3 Peaks Challenge

This Thursday Brent is leaving work early (with 17 other members of his team) and taking a train up to Yorkshire, in the north, for a "team building and fund raising" adventure. They will be climbing the 3 tallest peaks in the Yorkshire Dales to challenge themselves physically, build team unity and raise funds for Zurich Community Trust, which partners with 6 different national charities (Marie Curie Cancer Care, NSPCC-ChildLine, Canine Partners, Calvert Trust, Hope and Homes for Children and the Foundation for Conductive Education).

This is a description of the hike as written by one of Brent's team members "The route takes us over 3 of the tallest peaks in the Yorkshire Dales - Penyghent (694m), Whernside (736m) and Ingleborough (723m) - covering a distance of around 25 miles which we hope to complete in 12 hours. That is a long way, and will feel even longer as this includes an awful lot of up and downs along the route."

Sounds pretty rough to me but Brent is up for it and excited to get some fresh air, exercise and a free day off from work. We've purchased his hiking boots, proper hiking trousers, socks, powerbars and electrolyte drinks. All that's left is to raise a little money. They are currently at 65% of their goal and Brent asked me to post this blog as his way of helping. So, if you are able and wanting, here is the link to support my hubby. I imagine when he gets home on Saturday afternoon he will be more than beat so it will be nice for him to know it was for a good cause and that he helped contribute.

Thanks!

I *need* one of these!

Came across this lil' beauty while I was cruising around prudentbaby.com the other day. I think it just jumped ahead of KitchenAid mixer and new vacuum on my "need" list...

Bias Tape Maker from Jaime Curtis on Vimeo.

Wimbledon

To start off the insane amount of catch-up blogging, we're going with the most recent stuff because it's fresh in our memory and mostly because Brent already wrote it out (nice of him to do the hard work for me, right?). So here it is, our Wimbledon experience with a slideshow of pics at the end. Keep in mind as you're reading that this is something Brent has wanted to do since he was a little boy and walked around all day like a kid at Disneyland for the first time. It was awesome.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

We woke up at 5am, left the house at 5:30, took two buses, and arrived at Wimbledon about 6:30. We found the end of the 'The Queue' as it is officially named at 6:40 and they handed us official numbered queue cards. We were numbers 799 & 800. We sat on our blanket until about 7:10 when they began condensing the line and moving us closer to the gates. We began in one of the car parks and wound our way through the edge of a golf course. We bought some breakfast sandwiches and ate them in line. Then it began to rain about 7:45. There was a bit of tree cover but we had to hide under our blanket to stay dry since we hadn't brought any umbrellas. Luckily it began to clear up after 45 minutes or so and we didn't get too soaked as we worried we might.

At about 8:00 they had gone through from the front handing out wristbands for Centre Court and Courts 1 & 2, the top show courts. We amazingly still had a shot at a choice of any of those. We selected Court 2 because it appeared more interesting for the day. Centre Court and Court 1 had 2 matches each of the Women's singles quarterfinals. But that meant each had a Williams sister and we didn't know the others and weren't too interested. Besides it was £62 and £74 each for 1 or Centre Court and it didn't seem worth it. Had it been Wendesday it would have because it would have been Federer, Murray and the other top men playing. But alas the timing didn't work out. However we both agreed had it been Wednesday we would not have been that close in line arriving at 6:40 and it would not have been likely that Centre Court would be available even if we were 800 in line because the 1st 500 people would surely have taken them all. People were already there queueing/camping over 24 hrs in advance!

So anyway, we chose the £35 Court 2 tickets which seemed a bigger bang for buck and it was. At about 8:45 they began moving us through the metal detector security check and then up to the ticket booths and then up to a holding area just outside the park. At 9:30 they let us in a bit further to where we could get programmes for the day and wander through a few shops until 10:30 when they officially opened and let us go anywhere. We first went to Henman Hill and laid our blanket out to dry and sat for 45 minutes or so taking in the view over Wimbledon and planning our day a bit. So at 11:15 we began making our way over to Court 2. We passed a few of the courts where some boys and girls had begun their matches at 11. It was surreal the first few we saw as we felt so close and that it wasn't real. We made it to Court 2 about 11:45 and at 12 the players came out and warmed up and then it began. We watched mixed doubles first and cheered on a Brazilian and his partner from Taipei but they lost. It was a fun match. In between that match and the next, we walked out and caught a few games of an American boy playing a Brazilian boy. They were probably 16 years old or so but still really good. The Brazilian was ranked so he was beating the American pretty good but it was fun to sit literally on the front row, 10 feet or so from the court. Then we saw men's doubles back in our Court 2 seats (which by the way were assigned, meaning we could come and go all day as we pleased, the other courts 5-19 we could walk by and get seats if they were available but no seats are assigned and so are up for grabs.) and that match was really good because it was the guy that had beat Roddick in singles the day before and his partner against the guy that had lost to Federer in singles the day before and his partner. So they were really really good serving at 100-125 mph and hitting some amazing shots while we sat 15-20 feet away.

After that 2nd match we took a break because the sun was out and really really hot. We had forgotten how intense the sun is this time of year as up here we are closer to it. We got some strawberries and cream (free because we picked up a coupon from our bank that happens to be the sponsor!). Then after wandering in a few other shops we found a bench in the shade of Court 1 and got a Wimbledon Sundae (strawberries & cream and chocolate ice creams with burnt almonds and waffle cone pieces topped with lots of hot fudge) and then Emily laid down and fell asleep for about a half hour or so while I checked scores of other matches.

By this time it was about 17:30 and so went and bought some dinner and ate it near Court 2 where we could see a few of the smaller courts where there was some girls doubles matches going on. Then we went into Court 2 for the final match that started about 18:25. It was the ladies invitational doubles. We watched Martina Hingis and Anna Kournikova (both recent former players) take on much older former British players who I had never heard of: Anne Hobbs and Samantha Smith. Of course the younger pair easily one but it lasted about an hour as the older pair fought hard and made a bit of a run at the end but then fell short.

So we left about 7:35pm and caught a bus back to Richmond and then decided to walk home from there. Got home about 9 and were showered and asleep by 10.

An exhausting day but very fun to experience Wimbledon.

Human Again

So it's probably no surprise to you all that I haven't been myself for awhile now (like 6 months?). I'm blaming the ridiculously long and depressing English winter we survived (barely) and we've been hosting visitors and/or travelling since mid-March. Don't worry, I'm not complaining about that last one but it certainly has sapped any energy/motivation I've had to do anything other than pack, clean, wash clothes, repeat. And even though I am still really jet lagged and exhausted from our recent travels, I don't feel like this anymore which is pretty monumental.

Here is the short list of why:
-I was clearing out my inbox (217 emails that needed to be archived, deleted or responded to!) and came across a link to this blog which I totally adore.
-Summer weather, although humid and sticky with no A/C, means lots of sunshine and vitamin D and lots of pretty greenery and scenery here in England.
-This album has been helping me rock out.
-Our apple tree has at least 100 tiny apples growing on it. This will prove to be a much more successful harvest than last year's 2 apples (seriously, there were only 2 last year, and they were growing on the same branch). I have a feeling we will be making a lot of apple themed meals come Sept.
-We just got back from seeing family which filled up our reserves AND we got to hold and play with lots of kiddos while there.
-Speaking of kids, I think things are finally moving on our referral to this place.
-Found out today that our favorite private practice clinic now has facilities for maternity patients should we have good results with the IVF so we won't have to deal with NHS services.
-After who knows how many loads, I finally got all the laundry done. Well, except for the towels.
-We had an awesome BBQ with friends yesterday for my favorite holiday.
-Since we have no travel plans for at least another 2 months I finally have time to sit down and sort through and enjoy the pictures from all of the amazing places we've been in the last 4 months.
-Brent passed exam 7 which means as soon as he files the necessary paperwork, he will be an ACAS (Associate of the Casualty Actuarial Society). Finally a milestone in the seemingly endless barrage of exams! 2 more and he'll be done for good.
-And last but certainly not least, I finally feel like blogging again! So keep your eyes out for lots of posts in the next few weeks because we've got quite a long list to cover including but not limited to: Christmas, New Years, Amsterdam, Paris (3 times!), Ireland, Wales, Italy, our trip home, Wimbledon and hopefully just some regular everyday musings stuff.