Thankgiving Vacation

We were finally able to go see the places that were high on our list. A small three hour trip and we made it to Stonehenge. I wasn't sure if it would live up to years of expectations, but when we got there, it was amazing. No one know why stonehenge was built but whoever did it had some serious willpower. The largest rock is 45 tons and other rocks were shaped and placed on that, but the amazing part is how much labor it must have taken to move the rocks over 30 miles. Even the kids, who can be hard to impress, thought that Stonehenge was pretty amazing.

We then went to a place called Avebury. Considered by some to be better than Stonehenge because it has two stone circles and one of the circles surrounds the entire village. This place was funner for the kids because you can touch the rocks and get a better idea of true size. This was definitely hands on.

Finally, on the next day we drove to Bath. Bath is famous for the Roman Baths built there. The baths still function on the pipes placed by the Romans long ago. Water comes up through the springs, is diverted into the bath area, and drains out of a drainage tube into the nearby river. Their engineering is still functioning. No microchips required. There was a huge Christmas Market going on at the same time so we were able to see a lot of street performers and local crafts. Also noted to be in Bath is the Jane Austen museum, but no one really seems to mention that one. I can't understand why.

Happy Guy Fawkes night. We were able to have two evenings of Guy Fawkes on the 4th and 2nd of November. The actual day of Guy Fawkes is the 5th of November. "Remember, remember the fifth of November," is how it goes. Guy Fawkes was caught trying to blow up parliament in 1605 and ever since then the British have celebrated with a large bonfire and fireworks. Something about burning him in effigy, I'm not sure. Anyway, he was catholic, the English were not and hence, he was hanged, drawn, and quartered. 1605 was a great year to be alive. This bonfire was good-sized, about the size of a single wide mobile home. They tried to start it by shooting a large bottle rocket into the pile of wood from 100 ft away.

We also have some pictures from Halloween. The children were inundated with candy during the trunk or treat at the church.

Welcome to Lavenham--one of the best preserved medieval towns around. We toured around the town where two sisters with the last name of Taylor lived during the 1800's and were known for writing the well known nursery rhymes "Twinkle twinkle little star" and "There was a crooked man, lived in a crooked house". We found the crooked house by the way. But as we travelled through town we discovered that what we thought was one unique crooked house instead turned out to be a pervasive medieval construction problem. Lavenham was very picturesque and as usual we had no trouble finding a good pub to finish the day.

We still can't seem to get enough castles. This one was for Katherine's birthday. It's called Castle Rising Castle. It was built near the ocean and has a great view. The kids loved it and as you can see Evan won the battle. After touring the castle, we had true English fish and chips, which include salt and vinegar. For people who know me, that's mostly salt.

First Day of School for the Kids

The kids started school at the local British School. The students are separated into four different houses, the Saxons, Romans, Vikings, and Danes. The different houses compete against each other in house games. Nick and Lizzie got to play soccer with each other and the Saxons (that's Nick and Lizzie) lost to the Danes in a close match.

By the way, here are some pictures of Evan on his very first day of school. He didn't understand why the other kids went back into school after the first recess so he was the only one left outside. He still has some things to learn obviously.

New House and Backyard

We found a house. It's located on the edge of the Thetford Forest. There are walking and biking trails all around us, and fortunately, the kids have a great backyard as well.

We can't believe we're finally here in jolly, old England! We've been so busy setting up shop, but we were able to visit our first castle on Evan's birthday per his request. This is a picture of us in front of a very old Castle in Colchester. Colchester is the site of the first Roman settlement in England. This castle was built a little less than 1000 years ago from the rocks and bricks leftover from that settlement.