Batesburg-Leesville High School Class of 1997 Reunion

Me, Jesse Johnson, Melissa Maroney McVey


On the dance floor!


Allison Ray Hall & Tiffany Furtick Fallaw, Event Planners


Becca (my BFF - 16+ yrs) and her man Sean

I recently returned to South Carolina to attend my high school reunion. (10-16 July) I have been looking forward to my 10-year reunion for a couple of years now, even though the planning only began at the beginning of this year. Honestly, I didn't enjoy my high school years that much so for quite a while after graduation I didn't want to have anything to do with my small town. I kept in touch with a handful of friends and that was enough for me. Once we moved to Colorado I started to look back on my life and realized that high school, and Batesburg-Leesville for that matter, were just a small part of my life. Many years have passed and we are all [hopefully] better, more mature people. I wanted to see my former classmates and were genuinely interested in what they had been up to the last 10 years. Whether or not I would be disappointed in the event, I knew that I would regret not attending. Even though we are living in England now, I was fortunate enough to make the trip back to South Carolina for this special time.

Tiffany and Allison did a wonderful job of planning the event. Sadly, there were numerous people from our class not in attendance but that didn't stop us from having a great time! It was nice to reminisce with everyone and catch up on the years. I can't wait for the next one!

Tour de France - Le Grand Depart - Stage 1: London to Canterbury

Before the race began


The Race Leaders in Tenterden


The rest of the pack approaches


*See the rest of our pictures in the Web Album on the left!

Matt and I took advantage of the opportunity to see a leg of the first stage of the Tour de France on Sunday. We drove to Tenterden for a nice quiet spot to watch the riders. We got into town around 11:00am, bought some things for lunch later, and found a nice shaded spot to set our picnic mat down and wait for the race to come by. At around 12:30pm the Caravan started to come through. The Caravan is made up of 200 sponsors, vendors, and race partners that come through a city ahead of the riders to hand out free stuff. Sadly, they stopped right in the town centre but since we were about a mile out of the centre we only saw them zooming by at about 50 mph. Matt did get hit by a flying body-wash bottle, that a person chucked out at him at a high speed. LOL! At around 2:25pm the first five leaders came through and within minutes the mass of other riders sped past. It was only over in a matter of minutes and then everyone packed up to drive home. We didn't have to deal with a lot of traffic to and from the town and had a peaceful picnic out in the beautiful weather. It may not have been the huge celebration one would imagine but it was our chance to be a part of the Tour. I know that in London/Greenwich and Canterbury there was much more excitement as those towns were the start and finish of the first stage.


Notes about the Tour:

*Stage 1 of the Tour was 126-mile route from Greenwich to Canterbury
*There are 189 riders in 21 teams
*There are 20 stages of the Tour to be completed in 22 days (includes two days of rest)
*The Tour started in 1903 by L'Auto newpapers - keen to use cycling as an event to boost its circulation by staging a race around France
*The Tour de France is the world's most watched sporting event
*In the early years of the Tour the race comprised of just six stages - but the riders were expected to ride through the night, with no breaks for sleep.

Royal Air Force Museum London

In order to avoid another boring weekend, Matt and I decided to visit the Royal Air Force Museum in London. It is difficult for us to get out and do things b/c everything is so expensive here, but thankfully the RAF Museum is free (something we need to take more advantage of in the states too). After spending two hours at the site we realized that we would not finish touring everything that day and would need to return. There is just so much to see and read. We stayed for another hour and a half and then headed home, looking forward to our next visit. Matt just loved looking at all of the aircraft and learning about the history of flight. Unfortunately most of the pictures didn't turn out quite as well as we'd hoped, but good enough for a memento of the day. (Now maybe he will buy me the fancy digital camera. Hehe.) See our photos in the Web Album on the left.

The Royal Air Force Museum London is Britain's only national museum dedicated fully to aviation. From a total collection of well over two hundred aircraft, over a hundred full-size aircraft (including the legendary Spitfire and Lancaster Bomber) from all over the world as well as artefacts, aviation memoribilia, fine art and photographs are displayed under cover on the historic site of the original London Aerodrome.

Also this weekend we decided to take in a movie. This is our second one since being in the U.K. and we still aren't used to the sticker shock - a movie ticket cost 7.00 GBP per person, which is 14.00 USD! Unfortunately there are no matinee discounts. We keep saying that we have to stop thinking about prices in US terms or we will never do anything. Matt wanted to see the new Ocean's 13 movie. It was funny, intriguing and suspenseful, as expected. At the moment you think you have it figured out, something happens to prove you wrong. We highly recommend this movie.

Our First Visitors!

*More pictures of these adventures can be found using the "WEB ALBUM" link on the left side of this page.*

Picture 1: Marie & Bob @ Southend-on-Sea

Picture 2: Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (Merchant of Venice performance)

Picture 3: Amber & Matt (Us) @ Stonehenge

Picture 4: Roman Bath in Bath, England

Picture 5: Amber & Quinn with Darth Vader

Okay, our guests have been gone for a week now so I shouldn't have any more excuses of why I haven't updated our blog lately. I was waiting until the end of their visit so that I could update everyone on all that we did. It was very exciting to have Matt's cousins (Marie, husband Bob, and son Quinn) be our first guests. We haven't seen them in a long time, but knew that they were very adventurous so we would have an exciting time. They are perfect guests in that they don't expect much from their hosts. They kept themselves busy each day heading into London, made their own meals, etc. What was exciting for us was hearing their daily stories and also being able to join them on a few excursions, not to mention tasting all of the new beer and cookies they brough home!

I could write a short book about all of the things we did while they were here, but I'll try to save you most of that. The highlights for me were a play at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, the Star Wars Exhibition (how lucky we were that it was happening this year), and the trips out to Bath and Stonehenge. Most of you probably didn't know that I was a Star Wars fan, but I am very intrigued by the story of all the characters in the saga - not so much the light saber fights and flying vehicles. However, I'm not a big sci-fi fan in general just of SW. (Matt doesn't share the love, though.) Anyway, I could talk days about all of that. The Star Wars Exhibition is in town until September and the first-ever Star Wars Celebration Europe will be held in London in mid-July to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the release of Star Wars. Unfortunately that coincides with my high school reunion. Wish I could be in two places at once! The play we went to see in the Globe was Merchant of Venice, one of Shakespeare's comedies. It was great! One of the surprising things that coincided with their visit was a Monster Truck Show! Can you believe it? Granted, we are living in a small town (not central London) and it was held at a local farm, but still very interesting. Of course we had to go and check it out. It wasn't the best/biggest we've been to but entertaining enough to say we did it. Haha! Please check out our web albums for more pictures of from our visit. Stay tuned for my next update...

Ugh! Computers!

So, this past weekend Matt and I went to Wimbledon and to the British Museum which were both great trips. I took lots of wonderful pictures that I was hoping to share with everyone soon. Well, I went to import the photos from my digital camera and that is where it went downhill. I got a new laptop before moving out here and it came with new software. I am not familiar with Roxio but have been using it for my media stuff since it is the "default" software for that stuff. At some point in the process I thought it was importing something incorrectly and hit cancel. Instead of basically stopping everything in its tracks and allowing you to start over, it deleted my photos from my camera's memory card and from the import folder!!! There was some other weird stuff about what few pictures it did actually transfer but that is too complicated to explain. It is late here and I am just so aggravated with it that my thoughts are running together. I just can't believe I lost all of those pictures!!! I'm sure you've all experienced something similar, where the computer does something "wrong" and it ruined something for you. (Insert curse words here!)

Good night everyone!

Southend-on-Sea

The past two weekends we spent at the shore. Yes, we are very close to the beach - about a 25 minute drive or train ride. Southend-on-sea is a seaside resort and is located on the north side of the Thames Estuary. (The Thames Estuary is a large estuary where the River Thames flows into the North Sea. The estuary is one of the largest inlets on the coast of Great Britain.)

SUNNY DAY OUT

On Sunday, March 20 we drove down to spend a leisurely afternoon on the boardwalk. We passed lots of pubs, small casinos, ice cream stands, and other seaside vendors. The Southend Pier is one of the longest pleasure piers in the world, but we decided against the 1.34 mile walk as you had to pay to enter onto it. We're told that people sunbathe here in the summer, but that is hard to imagine as the beach area is rather rocky. On this day the tide was in, the sun was out, and it was a great day all around. There is a small amusement park, Adventure Island, an aquarium, a performance theatre, miniature golf, and a short walk away is the High Street lined with shops. Matt's company will have a party at Adventure Island in late June and I'm looking forward to the rides!

SOUTHEND AIR SHOW

Over the holiday weekend, there was an Air Show in Southend. One of Matt's coworkers invited us down to meet her and her family on Sunday for the show. Unfortunately the weather was not as lovely as it had been the previous weekend. It rained all day and was rather cold. The tide was out as well, so instead of crashing waves we saw beached boats. Aside from that, the Air Show was fabulous. Although, I do think the schedule was cut back a bit due to the weather. The highlight for us was the Red Arrows (Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team).

It's Our Anniversary!

Picture 1: Our Engagement Picture - Don't we look so young?!
Picture 2: Day after our engagement (July 2000)


Today is our sixth wedding anniversary! (And, May 16th marks nine years altogether!) So much has happened during that time and what a wild ride it has been. There are definitely many more years full of adventures to come.

We started the day off with some yard work - not my favorite thing to do. We finally bought a new lawnmower and cleared the forest we had growing in the backyard. Cheyenne would disappear out there. After a mid-afternoon nap we freshened up and went out for dinner. We went to a nice Italian place one town over. It was nice to get out of the house and focus on ourselves for a bit. Following dinner we decided to see what was playing at the local movie theatre. We decided on a British film called This Is England. It was set in England in 1983 and gives a lot of insight into the country during that time (fall out of the Falkland's war). Finally we are settling in for the evening around midnight. Matt can get Nascar (FOX) on his laptop through a tv web service, which should be starting soon. While it can mean for some odd hours to enjoy the race, Matt is just excited that he doesn't have to go without it for two years.


P.S. Happy Mother's Day weekend to all of you "Mums" out there!

Night Out on the Town

Matt and I took a train into London last night to meet up with several of his colleagues. An Account Rep was in town and treated us all to a fantastic evening. We started the evening with cocktails at On Anon Bars & Club in Piccadilly Circus. Then walked over to Beni Hana (yes, we have those in the states) for dinner. Boy, Brits sure do love their dirty humor. Anyway, then we ended the evening with after-dinner drinks at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in Soho. Jane Monheit, from the states, was the jazz vocalist. This was mine and Matt's first experience in a jazz club. Usually, I'm not a fan of jazz (more a blues fan) but it was a delightful performance. At midnight we left the group to head home. Everyone else was staying downtown for the evening (sharing rooms or staying on business), but we had Cheyenne at home and didn't feel it was necessary to dish out the extra expense for a room.

It would have been nice to have a room downtown, though. We could've been to sleep within an hour of leaving. Unfortunately we had a bit of trouble getting home. We took a cab to the rail station and missed one of the trains by minutes. We didn't think we'd catch that one anyway. So, we waited for the 12:50 train. Once we left the station that is where the trouble began. Ten minutes into the ride we stopped abrubtly between stations because there was a train in the station ahead that was having some issues. I'm not exactly sure what the problem was, but our train was stationary for 50 minutes! At 1:50am we started the rest of the journey. Finally, around 2:30 we arrived at our final station. There we shared a cab with two other "blokes" back to Noak Bridge. (One of the guys actually knew someone named Mike Hunt - say that three times fast - and the whole taxi cracked up laughing when he mentioned it.) I think we were sleeping by 3am. What an evening!

Our boxes arrived yesterday so once we get unpacked and organized this week I can finally begin to settle in...just in time for our first guests to arrive at the beginning of June.

A Little English Humor

An Irishman applies for a job, but the foreman won't employ him until he passes a little maths test. "Here's your first question, the foreman said. "Without using numbers represent the number 9." "Without numbers?" the Irishman says, "Dat is easy." and proceeds to draw three trees. "What's this?" the boss asks. "Haven't you got a brain? Tree and tree and tree makes nine," says the Irishman. "Fair enough," says the boss. "Here's your second question. Apply the same rules using the number 99, this time." The Irishman stares into space for a while, then picks up the picture that he has just drawn and makes a smudge on each tree, "Dere you go." The boss scratches his head and asks, "How on earth do you get that to represent 99?"... ...."Each of da trees is dirty now. So, it's dirty tree, and dirty tree, and dirty tree. Dat equals 99." The boss starts getting worried that he's actually going to have to give the Irishman the job, so he says, "All right, final question: same rules again, but represent the number 100." The Irishman stares into space for a while, then picks up the picture again and makes a little mark at the base of each tree and says, "Dere you go. One hundred." The boss looks at the illustration and bursts out: "You must be nuts if you think that represents a hundred!" Whereby the Irishman leans forward and points >> to the marks at the base of each tree, saying: "A little dog came along and crapped by each tree. So now you've got dirty tree and a turd, dirty tree and a turd, and dirty tree and a turd, dat makes one hundred.... So, when do I be starting the job?!"

Today is the first day of the next chapter in our lives! We arrived in England earlier this morning and Cheyenne soon followed. Our personal items should arrive by the end of next week. Let me tell you (as if I haven't enough already) it has been a long (6 months) and frustrating process, but one that brings great opportunities. We are looking forward to learning a new culture, travelling throughout Europe, and taking advantage of this time in our lives. It is going to be a big adjustment, but we are trying to go into it as aware as possible and with an open mind. In the end we'll be able to say this was a great experience.

We ask that friends and family keep in touch with what is happening in your lives while we are gone. We'll be missing out on a lot of those experiences with you, so we want to hear from you as often as possible. We'll try to keep this site regularly updated as well. We'll keep a Denver phone number with Vonage, so let us know if you would like that number.

Cheers!