MUCH More than Taco Bell

The weekend after Veteran's Day, we took a trip to two other US bases about 4 hours south of us. These bases are both much bigger than our base, so they have more "Americana" to offer, including Taco Bell!

When we arrived, we found the food court, and helped ourselves to some Taco Bell and Baskin Robbins! What a treat! Both of these bases have hotels that we can stay at for a really reasonable price. I think it was only $45/night, and we had a 2 bedroom suite with a full kitchen! It was fabulous!

These bases also have larger stores than what we have at our base; one specifically had a much larger selection of toys! So, we spent some time our first morning wandering around the aisles with the kids so we could get a feel for what they might be interested in for Christmas. (And later that night, Ethan went back and did a big chunk of our Christmas shopping, while I was putting the kids to bed!)

It was a really nice weekend to get away, and get a little US fix without spending a ton of 0money. But the best part of our weekend had nothing to do with these bases, but with a little air field about an hour away.

Ethan's grandfather, Roger William Stryker, served in the US Army Air Corps (Air Force during WWII as a navigator. He was stationed at what was called Debach Air Field when he was only 18 years old. When Ethan's uncle came to visit the UK, he was able to see Debach Air Field, so we thought we would give it a try.

We looked it up on-line, and found that there was a museum at Debach, and that they had a few events each year, mostly in the summer. http://www.493bgdebach.co.uk/
They listed a contact number, so I gave a call the day before we left, not really expecting much.

Well, we drove to the air field, and when I checked my voice mail on the way, I found a message from the proprietor saying that they would be glad to meet us there. We were surprised, and again, not quite sure what to expect. While we were waiting for them to arrive, Ethan walked around a little bit, and then we went to see the memorial. (In this photo, Ethan is holding his grandfather's Bible which he kept in his pocket during missions.)By that time, the couple arrived who were the owners of the air field. We learned that the airfield was passed down to them from his father, who owned it before and after the war. This couple has made it their personal hobby and passion to restore the air field, and collect items of interest from during the war. They were unbelievably kind and gracious to meet with us and give us a personal tour of the air field.
We started in the control tower, where we were able to see a model of what the air field would have looked like. And amazingly, we were able to find a picture of Ethan's grandfather on the wall with his flight crew (he's in the upper left - it incorrectly says "Strykes"). They only had a sampling of photos displayed, and his was there. Words couldn't describe our joy to have been able to make this connection, so far from home.Next, we toured the infirmary where there was a large display of models and artifacts from the time period. They also took us to see a collection of automobiles from the war that the owner was restoring. It was very impressive. They even had a model of a bomb shelter.If all of this weren't enough, the owners made a call to their archivist, Darren, who practically dropped what he was doing to come and meet with us. He took down Ethan's contact information, and for a month or so following our visit, he forwarded Ethan everything he had with Roger Stryker's name on it. So now, Ethan has an extensive collection of information regarding his grandfather's missions, promotions, etc. What a treasure!

This whole visit turned out to be so much more than we ever expected. We thought we would go, take a few pictures, and that would be it. Never did we imagine to get an in-depth, enthusiastic, personal tour by the owners. We never imagined we'd see a picture of Ethan's grandfather there. And we certainly never imagined to be linked up with someone who could provide us with such an extensive written record of his grandfather's activities during the war. It was a Veteran's Day weekend we will never forget.

Halloween Fun

What a fun Halloween we had this year! Tim and Collin dressed up as skeletons, and Maddie was a black cat.We once again went to the Halloween festivities on base. They had all sorts of kids' games and crafts, and even face-painting. (And yes, they take their face-painting very serious around here.)On Halloween afternoon, we enjoyed carving our pumpkins. Maddie and Tim each designed their own (Tim got his idea for a puking pumpkin on-line), and I carved Collin's into a Yankee symbol.
And on Halloween evening, we joined our good friends in the village for some food and drink, and then went out for some trick-or-treating. I think I blogged about this last year, but it's worth saying again: trick-or-treating in our little village is such a wonderful experience. Actually, trick-or-treating is not much of an English tradition. But since there have been several Americans in the village over recent years, we have started to "Americanize" it a little. Anyway, it was such a sweet time, and had such a sincere community feel about it. It's one of those things I hope my kids never forget about our experience here.

A (mostly) British Wedding

Near the end of October, Ethan and I were invited to attend our friends', Ellen and Steve's, wedding. Steve is an American that Ethan knew from work and church, and Ellen is a local gal, that we've gotten to know from the church home-group that we attend. She's got a lot of spunk, and we just love her.

I was so excited about attending a British wedding! Although, I have to admit, I was a little nervous about what to wear. In all of the British wedding movies I had seen, there were women wearing big, frilly, feathery hats. In the end, I decided against the frilly feathers, and found that thankfully, the women wearing those kinds of hats were a minority.

The wedding was so lovely. It took place in a small, village church that Ellen attended as a child. Ellen looked incredibly beautiful, and the ceremony incorporated a lot of the personality of the two of them, which was so nice.The reception took place at a luxury castle hotel (I wonder how many "luxury castle hotels" there are in the US?) called Swinton Park. Both the exterior and interior were gorgeous!The elements of the ceremony and the reception were very similar to what we've been to in the states, with a couple of exceptions. The cake was more of a fruit cake, which is traditional in the UK. Thankfully, the bride, knowing that this might be a problem for the Americans in the crowd (including her new in-laws) actually had two cakes: one British, and the other was more of a sponge cake, like we're used to in the US. The other main difference was the toasts. Apparently at British weddings, more people other than the best man and maid of honor are asked to give toasts. At Ellen and Steve's wedding, toasts were given by Ellen's father, Steve's friend, and Steve himself.

It was such a wonderful occasion. The only sad part about it all is that Ellen doesn't yet have her visa, so she can't move to the States to be with Steve until that is finalized. And yet, we'll be sad when that happens too, because it will mean that she will be leaving us.

But of course, we are so happy for them both and wish them all the best! Congratulations Ellen and Steve!

Charlie and Lola

In October, the kids' school took part in World Book Day, and the students were allowed to dress up as book characters. Since Maddie had just lost her first tooth, it made us think of a Charlie and Lola book called "My wobbly tooth won't ever NEVER fall out." Hence, Tim and Maddie became Charlie and Lola for the day!

Happy Birthday Collin!

Back in September, our Collin (our baby- sniff, sniff) turned 2! As much as I didn't want to admit it, I have to say that he was already showing signs of the terrible 2s, so he was ready!

On his actual birthday, we had a small family party. Our big present for Collin this year was a new Little Tykes Car.

He got a lot of other wonderful presents from family including a car ramp, a Little People farm, and plenty of cars and trucks (he loves cars!). And of course, he had some extra fun with the bubble wrap and styrofoam peanuts.The following weekend, we invited a few of Collin's buddies and their families over for a party with a farm animal theme (he was really into naming farm animals and making their noises at the time).

Collin was so kind to help me make his barn cake for the party. Thankfully, it was nothing that a little hay couldn't cover up.

And, in true kid form, he ate the icing off of three cupcakes at his party (without really eating any cake).Happy Birthday Collin!!!!!

Proms on the Hill

This September, we once again attended Proms on the Hill.

Proms is an annual event at the base where Ethan works and has been a British tradition for many years. Here's a little history about Proms from Wikipedia:

Although earlier promenade concert series had existed, the first Proms concert was held on 10 August 1895 in the Queen's Hall in Langham Place, under the auspices of impresario Robert Newman. Newman's idea was to encourage an audience for concert hall music who, though not normally attending classical concerts, would be attracted by the low ticket prices and more informal atmosphere. In addition to promenading, eating, drinking and smoking were all allowed. He stated his goal as follows:

"I am going to run nightly concerts and train the public by easy stages. Popular at first, gradually raising the standard until I have created a public for classical and modern music."^[2]

So basically, Proms is an less-formal orchestral concert for the layman. For our Proms, the orchestra is seated on an outdoor amphitheater. The Americans are encouraged to invite our UK friends for the evening, and we all gather and bring along food, chairs, etc.

This year, we invited some of our closest British friends, who all happen to be families from Tim and Maddie's school. We all brought along food and drinks, and had a wonderful evening. I should note that a big part of our enjoyment was the perfect weather. Last year, I remember I sat there shivering in the Yorkshire wind, and the concert seemed to last f-o-r-e-v-e-r. But this year, there was no wind and no rain (yes, this is noteworthy for this region).

This year also happened to be the 50th Anniversary for the base, so there were a few added surprises to the event. They had a stunt plane flying over us at the beginning of the concert. (As you can see, Collin was entranced.) They also had some extra fun fireworks in the middle and end of the concert.

It really was a wonderful evening. I love community events like this where people all gather just to be together. We brought along glow-bracelets for the kids, and let them run around the nearby field (always being able to see where there were even when it got dark!). It was a fun night for all.

As we were leaving, our friends asked if they could come again next year. They are of course welcome to, but I can pretty much guarantee that the weather won't be quite as nice as it was this time. (But then again, they're the ones who are British, so they're used to it!)

First Day of School

I know these pictures are a few months late, but better late than never....

Here are a couple of pictures of Tim and Maddie on their first day of school this year. Tim is a Year 4 this year, which is the equivalent of 3rd grade. He is the only student in the school who is a Year 4, and he is in a combined class of Year 3-Year 6 students. This works very well in his favor as it challenges him to do work above his grade ability.
Maddie is a Year 2 this year, which is the equivalent of 1st grade. She is in a combined class of Reception (4 year-olds) through Year 2s, which means this is her last year in the younger class (sniff, sniff).We went to a parent-teacher conference a few weeks ago, and both kids are doing great! Tim is excelling in Math (no surprise there), and Maddie is a fabulous reader! We are so proud of them both!

I thought I'd throw this picture into this post too. Maddie lost her first wobbly tooth back in September!