Well, it has been a long four days without the sweet convenience of the Internet and a home phone line. We've been living without TV, a dishwasher, or a washer/dryer for 7 months now, but the phone and Internet thing just about did us in!! Luckily they both got turned back on yesterday and all is well in the Duncan household once again.
We're so excited to go back to Texas in about 2 weeks. It is always so fun to see our families and friends again after such a long time. Hopefully we will have enough time to see everyone for at least a little bit before we travel back home. We'll be in San Antonio for 4 days and then in Arlington for 6...we're both really hoping to work on our tans a little bit before we come back (if you haven't heard, the sun just doesn't linger for very long in our neck of the woods!!). It will be interesting to see how we handle the heat (especially in San Antonio) after having a very mild (80 degrees MAX) summer over here....we might just melt! Oh, but being back in Texas again with the sun, the Tex-Mex, the accents, the right side of the road, and oh...did I mention the Tex-Mex?!? Who could ask for anything more?!
Chris is flying in his first Airshow this weekend! They will do two fly-bys...plenty of time to get some great pictures. The Hilburn family, our friend Meredith and I are all planning on spending the day out there enjoying the weather and watching them fly. Chris finished his last "test" last week (he did awesome!), so he's really looking forward to having some fun in the jet.
More soon....Cheers!!
Simple Things
The past few weeks have been fast and furious, and we're both starting to feel like the summer is just speeding past us! We had "first Friday" last Friday and it was so great to just relax and enjoy spending some time with friends. The theme was "Red, White, and Blue" (for obvious reasons) so I decided to try my hand at a flag cake! One of the things I love about living here in England is that the fruit is just wonderful. Since we have a tiny refrigerator (trust me, it's tiny) we have to buy really fresh food so that it won't spoil. Now, the old me (the one living with my nice dishwasher, my functional washer/dryer, and my splendidly cool air conditioning system) would be put out buy having to go to the grocery store three times a week. But the new me LOVES trying out the local markets and flower shops! The flowers in the picture above will seriously last 3 weeks! And the raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries that I used for the cake were absolutely marvelous. It's the little things like these that keep a smile on my face even when the largest fly I have ever seen is happily buzzing around my living room because apparently the English have never heard of window screens :)We also went to a cook-out last weekend and I can't remember the last time I had so much fun!
They had a HUGE bouncy castle that was like an obstacle course and by the end of the night all the girls were competing in timed relays! There was amazing food, scrumptious desserts, and they even had a chocolate fountain! We started a fire, roasted marshmallows and just spent the whole night chatting and laughing. Chris had fun too...getting his truck stuck in a creek after taking some guys off-roading! It was probably more funny the next day, but I assure you we had some good laughs :)
They had a HUGE bouncy castle that was like an obstacle course and by the end of the night all the girls were competing in timed relays! There was amazing food, scrumptious desserts, and they even had a chocolate fountain! We started a fire, roasted marshmallows and just spent the whole night chatting and laughing. Chris had fun too...getting his truck stuck in a creek after taking some guys off-roading! It was probably more funny the next day, but I assure you we had some good laughs :) This week was pretty hectic...lots of meetings for me, and tons of early flights for Chris...so, by the time Friday rolled around we were ready for a nice relaxing night at home. But Saturday was a different story! We successfully pulled off our first dinner party at our house!! I made Gayle's famous chicken spaghetti, and yummy brownies 
for dessert. Two other couples and two "singles" came, so it was quite the crowd! All eight of us piled around our tiny 4 person kitchen table...it was cozy but so much fun! We played games after we ate and laughed until midnight. We will definitely have to do that again!
for dessert. Two other couples and two "singles" came, so it was quite the crowd! All eight of us piled around our tiny 4 person kitchen table...it was cozy but so much fun! We played games after we ate and laughed until midnight. We will definitely have to do that again! We have another busy week ahead of us, but next Saturday we're heading up to Wales to go camping with some friends, so it will be worth the wait!
He's Home!
Chris finally made it home a little over a week ago after some slight changes to the original itinerary :) Though the changes were a little stressful, I'm so glad that everyone made it back safe and had a GREAT time doing some really good work. I put an emphasis on their "GREAT time" due to the extremely dark tan that Chris was sporting when he came home!! After he mentioned the words beach, jet skiing, & the pool...I stopped listening! If you haven't heard, we're still wearing sweatshirts over here in jolly ole', and we lovingly refer to our pasty white skin tone as our English tan! Needless to say, a very tan blond guy looks a little out of place :) So anyway, they had fun, did some really great flying from what I hear, and got to see some of the most amazing places that the world has to offer. We're still waiting on the pictures, but I'm sure that they will be just wonderful! 
As soon as Chris returned we started looking for a fun place to go for a long weekend. We headed out early Saturday morning, and after a somewhat shaky ferry ride (don't ask!), we were on mainland Europe making our way to Amsterdam. We were both so glad that we decided to drive because the scenery over there is just breathtaking. We drove into Belgium and took some funny roadside pictures. (See above) There's nothing like two Americans trying to balance the the camera on the top of the car, running down the side of the highway trying to pose before the timer ran out, trying not to think about the trucks whizzing by at alarmingly fast speeds! I'm sure we got a lot of laughs, and probably a few head-shakes too...but it made us laugh for at least 5 min after we got back into the car, and that's all that counts...right!?!
We made it to Amsterdam and just took our time wandering around the city. We had a great
dinner at a place called Cafe' November complete with white chocolate mousse'...what more could you ask for?! We sampled some Holland beer, enjoyed the scenery, and even ventured to the Red Light District just to say that we did it :) I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that we'll never return to that particular area again....I think Chris's exact words were "What is the fastest way out of this place?!" It was actually quite funny! The next day, we went to Anne Frank's house and did some more exploring before getting on the road to go to Brugge, Belgium.
We made it to Amsterdam and just took our time wandering around the city. We had a great
dinner at a place called Cafe' November complete with white chocolate mousse'...what more could you ask for?! We sampled some Holland beer, enjoyed the scenery, and even ventured to the Red Light District just to say that we did it :) I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that we'll never return to that particular area again....I think Chris's exact words were "What is the fastest way out of this place?!" It was actually quite funny! The next day, we went to Anne Frank's house and did some more exploring before getting on the road to go to Brugge, Belgium. Brugge is probably my favorite city so far. It is quaint and quiet, and the people are just so kind. We stayed in a little hotel about a 5 min. walk for the City Center. We spent the days wandering
around, shopping, eating, and taking pictures. At night we found some great restaurants and got to experience the town completely aglow in the lights of night. It looked like something straight out of a book, we just loved it! It was the perfect way to spend a 4-day weekend and we treasured every moment of it.
Yesterday was the 4th of July (one of my favorite holidays) and we had a church picnic in the afternoon. We played volleyball, grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, played dominoes, and met lots of fun new people. We then went to Feltwell for the fireworks...well, we WERE going to see the fireworks; however, my choice of shoes (flip-flops) combined with the immense amount of rain that we have had lately, just didn't mix. So...we left before the fireworks started, but I'm sure that they were magnificent! All in all, we had a fantastic weekend and we can't wait for our next adventure!
around, shopping, eating, and taking pictures. At night we found some great restaurants and got to experience the town completely aglow in the lights of night. It looked like something straight out of a book, we just loved it! It was the perfect way to spend a 4-day weekend and we treasured every moment of it.Yesterday was the 4th of July (one of my favorite holidays) and we had a church picnic in the afternoon. We played volleyball, grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, played dominoes, and met lots of fun new people. We then went to Feltwell for the fireworks...well, we WERE going to see the fireworks; however, my choice of shoes (flip-flops) combined with the immense amount of rain that we have had lately, just didn't mix. So...we left before the fireworks started, but I'm sure that they were magnificent! All in all, we had a fantastic weekend and we can't wait for our next adventure!
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