My dad and stepmom, just left after a two week visit with us. Dad adventurously rented a car and drove 1400 miles without an incident! They spent a week up here in Whitehaven participating in our weekly activities and exploring some of the Lake District as well. Nathan was happy to have another male to kick the soccer ball, watch him at practice and take him to the driving range. Unfortunately, the beautiful weather left when they arrived and just returned yesterday.

Knowing that weather can't prevent you from exploring over here we headed out for a picnic to a waterfall at Wasdale Head.

Dad, Margaret and I took a day trip to Keswick to see Castlerigg Stonecircle which is smaller than Stonehenge but similar in purpose and look. Dad said he could check that one off his list and didn't need to see the infamous Stonehenge.

They got to experience a nailbiting soccer match between Manchester United and Chelsea for the Champions League Cup televised from Moscow. The game went into over time and then a shoot out with our team, Man U, on top! Can't leave England without one of those experiences.

On Friday afternoon just after school, we all drove south to the Cotswolds in the midlands of England. Unsure of where we were going, Julieanne had told her friends she was spending the half term break in the "Cotton swabs" which of course they had never heard of. The Cotswolds is an area that spans about 78 miles, mostly farmland with open plateaus known as 'wolds'. It's been inhabited about 6000 years with well preserved quaint towns and villages that thrived because of the wool market in the Middle Ages. The buildings and countless stone walls are all made of the signature honey colored Cotswold stone.

On our one and only sunny and dry day we checked out Warwick Castle, great Medieval castle belonging to The Earls of Warwick, heavyweights in England's brutal political battles. One of the most famous Earls was Richard Nevill, known as the 'kingmaker' becasue he was supposedly so powerful he helpd depose Henry VI and Edward IV. Another Earl executed Joan of Arc. Though the castle had many artifacts that were impressive the kids weren't enthralled with 800 year old tapestries that king whoever had touched.

They did enjoy that it was a hands on type of place because a wax museum filled the rooms with historical figures and scenes. We were there during a jousting tournament so the place was teeming with folks in period costume. The coolest part was the gi-normous catapult! They had people inside these giant wheels (think hamster wheel) powering the catapult before it's launch. During the Middle Ages when seiging a city, a favored launch item was dead, rotting pigs as they of course stunk to high heavens and spread disease if they happened to land in a water supply. Nice.

As influential as Shakespeare is even today, his town, Stratford Upon Avon, we enjoyed the least, not because of him but because of it's touristy feel. The kids enjoyed the baby swans that entertained us during our picnic and the buildings were really cool. Like my fasination with our Cumbrian sheep, I was real impressed with the thatched roofs. Strangely enough they were outlawed during Shakespeare's day because of fire prevention.

If the kids weren't impressed with Queen Anne's bed, then they weren't going to be that enamured with green colored 'healing' water in the 1st century Roman baths but we still went. Mr. Engineer, Dennis, was intrigued by the complexities of the excavated Roman baths.

No doubt a highlight was just taking little hikes from town to town in the Cotswolds. We took the public footpaths which are just public right of ways that take you beside farmlands and through sheep pastures (like walking through a land mine) beside lazy rivers, and beautiful flowers.

This picture of the kids came from Bourton on the Water which the guidebook described as ruined by tourism. If they think this is touristy they would cringe at the sight of Gatlinburg or Myrtle Beach!

On our drive home, we stopped in Oxford to visit Magdalen College where, family favorite, C.S. Lewis was a professor. Unlike US universities, Oxford is made up of 36 colleges dispersed throughout the city. The 'campus' of Magdalen College had a deer meadow, canal with canoes, walks, grassy quads, gardens and of course majestic towers, halls and buildings. Strolling through there in the misty rain sparked some good conversations witht the girls on careers and colleges. Unfortunately for Na all he will remember is throwing up near the entrance since he had a stomach bug that day. (Driving home in the rain throwing up every hour and a half isn't so fun but he was a trooper!)

Did you know that in the back of Dennis 'dreams' he would love to be a professor? Thinking back on readings about Lewis and his inspirational group of friends, The Inklings, made the college more 'alive' for Dennis. He would be a great professor!

While Nathan recovered the rest of the week at home, the girls helped our church with a holiday kids club for a nearby village. The Vacation Bible School style club was a real hit and the girls were glad to be a part of it.

Reluctantly, they all returned to school Monday for the final 6 weeks. It was an especially good break connecting with the kids.

Thanks Dad and Margaret for putting up with our late departures each day and meandering through cities. We had a fun visit!

Officially Hot!

At the girls' school they have to remain in full uniform at all times unless the headmaster deems it 'officially hot' at which time they may remove both the tie and blazer. They've had at least 6 'officially hot' days in the last two weeks. Julieanne happily models no blazer and the tie coming off. She had a little run in her hose which is a regular occurence but she and AC decided to have a little fun exagerating the hole.

We have had at least 10 days straight of blue skies in the 70s and we are soaking it up! We had recently been commenting how much we missed the Georgia warmth. No doubt, when we are back home this July with 75% humidity and 100 degrees plus mosquitoes, we probably will think twice about missing Georgia's warmth.

We've realized that spring is about two months later in coming over here than in Augusta. Nevertheless it is equally beautiful with flowering trees, flower beds in full bloom and sunshine! In fact we've all gotten sunburned! We have enjoyed a few bike rides on the extensive bike paths over here. The scenery is beautiful and if you don't mind pedaling or walking uphill -you'd love it!

Funny thing about the English, they are sure this is all we will get of 'summer'. As Dennis wrote in an earlier blog, they win the prize for pessimism especially when it comes to regarding their weather. Whatever! I'm glad it's officially hot and sunny!

England from the Willis' Perspective

Well, if we had to sum our 10 day trip up in one word it would be: AWESOME! We all had a blast and the trip went above and beyond our expectations. We've included a small video snapshot of our time together. Unfortunately it doesn’t capture all the fun and the bonding that did occur, but you will get the idea!

I’ll have to admit, I wondered how the initial reunion would be between the six kids, but let me assure you within 30 seconds of hugs and kisses, Luke & Nate were wrestling on the floor, A.C. & Isabel were in their own world talking about things “girls” talk about and J.A. & Josh were picking up right where they left off in August.

London – We stayed in London from Saturday until Tuesday and got a grand overview of what a city of 12 million is like! I would say that our children not getting run over by double decker busses and crazy drivers, (driving on the wrong side of the road) was quite an accomplishment. J We only lost J.A. & Josh once and it only took about 5 minutes to find them. We walked all over London (or so it seemed) and basically did everything we could in 3 days. On Sunday we woke up to huge snowflakes falling from the sky which the kids were excited about. We worshipped at All Soul’s Church (John Stott’s church) that morning and I will have to say it was really moving. Julie had told me that there are typically 88 different nationalities worshipping there and as we sang “Beautiful Savior,” I looked around and couldn’t help but think about Heaven and how it would be when we are all there worshipping our King. We went to the Tower of London (highly recommend), walked across the London Bridge, rode the Eye of London, saw Les Mis (fantastic!) and went to the Natural Museum (huge)! In between those big things we watched the kids run through London acting as goofy as they possibly could, singing at the top of their lungs, jumping up on anything they could possibly jump on and basically just enjoying being together. We would generally all fall into the door of our hotel around mid-night and get up the next day ready to go again.

On Tuesday we boarded the express train and rode up toward the Lake District, then loaded all of our (10 people’s worth) luggage into their two automobiles and stuffed 8 of us in one car and Matt & Dennis in the other car. We took the scenic ride home, stopping in Ambleside to get a snack and walk around a bit. We weren’t too long into our ride home when we had the I-pod blaring and all 8 of us singing Hannah Montana at the tops of our lungs. We got to the Thompson’s house that evening and I must admit it seemed like we were at home the minute we walked in the door. It was great to sit at the dinner table that night and NOT be able to get a word in edgewise (yes, me, Pam) because of the kids talking about everything under the sun with one another.

The next five days proved to be just as wonderful as the 4 days prior as we explored how the Thompson’s were REALLY doing on the other side of the ocean. We took a BEAUTIFUL hike one day, the adults got one meal out alone, Luke went to school with Na and Josh went to school with the girls one day. We also took the boys skateboarding quite a bit and we went for a train ride up the country side. We saw all of these cute little towns that are located close to where Julie lives. Isabel even picked up rocks from the Irish seashore to bring home to America.

I would say the Thompson’s are just fine in England. Of course I don’t like to admit that. Through out the week as I was introduced to people, I could already tell people know what a blessing and treasure they have on their hands with the Thompson’s being with them for these few short years.

Julie has done amazingly well at jumping in with both feet. From learning how to drive (on the wrong side of the road and wrong side of the car) to learning how to shop, to learning her way around all of these little towns – it was fun to watch and fun to be apart of a very different life style than the one she was used to here.

A.C. & J.A. have definitely adapted quite well. They truly do love their school and they seem to have already made some very precious friends. They have both grown up soooooo much over the last seven months. They are both beautiful, thoughtful, affectionate and I miss them terribly!

Na, well, he’s my little hero! He still loves life with all gusto and still loves Luke with all of his heart (the feeling is mutual of course). I’m so proud of him because it takes a lot of guts to go to school (for the first time ever), be the only American, try to make new friends, figure out academically how they do everything and at the same time come home and live with two teenage girls (who sing musicals ALL the time J).

Denis, well what can I say? He’s still the adventurer we all know him to be. He asked me one night, what I thought about his decision to come over to England (not that my opinion really mattered in the grand scheme of things), but he wanted it so I gave it. I told him, if I were him I believe I would have done the same. His children, his wife, his marriage will forever be changed because of this move and the kind of change I’m talking about is not always the effortless but in the end is a good thing.

Now don’t get me wrong, the Thompson’s are not living in “fairy” land where there are no schedules, car pools, homework, late nights at work, soccer, ballet, choral, bible study, conflicts with friends, hard parenting times, hard marital conversations, etc….. but they are living at a place where it has forced all of them to get outside of their comfort zone and what they’ve always known and really examine their hearts, motivations and why they do the things they do! So, I would say for us, just being a part of their daily lives again, even for a short while, was, like I said at the beginning, like being at home.

Looking forward to our next trip! J

Pam, Matt, Josh, Luke & Isabel

Not So Fun New Experience

Although we could easily have had this new experience in the States, we are having it here instead. Anna Catherine had been itching her head like crazy every time she took her pony tail out after school. I didn’t think a whole lot about it until it continued for a week or two and then Sunday at lunch she mentioned having red bumps on her neck too. That did it – I told her to let me look…you guessed it….lice! and lots of it! Gross! She was freaked out by the fact that there were bugs in her hair and little eggs clinging to her ‘crown of beauty’. Lunch was interrupted by a family head check revealing Nathan’s case of lice as well. The rest of the afternoon was spent de-lousing the house and heads. All the bed linens, jackets, brushes, hats, pillows, stuffed animals, towels had to be bagged up until I could wash them. Remember I have a mini washer / dryer combo so there was no way a comforter would even fit in the washer. This need led to the discovery that there are no ‘DYI launderettes’ around – that’s ‘laundromat’ in America. Everyone can’t possibly have their own washer/dryer could they? Go figure. But I did discover they have washerettes that will do it for you for 8 pounds or $16 a single comforter. Ouch. Needless to say our washer has been going all week trying to work through whatever could be crammed into it.

On to the heads…Nathan and AC had their heads doused in de-louse ointment for 8 hours. We then took the extra fine tooth ‘nit comb’ to their heads to try to strip the hair of the eggs. We get to repeat this process again on today in case we missed any. Isn’t that lucky for them?

Nathan sheepishly handed his teacher the note on Monday declaring his lice status to which she replied – “Oh no worries Pet, several kids in the class have had it lately.” Great! As it turns out lack of funds have stopped the “Nit Nurses’ from coming to schools with reported cases of lice to check the children and now health and safety laws prevent an adult from digging through a kid’s head. The best they can do now is periodically send a note home to parents that there have been reported lice cases and please check your kid. In other words…useless and keep the de-louse ointment near by because you’ll probably get it again since they obviously have no effective way to control it anymore.

We’ll chalk that up to new experiences and hope that we don’t become experts in lice.

Teacher’s On Strike

As is common to all people, the teacher’s here feel under paid and unappreciated so they decided to make the country feel it with a one day strike. This only affected public schools so the girls continued as usual but Nathan’s school was out last Thursday.

I’m always looking for ways to keep Na active so I let him invite 4 boys over for a bike ride and lunch. Only problem is that the weather forecasted rain – no big shocker for here. 5 boys inside my house on a rainy day for 4 hours isn’t really my idea of fun so I began thinking of Plan B. Thankfully I remembered a game the Westergreen boys used to play called rubber bands wars. For this game each team lines up its army guys behind barricades (legos or blocks)if wanted but they must remain visible. Once each team is set up, rubber bands are distributed and the war commences with the goal trying to be the last team with one remaining army guy standing. (I had to email Beth for the instructions as my memory was lacking some details)

This kept them engaged for a while but they weren’t terribly proficient in rubber banding plus I found out later from Beth thick rubber bands work best. Anyway, it stopped raining and the boys went to kick the football while I made lunch. I served ‘American Hot Dogs’ from a can (double gross!) and pizza. Afterwards once all bikes were pumped up, helmets on, and water bottles packed we set off for the cycle path. We were off and riding for about 20 minutes when we came upon a playground they wanted to try out. They ended up playing soccer with a few kids as well. (Really these boys are quite content to just kick the soccer ball) When we got back on the bikes we had picked up some new boys which was fine. Later, when we passed by a group of loittering teenagers they asked if we were the Scouts? I had to laugh when I replied, “just a bunch of friends.” We got back just in time for the moms to pick them up. I think they were a bit tired and had a good time so that was great. It was fun to be with Na’s British friends even though the teacher's were on strike.