What a summer!

Before we left to come here to the UK, some friends back home said that they were going to come and visit us this summer. They told us to scope out the good places for them. So everywhere we went we rated the sites according to the Johnson's visit. So they finally came! The one requirement was to see Paris ...needless to say we did end up going...but more on that later.

Greg and Kim Johnson and their daughter Megan came to visit us for two weeks. And what a two weeks! They went to the same church as us and Bryce and Megan have been going to the same school since 2nd grade.

They wanted to see a lot so right from touchdown they were on the go! They landed and then Jeanne and the kids went straight to Stonehenge and Bath.
The next day we drove through Avebury and then the Cotswolds.

These trees located in Stow-on-the-Wold are thought to be the inspiration of the doors to Moria in the Lord of the Rings. Tolkien spent a lot of time walking in the Cotswold area drawing things that interested him...and these trees were truly interesting with their gnarled roots at either side of the back door to the town's church!





We actually did make it back home after just one hotel night...but only to leave early the next morning to park outside London. We almost made a HUGE mistake in forgetting to pack our passports. When we checked in at the Eurostar train counter Kim had one of those moments where she said out loud...I hope I packed our passports at which point Jeanne's face turned white. Thankfully, Scott worked a half day and was planning on catching a train from Peterborough. He had just enough time to quickly drive home, grab the passports, park at the train station and board the assigned train with about 10 minutes to spare. WHEW! THANK YOU KIM! :-)

We were able to catch a matinee of the second to last show of the Lord of the Rings-- which was amazing! The stage mechanicals were incredible! There was a platform whose individually piston lifted shapes created a large circle. The journey went round and round. Mountains, Mt. Doom, rooms ...everything was made believable by the rotation and lifting parts. I tried to describe something that is probably hard to visualize...but it was really cool!

Then in the evening we caught the Eurostar to Paris. That was a direct FAST train from London, under the chunnel and then in 2 1/2 hours we were in Paris.




Jeanne was able to secure lodging for all 8 of us...in a houseboat!






It was right across the street from the metro. Most rooms in Paris are for TWO people only and aren't cheap. So finding lodging that would fit us all was amazing- but the atmosphere being on the river Seine was even more amazing! Highly recommended for anyone visiting Paris!

We had two DAYS in Paris and actually we were able to hit most of the highlights the first day. We had heard that the weather was supposed to be good the first day, but not so great the second--so we tried to make the most of it (both days ended up having great weather though).

We walked along the river to Notre Dame,

then went on to the Eiffel tower. That was great. I think it was a highlight of their whole visit. It was fun going up but the going down was made even better for the majority of the group who chose to WALK down. They stopped on the first level and said that it was their favorite! Next time I'll stop :-)


The lines were quite long there so by the time we actually made it to ground level, most of the day was gone. But we had heard that admission to the Louvre was greatly reduced on Friday nights.

So since the Mona Lisa was a "must see", we decided to visit her quickly and inexpensively. It worked out perfectly.








That evening we sat on the deck and watched the lights of Paris reflect off the water. It was very peaceful!


The next day we took it easy and saw the "Mr. Bean cube building" featured in Mr. Bean's Holiday. It makes for a great dimensional photo.









We also were able to stop by Champs-Elyses and see the Arc de Triomphe. The first day Greg has smelled a really good food smell so we went to try to find it. But the wind wasn't blowing the right direction. We did however find a nice restaurant with Ben & Jerry's ice cream. THEN, we found it. It was right around the corner! It was a really cute walking street with all sorts of Greek food. When they found an Italian ice cream store they were sold on coming back for dinner. It worked out great because they were wanting to go back to the base of the Eiffel Tower to see an evening light show.







"Greg's" street as we call it now.









The girls (our little girls) were tired from three days of hard touristing , so Jeanne and the girls took a relaxful night on the boat eating spaghetti! The girls got a big kick out of waving to the dinner boats that went by and counting how many people would wave back. It was great!

After an uneventful return journey back home we took a day off of travel. Sleeping in was just what "Dr. Kim" ordered and we did!

Leaving Scott to work (we didn't want to use vacation days) we took the Johnson's to Dover Castle and Leeds Castle. The weather was fabulous yet again. I know it's supposed to rain all the time over here...but we have thoroughly enjoyed the weather here! The winter is mild and the summers are too!

The highlight for Madison was that she now was able to go on the "Go Ape" experience. What a fun time! Do you notice her BIG smile?

Then we saw the castle and went through the maze. As Bryce used to say when he was little...."FUN DAY!"



We had a mixture of easy days with a few local sights thrown in. We revisited The Boston church. which was good because the kids hadn't been there yet. This time we decided to climb up to the top of the church tower (called the Boston Stump). It was VERY narrow, but the view was wonderful.

We were also able to visit Lincoln Cathedral and Castle, Burghley House, various local castles and castle ruins.












The sad part about having friends come over is that they have to leave. Goodbye's aren't fun. This was made all the worse for us because Scott and I had to say goodbye to our two oldest children. They also were flying back with the Johnson's for a 3 week visit back to the states. They had full schedules of church camp, visiting friends and then a week vacation in Florida for the bi-annual Shaffer family reunion at Vero Beach and Orlando.

But we are ready for us to be a family of 5 soon to be 6...

But don't get too excited :-) I wrote it that way to get your attention (he! he!). This fall Jeanne's nephew is coming for a semester of schooling experience in the UK! So keep checking in...I'll try to keep the posts of our travels more up to date as we do them!

New (but Old) Friends!!!!

Several days after Jeanne's family left we had the privilege of hosting the minister who married us and his wife. Guthrie and Barbara Veech were coming to visit with his work...more about that in a bit. His "free" part of his trip coincided with our free period between previously planned visitors. I find it amazing how we'd known them for so long but never really knew them. They are a wonderful couple and Guthrie (and Barbara) really enjoy the English country, customs and sights. visitors so they were able to come. Guthrie is now president of St. Louis Christian College and travels frequently. He comes over to England for a combination of conferences, preaching and building connections for future students at the college.
They arrived late in our driveway with a big box delivery-style van which was a bit of a surprise! For those of you not here in the UK, driving is difficult enough with small cars, but a new foreign driver being forced to drive a vehicle with no windows and as big as a tank because the rental agency gave away their reserved (and paid for) car was terrible. They took it very gracefully and arrived late, flustered but they arrived! We ended up exchanging the van (with difficulty) for a much more comfortable little car.

We were able to take a trip together to Warwick castle which we hadn't visited yet. What a fun day! The castle is more touristy than most, but we really enjoyed the falconry show and trebuchet demonstration.













We had hoped to that Guthrie would have been able to preach at our church in Bourne, but it didn't work out this time.

We really had fun hosting them both (they made it very easy).

Scotland and more of England with the Dustin's & Demientieff's

I dropped the Shaffer's off and only had to wait a few hours until the Dustin's arrived. John and Bonnie were able to recover a few days in Manthorpe before Joyce and Jordan arrived...then the whirlwind began!

The first weekend we did Canterbury, Dover Castle and Leeds Castle.





The first two are places we'd been before but wanted to take the new crew. Both Scott and I drove since we had a group of 9!

Leeds was the new stop for us. We had gone there years ago when Bryce was little and they have vastly improved the grounds. It has a beautiful garden walk up to the castle (which in itself is quite significant- where the camp David aggreement was hammered out). Then in behind the castle is an aviary and a really cool maze. We truly got lost...if not for a lady giving us the clues we might be there still!


Joyce had also heard of an activity called "Go Ape!". It is where you climb an obstacle course using ropes and clips. It is quite challenging! Scott, Joyce and the two boys went and had a great time. Madison missed the cutoff by 21 days...she wasn't happy. Only until we promised after her 10th birthday that we would bring her did she regretfully accept the situation. Below is a VIDEO clip that you can watch Scott gracefully land :-). Just click the play button- the one with a triangle and you'll be able to watch Joyce's video.


The following weekend we did our "big" 4 day trip to Scotland. and arrived late at our rented apartments. Edinburgh was a beautiful city. On the drive up there we were able to see York cathedral (fascinating foundations display below the cathedral showing Roman, Norman as well as modern foundation work).


The next day we were able to see St. Mary's Close where the medieval townspeople infamously yelled "guardy loo" when they dumped their sewage out the window. Medieval history can be quite gruesome.











The Castle was great and commanded fantastic views. Bryce decided to stuff Christina in a HUGE cannon at the top of the castle. The cannon is called Mons Meg...can you imagine size of the cannon ball and having to lift it? Some Japanese tourists got a big kick from it and snapped all sorts of pictures.










































The next day we chose to DRIVE to Inverness. We figured that you can't go to Scotland without TRYING to see the Loch Ness Monster :-) It was a very long rainy drive, but we did get to see some of the Scottish Highlands. We got to see Urquhart castle...but no monster.

















On our last morning, we discovered that we were locked IN our apartment. The key we had didn't unlock from the inside...only the outside.

We flagged down an unsuspecting pedestrian from our third floor bedroom window to come and knock on the downstairs apartment for the second key...they thought we were sleeping in! Traveling is always an adventure!





On the way home we opted to see Hadrian's wall. It is a wall that emporer Hadrian (Roman) decided to build to supposedly mark the Roman boundary. See Jeanne DOES get in some pictures!

Here is a picture of the underfloor heating system that they had for the fort at Hadrian's wall. Stone tiles laid over a corner of each of the posts to create the floor, then soldiers or slaves blew hot air to flow under the floor...what technology!




It is truly amazing how you can travel relatively short distances and see Bronze Age artifacts, Roman ruins, Medieval towns and just TONS of history! Their countryside is so varied also.

We definitely enjoyed the grass and hillside walk up to the wall and fortress.

Madison is a terrible....WOLF!

Madison got the lead role of the wolf in Ronald Dahl's "Little Red Riding Hood" and Jeanne had fun making the costume. Funny thing was that we had accidentally brought over from the US the red cape from Madison's FIRST stage performance when she was 5 years old and it was used here also! The drama was a humorous musical that was made all the more funny by Madison's dramatics. She really had fun creeping around and using her voice for speaking and solo's.
At the end of the play there was about a 45 second death scene where the wolf is shot by Miss Riding Hood as the narrator said

"the small girl smiled, one eyelid flickers,
she whips a pistol from her knickers...
she aims it at the creatures head,
and bang-bang-bang, she shoots him dead".

WHAT A PERFORMANCE!

Sports Day!

Grandma and Grandpa Dustin were able to take the train back from London to see the kids sports day and award presentation. The weather was beautiful.

The kids competed in running events where they put forth great effort, but the events that they really excelled in were held the week before. Madison won first in her grade for long jump (3rd in the combined event) and Bryce won first place in shotput for the entire school. It was fun seeing them get their awards.

Bryce the Super-Spectacular-SHOTPUTTER!

Bryce was flying home from a one-week return visit to Monticello when Jeanne's grandma passed away. He was greeted with the news at the airport that he was going to fly back to the US the next day.

So he ended up missing TWO weeks of school!

When he returned the athletics coach decided to have Bryce participate in the Shot-putting event for Regionals two days later on May 21. Bryce came home with the news that he WON! He qualified to participate in Nationals!

So June 18 Bryce went to Birmingham to compete and took 4th place (narrowly losing 3rd place). The Dustin's and Demientieff's were there to cheer him on. It was quite exciting! We are so proud of his efforts!

CONGRATULATIONS BRYCE!

Scott's parents come to visit

We are so thankful that Lawrence recovered so well from his stroke in March. They had previously planned on visiting longer. But thankfully they had vacation insurance which enabled them to change flights.

They arrived on May 21 and were whisked through customs and immigration. It was so good to see them and especially to see Lawrence looking so well.

They came home and tried to adjust from jet-lag.
But we didn't let them rest too long because a few days later we drove to Canterbury and Dover. It was vacation for the kids and Scott had a bank holiday that we decided to take advantage of the free time. We were able to see the White Cliffs and Canterbury Cathedral before overnighting at a Dover hotel.

The next day we took the chunnel across to France and drove to the beaches of Normandy. Scott's parents have traveled Europe extensively, but had never been to the Normandy beaches. Lawrence (and Scott) both enjoy World War historical sites so that made this trip extra special.

Arromanches is a spectacular beach with the man-made harbor that has parts that still exist today. The kids had a great time walking around the grounded harbor parts. The weather was so much better this time of year than when we came Christmastime.














There were a few other highlights that we all enjoyed. First, the crater holes along the cliffs...the kids really enjoyed running and sliding down the deep grass lined pits made from dropped bombs. We had a beautiful sunny day which made sitting (and playing) along the coastal cliffs all the more enjoyable.





Bryce the new Karate Kid!

The three kids climbed into a pill box

But Christina found a secret exit!

More sobering was the American cemetery. It is hard to fathom that many AMERICAN's gave their lives, but seeing the acres of white crosses gives visual understanding.

We really enjoyed the museum. We also appreciated the well maintained restrooms which seem to be lacking in most of Europe!

Other highlights of the Lawrence and Saralee's visit is our visits to Lincoln cathedral and Castle. I think these sites were Saralee's favorite. The Lincoln Cathedral is amazing, but I think Saralee really enjoyed the giftshop and surrounding medieval buildings. Across the way is the Lincoln castle which has a dismal history as a prison. The chapel was particularly frightening. They took prisoners hooded and placed them in steeply tiered cubicles to listen to a sermon. They weren't allowed to talk or see other humans. They were able to walk hooded around in circles and go to chapel...that was it. The rest of the 22 hours of their day was spent in a small, cramped, dark cell . No talking or communicating with anyone at any time. They abandoned the isolation "rehabilitation" technique when a staggering 10% of the prison population went insane. The tour guides are amazing and it made for a fantastic day...especially when we stopped at a fabulous chocolate shop on the way home.

We went and saw Peterborough Cathedral- where Catherine of Aragon is buried and where Mary Queen of Scots was buried (after she was beheaded, but before her son became King and reinstated her burial place to one of more respect in London). The cathedral is only about a mile from Scott's work!

Another day we went to Boston which is famous for its ties to the American Pilgrims. We just by chance arrived on the day of their market and found the closest possible parking spot to the town center. Then also by "chance" we arrived an hour before a concert was being given in the Boston church. As we toured the church Lawrence found a stained glass window with the image of Anne Bradstreet...a person in Lawrence's family tree! Both Saralee and Lawrence really enjoyed that day.