Weekend Fun

Friday was a hard day for me!!!  I had to drop my baby off at her first GS event without me there!!!  It was so hard to leave her and see her face as I walked away.  I think (know) it was harder on me than it was her! She has not really gotten to know the girls here yet and I felt like I was leaving her lonely.  I am so used to being the one there with her and trying to run things that giving up control of that is very hard.  I like seeing everything the girls learn and being there.  I know that at this point I would have not been the best leader since we were new here and I am just learning the basics about England so to be a leader would have not been good but I was not ready to give up all I had done with GS.  It takes me back to being at the school all day every day and helping to run things and then all at once pulling out.  I do not like that feeling at all.  The meetings will be the same.  I will drop her off at the meetings and then have to find something to do for an hour and a half until they are done.  With it being Monday, I wonder what is open.  Most everything is closed on base on Mondays.

Photos of the Campfire thanks to her leader...

This weekend we had visitors at our house which was nice!  We planned during the week to have them over for a visit and when we visit we usually spend the day together ...lunch and dinner since it is an hour or so drive.

On Wednesday, Mat spent the day in Lakenheath getting everything changed over on his vehicle. It cost a third of the price that the base wanted to charge us for the change over so the drive was worth the amount saved. He was able to spend the day with his buddy there.  He went to the gym as well as to the stores there and elsewhere on base.  It too ALL day for it to get done.  Luckily his job gave him the day off to get it done!  While he was down there he made plans for him and his family to come up and visit us.  They are the friends that we had made in Arizona and we had travelled a couple times down their way and stopped in.  Usually it was on days we had to be in Lakenheath for something.  But the kids have gotten along so well that it is nice to have visits with them.

I tried to make plans to visit places but all the places were an even further drive from the house.  So we waited until they arrived to make any decisions on the day.

The arrived soon after breakfast which was great!  The kids had been bugging non-stop asking when they were going to arrive so the sooner the better! The kids ran off to play and the adults chatted.  We had lunch... chatted more... we were trying to decide where our next adventures would take us and when we should go.  Some of the places are 4-5 hours away and so those would be weekend trips or at least over nights.  There are a few places that are about an hour away that looked neat and also some that were in the middle that we could visit.  We were looking for areas that we could visit more than one thing in a day or over a weekend.  The problem we have right now is that Mat has his testing coming up soon and he needs to study so travelling has been put on hold until after that.  The kids and I also need to get our passports so we can travel outside of England.  It was something we put on hold but now it is time to get them done!  Mat and Ross smoked some meat on the grill and spent much of the day talking about the JOB and about the good old times.  Dinner was served and eaten... more playing for the kids and then it was getting to be that time of the night... Well instead of calling it a night... we kept our company!!! The kids had a sleep over and Erin and Ross stayed in the guest house for the night.  It was great!  The kids were super excited and it was nice to have night adult time with the 4 of us until one pooped out and was asleep in the chair (ehhhh,,,, MAT!) but he has an excuse since he had to work early that morning.  Once he went to bed, we stayed up watching some TV and then all headed to bed.  The kids were asleep fast!

This morning we woke to Mat making breakfast... I guess it is good that he went to bed before we all did.  And then little footsteps coming down the hall upstairs and finally down the stairs.  Ross and Erin came in soon after the boys were up but the girls remained in the bed until we had them come down for breakfast.  They were awake just not moving very fast this morning.  We all ate breakfast and then got ready for church.  Their family joined us at mass and then the children headed to CCD with ours.  It was nice that our CCD class allowed them to come with them.  They also are Catholic and head to CCD and church on Sundays but being here and church being an hour away it was easy to place them in with us!  While the kids were at CCD we went to the coffee and muffins.  The hour went by pretty fast.

All four seemed to have a great time together and can not wait for the next time.  We miss being with our NJ friends but glad that they/we continue to have friends other places they go.   It is always nice to know some people even so far away from our family!

The kids have both had their baths now and everything is ready for the first school week.  I can't wait to hear how their first week goes.  I am excited for them and nervous as well.  Just hoping there is not too much catching up that they start to dislike school here in England.

Uniforms Ironed...................................for school = )

Some photos from the weekend....


Started a word wall for Mathew so we could start learning how to read.  In order to go outside he has to be able to read me some of the words off the wall.  It has worked great so far.

Lemon Juice and a scrub pad a great duo fighting hard water spots on showers...

bought a shower squeegy today to make it even better!

Driving down a lane fit for one car trying to find a place to get some dessert while sis is at GS Campfire.

Found a pub with some Ice Cream

Sausage, Egg, and Cheese wraps ready for the week = quick breakfasts!