Hello Friends and Family! We moved over to England October 12. At first we lived in an apartment in Peterborough while we waited for our house that we found during our house hunt-lost because the owner wanted to sell it instead-and got back again after a deal fell through for him. But it was great news for us because it was a beautiful house. The kids started school October 29. They had 2 weeks off in between and were ready to go. The uniforms weren't a big hit with them, but I think they are super sharp.
November 2007The kids are adjusting to school. Christina earned the first merit badge of the family. They earn house points for good behavior and good work. The person with the most house points in one week earns the merit badge for the week. She was very proud. Madison soon followed. Bryce also is doing well. The rugby coach was excited to see a big kid join the school, but Bryce loves football (aka soccer) most of all. He is eagerly waiting for the soccer season to begin.
Scott's ISE (international service employees) from the US got together for a thanksgiving potluck. It was very nice.
December 2007
December began with a flurry of activity. Christina had a play that she was in full of songs and acting. She did a wonderful job as a guest in the inn at Bethlehem. She does enjoy singing! Then the lower school had a Christingle service before they let out for the holidays. The Christingle is an orange (that symbolizes the world), a red band (Christ's blood), four toothpicks (the seasons), candy on the toothpicks (the good things God gives us), a candle stuck in the orange (Christ's light), and at the base of the candle is some foil (how we are to reflect Christ's love to the world). Madison read a bible verse during the service at the local village church. It was very nice.
We then left for vacation....
December 14
Left for Dover area. We made it to the castle by noon and signed up for the secret tunnels tour. The castle, however, was the big hit of the day. What a fabulous place! From medieval toilets to carpets that yelled
at you for getting too close to the Kings throne. The kids loved it so much that they wanted to go back the next day before we were scheduled to leave to go to France.
December 15
Explored the castle and medieval tunnels on the
Eastern cliffs of Dover and had time yet to go to the western cliffs. Over there another fortress was open for walking. Fascinating and with great views. WARNING: whoever comes to visit we will probably bring you to Dover!
Then we went to France via the CHUNNEL. It was very easy and very fast. Getting adjusted to driving on the right side was actually difficult because our steering wheel was on the right side! Drove to our hotel in Connelles, France.
Car coming out,
Bus going in,
driving down the length of the train.
Lunch at a table, in a car, on a train, in a tunnel, under the water
December 16
Slow morning. Drove to Rouen. Saw the cathedral there that took 400 years to build. Richard the Lionheart had his HEART interred there (yuck). Saw the place where Joan of Arc was burnt at the stake. Charming city though.
December 17
First day to explore what Scott wanted to see...D-day sights. Unfortunately, winter isn't the time to come here as many of the sights are closed. However, we did get to see as Scott wrote in his itinerary "Ranville war cemetery, Pegasus bridge, Grand Bunker in Ouistreham, the coast, 50mm gun in St Aubin sur Mer, Courseulles sur Mer museum & beach (did not do museum but looked at beach & bunkers), Arromanches (did 360 and landing museum), Longues sur mer (looked at 4 gun batteries), American Cemetery-Collevile sur mer, La Pointe du Hoc (embattlements and bomb craters), Ste Mere Eglise (paratrooper hanging from church), dead man’s corner- St Come du Mont." We arrived back at the hotel late and very tired.
December 18
We took a day off and rested at the hotel.
December 19
We first drove to the Normandy Museum in Caen and saw the fort there. Then we got to drive a long way to see the fantastic Mont Saint Michel. It is a monastery that was built on an island. During Napoleons time it was a prison, but now it is a working monastery again. Highly recommended! There is a main road that spirals up and around finally arriving at the top, but there are also many side passages over and around and up. Bryce got separated from us and had fun running up and down staircases til he finally found us again (much to the relief of his parents!)
December 20
We visited Versailles and toured the palace there. 
It was an amazing show of elegance. We also got to see the door that Marie Antoinette escaped from during the rebellion. The gardens there are immense. After that Scott thought we could drive through Paris (not a good idea at rush hour...). Anyway, we got stuck in scary traffic. Motorcycles and people darting between cars that apparently don't have any lanes. Several intersections merged, turned and crossed with traffic lights. It would be very comparable to trying to merge 6 lanes of rush hour highway traffic with another 6 lanes of highway traffic with a traffic light. I can't believe we made it without a scratch. Scott was very relieved to make it back to the hotel.
December 21
Scott needed a break so we took another easy day. Jeanne did laundry and Scott, Bryce and Madison visited castle ruins nearby. Unfortunately, that is where Bryce lost his leather coat...
December 22
We left our hotel to drive from Connelles, France to Wuppertal, Germany (Where we lived when Bryce was 2 1/2). Along the way we got to stop at the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial and the Fortissimus Eben-Emael. We got to also stop by Julich where Scott lived with his family when he was 13. That evening we went back to our favorite pizza parlor and enjoyed the same pizza that we remembered. The previous owners had retired a few years earlier but the new owners were thrilled to have us come from so far for their pizza.
December 23
We got to visit our old church on Sunday. It was fun visiting even though we didn't know anyone there. In the afternoon we explored Wuppertal and it's Christmas markets. Bryce was excited and remembered the suspended rail system called the schwebebahn. Madison thought it was really cool too.
December 24
Drove down the Rhine river valley and explored a few castles. Again, travelling at Christmas time isn't a good time as many of them were closed but we still had a great time. Christina found a barge that was named Christina and a castle in the middle of the river (a toll castle). It still was a wonderful day. We ended the day with a very nice Christmas Eve service at our old church in Dusseldorf. They sang silent night in english as the rest of the service had been conducted and then on the last chorus sang it in German. It was very special.
December 25
Christmas isn't quite the same when you're not home...but the kids still enjoyed the candy and a token present. We relaxed and then in the afternoon went to explore the playground behind the apartment where we used to live. It was very cold but extremely fun for the kids. Madison's favorite was the zip line, while Christina liked the wooden houses and sand digging system.
December 26
Our main objective of the day was to drive to Calais where we were to stay at a B&B that night. Along the way Scott wanted to stop at the Liberty Park, an outdoor museum of war tanks and machines. He was thrilled to see that it had been improved a lot since we had last visited. So while Jeanne and the girls played at the playground outside for 3 hours, Scott and Bryce relived history through the equipment they saw. Bryce got to purchase a shell casing from a local military dealer. He was excited because it had been manufactured and used during WW2. Next, we briefly stopped at Brugge, Belgium. What a wonderful city! It had canals running throughout and a large Christmas market (still!) in the city center. We had dinner from a vendor at the market and then drove on to Calais.
December 27
We caught the speedferry OVER the channel this time. Jeanne decided that the chunnel is better. Taking the ferry over rough seas and having to wait longer to board the ferry makes the chunnel train seem a much nicer way to cross the channel. Bryce didn't agree. He liked seeing the waves and enjoyed laughing at his seasick mother. We rushed home as we were all tired. Amazingly, after being gone for so long it made coming back home actually seem like home.
And now we're home....
Over the next days we opened presents and enjoyed relaxing and sleeping. Our church in Bourne had a New Years Eve service that we enjoyed.
We will try to keep this Blog reasonably updated with anything exciting...though perhaps it won't be in a daily format most of the time. At least it makes a way to keep our connections with family and friends back home.
