My 11-year old Ukranian friend who spoke English reasonably well

Chilling on the last night

The two "emotional" girls from the team

A group of children from the village who participated in the sports outreach

The only girls on the trip who were the same age!

Lunchtime with the children from the village

Showering next to pigs and chickens (on the right). The shower was surprisingly good!

Our eldest daughter joined three other girls and two adults from our church in Somerset on a trip to Ukraine in late August. They stayed in a home owned by one of the members of the local church.

One of the really pretty churches in Cherkasky

The Hill of Glory

The view from the Hill of Glory

We travelled to Cornwall during the third week of August and stayed in Wadebridge at a cottage owned by friends from school. We boogie-boarded twice at Lusty Glaze beach in Newquay and once at Treyarnon beach just south of Padstow. The weather was cool, sometimes spitting, but otherwise fine - as long as we had wetsuits! We also enjoyed an 11 mile round trip cycle ride on the Camel Trail between Wadebridge and Padstow.

Cliff-side modeling

Warming up between boogie-board rides allowed time to collect starfish and other memorabilia

Large and in-charge of the boogie-boards!

In the morning, the tide struck high on the steep portion of the beach and the kids and Al ate a lot of pebbles at the end of the rides! The shortie wetsuits allowed their shins to get sand-blasted by the crashing waves.

Diana and the kids flew on to Arizona where they stayed with Lolo (Dave) and Lola (Bettye) for a week. Diana took a few more pictures here, but most were with other kids. Since we avoid posting pictures of kids, with a few exceptions, we can only show the one thing in Arizona that you'll never see in England (unless it's at the Eden project).

Diana's Mom and Dad

These photos are from July, 2006, in Pearly's bridal shoppe. I posted them to help me get used to the idea that one day this will actually happen for real.

Tonya's boyfriend, Clay, made a big impression on our two youngest. He supposedly has even bigger biceps than Dad. No way!!!

Diana and the kids flew on to Illinois to spend a week with Diana's side of the family while Al flew back to England. They spent time with Diana's Mom and Dad, Uncle Clifford and Aunt Precy, sister, Lynne, and her kids. Al wasn't around to take pictures so we only have a few photos here.

It was good to see cousin Tonya, daughter of Diana's sister, Pearly, and husband, Terry

Terry and Pearly taking a break from bowling

Hoping to match the perfect games achieved by his uncle Terry and cousin Jason

Diana kayed and ran nearly every morning in North Carolina. Bob went with her one morning and they re-enacted scenes from 'Last of the Mohicans' as they skimmed through the mist into the sunrise.

The kids on their final tube ride of the summer.

Eldest grandchild with Grandpa - July, 2008

Working on "conflict resolution" with Grandpa

"Who's pinching me?!!!"

The four amigos together again

They think they're the "four amigos"

It's good to be together again ....!

Rare footage of the boat driver and his wife in the tube. There was momentary confusion regarding the direction of travel ...

Aahhh .... there we go ...

Grandpa did the insulting "booty shake" to the boat driver in retaliation for all the shakes he received from the kids when driving the boat.

Some of you may remember super-daughter (!) Trang Nguyen who lived with us for 10 months in America and attended high school as a foreign exchange student. Since that time she attended university in Indiana where she graduated with excellent grades and has turned into quite a young lady. She and her boyfriend, Aki, drove six hours from KY to see us in NC then turned around and drove back the same day. That says a lot about Aki, too!

We're very proud of you, Trang, and look forward to hearing of your activities over the next year. You're awesome!

Aki got to hang out with Trang's little sister.

Go, Grandpa! Not bad for a man who was ten days away from his 69th birthday!

What a mess!

The day after school ended we left for North Carolina where we enjoyed a family reunion with Al's parents, brothers and their children. Most of the time was spent in the lake either being pulled on tubes or water skis.

We were surprised one day when film star Angelina Jolie showed up to visit with us.

Diana joined Grandma in the elite club of 'Puzzle Masters', but still had time to play double solitaire with SJ. SJ and her daughters joined us for a weekend while husband, Bob, participated in military exercises.

The kids participated in 'Sports Day' on the final day of school. All three kids won gold medals in the ball throw and were pleased with their performances in other events. Our eldest even set a school record in the shot put.

Our graduating student received a special award on Speech Day commemorating athletic achievement and sportsmanship modeled by an Olympian and former student of the school. It will hang in the school library with her name engraved on a plate below.