School's (Almost) Out

In just six short days, the girls will wrap up their first semester of school here in England.  It just doesn't seem like summer is almost upon us.  Our usual signs of approaching summer include my manic countdown to ship off yet another class of 5th graders on to 6th grade.  That certainly isn't happening.  Another harbinger of summer is VBS, with Callie attending and Annie volunteering.  Nope, we won't be doing that either.  As a matter of fact, we have no lessons or camps of any sort on the horizon.   


And last but not least is weather hot enough to get us in shorts, tank tops and dips into the backyard pool.  Hmmm... the high today was a whopping 66.  Maybe that's why I just can't get all excited about the arrival of vacation since it just doesn't feel like the dog days of summer back home in Texas.  We don't have an air conditioner to run, which is still just the oddest thing to me.  Over the weekend when it got up to 80, we opened up windows and turned on a floor fan or two.  There are no screens on windows, so it's inevitable that bugs get into the house.  At least that's better than the occasional bird flying in because I've heard the horror stories from a few people who have experienced this.  If that ever happens to me, I'll just have to sit around and sweat like Mammy in "Gone With the Wind" with her original do-rag around her head because I aint gonna open up any more windows.


When school cranks up again on Aug. 24, the girls will have a new school home.  Isn't it pretty?  

The girls are making the switch to TASIS, which stands for The American School in Switzerland, but obviously this is the England branch.  They require uniforms - yippee!  It isn't as conveniently close as the school they've been attending, but that's fine since they'll be riding the coach to campus every day.  It was a difficult decision, whether or not to move the girls yet again now that they had settled in their first school over here.  I pray we've done the right thing and hope they have a smooth transition when fall arrives.  Until then, we intend to enjoy a summer chock-full of travel, friends and family.