Trip Days Three, Four and Five

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Kevin and the kids have been enjoying their tour of England while Leah sits in her meetings.... The weather in England has been beautiful.  Leah's seen the first bit of rain today, but the sun is on the horizon again.  

Yesterday, Leah and her colleagues had an afternoon outing into the coastal city of Brighton.  We went to the beach and walked on the tourist-oriented Brighton Pier.  We found a Starbucks and enjoyed sitting together chatting over a delicious cup of coffee.  We ate a dinner of fish and chips on the beach... a beach that was stones and shells and not sand.  The cold English wind blew in over the English Channel... but that didn't stop Leah from getting a fun, carnival ice cream cone to enjoy after (thankfully!) splitting her fish/chips dinner with someone else.  Yum!

So far I have been able to avoid eating any chocolate biscuits or shortbread cookies which is a miracle.  The key to that success is the large bowl of fruit that sits next to the cookies.  Small apples, pears and bananas have been joyful to consume and much less guilty than the cookies which I'm sure I really want to eat... ha ha ha.

The kids visited a castle yesterday!  I'm sure they had a lot of fun.  Kevin's been taking a variety of personal meetings trying to confirm new business and clarify existing projects.  Claire made a fun friend on the train yesterday while traveling from Weston Rhyn (near Wales) to Carlisle (near Scotland).  This young woman was from South America and was traveling to Carlisle to attend university.  Claire immediately attached herself to this very nice woman and shared food, toys and stories with her.  Kevin tells us that because of this young woman's skin color and accent, Clark and Claire immediately started talking to her in their South Asian English accents... despite the fact that her native language was Spanish.  Too funny.... and so cute!

We'll all be re-united tomorrow when Leah's meetings finish.  Looking forward to the 'real' part of our family vacation starting soon!  Oh, and chocolate biscuits are allowed for the last day of the meeting tomorrow!  Woo hoo!  Kevin and the kids are on a long 4-5 hour train ride from Carlisle (near Scotland) to Bromley (suburb of London).   It will be interesting to see who they meet on the train today!

I've had such a super time re-connecting with my friends and colleagues at these communications meetings.  I'm so thankful for Becky and Ruth and Chrisma... such great, deep, wonderful conversations -- both serious and funny.  Such excellent women and I value them.  I would love to have monthly phone calls with these ladies to develop our relationship even further... rather than relying on 'catching up' only once or twice a year.  I need friends like these.  Such great, great ladies.

Today I am mourning the retirement of Justine Henin from the world of professional tennis.  Thanks to Kim G. who sent me the news article.  Unbelievable and unusual timing.  I am so curious as to the reason for her retirement.  I'm sure something will surface eventually.  It will be interesting not to see her in the French Open this year in a couple of weeks.  Now I officially turn my women's tennis allegiance to Ana Ivanovic.

And, I am very pleased to hear that David Cook and David Archuleta will be in the American Idol final next week.  I missed last week's show as I am traveling and the show is not on here... but of course thanks to the internet I was able to at least read about what happened.  My vote is cast for David Cook.   It will be interesting to see what happens.  My guess is that the finale will depend upon how many people age 18 and under vote.  The more under-18s, the better chance David Archuleta has, in my opinion.

That's all the news from today!  Hopefully more pictures from the trip to follow once we're back together as a family starting tomorrow.

~lk

Comments

Kim G. said…
Sounds like such a great trip! My mom and dad are in York right now and have said the weather's been great for them. My favorite English candy is Jelly Babies - kind of like baby shaped jelly beans. They're probably "fat free" if you're looking for a non-chocolate sweet to try. Chocolate Buttons are yummy also! Forgive me, I love me some English candy! I've told my mom she can only bring me one package of candy when she goes "home" because I have no self control and will eat it all in one sitting.

BTW - just finished watching the finale of Idol - I'm not really a fan, Brad is though. We both agreed that the best "David" won. :-)
10:26 PM
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