Leaving England...my last day!

This is to be my last blog entry from England. Lucy and I slept in this morning and I spent some time loading photos from yesterday and packing. After this, we went to (as Lucy says it) "the beast that is Tescos" to buy good chocolate to take back with me. When we checked out, the lady at the register said her son lived in Oklahoma (weird). Now we are just sitting around waiting until it is time to go and I am trying to get caught up on the blog.

The Milton Keynes Howards (or Howards of Milton Keynes~in ye olde English style) have been amazing hosts. Lucy is probably so glad to see me go, so that she can get some rest. As it is she has 5 more weeks of school and a Year 6 song and dance production extravaganza to put on, so she will be quite busy. Why do all us educators wait until the end of the school year to do these big things, when we are already tired.

I feel so lucky to have been able to come here. It was a great time from start to finish and I am sad to go. I am, however, excited to get home and get on with the business of getting our partnerships rolling strong. Thank you to the Deer Creek Schools Foundation for giving me the opportunity to have this amazing experience. I will never forget it!!

Thanks to Lucy and Jon, for putting me up and putting up with me. Not only did they work very hard to get the house ready, they did so much prior planning for my arrival. I appreciate them so much. They were so amazing to take me around and show me all that they did. I can't imagine having done any more (and survived). Jon is an amazingly nice person, even though he probably won't get me Patrick Dempsey's autograph at Le Mans. Lucy...I can't say enough about you. You are wonderful, funny, creative, and I am SO INCREDIBLY LUCKY (notice the uppercase letters) that you found me. I feel like we have been friends for years, instead of just a couple of months. I look forward to MANY more years being your friend and I hope you feel the same way. Words cannot describe how I feel about you.

Thanks to Angela and Robert Brown (Lucy's Parents) for taking us to the pub and picking us up at the train station and loaning us their car and rain gear for the trip to Bath. They are both terrific and so gracious and accomodating.

Thanks to Chris and George Howard (Jon's parents) for feeding us dinner, putting us up for the night and bringing us our bags to the station. I didn't officially meet George, which is a shame, but Chris is terrifically nice.

Thanks to Emma (Lucy's sister) for taking us on a tour of Bath and to a wonderful little tea house.

Thanks to the staff and administration from Milton Keynes for putting up with my presence and picture taking. It was so great to see that we really are more alike than different. What a terrific school. The kids I would like to thank for being so excited to have me and so curious and asking such good questions about Oklahoma and severe weather.