Happy Halloween

We returned from our holiday to Vienna, Prague, and Berlin late Thursday night (the blog for this trip will come shortly) as we wanted to ensure we were back in the U.K. for the trick-or-treating festivities. Trick-or-treating isn't as popular in the U.K. as it in the U.S.; however it is beginning to catch on a little bit more than in the past. With that being said, they still only really sell costumes that are witches, pumpkins, devils, etc. (so we had to purchase the kids' costumes from Toys R Us in the good ol' U.S.).

Around 5:15 p.m. we headed to Corrina and Kevin Dea's house (a Caterpillar ISE family) for trick-or-treating in their village as well as BBQ afterwards. There were about 11 families that attended the gathering and we had a fabulous time visiting with everyone and seeing all of the kids dressed up in their costumes. Thanks, Corrina & Kevin!!!

This year, Brett dressed up as a Shadow Wolf Ice Ninja, Kendall dressed up as TinkerBell, and Kameron dressed up as Cinderella. ;o)

Brett's Birthday Party & Papa Pat's Visit

Last week was a busy week with Papa Pat arriving for a visit as well as getting ready for Brett's birthday party. As with all of our parent's visits, we did a ton of sightseeing during their first trip to England -- so during this particular visit, we went to a few sightseeing places but basically just spent lots of time together having fun doing our weekly activities (Gymmies class, swimming, etc.).

Enjoying lunch at the Black Horse in Elton

Brett's birthday party consisted of us renting out Activity World (a large indoor play place) in Peterborough. We figured that since this would be Brett's last birthday party in the U.K., we didn't want to have to pick and choose children to invite -- so rather than leaving anyone out, we invited his entire class of Year 3 and 4 (along with their siblings). ;o) Many of our Caterpillar/Air Force Base friends (from the U.S.) attended the party as well as about 50+ children from Elton School. Most of the day Monday and Tuesday were spent putting together party bags and baking, frosting, and decorating about 110 cupcakes! (Mike was very helpful in putting the party bags together and Pat was a huge help in icing and decorating the cupcakes -- thanks, guys!) The party, itself, was wild and crazy (as you can imagine having almost 85 children together in one area!) but lots of fun! We were very pleased to see such a great turnout! We really have been blessed with wonderful friends living here.







As you can see, the party was wild and crazy!!!


Brett surrounded by all of his birthday gifts!!!


At the Elton School's Celebration Assembly, they recognized Brett for having a birthday and sang to him. ;o)

After recouping from the party on Tuesday night, we visited Stamford and Burghley House on Wednesday and Thursday. Even after visiting Burghley House several times, I still enjoying viewing all of the rooms. It seems that I see new things every time I go there. On Thursday after Brett finished school, we drove to Rutland Water (a park that is about 30 minutes from our house) so the children could ride their bikes. The weather looked quite questionable throughout the day; however held out just long enough for the kids to ride their bikes at the park for about an hour.

As with all of our visitors, we hated to see Pat leave; however are happy that we will be back in the U.S. in about 6 weeks to visit for Christmas! ;o)

Burghley House

Rutland Water

Rutland Water

Happy 8th Birthday, Brett!

I don't believe it is possible that our little man is 8 years old today! It seems like just yesterday he was born and I was stressing out about how to take care of a newborn baby. ;o) It wasn't until I had children that I really realized how fast time flies by. Brett, Kendall and Kameron are the joy of our lives and we love them with all of our hearts! We are truly blessed! Happy 8th Birthday, little buddy!

My intention was to include a photo from each of Brett's birthdays; however unfortunately my computer that had all of our older photos crashed before we moved to the UK so I don't have them online any longer (and I am behind the times and don't have a scanner to scan his baby photos either)...so I will post some photos from what I do have online to show how much he has grown. (Mike was able to find a couple photos on his computer from when Brett was a baby -- thanks, honey!) We love you buddy!!!

October 21, 2000
We were blessed with Brett Montelle at 3:01 p.m.




















8 years old and counting... ;o)

Saying Prayers

While the kids have always said prayers at bedtime (the one I taught them from when I was little), they have recently adopted a new bedtime prayer that they learned at the Celebration Assembly at Brett's school. They normally say their prayers together; however I wanted to video each of them separately so you could hear their little English accents. ;o)

"Watching week" at swimming lessons

Brett, Kendall and Kameron are taking swimming lessons at the Splash Academy in Peterborough. There are only about six children in each of their specific age-brackets which is great. They are all really enjoying the lessons and look forward to going swimming every Wednesday night. Out of the 12-week class, parents are allowed to go in and watch on two separate occasions. This evening happened to be the first occasion and the next one will be right before the class ends in early December. Mike and I thoroughly enjoyed watching the kids show us what they have been learning the past few weeks. They were all really proud -- as were we! ;o) Brett has really taken to the water which is a bit surprising considering where he originally started. Kendall and Kameron are enjoying the lessons but are still quite apprehensive about getting water in their faces. (As you will see from one of the videos, Kameron is very hesitant about wanting to jump into the water as she knows her face will get wet.) ;o) Hopefully by the end of the lessons, all three of them will be little fish...

Weekend in southern England

On Friday night, we headed an hour south of London to the county of Kent (cities of Dover, Chatham, Canterbury, etc.) for the weekend. In the pitch black of night, Jane (our handy GPS), decided to take us through the most remote single-lane road I think we've ever been on (except for maybe while we were in Ireland) to get to our hotel. For the last 10 or 15 minutes of our drive, I had a pit in my stomach thinking that TripAdvisor.com let me down and provided good reviews for some hotel that was in the middle of nowhere. I could almost hear 'dualing banjos' playing in my head for the last few minutes of our journey. We arrived at our hotel without any issues (except feeling a bit ill) and were very pleased to see that it was situated right off the main road -- Jane just wanted to save us 50 feet on our journey length so took us about 15 minutes out of our way. ;o)

Saturday morning arrived and we headed to Chatham to visit Dickens World. This location was set up with a boat ride as well as then a 4D movie about the life and times of Charles Dickens.

Getting ready to watch the 4D show about Charles Dickens' life.

After leaving Chatham, we headed to Canterbury. Canterbury is still set up as a medieval town where no cars are allowed to drive in the centre. We enjoyed visiting Canterbury Cathedral and Canterbury Castle during our time in the city. The Cathedral is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England. The Cathedral's history goes back to 597AD when St. Augustine established his seat in Canterbury. In 1170, Archbishop Thomas Becket was murdered in the Cathedral and it seems that ever since then, the Cathedral has attracted thousands of visitors (as told in Canterbury Tales). Canterbury Castle was one of the three original royal castles of Kent (the other two were at Rochester and Dover) which was built very soon after the Battle of Hastings. From at least the twelfth century, the Castle's main use was as a prison for the County of Kent.

Canterbury Cathedral

Canterbury Castle

After leaving Canterbury, we headed to the city of Dover. It is in this city where we visited Dover Castle and the famous White Cliffs of Dover. Dover Castle is situated inside the White Cliffs and has been described as "the key to England". In the twentieth century the castle played an important role in both world wars. In May 1940, new tunnels were built to house an underground hospital. The kids enjoyed walking through the tunnel and searching for secret passages. After leaving the castle, we headed next door to the White Cliffs of Dover. The cliffs are absolutely beautiful and breathtaking; however the kids and I weren't too keen on walking along the edge of a cliff to get a good view. We all seemed to have a deathgrip on each other to ensure no one tripped and fell.

Dover Castle

Standing in front of one of Dover's two lighthouses with Dover Castle in the background.

Standing at the bottom of the underground tunnel at Dover Castle.

White Cliffs of Dover

On our drive home, we decided to make two more stops. We stopped at Ashdown Forest (aka "The Hundred Acre Woods") to visit the Poohsticks Bridge. Thank goodness it was a beautiful day as we had to hike about 30 minutes to get to the bridge (I know it really doesn't sound like that much -- but when you are walking with 3 tired kids and trying to dodge mud puddles and horse-pies, it takes a lot out of you). The kids enjoyed selecting sticks to throw over the edge of the bridge...and even more so, they enjoyed looking over the other side of the bridge to see whose stick arrived first. ;o) The last stop for the weekend trip was Penshurst Place. Penshurst Place was built in 1552 and is the Sidney family estate. The building and gardens were beautiful -- but the real reason we went to visit the house was because a scene from "The Princess Bride" was filmed in the house. ;o) We had an absolutely wonderful weekend and are looking forward to our next big adventure -- whatever it may be!

Pooh Sticks Bridge -- getting ready to each throw their sticks in...

Looking over the edge to find out which stick won.

Penshurst Place

Penshurst Place

I've been tagged...

So I've been tagged by Holli -- twice. I'll admit that I didn't answer any questions the last time she tagged me, so I figured I had better do it now. ;o) After I tell you 7 things you probably didn't know about me (although I'm sure my family will know these already), I should be tagging 7 other people with blogs so they can do the same thing; however the only people (minus a few in the U.S.) I know who have blogs live here in the UK -- and I figure if I tag them, it would just start a vicious circle...so after I list these 7 things, I'm out. ;o)

1. In my senior year of high school, I was a Peoria Rivergirl (a dancer for the Peoria Rivermen hockey team).
2. I received a marriage proposal on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls (yes, of course, by Mike!)
3. I am a procrastinator and a worry-wart. I seem to have the ability to do both at the exact same time.
4. Spring is my favourite season.
5. Purple is my favourite colour.
6. I absolutely love to sleep -- and would really love to be able to sleep in until at least 9 a.m. every day.
7. While I really didn't want to move to England and while I really miss our family in the U.S., I am thoroughly enjoying our adventures over here and wouldn't trade the experience we're having or the friends we have made for the world.

There is a first time for everything...

I woke all of the kids up this morning to get them ready for school and Kameron said she had a tummy ache and didn't want to eat her breakfast. I told her that if she didn't eat breakfast she couldn't go to school 'as breakfast is the most important meal of the day' (yes, I think I've turned into my mom -- love you, mom!) ;o) Anyway, she still didn't want to eat anything ... so I asked if she wanted to stay home from school today. She confirmed that she did. Now since the girls were babies, if one of them wasn't feeling well I simply kept both of them home as it seemed much easier; however today I asked Kendall if she still wanted to go to school -- and she confirmed that she did. Wow -- quite a shocker! Anyway, we took Brett to school and then headed to Warmington Playgroup to take Kendall there for the morning. Kameron and I both gave her hugs and kisses and told her we would see her later -- and I explained to the teacher that today would be the first day that they have ever been apart (actually only about 3 hours -- but nonetheless). The teachers couldn't believe it when I said they had literally never been apart for that long but said they would watch Kendall to ensure she was getting along okay. Kami and I went to the car and on the way home she started talking about boo-boos and needing a plaster (bandaid). In the midst of our conversation, she kept saying "Kendall" ... "Kendall". When I asked her who she was talking to since it was just me and her in the car, she simply said "oh, that's right mummy, I forgot that Kendall is at school very far away from us today." About broke my heart! The little peanut was talking to her sister like she does everyday not even realizing that she wasn't in the car with us. At pickup, both girls screamed each other's name and then ran up to each other and gave huge hugs. That melted my heart! PRICELESS!!!

Thought I would take a short stroll down memory lane... ;o)

Fall has arrived...

We have had a busy week with school, playgroup, Gymmies class, multi-sports club, book club, and Max's birthday party. The weather has obviously been getting cooler ... but my oh my, Fall definitely arrived this weekend! We spent Saturday morning at Alconbury for Brett's soccer game. While the thermometer said it was mid-40s, it literally felt like it was below zero as there isn't any windblock at Alconbury. Needless to say, the girls and I snuggled with each other to keep warm. ;o)

On Sunday, we had planned to visit a few outdoor things; however the weather (rain, rain, and more rain) ensured we changed our plans. We ended up driving to Norwich (about 2 hours from our house) to the Castle Mall where we enjoyed lunch and especially Auntie Anne's pretzels (yahoo!). Auntie Anne's pretzels are one of the things I have been craving from the U.S. -- that is, of course, in addition to Papa John's pizza. ;o) Following our journey to the mall, we headed to Hunstanton (about 1 1/2 hours from our house along the coast) to the Sea Life Sanctuary. We enjoyed seeing the seals, otters, penguins, and other sea life at the sanctuary. While Brett and Kendall seemed to really enjoy the seals, Kameron was most intrigued by the penguins. ;o)



Yes, Brett is the player in the winter stocking hat and gloves. ;o)


From the looks of it, you would think we were watching a winter sport.


Watching the seals...


and the penguins...

Emotionally rough week

This week consisted of our usual weekly routine -- Brett with school all week, Kendall & Kameron with Playgroup every morning except Tuesday, Gymmies class on Tuesday morning, soccer practice at Alconbury on Tuesday night, swimming lessons after school on Wednesday, multi-sports after school on Thursday, and soccer game on Saturday. And I know it really doesn't sound like that much stuff -- but when you add all of the other little day to day additions (coffee get-togethers, book club, shopping, etc.), it really does keep us very busy. ;o)

I haven't added anything to our blog over the past week as it has been a challenging one for us. Brett has had a rough week at school having to deal with unfriendly children ('unfriendly' is NOT the word I would like to put on the blog for what I would call these children -- but I'll be good). As with all children (whether every parent wants to admit it or not), Brett messes about (this is an English term in a nutshell for being silly); however he knows better than to intentionally hurt someone. Well, the girls and I picked him up Tuesday afternoon from school and were talking about his day once we got back into the van and he mentioned that he hit his head and there was a bump. I crawled into the back of the van to feel his head and there was quite a good size goose-egg. I asked him what exactly had happened and he explained that another child bumped into him in the morning and made him knock his head against the table. He said this boy (as well as one other) has done this type of thing several other times but this time he just did it hard enough to make a bump. To say the least, I was NOT a happy mummy and almost marched back into the school to have a talk with the teacher. (Must be the American in me!) ;o) Not being in a very good state of mind I figured it would be best for me to calm down a bit and discuss it with the teacher the next day. The kids and I went to Brett's soccer practice that night and pulled into Alconbury right at 5 p.m. When we pulled in, all of the cars were at a standstill and the people were standing outside of their cars listening to the Star Spangled Banner (this song is played every single day on the base at 5 p.m.). So I stopped the van, rolled down the windows, had the children cross their hearts, and I sang the song along with everyone else on the base. You wouldn't think such a song would necessarily make someone emotional -- but let me tell you, with living in England for almost two years and never hearing the song as well as the emotional strain we were having to deal with from children at school, I literally had tears streaming down my face. (I know, you can't believe I would cry right?!) Wednesday morning arrived and the girls and I took Brett to school and I was able to talk to the teacher about the incident that had occurred in the classroom. She explained that she knew it happened, she didn't think it was intentional, and she had a talk with the other boy who did it. Being extremely nice but also getting my point across that bullying was unacceptable, she confirmed that she would keep an eye on everything and I shouldn't worry. Okay, so 'worry' is my middle name so that isn't possible for me to not worry, but we're simply going to take it day by day. I realize that bullying happens to almost all children at one time or another -- but I guess I just didn't expect it to happen at this early of an age. It is a real shame that children can be so hurtful.

Friday afternoon arrived and the girls and I attended Brett's celebration assembly. Brett didn't have any other extreme bullying-type incidents for the remainder of the week and he received his Bronze Certificate for Good Work which made us all smile. Here's to hoping and praying that this upcoming week is better than this past one.

Brett playing hockey at multi-sports

Brett receiving his Bronze Certificate for Good Work

The girls were doing what I would have loved to have done by Friday afternoon! ;o)