Mark's Performance At Brampton Village Primary School

It's been a year and three months since Mark started taking piano lessons. He is still very much excited to practice and get better. It's still amazing to us that he loves it. 

Our piano was packed up and he had no way to practice his pieces on a real piano, but he still managed to persevere and learn this piece that most kids learn after at least two-three years of playing the piano. He also knows he still has a lot of work ahead of him.

Here is a video of Mark playing at the school's concert for children in Reception-Year 2. 

Way to go, Mark!:))

Alex's 11th Birthday Party

On June 25th (a month before his birthday), Alex and six friends from British school went paint balling at RAF Molesworth as part of his major birthday party:)

Harrison, Camden, Jude, George, Toby and Sarah are his friends who came.

Our British friends were paint balling for the first time in their lives! Six hours was just enough time (including snacks and breaks). 

"Everyone thought it was really-really cool", says Alex. The only time he got shot was when he got shot in the back of his head. Otherwise he was the messenger in the front line or something like that:)

A bit bruised and happy:)

Then the kids came home for some super yummy cake made by miss Mallory. 

At least this time these British kids didn't think the cake was too sweet (like Mark's little friends did) and gobbled it up:) 

We are so happy that Alex has made so many good friends in his three years in Brampton. He had a hard time choosing just six friends as so many could have come. He also wanted to make sure to have a birthday party this year, even if it was a month early, just so he could celebrate with his friends before school got out. And it was a great success:)

Lyana.
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Katya Goes Paint Balling

One of the families on our street was leaving England, so they decided to let their kids invite ten kids each to go paint balling. Katya was invited by Aubrey, along with two other girlfriends on the street--Claire and Sarah. That was the first time that Katya went paint balling and she had a blast!

Ready for action:)

Here is the whole group together. A lot of Katya's classmates and friends from school came as Thomas' friends:)

We'll miss our Brampton Rectory Close friends:))

Lyana.

Father's Day-2016

Robert is one of the greatest fathers I know. And I am not even fluffing it up. This man is a very hands-on dad who's gone through sleepless nights and messy baby spit ups, hundreds of park outings and splashes in the pool, grocery shopping with multiple children and the worst diaper changes of all times--all like a pro. And the kids know he is a great dad too! Who is the main person to go play board games with them? Robert! Who will play Wii with them? Robert (pretending to do it so reluctantly:))! Who will cook dinners and bake the best chocolate chip cookies? Robert!

But that's for the fun part...:)

This man is also one of the kindest and most thoughtful men I know. He is patient and loving, hard working and smart, and he always tries to make the right choice. He also doesn't love to watch sports much which is actually a bonus for us:). So grateful for him being the patriarch (such a grown up word) of our family:).

We all love you!

Lyana.

Shugborough Residential Trip (Blog post by Alex)

Every year students of Year 6 go on a residential trip (a couple of nights overnight) to a different location in England. After the trip, Alex's teacher asked Alex to write an article for the local village magazine to tell people about their adventures. This is his article:


My Year 6 residential; a Shugborough Adventure

By Alex Watson, Class 6B, Brampton Village Primary School

On Wednesday 15^th June 2016, 58 year 6 children from Brampton Village Primary School travelled to Shugborough in Staffordshire (for 2 ½ hours) on a noisy coach for a 3-day residential trip to celebrate a successful year and to commemorate 7 years of Primary school. I was so enthusiastic for the trip I literally leapt a foot in the air and paid almost no attention to what I was packing (My mum forced me to repack my bag three times before she was satisfied). When we finally got on the coach, Sam-my travelling buddy-and I found a seat near the front that was adjacent to Yannis and Greg and next to Colin. The five of us played Top Trumps and, ‘Surprise Surprise’ - I lost by a landslide. I couldn’t wait to get off the coach. So I was ecstatic when we drove past a sign bearing the name ‘Shugborough Activity Centre’.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by Mr. Kirby and Miss Kelly. After leading us towards the dormitories, they gave us a briefing on how to make our beds properly and, after several failed attempts, we managed to succeed. Following this, we met the girls in the dining hall and discussed the day’s schedule, along with the announcement of our teams and daily jobs. I was in team U with: Costas, Sid, Jim, Tabitha and Emmy; our job was wood collection with team V. Afterwards, we had sandwiches for lunch (a piece of ham or a lump of cheese placed between two pieces of bread) that I ate readily. We then began our activities for the day. First of all, we did the crystal maze, which consisted of a series of activities that we had to complete as a team to achieve a crystal. My team only earned one crystal and consequently got 4^th place out of 5. Next, we did team orienteering, for which I was with Costas, a fellow team member. We got 4^th again, but out of 15 this time – a much better result! Then we had dinner and completed our chores for the evening. After this, we went on a night walk and learnt a bit about the history of Shugborough. Did you know that one of Shugborough’s previous owners actually sailed the entire planet’s diameter? Following this, we had a quick hot chocolate and went to bed (well, I did. I don’t know about anyone else…).

In the morning, after breakfast, we began the next day’s activities. First, we did climbing in the pouring rain, which somehow made it more enjoyable. Second was archery. I got 36 out of 50 for my score, which surprised me. I was even more surprised when Ben got 42 out of 50! Then we had lunch (more ‘sandwiches’) and proceeded on with the outdoor fun. On the Blindfold challenge, where we had to navigate an obstacle course whilst blind-folded, we unfortunately had much less water dumped on our heads than anyone else, which was the opposite of our expectations. But BMXing was the real icing on the cake. It reminded me so much of how I used to watch BMXers back in the USA! This was my overall favourite activity! At night we had a campfire, where I sang ‘Hopeful’ by Bars and Melody. It really brought a nice ending to the day.

The following morning, we packed up, and after an internationally-themed breakfast, we did several team-building activities and then did solo orienteering. I got 3^rd place with an astounding time of 27 minutes and 10 seconds!!! Now it was time to go back to Brampton and so we set-off, thankful for the wonderful memories we acquired but sad to leave all the same.

To summarise, it was a thoroughly enjoyable end-of-year residential and I would highly recommend it to all those who love the outdoors! This is one memory to be preserved forever.

British Cub Scout Camping

Alex and Robert got and a very unique opportunity this June to go on a two night campout with the BRITISH cub scouts. Since Robert has been serving as a cub scout master for our base, he had to be the POC for the whole organizing part of our American boys. They were the only Americans who were joining the British kids and leaders. Although Alex had already crossed over to Boy Scouts, they let him join the Cub Scouts just this one last time.

The setting was very different from any other campouts that Alex and Robert have experienced. The location of the camp was about 40 minutes away from our home, in a freshly mowed grass field.

There were so many participants, it was hard to believe! Although you can't see it here, this is just a part of the field, where the Americans camped. 

On Friday night, after campers arrived, they had dinner. Alex wasn't keen on the food though, he told us later. The entertainment part was very unusual from the regular cub scout camps that Alex has attended. It was interesting to see that the stage was set up and that the kids were allowed to stay up way pass 10 pm.

 

I remember calling Robert around 10 pm and him saying that party is still on and everyone is wired. Kind of crazy.

Alex and Robert did not sleep well actually because Alex's allergies were acting up with all that freshly mowed grass around. He could barely breeze.

On Saturday morning Robert and another leader were in charge of teaching the kids some basic American Football rules and play the game with them. They actually had a lot of fun doing that!

Alex was gone and somewhere on his own exploring all the other parts of the camp where other leaders were teaching the boys other things. The whole thing was quite fun but quite different from the American camps.

Alex and Robert were not planning on camping on Sunday anyway and were going to come home early on Sunday morning but because Alex was so tired from not sleeping well the night before and his allergies were getting worse, they came home on Saturday evening to get some rest in their own beds.

I am glad they got a chance to experience a different kind of camping:) It's not every day that you get to camp with the British cubs on a British field:)

Lyana.

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Mark's "Dangerous Journey" Piano Recital

Mark is seven years old. He started learning piano three months after he turned six years old. He's loved his teacher, Mrs. Eldred, who has been coming to our house for four years now. This June Mrs. Eldred received the permission for Mark to perform at one of the public recitals. Normally, children take music lessons during school hours and musical instruments teachers just go from school to school to teach them. Only a few take private lessons. So this recital was mostly for students who take lessons through the school with a few different teachers. 

Mark was super excited as this was his first official recital. He worked so hard for hours. 

He really does love piano. It's amazing to me! It's really crazy for me to see how I didn't do anything special for him to foster this love and he simply enjoys it so much. I keep telling him frequently that talent itself is nothing but hard work pays off. And he sees it. 

We know this performance is not perfect, but still think it's quite impressive for someone who had been taking lessons for one year and two months. This was the end of Grade 2 level in English terms. 

And here is Mrs. Eldred and Mark. Oh, he will miss her so much. She was always so encouraging to him! She knew what motivated Mark and how to keep him on fire about piano. I just pray he continues to love playing the piano as we love listening to him.

Lyana.

P.S. Before Mark performed, the MC announced that this will be the last time Mark plays here before he moves to the US. At the end of the recital, the guy who sat in front of me came up to me and Mark, clearly impressed, and said, "You go show those Americans how to play the piano!", meaning to be very encouraging. I felt his pain inside as I replied to him (with my almost American smile), "Well, actually, we ARE American". And then I added something like, "But we love our straightforward British friends here":).

Ely Cathedral--RAF Alconbury Middle High School Graduation

Our RAF Alconbury base school is quite unique. It is small, it's very personable and it's an American school in the middle of England. Each year about 30-40 students graduate from Alconbury Middle High School. And each year for the past few years their graduation ceremony has been held at Ely Cathedral in Ely. Now that is quite amazing... Until this year though, I'd never been to a high school graduation ceremony here. But then an opportunity came up when Katya's choir teacher asked me to accompany their tiny choir at the graduation when they were going to sing a sort of goodbye-send off song. Although all the practices would have been happening right around our pre-moving and packing out, I said yes as I really wanted to help them sound better with a real piano accompaniment. Everything worked out even despite our busy schedule.

On June 9th, I joined Katya in Ely late in the afternoon. She had come to Ely with the choir by bus already, but I just came for the rehearsal at around 4 pm. After the run through, Katya went to eat dinner and hang out with her friends and I went for a walk through Ely--to one of the famous antique shops and to get some fish and chips. It was a glorious afternoon! And I feel like I needed to write a post about it even if it's just because I wanted to capture the great relaxing feeling I had sitting on the grass in the park next to the cathedral, eating my fish and chips and observing people walking by.

...And watching the cows. This is incredible to me--cows and an ancient cathedral all in one spot. Maybe it's because our stuff was already all packed out and it hit me hard that we'd be moving soon, or maybe it's because it was such a beautiful sunny afternoon, but I felt so amazed with England and its culture at that moment. I knew I would miss the oldness and the simplicity, the views right in the middle of town and the small town feel of some really famous places. I knew I would miss the cows eating grass by the cathedrals...

I walked back to the cathedral after my dinner, sat through the graduation ceremony (which was a delight) and played for the choir. The acoustics of this place made the choir and the piano combination sound angelic. It was a great performance and made lots of people teary.

Someday this little one will graduate. I guarantee I will be one of those moms who cry and cry and cry... at least inside.

Lyana.

Football Season at RAF Alconbury

Our tiny AF base had one thing figured out correctly--community spirit. Kids knew each other, parents knew each other, we all signed up for similar things, helped each other with car rides and snacks. This May both Katya and Mark wanted to play soccer. 

We already knew that Airman Stewart and Airman Kulibert would be coaching a soccer team (I was the one who convinced them to try coaching basketball in the months prior), so we were hoping Mark could be on their team. Katya wanted to be on the same team as her friends Claire and Mary Kate, so we hoped that all our schedules would work out.

The little guys practiced once a week and played once a week. You'd think the weather would be nicer and dryer and warmer by May--but NO:) There were many times when we, as parents, were simply freezing. I had to wear my warmest winter coat and put on a hat (and even make Mark wear a hat) as it was so windy and freezing one time. 

Mark became a good little player! 

In general, he is so focused and very athletic. His friend, Charlie, was on his team as well, so they practiced A LOT of soccer on our street. 

He was one of the midfielders so he could play in a variety of ways. 

At the end of the season, in June, we had an ice cream party for the kids. We are so grateful for people like these young lads who are willing to step up and volunteer their time and effort to help the kids learn the sport.

Katya's team was much more serious! Still fun but with more training. Katya discovered this year that she loved soccer and that she actually was good at it. She can run (although she says she gets tired very easily) and she can pass and kick really well.

Her games were super exciting as some of the teams in her age group were very good. 

It was especially fun to play soccer with her friends on her team as we managed to align all of our schedules. 

And again, I am grateful for parent volunteers who make it possible for kids to play and have fun. It was a great season! RAF Alconbury forever in our heart:)

Lyana. 

Family pictures 2016

We don't do professional photos very often. I love the end result, but they stress me out. I am not the creative type, so figuring out what everyone should wear for the pictures takes weeks for me:)) 

This year, we figured we really-really need to get pictures taken as this was the last year in England. Our friend, Linnea, was kind enough to let her book her. She is one busy mom who is also an awesome family vacation planner (even better than truly yours:)) so it was tricky to find time that fit both of us between our travels. We chose the perfect spring day for it at the end. It was actually not too chill to be outside with short sleeves for a long period of time. Very unusual for England:) This location is a secret but perfect place for English pictures. It's right next to Abbots Ripton village, in the middle of the fields and another tiny village. 

I have posted a few of these on facebook, but here I will add a few more. Some are cheesy and some are just good old fashioned ones:). 

This one wins "The most posed" picture ever award:))

Alex.

Katya 

We took lots of pictures of Katya trying to see if we could get one we could use as her headshot. 

She says she loves this one the most because you can't see her freckles. But we love her freckles!

And Mark.

Whose hair went "poof" and we weren't sure what happened to all the gel.

This one was the hardest to take as the kids kept goofing around and not standing still by this point.

We also visited a beautiful forested area nearby just for a few more shots. 

The fields were blooming which became the perfect background for this one last shot. 

Well, at the end it was a lot of fun:)) At the end is when I realize that I actually enjoy getting all these family pictures taken:)) If only someone could just tell me what everyone should wear and do my make up-hahaha:)

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