Thursday, April 05, 2007

The English Girls (and Jessica)



What an amazing experience this has been! Imy and Elsie quickly became a part of our family and we're going to all be so sad when they leave tomorrow. We got so lucky when these 2 were assigned to us and I'll be forever grateful that Jess and Hannah pestered me one morning with "we want one" (their way of saying they wanted to host an exchange student).

It's been a crazy, busy time while they were here. Our schedules are hectic as it is but add two more children to the mix and you've got CHAOS! But even though my back went out (big time drag) and Jonathan's car broke down (can you imagine worse timing?), things really went smoothly.

They rode the bus to school with Jessica each day then went on to their scheduled activites from there. They've toured Lewes (they are from Lewes, England!), been to Washington DC, shopped in our outlet malls, ridden the ferry to Cape May for a zoo trip, spent a day going to classes with Jessica and today, their last day here, they are in Philadelphia seeing Constitution hall and going to a Phillies game. It's been a whirl-wind tour!

We got to spend all day with them last Saturday and since they both love horses and ride at home, I scheduled a trail ride for them at our barn. Then, of course, we took them to the beach to run in the sand and eat Thrasher's fries. We walked on the boardwalk, played arcade games and had funnel cake. They *LOVE* American junk food!

Jessica taught them how to play on the Wii and they had a blast....laughing hysterically and goofing off. Elsie especially got into the boxing and was horribly offended when the Wii characters tried to hit her. I had to leave the room I was laughing so hard. They've been to the movies with Jessica and all her friends...the group of them took up an entire row at the theater.

I've enjoyed their visit so much that I have hopes of one or both of them coming back for a few weeks in the summer. I can just see them becoming a part of the gang at the barn with Jessica: working as assistant counselors at camp and riding every day. Then going to the beach with us and hanging out at the waterparks and boardwalk with Jess and her friends. I'd love to take them to Williamsburg and finish our junk food tour (we never did get them the corn dogs they've heard so much about). They've both said they'd come back in a heartbeat and don't want to go home. And we don't want them to!

It's going to be sad tomorrow morning when we drop them off to go home. I hope it wont be the last we see of them.