Day 14

Wake up call was at 7:30am this morning. I awoke earlier to make sure that I had everything ready to go. We gathered in the lobby around 9am after having yet another sumptuous breakfast (including baked beans!). We met Laura, our guide from ACIS who will escort us to the airport. We said our good-byes to Guy last night, as his flight to Madrid was this morning at 9am. He was leaving just as we were leaving the hotel. On the way to the airport I tallied up a few tidbits for you all. It is estimated that we walked about 92 miles total on this trip (some more, some less)! We also cumulatively took over 15,000 pictures!!! Mr. Kim wins the prize with about 1,500 pictures. (He had two cameras, though…one a pretty pink one! Lol) The ride to the airport was pretty uneventful. We unloaded (when we finally got to where we were supposed to unload) and headed in to check our bags (well, they did anyways). One lady who worked for British Airways was quite rude! She got upset that 20 people popped into the line without checking in first! The thing is that we had paper tickets, not e-tickets. The nerve! Most of them were nice, though. We gathered by a wall to say our good-byes. There was a lost little girl by us. I remember seeing her mother and saw her in a line, so I tried to take her to her mother. She saw her dad first and ran to him, though. After I said good-bye to the group they ended up waiting with us and we had a nice conversation. I shared some Ritz crackers with the kids (note the cracker calming the crying Amelia in the picture!). I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you what happened to everyone else from that point on. Maybe someone could post a comment to this post so I can see what you did and how your flight went. It took my sister-in-law Tami quite some time to find us. I called her after an hour and she had taken a wrong turn at first. Then she had to find her way back. Then she was stuck behind some people. I had to keep calling her because she couldn’t figure out how to call my cell. We loaded up, went to the loo (I just had to say that!) and were on our way finally around 1pm. I am pretty sure we saw the kids’ flight go over us if they took off at 1:05 or 1:10pm! Tami (my sister-in-law) was using a navigation system called Tomtom. It was amazing! She had taken a few wrong turns, and Tomtom adjusted and told her where to go. It was so cool! It also beeped whenever she started speeding. When we were about halfway there we looked back at the kids in the back seat. Serena was sleeping, Adamm was jamming to his mp3 player, and James was twisting in his seat…we had forgotten to strap him in! Yikes! I quickly did so and we continued on our merry way. My brother and his family live on a farm near Lakenheath called Symonds Farm…it’s a pig farm! PU! Actually, it doesn’t smell, but there are a lot of flies! I am also missing my a/c at all of those nice hotels, but I won’t miss the walking! They have a very nice two story house on the grounds of the farm. The brown mounds in the grass are moles, I am told. We had a yummy lunch of sandwiches and fruit salad. When Paul got home Tami and I went to the base to gas up the car for our trip tomorrow. We are going to visit Stonehenge then stay in a Bed and Breakfast in Bath. RAF Mildenhall was about a 20 minute drive through narrow (often one lane) country roads. Adamm and Serena took over their Wii and Guitar Hero game. Adamm needs to practice up to challenge Mr. Kim! He’s already told me he wants to go to Woodstock every other Friday for Mr. Kim’s guitar hero fests! Lol We passed by many beautiful sites which I will have to post for you later, as I forgot my camera! When we got to the base Tami had to get a guest pass for me for the week. The lady at the desk was in fatigues but seemed very feminine. She had manicured nails and makeup on, but when she opened her mouth it was like a master sergeant from a movie barking orders: Ma’am, go to the book and sign in and print your name and hers! It sounded so weird coming from her mouth! Lol I would hate to meet her in a dark alley! Then we went through the gate past the police with big guns. She gave me the tour and showed me the “secret building” where my brother works. There are no windows because of the top secret nature of his work. I would tell you what he does, but I can’t or I’d have to kill you! Lol j/k We filled up and then went to the BXtra to check it out. It stands for the Base Exchange and had a food court (which James calls Burger King because there’s a Burger King in it), a video rental/store, and many other things of necessity. We picked up some snacks for the kids then headed home. Paul had the lasagna in the oven when we got back home and I started our laundry. The washing machine here takes hours to do just one load. I’m not quite sure why, but it’s going to take me forever! It’s 10pm and I’ve only done two loads! I’ve got one more to go! So I am sitting here blogging, waiting for my clothes to finish. Tami has these dryer balls that help clothes dry faster and make them softer without using fabric softener sheets. I think she got them in Canada. We had salad and lasagna (which was delicious) for dinner with carrot cake for dessert. We had to call it “Grandma’s cake” because he avoids all veggies at all costs! He wouldn’t eat it if we called it carrot cake! Lol Putting James to bed was fun. Paul and Tami have a huge queen sized air mattress that they blew up for us to sleep in James’ room. After his bath it was reading time. He picked out 4 books and wanted Serena to read to him. Paul started reciting “Goodnight Moon” before he even looked at it! Lol I guess that one’s a favorite! I was very impressed that James could spell his name. He finally went to bed (at the same time as Serena). I was able to post the last two blogs so that I am now up to date. While I am sitting here (still waiting for my clothes) we watched the real Deal or No Deal. It’s different here. They have real people opening the boxes, and the highest price you can get is £250,000. The people opening the boxes are there until they are called to play, then they add other people. Now we are watching Big Brother (the English version). I’m not in to reality shows, but Tami is so addicted she records them all! Well, I’ll end my novel for today. Tomorrow you get to visit Stonehedge with us! Oh, I almost forgot. Adamm and Serena are quite happy because Paul and Tami have two cats: Sabrina and Gracie.