Father's Day at Fulham

Russell family on Father's Day, June 2013

We were blessed to be able to spend Father's Day with our two generations of Russell dads. Grandparents were in England for Lexi's high school graduation. Ryan was able to be here as well. We all took a special Father's Day tour of Craven Cottage.

Chris is a Fulham Football supporter (that's a Fulham "soccer fan" to Americans) and the team plays in a historic stadium called Craven Cottage.

I'm not a big soccer fan but I did enjoy the tour for the historical perspective. The original thatched cottage on the grounds was the family home of Anne Boleyn, King Henry VIII's second wife. The area surrounding it was her hunting grounds. The building was destroyed by a fire. In 1903 the current building at the corner of the stadium was built and named for Lord Craven, the owner of the original home.

Craven Cottage sits in the corner of the stadium.

Sitting in the stands of the Cottage

Fulham is one of the oldest of London's teams, first kicking off in 1879. I won't bore you with too many historical details but it was really cool to get to sit in the original wooden stands of the Cottage. It is a Grade II listed building which means it can't be altered without special permission to maintain its history.

View from the Cottage

The stadium entrances were built when people were smaller.

We went into the home changing room. It was not very big but that's sort of the unique aspect of the historical stadium, the old time feel of the cramped spaces.

Changing Room

British soccer fans are truly fanatical about the sport, knowing miniscule facts about past games. The detailed questions that the other people on the tour were asking of the former player at the Q&A session were impressive. "Remember that game against Liverpool in 2002? Started at 7 pm on a Wednesday? Oh yes, their lineup was so and so across the front, etc."

Players run on to the field through this tunnel.

Sitting in the Press Box area

We saw the seat where Michael Jackson sat when he was a guest of the team owner, Mohamed Al-Fayed. We also saw the large statue of Michael Jackson that was intended to be placed in Harrods but Al-Fayed sold the store so it is now housed in the unlikely location at the Fulham grounds.

The tour was topped off with a yummy barbecue lunch cooked on the terrace of the stadium overlooking the Thames River. It was a feast of lamb, chicken, seafood skewers, baked potatoes, corn on the cob, potato salad, chocolate cake for dessert.

BBQ lunch after tour, complete with gifts for the Dads.

All in all, an interesting and entertaining Father's Day.

Don't Touch Anything

"How did it come to this?", I think as I take my first ride on a small 9-seater charter airplane. We are trying to get back to London after our Caribbean holiday. There are not a lot of flight options in the Islands. A LIAT (Leeward Islands Air Transit) flight was to take us from British Virgin Islands to Antigua where we would then board a large British Airways overnight flight to London. The LIAT flight was delayed due to the plane being broken and stuck in some other exotic location like Barbados.

You would think we'd have no problem being stuck an extra day in the sunny beautiful islands if we missed our connecting flight. But in reality we were ready to be back "home" with some clean clothes.

After a delay of 5 hours, the airline decided it would be cheaper for them to put us on a private chartered flight to make our connection than to put the affected people in a hotel for 2 days until the next flight to London.

The airline agreed to charter only one plane. Problem was there were 11 of us needing to make the next flight connection and only 9 seats on the plane. The agent relayed the bad news to us and stated they were going to have to choose who didn't get to go and they weren't sure who it would be. Luckily the problem worked itself out as 2 teenage girls volunteered to stay behind with another family they knew so long as they could retrieve their bikinis from their luggage.

Chris, Lexi, and I were the first to board. We were told a volunteer was needed to sit up front with the pilot as there were only 8 seats in the back. Chris agreed to play "co-pilot". We had a good laugh at him sitting in the cockpit and told him to please not touch anything. He got settled in and asked the official pilot if there was anything he should do. "Don't touch anything" was the reply.

Chris in his special seat

I thought the ride would be bumpy but it was actually the smoothest flight I've been on. Even the take-off and landing were very smooth and Chris had the front-row seat to it all.

I pulled out my iPad during the flight and started writing this blog post. Next thing you know the hour-long flight was complete. Now that's the way to travel.

Barbara, Lexi, and co-pilot?

Sail Away

Day 1, arrival on board the Vision

It was a celebration of endings, beginnings, commemoration, reconnecting, and memories. It was a crossroads of the past and the future, on pause for ten glorious days in the Caribbean to just take time in the present to enjoy a coming together.

Two kids graduating, one about to start a career, the other starting university. Two parents wanting to acknowledge their kids' accomplishments and also relive memories of a Caribbean honeymoon and two boat trips and 26 years of marriage. 

A family spending time together before the nest is empty.

It was a reconnecting of Lexi and her guest: a friend from her new life in England but from two years ago. It was a chance to spend time with and get to know better Ryan's guest: his girlfriend.

Even the Captain and First Mate fit into the theme. It was the Skipper's last time to captain the boat before he takes a charter pilot job. It was only the second time that our First Mate / Cook performed her duties. More beginnings and endings.

The occasion was perfect for the older generation to relay stories from previous boat trips and relive memories while new memories were made by all.

Day 10, last night on board

4 Years Ago

It's been four years since our move to England.

Here are pictures from our flight on July 12, 2009 just before we took off on our journey across the Atlantic.

Barbara enjoying a pre-flight glass of bubbly in business class

I remember being nervous about the move but my sense of adventure and excitement and "soak it all up" took over when the flight attendants offered glasses of champagne before the flight even took off.

Tanned Lexi very sad to be moving

14 year-old Lexi, on the other hand, was just plain sad. Now it's the opposite and she doesn't want to move home!

We've come a long way since then and what a journey it's been!

Perfect Pleasure

When we were in South Africa, servers were so polite and oftentimes would respond to our Thank yous with the word "Pleasure" as in " it's my pleasure". They pronounced it play-sha.

Now here we are in the Virgin Islands and the Argentinian chef on our boat responds with the word "Perfect" when we say we like something.

Yes indeed, perfect pleasure.

Boat Trip

We are on Day 9 of our 10-day charter sailboat trip in the British Virgin Islands and lists have started forming in my mind. Here is a sampling of the fun and adventures we've had so far:

ACTIVITIES

Snorkeling

Scuba Diving (not me though!)

Hobie cat sailing

Water skiing

Kayaking

Beach relaxation with beach bar and hammock

Motor Scooter rental

Going onshore for a lobster dinner, dancing, and limbo

ANIMALS SEEN

Stingrays

Barracuda 

Sea Turtles

Pelicans diving for fish

Donkeys (seen while scootering across Anegada Island)

Lizards

Shark (seen by the scuba divers)

Tarpon that we thought were sharks

Variety of tropical fish

Our boat is a 56 foot catamaran. Our crew consists of a Captain and a First Mate who is also the Cook. They are both from Argentina. The Cook is actually an award-winning chef. She took cooking classes in France and New York. She is happy to practice her English on us and we love to hear her speak as she sounds just like Gloria in the "Modern Family" TV show. She is also happy to be getting paid in US dollars here which are worth so much more than the peso in Argentina.

We are getting spoiled with the cooking, three meals a day plus afternoon snack. Here are just a few of the delicacies we've had:

FOOD 

Crab cakes

Quesadillas and guacamole

Tuna Nicoise

Tiramisu

Banana coconut lime French toast

Upside down piña colada cake

Banana crepes with Nutella

Eggs Benedict 

Homemade bread

Luz, the chef, makes her own salad dressing, mayonnaise, and sauces, all in the tiny kitchen  on the boat. When we first embarked, the best tasting fresh-squeezed lemonade was waiting for us. It had a hint of ginger in it. We knew then we were off to a good start.

COOL THINGS SEEN

Kite-surfers

Richard Branson's huge yacht

Starry skies

Beautiful sunsets

Corbin Bleu (maybe) from "High School Musical"

Our boat is underway now with the sails out as we head to our next destination. Gotta go....

Traditional (but not your Typical) Graduation

The lovely school campus pictured on the Banquet program

Our daughter's high school graduation from TASIS - The American School in England was full of tradition but it was not like any high school graduation I've been to.

The founder of the school, Mrs. Fleming, was a risk-taker who believed in tradition. She started the first TASIS school in Switzerland in 1956 as an experiment in international education. In 1976, Mrs. Fleming at the age of 66 opened the TASIS campus in England even though a feasibility study showed it was a bad idea. Thirty-seven years later the school is thriving. It offers an American curriculum to students from over 50 countries. About half of the 400 students in the high school, or "Upper School" as it is called, are boarders.

We've been blessed that Lexi was able to spend her four high school years in the special learning environment that is TASIS. She met kids from literally all over the world. She was challenged academically and, as smart as Lexi is, that is an accomplishment. The school also promotes physical activity, service to others, and appreciation of culture and beauty, resulting in a well-rounded education. The values and traditions instituted by Mrs. Fleming are carried on today. We saw evidence of this in the graduation ceremonies.

Champagne Reception at School

The festivities began the night before graduation with the Senior Banquet put on by the school for the graduates and their parents and faculty. A Canapes and Champagne Reception started it off in the courtyard of the lovely school grounds. The legal drinking age in England is 18 so the champagne was offered to all, but Lexi said it felt strange to be drinking on campus.

The gymnasium was transformed into a banquet hall with candelabra and tablecloths and paper lanterns suspended from the ceiling. Flags from each of the graduates' home countries were hanging.

Lexi and her boyfriend were seated side by side. Coincidence? I think not. With only 103 graduating seniors, the school is small enough that the assigned seating arrangements were personalized.

Seann, Lexi, and her Advisory Teacher

The Blessing before dinner read by Lexi's Humanities teacher, Mrs. Page, was the same blessing that's been said at the Banquet for 30 years and was written by Mrs. Page's husband. Students performed some music selections as I'm sure has happened each year. Four Senior speakers voted on by the student body gave speeches giving us a taste of their varied experiences at TASIS. Perspectives range from boarding students to day students and from the kid who attended TASIS for 13 years to those that moved here only a couple of years ago or even just for their senior year.

The Banquet was a special, personal time for reflection before the formal graduation ceremony the next day.

One of Mrs. Fleming's traditions is the graduation attire. The girls wear a white or ivory dress and the boys wear black suits. There was some grumbling about not getting to wear caps and gowns (as there is every year) but the result actually looked quite classy and nice.

TASIS Class of 2013

The girls are given four long-stemmed white roses to carry, the boys wear white carnations, all provided by the school. Perhaps the four roses are for the four years of high school. I like to think they represent the four years we have lived here.

The ceremony was held on the school grounds in a large tent or a "marquee" as they call it here. The students entered on a red carpet, boys escorting girls. The students entered according to height, interesting how Lexi and Seann ended up together :)

Procession into the ceremony

The ceremony itself was nice, similar to an American high school's. We did sing both the American national anthem and the British "God Save the Queen" anthem.

The speaker was Bill Curry, a former NFL football player. Doubts about what inspiration a football player could give were quickly snuffed as he proved to be an excellent motivational speaker. I was impressed that he used references from each of the Senior Speeches from the Banquet the night before in his own talk, showing he had actually been paying attention to them.

When the students walked across the stage to receive their diplomas, Founder Mrs. Fleming's daughter was among the dignitaries to offer congratulations. In keeping with tradition, she kissed each student three times on the cheek, left right left. With 103 students, that was a lot of kisses!

Mrs. Fleming's daughter and Bill Curry in center

After the ceremony, the school provided a buffet lunch for all the attendees. This wasn't just burgers or sandwiches. Full-blown roast beef, salmon, ham, salads, desserts, wine, champagne... a feast. A live band played big band era music, creating a festive celebratory atmosphere. Even the inevitable English rain shower didn't dampen spirits much.

Partaking of the yummy desserts at the luncheon

One of the graduation gifts given to each student was a book containing the "Wit and Wisdom of Mary Crist Fleming". Her traditions and spirit live on in TASIS. I like one of her quotes that was also mentioned in one of the graduation speeches:

"Times change, values don't. Always hold on to yours!"