'Price'less moments and Grade 8 Grad

Rachelle and Tyler Price came to visit us!

What an incredible treat to have our dear friends, Rachelle and Tyler Price, come from California to see us. It was a fabulous three and a half days with them and we were so

 excited and grateful they could come! Thank you!!

Rachelle and Tyler in front of Parliament 

Meeting up with them at St. Paul's Cathedral 

We walked over to Tower of London and I was their "Fast Pass" so they could tour the Great White Tower

 while I waited in line for the viewing of the Crown Jewels. The line actually went really quickly.

It was SO much fun rediscovering this site again with someone seeing it for the first time.

Sunday dinner! 

Finished off with my new favorite English treat I have learned to make..

SCONES! (Of course, the American version adds chocolate chips!) YUMM~

Monday, I took them into London first thing and we literally went from one sight to the next. 

It was a great day with really beautiful weather. 

Rachelle thought it was so funny how I would literally look up every direction

 so we didn't get lost. I love the app "CityMapper" - It makes me feel like 'Jane' swinging

 through the jungles of London, going where ever we wish to go!

Portobello Market Road - Rachelle buying the beautiful Persian scarf from a street vender

This was an amazing clothing store on Portobello Road. 

The entry was FILLED with old sewing machines..so cool

Experiencing their first Belgian Waffle...topped with Nutella, strawberries and whipped cream.

There aren't many things much better than that special treat.

Spence met up with us at Spitafields Market and we went to our new favorite East Indian restaurant - Alydin

Shoreditch is famous for its street art. 

This piece is so beautiful depicting how we should all respect and love one another

They wanted to try bike riding! 

Once again, one of my favorite things to do to tour a city.

In front of Buckingham Palace

London Eye

Buckingham Palace

Through Hyde Park and to Kensington Palace

So this was the point at which Spencer DID NOT use CityMapper and we went for a trek around southern London and into Chelsea! After about 15 miles, I said, "Spence, I don't think we are going the right way..." 

We were so far out of town, we had to park the bikes and Spence had to get home on the train and Rachelle, Tyler and I took a bus back into central London! LOL

These are some sweet pictures Rachelle took

I think Tyler and Rachelle are Rick Steve's biggest fans. They buy all his books whenever they travel and know the coolest historical facts. I learned a lot from them through this book! 

We even got to see the guards coming in for a switch.

We took them for a walk around our favorite place- Virginia Water Lake.

 Saying goodbye absolutely stinks! We loved having you Rachelle and Tyler.

xoxoxo

Rachelle sent me this picture when she got home of them making their own batch of English Scones!

Tyler, Rachelle, Aubrey, Andrew, Katelyn, Megan and Matthew

Out for our morning ride and run with our unbelievably 
amazing friends and neighborsJason and Mary Fitzgerald. 

Virginia Water Lake Walk

I know! This is called the Punch Bowl and it is stunning!

Josh trying skateboarding

Walking with the Knights (Bishop, Sarah, Matthew and Luke) through the park
Notice **Ike almost falling**~ a little scary for a second!

Some pictures in the park Yuchen took of us

You'd never guess they were 2 years apart! 

Anne may be petite, but she packs a punch! xo

Love this man...

Ike running in the "Color Run" to raise money for charity. 

He was SOOOO dirty with paint afterwards. It took a couple days to get it all off!

Young Women's activity - mini facials and makeovers 

Anne had a girls night with her friends. Such cute and nice girls.

Annie Petchey, Laura Dodd, Anne, Eleanor D'Cruz and Julia Jansen

Matthew Knight's Bday party

Elsa, Emily, Lauren, Tyler, Matthew, Ike, Hyrum and Stephen

Grade 3 Field Trip with Ty to the Design Museum in London

Ty's Grade 3 class

Antique Shopping in Petworth!

I had such a fun day with these ladies from ACS in touring 

a darling village called Petworth. We just drove there and walked around the town. 

Jenny Seal, Norma Ashcroft, Stephanie Young, Dana Johnston and Shauna McHenrey

Ike tried his hand at Track this season! He absolutely loved it.

Ike and Ty with France and not sure...

Ike ran long, shot put and long jump

GRADE 5 CAMP!

Anne got to go on her first week long field trip. OH my goodness she had a great time!

The destination was called Mill on the Brue - a couple of hours north of here. 

It was a high adventure camp where they stayed in tents and played and played and played outdoors. 
Anne just went on and on about how much fun it was. 

They did ropes courses, canoeing, climbing, races, team building activities, rafting,

 night searches, harvesting their own food in the field for their dinners, zip lining and on and on. 

What a fun opportunity for her and her friends. 

Anne, Beka and Hannah above picture and Ava below

Pictures I was just sent of her camp

Club Basketball

Ty and Antonio won the basketball shoot out at camp! Can you tell he's a little thrilled? 

He was hilarious about it. He beat a fifth grader and thought that was pretty cool. 

Ty, Ben and Antonio

Father and Son campout!

Jason, Ben and Nick Fitzgerald also went for some camping fun!

Tokyo

Spence traveled back to Tokyo for more training meetings. 

He had such a good time and loved how kind and 

upbeat this market team was to work with.

He even got to visit the Tokyo Temple

Spencer's amazing boss from California Tita Forrest and her husband Brett were in 

London for a business/anniversary trip and called us up to have dinner. It was such a fun 

evening together to catch up and see them. 

I guess I can't get enough of this street! It's just so fun to see all the treasures there are there. Well, I was introduced to another one! Books for Cooks! It's a shop where at noon, they serve you a three-course meal and whatever they are cooking that day is what you eat. Very delicious and fun to do. 

This is the street off of Portobello Road where Cath Kidston designed one of her Notting Hill fabrics.

She is a designer based out of London and quite iconic around here. 

Mary and I were on our way and ran into these ladies and talked them into coming with us. 
Very fun lunch. Dana, Stephanie, Shauna, Mary, Me and Jenny

GRADE 8 GRAD

Where has this year gone?!! 

Ike is graduating from Middle School and starting High School? What??? 

I feel like I am running from day to day, loving it and can't seem to hold 

onto the precious minutes that slip by. 

I have to give a great big shout-out to Ike this year. He has taken this new adventure on with both guns 

a-blazing! He has conquered so many fears and worked so hard at school. The IB curriculum is NO joke and he has worked tirelessly to understand it and then worked to get the grades he wanted. Once he tasted what an "A" tasted like, he wanted more! So he worked and worked to reach his goals. 

We are really proud of him and feel so blessed that he is happy and doing well. xx

Ike, Bas Hoencamp and Ben Cambre

So this picture was sent to me after I dropped Ike off for the 8th grade grad 
dinner at a swanky hotel/restaurant called Savill Garden. 

I bet you'll never guess which one is Ike...

Ben Jose and Ike

Josh Dixon, Cameron Prashara, Ben Jose, Bas Hoencamp, Matt Cooper, (I'll need to get his name again),

Ike, Neil, Pawan, and Ben

Ike in front of the school 

Ike was one of the Grade 8 speakers at the grad ceremony. He did SUCH a great job. 

Bas's mom, Marie-Lou, took this of me when Ike was speaking.

I was very nervous for him, but he did such a great job. I thought my heart would burst

 as I watched and listened to him make the audience laugh. 

I know, I know...

They had a beautiful reception for the kids after the graduation.

 I wish I would have taken more pictures of the set-up.

Ike with the headmaster Mr. Jeremy Lewis

Finn Lewis, Ben Jose, Ike and Cameron Prashara

Ike, Miguel Larrucea, and Pawan

Maciek Kucharski, Pawan, Finn, Cameron, Matt, Ben, Alex and Ike

Ike and Bas

Graduating Class 2019

Our Staines Ward New Beginnings

Anne is going to be a Beehive this year, so she was invited to attend this meeting. 

It was such a nice evening and the young women spent a lot of the night laughing together.

Gema Wallace, Zina, Caitee Frost, Anne, Emily Carroll, Amelia Petchey, 

Aielya, Rachel Wallace, Avi Holden and Lauren Carroll

 I was in charge of decorating the table. 

I had no idea it would be so difficult to sew eight rows of ruffles on in a straight line! lol

The young women' activity that night was to cut out words from magazines for each other 

that described one another. They seemed to have had a really good time. 

Some end of the year activities....

 Ty showing us his remote "Ollie" for Geek Squad

 Ty and Anne at their Sports Day activity

 Anne with Eleanor and Allison

 Josh performing on his violin at his Grade 1 "Celebration of Learning Day"

 Anne's Grade 5 Party

 Ty performing with his ukulele and recorder at his Grade 3 "Celebration of Learning" Day

Anne playing with the Rock Band at the Goodbye Party for families leaving ACS

These are some of the amazing women leaving ACS this year

Ireland!

 Spencer was able to travel to beautiful Northern Ireland for his work this week...

It was Mary's birthday, so I decided to surprise her with a early morning breakfast before 

we went for our 5:30 run. She was so surprised at first, I wasn't sure if she was upset or happy! 

But it was pretty yummy and she asked when we were going to do it again. 

 I got to go with Mary to pick out a hat for Ascot Days! It was so fun watching her try on all these crazy beautiful hats! (I thought she looked so much like Kate Middleton in this one!)

I had a little breakfast for Norma Ashcroft and Christel Sadder as we worked on the Grade 5 teacher gifts together. We were the "room mums" this year for Grade 5. They are both moving back to the States and I am so sad to see them go. Amazing women. Norma is from Indianapolis and moving back there and Christel is from the Netherlands moving back to Houston, TX for their third time. 

Spence was just called to be Bishop of the Staines ward with 

Sam Petchey and Andy McCluckie on May 31st, 2015. 

Brother Jones, Brother Neu, Brother Petchey, Bishop Holt, Brother McCluckie, President Russell Ball 

I think we are now in, for the "real" adventure....