Sam and Jen: Lots of 3 Day Weekends!

The last two weekends have been 3 day weekends, which has been so nice. So one weekend we decided to start in on a new project...our overgrown front yard and back yard. Our goal was to clear out pretty much everything and just start with a clean slate. I'm so mad at myself though, because we should have taken before and after pictures. But the yard, especially the backyard looks so much bigger now! We just have to get rid of the huge piles of tree branches and shrubbery that we cut down. Hopefully we'll get the yard cleaned up and ready for planting next spring before the bad weather hits. The last few weeks has been absolutely beautiful here. Clear blue sky and in the high 70's. Although I always thought the 70's were perfect, it so hot here! I guess its because nothing here has air conditioning so our house feels like an oven. And thanks to our lovely cat explorer Bello, we can't open any of our screen-less windows. But I guess i can't complain to much because everyone keeps telling us how nice this summer has been and to enjoy the weather because it will be a miserable cold, raining and very foggy winter. Ugh.

Then this last weekend, we rented a chipper and turned our huge piles of plant rubbish into ground cover. So now our backyard looks nice and clean. :) We also hung out with some friends and went to Bury St. Edmunds and went on a Greene King brewery tour. I was so so about going but it was actually pretty interesting. It just makes me laugh at how serious the English are about their beer. It has to be served at just the right temp (which is sometimes warm) and poured the right way, etc. So funny! After the tour I decided to introduce Sam to my new found love of antique shopping. And I think he kinda likes it. ;)

Last Saturday was such a beautiful day so we drove out into the country and went to the Audley End House, which is the biggest mansion in England. It was absolutely beautiful! We weren't allowed to take any pics of the inside but we took lots of all the grounds. The inside is furnished with all the original furniture which was really neat to see. I even recognized some of the tables and stuff that I had seen in some of the antique stores.

Other than that nothing else is new. Sam's starting to fly a bit more which makes him happy. And I've just been keeping busy as a housewife. A group of wives and I get together once a week and each others' houses and have breakfast and then go on some sort of outing. This coming weekend is yet another 3 day weekend (yay!) but i'm not sure what we are going to do. Some of our friends are heading over to Belgium so we may do that or go see another castle or I would really like to drive down to Bath because I hear it is beautiful.