England Trip and Swim Meet

24-27 Sep We traveled to Lakenheath, England for a swim meet. We departed on Ryan Air on Thursday evening and had a great flight. We got the rental car with another couple. Driving on the wrong side of the road - at night - for the first time was very entertaining :))) but we didn't kill ourselves.

We got up on Friday and ate at the Golf Course then travelled to Cambridge to see the town. We saw several of the 31 colleges that make the university. Over 80 winners of the Nobel Prize studied here as well as other famous people like Prince Charles, CS Lewis, AA Milne, Oliver Cromwell, William Wilberforce, John Winthrop, Alister Cooke, David Frost, Arrianna Huffington, 3 Indian Presidents, Terry Waite, Charles Darwin, Robert Oppenheimer, Stephen Hawkings, Isaac Newton, 3 signers of the US Declaration of Independance and 7 known Soviet Spies to name a few. Sites in famous movies are Chariots of Fire, Harry Potter. The town is great, the colleges are splendid and the food - ok. We had lunch in a pub. Kim and Jamie got the fish and chips and James got "Mini Toads in a Hole" and a pint of ale :) It was pretty good. Then we went on a punt - flatbottom boat ride down the Cam River.

26 Sep - We ate breakfast at the bowling alley. Kim was not feeling well with a headache and sore throat so we just stayed at the hotel on base. We drove to the town of Sury Saint Edmunds for the meet. There were 5 teams at the meet. Our team only brought 22 swimmers. Jamie swam 2 relays and 3 individual events and had a great meet. her relays finished 4th and 2nd. Our little team of 22 swimmers won the meet my 20 points over the hosts with 40+ swimmers - GO KINGFISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jamie improved alot in her individual events.

100M Individual medlay - Her time was 1:40.96. She improved 3.5 sec and finished 4th and scored 6 points.

200M Individual Medlay - Her time was 3:37.64. She improved 7.8 secs, finished 3rd and scored 7 points.

100M Freestyle - Her time was 1:29.02. She improved 20 sec - yes 20 secs and finished 6th. She did not earn any points.

We got back about 10pm and went to bed. We have to leave for the airport at 4am!!

The back of King's College taken from the Cam River - really pretty.

Mini toads in a Hole.

Fish and Chips

Kim and Jamie in front of King's College.

European Farmer's market

19 Sep - We visited a European Farmer's market in Breitenbach about 45m from here. It is basically a bazaar on the street with bands, FOOD and goods for sale from all over. There were items from Germany, France, Spain, Poland, Finland and Hungary. LOTS of schnapps, wine, food and other types of foods and crafts. We had a great time and had some good and interesting foods. We bought alot of items - some for us - some for Christmas gifts :)) this was lunch - fire cooked salmon and a potato waffle. The had onion and ham bits in it. Very good - a little chewy. it was cooked in a cast-iron waffel iron over an open fire. This was really good. It is a Hungarian sweet bread called Baumkuchen or "treebread". Basically, you wrap dough around the roller, cook it over a bed of coals, then roll it over sugar, coconut or whatever you like and eat it!!!!! really good.

Photo of one portion of the market. There were 162 different booths.

Meuse-Argonne Tour (WWI)

16-17 Sep - I toured the Meuse-Argonne battlefield from World War I with a group from work. It is called a "Staff ride" where we study different aspects of the battle as it pertains to our work. We toured several areas. The battle was the largest operation of the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I and was from 26 Sep - 11 Nov 1918. It was part of the last major offensive by the Allies that finally brought about the end of the war with Germany. The US had 115,000 casualties but only 15,000 killed. The US began the offensive with 22 US divisions and 6 French Divisions. Some famous actions from this battle were SGT York and the "Lost Battalion". We toured GEN Pershing's headquarters, a French, German and American Cemetary, the site of an American hospital, the only rail line to support the offensive and several key terrain features. Most interesting was the tunnel tour in Vacquois. This was very interesting hill where Germans and French tunnels were within meters of each other. They were tunneling beneath each other using large charges to blow each others tunnels up. At the beginning for war in 1914, an entire town was on top of this hill. After the tunnelling and explosions, the entire town disappeared - all of it!! church, houses, bldgs, etc.- buried in the dirt and holes. http://www.worldwar1.com/france/vacquois.htm We toured the underground tunnels where they housed up to 200 soldiers pulling guard, tunneling, cooking, sleeping, etc. We toured the American Memorial at Mountfacon and the American Cemetary where almost 15,000 are buried. To compare, the D-Day cemetary in Normandy, has 9,500 graves. There were very very few bodies returned to the US from France after the war. One interesting note, Sergeant Matej Kocak is buried here. He was born in Gbely Slovakia and moved Minnesota to the US. He joined the US Marines in 1917. He is one of 19 people to win the Congressional Medal of Honor twice. He won it for the US Navy and the US Army!!! Here is a man from Slovakia, fighting in the US Marines in France against Germany. It really is a snapshot of the whole reason for the Great War. The small Balkan States and even small peoples like the Slovaks and Czechs wanted their Independance from Austria and to have freedom and not be subjects to another countries crown!! There are great stories of Slovaks and Czechs fighting in Russia and when the war ended there, finding passage to Europe to fight on the Western Front against Germany and Austria-Hungary. Such brave stories for such a group of few people. http://www.webmatters.net/france/ww1_argonne_usa.htm The Memorial is very nice. It is in the town of Montfaucon. The German captured the hill that had a town on it. Again, they burned the town to the ground. The hill was used to see many kilometers in all directions to watch artillery. They built 19 blockhouses to protect the hill. http://www.webmatters.net/france/ww1_usa_montfaucon.htm It was a very good tour. I read alot about the war prior to going so I enjoyed it alot. We had a good meal the one night at a French resturant - of course I had the veal in white sauce. I tried escargot for the first time and loved it!!!! (that is snails in France) Did not drink the bad wine or eat the stinky cheese!!!!! French Cemetary. Notice the Christian, Muslim and Jewish headstones that fought for France. France used her colonies to provide troops as well. This cemetary is located at Verdun. James in the German Tunnel at Vacquois James in Pershing's office.

Outside the AEF Headquarters building

Swim meet

12 Sep - We had out first swim meet of the season at Baumholder pool. The Ramstein pool was closed for maintenance. There were 6 total teams at the meet. K'town won by 600 points. Jamie swam the 50M Free, 50M back and 50M breast. She almost qualified for the European Championships in the 50M breast. Her time was 49.13 and qualifying is 48.59. Earlier when she swam a relay, I timed her at 48.13 which is qualifying so she has done it but just could not do it again hours later. Her results for the day were: 50M Free - 39.81 6th Place Personal Best Time Scored 7 points for the team 50M Back - 49.13 9th Place 50M Breast - 49.13 8th Place Personal Best Time She also swam anchor for the Mixed 200M Free Relay that won First Place and 14 points!! Her next meet is at Lakenheath England on 26 Sep. Jamie is in the middle between the N and G flags swimming the 50m breast.

Wine Fest - Leiwen

6 Sep - Alfons and Petra invited us to Leiwen to attend the local Street/Wine fest. It was very nice. There are much larger fests but they are very crowded. The wonderful thing about Leiwen is that it is like a large family. We had some wonderful food. We had a beef roast with a mayonnaise/boiled egg dressing, a schnitzel with a riesling wine sause - very good and Jamie had a pizza bread - so ALOT of food :)))) We also had plums wrapped in bacon and baked - WOW!!!! Then we went back to their home for some of Petra's WORLD famous cake - it was a wonderful mandarin orange cake - yummmm yummmm yummmmm It was another wonderful visit to our favorite German Son's home. Jamie eatting an oven baked pizza. Petra's Mandarin Orange cake - YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!

6th Grade

Well, Jamie is now in the 6th Grade at the Kaiserslautern Middle School. Her classes are English, History (Ancient Civilizations), Advanced Math (7th Grade), Science, Drama and Research is her Talented and Gifted Class. She likes her teachers. She did not like Drama until they did a performance on the Constitution. She was Charles Pinckney and did a great job. Her math is going to be tough this year. Over the summer, Jamie grew and is now 5'3".

First day of School