Back by popular demand.

I know, I know it's been ages. I have so much freaking catching up to do. As you all know, my in laws and nephew Oliver were here for a great three weeks (more on their visit in another post). They left last week but I am still trying to catch up. We had a lot of school events in the last week. Chloe's last day is tomorrow and Mia's is Friday so things will be settling down shortly.


In trying to get more social and involved in the school community (and because I am currently under-committed - a state of being I'm not used to being) I joined the Summer Fete committee to help organize the school's annual Summer Fete. A summer Fete is really kind of like a school fair/carnival with games, events, a few rides, and carnival food. They are some things that we know like ball in a bucket but others like the coconut shie and the sweetie tombola that I needed lessons on. Any profits we made this year would be donated to the UK Cancer Research in honor of Katie (the woman/mother I wrote of in April who died of breast cancer).

So, we had our weekly meetings, I was in charge of all things food related (how appropriate) and the new rides that were to be big money makers. It was fun and really not so much work to do as a whole (esp compared to last summer's volunteering with the Breastfeeding Cafe). Long story short, the Fete was Monday. Did I mention it's held outside, rain or shine? It rained just about all day, with breaks of sun that made you hopeful before the next downpour hit. It rained so hard it became funny. It rained so hard that there was even talk of cancelling it, but TG the show went on! I don't have any pictures to share, nor do I think a single shot was taken by anyone unless they had an underwater camera. Everything and everyone was wet. I stood with Simon (Katie's husband) and ate dripping wet pizza with our kids. It was so freakin British. I really applaud their spirit - showing up in rain suits, hat, jackets and the kids all had a blast. The only bummer was that all these new inflatable PVC rides (bungee run, bouncie castle and slide, etc) couldn't be used the whole night due to the safety risk of wet PVC. Those would have been our big money makers. Anyway, the verdict I got today was that we actually MADE money - a whopping £2500. That is amazing to me considering the rides/games were all about 20p/50p or £1 each. So that feels good. Plus the Headmaster gave all six of us on the committee gorgeous bouquets of flowers with a sweet note of thanks for our efforts. All quite rewarding, esp knowing that the families had fun and that there will be money going to fight the horrid terror we call cancer.

And finally, a weather update. It's currently in the 50s and has been raining nonstop for the entire day (it's now 9pm). I'm back in jeans, an undershirt, a long sleeved tshirt, sweater and the house has gotten so chilly that I'm close to putting the heat back on. It's been steadily raining off and on for the last week (see above!), but I am not depressed bc TG we had about three weeks of sun in June, with a whopping high of 74 somewhere in there. Plus, in a little over two weeks the girls and I are on our way to CA, UT, and SC!!! Hallelujah!! We can finally wear our summer clothes (and do some serious shopping).