Michaela danced at the Brackley
fair with her jazz class from school--they did very well and have been asked to dance on July 7 for another group. She is looking forward to the end of school, but that will last about a week and then she will be ready to go back! She has had a good time marching in a parade, dancing at the Calypso Carnival, seeing Polynesian dancers, and riding her bike and playing with her friends after school. She enjoys the freedoms she has on this VERY small base and I am afraid is going to have a hard adjustment if we come back to the states and she cannot just ride her bike 2 miles to her friends. Being on a military base certainly has its benefits (especially when your dad is a cop and is patrolling or one of our friends is patrolling), but it also allows for a false sense of safety--that is not there "out in the civilian world".(No pic here because I HATE my pic taken:) My friend Justine and I walked in the RACE FOR LIFE last week at Silverstone race track--one of Britain's Formula One race tracks. Michaela and three of her friends from school joined us--of course they had to make sure they beat us "old ladies"--which they did. We all had a great time and the rain stayed away until we were finished.
Emma is enjoying school and playing with friends. Today was Storytime at the library--she LOVES the stories and the activity--and then lunch at the bowling alley. That is one
of our two choices for fast food restaurants!!! Subway is the other choice. What will she do if she goes back to the states and has 7 restaurants 2 miles up the road from the house???. Emma is enjoying her two ballet classes and playing with her friends. The weather has been back and forth between cold and rainy and sunny and hot--so we are outside as often as the weather permits. Emma is funny to listen to--if you were in a different room listening you would think there was a British child in the house. She has picked up the accent, but unfortunately will lose it quickly when she is away from her schoolmates for a few weeks. I am trying to record her to remember this speech. She told us yesterday she planted a tomato plant at school--pronounced TOE-MAW-to.:) She definitely keeps us on our toes!!Steve is doing well. He works his 15 days a month--ROU
GH!He just finished his 2 Microsoft classes--A's in both. YEAH! There are two civilian jobs he has applied for--one here on Croughton and the other is a State Dept. job--in Foreign Embassies around the world. He has also been asked to extend here in Security Forces for another year. I guess time will tell. The girls and I are planning to be home the second week of September. We are going on that premise and if things change we will go on to the next stage of our lives.
I am not doing much at all. I am still driving Megan to school in the morning and picking her up in the afternoon, but other than that I play with Emma in the morning and take her to school in the afternoon. I am a lady of leisure!!!
Things in England should
be interesting in a few weeks. On July 1, it will be illegal to smoke in any building in all of the UK. All pubs, restaurants, etc.. will be smoke-free. I can't see that ever happening in Kentucky. We will also be here for the change of Prime Ministers. Elections here are great--No commercials, no billboards... just an announcement that Tony Blair will be stepping down and that there is a new PM. We will see how this affects our lives. We are just wishing either the economy here would suffer a little or the economy in the States would improve so that the exchange rate could be better than $2.05 to a British pound. It is ugly when you buy something for 40 pounds but have to subtract $80.00 from your account. UGH!!!!We are loving it here and pray that we will be able to stay longer, but we do miss the conveniences of the States--T.J Maxx, Target, Crest Neat Squeeze toothpaste,mixer taps in the faucets, pay-at-the-pump petrol stations...and Michaela misses OLIVE GARDEN. It's the little things.....
