Giving Thanks

Turkey Day!

Well, Thanksgiving came to us a little sad this year because our lovie is serving in Iraq. We miss him a whole bunch! This year for Turkey Day, we were here, there and everywhere!

Our day started at 8:45am with a call from our buddies, the Pontius family. They were wondering what our plans were that day ... they were watching movies and eating popcorn and wondered if we would care to join them. OF COURSE WE WOULD!

Off to the Pontius' we went. We ended up having a "potato peeling party" - I think we must have peeled 40 pounds of potatoes (at least!). It was good fun! Annamarie found a potato almost the size of her head! Now that's a potato!

After the Pontius home, we traveled to our good friends, the Segura's, home. There we had the most wonderful Thanksgiving meal! YUMMY! The turkey was superb and everything turned out wonderful! We had a rousing game of Phase 10 (I won 'cuz I had the most points, right?! WRONG - Mr. Freddy won) and then rolled ourselves out the door to go to the chapel for another Thanksgiving meal.

We arrived a tad bit late (no surprise there) and dined on a little of the fare - our tummies were pretty much full still) but we HAD to have some of Jane's fabulous bread! :)

It was a busy day filled with good friends and good food!

Remember, Remember the 5th of November

Guy Fawkes Day

"Remember, remember the fifth of November,
The gunpowder, treason and plot,
I know of no reason
Why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot."

HISTORY: Guy Fawkes, as you may or may not know, was a member of a Roman Catholic revolutionary group who planned to carryout the "gunpowder plot"- in 1605. They attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament which would displace the Protestant King James 1. Of course, they did not succeed.

Guy stood trial in Westminster Hall and him and his colleagues were found guilty and were to be hung, drawn and quartered (ouch!). Guy managed to avoid the worst of his execution by jumping from the scaffold where he was to be hanged, breaking his neck before he could be drawn and quartered. It is said his head was put on a spike as a warning for others who would dare plot against the King.

Every year on "Bonfire Night", the English have fireworks and bonfires to remember (or celebrate, depending on how you look at it) that fateful night over 400 years ago. Guy Fawkes was ranked 30th in the 2002 "100 Greatest Britons".

FESTIVITIES: We went to a local bonfire in Beck Row, right across the street from our friends, the Smith's, house - parking was free there! (muah ha ha) The festivities only lasted an hour, which was good because the kids were either too cold or too hot. We did have a choice spot right near the bonfire and a perfect view of the fireworks. There was a ton of people there and hot chocolate and goodies were sold - the queue was SO LONG that we said "so long" to that and I made Austin some hot chocolate when we arrived home - I had to soothe the wild hot chocolate beast inside him! A fun time and the last time we will be celebrating Bonfire Night in England!

How Frightening!

Halloween 2007


Halloween came and went and I'm out of chronological order on my "spot", do forgive!

Anyhoo, this year for Halloween, Austin had a "Harvet Party" (I know, no Halloween stuff in his class this year).

His party was on Friday the 26th and being so close to the "big day" (Austin has been counting down for 2 weeks), I made some 'creepy crawlers' (meatballs in a biscuit). I wanted to have some kind of spooky theme going. Oh, well! He had a fun time!

Then on Monday the 29th, there was a bowling party for the spouses and families of those military members who are deployed. We strapped on those wonderful bowling shoes and bowled a game. Austin loved it! Melissa pitched in with a few frames - she wasn't too much in the bowling mood, but had a good time eating her favorite 'cheese sticks'.

Halloween came and I spent a good part of the day over at Jane's house making over 190 donuts! I was the "glazer" and she was the "cooker" ... don't you love my verbiage?

For the "big day", Melissa went as a "teenager", Austin was the grim reaper (he has this really cool scythe) and I was a Mormon gangster! I believe my "friend" Jane said the CTR stood for Corrupt the Righteous ... rude! (but not really)

We went Trunk-or-Treating up at the chapel and by the time we came home, it was shower and beddie bye time!

Guess who's 79?

November 2, 2007

Well, today is Peter's 79th birthday! WOO HOO! I made him a special batch of brownies (and the pan with "bite me" on it) and some other culinary goodies to celebrate his special day! Oh, check out his new wheels! He can go up to 8mph on it! He's such a Mr. Speedy!

Seeing as he lives in Diss and it was a Friday, Jane and I went on over to the auction house, just in case there was anything noteworthy ... which there was! :) We actually had Samuel along and he is the proud owner of "his inheritance", which ended up being a table Jane bought for him for 3 pounds!

Good 'ole Peter let us store it at his house (seeing as I drove my car and not Jane's Volvo station wagon) so guess what!? We'll have to go back to the auction, I MEAN back to Peter's to pick up said "inheritance"!

I know, it's tough being me, isn't it?

Graves & Moats

October 25, 2007
Ashley and I decided to do something together today. It has been awhile since we've had a day out, so seeing as we both haven't been to Grimes Graves before, it was our destination for the day! Oh, and I learned that Grimes is pronounced like "Grimms" ... you learn something new once a month! ;)


HISTORY LESSON 1: Grimes Graves is a grassy lunar landscape of over 400 shafts, pits, quarries and spoil dumps, they were first named Grim’s Graves – meaning the pagan god Grim’s quarries, or ‘the Devil’s holes’ – by the Anglo- Saxons. It was not until one of them was excavated in 1870 that they were found to be flint mines dug over 5,000 years ago, during the later Neolithic and early Bronze Ages. Flint from here was used in the Napoleonic wars and even the Revolutionary war - rude.

The day was a typical autumn English day, a bit rainy but manageable. We donned our hard hats and descended 30 feet into an abandoned shaft. We luckily went on a day when the British schools were not in session (I can only imagine how busy it would have been) so we had the shaft area to ourselves. Guess what!? I finally figured out how to use the timer on my camera (thanks to Ashley)! I was all cocky and took a picture of us down in the shaft.

On the way back home, we went to Weeting Castle, which (incidentally) was the first "castle" we went to when we were here back in '96.

HISTORY LESSON 2: Weeting Castle is not a castle but a fortified manor house. It had a large open hall and an attached two-story chamber block. There's a domed brick ice house (which I hadn't seen until this trip - rude) and the moat was added in the 14th century. The place is thought to be abandoned in 1390.

It was really nice to spend time with my friend, doing the thing I love most (looking at history)! When I arrived home, low-and-behold, I find tissue not in the tissue box. Gabby obviously was mad at me for leaving her and decided to take it out on the tissues - rude.

Hedingham Castle and Audley End

October 20, 2007

Saturdays (until we move this summer) will hopefully be filled with day trips to local castles and attractions. On Saturday, we (Emmy and Chip and Emmy's friend, Kyrsten) and the Smith clan (Ross, Jane, Megan, Ben, Ammon, Samuel and Jacob) went down to Audley End.

Initially, it was to be a trip down to Rochester Castle, but due to time constraints, it was decided that we adventure to Audley End and experience their "behind the scenes" tour.

We left rather early and arrived about an hour before "the End" opened - it was a beautiful morning with some fog (or transpiration) and frost all over. Due to the early-ness, we looked on the map to see where a nearby castle was. Due to my awesomely awesome map reading skills (not), we drove to Hedingham Castle - on the map, it looked like it was just around the corner but in reality, it was 22 miles away. There must be a village named Audley End near there ... I don't know - all I know is that we drove there and to our great disbelief it was closed ... a wedding was taking place that day. Of all the luck! Of course, the gate guard was persuaded to let us look around, seeing as "we came all the way from America to see it". Now, this is not a lie, seeing as we did come here from America (2 1/2 years ago) - I just didn't tell him that part ... oops!

We took a few pics really quick and then headed back toward "the End", which was the beginning ... The tour was really neat and I was under the impression that after March's behind-the-scenes tour, they wouldn't be doing them anymore due to the "delicate state" of the rooms on the top floor. I must say I count ourselves very blessed to be able to see this part of history (twice). I hadn't gone to the memorial for the Polish soldiers who stayed here during WWII, so we traipsed out to the memorial and took a few shots.

Next, Austin wanted to walk to "the temple" where he and Papa went the last time we came here. We all did a little jumping over the ditch (a few tears and some sore ankles). Emmy wanted all of "the kids" to pose next to a pillar, so Jane and I helped them get into position ... viola!

We brought our lunch and were visited by a bunch of ducks - Austin was really cute. He was a bit frightened about feeding them at first, but after the initial feeding, he became a professional! The ducks seemed to like the spicey Doritos, fyi.

On the way home, Austin wanted to sit with his friend, Ammon, so they hunkered down in the back of the Smith's Volvo - Megan, bless her, came into our car and kept me company on the journey home.

It was a most excellent day out, even though it was a bit chilly to start with. Autumn is my most favorite-est time of year, and to spend it at one of my most favorite-est places was a privilege.

Halloween and Haircuts

Gabby tried on a couple of new "outfits" I bought her from Old Navy ... she has a parka (the XS is a bit too big), a new sweater and her Halloween costume - she's a cowgirl (or bowgirl?) muah ha ha ha! She looks SO thrilled!









Speaking of being thrilled, Austin and Gabby both received new haircuts! It really was about time, too. Austin said he didn't want to "be bald" so when he came out of the barber shop, he said "I'm almost bald!" Geesh, boys are so hard to please! I mean, Gabby didn't complain - not once!

Melissa's birthday ... a bit late

Poor Melissa - we moved (again) on her birthday ... sure, it was August 25, and it's now October, but doesn't the old saying "better late than never" apply here?

Austin and I blew up 13 balloons and made a sign for her and taped it to the front windows ... which, I might add, she loved!

Our good friends, the Smith family, had us over for supper and provided the ice cream cake ... although it was stinky having a birthday whilst you move, we tried making it a fun day!