It is sooooo hot

The weather here in the UK has been extremely warm. Remember, I grew up in Florida, so to a large degree I am used to HOT weather and high humidity. But over here, it isn't so much the heat as it is the lack of AC; you have no where to cool off. There are times it is hotter in the house than it is outside, and the night time... oh my, that is really uncomfortable & makes for not so good sleeping.
Last summer I did purchase a portable AC unit, but let's just say it doesn't do the job. Kevin decided it was my placement of the unit so he readjusted it - still really warm in the house.

Oh well, so we need to find creative ways to cool off... hence the visit to the Burghley House Water Garden. It is a small garden that has lots of water fountains and water walks through out. I bought a season pass for the family. We have been once (& I will post some pictures once Holli puts them on her blog :-) ), and we will visit more before returning to the states in 9 days. It is the perfect set up. There is only one way in & one way out. There are benches and grassy places that I can sit with a book while the girls run around & play. Sophie loves to "wash" her hair in the fountains, & Brittney just runs around like crazy.

Last Day of School

Well, here we are in the middle of July and it is finally the last day of school. Here in the UK the schools are broken down into 2 categories - primary school (Reception to Yr 6) and secondary school (Yr 7 upwards). Brittney's friend Emily was finishing year 6 and will be heading off to secondary school in the fall. Tradition is that the year 6 kids get to leave school in a limo - pretty nice huh. So enjoy some of the following pictures...
Sophie with her teacher Mrs. Conkey



Firetruck Lemo - how cool is that!





Brittney wants the Hummer lemo though...


Emily & Tia ~ the year 6 girls in their limo

Can't decide...

I can't decide if I am just homesick, overwhelmed with school, getting sick or what - but I could really use more sleep than normal and a magic happy pill would be nice :-). No mom, I am NOT pregnant so all of you (including mother) put that one out of your mind. I'm just feeling a little blue I guess. School is a lot harder this semester. The class is really pushing my limits, and I find it very intimidating. Kevin's work is very, very hectic right now, and I think it would be accurate to say it is pushing his limits right now as well. Most of my close friends are away for the summer so no Bible studies, no lunch dates, and no gab sessions. Gloria is here for the summer so I have been monopolizing her time but she has visitors for the next few weeks. The weather has been okay, but not a real summer - no shorts or extreme heat. I guess that is a good thing since there is no a.c. to speak of. It rains almost every day; I know, I know it is England but man, didn't someone tell mother nature that it is summer!
The girls get out of school tomorrow. They are so excited. Claire & I are going to take all the girls to Alton Towers (the place Brittney broke her arms last summer), but we are going to the water park not the theme park. I believe it is an indoor water park (let's hope) so it should be warm enough to enjoy.
Then I think the girls are going to be part of a soccer/football camp next week in the mornings. Brittney is a natural athlete and is begging to do it. Sophie wants to do it because Brittney is... Hopefully the camp will have room for the girls. Then we are off to America - YEAH!!!!!!!
I am really looking forward to spending some time with my mom & Bill. I get to be there during mom's birthday; I don't think that has happened since I got married. I am sure we will spend some time shopping, walking, talking, and eating; maybe even take a trip to the beach one day. I cannot wait! Plus, I will get to see my newest cousin and all the other cousins. It has been way too long!
The girls get to spend some quality time with all of the grandparents. They are really looking forward to it. Sophie keeps asking if she can go fishing (hint-hint dad) and make a cake with Nana Couey. Brittney is looking forward to those hikes (hint-hint Nana Downs). They want to swim in the lake, visit with friends, and enjoy the farm. I hope there is enough time :-)
Ok, I feel a little better now. Typing it out, thinking about the trip back home, it makes me smile. Sooooo I am off to do some Hermeneutics on Matthew (yeah, now you see why my class is intimidating... just try pronouncing the class).
Love to all!!

Sophie is 5 ~ WOW, time sure does fly!!!!!!

We had Sophie's birthday party in early July at Activity World (sorry no pictures from this event). Activity World is an awesome place here in the UK that is like McDonald's playland on steroids - but it is clean and adult friendly. I rent out the place so both girls can invite their school class mates and then all of the ISE families as well. We get to have the place to ourselves for 2 hours. And, since we are the only ones there the adults get to play as well. Pretty awesome.
But for the big day, Sophie had school... So after getting dressed for school we set off for Tesco to get Sophie some birthday badges. Of course I offered a lot of restraint and only purchased 3 (no neon flashing lights or siren sounds). We promptly put them on & headed off for school. While the girls were in school I was off to do that last minute party shopping.




Sophie's first gift was a new scooby-doo lunch box & drink bottle that she took to school (packed with her favorite junk food of course). After decorating the house & wrapping a few little gifts, I then made her favorite meal for dinner - fettucinni alfredo. Her birthday cake was of course...a frog cake.

And, as if you need any reminders...


BRAND NEW SOPHIE... just minutes old :-)


Sophie just one day old :-0


First babysitters




Did I mention Sophie likes frogs??? this was for halloween - created by NeeNee

Saturday, July 12th

This Saturday started like most any... my pathetic attempts at sleeping in :-) Now, Brittney & Sophie have become fairly self sufficient in the mornings. They have learned to let me sleep as long as possible; they come downstairs, get themselves something to "snack" on for breakfast, close the living room door and watch tv. Also if need be, Brittney will let the dogs out in the morning as well. However, the early rising of the sun (4am) makes the morning rest fitful at best, so the lightest sound or disturbance has me up. But this morning we all needed to be up early because Kevin was going to attempt to be "young" again. The younger guys asked him if he would like to join them in a game of b'ball. He got up early, had his shower, ate some breakfast, and got dressed for the event. Of course getting dressed includes lacing up ankle braces, considering weather or not to wear "hot" pants to protect the hamstrings, etc. Once this was over, he was off. He returned about 3 hours later, sopping wet, and limping... but he had a big ole grin on his face. He had a good time so the limping is worth it.

Later in the day we met several other ISE families at Burghley House for the Battle Proms, a reenactment of the British against the French. Jenny & her family got there first to save our place, and we were the next family to arrive. We then proceed to spread all our stuff out and place kids in various positions, all in hopes of securing a "place" big enough for us ISEs to enjoy our food and fellowship for 6+ hours. We had KFC, chips, desserts, basically just plenty of junk food. It was a blast...

Burghley House (how would you like to clean that house...)

Dad & Sophie looking cool (watching the fighter jet)

Brittney looking TOO grown up for me :-)

Canons going off

Perfect Ending to a GREAT Day!

Brittney is growing up...

I know that July should be Sophie's month since it is her birthday month, but I just needed to share this. Brittney will "hate" me one day for this but... Friday night was one of our friend's birthday party. The parents had rented a huge bouncy castle so the kids & the parents could enjoy some time jumping around acting crazy, but mother nature had other plans. Most of the day was beautiful but of course as time approached for the party, the heavens opened. This did not stop the kids from playing on the bouncy castle which was okay until the rain got so hard you could hardly see outside.

Well, let me back up some. The Kieser's had a party last year at their house for Drake when he turned four (this year he was turning 5 (of course)). They invited their ISE friends and their British friends from church. So last year there was one British family that we kinda connected a little with, since at the time we were all going to the same church. The family has two boys about the same age as Brittney & Sophie. So this year while this British family was on their way to Drake's party, Jacob (the one in the picture above) asked his mom if that nice American girl was going to be there again...

Brittney & Jacob were inseparable. They played together on the bouncy castle, in the rain, everything. It was so sweet to watch the two of them; they are so "innocent" right now. They sat under the table while it poured around them. Jacob got a towel to wrap around Brittney so she could warm up, and the 2 of them ate some food (hoping the rain would stop).
Brittney of course is VERY embarrassed by the attention from everyone else. Her dad (& me a little) teased her at first about it, but she got so upset. After seeing how this upset her I tried to explain why we adults were talking about it so much. Then I talked to her a LITTLE about the birds & the bees and how we adults love seeing friendships between boys & girls stay innocent. So I write this hoping no grandparents will tease her, but will just enjoy the warning that our little girl is growing up way too fast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Italy in June

I know I am really late on this writeup but you know how it goes... the further away I get from the vacation the more I don't want to write about it... I will write a little now & keep updating this particular post. I also need to upload pictures from Kevin's camera.

Italy was by far one of the families favorite holidays. Italy is a great place to visit - so much history, beautiful scenery, and a very friendly place. We spent over a week touring Italy. We flew into Venice and rented a car for our adventures. We tried to balance every other day with a beach break - you can only take in so much history at a time.

VENICE: is a beautiful place. You get from place to place either on foot or by water taxi. We did take a private taxi ride through the beautiful place but the smells and the rocking of the boat got a little much for me. I can't image what it must be like in the middle of August (peeyu).

Water, water, and more water

Brittney & Sophie feeding the pigeons (notice the pigeon on Sophie's head - yuck).

Talk about taking recycling to an extreme...

--- Brittney Head ---

--- Sophie head ---

This was on our "travel" day between Venice and Florence. We stopped in some small town in Italy while trying hard to find a place to eat on a Sunday afternoon - very difficult. But I was distracted by TAZ, my favorite cartoon character :-) Who would have thought he was to be on a cruise ship; guess what one of our next vacations will be...

Pisa: this is definitely a one-day place; it is beautiful and all the attractions (and shopping) are in one central location. Kevin & Brittney hiked to the top of the tower while Sophie & I enjoyed our pizza and Galatea (Italian ice-cream).

Hold it - hold it - don't let go or it might fall on you :-)

Dad & Brittney climbed to the top of the Leaning Tower

Rome: we spent two days in Rome and could spend many more days. Rome is a amazing - words do not do the city justice.

This is how you entertain a 4 & 8 yr old in Rome - let them get wet!

Sophie fell in love with the Pinocchio story while we were in Italy. We found this Pinocchio store & had to drag her (& me) out of there. It had a little bit of history about the story and some awesome wood carvings. We of course bought some stuff :-)

The girls entertained themselves in the Colosseum by coloring on scrap paper I had in my back pack. It was real tricky to find somewhere to sit and to stay out of the sun. It was hot-hot-hot this day (close to 100F).

Kevin on the other hand loved almost every minute of the Colosseum. He was very into the history and the engineering mindset of the Romans.

And this is the perfect ending to a wonderful holiday. Kevin & I got up at 3:30 so we could be to the airport by 5am to catch a 6am flight that was cancelled. Of course, we didn't know it was cancelled until the driver had left & we were all in the tiny airport. After much discussion with airlines we were able to secure a spot on the next available flight (4 hours later). So, we set up camp. The girls played for a little while but soon all the Duffy girls were sleeping on the floor of the airport - it was cold, noisy, but we got an hour+ of sleep. Once we got back to the UK, life picked up right were we had left it ;-)

LONG, Long time...

I know, I know - it has been a long time since my last post. Well, I won't bore you with all the excuses and details of daily life; I will just say that I did FINALLY finish my first class. The final assignment was a mini-dissertation and without the help of my friend Gloria and my hubby it would not have happened. I finished the writing portion of the paper almost a week early (and for anyone who knows the procrastinating side of me you can close your dropped jaw) but the technical formatting side took a lot longer than expected. I learned things about Word that I never knew existed. I also learned that when I go home in August I will be purchasing Word 2007 (it has some pre-existing templates that would have made my formatting woes a lot less woe-ey...). I haven't got my final grade yet but I have moved on to semester 2. Originally I had signed up for 2 classes - Bible Hermeneutics and Theology of the Old & New Testament. But within the first week I dropped the Theology class - way, way too much work for someone trying to keep up home & social life. When I emailed my advisor she told me those were the 2 toughest classes & to put them together was almost impossible unless you dedicated your life solely to school. Again, I won't bore you with the specific details of the classes I will just say there is tons of reading, lots of lectures, and plenty of weekly writing. I spend almost all of the kid's school day in front of the computer & then try to sneak in study time through out the remainder of the day... oh the joys of "adult" school life :-)))))

The girls are almost through with school; they have 2-1/2 weeks left. The kids & teachers are getting ansy & ready for school to be done; not sure what we parents are thinking. Claire & I have decided the day after school gets out we are going to take the girls to a water park in Birmingham. It will be about a 2 hour drive away and the park is inside. The kids got wind of the idea and now cannot wait for school to end. Otherwise I'm not sure what I will do with the kids the remaining weeks before returning to Illinois for the month of August.

Hmmmm, can't think of much more to write. I promise to write something about our Italy trip & upload some pictures...