All Around the Mulberry Tree

My dad has been taking the kids on almost daily "buggy" rides and after their little ride over to dad's oats field they make a quick stop at the mulberry tree. The kids essentially eat them as fast as we can pick them and I'm surprised they haven't had icky tummies from the yet. Today we got a few more and put them in buckets to eat when they got back to the house. After some time I decided it was better to feed them one at a time than let them have free reign. Check out their little faces after a few berries....my messy mulberry mosters!!!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Happy Birthday to me!!! For the first time in years I am celebrating my birthday with my parents which is a nice trade off since Kevin had to make his way back to Peoria for the week. Eventhough my dad feels bad that I did it, I worked most of the day to prepare a nice homemade Chinese meal for my birthday party (with my sister's help of course). We made homemade spring rolls, beef and pea pods, orange chicken and fried rice.

We also constructed a 4 layered chocolate cake (used 2 boxes)!!! It was awesome to make and fabulous to have my sister help me make my own cake. She actually bought two cake pans the day before at Kohl's just for the occasion (plus her hubby's b-day was in a couple of weeks).

My grandma Lynn, Aunt Barb, mom, dad, sister Crystal, brother-in-law Heath, nephew Bo, and my kiddos joined me for my birthday party that night and it was wonderful. We had loads of great food and the cake was phenomenal. Addison helped me blow out my candles and no we didn't load it up with 32 candles.

Look at those layers!!!

My dad pulled out 4 different tubs of ice cream (yes, it was insane). He let the kids pick out whatever they wanted at the grocery store the night we got picked up from the airport, how silly. Harrison quite liked the Butter Pecan with his chocolate cake. I stuck with vanilla myself. I had a most wonderful birthday with my family but missed having my hubby there...first birthday we hadn't been together in almost 12 years.

Tots Group Goes to Moor Farms

Today our tots group made a trip out out Moor Farms near Newborough. It was a great visit and totally different to our visits to places like Sacrewell Farms. This was a real working farm that catered to children's groups. We were to all wear wellies because we did a big walk around through a sheep paddock.

The children got asked a question by our hostess about what the little lambs were doing with the mummy lambs and Addison piped right up and said "Getting milk". So then our little star got asked another question about what it took to grow the grass that the sheep were eating and she answered "water and sunshine." I was such a proud mummy as the lady was astonished that she knew that.

We also got a very rare treat to see some live baby barn owls. There are not many left due to the current nature of how farmers have to close off their grain storage barns now so to preserve them some farmers create owl boxes. There happened to be a gentleman at the farm that day who was certified to track these birds and he discovered that their were babies in the nest and he got them down for us to see along with the momma.

Next the kids got to scoop up feed and drop it in the cow's trough. With only two scoops and about 15 toddlers there was a mad dash for the feed and few scuffles.

A really fun activities was that all the older kids got to feed a baby lamb from a bottle (actually looked like Coke bottles fitted with a nipple). The kids really enjoyed that bit and Harrison let me help him out.

Addison was pretty good on her own and ended up feeding 2 sheep on her own and did a third one with two of her little friends who were really into it as well.

Finally they got to climb up into the cab of a tractor and Addison got to ride with her dear friend Robyn.

Robyn, Addison, and Harry stand together by the tractor's wheel.

A special privilege passed on to different children throughout the day was getting to hold the lead of the farm's dog. Of course Addison was pretty protective of her go at it, but poor Harry just wanted to try as well. Little Ned Pilsworth is just hanging out while his sister Robyn is wondering why Addie and Harry are fighting over a silly dog lead.

Our day ended with a picnic in the garden next to the farm house. It was a really nice space and had a few little ride on cars and tractors for the kids, a play house, a play milking cow and a couple picnic tables. Addison sat next to her friends Robyn and Ella Gerrard. We had a great day at the farm but had to make sure we got our feet, hands and push chair all cleaned up before we left to prevent the spread of E.coli...very responsible of them all.

East of England Show

For Father's Day we made our way the the East of England show out at the showgrounds. We had talked about going in year's past but hadn't due to icky weather, but this year was very nice. It was a bit chilly at times but still a great day out. The East of England show is really like a big fair with dog shows, horse shows, farm animals, antique tractors, vendors, big sandwiches, ice cream, rides and more....and we did it all. Our first stop was the dog show...we all loved watching the dogs jump fences, run through tunnels and balance on see saws...it was especially funny to see all the different ways the trainers get the dogs to do things.

Different from our local American county fairs, actual farmers are the ones showing the animals and they wear white lab coat looking things. This was quite a large bull and later on we watched how they would show a class of 5 mixed cows/calves/bull/heifers combinations. Very interesting to us farm kids to see things done in such different ways.

Showing sheep....Addison and Harrison kept yelling out "BAAAA" and "I wanna touch them mummy!"

They also had a blacksmith/ferrier competition to make and fit a set of horseshoes. It was very interesting to see them all in such "American" looking duds since this is what most people looked like in the Block and Bridle club at ISU....we felt like we were at home.

Lots of food vendors were there and one of my favorites was the Jordan's booth. Harrison and I crave the Jordan's Strawberry Clusters Oatmeal that they make and we snarl it up with a bit heaping scoop of yoghurt on top. Here they were giving way taster samples of different granolas and such. Also if you bought 10 GBP worth of cereal you could get a nifty Jordan's burlap bag. I am kicking myself for not snatching up one of those.

I love fair food but this was one of the most amazing sandwiches I've ever had at any fair...even beats a big ol' tenderloin at the Iowa State Fair. It was a pork and apple burger with English back bacon and huge chucks of English cheddar melting on top....yum meeeee!!!

It wouldn't be summer in England without strawberries and cream so we got a cup full to share amongst us all.

Next we were off to watch the wagon team pulling competition. Essentially there were about 6-7 teams of horses pulling open wagons with 3 people riding on them. Then one older looking chap standing out in the middle of the ring just watching them all walk the horses around. He didn't write anything down or do much other than watch. Then after about 25 minutes they announced the winners. We learned from someone that they get judged on how well the team of horses move together, if the reigns are all even, and some other things. Very confusing but pretty interesting. The people who won have actually been winning every competition for the past few months as we were told.

Next we had to grab and ice cream of course. Probably some of the worst ice cream we've had so far but the kids didn't seem to mind. Then off to the horse jumping competitions which are Addison's favorite.

In this competition it looked like boys and girls around 14-16 years old who have to jump fences with their horses and then at a point they hop off of their horse and then onto a mountain bike and weave in and out of the red cones and throw some water and back to the finish. It was crazy!!! One kid got caught with a bad bike that someone had gotten the gears all screwed up...don't know how they reconcile that one.

We walked through all the commercial vendors and I loved this mobile post office in the back of a van.

Kevin really like the old steam engines. There was also a really cool old calliope that played fun little songs through it's whistles and organs and other instruments and we all danced along.

There was also a parade of antique tractors. We saw tractors from all over including ones from Charles City, Iowa and an old CAT tractor (in this picture).

Of course no fair would be complete without going on at least one ride. Addison kept begging to ride on the big carrousel and we promised she could and when it came time to go, she actually said the carrousel she wanted to ride was the little swing one which was perfect for her and Harry to go onto together.

Before we headed home we did a walk through of the all the animals so we looked at the pigs, the sheep and cow barns.

It was a great day certainly a wonderful Father's Day!!!! It was really nice because it was great to be where we were and with all the animals, tractors and such there was a real reminiscence of home.

First Thunderstorm in England

In the almost three years that we've lived in England I think I've heard thunder only two times and very faintly, but tonight we had a true thunderstorm. Now it only lasted about 30 minutes starting at 11:30 at night but I got excited. I was actually sitting on the couch updating the my blog and watching "Legally Blonde" on TV when I saw the first flash of lightening. Then I heard thunder, then I popped up and checked outside and the rain came down hard.

The next day we had some more strong rains and it felt like being in the mid-west with all the heavy rains and weather we would get. Most rains in the UK are slow and steady but this has been crazy.

It's the World Cup, Baby!!!

It's World Cup time and we are seeing some real English patriotism for the first time since we've lived in the UK. We didn't realize how much English "football" meant to everyone until we started seeing St. George's Cross flags being hung all throughout our neighborhood. People have little England flags hanging out of their house windows, their cars, and loads of England touting clothes all throughout the stores. They have meal deals at the front of the grocery stores promoting Stella beer and pizza. I also heard that Perkins has an official "World Cup" policy in place with one rule being you are not aloud to listen to games on company computers but you are aloud to listen on the radio. I have overheard neighbors talk about missing weddings because they didn't want to miss a game....how crazy.

















For fun we wanted to hang up an American flag on our house to show some American patriotism since we've never done that before (we've never been around for the 4th of July while we've lived here). Funny thing is that we had to borrow an American flag from our neighbors because we didn't have one. We did get a little nervous about hanging it up as England and the US are due to play their first round games against each other. We did get it up a few hours before the game and got into lots of fun banter with the neighbors.

We got invited to the Duffy's for a BBQ with Brits and Americans alike from Kevin's work and it was so much fun. The Duffy's had an amazing spread for us all and most everyone gathered in their living room to watch the game with ended with a draw 1-1. In the first rounds there are four teams in a round robin and each team gains points based on if they win, lose or draw (no pun intended). So the US and England each get one point for drawing. Slovania and Uganda are also in our bracket so time will tell if we get to go on.

What an amazing experince to have being Americans over here while our country is competing in a world wide sport that isn't very popular at home but is life to so many people around the world. Go USA!!!!

Helping with Dinner

I have a prediction that my little man Harrison is going to be a world famous chef as he is constantly helping me out in the kitchen whether I need it or not. Today I made a new canneloni dish and as soon as I started filling the shells, here comes my little guy with his stool. He sees that he needs a spoon so he gets in the cutlery drawer and pulls out a spoon and hops back on his stool and starts scooping the chicken mixture in a shell. What a good little boy and I love getting his help!

Messy Play at Playgroup

At playgroup today we had a messy play. Loads of different stations filled with lots of things to get ooey and gooey and messy. I volunteered to set up a little station myself (making edible dirt with pudding, cookie crumbs, and gummy worms) and it was so much fun, but also hard to run that and help my little ones out during their messy play.











Addison and Ella giving it a go at threading pasta on string necklaces.












Harrison plays with little Cameron in the sand.


















Harrison had lots of fun painting rocks.















And Addison had fun painting about 5 pictures with all sorts of stamps and her fingers. Harrison wanted to join in as well and boy that was a lot of multi-tasking. They both had a ton of fun but I was exhausted after they were done.

A Play Date at the Lake House

For the last week while Emily and Madeline were in England we got together several times at our place and the "lake house" place that they rented in Maxey. It was an absolutely amazing place on a lake out in the middle of no where on the edge of the village of Maxey. We so need to rent this place ourselves on our last week...much better than a hotel. Well today we came over for lunch and then I made up some cookies and cut up fruit for them to make fruit pizzas.

















Time to eat....


















Madeline likes them too.

Goodbye to the Hardy's

The day is unfortunately coming up but our friends the Hardy's are moving back to the US soon. Little Madeline and Addison have essentially grown up together while living in England and it was going to be hard to separate the two of them soon for the time we have left here. The two of them started being instant friends from November 2007 just after they moved to England. Here are the two of them riding together in a swing at Ferry Meadows.










Here are the two girls at the Burghley House Battle Proms sitting on Emily and Bill's shoulders in July of 2008 - yes we are all wearing jackets in July.

















Here are the girls this last week together when we went to the park in Glinton for a play date. Wow, they have grown up.











Tonight a few families gathered together at the Duffy's house to say farewell to the Hardy family. Here we have Emily, Lana and Cathy hanging out.










The kids had a blast and all the little girls all played and dressed up (which there were always a litter of little girls in this ISE group that have grown up together here). Here is Madeline all primped up.










I also hosted a brunch get together for the rest of the ladies to get together to say goodbye to our good friend Emily. We got her a few things to remember Jolly ol' England including a pair of fun fashion wellies that I caught her saying that she would really like to get a pair before they leave.











I also put together a picture book and frame for Madeline to remember her good friend Addison. We will miss you so much but look forward to seeing you all and little boy Hardy when we move back to the US some day!!!!