Halloween in England

Yes, they have Halloween in England. Celebrated on a much smaller scale though. Not as much trick or treating as there are private Halloween parties. The kids had a big party at school tonight. Tons of people and lots going on - about 1500. There were some major overachievers when it came to decorating the boot of their car for Trunk or Treat. Very creative and fun. The weather was clear and fairly warm. Didnt have to mess up their costumes with a boring ole jacket. B and L came home with plenty of candy. We parked a pretty good way away from the school to avoid all the traffic and walked through the woods with flashlights. It was foggy and very eery. Just perfect for Halloween. Happy Halloween from my surfer dude and sweet, purple witch.

ahh. holiday in October.

We went to Lanzarote in the Canary Islands last week. Never heard of it before, hasnt been on my "places to visit" list or anything, but the travel agent said it would be warm and sunny in October. SIGN ME UP. we finally felt the sun and warmth. wonderful. We thoroughly enjoyed lazing by the pool and on the beach for a week. We finally have a tan - fleeting as it is. Lanzarote is basically a lava covered volcano off the coast of Morrocco, but it is a part of Spain which is 600 miles away!!!???!!!. The island is very simple, somewhat primative and literally covered in lava rock. The beaches are very nice and beautiful. The last major volcanic activity was in the 1800's, but the developement since then has been limited. I didn't see any dirt - everything is varying degrees of whole to crushed lava rock. The sand is brought in on the beaches. The landscape is said to be like the moon. We drove up to the top of a volcano on Fire Mountain where they had demonstrations of holes in the ground that were so hot they would catch a tree branch on fire within seconds. The pebble rocks we were standing on were too hot to hold due to the heat underneath the ground. There is a restuarant on the volcano too and the food is cooked over a hole in the ground. Our meals were baked by lava heat. cool, huh? There doesnt seem to be much natural vegitation, but somehow they grow grape vines on the island and produce wine. I have included a photo of the wine vineyards. There are rock walls around each vine to protect them from the hot winds blowing off the Sahara Desert.
The driving was dangerous - for everyone else - we rented a little car and DA took off driving a stick shift for the 1st time in years, back on the RIGHT side of the road, driving up the steep side of a volcano. It was too much to handle at one time. Roundabouts going in the opposite direction. He turned into the wrong lane so many times. I laugh at our total "PITIFULNESS" on the driving front. And we realized that his US license had expired so they wouldnt rent him the car. I had to rent it and agree be the only driver, except I can't drive a stick shift and I wasnt willing to learn on volcano mountains.
The receptionist at the hotel told me they NEVER had Americans there. In fact, I didnt see or hear any one that appeared to be American for 8 days. very strange feeling.
I got to celebrate my birthday while there and we rode on this crazy flying fish thing out in the ocean that day. Interesting way to turn 43! DA and L loved it, B and I held on for dear life not wanting to get thrown off. After the fact I can say it was fun. oh, did I mention the water was FREEZING! another reason not to get thrown off. Arrived home at 1:30am and made the kids attend school the next morning. They were tired even after a relaxing holiday. Now we are moving onto the next thing - Halloween in England. photos: vineyards, lava fields, Papagayo Beach

Really ...I'm embarrassingly out of the loop.

I went to a friends house Monday morning (after arriving home from the airport at 1:30am) and she said our other friend would be late because she was watching "the game". Game, what game? I had to be informed that the World Series Final game had been played. How weird to be so out of it. I didnt even realize the World Series was going on. duh. They were big Red Sox fans, so they were very excited about the outcome. We had been focused on the Rugby World Cup finals last week (really) and were bummed when England lost.

Brrr.....

We have officially entered the cold weather season here. I am freezing! and it's not even winter yet. I've gotten out all the heavy coats and gloves. DA's hands were like icicles last night after riding home on his scooter. He even had his heavy riding gloves on. It's going to be fun to figure learn how to live with a real winter day in and day out. Especially when my son keeps leaving his jackets in his locker. Locker 3, Home 0. He might be FREEZING this weekend.
The kids are out of school on mid-term break along with the rest of England. We have some fun things planned. I'll fill you in next week. We started the break by attending the Sound of Music. DA and I really enjoyed it, but the kids were a little glassy eyed with the opera singing by the nuns. Reminded me of my brother's face when we were kids and the sisters wanted to watch Miss America. you know when they would all come out and sing in that high soprano voice for the Talent competition. same look on my son's face. HA.

Joined the Cambridge Punting crew

On Saturday we took a quick day trip to Cambridge. I expected to see big "Cambridge University" but instead it was more like a collection of small colleges, i.e. King's college, Queen's college, Trinity College, etc. They were all beautiful, old, picturesque buildings. The leaves on the trees are in full autumn color mode which made for a very scenic drive to Cambridge. Once there we HAD to go punting down the river like every other tourist that visits. For those of you who have been there, I'm guessing you all know what I'm talking about. DA had it in mind to ride on a boat guided by a college punter. B had it in her mind that Dad would steer the boat. Guess who won?? DA punted up and down the river much to his daughter's delight as she helped with her paddle. It was so crazy on the river with all the boats and novice punters. Some of the hired punters even make a game of running into "do it yourself-ers" which one of them hit our boat really hard. DA managed to stay on the deck. It was a very cool and crisp day, so I'm glad he managed to stay dry. It was probably our first outing in England where we didn't buy any souvenirs. Maybe we are transforming into more of a "local" (but with a slow Texas accent.)

Supposedly, this red leaf covered building was used for Harry Potter movie.

Cross Country Team

L is on the Middle School Cross Country Team. The team is made up of sixth, seventh, and eighth graders. They had their second meet this week. The really cool part was that it was at Primrose Hill. This would be like having a track meet in Central Park in New York. You are running through the park with the London skyline in the background. The middle school course was 3K (about two miles); mostly uphill and downhill. L ran the course in a little over 15 minutes and finished in the middle of the pack. He had a great day and he is working hard to improve his time for the next meet.

Our Tex Mex fix

This week we were treated to a tasty care package from home. Included in the package was a sack of fresh, authentic, delicious, thin, crispy, salty tortilla chips. This morning I woke up to this sight....


B was enjoying chips and salsa for breakfast. Just a little Tex-Mex fix first thing in the morning!

PS. I had a few too!!!

As you can see, the sun was shining today which made for a beautiful fall morning. Just a great way to start the day with a breakfast of champions. Ole'