From Dinosaurs to Pumpkins..October 2011

Okay, so Friday wasn't technically October yet, but it was close enough. It all began with our second grade field trip to Dinosaur Land! First, we got on the bus (a charter bus.. yes, they ride in style here). I told the students that in America, there aren't toilets in the buses and they were shocked. Anyway, Dinosaur Land was basically a huge outdoor walking trail with a bunch of giant dinosaur models hiding in the trees.  It was really neat! There was also a miniature zoo and a huge playground for the kids.

Wallabies!

 

It's always a day full of mixed emotions.

It was a very fun day, but by the end, the kids were all sweaty (yes, it's been about 80 degrees here for the past week, and that's hot around here) and tired and we were all ready to go home and relax! On Saturday morning, Patty, Karl, Ashley and I got up and headed to a nearby town called Brandon, where we could get on the train to Cambridge! 

Stanley even got to ride the train!

Our favorite snacks, hippos..we are tempted to buy them by the case.

Cambridge is a beautiful city! I think we all liked it because it is full of universities and young people! Also, there are tons of places to shop. 

This is the biggest Catholic church I've seen! It is so beautiful!

The streets were beautiful. I guess I had a friend who wanted in the picture, too!

After we walked around and had lunch on a beautiful, huge lawn, we decided to go shopping. There is a store here called Primark, which is a gigantic department store, but everything is so cheap! I'll probably get in trouble for putting these up, but I had fun making Ashley try on some weird European clothes!

Cat head ear muffs, who wouldn't want these?

After dragging Karl around the shops for a couple of hours, we decided to leave.  That, and the stores closed at 6:00. I asked the girl what time they usually close and she said everywhere closes at 5:30 during the week, so this was them staying open "late" for the weekend. She said that during the holiday season, some stores stay open until 9:00 and it's "a terrible, long shift." It's interesting how different their workdays are here.

Now, for the best and most hilarious part of our trip to Cambridge.. punting. Punting could be compared to canoeing..but not really, so I'll just put up pictures and let you see.

These are punting boats. You can either hire a chauffeur, or you can do it yourself.

So, of course we took the latter option..and made Karl do the punting.

He took us in a couple circles first.

Then we went straight down the river and saw the backs of the colleges. 

It was so pretty!

We ended our night eating dinner at a yummy Italian restaurant and then headed back to Feltwell. On Sunday, we went to the "bazaar" at RAF Lakenheath, which was like a fair, but with much more wine tasting.  Then we headed..to the pumpkin patch! Guess who's idea this was? I can't help it, I love the Fall!

Michele and her "creep."

A beautiful day for the pumpkin patch!

Our "family" at the pumpkin patch!

That was the end to an exciting weekend! This week, Michele and Karl start teaching PE; Patty, Ashley and I get to attend our first faculty meetings; we all have teacher training on Friday, and then we head to Rome on Saturday! It's unbelievable how fast the days fly by! But we sure are enjoying our time here!