Next we had MJ and her 12 yo Liz come and visit. Terry and brother Sean were off at the college Baseball World Series and the girls weren't interested...I wonder why? Anyway, now we brave Wimbledon tennis tournament. There is a whole culture around this thing that we quickly became indoctrinated into! We went Day 2. Our dear friend Mary, whose daughter is a ball girl this year, dropped us off near the sign for "The Que". Yes there is a giant road sign. You then proceed to a line(que). You either get in que for tickets today or tomorrow. If you are in que for today, you proceed through a lovely archway whereupon you given a booklet entitled "Guide to Queuing at Wimbledon" and a numbered ticket. Now in the booklet is a list of rules around how you wait. For example, you are allowed to bring food, it just can't be "smelly". You can bring alcohol, but not more than 1 bottle of wine per person, etc etc etc. The Que itself is the social event with all the local residents coming down after work/school and hanging out for an hour or 2 before you get in. We were able to see some great tennis up close and even saw the Williams sisters playing doubles..ok we saw their heads when we stood on tip toes...security around their matches was intense. It was all so much fun that the second week we went 2 more times, learning that if you leave our house on bikes at 5:30, you can be sitting, watching a match by 6pm! Since it still stays light until 9-10..we had some late night rides home....lots of fun and it brought renewed enthusiasm for tennis lessons.
The next week brought the Jackson/Collins crew from Seattle. They too survived some Wimbledon time with us and Chris, Bridget and I became "ninja tennis fans" weaving through crowds and finding seats. After a long week of sightseeing, we all braved a Ferry to Rotterdam to see the first 2 days of the Tour de France. It was amazing because Holland had just won a spot in the semi-finals of the World Cup the night before and the city was ROCKIN'!! Add the TDF craziness and it was a happy place. Beautiful city, lots of fun stuff to do while waiting for the race to start...we did a crazy biking thing that you bike yourself upside down and over, like a roller coaster, we all "rode " the prologue on bikes attached to little biking men that raced around the course and did a computer simulated version..all with us on 10 speeds...we saw the big names: Lance, Contador, Cancellara, etc etc and had great seats. Day 2 we saw the ceremonial start on the Erasmus Bridge...standing in the middle of the bridge was spectacular!
We all made it back to the ferry to rest on the sun deck and relax on our way home watching the rest of the race on TV's all over the ship.
This week brought fame to Bridget as she broke the school record for javelin so will have her name permanently on the board/books at her school. She felt she needed to leave something behind so there was proof that she had been here. Nick has his Yr 6 play next week and then a Prom...yes you heard me...a prom for 10/11 yo's. The jury is still out as to whether he is going. Matthew continues to plug along with tennis/football and sports club with Nick and is busily on the birthday party circuit.
The biggest news of all is that the movers are coming in 1 WEEK. Yes, I now have to think about what I can live without for the next 3 months.
I will post some pictures of our adventures and hope to try to keep this up until we leave and can't wait to see everyone' smiling faces again. I can't believe a year is up, I can't believe the kids are still in school and can't believe that I already am ordering uniforms for the fall!!!
Hope everyone has a great summer!
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