carol: to sing joyfully: Day 6 - Play, Pie, and Park

One of the things I've been looking forward to this visit happened today. Dash and JackJack's Easter program at school was this morning and I, Gigi, was able to be here for it. When you live in the same town as your grandchildren, you take for granted the ability to be there for the important moments in their lives. When they live halfway around the world, it is more than an honor to be able to share one with them. The boys' school is a public school operated by the Church of England, and while England has one of the lowest percentage of Christ-followers in any developed country in the world, it considers itself a Christian nation. And in a Christian nation, it is totally acceptable and expected that any program on the subject of Easter would include the good news of the resurrection. I'm happy to report that this one did. Besides a play about a little chicken who invited his friends for Easter, asked for help but was denied, and wound up ignoring the advice of his mother who said forget them and eat the food yourself, there were poems and recitations celebrating the King who rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and rose from the dead.

The front of the program...Year R (Reception) is like K4 in the US (with a K5 curriculum) and Year 1 is like K5 (with a first grade curriculum).

Some of the recitations.

JackJack and Dash were in the back row and hard to see with my little camera, but here's a shot of the Year R and Year 1 classes.

After the program we were invited to the Year 1 classroom, where the children shared the toy museum they had put together. The parents of the Year 1 students loaned the *ancient* toys from their childhood and the children manned different stations to explain the toys and invite the guests to observe or play. JackJack and his classmate demonstrated the scooter, which I suppose has been around awhile.

Dash demonstrated an English game of tag involving a wolf and some chickens. I believe the dad in the photo was the wolf.

Baby G took in all the sights.

The toy museum/the boys' classroom

Next stop, Deddington. We ate lunch at the Pudding Face, an authentic English pie restaurant. Not like Baker's Square, mind you, English pies are filled with meat and vegetables and served with mashed potatoes and gravy or chips (fries) with vinegar. After lunch Elasti-girl had her 6-week postpartum check-up at the Deddington clinic, and then we headed home.

Yes, I know this is a picture of a rock wall. I can't begin to imagine how long it took to build walls like this, but they are EVERYWHERE. All the fields are surrounded by rock walls or sturdy hedgerows.

Today was beyond beautiful. I'm not sure why I've been so blessed two years in a row to enjoy warm and sunny weather, but I am grateful. After picking up the boys from school, we took a walk to the village park and soaked up the rays. They say we're in for some more seasonal chilly/wet weather over the next few days. I got in on the good weather at home before it turned cold again, and feel doubly blessed here.