School has Began

Autumn Term is finally here and school has began. The kids are in uniform, as is the custom here. Caleb will learn to live in a suit, with tie, every day for the rest of the school year. Belle's uniform is more adaptable with pants in grey, different skirts in grey and she can add the school royal blue sweatshirt or cardigan (jumper) they are called. And she has the option of a full dress, in grey! Both love their schools here. Belle will begin her year relearning vowel sounds and sight words. She will also have a 10 word spelling list a week! Someone who can't read yet, is only five, will have spelling tests! This will be fun, as she does not take teaching well from me. Oh well, we both will learn. Caleb has 14 subjects in one week. They are scheduled around each other, some twice, back to back. He has Italian, French, Math, Science, English, History, Geography, Art, Music, PE, Computer Lab, Food Tech, ACS class,R.E. class. I know, I don't know what the last two are either! Life goes on.

Belle is sick right now with Tonsillitis and has missed 4 days of school. She is running 101 to 103.5 temperature non-stop. They now have her on antibiotics (5 day only of Amoxicillin) and they are letting me give her Tylenol with Ibuprofin, at the same time, to bring the temperature down. It does come down to about 100 and then goes back up after 3 hours. I am looking forward to her getting back into school!

I walked home with an English couple in the village last night from a school meeting. They have a little boy in Belle's class that is full of energy. They were telling me that I should never call for an ambulence because we are in Northamptonshire, so the ambulance has to come from there, (45 Minutes Away) to pick up and take us to Peterborough which is 13 minutes away! (I am thinking I need a self-refresher course in First Aid) :) This couple had friends in another village and half the village was one shire (county) and the other half was in another one, and while the fire department decided who was responsible to put out their house fire, the house burned all the way to the ground! Yikes! It is fun to visit with them and hear their stories of woe. Everyone has been concerned about Belle and asks after her constantly. I am very appreciative of my friends here. I have had offers of help, babysitting if I need to get away, pick up medicine.... They have all been most kind. I feel like we have traded a Church family for our Village/ISE family. God is Good.

Well, that is my week in a nutshell. Lots of Laundry, Doctor Visits, and driving back and forth for Caleb's bus. To leave on a light note: My dad, who lives in Florida, has acquired a new living companion that I have named "Gypsy". It is a turtle that has dug out the sand under his sidewalk and my dad believes it is a protected gopher turtle, so he cannot touch or move it! Ha! God just knew he needed something else to keep watch over! In England, a gypsy is someone who moves onto your property to live and you cannot evict them without a court order. This is not always a homeless person, but working people who live out of a camper because they cannot afford rent. It can be quite a problem in the larger towns. Hence, the name "Gypsy".

Fun Times in England

Dan at Castle Rising

Mike and Jackie at Beach


Big Bus Tour, London

Family at Lincoln Cathedral Square (Caleb stayed at friends house)

The two weeks are over and Mike and Jackie are back home. It is really something when you sit down and think, yesterday here, today, there. It is amazing how far you can travel in the world in one day. We did lots of fun things. Everyday we went somewhere. We visited Baston village where Caleb's school is, and then went to the Waterside Garden Center. One day we went into Peterborough and visited the huge Queensgate Mall (yes, I drove to the city centre and found parking!) (look out Chicago, here I come!). It was the first time I have actually driven, parked and entered the Queensgate Mall! We spent one afternoon over in Oundle for banking, shopping and eating. We then headed to London for sightseeing and the show "Fiddler on the Roof". It was fantastic and now we have decided we are going to go to London once a month and do a theater show! The kids really enjoy them and we feel like we really know London pretty well. We took Taxi's around town this time, and if you are just moving around in the center of London, the fare is not to bad. Mostly 5 pounds wherever are destination took us. The tubes proved a little too intense for a man with a cane! (Mike) Caleb and Belle have decided that a cab is the only way to travel! I am sure we will here lots of whining the first time back to London as we head over to the tubes! OH well. On Sunday we went to Lincoln to see the Cathedral and Castle. The cathedral was lovely and the castle closed early for their mid-summer's eve concerts. Jackie and Mike were only able to see the outer wall of the castle. We ate lunch in a nice little place that had awesome chicken and mushroom pies (pot pie). Our food was really good and we will go back there again.

Monday was a bank holiday (Dan is off work). We went up and toured through Burghley House. It was really neat. Everyone will have to go there when they come to visit. It is only 12 minutes from us and some of Pride and Prejudice was filmed there. Very old Manor House. That afternoon we went over to the Nassington Village Fair, where the kids have contests of decorated bikes, things made out of vegetables, games, adult competition with flowers, the biggest vegetables, the prettiest and so on. We did not compete this year, but maybe next year I will compete with some shortbread cookies?? The rest of the week found us back up at Waterside, Dan's office and lunch, over to Corby to visit Matalans (clothing) and Asda (groceries), and lunch over in Ufford at the White Heart Pub. On Saturday we drove over to the coast, stopped at Castle Rising (way cool) and then we went to the beach. When you say "beach" over here, you really mean beach. The tide goes out on the east side of the island and it leaves about a mile of beach before you ever get to the water! There are tide pools everywhere, so the kids can play, but no real water. The english people seem happy with this, as everyone is up against the sand dunes and the water is a mile away! So, we joined everyone else, and the kids built sand castles and just messed around in the tide pools. It was a very enjoyable day and a good one to close Mike and Jackies two week visit.

Now it is time to get ready for School. Belle and Caleb both start back on Wednesday. I am looking forward to having time to catch up on laundry and be able to do computer stuff and gardening. I should have lots of time on my hands to catch up with everything, and still do lunch with the ladies! We have new ISE's arriving all the time and some going home to America. The lunches are a good way to catch up and visit and meet the new ladies.

To sign off with something funny! Yesterday, we went to Yarwell for church and then decided to go for a bike ride. We have not had any rain in almost two weeks now and the temps are in the low to high 70's. Great weather for a bike ride. I have not ridden a bike in 5 years and I thought, no big deal, we will go slow..... anyway, we ride our bikes up to Wansford (not Yarwell) but Wansford. This is where I take Caleb to catch his school bus and it is up and down hills! Anyway, we go there and get on a byway that leads into the woods. Again, we start getting into hills. We took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up stuck in the woods (Sulehay protected woods, 210 acres) for over an hour! I was really getting mad, my butt hurt, and my arms and neck were killing me from leaning over the bike and holding my upper body on them. Caleb was nearly in tears, and Belle, well Belle was just along for the ride in the carrier, so she didn't have much to say! By the time we made it home we were gone 2 1/2 hours and had ridden 5.8 miles. Wayyyyyy too long for a first time bike ride in 5 years! So, today, I started out with a hot shower and 4 ibuprofin so I could turn my head and lift my left arm. Thankfully couches and chairs all have soft padding so my butt bones hurt, but are not paining me to sit here and type! Caleb, Belle and I, all slept about 10 hours last night! Next time I will be more carefull which bridlepath I choose so the family can talk about the fun we had, not how miserable we became! Of course, Dan had great fun and thought it was fantastic!

Signing off for now, an American Mom in England