A Day in Paris!!!

Our Paris day began at 3:45 when we got out of bed so that we could be at the airport in time for our flight. (Yes, we now realize that we are NUTS.) Jon (what a sport) drove us to the airport and we left England behind at about 6 in the AM!! We arrived 55 minutes later at Charles DeGaulle airport in Paris, France and immediately boarded the Underground Railroad into the center of the city.

Our first planned stop was to be the Sacre Coeur. We did not know the best way to get there, so Lucy found an old woman and asked her (in French, uh huh) how to get there. The old woman gave GREAT directions, but we failed to follow them. MMM HMMM...because of this, we climbed a great many stairs (too many to count) at the end of which I thought I was going to pop a lung. At the top, Lucy (conveniently) remembered that there was an escalator and, had we listened to the old woman, we could have taken it up instead of the stairs...oh, well...we needed the exercise. We toured through the Sacre Coeur and then viewed a BEAUTIFUL bird's eye view of Paris.

After viewing the gorgeous view, we headed toward the Louvre and a restaurant that was featured in the guide book as a great place to have a real French hot chocolate. At Angelina, Lucy and I each ordered a chocolate croissant and a hot chocolate which was so thick, it was like drinking thick chocolate syrup. It was amazing!! After that, we walked around the Louvre and even stopped to have our picture taken so that you would all believe that we were actually there!!

After the Louvre, we headed to Notre Dame, which is the MOST amazing place I have seen. It was so ornate and lovely, with the pipe organ playing the whole time. It took some time to go through it, but was totally worth it.

After Notre Dame, we boarded the Batobus, a river boat that takes passengers down the Siene River toward the Eiffel Tower (or Tower of Eiffel, as Lucy called it). It was a great and relaxing ride with a LOT of great buildings and bridges to see. It was so relaxing, in fact, that Lucy fell asleep on the boat. I went to the back of the boat and enjoyed the sights, taking MANY pictures. I loved it!! We got off the boat very close to the Eiffel Tower. There was only one lift running at the tower, so we opted to walk around it taking pictures and then sat down in the nearby park and enjoy the scenery. Lesser humans might have taken a nap during this time, as the weather was gorgeous and the sun was warm (read between the lines here, people).

After the Eiffel Tower experience, we walked around just taking in the sites. Everywhere you go in Paris, there are beautiful and ornate carousels. Here is a picture of just one of the ones we saw on the way to the...



...Arc de Triumph. It was amazing and beautiful. We also, incidentally, saw three nuns who were asking a passing pedestrian to take their picture. We found this quite amusing as we were SOOOO tired from our early morning departure. We walked around the Arc de Triumph and took pictures, then took a stroll down the Champs-Elysees.

We looked in some shops and stopped at a sidewalk cafe and had some dinner before strolling back toward the Louvre. We stopped in a park and relaxed in a beautiful park by a pond. We strolled a little further and enjoyed watching some kids sailing some boats in a little pond with sticks. It was all VERY French.

After this, it was time to start making our way on the Underground back to the airport. Jon (again~what a sport) picked us up and drove us back home....we were SO completely exhausted, but WHAT A DAY! I have never been so tired, yet so excited!!

My last day at Bourton Meadow! (So sad!)

Today was my last day at Bourton Meadow....so sad!!  I got to watch the tryouts for the talent show coming up and then had a Q and A about tornados with all three classes for a while.  They were very interested in the topic and asked some really good questions.  After this, I spent some time in Year 2, watching the class doing some numeracy problems about patterns and graphing.  After lunch, I went to Year 3 to watch a lesson on the Mary Rose...then went out to the kitchen to help them mix and bake "biscuits" like the sailors would have eaten on the ship. (Hopefully minus the maggots and weevils)  After this, I got to go and watch the Year 6 tryouts for the class production that will premier in 4 weeks:  :"Greasy Hairspray-The School Musical", written by your friend and mine, Lucy Howard.  After this, we went back to the Year 6 building so that the students could work on their "Dragon's Den" project.  Their presentations will be on Friday when we are in London, but I am sure that they will be great!!!!        

Just one more thing...you should know that I have NOW had a PROPER fish and chips dinner thanks to Jon, who picked it up and brought it home to us!  Wow...what a champ!! 

Going to bed...have to LEAVE the house by 4:15 in the morning to catch a plane to Paris!!

Wow...never thought I would be saying that!!  More later!!

       

Day 2 at Bourton Meadow, Home of the "Baby Owls"

                                                                                                                          

    I spent the morning at Bourton Meadow School in Year One (Kindergarten). They were the cutest little owls (kindergarteners) and SO SMART. (for those of you who don't know, I call my little ones at school "little antlers", so I thought since Bourton Meadow has the mascot "owls", the little kids should be called "baby owls"~I know...I am a dork.)  I was so impressed with the things they were doing. They spent the first part of the morning doing Literacy. They were working using describing words to make their writing more interesting. They are studying the theme of "mini beasts". They used a graphic organizer to describe various aspects of bugs, such as where you would find them, what they look lide and what they would eat. They were preparing to write their shape poems about a bug using their descriptive words.     

     We spent the middle part with me telling them about America, Oklahoma, tornadoes and Prairie Vale. They saw pictures of all of our PV Kindergarten teachers and their classrooms and wanted to see a picture of our playground equipment. We talked about all the things that were the same and different between England and America.     

     After their recess break, the class started their numeracy (math) lesson. They worked on measurement, including length, width, weight and capacity. When the group lesson was over, the class divided into groups to explore each of the measurement types. I took a group of them onto the patio to work on predicting the capacity of water in different types of containers.     After a "lovely" lunch of roast beef and vegetables, I went back to Year 6, were they were working on their enterprise projects. Each group has to come up with a product that they can market and sell in stalls at the school. They are busy planning and writing their business plan which they will present to Mrs. Hopkins in an "Apprentice" like fashion. Apparently, in England, there is a similar show called "The Dragon's Den", where budding entrepreneurs pitch ideas to a business person and it is decided if the pitch will be funded.     

     Mrs. Howard had "clubs" after school this afternoon, where I got a preview of next weeks' production of the now famous radio show, "Bourton Meadow at Breakfast"~my new personal favorite!! One day next week will feature a celebrity guest interview...bet you can't guess who it is.    I went to eat dinner with all the Year 6 teachers after a car tour of beautiful downtown  Buckingham.

            

   

    

My first day at Bourton Meadow, home of the owls!!

Today was my first day at Lucy's school, Bourton Meadows!!  First thing, I got to see all the kids out at morning recess.  Finally I got to see them all up close, not just on the Skype teleconference.  The girls seemed really excited for me to be there.  The boys were not exactly sure what to think.  They are all really cute and smart and I love them already.  I only wish that I could have met them all earlier in the school year.

Next off, we went to morning assembly.  This is every Monday morning.  The major difference between our school assembly, Antler Alert, and theirs is that the kids are REALLY quiet and they say a prayer at the end of it, before being dismissed back to class.  I will be showing the video to the PV kids to show them what is expected of them all now!!

After assembly, we went back to class and I observed Mrs. Howard teaching a literacy lesson.  Then, the kids got a 20 minute recess...PV kids...don't get any ideas.   Later, I observed Mr. Pucci in a "Maths" lesson.  Then we had lunch and another recess (see above).  After lunch and recess, I got to watch them talk about their enterprise project, which will be a little like The Apprentice.  The kids come up with an idea of something to market and sell and pitch it to the school Head Teacher (principal) Mrs. Hopkins.  It seems like they are really going to have fun with it.

     Later, I spent the rest of the day with a Year 4 (3rd grade) students.  They asked me all sorts of questions about tornadoes and the land run and we practiced a tornado drill.  They were so cute!!      

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A Day in Bath

     We woke up this morning after a night of RAIN! (shocker)  More RAIN when we were leaving the house, so we stopped by Lucy's parents house to get "proper" rain gear.  Her parents were both "lovely" (seriously).  They not only gave us heavier coats and umbrellas, but Lucy's mom made us take her car too.  Headed out for a 2 hour drive to Bath, where Lucy's sister Emma lives.  The sky started to clear as we got closer and closer to our destination.

     We arrived in Bath and went to Lucy's sister's  (Emma), house to pick her up.  Emma took us on a tour of Bath, complete with a great description of everything we saw.  (To be fair, I wouldn't know if any of the things she, or Jon yesterday for that matter, were accurate in anything they told me.....but I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt.)  The buildings in Bath are all gorgeous and all made out of the same stone, same color, which gives it elegance and uniformity.  The buildings are all VERY old and national historic sites that are great examples of the time.  Jane Austen lived in Bath before her death, just down the street from where the current Jane Austen Institute is housed.

We saw the Royal Crescent...   ......a really cool building in the shape of moon.

The Avon River... ...from a really cool bridge.

the Roman Bath House... ...which we did not tour, but did go inside of...

and a gorgeous church, Bath Abbey...  ...which was very old and ornate.  Amazing!!

Instead of eating lunch, we stopped at Sally Lunn's, a restaurant in the oldest building in Bath, that dates back to 1485 and had cream tea and the famous Sally Lunn Bun, with cinnamon on it...delicious!  (Jon will be jealous...we didn't even bring him one.  He went to the car races in Brighton with a friend today.)

There were also street performers, and a "Mr. Darcy" greeting you outside the Jane Austen Institute ,  eclectic restaurants and shops and many other cool things.  When we were finished, we took a long and steep walk back to the car parked at Emma's house at the top of a VERY steep hill.  Lucy and I were just a slight bit winded.  Everyone here is so nice and hospitable.  I love it!!

                                                                 

                    

    

In England at last!

I arrived at Heathrow at 8 am (about 30 minutes early!) and Lucy was there to pick me up.   I had a slight problem remembering Lucy's address to tell the officer at the Passport check because my brain was kind of fuzzy at first, having only 4-5 hours sleep.  I remembered it and he let me in, so I met Lucy at baggage claim and we tried to find the car (fun).  It is so cute....it is about as big as a matchbox car!  After a few minutes, we got all my bags in the tiny car and off we headed for Lucy's house in Milton Keynes.  We dropped off our bags and I took a shower and brushed my teeth (thankfully) and then we headed out the door with Jon.  

     We headed for Oxford, which was about 30 minutes away.  It is such a cool town, with amazing architecture and beautiful landscaping.  It was graduation day, so

there were many graduates running around in their tuxedos, graduation caps and gowns, celebrating in the streets.  We walked up and down the streets and even went into a chapel and heard a boys' choir practicing.  It was amazing.  The stained glass was breathtaking.  The gardens were

absolutely gorgeous.  We saw a tree that could have been the"Whomping Willow" from Harry Potter, it was so big. 

     Next, we walked down by the Thames and saw the boats and then walked back up and ate lunch at a cute little pub on the patio.  I know we called this trip~"Lucy and Michelle's Excellent Adventure 2:  The Girls Take Europe", but a better title (or a least a tag line) has to be~"Lucy and Michelle's Excellent Adventure~and Jon looks for every single pie and bake shop in Europe tour".  Jon loves his pies (and baked goods-if you didn't already figure that out).  The whole time we were there, it was spitting rain, but it was still great!  I loved it.  My favorite part is all the little back alleys and cool doorways that you see when you are walking down the cobbled sidewalks.

     After we left Oxford, we headed on a tour of the Cotswolds, through lots of little towns that were so quaint and picturesque~exactly what you would see in a movie.  We got out of the car and walked up and down the street and looked in the shops.  After this, we headed back to Milton Keynes.  Lucy went to a baby shower, giving me time to rest and write in the blog and upload pictures for you.  I can't wait to see what is in store for tomorrow!! 

Oh my goodness...it is almost time!!

I am still at school and I can't believe I am leaving tomorrow!  I have been so busy trying to get stuff done at school and getting gifts for my friends in England and packing my kids for camp, trips, etc.,  I haven't even started to pack for myself.  I have been working on my "To Do" list all week, but still haven't finished everything!!  Argh!  Not to worry....it will get done!!   Follow me all week to keep up with our adventure!!