is leaving next week to have a baby in April and her husband will be following a few weeks later. We got her a diaper bag she had been eyeing and filled it with some baby girl clothes, a Radley brolly (Radley is a brand name of bags, purses, etc that are made in England and a brolly is an umbrella, of course) and a Radley wallet. She was thrilled!!

Amy was working full-time at Cat before her husband was transferred to Perkins. She has been on spousal leave for over 2 yrs and has truly enjoyed her time home with her son and twin girls. She is not ready to go back to work, but might have to soon after they move back to Peoria. We were hoping to make that task a little less painful by buying her a sharp looking briefcase! We got her a Radley bag, wallet and brolly for her to be quite fashionable as she showed up to work...if in case that does happen! The pictures I took of her by herself were not good as she had bright red eyes from crying! She would have killed me! This one was taken after everyone had left and she had pulled herself back together! Love you, Amy!

Tina and Amy - We are hoping that everything goes well with the packing and moving this week. Please know that even though I might not cry a whole bunch (I'm just not much of a crier...Tina isn't either for that matter!), I will miss you terribly! I will see you soon for our home leave at least and see that new baby girl. You have made the last couple of years so much fun and created many wonderful memories for me. Thank you and love you!

A real snow day!!

We really did get a lot of snow today and school was cancelled! Since we never watch the local news, we had no idea that snow was coming and didn't expect it when we woke up this morning to at least 4 inches of snow on the ground and it was still falling. The school has never closed because of weather and we got texts and an email informing us of the closure. The boys were so excited. I had just gone back to bed at 6:30a hoping to catch a little more sleep and Max woke up. He, of course, had to wake up Blake. Dan was all ready for work and called his boss to see if he made it to work. He had but it took about an hour when it is normally a 15 min drive. The boys begged Daddy to stay home and fix pancakes and eggs! England just isn't prepared for this type of weather. They don't even have snow shovels to buy! Dan was planning to go in later, but it has continued to snow most of the day. The boys were out early this morning with Daddy and had a great time experiencing their first major snowfall.

Blake wasn't too sure about going out but we finally talked him into it and he had a blast! They were soaking wet! Making snow angels

Snowball fight!

Attacking Daddy!

We LOVE snow days!!

Daddy's office for the day. He really did work most of the day except for a few wrestling breaks!

We will see what tomorrow brings...

Can you believe it....it is snowing!!

Today is the first snowfall we have seen stick to the ground since living in England. The country has come to a complete halt. I read a very funny article about the chaos a few inches of snow has caused and how difficult it was for people in London to get to work. They figure it will cost the city $2 billion for the lost revenue the weather has caused today. They estimated that 20 percent of the workforce didn't make it to work today. (Sounds like a great excuse to extend the weekend!) Schools were cancelled (and already are for tomorrow), trains shut down, the underground service almost completely closed, no snow shovels to be found or snow plows for that matter. There have been more than 650 flights canceled at London airports and one airport closed altogether. It is crazy when you grew up in the Midwest!! This is the worst snow they have had in 18 yrs and the coldest winter for ten. It is just below freezing and people just don't know what to do!

Max was just dying to get out in the snow! Blake had no interest in it tonight. We had swim lessons after school and there were very few people that decided to show up. It was about 6:00p when Max was able to get out there but he had a great time!

Seriously, can you see how much snow is on the ground?!

To be fair, all of the surrounding areas got a couple inches more than we did in our village. For some reason it just circled around us. The boys school had more and Max's best friend didn't make it to school and he just lives down the road a few miles. And for all of those people that live in the small villages in the country, there is no hope to ever see a snow plow to spread salt.

This is Mummy and Max's snowman. It nearly took all of the snow from the "garden"! He was so proud. It is supposed to be 4 Celsius tomorrow so Frosty will be gone! It was fun for the day! Now we just wait to see if we have school tomorrow!