Good for the Soul

Initially homeschool co-op buddies, Katie and Julieanne's friendship goes back to third grade. The girls hit it off immediately when they were little seeing each other at church and co-op but then as life would have it, paths diverged and Katie's family went to a different co-op. About that time, our pending move to England was looming. We then left Augusta in 6th grade for the green hills of the Lake District promising to stay in touch. The girls kept up with each other and enjoyed reconnecting when we went home the next summer but then a job change took Katie's family to Connecticut. Julieanne was able to visit Katie last spring - even got to go to school and NYC together.

Katie's family has moved to

Frankfurt making visits more of a possibility. In November, we had the chance to have Katie with us, even managing a day at St. Bees School complete

with school uniform.

It was great fun to watch the girls enjoy being together again with no problem keeping the conversation flowing. Only problem was that it was too short. Julieanne said she felt like she only had time to catch up but not go deeper. We are planning to take the Chapman family up on their offer to have us over to Germany. Maybe the girls will get the chance to do more than catch up. Seeing old friends is nourishing to the soul.

Now you seem them....now you don't

April 2008 Julieanne had her braces put on to correct a serious overbite as well ascrowding. Two and a half years later with many trips to the orthodontist inbetween, they are now off!! Braces or not, JA is a girl of many faces and loads of personality - her antics keep us giggling.

School Begins

It seems that I missed a few months in there as I now stand one month into the new school year. This school year welcomes a senior, a freshman and 6th grader from the Thompson family - all at the same school. The three Thompson kids have not been in school together since AC was in 5th, JA in 2nd, and Na in pre-K back in ourhomeschooling days.

The school year started the weekend before school with a Gaudeamus concert in Carlisle Cathedral for Julieanne, a prefect planning time and hockey pre season training for AC. It hasn't let up ever since. This is the reason Anna Catherine wrote all of her university applications in August as there is little time for anything else at the moment.

Nathan went from keeping up with about five subjects to fourteen to so he has had major transitions. He said he loves school but hates the classes. Hmmm. We knew once we got to this place it would bring a fresh amount of work along with new challenges in organization. He's having to learn that just because he doesn't have written homework for the next day, there are probably still assignments he is supposed to be working

on. He is enjoying the chance to play rugby and basketball at St. Bees while knowing many students already in Anna Catherine and Julieanne's classes. He is taking golf lessons and drum lessons during the school day as well which is a bonus.

Julieanne is taking the usual core subjects of Math, English, French, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Religious studies, health and then her electives for GCSE of history, geography and PE. She

is in the school play and enjoying field hockey again. Living on house one night a week as a house monitor has brought its challenges of keeping up with her own

school work while trying to keep others on track as well. She overslept one morning on duty and was 10 minutes late ringing the wake up bell which upset a few people thus upsetting her. Mrs. Williams, the house mother, said all monitors sleep thru a bell and Julieanne just got hers over with at the beginning.

Anna Catherine has started her senior year with gusto - planning activities for the senior girls' house and getting to know

the girls from other countries. She stays over two nights a week with some rotating extra duty nights. Living on house a few nights a week has brought the beginning of the transition away from home that will inevitably come next year when she goes off to university. She is juggling an enormous school load along with hockey, cello, youth group and combined cadet forces so next year might actually be easier.

Responsibility

Dictionary.com tells me that responsible meansanswerable or accountable, as for something within one's power, control, or management.

Nathan was able

to learn that when you break a window you are

accountable. Actually, it wasn't his first broken window - he actually broke a neighbors window in Augusta on accident years ago before the Hitchcock's lived behind us. This time, Nathan was kicking his soccer ball and thought it a good idea to aim for the little plastic chairs you see in the photo. Only problem was he forgot to calculate a miss on his target. Oops! What seemed like fun turned into a not so good idea when the window was smashed. Thankfully, he came in and told us immediately, taking full responsibility. Often our kids, and their parents alike, want to explain away our mistakes or blame someone else for their part in our demise. We are in the process of teaching all three to see their weaknesses more clearly and own them. It is tough going as we are so easily deceived, forever making excuses and shifting blame. Nathan only had to pay £6 to fix this problem as his dad happens to be very handy and didn't charge for labor which could have drained his savings.

On a different side of the responsibility coin, Julieanne has been answerable to paint the fence that separates the main house we live in from the two flats. She has been earning a little extra money doing the Tom Sawyer thing. It is not a fun job as there are no friends to share the load nor is it entertaining but completing the task regardless of the fun factor is a valuable lesson.

The summer has been full of fun: army camp, Spain, Cumbria Christian Youth Camp, Summerfest, family outings, people over for meals, youth group outings, etc. Often the kids have a hard time transitioning from the fun to the mundane of life. Actually, most of life is made of the mundane. It requires 'plodding' as my father in law calls it - just being faithful to the little tasks. I feel like we give our kids plenty of chores to keep them grounded in reality but even still they can think that life has to be all entertainment which is very dangerous.

End of School

More than a month later than our American friends, our kids are finally getting out of school. The girls finished on Friday, July 2nd, only to get packing for army camp the next morning. While they have been doing the GI Joe thing or should I say, GI Jane thing, Nathan has been celebrating the end of his days in primary school.

School comes to a close much like the States with school exams, plays, parties,

awards, concerts, etc. Each of the kids had their own sports day seeing AC com

pete in the high jump and co-ed relay while Julieanne ran the 200 meters, the co-ed relay, tug of war and the high jump. Nathan on the other hand was entered in the egg and spoon relay and the 50 meter dash. Though they all had a good outlook on their events, I saw that each Thompson is a true competitor which of course won't surprise anyone that knows me or Dennis. Nathan was neck n neck in the dash but was

edged out to third in the end. He was disqualified from the egg and spoon as his egg fell just before the finish line. Julieanne won first in all her events while AC took first in the high jump and third in the relay.

Anna Catherine completed her 8 or so exams while Julieanne enjoyed her first Duke of Edinburgh hike. Nathan had several football tournaments and presentation night along with a 'Leavers disco'. The girls sang at a jazz concert which was a first for AC to sing in front of someone other than family. It was fun to watch them enjoying the moment together with Julieanne leading on the guitar.

Being in a private British boarding school has introduced us to many new traditions. One being an area of leadership known as school prefect, head of school, head boy and girl and head of house. If you are familiar with Hogwart's in Harry Potter you will remember these posts give kids extra privilege and responsibility. Hermoine took her prefect role oh so seriously. Basically, kids apply for these coveted positions having interviews with the head teacher and other lead teachers. Both AC and Julieanne are in very competent year groups but Anna Catherine's year seems to be chock full of first born over achievers. Every kid except one from her year applied for a school prefect job and he just missed the deadline for turning in the application. For head of school also known

as head boy and head girl, the application also required a presentation on some area to improve the junior and senior years given during the interview process. Then the waiting game.

The school is divided into the junior school, grades 6th - 9th and the senior school being 10th -12th. There are four boarding houses but day pupils are part of the houses as well. Julieanne was given a deputy head position for her house Bega while AC did get a school prefect position as well as head of the senior girls' house, Lonsdale. This was a huge honor for both girls bringing with it untold lessons to be learned.

Today marks the end of an era for the Thompsons as our youngest has his last day in elementary school.

We will now have all three kids in the same school; one senior, one freshman and a sixth grader.

World Cup by Julie

Most of the blog articles are by me but hopefully Dennis will write one about the World Cup; for now you can read my take on it. For the English, this is paramount to the Olympics; their national identity is tied closely with their footballprowess. Just look at the insane amounts of money the Premier League players get paid to kick a ball; it's comparable to US baseball players and star American football players. Statistics report that an average of three days holiday from work will be taken by the average English employee during the World Cup to see the matches. This year, England was hopeful it was to be their year but those hopes were dashed when controversy set in early with the team captain having an affair with another

players' wife and then injury to two star players. Nevertheless, all eyes were on this team to make it big.

Most houses were decked out with St. George's flags, people were sporting England shirts, parties were planned, large amounts of alcohol were purchased; it was big!

By the luck of the draw England was set to play America on June 26th. Being the party girl that I am, I said, 'let's have a party with

some of our English and American friends'. The English fans were not the least bit interested in watching the game with us, after all what if England lost? Seemed like a no brainer to me but then again I take sports casually. In the end, we had all of the Americans from Dennis' office over for a cookout to watch the match. Even though England and the US tied, it didn't seem much to celebrate for the English as they have a long soccer history and Americans are new to the sport. Still a tie meant Nathan could go to school Monday without having the 'mick' taken out of him which he was quite concerned about

if the US should actually lose to the English.

Every newspaper and news show focused on the English team for months, all having their opinion of what the manager should do to rouse the team to their potential greatness. In the end, they were eliminated by Germany 4-0, returning to England with their heads down. Meanwhile the Americans probably came home celebrated. In fact the United States had more fans at the World Cup than any other nation!

Normally, Dennis and I watch very little TV, in fact we didn't own a television the first several years we were married.

It wasn't until the 2000 World Cup, that we bought one. All has changed this month, we (Dennis, Nathan and I) have perched ourselves in front of the screen to watch 'football'. Over the years, Dennis has remained a loyal Spanish fan so he is thrilled that Spain has made it through to their first World Cup final ever. Icing on the cake is that we will be in downtown Madrid the night of the finals. We will go watch the game on some huge screen in a big square of Madrid surrounded by passionate Spaniards pulling for their team. Should be an forgettable night regardless of the result!

He's Back!

The 5th graders at Nathan's school got to go to Edinburgh for a week! I know, you are thinking, 'brave teachers' especially if you could see all of the health and safety forms they have to fill out over here to do this sort of thing. They had a packed schedule in order to keep the kids constructively engaged so as not to get into mischief.

Day 1 travel to Edinburgh, have bus tour and then

do team building activities at the Scout camp type place they were staying outside of the city. They even got to go grass sledging or sledding which Nathan said was a blast. He was pretty pumped to be in a room with his friend Oliver and 4 other guys but after a loud night he opted to switch to a room with only two other guys so he could sleep. I was surprised too.

Day 2 was castle building at the beach then onto the aquarium for the day ending with a movie at the cinema.

Day 3 took them to the Camera Obscura to see cool optical illusion stuff and Planet Earth. The night ended with a Ghost Walk down the Royal Mile.

Day 4 They were able to get their fill of Scottish history at the Edinburgh Castle and the National Museum of Scotland, letting off some steam that night at their disco!

Day 5 All were up early to pack up, clean up and load up with time for a shopping spree along the way before reaching Whitehaven by 4:00. Unfortunately they got a flat tire which took so long to fix they had no time to stop at the outlet stores they were so counting on.

What I found so entertaining was the headmaster's talk to the parents the week before they went on this

trip. He goes with the kids each year and knew the drill backwards and forwards. He said they try to plan many educational and fun activities for the kids but in the end all the kids are most excited about are the little trinkets they are able to buy in the various gift shops. He said you'll ask them how they liked the Castle or the Aquarium and the kids will say, "yeah, it was okay but I got this really cool pencil at the gift shop!" The next day you'll ask, 'What did you see at the Scotland Museum today?" "Oh well, saw some interesting stuff but what I really liked was this glittery pencil sharpener!" I found myself laughing because he's exactly right.

When Nathan left I told him he had to come home with two facts per day. He hadn't been off the bus 5 minutes when he was showing me the incredible trinkets he came home with: a bucket of goo, 'Noisy Putty', that makes fart noises when you pull your finger in and out of it, a green ball with penguin in it that grows when you add water, and a whoopie cushion. He is such an eleven year old boy! Could he remember the daily facts, well, not really but he had a great time and he did bring home a little trinket for each of us as well!

The headmaster talked about making sure the kids did their own packing so they would know what they actually had in their suitcase when they got there. He told us not to be alarmed if the boys came home without a shower or had somehow managed to never brush their teeth. He assured us it was a great 'growing up' experience to go on a trip without your parents. I couldn't agree more although at bedtime the night before

leaving, Nathan, who had been anticipating this day for months was now getting cold feet. Realizing he had not ever been away without some family member along too, he began to fret. I played it off as if it was no big deal but I had my doubts...mostly about the showering and teeth brushing. So as not to be without us, the four of us had each written Nathan a little note so he would have a word from home each day when he got his little envelope with spending money in it.

The girls didn't miss him terribly as their days are long and full at a different school but I really missed him. He's a chatty, thoughtful boy so it couldn't be anything other than quieter, calmer, neater but definitely lonelier without him.

They had a fantastic trip and I have to agree - Nathan did take some big steps in the growing up department. He came home with everything he took with him, he took a shower every night and actually brushed his teeth. Wow -- now that is progress!