Business Trip to the UK

Rob and I were lucky enough to travel together on our last business trip to the UK.
We were gone a total of 11 days, splitting our time between our home away from home in Godalming and the International Sales meeting in Paris, France.

While we were away the girls enjoyed a few days with Nana and Pa before Grammie Ellie flew up from Florida to spend the week with the girls.
Everyone had a fabulous time!


As part of the Sales meeting, our VIP outing was a dinner cruise in Paris.



Along the river we saw 12 different sites including the Eiffel Tower,

All glitzed up at 11pm for the end of our trip!

and La Statue de la Liberte (Statue of Liberty- a copy of the American Statue of Liberty, given to the city in 1889 to celebrate the French American Friendship)






Dinner included:
Roasted Angus Beef and Caramelised Shallott with Bordelaise Sauce for Rob


Pan fried Fillet of Guild Head Bream with Grenoble Style Dressing for Aliza
Aka Fish in white sauce- very yummy if you took the olive garnish off

Traditional sides of mashed potatoes, Ratatouille, and artichokes and onions in a creamy garlic sauce


And finallly, Pudding
White Peach Melba with Caramelised Almonds for Aliza


and Crepes Suzette with Raspberry Butter for Rob


Between courses we ventured out onto the back deck with "Uncle" Gary (our US sales guy and travel companion) for a closer view of the sites.


It was from there that we saw the beautiful cathedral of Notre Dame




You could even catch a glimpse of the gargoyles.


Our boat cruising companions include members of the HGL France, HGL UK, HGL Germany and HGL US teams.




It was an evening full of smiles and good memories.




Our events of our trip included:

A visit with Madi's best friend Roni- who is proudly displaying her pillow name she had requested I make.


A Saturday afternoon to wander around London again

Our wandering took us from the South Bank with a view of the London Eye,

Past Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, and the Underground


Around Buckingham palace with a quick photo op with the guards


A rest in St James Park on the lawn




Walking under the shade of the big trees


Past another set of guards (sadly this trip they had them barricaded off and thus I was not able to stand directly beside the guard as I had before)


Through the arches

Down Oxford Street, a quick stop at Trafalgar Square before we went to meander around Covent Gardens

We also each enjoyed a evening out with friends (For Me: Pizza Express for Lisa's birthday and Rob a curry night)


It was a fab trip and we hope to return real soon.

Lillian's New Hat

While Mommy is cooking....

Lilli is trying on a new hat!

Colander hats are a Dorsey family tradition. She wears it very well.

Its a perfect fit.

Cleaning Trouble

While Mommy was cleaning, Lillian was having all sorts of fun.

First, she tried on all of mommy's tank tops (she thought they were the better as a necklace then a shirt). Lillian loves to open drawers and play with what she finds.


Then it was off to find a new hiding place

There is no better way to get out of the way then to climb in the nightstand.

State Fair

Sunday after church we traveled as a family to the fair grounds for the final day of the Indiana State Fair.

This sure isn't the Farncombe Garden and Flower show but it was a lot of fun.

Lillian enjoyed riding in her buggy through the different exhibits.

Those are some nice looking pumpkins and potatoes.

Look, at those gourds.

We have a winner!

Both girls loved the massive pumpkins

Lillian just couldn't understand why she could not touch them.

This one is definitely ripe and ready to go.

We had to check out the apples in honor of Miss Emma.

Then Daddy and Madi found the prize winning pumpkin and just had to get a closer look.

On our way to the wine exhibit, we stopped for a much talked about Jumbo Strawberry Short cake. While it was good, the Sparkman's only gave it one thumbs up.

At the wine hall, we located all 6 of the Hopwood Cellar wines (Great job Ron!) before heading out to the food stalls.

A quick stop at the Corn stall for Lillian (they gave her a free stub of corn) and we were on our way.

She loves her corn.

My favorite part of the fair was the BIG pigs. Madi thought they were all named Wilbur like in Charlotte's Web.
Boy, did it smell in the exhibit arena but it was fun to check out the the winners and watch them waddle by.

Food stop #2- Potato Ribbon (not as good as it looked but worth a taste)

Rob finally got his much desired Deep Fried Snickers

Both Madison and Lillian loved getting a taste

Lillian needed 2 just to be sure it was good.

A walk on the ledge, as we headed to the exit was the perfect way to end our fair adventure.


With Monkey's tail in hand, Lillian finally gave in to a much needed nap.

It was a great Sunday afternoon for our family.

Adventures to Chicago

While Daddy headed to Florida for Grammie Ellie's birthday, the girls and I headed to Chicago Friday afternoon with Nana.

No trip would be complete without a hot dog from the ONLY hot dog stand worth visiting.

Lillian loved her first Gene and Jude's hotdog.

But she preferred it without the bun.

It was the perfect late night snack at our hotel before heading to bed.

Saturday morning began with a trip to the hotel pool and then lunch with family: Aunt Nancy, Aunt Susie, and cousin Nicole. Then it was on to the Science and Industry Museum downtown.

Lillian enjoyed the baby scape area where she climbed through the blue tube...

and captained her first ship (just like Grampie)

Madison and Nicole enjoyed testing the different experiments (using water to keep a ball floating)

Cranking a conveyor belt to move the shape blocks through the machine.

We left the Kid Zone and headed to space an the other museum exhibits, where Madison documented her first trip the moon

and enjoyed a bit of clowning around with her cousin.

The highlight of the museum visit was the Harry Potter exhibition. Madison could hardly contain her excitement as we waited in line for our tickets before she raced to see the real Harry Potter car. The exhibit was VERY expensive but really cool to see.
Our favorite part was waiting for our designated time (4:53pm) and answering the Harry Potter trivia questions.
The exhibit was filled with props and costumes from the Harry Potter movies, as well as, Hagrids hut and a few replica figures of Dobby the house elf, Buckbeak the Hippogriff and a Dementor.

After the museum we piled back into Nana's Rav4 and headed to Applebees for dinner together.
Aunt Marge (next to Lillian) was also able to join us for dinner.


Sunday morning the girls went swimming with Nana and then we headed for Omi and Opi's. We celebrated Opi's birthday at our favorite greek restaurant, Connie's before heading back to Indiana.


It was a lovely visit with family.

Lilli's Summer Smiles

Summer flowers and shades!

All smiles!

Look out 2nd Grade- Here comes Madi!

Summer flew by all too fast for some, but not for Madison. She was ready to go back to school.

Madison will be returning this year to Bridgeport Elementary and is excited to join Mrs. Gilbert's 2nd grade class.

Yesterday afternoon we went to the school for a meet and greet with her teacher and dropped off her supplies.

We also learned that her class is the lucky class to have 2 class pets- a bearded dragon (who eats pineapple) and a rabbit. Madison could not be more thrilled.

She happily skipped down the road to the bus stop at 7:40am headed for her newest adventures.

Story time for Monkey

After a long morning of playing, it was time to read Monkey a story before laying down for nap.

Summer Splashes

Summer is drawing to a close and school is starting right around the corner so Sunday afternoon our family (plus Nana and Pa) headed to Splash Island for an afternoon of fun.

The slides were the biggest hit of the day and it was great to splash into cool water after standing in the 93F humidity.

It was a great family afternoon and a fabulous way to end summer.