Billings Update For

Hello Everyone!

I hope this blog update finds you well. Tim is up late working on his Masters homework and I figured I would write a blog real quick before heading off to bed.

Things here are going about as well as expected. Tim just got back from Squadron Officer School on the 27th. He had a ton of fun and learned a lot (or so he says). Meanwhile, I was home alone with the kids while they were both sick. They, in turn, got me sick. Needless to say Tim's 5 week vacation was not fun for me.

On the bright side, we have a very exciting couple weeks coming up. We will be heading out to Washington, D.C. for a family vacation. We plan to see all the sights and museums. We even have a tour planned of the U.S. Capitol. Also, Tim has a friend that he worked with at Camp Cayuga living in D.C. teaching trapeze. So we plan on "flying" on the trapeze too.

Tim is at it again! Tim signed up for his 2nd Half Marathon while his is deployed to South Carolina. He is going to run in the Spinx Run Fest on 30 October. Hopefully he doesn't hurt himself like last time.

I think that is pretty much it for us. If you have any updates, don't hesitate to e-mail us with them. We'd love to hear what your family is up to. Finally, here are updated pictures of the kids.

Tyler munching on his bib.

Caroline and Tyler

Her future is so bright that she has to wear shades!

Our Summer and Caroline's Now Ten Months

The Cincinnati Zoo in July!

Well pretty much the whole summer has flown by without me writing a single blog. This past Fourth of July we drove up to Georgetown, KY to visit Tim's parents. We took her to Cincinnati to see the zoo for the very first time. We also saw two of Tim's brothers and visited Mike at the fire station where he works at. We of course had to take a picture of Caroline in the driver's seat of the Fire Truck.

Honk! Honk! Caroline is on her way to save the day!

We have been keeping busy with working on the house and attending summer cookouts about every weekend. During the last two weeks of August, Tim went TDY to Alaska. He went up there to see how things were done up in the Alaska National Guard and the Alaskan NORAD Region. Of course this only took up 4 of the 14 total days up there. The rest of the time was spent hiking, going to the zoo, airplane rides to look at glaciers, and of course all the excellent seafood restaurants. We really missed him. I had no one to wash bottles for me. :-(

Tim on his AK Vacation

I wish Daddy would come home from Alaska.

While he was gone I worked on turning one of our living room closets into a cloffice or closet office for Tim's birthday gift. He was very surprised. I also went on shopping date with Abear and Todd at Ft Walton and then spend the rest of the evening at the beach with my parents to celebrate Dad's birthday. That was a lot of fun.

Tim's New Cloffice

But the biggest news of the summer is that Caroline learned to crawl last Thursday. The first video is one of her laughing. She thinks it is so funny when I crawl on the floor or run around the room. I was just running from one side of the bed to the other to get her to laugh this hysterically.

A Minute of Laughter

Caroline goofing off at the resturant!

I love to read!

Caroline's Christmas

The holidays have kept us busy. I wish I could have posted one or two blogs in between this one, but I guess I'm learning about the busy life of being a parent. Caroline is now ten weeks old and learning so much. She is just now getting the hang to holding on to rattles when you put them in hers hands and she is doing so well with hold her head up. Before I know it she won't need my help any more. On the 19th of December Caroline and I rode with my parents up to Rome, GA to have our Christmas get together with my mom's side of the family. My Aunt Kay and Uncle Nick went to Italy this summer the same time Tim and I when to England. They got in touch with our Italian relatives to have dinner and share heritage stories with them. This year Aunt Kay hosted Christmas at her house and recreated the five course meal that was cooked for them. I was very delicous.

Right after I got home the Sunday of that weekend, we started getting ready for Tim's family. His mom, dad, brother, and grandmother came down the Monday before Christmas and stayed until early Saturday morning. We had a good time with them. And of course with grandparents visiting, Caroline got more presents than anyone.

This Christmas I did some major hinting for the Open Hearts necklace from Kay Jewlers. Tim did good in getting the not so subtle hints, however he tried to make the gift giving more fun than just giving me what I wanted. Click HERE to see the video clip from Christmas day. Happy New Years to all!!!

Four Generations on my Mom's side. The night before was a long night as Princess Caroline does not sleep well away from home...hence, the lovely hair style.

Caroline and Grandma Billings.

Caroline is happy it's Christmas!

Caroline and Grandpa Billings.

What a party animal!

Caroline has a new friend the same size as her.

Caroline's First Thanksgiving

Caroline turned 5 weeks old on Thanksgiving day. We took her to Bainbridge, Georgia to see my Dad's side of the family. Every year my dad's relatives drive all across the state to go to this country church to eat and leave. At the most people are there for about three hours and then they get in their cars and drive home. Talk about only going for the food. Every year we go and comment on how we wished we could have stayed longer to visit with everyone. When my brother, Jason, used to go he would use his journalism skills to interview relatives we never met. Then he and my dad would talk about who they met and what they learned about everyone. It was like they divided and conquered the task of socializing with others.

Caroline got to see her Great-Granny Ragan for the first time along with her other great-great aunts and uncles. After we spent our two hours there, we drove to Columbus, Georgia to say the night with Chris and Liz and her side of the family. We had such a good time there. It was like high school times seeing her family again. Liz, her mom and I braved the crowds on Black Friday while leaving the kids at home with the men. I normally don't shop the day after Thanksgiving but I did for Caroline sine there is no BabiesRUs in Panama City. After the shopping trip we drove back home just in time for Tim to get started on his weekend long project of painting the parlor. With a little encouragement he does such a good job on his Honey-Do-List. And believe me he has a long list with this house.

Tim and I have so much to be grateful for this year. I had a wonderful pregnancy, easy delivery, and a beautiful, healthy child that I couldn't love more. Not to mention we moved back to Florida to get new job and be closer to family. We found a house, good church and home group, and we find ourselves surrounded by friendly neighbors. What more could we ask for.

Nonna feeding Caroline.

Four generations. This is Granny Ragan who gave me the rocking chair that my dad was rocked in. A picture of the rocking chair is in a previous blog entry below.

Our family of three.

Caroline had a hard time sleeping away from home and ended up wanting to sleep in the bed with Mommy and Daddy.

Liz and Caroline. Two of my three favorite women to hang out with. I'm just missing my mom in this picture.

Liz's little girl Loralye. She wanted to hold "the baby" the whole time.

July until Present

I guess I should probably write an entry and catch everyone up on what's been going on since the UK trip. We spent the month of July and August trying to sell our home and tie up all loose ends at work. It became very stressful for us as the buyers for our home came along very last minute and so did our orders to move to our next duty station. But we got it all taken care of in the nick of time. The last weekend we were there we had a baby shower hosted by one of my best friends, Samantha. She did a wonderful job of preparing everything. We were so glad we had a one last memorable time with all our friends from Oklahoma. The day we handed over the keys to our house, we headed to New Mexico to go to Todd's and Abear's wedding. Tim was a groomsman in the wedding and I tagged along as his date. We had a good time, but it seemed to make the entire move to Florida forever long, especially with the dogs the entire trip. After the wedding, we went back to Oklahoma City to spend the night on the base and pick up my car. We headed straight to the Red Rock Canyon Grill to eat dinner with five other couples before leaving for good. We had such a wonderful time, and it is such a shame that it takes someone leaving before ALL of us could get together like this. OKC is so spread out and everyone is so busy it makes it difficult to get your friends together very often.
The next day we headed to Florida and managed to avoid the hurricane, but we did get rain on the second day of driving. We made it to Tyndall on the 3rd of September. From then we rented a cheap apartment that was the most disgusting place I have ever lived. So for about a month we moved from hotel to hotel and then stayed on an air mattress most of the time. That was not a comfortable situation for a pregnant woman. I would have to say it ranked pretty high on one of the most miserable times in my life. We ended up finding a beautiful home and closed on it on September 30th. However, we had to wait until October 6th before TMO could bring our stuff to the house. So that added on more mattress time. But it's all good now; we are settled in with plans to make our touches on the house bit by bit. We are happy with the kitchen and we finished painting and setting up our bedroom. My mom came down one weekend and painted the baby's room and Tim painted the dinning room. Our lives are completely functional now and most everything is in its place.
Now we are counting down the day, four to be exact, until I have the baby. We are so excited. Her due date is the 20th but I will be induced on the night of the 22nd if she has not come by then. I can't wait to have her in my arms and get back to my normal clothes.
Last night Todd and Abear (who moved to Hurlburt AFB not too long before us) came to visit us. They spent the night and we drove about an hour north of here to go to a farm and pick pumpkins. We did the hay ride thing as well. We had a great time, however it wasn't really the best place to pick a pumpkin as they did not grow many and they were already cut off the vines for insurance purposes. I hope you enjoy the pictures. I'll add pictures of the rooms in the house as we finish them.

Samantha hosting our baby Shower.

Everyone waiting for the gift opening to begin.

Rehearsal dinner at the Dawson's Wedding.

The last supper with our friends in OKC. Three of us are pregnant in this picture.

Baby Billings' first 3D picture.

Our new house in Florida.

Majestic Oaks Farm where we tried to pick a pumpkin from a patch.

The Dawsons and the Billingses waiting for the hay ride.

London..Again (Day 2)

Monday, June 30, 2008

London, Day 2

This morning we took our time getting out of bed so we catch up on rest. We had a good night’s sleep in a king size bed. The bed is about all that fits in the room. We strolled down to a super market to get some hot food already prepared near the deli section. They had a lot of food for cheap, but it was all Asian food that we were afraid to try. We stumbled on a restaurant by the super market called Garfunkles and had a great lunch. After lunch we walked to Harrods. It is a huge six-story department store. They have everything from pianos, furniture, and toys to sports equipment. I have never seen anything like it. It was better than your best shopping mall, but all in one store. It was expensive as well. If Tim and I dressed like we could afford anything at the store, I would be wearing a fancy dress and hat like you see at the horse tracks and Tim would look like Uncle Moneybags from Monopoly with the tux, monocle and flute of champagne. And as we walked in the front doors and looked at the purses displayed on benches for the cost of two thousand American dollars, Tim’s monocle would fall from his eye into his champagne with a loud gasp. These purses were displayed like they were cheap. I’ve seen jewelry way cheaper locked behind glass in stores in the US. As you go through the store you can let why it is so expensive…there were no corners cut on the architect or décor. There were several fancy dinning halls in the store. I guess all that shopping can make you hungry. It is possible to spend an entire day there. Tim and I managed to find a Krispy Krème and took a rest with doughnuts and coffee. After “just looking” for two hours we walked back to our room. We grabbed free newspapers on the way back and work on Soduku puzzles and took a long nap. We finally got ourselves out of bed around 9:00 to eat supper. We ate at another Italian restaurant that was great. Nine seems to be the time to eat around here. Before we found this place to eat we walked in several other restaurants but there were no tables available.

London..Again (Day 1)

Sunday, June 29, 2008

London, Day 1

This morning we drove towards to our hotel in London. We arrived two hours before check-in and looked for a place to eat. With all the customers it looked like one of those hole-in-the-wall places with surprisingly good food. But it was only o.k. and didn’t seem worth the money. After we ate we sat in the car until two o’clock came around for check-in. We unloaded the entire car and drove it to Avis. We felt like we made out pretty well with the cost. We thought we could be spending around $1600, but they ended taking off money because we returned the car three days early and they took off for the price of the tire. So we only spent around $1000 for 14 days of rental and damage. We walked from the car rental to Hyde Park for the Hard Rock concert. Tim managed to get those tickets online for The Police concert. There were various other musicians that we were unfamiliar with, but they did have the Bangles and KT Tunstal. The concert lasted from two to ten so Tim and brought along our picnic blanket and packed lots of snacks for supper. There were 35,000 people at the concert. This concert was the last time The Police were ever going to perform together. When I first heard about there last tour together, I remember getting online to see if they were going to be in Dallas or some place close to home, but the timing wasn’t going to work out. So this is even cooler that we got to see their final performance and at all place in London. We had a great time.

On The Way To London

Saturday, June 28, 2008

There is nothing excited to report about today. We had the car packed and started back to RAF Lakenheath by 6:50a.m. We washed two loads of clothes on base and dropped off our camping rentals. We went to the grocery store to stock up on breakfast, drinks and snacks. Then we drove an hour and thirty minutes towards London for a rest stop with a Days Inn. We slept well that night.

Suffok (Day 2)

Friday, June 27 2008

Suffolk

Today was a day of visiting places from our childhood. After we took down our tent and packed everything away, we drove an hour to Coney Weston to see the house Tim lived for six months of the three years his dad was stationed at RAF Lakenheath. We stopped on the side of the road and took pictures. Then we drove another hour to Lavenham, the town with all the crooked Tudor style houses. The town was a medieval wool town, known for their blue, denim like fabric. It was a boomtown and they built their houses so fast that they didn’t think about the proper foundation. The houses settled all crooked. Our next stop was an hour away to Kesgrave, where I lived for a short time. Kesgrave is a small town outside of Ipswich. We stopped and took pictures of the house from the outside. Then we knocked on the next-door neighbor’s house, who lived there at the time my parents did. We were greeted by this near 90-year-old lady who welcomed us in and had us sit down in her living room to chat. She said that she and her husband just finished having a beer in their garden. Later she showed us her gardens in her back yard. The yard was long and narrow. However, she spent 37 years creating the most awesome garden I have ever seen. When you first walk out you see a fish pong with a bridge going over it. At first the yard seemed small because you could not see past the pond because of all the plants and bushes around it. She took us down the path and it opened up into this almost room like area. There was a grassy area surrounded by trees and plants galore. As we kept walking there was another room with a swing and green house. Then yet another area marked off with a tree house for her granddaughters to play on. As we walked by all the plants she pointed them out and told us what they were. She had a few tomato bean plants. Her trees consisted of various types of apple and two fig trees. It was the real deal as Tim said. It was such a treat to see a garden so extensive and detailed. Then she knocked on the neighbor’s house so he could show us the house I grew up in. The son of the landlord when my parents lived there is the current owner. It has changed a lot since we lived there. He invited us into to let us take a look around. A second story and a formal dining room have been added. After talking with him about how things around the area have changed, we drove to downtown Ipswich so we could purchase some Ipswich Town Football Club memorabilia. We then went back to the campsite to put the tent back up. When we arrived, there were a ton of families around with a lot of loud kids. We had to go to be early because we needed to be back at Lakenheath to drop off our camping gear.

Suffolk (Day 1)

Thursday, 26 June 2008

Suffolk

Today got up and had our last breakfast with Judy and John. We have thoroughly enjoyed our breakfast conversations with them every morning. After they saw us off we felt as if we were leaving good friends of ours instead of just my parent’s friends. We had an hour and a half drive to RAF Lakenheath. The drive was beautiful as we drove through the East Anglican countryside. After calling ahead to RAF Lakenheath, RAF Mildenhall and RAF Alconbury, Tim got a taste of what Joseph from the Bible must have felt like when all the innkeepers told him there was no room for him or his pregnant wife in the inn. Lodging at all three bases were occupied due to the PCS season. We even looked for hotels in the Suffolk area online; however, we could not find any vacancies. The only thing left for us to do is to go camping. We drove to Lakenheath to rent camping gear on base. After we got our supplies we toured Tim’s Elementary school that he attended while in third, fourth, and fifth grade. He was grinning from ear to ear seeing all the old classrooms that he learned in so many years ago. Some of the teachers that were there while he attended school are STILL teaching, over 18 years ago! Things have changed quite a bit on Lakenheath. Tim said it didn’t feel as homey as it once did. Beefed up security with huge fences is now the scenery around Lakenheath. We dropped by the Lakenheath Hospital to take a couple pictures. As it turns out, Malinda was born there. After going to the commissary for some food, we headed off to Orwell Campground to set up camp and settle in for the night. Tim and I had a hard time setting up the tent because of the wind. It wasn’t as bad as Oklahoma, but it was just the right strength to make tent pitching a real pain the bum. Luckily we finished when we did, it started to drizzle and now it’s just pouring down. I guess our lucky streak has ended…weather wise.

London (Day 2)

Wednesday, 25 June 2008

London (Day 2)

After we got another awesome breakfast by Judy today, we headed back into London to enjoy the infamous Tower of London. We started out by joining a guided tour given by the Yeoman Warders, which you would know them as Beefeaters. They got pretty gruesome with all the tales of public and private beheadings, including Margaret Pole (executed only because Henry VIII couldn’t find her son) who tried to run away during her execution and the axe man took 15 swings to finish her off. The tour finished up in St. Peter ad Vincula (St. Peter in Chains). It is still used as a chapel for the over 120 current residents and where all but one of the unfortunate people were beheaded are buried.

Going to the Tower of London is more than just one tower to look at if you have no clue about it. It is composed of several fortified walls with towers on the corners. There was also a large courtyard with different buildings to go in. We walked into the rooms along the outside wall and saw King Edward I bedchamber as it might have been set up back in his days. They also had rooms of were his throne sat and were he discussed military tactics and laws with others. Then we made our way into White Hall in the middle of the courtyard full of displays. They had weapons, armor, historical exhibits as well as hands on exhibits on display. It was quite extensive. As we made our way out the building we looked into the courtyard and saw several black ravens trying to run, hop, skip, and fly at the same time. The ravens were special birds put there with their wings’ clipped. Legend has it if the ravens fly away from the Tower of London, the Tower and the monarchy would crumble. We felt sorry for them when there were pigeons all around them flying away.

We took a rest and ate lunch in courtyard. Then we saw the coolest thing ever…the crown jewels. The crown jewels were displayed in separate cases. Alongside the cases was a conveyer belt to stand on as you looked at the crowns. That was such a great idea because it kept the line moving. Anyways the jewels were amazing, I have never seen anything like it. Nevertheless, I’m not jealous in the least bit…Tim said is going to get me jewels like those, but I would have to wait until our 25^th anniversary.

After the Tower of London, we headed to St. Paul Cathedral. This is where Princess Diana and Prince Charles were married. It was absolutely huge! We took a brief look inside because tickets were $20 per person. Granted, near the end of the tour they took you to the top of the dome where you can stand outside and see all of London. Still not worth $20. Next we made our way to Hyde Park for some ice cream and a nap. It was well timed out because Malinda was running on fumes by the time we made it there. We then headed back to John and Judy’s place for dinner and bed.

London (Day 1)

Tuesday, 24 June 2008

London

Today we started off day with a wonderful, large breakfast cooked by Judy. John dropped us off by the nearest train station. And off when went to Victoria Station. I though it might have a slight resemblance to the Victoria Station but with all the modern updates. But they looked nothing alike. However, it is the largest station, acting as the hub of the wheel with many platforms branching out from it. And yes, we did hear, “ Mind the gap between the train and the platform.” Our first stop we headed to Buckingham Place to see the changing of the guards. There must be certain times when it is a bigger performance than others. Tim built it up to be a huge event and it wasn’t as he remembered. There wasn’t much to see, however it did last for an hour. I stood front row on the curb across from the palace and saw the guards walk right past me on foot and horse back, which you can see by clicking on HERE. After that they went inside the gate and did a whole bunch of ceremonial stuff that you could not see or hear. I guess they “relinquished” and “assumed” guard duty. I’m not really sure. At some time during the ceremony the band members marched by and played theme music from Star Wars. Now, that was totally unexpected.

After, the ceremony we walked by a large grassy park, that seemed to be the place to picnic and nap during lunch hour. We hopped on the tube by the park and headed towards Piccadilly Circus, which is the equivalent to New York’s Time Square. They have the huge teles on the side of the buildings as well. We search the area for the famous Hard Rock Café. How can you go to a big city like this and not go to Hard Rock Café for a burger and a t-shirt? After stopping and asking several people for directions we found out that we were in the wrong area. We ended up walking back past the tube station that we got on. We were far off. We finally made it and had delicious burgers. I asked the waitress if she knew of a poster of Sting or The Police in the restaurant so I could take a picture of it. She asked her manager and there wasn’t any but she told me that Sting was playing at Hyde Park on Sunday. So after buying our Hard Rock Café London t-shirts, we went on a wild goose chase to look for tickets at Leicester Square. However, all the tickets were sold out. I always wanted to go to a Sting concert, but to go to one in London would have been a once in a lifetime opportunity. It was a nice try though.

We found a open top double-decker tour bus and rode around most of down town London. Our ticket came with headsets so you can listen to the commentary of the sites as we passed by. It was nice to see the city from up high, but not worth the money. The recorded tour guide gave us very little and vague information. We rode around town until we got tired and then it was back to the tube station. John picked us up after we arrived at our station. That evening they had get together with friends from their Bible study group. There were people from India, South Africa, Nigeria, and let not forget a Londoner with a cockney accent. It was really interesting meeting people from all over the world all at once.

Windsor Castle

Monday, 23 June 2008

Windsor Castle

Today we checked out of RAF Fairford and drove the hour east towards Windsor Castle. I’ve always had fond memories of visiting this castle years ago when I lived here in England. Other than THE Tower of London, Windsor is my favorite. The Queen also fancies Windsor as well. She frequents it on the weekends and calls it “home”. We started the day out eating lunch outside the castle walls because, for some reason, we weren’t invited to eat inside. We weren’t on “The List”. Also, I didn’t have enough females with me and I guess we didn’t have “The Look”. The Queen has 60 place settings at her table. You’d think she could spare a couple places for us? Oh well. After that nasty business, we had to pay to get in. I guess now we’re good enough.

At Windsor they had the same telephone looking tour guides there you punched in a code and they’ll tell you about the area you’re walking through. These are the best invention since sliced bread. We didn’t waste any time going straight to Queen Mary’s Dollhouse. Malinda remembers reading about it in National Geographic back when she was 7 and has been wanting to see it ever since. For some reason, I never got to see it when I went to Windsor, so I was also interested. Everything in it actually works, electricity, plumbing, vacuum, etc. It turned out to be really cool, but it doesn’t leave much room for the imagination for a girl who likes to play with dollhouses. After that we toured the Royal Apartments. The area we saw would be the area that you would be allowed to enter, IF you were invited to a State Dinner. The main vestibule was chock full of guns, swords, and amour, along with all the gifts that the British monarch at the time received or stole from other countries, including a solid gold tigers head with solid crystal eyes and teeth. The tour continued into a huge dining room, then another huge hall that has all the crests of every night ever knighted, then a couple bedrooms, drawing rooms, closets, dressing rooms, and libraries. After all that, we then went down to St. George’s Chapel, which is still a very active church. Several important people are buried there. I would list them, but that would be silly. The Queen’s father is buried there, among many other Britain rulers. In the choir, all the names and crests of all the knights are again displayed. It is something that you would have to see in person to really get the whole picture.

After Windsor we headed off to meet up with John and Judy. They are dear long time friends of Malinda’s parents. They were gracious enough to let us stay in their apartment, or flat. We were greeted with big smiles and some comfortable chairs. We had such a good time talking to them and getting the real inside scoop on Great Britain. After several hours of chatting, we went to bed for what turned out to be our best night of sleep in 10 days. We both finally were comfortable enough to dream. So that’s what happened today.

RAF Fairford (Day 2)

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Bath

Today was one of the most beautiful days yet. The weather was high 60’s and sunny all day long. We drove an hour along the gorgeous countryside roads to get to Bath. When we got there we headed straight to the Roman Baths. The town was beautiful with the Roman architect and Georgian style buildings. First we stopped inside the restaurant called the Pump Room attached to the baths. We were pretty sure they used the room in the filming of the movie “Amazing Grace” since the character took a holiday in Bath. However, I read it was just a replica set. There was a bar with a fountain decorated with four fish with water from the baths shooting out of their mouth. You could buy a glass of water from the Bath. I have to say, I have had the best water since I’ve been on this trip. Not once have I tasted water with a metallic taste from the pipes like we get out of the water fountains at work. It all has been virtually tasteless. We waked around the building to get an actually tour of the Baths when two street performers caught our eyes. They were called Skate Naked. These guys performed an acrobatic comedy…more a comedy than anything. They were so funny we videotaped the entire show and you can view their act that someone else already posted on YouTube by clicking here. If you are going to watch it, I have to warn you it may not be your cup of tea as they perform in a g-string. I think people just stopped because they were wandering what are they going to say and do next? They had a joke for every culture in Western Europe, including Americans and Australians. After the show, we began our tour of the Roman Baths. There were telephones in almost every language that talked you through the tour. There were numbers posted on the walls and when you got to the walls you stopped and pressed the number to listen to the commentary. It was very informative and well worth the money. They had tons of Roman artifacts on display. I took a lot of pictures. The bathes were steaming with water from so deep in the ground (10,000 feet) that it came up at 116°F.

Bath was a very fashionable place during Jane Austin’s times. So of course they have a Jane Austen Centre. Due to time we skipped the whole museum and had pre-lunch tea in her tearoom. We also had scones, cucumber and cheese sandwiches with my tea and Tim’s hot chocolate. It was very delectable. I would have loved to go on a girl’s day out with my mom in Bath. She would have loved the tearoom, and they have a spa package for £50, which includes going to the spa, the Roman Bath tour, and a three-course lunch in the Pump Room. That seemed like a price you can’t beat. After we finished our tea, we walked to a park to eat lunch. There wasn’t much room to sit down due to the crows gathered to watch what I believe they call lawn bowling. We have always called it Bocce Ball, as it is an Italian game. They had tents set up, and spectators sipped on their drink of choice and watched games from the eight or more lanes. The only other time I saw that was in my own backyard at my 26^th birthday party and at that it was a new game to everyone. Tim and I love the games so much, we want to create our own bowling lane especially for Bocce when we get our new house in Florida. After relaxing in the park, we got in the car and drove to Farleigh Hungerford Castle. I read online they had re-enactments. However, buy the time we got there we only had 20 minutes to see the whole thing before it closed. So we took video footage from the outside as our still camera ran out of batteries. And then we headed back to base. I highly recommend going to Bath if you are ever in the country.

Drinking fountain in the Pump Room.

Tim in front of the Roman Baths.

Skate Naked in all their glory.

Us out on the terrace of the Roman Baths.

Awwwwww!

RAF Fairford (Day 1)

Saturday, June 21, 2008

RAF Fairford, Day 1

Today was pretty much uneventful. We woke up late. I think the sun setting around ten and coming up at five is starting to get to us. We hit the snooze every ten minutes from 7:00am to 8:00am. We got all our stuff packed and sat in the car in front of the lodging office since that is the only place on base with Wi-Fi to update our blog and check email. We ended up leaving around to 11:00am. Our next destination, RAF Fairford, is only an hour drive away. But, we wanted to drive to Stonehenge along the way, which turned our drive into three hours. The drive was great with no problems. Our friend, Judy, who you will meet later when we stay in London, email me and gave me the skinny about the driving. This is what she wrote, “(Incidentally, since the borders opened a couple(?) of years ago, we have been flooded with foreign and not very road-worthy lorries, with drivers who don't know the laws of our roads, so watch out for Polish, Romanian, Czech etc. rig-outs who seem to be a law unto themselves!) Which reminds me: if you think we're scary drivers, don't ever drive in France or Italy or even Germany!!!” I just had to share that to redeem the local’s good name. I’m not saying everything is perfect where we live. In fact we have some of the world’s worst drivers in Oklahoma. We were told that the yield sign was invented in our state and they still don’t know how to use it.

Anyways, as we got two miles away from Stonehenge we had creeping traffic all the way there. A couple of hundred yards away we saw cones and a sign that said “Stonehenge Closed.” At first we figured they were finally putting the stones back up after Chevy Chase knocked them over with his car in National Lampoon’s European Vacation. At last, we heard on the radio that it was closed due to today’s date being summer solstice. I think it a sacred day for those involved in Wicca. There were cops there to make sure no one got access to the field. We did manage to take a picture from far off. We got to the base about an hour later. And since then we have been taking it easy, hanging out in our room. This one also has a kitchen in it and we have Wi-Fi in our room. If anyone wants to video chat with us tomorrow night, we will be online. I love being in the Air Force and taking advantage of all the benefits. All over the world the lodging is so cheap and so much nicer than the regular Best Westerns back at home. After staying at AF lodging during our vacation to Colorado, we have discovered it is the way to go for vacations. Tomorrow we will be visiting the town of Bath.