I PASSED!!!

It's true! I passed part 2 of the UK driving test today and I am now a licensed UK driver! I can hardly believe it myself! It is such a relief.

Usually during the driving test, applicants are asked to carry out 2 manoeuvres. I was asked to do 3. The test lasts for 30-40 minutes. My test was 45 minutes. However, I won't complain because the driving examiner I had was super nice, pleasant and kind. And best of all, he gave me a 'test pass certificate' at the end.

Our kids will be happy to know that they don't need to sit in the car anymore while mom practices 'left reverse around a corner' manoeuvres. And they don't need to wonder how long we're going to spend in a parking lot while mom practices reverse parking into the stalls. I think that the kids will always remember mom's driving test experience though. The other day while watching 101 Dalmatians, Benjamin said, "Wow! She needs to take the driving test!" when he saw Cruella driving her car. Mary wholeheartedly agreed with him.

My driving test pass certificate says, "Please keep this certificate. It is proof that you have passed your driving test." Are you kidding? I'm considering framing it!

Salisbury

We went to the Salisbury cathedral yesterday. The foundation stones for this cathedral were laid in 1220. Isn't that amazing?! It's hard to believe that over 750 years of history is represented in this building.

This is Britain's tallest spire-- 404 feet high

Inside the cathedral is the world's oldest mechanical working clock. It was really cool. (double click on the picture below to read about it).

The gardens in the Cathedral courtyard

Also in this cathedral is the finest of four surviving original Magna Carta documents from the year 1215. Photography of the document was not allowed. The document is written in abbreviated medieval Latin on vellum. The Magna Carta is a document that set down for the first time the relationship between the King and his subjects and their rights - religion, taxes, human rights, etc. The document started a civil war and many people died defending it. This document became the forerunner to the United States Constitution and many other democratic documents for other countries. I was amazed to be able to see it in person.

Southampton

Southampton, England is a major port city and an historically significant place. It was the place from where the Mayflower departed in 1620 (see next post), and also the departing port of the Titanic in 1912. The people of Southampton were deeply affected by the sinking of the Titanic because most of the crew lived there. I read that over 500 households in Southampton lost a member of their family on the Titanic. We visited the Titanic exhibition in the Southampton Maritime museum. It was so sad to learn about the lives that were lost or affected by the sinking of the Titanic.

The kids had a great time running around outside the museum.

Our walk around the ancient walls of the city.

Mayflower monument

This weekend, as part of our Thanksgiving celebrations, we drove to Southampton, England- the place where the Mayflower set sail back in 1620.

We've recently learned that 2 of our ancestors were on the Mayflower. One was a passenger and the other a crew member. This made it even more exciting for all of us.

These were remarkable people to endure such hardship to be able to practice their religion freely.

The monument in Southampton was simple but inspiring. Some of the town walls from the time of the Mayflower are still standing and it was neat to think of what the town must have looked like as the Pilgrims prepared to board the ship and leave their home country.

"Happy Thanksgiving everyone!"

Thanksgiving this year was all about the homemade pies at our house. I spent most of the day on Wednesday at my friends house making 10 pies. I brought 4 of them home. I sent one to work with Todd, I took one to a party, and we have been enjoying the other two. I hope I can repeat these recipes by myself. This is definitely a tradition we want to keep.

The finished products - 2 traditional pumpkin, 1 apple crumble, and a pumpkin chiffon

The kids had school and Todd went to work on Thanksgiving day. Mary attends a British nursery school and she knew that Thanksgiving isn't celebrated here, but she told me on the way to school that she was going to wish everyone at school a Happy Thanksgiving anyway. Sure enough, as soon as she changed into her slippers and walked into the classroom, she shouted, "Happy Thanksgiving everyone!" Maybe she's not going to be as quiet and soft-spoken as I thought :) It was one of those classic moments when I wish I would've had my video camera.

I spent Thanksgiving day in the kitchen just like normal. It was kind of nice when I needed to run to the store for last minute ingredients and there weren't any holiday crowds.

We ate our Thanksgiving feast when Todd and the kids got home. After dinner we read the book, "On the Mayflower" and talked about the pilgrims and our blessings.

Am I smarter than my 2nd grader?

Michael's mind is always coming up with new ideas. In this picture he tied the wagon to the bike using his bike helmet. Last weekend he used a diaper box to create a fire station for his Lego fire trucks. He even cut a hole for his flashlight so that his fire station would be well lit.

Sometimes he comes home with spelling lists that are difficult for me to spell. Words like:

circuitous

Mediterranean

nuisance

threatening

supposed

acknowledge

He comes home every Friday with 15/15 on his spelling test.

I'm pretty sure that Todd is going to have to help this boy with his homework past 3rd grade because it will probably be above my abilities :)

Kickboxing and soccer

For the last couple of months we've been spending our Saturday mornings watching the boys at their activities.

Michael has loved his kickboxing class. He just received his black and yellow boxing gloves and he loves to show us his moves.


Benjamin chose to do soccer. He too has loved his class but most of the other kids don't show up and so he ends up doing drills instead of scrimmages. He is getting pretty good at "football".

Remembrance Sunday

In the UK, the second Sunday of November, the Sunday nearest to the 11th of November, is Remembrance Sunday, which is the anniversary of the end of the First World War which ended at 11am in 1918.

We had two minutes of silence in church today at 11am. The silence represents the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918, when the guns of Europe fell silent.

The poppy is worn throughout the country during November as a way to remember soldiers who have died in support of freedom. It's an amazing sight to see so many people wearing these poppies; people on the train, in the grocery store, and school children in uniform. It has been a great time for us in our family to think about our grandfathers who have fought for the freedom that we enjoy.

Happy bonfire weekend!

Guy Fawkes night is an annual celebration on the 5th of November (or the nearest weekend). It marks the downfall of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in which Guy Fawkes attempted to destroy the Houses of Parliament in London.

Our bonfire celebration was fantastic! I've never seen such a big bonfire. Apparently, rubbish had been collected all year in anticipation of this event. The boys had a blast adding cardboard and scraps to the fire with their friends. Sparklers and fireworks were also a big hit for most of us.

However, Luke and Mary were less thrilled with the noise of the fireworks.

This year we set off 'Go Lanterns'. They float up in the air just like hot air balloons. They are bright and great to watch as they float in the air. I still can't get over all of these fireworks that would be illegal and a huge fire hazard where I come from.

Luke got a new pair of wellies for bonfire night. He wore them all day on Saturday. He is so kissable I can hardly stand it!

Missing toothbrush

Luke loves to brush his teeth. So, this morning when I couldn't find his toothbrush, I asked him where it was. He took me to the bidet, pulled out the drain stopper, and pointed. Sure enough, it's wedged down the drain really well. I'm going to need some sort of tool to get it out. He looked disappointed when I told him it was gone. He probably thought that I'd pull it out and he'd be able to brush away. Gross!

Home country presentation

Benjamin presented his home country to his kindergarten class today. Here is the poster we created for his presentation:

Obviously we didn't have room on the poster for all the great American favorites. Here are some that we'll include next time: root beer, corn dogs, Rocky Balboa, Sam Witwicky, Frank Costanza, Cosmo Kramer, Roman Craig, Uncle Rico, Rex Kwan Doe, Dwight Shrute, Clark Griswold, Cousin Eddy, Fletch F. Fletch, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Slurpee's, peanut butter and jelly, frisbee, dodge ball, 4 square, and tether ball.

The snack we chose to represent our country was S'mores. This meant that I had to visit the US military base again with my friend to get graham crackers and marshmallows. I've lived here for more than a year without visiting the base and now I've been there twice in a week. They had canned pumpkin this time too!

Benjamin did so well on his presentation. He explained every picture and spoke slow and clear. I asked him afterwards if he was nervous and he said, "No, are you kidding? I'm Benjamin! Why would I be nervous?" (He hasn't called himself Mario since Halloween--I think he got it all out of his system that day.)

It was so fun to hear all of the kindergartners present their home countries. We heard about Israel, South Africa, Canada, Japan, Switzerland, England, U.S.A., and India. And then we tasted snacks from each country. The S'mores were a big hit with the kids, but my favorite was homemade English trifle.

Kindergarten field trip- Tate Britain museum

On Monday I was able to be a chaperone for Benjamin's kindergarten field trip to the Tate Britain Museum in downtown London. I was amazed at Benjamin's teacher. She is so creative and she made the museum so much fun to visit. She had a different activity for each section of the museum. Here we are making patterns from the floor tiles.

After studying the lines of this sculpture,

we created our own sculptures with pipe cleaners. Benjamin created himself (with my help)

and then we worked on our sculpture for the pipe cleaner Benjamin to enjoy.

Here's our finished product (the one in the center) on display in the museum for a few minutes:

For this wall art, the kids folded their own shiny paper and then joined it with their classmates to make their own sculpture. It was so fun to see their ideas flow.

My favorite part of the trip was our visit to the historic British art section. How do you get 5 year olds to quietly look through room after room of artwork? Their teacher told them a story at lunchtime about dogs in a museum that escaped from the artwork they were painted in and switched places with other dogs in other paintings. It was a great story. Then she told the kids that we were going on a dog hunt. We broke up into teams and we searched room after room of artwork to count as many dogs as possible. (BTW, our group counted 44 dogs--I never noticed before how many artists included dogs in their paintings).

This is Benjamin's class on the stairs of the museum as we were leaving:

View of the river Thames from the bus window as we were leaving the museum:

A huge thank you to my friend Terry who watched Mary and Luke so that I could have fun all day with Benjamin and his class.