Visiting J&M - Birthday

Jessica's birthday was the day after we arrived. Mark's Mum came by to see Jessica and have a cup of tea.

Mark arranged Jessica's favorite - a cookie cake.

One of her favorite gifts was a cookbook. Surprise!

The best gift was a painting Mark did for Jessica. Jessica was embarrased by her tears. She's about to have a baby.

The painting reprises a small scuplture of a couple hugging they have near their dining table. Very loving.

Visiting J&M - Pig Roast

To celebrate Guy Hawkes day, Jessica's work had a pig roast for the employees and their families. Jessica was one of the coordinators for the pig roast. (She did not roast the pig - this couple did.)

Family members had a good time!

Jessica's office is at Leigh Court, a mansion built in 1814.It's fancy.

There were fireworks after the pig roast.

Visiting J&M - Around Yatton

Jessica and Mark's home.

The back yard.

A pretty welcome, looking out the back window.

In the kitchen.

The dining room.

In the village center, there is a nifty scooter store. Lots of people ride scooters all over.

 

On our walk back home we encountered a Veterans Day ceremony.

  

The Cadbury Garden & Landscape center was one of our favorite local hangouts.

Acorn Picking

Danielle and Jenny came over to visit. Danielle noticed we have a good crop of acorns, so we decided to collect some.

After a while, we had over half a bucket full.

She also played with balls and the small wagon.

Christopher Penna, Jedi Knight

Christopher constructs a miniature Boba Fett.

He then proceeds to demonstrate the use and skills of the light saber.

Mountain Scenery

Here's a photo of a mountain not far from our house.

(Scroll down for the big surprise.)

































Ha! It's the pile of sand by our driveway. I thought it was interesting how the rain the other day shaped it so that it resembles (to my eye, anyway) a scale mountain. Fractals, anyone?

Peppers

We got a nice crop of banana peppers from our little garden.

Grandcamp West

After we got back from Grandcamp East, we took over from Jeff's parents to cover Grandcamp West.
Naomi's school had a fundraising fair. Naomi decided to go for the facepaint.

Isn't she beautiful?

The fire department brought one of their engines. Both Naomi and Danielle climbed over it.

Naomi still sometimes stops to ride the rocking horse on her way out of the after school center, where she attended preschool.

Danielle enjoys having a quiet time of reading... occasionally.

Naomi dances to the Veggie Tales theme song.

We carved an "Early October Jack'O'Lantern".

Naomi bravely extracts the gooshy stuff.

Water table play.

Drinking from the proverbial fire hose.

Enjoying one of many mini meals.

Completing a challenging 25 piece puzzle. (Sorry about the outfit, Jenny - our bad!)

Naomi presents a puppet show.

Danielle follows suit.

Faint echos of the 60's -- our own flower child!

Grandcamp East

We had the privilege of helping with John and Christopher during the startup of school season. They are becoming great Brothers.

Constant motion! Christopher enjoys moving "rocks" from one container to another, while John demonstrates Brownian Motion.

John and Mimi made some cookies.

One night, John decided he wanted to sleep in the hallway instead of his bed.

John and Christopher enjoyed sliding down from the fort.

John rides the bus home from school.

Yard

It was hot this summer. And dry.
The John/Naomi tree kind of took a beating, but we think it just went into hibernation in self defense.

We're not so sure about the Leland Cypress's. They have been cut off to see if there is any life left in the root stock.

The rosemary seemed oblivious.

The Liriope burned on the tips of the leaves.

And the Texas Sage suffered, but recovered nicely after a little shower we had.

 

Mimi decided to rearrange the brick patio, due to uneven surfaces/trip hazards.

A lot of bricks were relocated.

And a lot of plants were "pruned"... (there used to be 5 Leland Cypress' there...)

Trip East

Our first stop was Siloam Springs, AR. We took Reuben's Jeep to his daughter Sophia, who is attending John Brown University.

We spent the night in Conway, AR. Sadly, we just didn't have time in our schedule to drive by Hendrix College where Julie went to school.

We met up with Candice and Gene in Memphis. They had driven up there to escape the rain from tropical storm Lee. We had barbecue for lunch.

Nasville has a Trader Joe's! This time, we each had one shopping bag to fill. This greatly reduced the financial impact of our visit.

By the time we got to Pigeon Forge, there was plenty of rain for us to enjoy - something we haven't seen in quite a while.
We found a wonderful Italian boutique diner for lunch. It's called "Papa John's Pizza."

 (Not quite the same as Portugal, but the best we could come up with in Pigeon Forge.)
There were even puddles to splash in...

License Tag Owner Lookup App - A Tool For Road-Rage!

This app:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/carindex/id326838207?mt=8#

might be ok in Switzerland, where most of the humans still appear to be sane.

Can you imagine how it would play out here in the USA!?!?

"Slow driver ahead? Call 'em up, curse at 'em, then shoot out their tail lights!"