Our Nation's Capital

We are currently in Washington DC for a quick few days of sightseeing before we head off to the beach with Tim's family. The weather is very warm, sunny and humid but I am NOT complaining. We went on a tour of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and saw how US currency is printed...it is quite a detailed process and very interesting too! In order to get tickets for the tour we had to wait in line at 630am for ticket opening at 8am. We were told tickets go fast and are usually gone by 9am so we had to make sure we didn't miss out!

Here are a few other photos from our trip so far.....the Washington Monument, The White House and the Capital building.

It's All About The Bling....

Those closest to me know I have a 'thing' for Birkenstock sandals and admittedly have more pairs than I should admit BUT I have always wanted a black pair but could never find the 'right' ones.......well, my search is over and look what arrived today ------------> they are perfect and JUST what I was looking for. I found them {HERE} at my favorite online store and they were on sale too!

Wedding Day Honor.....

One of Maggie's teachers was married today and to celebrate the girls surprised her with an honor guard line. After the ceremony all the girls were awaiting their teacher as she left the building. The girls were SO excited to see her as well as her beautiful dress. The girls throwing rose petals at the bride and groom.

The wedding venue has the most amazing flower beds and the grounds were spectacular.

Please Pray....

Prayers are needed for a friends mom at this difficult time as she is very ill. I found this prayer and edited it a bit.....

Heavenly Father, giver of life and health: Comfort and relieve your sick servant Mary and give your power of healing to those who minister to her needs, that she may be strengthened in her weakness and have confidence in your loving care; through Christ our Lord. ~Amen

Safari for the day....

We had the most amazing day out today. Believe it or not, the sun was out and the temperature was warm too! Anyway, back to our day ~ we went to Knowsley Safari Park, which is about 2 hours from our house, and all I can say is WOW!!

The animals are all roaming around freely and even came up to the side of the car. Look how close the ostrich and the camel were to us. Christopher decided it was probably best to close his window as the bird was approaching the car {wise decision}

Our favorite section was the baboons. They jumped onto the car and had fun playing on it....in fact, a little too much fun...one broke the rear wiper from the car {oops}.

We bought a season pass so we plan on going back with Tim this fall and hopefully again in the spring. I would never have thought that something like this is so close to our home and in England.

YEP.....more rain!

So it is now 28 out of the past 30 days with rain here at the house. I am SO over it and I think I need to move!! Our back yard is so wet{ as you can see from the photo} it will be lake soon.....hello it is supposed to be summer here and it has YET to arrive.

Does THIS look like fun???

Obviously the answer is NO!! I have been doing laundry since Sunday morning and I am still not finished with it. They boys' came back with some wet, dirty and stinky clothes from their trip and some have even had to be washed twice {YUCK}. I will hopefully be done later today but boy it seems like it will never end.

Back Home...

Maggie and I have arrived back safely from our trip to Menorca and all I can say is WOW! What a beautiful island....beautiful landscapes, amazing beach coves and the HOT sun. We left 95F weather and arrived back home to a cool 58F ~ that stinks. Anyway, as I said we had a great week and would go back again.


The cove was down the road from our hotel and had an amazing view out to the sea{not to mention beautiful blue water}. The hotel pool was qute impressive and looked even more so at night. Maggie thought it was pretty cool that she was able to go inside the cockpit of the plane on our flight home ~ the pilot and co-pilot were great!

Adios and Au Revoir.....

The boys are off to France, in the Dordogne Valley region, for a week with their school for an outdoors adventure week...some of the activities they will be participating in are abseiling, windsurfing, swimming, mountain biking and much more.

While they are away Maggie and I will be going to Menorca with another mom and her daughter {her boys will be going on the same trip as Andrew and Christopher}. We are looking forward to a week of sun and the sea.

As you can see from the map on the right, Menorca is part of the Balearic Islands off the coast of Spain.

Tim, unfortunately, will not be going on either trip...he will stay behind in the UK and work.

Celebrate!

Happy 4th of July to our friends and family in the US. We hope you all have a great day and even better weather.

The kids are still in school, they finish on Friday, and today was sports day and sports awards for the boys. Both did really well in their various events.

At the sports awards Andrew received full colors for rugby and part colors for swimming. Full colors honors is a big deal to the boys...this means they get a special tie and school badge to wear with their uniforms. {This is somewhat like lettering in the US}. The part colors means they get a special badge to wear on their blazers. When I was getting ready to go home Andrew handed me his certificates and other trophies but kept his tie ~ he wanted to wear it!

13 out of 14 Days With Rain.....

I think we are going to be under water soon. We have had heavy rains for the past two weeks ~ the last day without rain was this past Friday. It is summer and yet it feels like October here at the moment. I am SO over all this rain.

More Photos

I can honestly say I really like these pictures of Tim and I.

I think I will need a couple new frames.

What a Great Night

The summer ball is now history and we had a GREAT time! I cannot remember the last time we danced and laughed so much. We had a great table of people and we did not want the night to end. I think every guest stayed until the very end {1:30am} and I think it could have gone on longer.

Check out the drinks on our table...this is just for during the meal! I think there were no less than 5 bottles of wine at any one time all night. {Photos of Tim and I will be posted later..they are on someone elses camera.}