Day 243: Dentist

Not the most flattering picture, but we all quite enjoy going to the dentist - perhaps because we always get a good report. None of the kids, nor I, have a cavity yet. For my British friends, yes, Anna is wearing a school uniform dress. She insisted we buy both a blue check and red check summer uniform dress at Tesco before we left England and she loves wearing them!

Day 242: CPR class

I took a CPR, AED and Basic First Aid Class this afternoon. It has been a year since my last class and I was really glad to brush up on my skills. I'll be happy if I never have to use them however!

Day 241: Cherries

One of the many wonderful things about living in Oregon is the bountiful local fruit. Having been gone all summer, I had resigned myself to having missed the opportunity for fruit picking, one of our family's annual summer treats. We visited our favorite fruit stand on the slopes of Mt Hood today to pick peaches, and ended up picking amazing cherries and late-but-fabulous blueberries with our friends. Here is Anna and her buddy Ben about to harvest the delicious crop of cherries on that tree.

Day 240: Flowers

I don't often buy flowers but after spending yesterday afternoon manning the Outdoor School booth at the Farmers' Market, right next to an amazing flower stall, I couldn't resist these.

Day 239: Jamboree

It was our soccer club's Jamboree this morning, the event that opens the soccer season. I took this picture on my phone, the sun is in their eyes and three of them were out of town, but this is my team this year! I am so excited to be coaching Munchkins again.

Day 238: Birthday girl

Our beloved Tilly is twelve years old today! Wow, seems like yesterday that we saw her for the first time. When we brought her home at six weeks old, she could sit in the palm of David's hand. She is a great dog - we really appreciate her.

Day 237: Fun at the Science Museum

I took Anna, Noah and Noah's friend Tucker to OMSI today and we had a brilliant time - just one fun activity after another...

Day 236: Laundry

I love doing laundry and I love seeing laundry out on the line in the sunshine.

Day 235: Necklace

I don't wear a lot of jewelry but I have wanted a necklace with my children's birthstones for some time. While I was in England, I was talking about this to a very dear friend who is starting a jewelry business and she was kind enough to take on my commission. I had planned to have David give me the necklace for my birthday in December but I am afraid I can't wait until then! I have worn it a couple of times and just love it.

Day 234: Trout Creek Bible Camp

Their annual visit to Trout Creek Bible Camp is one of the highlights of Johnny and Daniel's year. Six boys and three girls from our church are all at camp this week and the boys were delighted to all be in a cabin together. The cabin group posed together before walking off into the trees to start their adventures. I will miss my boys but I know that they will have an amazing time.

Day 233: Pimm's and Lemonade

I successfully transported a bottle of Pimm's back to Portland in my luggage. Pimm's and lemonade is a classic English summer experience and we enjoyed sharing it with our neighbors on a warm evening.

Day 232: Kids' book group

Johnny and his friends had their book group meeting in the park on a beautifully sunny morning. They discussed this month's book: "No More Dead Dogs" by Gordon Korman, which most of them loved, and then played an impromptu game of soccer.

Day 231: Cricket comes to Portland

Is this the first time cricket has been played on Knott Park?

Day 230: While we were gone...

Remember this? Johnny described the change as an "explosion of vegetation"! The tomatoes are just ripening now, so we have not missed the harvest.

Day 229: A last view of England

What a trip! I am overwhelmed by how blessed we are with our family and friends who have made this summer so amazing.

Day 228: Last day of our trip

After two incredible months, our last day in the UK arrived. I mostly spent the day packing, but Johnny and I went for a walk this afternoon to pick up a necklace that a wonderful friend has made for me. We took a slightly longer route home in order to walk past this church, the place where I first met David and where we got married some years later. We went to a lovely service there last Sunday but I hadn't taken any pictures, so it was nice to have the opportunity to pass by one more time.

Day 227: Birthday treat

This whole summer has been one big treat but today, to celebrate Johnny's birthday, we returned to Cambridge, the city in which he was born. We had a wonderful day, which culminated in a marvelous open air performance of "Much Ado about Nothing" in the gardens of King's College. We got there in plenty of time and got front row seats, so while we were waiting for the play to begin, Grandad, Johnny and Daniel read through several scenes together. Daniel is reading Beatrice's part in this picture and making us all laugh. Hey nonny nonny!

Day 226: Cricket

England have won the Test Series against India and are the best cricket team in the world. The boys have been fascinated and so Johnny's early birthday gift was a cricket set. We spent a wonderful afternoon at the park with my family and my brother and father kindly introduced Johnny and Daniel to the game.

Day 225: Michael Morpurgo

Johnny and Daniel are big fans of Michael Morpurgo. He has written more than 100 books, including "War Horse" and "Private Peaceful" and was the British Children's Laureate from 2003 until 2005. At the beginning of the summer, we bought tickets to hear him speak at the Imperial War Museum at the opening of a literature festival there. Today the day finally came and it was as good as we had hoped. The children were thrilled to meet him after the lecture!

Day 224: A British Summer

During our first week or so here, there was some incredibly hot weather, but in recent days, it has seemed completely natural to order hot chocolate when in a cafe. The children thought this treat, courtesy of their grandmother, particularly delicious and welcome on a cool day.

Day 223: Daleks

Daniel has become intrigued by Doctor Who, of which he had not heard before this trip. I came downstairs this morning to discover he had built a gang of Daleks.

Day 222: London Underground

We had another great day in London, visiting the Museum of London. The kids enjoyed it and they have really enjoyed traveling around London on the tube on our various visits to the capital.

Day 221: Dinosaurs

I had a hard time choosing my picture today: the very first one I took, here as we entered the Natural History Museum, or the last one I took, as we left St Paul's Cathedral. We spent the day with my lovely friend Claire and her two sons and had a marvelous time in both places we visited.

Day 220: Captain of the ship

We are staying with friends in London this week and had a fabulous time today being tourists. We had a literary morning, viewing the treasures at the British Library and having our photo taken at Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross. Then we had lunch by Tower Bridge and a fascinating afternoon on HMS Belfast. The children explored the whole ship and Anna loved dressing up as the captain and sitting in his special chair on the bridge. We took the tube back to Bethnal Green and, despite being warned that there was rioting in the direction in which we needed to walk to return to our friends' home in Hackney, we arrived there perfectly safely. The only clues that something was up were the many police vehicles racing by and several helicopters circling overhead.

Day 219: The Gherkin

This building is a striking feature of the London skyline on which the kids have commented on our visits to the capital earlier this summer. Today we went to church at St Helen's Bishopsgate and when the children went out for Sunday School, they walked right past the Gherkin to reach the Sunday School building. They were very impressed. I had the privilege of hearing Dick Lucas preach: a real joy. Then another ride on the top deck of a London double-decker bus and a great afternoon with friends from college - another special day.

Day 218: Angry Birds

Every day on this trip I have been reminded how blessed I am with friends and family. Today four wonderful relatives came to visit: two aunts, an uncle and a cousin. Here my cousin Sarah is being initiated into the joys of Angry Birds by one of our resident enthusiasts.

Day 217: Rematch

Today was the long awaited rematch between Johnny and Grandad. Last summer, Johnny won their game of Risk. This summer, Grandad was victorious. Johnny wants to make it the best of three!

Day 216: Shopping with my dad

It poured with rain all day today which was absolutely fine, because for the first time this vacation we had nothing planned. We had a lovely, lazy day: reading, playing scrabble, writing the last few post cards, starting a puzzle. My parents are both great shoppers and I got to go on two shopping trips this afternoon. Firstly, I went out with my mum, with whom it is great fun to go clothes/craft supplies shopping (I resisted the clothes but not the craft supplies - sorry David!) and secondly, I went out with my dad, who is the greatest grocery shopper ever.

Day 215: Cars 2

Another lovely picnic in a park with a dear friend and then a trip to the cinema to see Cars 2. The movie features a number of famous landmarks in Paris and London and I couldn't keep the kids from exclaiming "The Arc de Triomphe!", "Buckingham Palace!" as they recognized places they have been recently.

Day 214: History

This is one of the books the kids and I have been reading together this summer. We are all pretty excited about the number of places we have visited which feature in this volume!

Day 213: Fun with the garden hose

It's August and summer weather is finally here! We had a lovely afternoon with wonderful friends and Anna and Noah took great delight in using the garden hose to cool themselves and their playmates down.

Day 212: Sunday Afternoon in Covent Garden

Carrie and I had a wonderful, leisurely day in London (the children were back in Chelmsford having a lovely time with their grandparents). The weather was perfect for a walk along the river to bustling Covent Garden. We then walked through Leicester Square and Piccadilly to Green Park, before an excellent evening service at Carrie's church in Mayfair. We finished off the day with Harry Potter 7 Part 2 in 3D at the IMAX in Waterloo, apparently the biggest cinema screen in the country. A fantastic end to a perfect day.

Day 211: Sunshine and ice cream on the South Bank with Carrie

Another splendid day in London. We walked across Tower Bridge, around the outside of the Tower of London (discussing at great length the various fates of Henry VIII's six wives) and past the beautiful boats at St Katherine's Dock. We happened to be there to watch a group of boats pass through the lock gates and out into the Thames which was fascinating. Then we walked back across Tower Bridge and along the South Bank (so many interesting things to look at), culminating with ice cream at the Millennium Bridge.

Day 210: Sparklers by the River Thames

This was one of those days during which I took so many interesting and different photos, it is incredibly hard to choose just one. We had a fascinating time at the British Museum with my parents, seeing the Rosetta Stone, the Elgin Marbles, many mummies and all kinds of other objects that featured in the sixth grade Social Studies syllabus I taught last year. We then met up with my dear friend from university, and Daniel's godmother, Carrie, who lives between London Bridge and Tower Bridge. After the sun set, we walked down to the river to see Tower Bridge and the Tower of London lit up. To top the evening, Carrie produced a packet of sparklers to the great joy of the children.