This past Saturday was Sports and Feast Day for our local village.
Feast Days have been celebrated for centuries in English villages as a way of honoring Christian saints. Our village has a record of foot and horse racing being a part of Feast Day way back in the 1700s and continuing well into the 1800s. And although participation dwindled at the beginning of the 20th century, Sports and Feast Day started up again and had remained a part of this community since the 1970s.
The program for the day began with a "Fancy Dress" (costume) competition. The theme this year was the circus! There were some very creative entries.
Timothy dressed up as a clown:
After that, the races began! There were all types of races for all ages. A lot of them were familiar to us:
Running Race
Bean Bag Race
Egg & Spoon Race
Wheelbarrow Race
Three-legged Race, and Sack Race
There was even a running race for the mothers and the fathers!
Ethan and I participated, and we each got 3rd place!!
There were also some races that we had never heard of before:
A Backwards race (where the contestants run backwards)
Sledges ("sledge" means "sled")- in this race, 2 people pull a third teammate on a plastic sack
and Slow Bike Race-
for this race you try to come in last! But, your bike can't tip over and you can't go backwards at all.
After a free tea time with tea and cakes, the competitions resumed with an Obstacle Race,
an intense Egg-Throwing Contest,
Musical Hoops (Musical Chairs), Tug of War: girls vs. boys (the women won!!),
and a high jump contest.
It was a jam-packed day at the races. Timothy competed in just about every one, and since his age group was 5-7 year olds (he's 7), he did very well, winning first place many times. And each time he won, his prize was money! They had different local businesses sponser the races, so you won money for getting 1st, 2nd, or 3rd prize. 1st prize was one pound fifty (p) pence, 2nd prize was one pound, and 3rd prize was 50p. Tim earned around 5 pounds total, and Ethan and I each came home 50p richer!
The Sports Day also had a bouncy slide
and swings,
which is where Maddie and her good friend Alex spent most of the day.
There were also stands for Tombola (like a raffle), ice cream and juice, and Bric-a-Brac, where they sell donated items.
After the competitions, everbody went home to rest and get ready for the village barbeque that evening. For the barbeque, everyone brought their own meat to cook and a dish to pass. Thankfully, there were tables and chairs set up under a tent as the weather got a little misty!
I've got to say, I love how the British barbeque!
People brought nice tablecloths, silverware, and glass stemware that evening. Some even brought candelabras! Our American family stuck out like a sore-thumb with our sweatshirts and jeans, hot dogs, and processed cheese for our burgers!
It really was a wonderful evening. The kids ran around and played with their friends, and we shared some glow-sticks that my friend Liz shipped over (thanks Liz). Some of them had never seen glow-sticks before!
Ethan was also in his element. There was free beer for the evening! But this wasn't just any beer: this was cask ale, which he got to hand-pull himself. He was a very happy camper!
All in all, it was a wonderful day. On base they had a big Fourth of July carnival with free rides and fireworks on Saturday as well. But, I think we made the right decision being a part of our community's Sports Day!
Believe it or not, I was able to push them both over, get rid of a stuffed animal or two, and find enough room for myself. And yes, I got an elbow in my face in the middle of the night. But, I suppose this is one of those things I will miss someday, right?
But I encouraged Tim to try something new...
You've probably seen these before, but the idea is that the kids jump on a trampoline while being harnessed to two bungee cords at their waist. It really helps them to jump HIGH! It also makes it easy to try front and back flips, too.
I could tell that Tim was a little anxious about it, but it was the perfect opportunity for him to give it a go! It cost 5 pounds (about $8) for 5 minutes. He tried so hard to do a back flip, but he just couldn't manage to get around. Maybe next time. But, he certainly had a lot of fun soaring to new heights!
Timothy dressed up as a clown:
After that, the races began! There were all types of races for all ages. A lot of them were familiar to us:
Bean Bag Race
Egg & Spoon Race
Wheelbarrow Race
Three-legged Race, and Sack Race
There was even a running race for the mothers and the fathers! 
Ethan and I participated, and we each got 3rd place!!
Sledges ("sledge" means "sled")- in this race, 2 people pull a third teammate on a plastic sack
and Slow Bike Race- 
for this race you try to come in last! But, your bike can't tip over and you can't go backwards at all.
an intense Egg-Throwing Contest, 
Musical Hoops (Musical Chairs), Tug of War: girls vs. boys (the women won!!),
and a high jump contest.
and swings,
which is where Maddie and her good friend Alex spent most of the day. 
There were also stands for Tombola (like a raffle), ice cream and juice, and Bric-a-Brac, where they sell donated items.
People brought nice tablecloths, silverware, and glass stemware that evening. Some even brought candelabras! Our American family stuck out like a sore-thumb with our sweatshirts and jeans, hot dogs, and processed cheese for our burgers!
The baseball season is in full swing up at the base again. Hooray! It's been a long winter waiting for the season to start; especially for Tim.
So far, he's done really well. He tends to hit the first pitch that comes to him, and as our resident lefty, he often hits somewhere between 1st and 2nd base. Here's one of Tim's first hits of the season:
(Don't you just love her pink glove?)
It's official... Collin is crawling! About a month ago, he started getting up on his knees and rocking. Then last week, he started moving. And now this week, he is into EVERYTHING! My little explorer!
Kensington Park contains a memorial playground for Princess Diana. Let me tell you, this is no ordinary playground! They designed the playground with a Peter Pan theme. There were tepees, a pirate ship... it was incredible! Unfortunately, it was also completely crowded. But, it was certainly worth seeing. (Tim is in the orange shirt up top!)
Since we were there, I was hoping to go see the famous Peter Pan statue which is also in the park. I saw it clearly on the map, but didn't exactly understand the scale of my map. We walked for about 15 minutes when I realized that this was a big park, not unlike Central Park in NYC. So, we didn't get to see the statue this time. Too bad. (This is what we missed.)
The next day, we decided that the best way to see most of London with the least amount of walking was to do a tour bus ride. We rode on a sightseeing, double-decker bus, which provided narration of the sites. (Maddie having fun with Summer on the bus). 
We saw Big Ben, 
Trafalgar Square, the London Eye, St. Paul's Cathedral, Tower Bridge, 
and the Tower of London. Part of the fee for the bus tour also included a boat tour on the River Thames. The boat dropped us off near the Tower of London where we were able to see a catapulting demonstration (they were launching water balloons!). What fun!
It was a lot of fun to be together in London. It was difficult at times managing 9 people in and out of the subway (including two strollers which often had to be carried up and down to the platforms, etc.). But it was certainly worth it! 
