August 23, 2011: MUD!!!

August 17, 2011: visit to Atlanta with fabulous friends

Today was spent visiting with our wonderful UK neighbors:  Anusha, Ananda and Rachel.  Sadly Andrew was not in Atlanta so we did not get to visit with him.  For those of you who don't know, these are the friends who made our transition to England exceptional!  Without them our trip would have been extremely different.  It certainly would not have been as much fun.

Alexandra, Brian and I drove down to Atlanta on Tuesday after school/night.  We were so fortunate to be able to stay at Anand's sister's house.  This allowed us to catch up and then spend Wednesday having breakfast at a dinner and then spend the rest of the day at the World of Coca Cola and the Aquarium.

Here are a few pictures:

August 11-14 2011: Laura's weekend at the beach

Ahhh!!! What a great weekend.  I was one of a few guests of a friend at her family beach house in Emerald Isle, North Carolina. It was all ladies, NO KIDS!!! I was very happy to attend.  We had a great time.  Lots of alcohol was consumed.  I was the only one who "lost her cookies".  I guess some things just don't change, he-he!  We had a great visit to Emerald Island and then on Saturday visited Beaufort, NC for the Pirate Invasion.  I had learned while in the UK that Black Beard had been captured & beheaded in NC but didn't know that Blackbeard had a home in Beaufort, North Carolina.  I will have to do a bit more research and bring the kids.  Once in Beaufort, we saw a few pirates and met up with friends Penny & Mike.  They took us on a great boat ride through the sound.  We headed for the open ocean but turned back because of rough seas. (it reminded me of our adventures to the Aran Island, Ireland.)  We headed home on Sunday.  Back to reality.  Just for a little bit!  On Tuesday, the kids and I are headed to Atlanta to see our friends:  Anusha, Anand and Rachel (sadly Andrew will be missing).  I'll post the pictures in a day or 2.

August 10th, First Day of First Grade at Hardin Park

 FIRST GRADE!!!

It was a very exciting day as Alexandra entered the first grade at Hardin Park Elementary School.  She is in Mrs. Eberle's class and seems to really like it.  Alexandra sat with 3 other students from her kindergarten class.  It was nice to see them all again.  Alexandra reported having "lots of fun" and not having to do "any real hard work". They got to play games and get to know everyone.  The teacher assistant, Ms. Cooke (aka Mrs. Cookie) told me that it was a great first day, possibly the best one they have ever had.  Alexandra then reported that her teacher told her that she should have "skipped 1st grade and gone into 2nd."  You can imagine my anxiety as I have had to convince Alexandra that just because she was in Year 1 in England doesn't mean that she should go into 2nd grade now, there's a lot more learning to do.  At dinner it came out that Mrs. Eberle told the entire class this.  Whew!  In any case, Alexandra is very excited to go back to school tomorrow.

August 5th 2011: Catawba Science Center

We had a great visit to Catawba Science Center on the Friday before school starts.  My mom, the kids and I had a great time.  It was a great science museum with lots of hands on things.  I don't think we even got to see it all. Its definitely on our "places to return to" list.

Highly recommend this museum, especially on the 1st and 3rd Friday's of the month, 

as its free on those days. 

August 3, 2011: Blowing Rock Pool

Today the kids and I went to Blowing Rock Pool with some of our friends.  It was a wonderful day.  Here are a few  pictures from the day.

August 1, 2011: Ashe County Cheese factory & West Jefferson

I was inspired by our many adventures in England to explore our own "backyard".  Today this theme took my mom, Alexandra, Brian and I  40 minutes down the road to West Jefferson and the Ashe County Cheese Factory.  It was a very fun day.  We learned a lot about how pasteurized Cheese is made.  Had lunch at the Good Old Times dinner and stopped by St. Mary's church to see the famous frescoes. Here are a few pictures.

July 2011: The return to Boone, NC

We left Tampa Florida at 5 AM on July 6th.  It was an uneventful drive home (thank goodness).  I'm not sure how or why but the minute we pulled into the garage my body just got tired.  Very very tired.  Luckly we have some really great friends.  One checked to make sure the house was acceptable to move back into  before we got home.  She was surprised at how clean our house was- we had a great renter! On the day of our arrival home, the Stoke family brought us dinner.  It was great to see them.  Since that night, we have been unpacking (still trying to find things) and see our friends.  We have been to the park, the river, the pool and the Playhouse, not to mention friends homes.  We still have to plan a party. But for now here are a few pictures of the kids getting reaclimated to Boone.

July was a busy month.  We spent it getting re-acclimated to Boone, renewing old friendships and making new ones.