UK, Petersfield - Keys, Milk & more.

Did you know:
1) The petro (gas) prices in the UK are around $12 USD a gallon. I just thought our prices were horrible. They also have seen huge price increases in food.

2) They still use keys that look like this:

3)They have milk delivered for coffee/tea and it package in reusable glass jars:

{milk bottles on the back step to the office}

I really do not find many huge difference between England and the US. There are the "wrong" side of the road driving and the "funny" terms they use for certain things but while in the stores I recognized many of the brands I buy at home. I even got accustom to going to the "wrong" side of the car to be a passenger and looking to the proper side of the road while crossing intersections.

-Tammy

Travel to Petersfield UK (Again)

Howdy, all.
I made it to the UK without too much trouble. The gentleman sitting next to me on the plane was an extremely chatty fellow. It was nice for a while but then when I wanted to sleep or watch a movie… not so good. Tom bought me noise canceling headphones a while back and those definitely helped with the situation. LOL. I think I may have slept only 2 hrs.
The drive from the London-Gatwick airport to Petersfield is about an hour. The driver was super nice and has a shitzu named Lucky. If Jim is taking me to the airport this next Saturday then he is going to bring Lucky with him. He took me the country route but I forgot to get my camera out of the boot (trunk) before we left the airport. I enjoyed learning about some of the small townships long the way.

Jim dropped me off at the hotel around 9:30 am and the lovely wonderful hotel clerk informed me that I couldn’t check in early. She mentioned once a room was available she would find me in the hotel restaurant. Check out time here is noon and check in time is 2:00 pm. Guess who didn’t come get me… I finally ventured back around 1:45 pm after a cup of coffee and lunch to see if they had a room available. Of course by that point they did. All she said is she was having a busy morning. Mean while I was about to pass out from no sleep. Lovely.

I came to the room unpacked, took a shower and then took an awesome 3 hr nap. Mucho better.
The Premier Inn isn’t really the “Premier” hotel. It is nice enough and the room is fairly big for a European room. No internet, no telephone in the room. It is the most convenient of the hotels in Petersfield and the hotel restaurant is very good. There isn’t air conditioning except for the fan and open window.
View out my window:

Car Park (Parking Lot) with the standard cars here:

The air conditioner:

Good Birthday

I had a good birthday week. The week started off with celebrating with Mom & Dad in Victoria. I received a bunch of cards that had me laughing & dinner with Tom, Mel, John and Carter. Tom bought me some really pretty flowers too. Thanks to you guys for all the birthday wishes!!

Pictures from birthday dinner:

{Tom & Birthday Girl}

{John & Mel}

{Cutie, Carter Joseph}

Guys Weekend & Victoria Trip (June 7th&8th)

Tom had a guys weekend with Matt & Jay the weekend of June 7th&8th. It sounds like they had a good time at the Texas Motor Speedway in Dallas. What would guys not like about a weekend filled with beer & cars, eh?

The pups and I headed to Victoria Saturday morning. Kristy's dance recital was at noon at the Victoria College auditorium. Boy, I hadn't been in that auditorium in years. Bought back a few good memories of my dance recitals and one or two not so good memories of piano recitals. lol

Kristy was the best in her class. Not that I am a very biased Aunt but she really is good. Since photos w/flash were not allowed... I don't have really good pictures but here are a few:

Kristy is the third girl from the left in both pictures.

When I get a copy of Kristy's dance portraits I will post those also.

The pups & I hung out with my parents the rest of the weekend. It was nice to visit and get some yummy home cooking (especially being away from home in the UK the week before!!)

-Tammy

Playing at Work...

http://nikeplus.nike.com/nikeplus/?l=runners,avatar_viewer,2095517413

So I only have a million + 1 items on my to do list for work but I took a quick break and created an Nike Plus avatar. Isn't she cute? LOL.

Ok back to work.

-Tammy

Petersfield UK Work Trip

I recently had a quick work trip to the Petersfield UK. This was my first time to this location. Since I arrived in London during rush hour the driver took the me country roads route. I was half asleep during the hour+ drive but what I do remember was very quaint. There was one church on top of the hill with graves stone cascading down the hill. I certainly would have been a little scared if I had seen the church hillside in the evening with fog. Maybe the next time I visit I will ask the driver to stop so I can take a picture.

Since I wasn't there for a long period of time I really didn't explore much. Most of the photos were taken around the office and the client did take me to Portsmouth (sp?) for dinner which is the the one pic of the marina.

-Mrs. T

Little Boy Turner's Baby Shower

On May 31st we had a shower for Blaine, Marige and Little Boy Turner with a bunch of Margie's & Blaine's friends. The food was yummy and I think Little Boy Turner receive a lot of cute things. Chloe, TJ, Mya and Allie even pictched in a got Little Boy Turner a doggie toy to put on his crib.

Margie is looking adorable. She of course thinks she looks huge but I am really really impressed. Way to go Margie Ann!!!!

Carter had a good time hanging out with everyone. He is was such a cutie pie and was all smiles (mostly). Carter did test out some of Little Boy Turner's goodies... just to make sure they were worthy for his cousin. Several items were hugged and kissed on (aka went straight into his mouth).

No name Little Boy Turner... still doesn't have a name. If you have any suggestions please post a comment.

Carter & the 4 Wheeler *Edited w/Photos*

This past Sunday Tom and I went to Melanie and John's house. Tom and John worked on replacing a part on the 4 Wheeler while Mel and I worked a little on Carter's announcements. I enjoyed hanging out with Mel and Carter. We don't get a chance to do it very often even though we live close to each other.

Mother's Day/Birthdays Celebration

On Sunday Tom and I drove to Victoria to celebrate Mother's Day, Jim's 40TH Brithday and Tavy's 9th Birthday. Sunday was a FULL day and we enjoyed seeing everyone. I was bad and didn't break out the camera while I was with the Ninke group (Jim, Shelly, Katy, Kristy & LaRue). Here are a few I did take:

Happy 3rd Wedding Anniversary!

Can you believe it has been 3 years since our wedding? Time sure does fly when you are having fun. LOL!

Love you bunches Thomas!

-Tammy

Saint Louis Statue

Billy found this:


You may recognize the head and hat from the pictures below. The statue stands 23 feet tall. The water was definitely high when we were in Saint Louis. Tom was speculating it could have been the head of the headless horseman but I guess he was wrong. ;o)


More info on the statue: The Captins Return

Favorite Receipe Website!

Lately I have been using the RecipeZaar website at least weekly to find new recipes. If you are stuck in a rut this is a good site to surf but I am warning ya... it will make you very hungry.

Here are a few of the recipes I have tried and found very yummy:
Copy Cat Chili's Chicken Enchilada Soup
Cajun Chicken Pasta

You can create your own cookbook with out having to pay for the premium service. I always like free! ;o)

-Tammy

St Louis Trip

We had a great time in Saint Louis with Billy, Estela & Isabella the last weekend in April. We had great food including toasted raviolis, Ted Drewes frozen custard and a wonderful food at a nice restaurant that Tom picked out. I definitely would recommend the frozen custard “concrete” at Ted Drewe’s. I got the Carmel Apple Sundae… YUMMY. Toasted raviolis are pretty yummy too.

On Friday we visited the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis and briefly walked around the waterfront by the Arch. The Catherdral was beautiful and the details were amazing. Billy and Tom took some amazing photos of the church.

The Mississippi was over its banks while we were there. This guy looks liked he was drowning and need some help. lol.

On Saturday we went to the Arch and to a Cardinals/Astros game (‘Stros lost, bummer). We stayed in a hotel downtown so for the most part everything was within walking distance.
Isabella was a very good baby during all of our sightseeing and through the baseball game. We really enjoyed spending time with her.

(Picture from our hotel balcony)

This is my favorite picture of trip though. Thanks Billy.

Thank you Billy & Estela for inviting us! We had a great time.

Rainy Monday

This is what the current radar shows for the Houston/Spring area. It started around 4 am with a ton of thunder and is still going strong at 1 pm. I still need to check the trees close to our house because something was hit close by. Myia hates rain and thunder but she did fairly well this morning only making noise once.

I know why it is raining though. It isn't the result of the scientific mumbo jumbo the meteorologist are mentioning. It is raining because Tom and I watered the yard yesterday. It figures. lol.

;o)

Hope everyone is staying safe and dry.

-T

New Puppy Pictures

Spring time puppy photo shoot.


{Allie}


{Chloe}


{Myia}


{T.J.}

Hayden's Birthday Party

We had a fun time on Saturday at Hayden's (Jennifer & Matt's Little Boy) Birthday party. I still can not believe he is a year old. Time sure flew past me this year.

I have to brag on Jennifer. She made this yummy looking birthday cake. Way to Cute.

Visit to Sam Houston National Forest

Ok, so I went to college in Huntsville for 4 yrs and I have lived in Spring for over 5 yrs now (really close to the Sam Houston National Forest) but the first time I had ever been there was two weeks ago. I never realised how close it actually was. We found a couple of nice multi-purpose trails. When we get the 4 wheelers working Mel, John, Tom and I have a legal place to go ride the 4 wheelers! ;o)

As we were driving through the Park Rangers were having a controlled burn... very close to the road. I was able to get a few interesting photos:

*Funny* The sign above says Prevent Forest Fires!

We also found a few Blue Bonnets (after all the fire this was a nice treat!)