Madison "goes ape" turning 11

To celebrate Madison's birthday we all went to Woburn Animal Park...actually Madison and her best friend wanted to go on the Go Ape course there.

We decided to go to the Animal safari first and it was TONS of fun! We drove through and enjoyed the Lions and Tigers and Bears...but especially the monkeys! It was an extremely warm day for here in England so Jeanne had her van windows open a crack (no air con). Apparently, the monkeys can see the crack and know that many visitors feed them through cracks in their car windows (very much against the rules!) So for awhile Jeanne had monkeys on the roof of her van and sitting on the rear view mirrors. Christina got a bit scared but we finally were able to drive out of the monkey area...with a monkey scratch on the door to prove we'd been there!



It was fun to see the two- humped Bactrian camels. One had droopy humps and looked very sad. Good thing the humps drooped in opposite directions or he might tip over!

Christina discovered that Grandma is VALUABLE!

We went with Madison's best friend at school, Amy. Jeanne and Amy began quite afraid of heights, but they both overcame their fears quite quickly! Jeanne was absolutely amazed at how she wasn't afraid at the 30 foot heights!

Madison crashes

Amy crashes

And Jeanne shows the young 'uns how to do it!

Okay, there was ONE landing out of 5 that Jeanne didn't land on her feet (but she who blogs is she who edits...HA!)

We have a SCHOLAR in the family!

July 2, 2009

We were informed that we have a scholar in the family... an ACTING scholar. Madison was quite proud to win the Lynn Ludford bursary for speech and drama at Kirkstone house. Her award will help pay a portion of her lessons next year.

As they say here in the U.K...

"WELL DONE MADISON!"

Tribute to Courage against Evil

June 30, 2009

My father has never shied away from challenging the norm. Even so, it still was a bit of a surprise when my father's only request for their upcoming visit to the U.K. was to visit a statue in Bristol. Yes, A STATUE...nothing else. He then explained that it is a statue to a man whose quotes greatly influenced and continues to impact his life.

The statue is of Edmund Burke. Sitting in the city center of Bristol is a statue that is passed by and ignored. We asked for directions and the nice storekeeper didn't know anything about the statue, nor Edmund Burke.

But without much problem we found the statue. Though sadly, and somewhat representing the values of the culture we live in, the statue has been shot at (for a country that disallows firearms!)

I'm hoping to have perked your interest in what Edmund Burke said in England well over two hundred years before my father's time. What could have influenced him so profoundly that he would want to drive 5 hours out of his way to see a statue?

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

Wow, it is a quote that certainly resonates today... in small personal interactions to conflicts between the nations of today. I pray that we ALL will have the courage to stand up in the face of evil.

Visit by Jared and Ellis

June 23-28

Jared and Ellis are teenage kids of some good friends back in Monticello. As a high school graduation gift (and lots of work saving up to pay for most of the trip) they came over to Europe on a 3 week tour.

We were their first stop on their tour.

Jared had never been outside of the states while Ellis had traveled quite a bit with his family. So when Jeanne picked Jared up (they arrived a day apart), Jared was jet-lagged but in high excitement mode. Everything was new and thrilling for him so it was truly fun to watch his reactions to the various differences in culture.

The next day was Bryce's shotput competition and then in the evening we met up with Ellis. But the following days we were able to visit Lincoln and Stamford. As a last minute idea we decided to add-on a drive to see Stonehenge on the way to London. It was a lot of driving, but worth it for them to be able to see such a highlight of the country.

While we were there we stopped by Avebury where Jeanne filmed this hilarious video of Jared having a conversation with a sheep.



Jared is quite the conversationalist!

We had a great time with you guys! You were a joy to host!

YIPIEEEEE!

June 24, 2009

Bryce was unable to compete at the regional's due to a conflict with a mandatory test (GCSE). So when the PE teacher submitted his throwing distance to the Independent School Association we were hopeful that he would qualify again for Nationals.

Last year Bryce was in the years 7-9, but this year he moved up to the years 10-11. We really didn't know what the competition would be like since he moved up a level. But a few weeks later we heard that he made it!


Bryce all spring had been exercising in the hopes of improving his distance. But a big difference was the weight of the shot put. So although his distance got longer it wasn't as much as he had hoped (because the ball was heavier!).


The big day finally arrived! Scott took the afternoon off and we drove over to
Birming- ham stadium to watch Bryce compete. We were thrilled to watch and see only one other person close to Bryce's throws. But it was too close to call by sight. We had to wait.


The athletes huddled around the record keeper. We knew it would be close. Bryce had his back to us and I whispered to Scott... "video tape this because if he wins he'll give a good reaction".



And a few seconds later Bryce did a cha-ching move with his arm. His distance was 11.05 and the other competitor was 11.00. HE WON NATIONALS! We were all screaming and cheering for Bryce across the field while his team mates came up and patted him on the back and shook his hand.


Isn't that something? How many American's can say that they are a British National Champion?

Wooo- Hooo!

It makes us all proud!






Congratulations Bryce!!!!

North Yorkshire

June 19-21

We took the weekend to drive up to the North Yorkshire area. We had heard that it was beautiful and want to go see the beautiful coastlines. Jeanne also has an interesting dvd set (the indestructible book) that talks about the history of the Bible. One of the events it speaks on is the miracle at the Whitby abbey. Caedmon was a stable boy who always avoided singing at the nearly mandatory singing evenings at the abbey. But one night when he conveniently excused himself from the singing to care for the animals it is said that an angel appeared to him and told him to sing. He denied but then finally obeyed. He was shocked to hear a glorious singing voice. And not only that he was able to turn the latin scripture into songs that the everyday person could understand. Caedmon was one of the first translators of the scripture!




Anyway, after seeing the DVD several times, it was one of the sights that Jeanne wanted to go to...and we were quite pleased. It was an incredible setting on the coast.





Next we headed off to Robin Hoods bay. Jeanne had heard of a charming tiny village that boasts rocks with fossils "in nearly every rock". Jeanne was eagerly looking forward to breaking rocks open with hammers and seeing all sorts of fossils. But unfortunately we didn't realize that the rocky coastline that we were wanting to explore was only accessible during low tide and we arrived at high tide.

So as an alternative we headed on to Castle Howard and squeeked in before their closing time (a minute to spare!)





It is a castle similar to Burghley House but it boasts being the movie set for Brideshead Revisited.







The gardens were the best gardens we had seen so far here in England. Perhaps it was the beautiful spring season season too that made it seem so absolutely wonderful...




The next day we were able to hit the Robin Hoods Bay at LOW tide! The village was beautiful but the rock splitting was not what Jeanne thought it would crack up to be (pun intended). Fossils were hard to find if at all.






















...But the crabs weren't! Madison had a great time collecting crabs in her hands!




She made it up to 10 baby crabs several times and wasn't pinched...until the last batch she collected... one got her. Thankfully it wasn't too hard.







We had wandered a bit of the way up the rocky coastline and were amazed speed of the tide coming in. We were fine but could see how it would be easy to get stranded!













Next came the highlight of our trip (another one)... Eden Camp! It is an ex-prisoner of war camp. The barracks were turned into a museum of all the modern wars.


It of course spends most of the barracks concentrating on WW2 but there were quite a few that dealt with WW1 and various wars.


The amount of information on all of the signs could take a week to read. And there were plenty of visual and audio displays to give you a feel of the time. It also was interesting because it was from a UK perspective! It truly is a must-see for any war-history buffs!

The girls also enjoyed their playground and playing soldier...it's not just for boys!

Madison's performance in London

June 5, 2009
Madison had the opportunity to sing with her school choir in a charity concert at the Royal Albert Hall. She was thrilled at the opportunity. The concert hall was amazing! Jeanne was able to take a quick video before being informed by an over-zealous seating attendant that absolutely no video or photography was allowed... sigh... (the above photo is from the internet).

A sea of green shirts sang and danced in front of an enormous crowd. Saralee and Lawrence were able to come and watch also. In fact, because Lawrence couldn't walk the long distance from the underground we qualified for free handicapped parking. It was absolutely amazing how we were able to park right outside the front door.

The performance left us all humming songs to the musicals of Joseph (Madison and I just saw that musical in London!) and the Lion King. It was a fun evening. And we were all proud of Madison!